At this point I'm 92% complete to optimal with my Abzan Company list in paper (waiting to see if I can find a good deal on some Noble Heirarch and Horizon Canopy). I'm normally a control player, but I love how interactive the deck is, and really enjoy being able to build a deck that has an answer to everything while still being proactive. Plus Collected Company feels SO GOOD to cast at instant speed, especially when you get a really good set of hits. I like the toolbox, I like the interactivity, I like the relatively deep decision trees.
I have never played competitively but recently became interested in Modern. After looking through most of the T1/T2 decks I decided on putting together the original flavour of Jund mainly because of Liliana of the Veil. It was the first Walker I saw when I got back in Magic just after ISD came out. Also, I wont get to play much in the physical and I feel like I can have a good 75 sleeved up and the deck should be pretty consistent and seems fairly well positioned in most meta's.
Right now I like 8 Rack just because I'm a control player, love mono black and Liliana. Nothing is more satisfying in MTG than completely shutting your opponent down and tightening the screws (The Rack). I also like a lot of the cards names: Raven's Crime, Collective Brutality, Shrieking Affliction, Wrench Mind. The names of the cards and how they work in the game really give me the visual of torturing your opponent, which is exactly what you are doing. Also, people that have never seen the deck usually tell me "Sick Deck" or "I've never been dominated that bad before" or "that wasn't much fun". All of which I take as a compliment...lol:smileup:
I have a tendency to ramble with these sort of things so I'll keep it as brief as I can.
Started out looking into modern in 2011-ish. Decks I felt were interesting and might get into were Affinity, BUG Infect and Storm. This was high school and at the time I didn’t have anyone to play modern with so I just kept watching the format as an outsider to see how things were shaping up for my decks. Come college in 2013, the circle of friends who played magic ended up having modern decks. It was a cool experience and I wanted in. I bought into storm because that’s what the master Jon Finkel said was the best deck. Can’t blame him. I played a budget-ish storm list for quite a bit of time and it was how I learned to play modern.
I haven’t even mentioned my favorite deck to play why does all of this even matter? This leads into what I’m playing right now actually. I found our over the coarse of playing modern is that I love playing cantrips. (I’ve wanted to play with Preordain in modern so bad I went as far as to put a copy of Glimmer of Genius in one of my decks). Storm introduced me to this concept. UR Delver was my next deck and twin soon after. As soon as Chapin broke out onto the scene with Grixis I saw a deck that had a unique playstyle that I could get behind. Something about the list stood out to me and fascinated me. I thought maybe it was because for the first time I had the means to finally buy into a control deck that wouldn’t break the bank. It turns out that subconsciously I just wanted to play with cantrips in a new way.
So that leads me to one of my favorite decks to play. If you didn’t take a glance at the decks I’m playing below, it’s Grixis Shadow. “Oh you’re one of those guys” is what you’re probably thinking. I actually took a break from Magic because Modern was actually getting kind of stale in my eyes. Infect was getting boring and Grixis/UR decks didn’t feel strong enough to compete with the format. Then I discovered a Grixis Delver list around March-ish with 4 Shadows in it. The deck raised an eyebrow and I finally had an excuse to sleeve up my 2 Shadows that I opened up from Worldwake packs bought on release day. Deck was an absolute blast but it felt off. Something about playing it didn’t sit right. It wasn’t until I added Street Wraith that the deck suddenly meshed well. More fuel for delve, easier shadows to turn on, more CANTRIPS. From there it’s been a blast and I haven’t had this much playing a deck like this in a while.
TLDR I play the best deck and I love it because it has cantrips. All the cantrips.
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Modern URBSome variant of Death's Shadow URB Grixis Control (Chapin Version) JFM Storm / Treasure Cruise Delver / Splinter Twin / Infect
I know that Ari Lax streamed it at SCG (which I didn't watch yet), but have you tested the UB Turns yet? Quadruple sleeves are necessary...
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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 know that Ari Lax streamed it at SCG (which I didn't watch yet), but have you tested the UB Turns yet? Quadruple sleeves are necessary...
No, it looks like a great list that covers some of the decks weaknesses very well but I'm sticking with Mono-U for now. I think with a little tweaking (Remand is pretty bad now) and some MB Chalices it will continue to kill. Plus I'd feel stupid quadruple sleeving a MP Tempest Time Warp (or anything else for that matter).
