Guys, modern broke again
Modern forum
Posted on Nov. 29, 2014, 9:01 a.m. by ChiefBell
A few weeks ago there was treefolk tribal. This week I found this beauty here
Admittedly not as rogue-y as tree folk but still at least peculiar.
Discuss
Ohthenoises says... #3
Koth was always one of my favorite walkers. Good to see him getting some spotlight, however short lived it might be.
November 29, 2014 9:11 a.m.
JakeHarlow says... #4
Though strange, I really think the deck is solid. Competitive in Modern? That's kind of doubtful. Either it actually is, or its pilot was really skilled and/or lucky. But to be honest, there's some surprising and fresh synergy here. For a more long-range approach to "Mountains Matter," I'd say this is a quite viable approach. It's not as goofy as the Ent tribal...I'll admit, though, that I never expected to see a Modern Top 8 deck with 21 Snow-Covered Mountain in the mana base. That's just awesome.
November 29, 2014 9:15 a.m.
aeonstoremyliver says... #5
Intriguing. I like to see variety within the format, so this is promising. I can see this deck folding to Burn/RDW (the Dragon's Claw and Chalice of the Void can ease that matchup), combo, Tron, etc.
I'd like to see 
/b Faeries, Mill, Big Zoo, etc become viable options. I thought I saw an Azban midrange deck that placed ala TCGPlayer not long ago, utilizing Siege Rhino.
November 29, 2014 9:19 a.m.
Lots of Abzan builds using Siege Rhino instead of Dark Confidant are doing well in this aggro meta. It's becoming a thing. 2 in the top 16 of GP Madrid with like 1000 players.
November 29, 2014 9:22 a.m.
Servo_Token says... #8
Modern's always been a format where anyone can win with any deck. They just have to have enough experience with it, metagame the shit out of everyone, and get powerball lottery lucky.
November 29, 2014 9:25 a.m.
This is most certainly a fucking interesting deck. Not sure how "control" it is, but it's not RDW and that's what matters. Good to see something new coming out of mono red.
November 29, 2014 9:48 a.m.
JakeHarlow says... #10
It's such an exciting format. But yeah, luck is a huge determinant for winning events, though it won't see you through unless complimented by extremely consistent, tight play.
November 29, 2014 9:50 a.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #11
Skred Red has been hanging around the fringes of Modern for a long time. Koth is a pretty interesting addition.
November 29, 2014 9:51 a.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #12
That makes me want to re-brew a Modern version of my old Scars-Innistrad-M12 Big Red Standard deck.
November 29, 2014 9:54 a.m.
GoldGhost012 says... #13
Pfffffttttt, hahahaha, mono-red control!
It does look like an interesting deck though. But I wonder how hard it folds to decks that lack creatures for tthe most part and are very very hard to kill (Thrun, the Last Troll anyone?)
November 29, 2014 9:59 a.m.
Yeh. It seems to be a meta call against aggro decks, given the 5 or 6 main board slots it gives to 2 damage sweepers.
I love Dragon's Claw in here though. That's fantastic.
I would suppose that with the 4 large fliers, it could fly over the top of decks running Thrun (mainly BG/x), while doing something silly like gaining life to win the race. I'm unsure. I can see Thrun as being bad for it - but not completely disastrous.
November 29, 2014 10:06 a.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #16
GlistenerAgent pointed it out. Deck has actually been around for a while.
Idea is that u use Skred on Boros Reckoner with a field full of Snow-Covered Mountains for lethal.
Scrying Sheets used to be in the deck. They just opted for Mutavault tho...
http://archive.wizards.com/Magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/eventcoverage/gprich14/day2 (scroll a ways down to Sunday, 1:30 p.m. Deck Tech Mono-Red Control with Davis Merced)
November 29, 2014 10:58 a.m.
It's always been a fringe deck though. The point isn't really that it's new (although Koth is I believe), the point is that its weird and made a top 8. Doran and treefolk tribal isnt actually a new deck either! But its fun when it wins things.
November 29, 2014 11:43 a.m.
Let's not forget to note that Scapeshift won the GP.
November 29, 2014 4:04 p.m.
I realize I said GP and meant SCG Premier. But Scapeshift did take first. As far as I a aware, people usually relegate Scapeshift to T1.5
November 29, 2014 4:12 p.m.
T1.5 decks can win modern stuff. T2 decks can rarely win modern stuff too. It's just most surprising when a rogue deck top 8s.
Scapeshift is actually doing very well at the moment. Unsure why.
November 29, 2014 4:19 p.m.
JexInfinite says... #23
ChiefBell Scapeshift has very few weaknesses. GlistenerAgent can probably explain why this is so, but it's a control deck, rather than a combo deck.
November 30, 2014 2:49 a.m.
CrazyLittleGuy says... #24
It's mostly that Scapeshift outperforms itself against most of the field right now. Its worst matchup by far was BG/x Rock style decks, which have dramatically decreased in popularity since Khans dropped. There are next to no decks that attack Scapeshift with cards like Liliana of the Veil or Thoughtseize now.
I would put Scapeshift as easily one of the best decks in the format. Up there with Burn, UR(G) Delver, and Pod.
November 30, 2014 3:45 a.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #26
The actual worst matchup is Burn, but CrazyLittleGuy is correct in that BGx was the other worst matchup, and that has reduced greatly in popularity. Also, Dig Through Time is an incredible drug.
November 30, 2014 8:50 a.m.
Uhhh them Dragon's Claws in the sideboard. Big, big plays in a deck like that.
November 30, 2014 9:39 a.m.
jandrobard says... #28
Modern broke again...
Have you tried turning it off and on again?
November 30, 2014 10:12 p.m.
Ohthenoises says... #29
I'm really all in on 8 rack. Good matches against combo and midrange with weaknesses against burn and hyper aggro. Tokens is also annoying but not too bad.
It's like all the burn of RDW with none of the mountains :D
November 30, 2014 10:40 p.m.
LtMiller117 says... #30
ChiefBell it's because scapeshift is acting like abzan midrange in standard. By that I mean, there aren't any extremely bad match ups for it. Sure, maybe burn of control matches but the meat is kind of setting it up to just be quietly dominant for a while. My last open in Columbus I got 18th of around 300 and most people were playing a splash blue deck for treasure cruise.
Most people are tying to abuse treasure cruis so they switch up to a delver type of variant and scapeshift decks usually can handle those. Pyroclasm and Anger of the Gods mainboarded now a days and couple lightning bolts and it's basically done. Other non-blue decks are just getting crippled to control decks right now.
December 1, 2014 12:35 a.m.
This archetype of mono red control has popped up a few times before in big tournaments. It's very unusual but nothing new.
December 1, 2014 9:58 a.m.
8rack hasn't placed in a top 8 in at least 2 months. In that time Zur enchantments (once), WB Death's Shadow (once), and the aforementioned Mono Red Control (three times) have all placed in top 8s. If you're playing 8rack and your opponent has cast Birthing Pod or Treasure Cruise, you're going to lose.
December 3, 2014 9:34 p.m.
jandrobard says... #34
@aeonstoremyliver Shooting an email to MaRo right now. I hate it when I forget to charge my format overnight.
JexInfinite says... #2
Skred Red combined with Koth? Sure. Both decks were kind of maybe successful, but when combined, they create a rogue deck which just happened to have success. It will likely never see the light of day again.
November 29, 2014 9:06 a.m.