I enjoy playing Bogles (Hexproof) in Modern. I was a Control oriented player for a long time, but opened a Geist of Saint Traft in Sealed once. Ever since that and seeing the domination of Invisible Stalker/Butcher's Cleaver in Limited, I have been intrigued by Hexproof. Then I heard of a player named Marc Lalague running it online and seeing success. This is also a local player who I've played numerous times. In fact, he has beaten me in no fewer than 4 win-and-ins at PPTQs/GPTs/etc, but he is a nice guy.
I decided to try the deck. The first week, I saw variance, averaging 5 cards a hand and got 3-2. The 3-2 was a real struggle though, so I didn't play it for a while after that. Besides, at the time I was intrigued by the unbanning of Bitterblossom in Modern and wanted to try it. Later on I decided to come back to it to try it again and I never looked back. It's really nice to make your opponents have dead cards in hand. I believe that it is the main purpose of the deck, just like many other decks try to do. But the number one reason that I LOVE the deck is that I can win games with just 1-2 lands in play. The deck seems to avoid mana screw more than other non Serum Visions decks do. I have won games on 1 land against Jeskai Control decks and it can do it to a few other decks as well. Two mana for this deck is fine and 3-4 mana is in its wheelhouse. I found a way to dodge mana screw! For every thing that I like about this deck, that is the main one.
So, the question for everyone out there - is there some odd reason that you enjoy playing a specific Modern deck? Why is that?
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
I enjoy playing Faeries http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/28-05-16-xxs-faeries/, but I think most people who have read any of my posts could guess that. I wrote the current primer for the deck and created the server for Team Discord Faeries to have real time feedback and discussion to grow the understanding of the deck for all players involved. It is really a deck that can be customized to your player preference and the deck itself is a challenge to build tweak and play properly (hardest deck to play next to 4color gifts imo, because faeries will punish misplays hard). I think that ease of customization is an unexplored benefit to brewing and tweaking in modern, and Faeries is built around your personal deckbuilding philosophy (which is always constantly evolving). If you ask any three faeries players what they would categorize their list as I am positive you'd get personalized complex answers. Sometimes the answer to what your faeries md is changes drastically based on the perceived metagame. I have a joy in having the patience to observe potential lines of play when casting (and not casting) Mistbind Clique to capitalize on the most optimal timing and seeking out the most optimal positions even if it means an opponent resolves a spell (often I can leverage it so that Mistbind Clique is often better than what they cast. I lean more toward disruptive Aggro-control with discard being my best tools. The faeries tribe is deceptively strong and motivated players show that whenever new cards to test with are printed (or metagame circumstances shift).
Decks I have in my bag of tricks- Needless to say, someone who wants to play will probably have a deck UB/x Faeries UR Storm XURWB Affinity G Elves UW control
When I first started playing casual Magic again around Origins, I played against a few friends with Modern decks (Bogles and monoblue Tron). Interested in their decks, I looked them up online and found that there was a version of Tron that played Eldrazi. I stopped playing around Fifth Dawn, but I had always liked the Eldrazi after Rise of the Eldrazi for their strong abilities and overall epicness. Upon finding out the price of RG Tron, I was somewhat taken aback and I couldn't really see myself putting down that much money on a deck. A few months later, I bought a fat pack of Fate Reforged and got an Ugin, the Spirit Dragon. I felt that this was a sign I should play the deck, so with that first piece I purchased pieces for the deck over about a month and completed it.
At my first Modern tournament, I went 2-1, losing to Bogles and beating Jeskai Twin and the mirror(!). It is so much fun slamming down fatties and making opponents concede. Also for me there is a special allure to Grove of the Burnwillows. Maybe it is the art or the fact that it is basically a Taiga but playing with that land has been one of my favorite things about the deck.
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Modern RGTron UGInfect URStorm WUBRAd Nauseam BRGrishoalbrand URGScapeshift WBGAbzan Company WUBRGAmulet Titan BRGLiving End WGBogles
I enjoy Grixis Control because I like casting Tasigur, Snapcaster mage and Kolaghan's Command. Looping snaps is so fun. I just enjoy playing control in general because how salty some people can be playing against it
The game-play I enjoy the most involves heavy interaction and tempo oriented strategies. I also am very fond of brewing - which I find modern to be a great environment to do so in. My first deck was Bant value, which slowly evolved with new prints into bant company and now knightfall. Playing a deck that is successful and I personally brewed (with help/input from communities online!) is very satisfying, and knightfall has some big tempo plays that are a lot of fun! Rolling those coco dice can be quite satisfying too!