I know that Ari Lax streamed it at SCG (which I didn't watch yet), but have you tested the UB Turns yet? Quadruple sleeves are necessary...
No, it looks like a great list that covers some of the decks weaknesses very well but I'm sticking with Mono-U for now. I think with a little tweaking (Remand is pretty bad now) and some MB Chalices it will continue to kill. Plus I'd feel stupid quadruple sleeving a MP Tempest Time Warp (or anything else for that matter).
Lol.
I tried the UG Turns about a year or 2 ago after seeing a deck tech by 2 European players at a GP. Got a 4-1 and two 3-2s with it, Burn being the main problem. It's definitely a fun deck and giving me an itch to play it again. Damn you, Daniel Wong!!!
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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 dont know if I should be happy or sad, but there is still nothing but Turns that I enjoy. :]
It's sad.
You gotta move on. I played nothing but Control (in Standard) for 7-8 years straight. But I even moved on and learned to play Combo, Midrange, and a little bit of Aggro as well. I honestly thought I'd always be one of those "Control is better douchebag guys."
*Right now, Grishoalbrand is the deck I love the most of any deck in any format played right now. Yet, I often play many, many other decks. I probably only play Grishoalbrand around 33%-50 of the time.
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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 try others, but nothing seems to fit what I want to be doing. Burn, Affinity, Zoo, even Jund. Combo-Control is what I used to play (Twin) and just kept on playing.
I try others, but nothing seems to fit what I want to be doing. Burn, Affinity, Zoo, even Jund. Combo-Control is what I used to play (Twin) and just kept on playing.
I'm starting to play a Tezz variant and it's very cool, while nothing like Turns.
I love multiple lines of play and gaining incremental advantages until I can turn the corner and win. Control is literally a perfect fit, and UW does it best right now.
I play Grixis Shadow because Twin was banned, Probe was banned out of Delver, and there's no competitive URx shell playable in Modern other than Shadow, which is more of a black deck than URx anyway. It's still a fun deck, but lacks the chip shot or instant speed tempo plays usually associated with URx decks. It's either play this and have a good shot of winning, or play some other URx tempo deck and lose a lot.
I played probably 15 or so decks online before finally committing to get one in paper as my Magic budget is quite small. I went with Living End, partially because the deck was about $300 when getting the sub-optimal but functional land base.
But what I love about the deck is that it uses a completely broken and sideways strategy that is among the most powerful things to do in the format. And it is a fringe tier 2 deck so many players are not prepared for the matchup, allowing the deck to essentially be a one sided Wrath of God + Rise of the Dark Realms.
My first competitive match with the deck at an SCG IQ solidified my love for the deck. I faced an Elves player who dumped his hand by turn 3, while I had cycled three creatures. My turn 4 cycle + Demonic Dread was a clean 9 for 1.
What I further love about playing the deck is killing your lands. Yeah, I'm evil. I'll never forget that Amulet/Bloom player who played a Karoo land into my Fulminator Mage and I responded to the trigger by destroying it while making him then bounce his only other land.
I have a few basic principles I follow:
1. I am SUPER cheap. Only get to play online, and 5-6 tix is about what I'm willing to commit to a deck.
2. I'll only play decks I came up with myself (not saying they're unique works of art, just that I don't look at what other people do with similar decks)
To that end I have a mono-color modern deck for each color.
The other three have an additional principle that I didn't realize I was following until they were built:
3. I like to keep my stuff alive
To me, they fall somewhere between Aggro and Midrange, if such a thing exists, mainly because I include multiple cards in each to protect my things.
White - Ally tribal
Blue - Human tribal w/evasion
Green - Big snarling monsters
They all tend to run around 50%, which is a fine wins/ticket ratio.
I prefer playing zombies because it's resilient and fast. Also, because I started when this format banned every single brew I came up with and I think my zombies are safe.
I'm playing a homebrewed Grixis Moon-style deck. Spreading Seas, maindeck Blood Moon, and Stone Rain.
People play very greedy manabases in Modern. Even midrange or control decks are running as few as 2-3 basics total, not to mention the combo decks that need nonbasics to function (Scapeshift, Ad Naus, Tron). Because of that, mana denial feels like a very effective control strategy, and I think that Grixis is a good shell for it. I get to strip their hand of their early plays or sideboard outs and shut off or restrict their ability to play threats while playing my own.
