This is the first brew I’ve made in a while that I’m confident will actually work, so I’m sharing it. The game plan of the deck is simple, really. It’s essentially a black-red version of the old Twin decks, starting off like a control deck until it pieces together a two card combo that wins on the spot. Step one is sticking either Crackdown Construct or Ceaseless Searblades onto the battlefield. Then, next turn, either Lavaclaw Reaches or Wandering Fumarole can provide an arbitrary number of 0-mana ability activations. Basically, we’re building an Infinity Elemental. Notably, the fumarole can provide the blue mana to turn itself on, and since we don’t ever plan on taking it into combat, no other blue sources are required.
Obviously, this is a bit slow compared to other combo decks in modern. However, there are other advantages to make up for it. The list gets to include eight copies of each combo piece for redundancy, so the odds are good you can find replacements fast if you do get disrupted. Also, half the combo is built into the manabase, so there’s a ton of room for interaction.
Plenty of discard spells and removal keep the board clear of threats, and blockers, until we go off. Many of the pieces are similar to those found in Mardu Pyromancer builds. Most of these cards are commonly played in modern already, and need no justification. However, due to all the taplands, keeping the mana curve low is critical, which is why I’m running Duress and Dismember over Collective Brutality and Kolaghan’s Command. Anger of the Gods is perfect for us, though, and can always be pitched to Faithless Looting in matchups where it’s unneeded. It even leaves the Ceaseless Searblades alive, though Crackdown Construct is superior at attacking into blockers when we’re going off.
The only other combo pieces in the main deck are Apostle’s Blessing and Key to the City. If you wait to play one of the creatures until turn five, Blessing can protect it from a removal spell. Or, you can use it to attack through blockers. Key to the City, played in an earlier turn, can make our Saitama lookalike unblockable for no mana, and also acts as a backup looting engine. (And really, the mayor should have given him one for his service by now.) Out of the sideboard, Grim Discovery is a nightmare for other control decks, allowing us to recur one or both halves of our combo.
I'm in the process of building this in paper right now, and I'll post my FNM results later. In the meantime, let me know what you guys think.
Is this really a Faithless Looting deck? It doesn't interact with its graveyard at all. Not having a plan B against a Blood Moon that slips through the discard net also feels really bad. Maybe you could bulk up on blue to pick up some countermagic and better card selection.
I was debating whether or not to put some number of Ratchet Bomb in the sideboard for precisely that reason, and I will if it turns out Blood Moon is indeed a problem.
It's a shame that they don't have trample. You also can use Fling for damage without attacking when your opponent has more creatures than you at that moment.
I could also recommend green for mana ramp so you could make it a bit faster the combo. Birds of Paradise would do a great job.
4 Ceaseless Searblades
4 Crackdown Construct
3 Apostle's Blessing
2 Key to the City
4 Faithless Looting
Removal: (11)
4 Anger of the Gods
3 Fatal Push
2 Dismember
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Dreadbore
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
2 Duress
Lands: (24)
4 Wandering Fumarole
4 Lavaclaw Reaches
4 Foreboding Ruins
4 Blood Crypt
2 Mountain
6 Swamp
1 Mugging
1 Bontu’s Last Reckoning
1 Pithing Needle
1 Lightning Bolt
2 Damping Sphere
2 Lost Legacy
3 Grim Discovery
4 Rakdos Charm
This is the first brew I’ve made in a while that I’m confident will actually work, so I’m sharing it. The game plan of the deck is simple, really. It’s essentially a black-red version of the old Twin decks, starting off like a control deck until it pieces together a two card combo that wins on the spot. Step one is sticking either Crackdown Construct or Ceaseless Searblades onto the battlefield. Then, next turn, either Lavaclaw Reaches or Wandering Fumarole can provide an arbitrary number of 0-mana ability activations. Basically, we’re building an Infinity Elemental. Notably, the fumarole can provide the blue mana to turn itself on, and since we don’t ever plan on taking it into combat, no other blue sources are required.
Obviously, this is a bit slow compared to other combo decks in modern. However, there are other advantages to make up for it. The list gets to include eight copies of each combo piece for redundancy, so the odds are good you can find replacements fast if you do get disrupted. Also, half the combo is built into the manabase, so there’s a ton of room for interaction.
Plenty of discard spells and removal keep the board clear of threats, and blockers, until we go off. Many of the pieces are similar to those found in Mardu Pyromancer builds. Most of these cards are commonly played in modern already, and need no justification. However, due to all the taplands, keeping the mana curve low is critical, which is why I’m running Duress and Dismember over Collective Brutality and Kolaghan’s Command. Anger of the Gods is perfect for us, though, and can always be pitched to Faithless Looting in matchups where it’s unneeded. It even leaves the Ceaseless Searblades alive, though Crackdown Construct is superior at attacking into blockers when we’re going off.
The only other combo pieces in the main deck are Apostle’s Blessing and Key to the City. If you wait to play one of the creatures until turn five, Blessing can protect it from a removal spell. Or, you can use it to attack through blockers. Key to the City, played in an earlier turn, can make our Saitama lookalike unblockable for no mana, and also acts as a backup looting engine. (And really, the mayor should have given him one for his service by now.) Out of the sideboard, Grim Discovery is a nightmare for other control decks, allowing us to recur one or both halves of our combo.
I'm in the process of building this in paper right now, and I'll post my FNM results later. In the meantime, let me know what you guys think.
I could also recommend green for mana ramp so you could make it a bit faster the combo. Birds of Paradise would do a great job.