Knightfall is fun, but sometimes I like to be more interactive. Thus I have UW control which is a lot of fun because of the diverse lines of play, and the lack of 'free wins'. More recently, playing Bant Midrange has been exactly the speed I wanted: it has a strong control game, but is also quite quick to turn the corner. Overall, Bant Midrange has been the most fun deck I've brewed yet - it's hard to describe just how fun it is to Ojutai's Command back a snapcaster for extra flashback schenanigans, or put Goyf into play at instant speed while countering a threat. Very large tempo plays and strong stack/board control make Bant Midrange super fun.
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Modern Decks
KnightfallGWUR
Azorius Control UW
Burn RBG
My favorite card art is probably Emancipation Angel. This card is unfortunately unplayable in modern. I have a general fondness for white cards that give me a solid sense of hope and assurance, especially in the face of darkness. While it's been a while since I've played them, GW midrange with Wilt-Leaf Liege and DnT with Thalia and Restoration Angel have always put a smile on my face, even if I'm doing poorly.
The game-play I enjoy the most involves heavy interaction and tempo oriented strategies. I also am very fond of brewing - which I find modern to be a great environment to do so in. My first deck was Bant value, which slowly evolved with new prints into bant company and now knightfall. Playing a deck that is successful and I personally brewed (with help/input from communities online!) is very satisfying, and knightfall has some big tempo plays that are a lot of fun! Rolling those coco dice can be quite satisfying too!
Knightfall is fun, but sometimes I like to be more interactive. Thus I have UW control which is a lot of fun because of the diverse lines of play, and the lack of 'free wins'. More recently, playing Bant Midrange has been exactly the speed I wanted: it has a strong control game, but is also quite quick to turn the corner. Overall, Bant Midrange has been the most fun deck I've brewed yet - it's hard to describe just how fun it is to Ojutai's Command back a snapcaster for extra flashback schenanigans, or put Goyf into play at instant speed while countering a threat. Very large tempo plays and strong stack/board control make Bant Midrange super fun.
If wou got the Goyfs and Vials already you should really give RUG Eternal Command a try. The deck is powerful and a blast to play.
I just love getting beats in with Goyf/Clique while holding up countermagic. The deck is very flexible and can play a tempo role while also packing lots of CA to grind. Deciding on your role for each match and when to shift gears is quite difficult but also what makes the decks super awesome. Tons and tons of decisions.
I am a meta gamer and I play the deck I think will cash me out at the end of the event. I can play all styles. I usually go to an event with 4-6 decks of different types. Bogles, Affinity, Grixis, Eternal Command, 8 rack, GW hatebears, D&T, along with Azban, Jund, little kid green. I have them all sleeved up and ready to go at any time. I also borrow out decks to those wanting to play and not having a deck.
Mainly it comes down to the meta. I will say the bigger the event, the less thinking I want to do. Fatigue plays a huge part in the bigger events. People get tired and start making mistakes.
I really like to play grindy Midrange decks and Control decks. My favorite card in all of Magic is Liliana of the Veil.
So because of that I play Jund. I get to play a ton of versatile, efficient cards that are individually powerful, plus Liliana.
My whole 75 can be tuned(or even rather skewed) to beat a certain meta because of all the options the color combo has access to.
I like disrupting the opponent, killing their creatures then beating them with a big Tarmogoyf or Raging Ravine.
I think of Jund as a proactive control deck in a way. I can also convert to Junk and even straight up BG if needed.
Now that Fatal Push has been printed I would like to start experimenting with an Esper Control list as well.
Most of the decks I play the longest (as I try and play most) end up with the following themes.
1. Able to interact and prevent the other player from doing something to me. (Counters, Discard, Tempo)
2. Able to make plays on their End of Turn.
3. Some bit of explosiveness, combo, or variance.
These are decks like Uxx anything (Grixis, or UR), Taking Turns, or creature decks that use CoCo.
Right now I'm on a bit of a run with Bant, shifting between a White Weenie push, or more Midrange with most of the Knightfall core (from when we started brewing it).