And I get to play some of my favorite cards like Keranos, Rise//Fall, and Snapcaster Mage.
i play the Pyro-Prison deck from the deck-creation thread. Lots of Blood Moons, Chalices, and Ensnaring Bridges.
I guess I just love prison decks and the weird board states they create. The tension of 'will they topdeck the relevant removal (which in game 1 sometime just doesn't exist) or will they just lose to Chandra, Torch of Defiance'? And overall the deck has been good to me.
Plus I play a lot of EDH in a casual meta where prison is just not an option, good to get my kicks in this format
Interested in your Grixis deck there Fortunex, if you've got a list would be cool to see
I've had that happen on more than one occasion! Makes me wish I had another deck to lend out instead of Burn. Ah well, such is life.
UBRGDredge
Under Construction
WUBAd Nauseam
Modern: Jund
Right now I like 8 Rack just because I'm a control player, love mono black and Liliana. Nothing is more satisfying in MTG than completely shutting your opponent down and tightening the screws (The Rack). I also like a lot of the cards names: Raven's Crime, Collective Brutality, Shrieking Affliction, Wrench Mind. The names of the cards and how they work in the game really give me the visual of torturing your opponent, which is exactly what you are doing. Also, people that have never seen the deck usually tell me "Sick Deck" or "I've never been dominated that bad before" or "that wasn't much fun". All of which I take as a compliment...lol:smileup:
Twenty years ago when I discovered the game, I build and ran a mono G deck with Grizzly Bears/card], War Mammoths,Giant Spiders and Giant Growths
Twenty years later I bought a mono G werewolf deck after Eldrich Moon release when I came back into the game
Then a couple of months later I purchased a mono G stompy for modern, and I can't play anything else
Looks like the color chose me, and not the contrary ^^
U Deep Hours Obsession
Twenty years ago when I discovered the game, I build and ran a mono G deck with Grizzly Bears, War Mammoths, Giant Spiders and Giant Growths
Twenty years later I bought a mono G werewolf deck after Eldrich Moon release when I came back into the game
Then a couple of months later I purchased a mono G stompy for modern, and I can't play anything else
Looks like the color chose me, and not the contrary ^^
U Deep Hours Obsession
Started out looking into modern in 2011-ish. Decks I felt were interesting and might get into were Affinity, BUG Infect and Storm. This was high school and at the time I didn’t have anyone to play modern with so I just kept watching the format as an outsider to see how things were shaping up for my decks. Come college in 2013, the circle of friends who played magic ended up having modern decks. It was a cool experience and I wanted in. I bought into storm because that’s what the master Jon Finkel said was the best deck. Can’t blame him. I played a budget-ish storm list for quite a bit of time and it was how I learned to play modern.
I haven’t even mentioned my favorite deck to play why does all of this even matter? This leads into what I’m playing right now actually. I found our over the coarse of playing modern is that I love playing cantrips. (I’ve wanted to play with Preordain in modern so bad I went as far as to put a copy of Glimmer of Genius in one of my decks). Storm introduced me to this concept. UR Delver was my next deck and twin soon after. As soon as Chapin broke out onto the scene with Grixis I saw a deck that had a unique playstyle that I could get behind. Something about the list stood out to me and fascinated me. I thought maybe it was because for the first time I had the means to finally buy into a control deck that wouldn’t break the bank. It turns out that subconsciously I just wanted to play with cantrips in a new way.
So that leads me to one of my favorite decks to play. If you didn’t take a glance at the decks I’m playing below, it’s Grixis Shadow. “Oh you’re one of those guys” is what you’re probably thinking. I actually took a break from Magic because Modern was actually getting kind of stale in my eyes. Infect was getting boring and Grixis/UR decks didn’t feel strong enough to compete with the format. Then I discovered a Grixis Delver list around March-ish with 4 Shadows in it. The deck raised an eyebrow and I finally had an excuse to sleeve up my 2 Shadows that I opened up from Worldwake packs bought on release day. Deck was an absolute blast but it felt off. Something about playing it didn’t sit right. It wasn’t until I added Street Wraith that the deck suddenly meshed well. More fuel for delve, easier shadows to turn on, more CANTRIPS. From there it’s been a blast and I haven’t had this much playing a deck like this in a while.
TLDR I play the best deck and I love it because it has cantrips. All the cantrips.