I just dont want to be a victim of what the other player is doing, I cannot get over needing Remand at least.
I play GR Tron because when I bought into Modern, it was one of the cheapest decks and I don't have any others because I have no interest in investing a bunch of money into a new deck with how much they cost now (and fears of whatever I buy getting banned).
There are three Modern decks that I enjoy immensely. Bg Devotion and Storm/Cheeri0s. I enjoy midrange decks greatly, along with playing out of my graveyard. Running BG lets me do this as much as I want, and I get an "oops I win" button in the form of Gary. I joke in the primer that he is Modern's version of Tendrils of Agony when built around properly. While it's a joke, he does cause massive life swings that will win you the game.
As for Storm and Cheeri0s, they just feel like old school magic. There is something special about generating absurd amounts of mana, drawing your deck, and doming your opponent for huge damage in one turn. I've bounced back and forth between these two decks for some time now, but with Storm getting weaker and weaker due to the meta and bannings, I'm currently jamming Cheeri0s when I don't want to make friends.
Well, honestly while I only built Affinity because it was the cheapest competitive deck for me to build back then, it turned out that I really enjoyed its playstyle. I'm more of an EDH player than a Modern player, so I have my "longer, memorable games" requirement fulfilled there and since I pretty much usually play Modern when its an event I want to win, it's a competitive mindset I have there and I also like my matches in events to be shorter.
Yes, Affinity is aggro, linear and largely uninteractive, but we'll not completely uninteractive because our crippling weaknesses demand answers (which need interaction) and the few moments that require us to interact are usually always the critical moments, so bluntly put we'll running a distilled version of interaction.
It also doesn't hurt when the format screws up and uninteractive and interactive-immune decks pop up we are resilient enough to survive it because we don't wholly depend on interaction and can prove our own when racing against these decks as well.
In fact the recent rise of Death's Shadow Aggro reminds me quite like Affinity's playstyle that I think I would enjoy it if I played it (seriously its just an Affinity deck using Jund parts for both its aggro (DS and Goyf) and interaction (discard), it's less explosive but also less reliant on various interactive cards, so it also has less weaknesses as a result.)
I like anti game,Control / prison strategies.. Played a lot Stasis Back when i was 15 and Looking for something similar in modern choice was between Lantern and turns
I dont think mox opal is a safe investment so i went with turns and oh boy i love it ahah
I like anti game,Control / prison strategies.. Played a lot Stasis Back when i was 15 and Looking for something similar in modern choice was between Lantern and turns
I dont think mox opal is a safe investment so i went with turns and oh boy i love it ahah
I'm a Johnny. I'll play anything that has a good goldfish.
Most of the decks I enjoy playing can do one (or more!) of three things:
1) play a huge threat that finds more threats (e.g. Primeval Titan)
2) dome the opponent for more than 3 through a field full of blockers (e.g. Grapeshot)
3) put a ton of creatures into play (e.g. Empty the Warrens)
I started playing Magic in highschool in the 90s but i quit it and got back when Dragons of Tarkir was the newest set, so i started with standard, then i found out about rotation and went to Modern. Built Elves but grew tired of it (it's aggresive but too linear), so i tried Spirits in Modern but then a lot of friends and acquaintances got back to Magic (they played in the 90s and early 00s) so we made a 10-12 man group and got rid of formats. We only stick to the Vintage R&B list, though obviously we don't run the most expensive Vintage cards (when a guy showed up with a 4 Tinker artifact deck we knew we had to put a stop to it and set some construction rules). We play mostly 2 vs 2, but also play 3 vs 3, 1 vs 1 or everyone against everyone if we're an odd number. We've also held tourneys. In our meta a deck must be able to play against other decks alone, work in pairs and go long. As there's no set restrictions our meta sees a lot of artifacts and enchanments, also some powerful synergies that only old cards can make, so i dived into it and built a deck from nothing. Internet was no good so it took me a lot of work to get to the right build, or the one i'm comfortable with. The deck is Jund colored, and Modern legal. As in a larger group discard is not as good as in 1 vs 1 i dropped the discard suite and went with Birds so i get ramp and fixing. Then i made an insane removal pack that can destroy anything but lands, added some synergies like Grim Haruspex + Evolutionary leap, rendering targeted removal useless and generating crazy card advantage while getting rid of birds late game; some Goblin Dark-Dwellers/Eternal Witness/K-Command shenanigans, some life-gain through Ooze and Noxious Gerahulk, plus some CA through Phirexian Arena, Ob Nixilis Reignited and the broken Rishkar's Expertise.
Really love Midrange. Being able to survive aggro and turn the corner to gain control of the games and waiting out control to then unload to many threats for them to handle is just marvelous. I went to a couple of modern FNM's and did pretty well, not as good as real Jund obviously but i had a blast. Also like that is somewhat hard for the opponent to sideboard against midrange decks.
I hope someday i can build classic jund but for now i'm just too happy brewing myself and playing old-school magic, where netdecking didn't exist and it was your creation agains the opponent's one, and also hope that WotC step back on his current policy of not supporting older eternal formats just to squeeze people's pockets by encouraging them to play Standard and see how their most valuable cards lose half it's value past rotation. Miss the old days but i'm grateful we get new cards to brew with.
As a blue control player at heart, reactive gameplay has always been my go-to strategy. In Zendikar-Scars era, Control usually meant slamming your Titans of choice backed up by Leak and Pierce. (I started playing again just after Jace hit stratospheric prices, so I didn't have him.)
But then, there was a massive shift in the world of Magic. When Delver of Secrets was first spoiled, I took one look at it and said to myself, "Holy *****, this card will redefine the game." After spending all of spoiler season arguing on MTGS that yes, Tempo is an archetype and yes, Delver is a good card, I bought a playset and sleeved it up in a UR shell with Grim Lavamancer, the Snapcasters I'd pre-ordered, and a bunch of burn (didn't have Geist at the time). I've been in love ever since.
One of my other pet decks, Elves, I picked up late 2015 when I predicted Eldrazi would become an oppressive force. I figured a go-wide strategy would be one way of fighting them while we waited for the inevitable ban, and Elves seemed like the best way to do it other than Tokens. Plus, I love toolbox decks, so the CoCo/Chord package was perfect. I traded into the pieces, and then when I was just missing Nettle and Heritage, the meta got so toxic I just quit entirely.
But! When I picked Magic back up, I quickly finished out my Elves deck, and I'm glad I did! I usually don't get any more aggro than Delver or sometimes Burn, but Elves just as that explosive quality to it that makes it IMO super fun. I love tossing the dice on CoCo and Lead the Stampede, and the absurd rush of triple-pumping with Ezuri off of double Elvish Archdruid to swing for ~50 damage. Even casting Elvish Visionary just feels great. Just a great combination of velocity, redundancy, utility, and explosiveness.
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Playing UX Mana Denial until Modern gets the answers it needs.
WUBRG Humans BRW Mardu Pyromancer UW UW "Control" UR Blue Moon
Well, I started as a RB aggro player back in 2002, because as a kid I found the combination of badass dark aggro things exciting. Then I played MonoB control for a long time corrupting people to death. Later on I had my most success with Faeries as well as Cruel Control which directed me towards blue. The raw power of Cryptic Command into Cryptic Command was just insane. So since then I prefer to play UBx or URx based control decks (as is clear by my signature). Preferably I play Faeries or Cruel Control in Modern but if I want to be more competitive I go towards actualy Grixis Control. I don't want to move outside of these colors however, I like my Cryptic Commands, I like my Bitterblossoms, I like my Snapcasters and Spellstutter Sprites and that's what I am gonna do till I figure out how to win GPs with them.
Although my roots are in non-blue control decks, the two archetypes I've had the most fun with in Standard over the past few years are Combo (Exarch Twin, 5 color Door to Nothingness), and Ramp (played a LOT of Primeval Titan decks in standard) so now the decks I love to play in Modern are...
Dredge, Burn, and Infect, because they have the same "feel" to me as Exarch Twin. I really dislike the "Eggs" style combo decks, or anything Storm related. Dredge and Infect just make me really happy to win with, while Burn is like a puzzle to unravel, the amount of decision making keeps me interested. Mill is something I've also played around with, I love anything that is a "gotcha" for cracking a fetch in Modern.
Tron because slamming giant powerhouse cards like Ugin (especially Ugin) and Karn are a lot of fun to me.
Control decks are just too durdly in general, though I'll have to give Jeskai Nahiri a try...though I generally loathe anything with counterspells.