URB Some variant of Death's Shadow
URB Grixis Control (Chapin Version)
JFM Storm / Treasure Cruise Delver / Splinter Twin / InfectCommander/EDH
This pile of cards when I feel like it
Death's Shadow discord link
Turns because...
Turns because...
Turns because...
You're dead.
I know that Ari Lax streamed it at SCG (which I didn't watch yet), but have you tested the UB Turns yet? Quadruple sleeves are necessary...
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)No, it looks like a great list that covers some of the decks weaknesses very well but I'm sticking with Mono-U for now. I think with a little tweaking (Remand is pretty bad now) and some MB Chalices it will continue to kill. Plus I'd feel stupid quadruple sleeving a MP Tempest Time Warp (or anything else for that matter).
Lol.
I tried the UG Turns about a year or 2 ago after seeing a deck tech by 2 European players at a GP. Got a 4-1 and two 3-2s with it, Burn being the main problem. It's definitely a fun deck and giving me an itch to play it again. Damn you, Daniel Wong!!!
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)Spirits
It's sad.
You gotta move on. I played nothing but Control (in Standard) for 7-8 years straight. But I even moved on and learned to play Combo, Midrange, and a little bit of Aggro as well. I honestly thought I'd always be one of those "Control is better douchebag guys."
*Right now, Grishoalbrand is the deck I love the most of any deck in any format played right now. Yet, I often play many, many other decks. I probably only play Grishoalbrand around 33%-50 of the time.
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)Spirits
I'm starting to play a Tezz variant and it's very cool, while nothing like Turns.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
And apparently I hate money.
But what I love about the deck is that it uses a completely broken and sideways strategy that is among the most powerful things to do in the format. And it is a fringe tier 2 deck so many players are not prepared for the matchup, allowing the deck to essentially be a one sided Wrath of God + Rise of the Dark Realms.
My first competitive match with the deck at an SCG IQ solidified my love for the deck. I faced an Elves player who dumped his hand by turn 3, while I had cycled three creatures. My turn 4 cycle + Demonic Dread was a clean 9 for 1.
What I further love about playing the deck is killing your lands. Yeah, I'm evil. I'll never forget that Amulet/Bloom player who played a Karoo land into my Fulminator Mage and I responded to the trigger by destroying it while making him then bounce his only other land.
RBGLiving EndRBG
EDH
UFblthpU
BRXantchaRB
BGVarolzGB
URWZedruuWRU
1. I am SUPER cheap. Only get to play online, and 5-6 tix is about what I'm willing to commit to a deck.
2. I'll only play decks I came up with myself (not saying they're unique works of art, just that I don't look at what other people do with similar decks)
To that end I have a mono-color modern deck for each color.
Red - Rareless Aggro-Combo (using the first real synergy I learned in the game with Chandra's Spitfire and Raid Bombardment)
Black - Control w/my one of my favorites (Haunting Echoes)
The other three have an additional principle that I didn't realize I was following until they were built:
3. I like to keep my stuff alive
To me, they fall somewhere between Aggro and Midrange, if such a thing exists, mainly because I include multiple cards in each to protect my things.
White - Ally tribal
Blue - Human tribal w/evasion
Green - Big snarling monsters
They all tend to run around 50%, which is a fine wins/ticket ratio.
Perfect fit->Normal->Penny Slip->Top loader?
On topic:
I prefer playing zombies because it's resilient and fast. Also, because I started when this format banned every single brew I came up with and I think my zombies are safe.
People play very greedy manabases in Modern. Even midrange or control decks are running as few as 2-3 basics total, not to mention the combo decks that need nonbasics to function (Scapeshift, Ad Naus, Tron). Because of that, mana denial feels like a very effective control strategy, and I think that Grixis is a good shell for it. I get to strip their hand of their early plays or sideboard outs and shut off or restrict their ability to play threats while playing my own.
And I get to play some of my favorite cards like Keranos, Rise//Fall, and Snapcaster Mage.
I guess I just love prison decks and the weird board states they create. The tension of 'will they topdeck the relevant removal (which in game 1 sometime just doesn't exist) or will they just lose to Chandra, Torch of Defiance'? And overall the deck has been good to me.
Plus I play a lot of EDH in a casual meta where prison is just not an option, good to get my kicks in this format
Interested in your Grixis deck there Fortunex, if you've got a list would be cool to see
Tymna & Ishai, ie Esper Edric
Crosis Turbotrash