I've always been a red mage at heart, despite trying to make blue work with me countless times. That said, I really don't know my playstyle, even after trying to diagnose it in the past. All I know is that I play red cards, I want to play awesome stuff, and I enjoy nonlinear strategies.
After a year of trying desperately to make BW Tokens work (spoilers, it didn't), I started digging for new decks. I stumbled upon Skred Red in August and instantly fell in love. I was aware of the deck's presence before but forgot about it for a long time. As soon as I started playing it at FNM I just knew the deck had what it takes to win a GP. Lo and behold, it did just that!
There are other reasons I love Skred. For starters, it attacks the format on an axis that very few -- if any at all -- decks can do, and that's use the nature of the format against itself. Entire manabases can fall apart to Blood Moon. Most white decks can't deal with Stormbreath Dragon, although now Blessed Alliance exists to get around protection. Eternal Scourge is a pain in the butt for control decks, and main board Relic of Progenitus is just silly with Scourge. Skred (the card) is incredibly funny in the lategame. 1 mana, deal 12 damage? Sure, why not! It can even hit players if you target your own Boros Reckoner! Koth of the Hammer is insanely fun to play with as well, and his ultimate is actually reachable in the format! What's not to love? Sweet cards, a unique strategy, and snow-covered lands, all wrapped into one package!
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"Don't believe everything you read on the internet." - Abraham Lincoln
Always been on BGX since Deed, Vindicate, and Monger.
Naturally, I would grow to admire a player such as Reid Duke. In addition to playing Jund/Abzan I ended up adopting his side deck RUG Midrange, which he did two video series on last year.
It's definitely not as potent but man is it fun Bolt Snap Bolting, flipping Huntmaster, and playing Cryptic.
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GP Singapore Coverage:What did you have for breakfast this morning?
David Ochoa: "Mono-bacon!..."
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I decided to try the deck. The first week, I saw variance, averaging 5 cards a hand and got 3-2. The 3-2 was a real struggle though, so I didn't play it for a while after that. Besides, at the time I was intrigued by the unbanning of Bitterblossom in Modern and wanted to try it. Later on I decided to come back to it to try it again and I never looked back. It's really nice to make your opponents have dead cards in hand. I believe that it is the main purpose of the deck, just like many other decks try to do. But the number one reason that I LOVE the deck is that I can win games with just 1-2 lands in play. The deck seems to avoid mana screw more than other non Serum Visions decks do. I have won games on 1 land against Jeskai Control decks and it can do it to a few other decks as well. Two mana for this deck is fine and 3-4 mana is in its wheelhouse. I found a way to dodge mana screw! For every thing that I like about this deck, that is the main one.
So, the question for everyone out there - is there some odd reason that you enjoy playing a specific Modern deck? Why is that?
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)UB/x Faeries
UR Storm
XURWB Affinity
G Elves
UW control
At my first Modern tournament, I went 2-1, losing to Bogles and beating Jeskai Twin and the mirror(!). It is so much fun slamming down fatties and making opponents concede. Also for me there is a special allure to Grove of the Burnwillows. Maybe it is the art or the fact that it is basically a Taiga but playing with that land has been one of my favorite things about the deck.
RGTron
UGInfect
URStorm
WUBRAd Nauseam
BRGrishoalbrand
URGScapeshift
WBGAbzan Company
WUBRGAmulet Titan
BRGLiving End
WGBogles
Knightfall is fun, but sometimes I like to be more interactive. Thus I have UW control which is a lot of fun because of the diverse lines of play, and the lack of 'free wins'. More recently, playing Bant Midrange has been exactly the speed I wanted: it has a strong control game, but is also quite quick to turn the corner. Overall, Bant Midrange has been the most fun deck I've brewed yet - it's hard to describe just how fun it is to Ojutai's Command back a snapcaster for extra flashback schenanigans, or put Goyf into play at instant speed while countering a threat. Very large tempo plays and strong stack/board control make Bant Midrange super fun.
KnightfallGWUR
Azorius Control UW
Burn RBG
I should really pick up aether vials again...
If wou got the Goyfs and Vials already you should really give RUG Eternal Command a try. The deck is powerful and a blast to play.
I just love getting beats in with Goyf/Clique while holding up countermagic. The deck is very flexible and can play a tempo role while also packing lots of CA to grind. Deciding on your role for each match and when to shift gears is quite difficult but also what makes the decks super awesome. Tons and tons of decisions.
Mainly it comes down to the meta. I will say the bigger the event, the less thinking I want to do. Fatigue plays a huge part in the bigger events. People get tired and start making mistakes.
So because of that I play Jund. I get to play a ton of versatile, efficient cards that are individually powerful, plus Liliana.
My whole 75 can be tuned(or even rather skewed) to beat a certain meta because of all the options the color combo has access to.
I like disrupting the opponent, killing their creatures then beating them with a big Tarmogoyf or Raging Ravine.
I think of Jund as a proactive control deck in a way. I can also convert to Junk and even straight up BG if needed.
Now that Fatal Push has been printed I would like to start experimenting with an Esper Control list as well.
BG/x BG
1. Able to interact and prevent the other player from doing something to me. (Counters, Discard, Tempo)
2. Able to make plays on their End of Turn.
3. Some bit of explosiveness, combo, or variance.
These are decks like Uxx anything (Grixis, or UR), Taking Turns, or creature decks that use CoCo.
Right now I'm on a bit of a run with Bant, shifting between a White Weenie push, or more Midrange with most of the Knightfall core (from when we started brewing it).
I just dont want to be a victim of what the other player is doing, I cannot get over needing Remand at least.
Spirits
I like Saheeli, Cat Lady because of the flavor of a lady with 9000 cats is hilarious to me.
I like 8Whack Goblins just because Mountain, Dork, Attack.
I like Esper Control because you can play tons of ridiculous cards and get away with it.
As for Storm and Cheeri0s, they just feel like old school magic. There is something special about generating absurd amounts of mana, drawing your deck, and doming your opponent for huge damage in one turn. I've bounced back and forth between these two decks for some time now, but with Storm getting weaker and weaker due to the meta and bannings, I'm currently jamming Cheeri0s when I don't want to make friends.
Cheeri0sXWU
Reid Duke's Level One
Who's the Beatdown
Alt+0198=Æ
Yes, Affinity is aggro, linear and largely uninteractive, but we'll not completely uninteractive because our crippling weaknesses demand answers (which need interaction) and the few moments that require us to interact are usually always the critical moments, so bluntly put we'll running a distilled version of interaction.
It also doesn't hurt when the format screws up and uninteractive and interactive-immune decks pop up we are resilient enough to survive it because we don't wholly depend on interaction and can prove our own when racing against these decks as well.
In fact the recent rise of Death's Shadow Aggro reminds me quite like Affinity's playstyle that I think I would enjoy it if I played it (seriously its just an Affinity deck using Jund parts for both its aggro (DS and Goyf) and interaction (discard), it's less explosive but also less reliant on various interactive cards, so it also has less weaknesses as a result.)
I dont think mox opal is a safe investment so i went with turns and oh boy i love it ahah
URW PillowFort Stasis (costruction)
modern:
U Taking Turns combo
pauper:
UB Servitor Control
xenob8 : you know you are going to have a bad time when opponent starts with snow covered island
I dont think mox opal is a safe investment so i went with turns and oh boy i love it ahah
URW PillowFort Stasis (costruction)
modern:
U Taking Turns combo
pauper:
UB Servitor Control
xenob8 : you know you are going to have a bad time when opponent starts with snow covered island
Most of the decks I enjoy playing can do one (or more!) of three things:
1) play a huge threat that finds more threats (e.g. Primeval Titan)
2) dome the opponent for more than 3 through a field full of blockers (e.g. Grapeshot)
3) put a ton of creatures into play (e.g. Empty the Warrens)
I get giddy whenever I hardcast something that's not meant to be hardcasted, like a Simian Spirit Guide, Golgari Grave-Troll (can't do that now ), Vengevine, or Griselbrand. Naturally assembling a combo that's meant to be tutored out (e.g. Thirst for Knowledge, discard Unburial Rites and Iona, Shield of Emeria) also feels good.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
Really love Midrange. Being able to survive aggro and turn the corner to gain control of the games and waiting out control to then unload to many threats for them to handle is just marvelous. I went to a couple of modern FNM's and did pretty well, not as good as real Jund obviously but i had a blast. Also like that is somewhat hard for the opponent to sideboard against midrange decks.
I hope someday i can build classic jund but for now i'm just too happy brewing myself and playing old-school magic, where netdecking didn't exist and it was your creation agains the opponent's one, and also hope that WotC step back on his current policy of not supporting older eternal formats just to squeeze people's pockets by encouraging them to play Standard and see how their most valuable cards lose half it's value past rotation. Miss the old days but i'm grateful we get new cards to brew with.
But then, there was a massive shift in the world of Magic. When Delver of Secrets was first spoiled, I took one look at it and said to myself, "Holy *****, this card will redefine the game." After spending all of spoiler season arguing on MTGS that yes, Tempo is an archetype and yes, Delver is a good card, I bought a playset and sleeved it up in a UR shell with Grim Lavamancer, the Snapcasters I'd pre-ordered, and a bunch of burn (didn't have Geist at the time). I've been in love ever since.
One of my other pet decks, Elves, I picked up late 2015 when I predicted Eldrazi would become an oppressive force. I figured a go-wide strategy would be one way of fighting them while we waited for the inevitable ban, and Elves seemed like the best way to do it other than Tokens. Plus, I love toolbox decks, so the CoCo/Chord package was perfect. I traded into the pieces, and then when I was just missing Nettle and Heritage, the meta got so toxic I just quit entirely.
But! When I picked Magic back up, I quickly finished out my Elves deck, and I'm glad I did! I usually don't get any more aggro than Delver or sometimes Burn, but Elves just as that explosive quality to it that makes it IMO super fun. I love tossing the dice on CoCo and Lead the Stampede, and the absurd rush of triple-pumping with Ezuri off of double Elvish Archdruid to swing for ~50 damage. Even casting Elvish Visionary just feels great. Just a great combination of velocity, redundancy, utility, and explosiveness.
WUBRG Humans
BRW Mardu Pyromancer
UW UW "Control"
UR Blue Moon
UB Faeries (15-6-0)
UWR Control (10-5-1)/Kiki Control/Midrange/Harbinger
UBR Cruel Control (6-4-0)/Grixis Control/Delver/Blue Jund
UWB Control/Mentor
UW Miracles/Control (currently active, 14-2-0)
BW Eldrazi & Taxes
RW Burn (9-1-0)
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Dredge, Burn, and Infect, because they have the same "feel" to me as Exarch Twin. I really dislike the "Eggs" style combo decks, or anything Storm related. Dredge and Infect just make me really happy to win with, while Burn is like a puzzle to unravel, the amount of decision making keeps me interested. Mill is something I've also played around with, I love anything that is a "gotcha" for cracking a fetch in Modern.
Tron because slamming giant powerhouse cards like Ugin (especially Ugin) and Karn are a lot of fun to me.
Control decks are just too durdly in general, though I'll have to give Jeskai Nahiri a try...though I generally loathe anything with counterspells.
Then again, Snap, Bolt, Remand, and Cryptic all feel good to me as well.
Spirits
After a year of trying desperately to make BW Tokens work (spoilers, it didn't), I started digging for new decks. I stumbled upon Skred Red in August and instantly fell in love. I was aware of the deck's presence before but forgot about it for a long time. As soon as I started playing it at FNM I just knew the deck had what it takes to win a GP. Lo and behold, it did just that!
There are other reasons I love Skred. For starters, it attacks the format on an axis that very few -- if any at all -- decks can do, and that's use the nature of the format against itself. Entire manabases can fall apart to Blood Moon. Most white decks can't deal with Stormbreath Dragon, although now Blessed Alliance exists to get around protection. Eternal Scourge is a pain in the butt for control decks, and main board Relic of Progenitus is just silly with Scourge. Skred (the card) is incredibly funny in the lategame. 1 mana, deal 12 damage? Sure, why not! It can even hit players if you target your own Boros Reckoner! Koth of the Hammer is insanely fun to play with as well, and his ultimate is actually reachable in the format! What's not to love? Sweet cards, a unique strategy, and snow-covered lands, all wrapped into one package!
Naturally, I would grow to admire a player such as Reid Duke. In addition to playing Jund/Abzan I ended up adopting his side deck RUG Midrange, which he did two video series on last year.
It's definitely not as potent but man is it fun Bolt Snap Bolting, flipping Huntmaster, and playing Cryptic.
David Ochoa: "Mono-bacon!..."