I have been working on this deck for a couple of weeks and I am getting some really explosive games from it. Initially I built it because I kept opening my binder and looking at Mystic Enforcer and thinking that there should be some place for it in Modern. It is the only true threshold card in Modern, so I built with the idea in mind.
The basic tenet of the deck is to fill the grave and protect it. Ground Seal is surprisingly good and even drawing extras late game is fine since it replaces itself. It won't stop Rest in Peace, but MD we have Abrupt Decay and can side in stuff when we would expect RiP. Korlash, Heir to Blackblade turns out to be a huge star in the deck since dropping it turn 3 with another in hand is such insane acceleration, and Knight of the Reliquary can fetch Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth for even bigger pumps. Mystic Enforcer is so easy to bring into play as a 6/6 with an early Grisly Salvage and Fetchlands, and those same fetchlands pump KotR. The synergies are really tight in this deck. Splinterfright is also a really great play since even if it never gets huge it is still feeding the yard and that trample is nothing to dismiss either. I could be old and slow, but I am finding this deck really challenging to play as a result of all the interactions too.
Now on to the SB. As I mentioned there are other cards that threaten the yard, so the deck has to have a really good SB. rickster_ suggested some of the anti-combo cards, and the others developed as I played.
Nature's Claim gives the deck more and faster outs vs RiP and Leyline of the Void. I also found that I really needed exile and increased creature removal in some matchups since Decay and Maw have restrictions, so Path to Exile was the obvious choice. I could have use Maelstrom Pulse, but Path just seemed to fit better.
Might be workable, but does a flying 6/6 that requires you have Threshold really cut it?
I'm not saying it has to be Nimble Mongoose before it can be considered for play, and it's nice that it has pro-black for the occasions where it counts, but something about it just isn't setting right with me.
...it's probably something to do with Scooze, but that should be covered by Ground Seal, right?
Mystic Enforcer was just a starting point, really, and it is the interconnectedness with the creatures that grow based on the graveyard that makes the deck something exciting to play. It is a win condition, not an ultimate weapon.
One thing I forgot to say last night is that I plan on finding a place for Nighthowler in the deck, though I'm not quite sure where.
I think a lot of people look at a list like mine and wonder why not just go for dredge and why don't I run Goyf. Goyf is a card I will probably never own, and I refuse to let that restrict me when I brew new decks. With regard to dredge, I just see it as too fragile and focused of a strategy for my taste. I don't want to run a sac package and cards that come back from the grave are not great synergy. I have Darkblast as a one of (along with Raven's Crime) as sort just another tool if I need it, but I don't want to devote resources to it. I also don't want to run blue.
Actually I was thinking more that you hike up your Fauna Shamans, run some Vengevines, and do something to give Shriekmaw company in the utility-dude department.
Nighthowler's actually kinda cute but that too kinda evokes "needs more dredge."
It'd be one thing if cycling lands were Modern legal, where you could possibly get insane value with a Life from the Loam engine powering your pseudo-Lhurgoyfs +/- giving Knight of the Reliquary a lot of value. But they're not, so there's only so much cute stuff that can be done.
It's nothing against the idea, it's just my optimization compulsion gnawing at me when I'm looking at the list, that there's something about it that could be better even though I'm consciously drawing blanks.
Actually I was thinking more that you hike up your Fauna Shamans, run some Vengevines, and do something to give Shriekmaw company in the utility-dude department.
That was an initial direction for the deck, since Bloodghast and Vengevine are two favorites of mine, curving into Splinterfright was working really well and it doesn't like it when creatures leave the graveyard. Ultimately I find it worked better if I went with more synergy.
Fauna Shaman itself is really at it's best in this deck when it is grabbing more Korlash and feeding Splinterfright at the same time.
Incidentally, I have a deck based around Vengevine and friends, but every time I update the thread it is actively ignored. I like playing it, but apparently it looks like weird garbage to everyone else. LOL.
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Fauna Shaman
3 Splinterfright
4 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Mystic Enforcer
4 Korlash, Heir to Blackblade
3 Shriekmaw
Other Spells 13
3 Grisly Salvage
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Ground Seal
1 Darkblast
1 Raven's Crime
2 Liliana of the Veil
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Tectonic Edge
3 Godless Shrine
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Marsh Flats
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Forest
The basic tenet of the deck is to fill the grave and protect it. Ground Seal is surprisingly good and even drawing extras late game is fine since it replaces itself. It won't stop Rest in Peace, but MD we have Abrupt Decay and can side in stuff when we would expect RiP. Korlash, Heir to Blackblade turns out to be a huge star in the deck since dropping it turn 3 with another in hand is such insane acceleration, and Knight of the Reliquary can fetch Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth for even bigger pumps. Mystic Enforcer is so easy to bring into play as a 6/6 with an early Grisly Salvage and Fetchlands, and those same fetchlands pump KotR. The synergies are really tight in this deck. Splinterfright is also a really great play since even if it never gets huge it is still feeding the yard and that trample is nothing to dismiss either. I could be old and slow, but I am finding this deck really challenging to play as a result of all the interactions too.
Now on to the SB. As I mentioned there are other cards that threaten the yard, so the deck has to have a really good SB. rickster_ suggested some of the anti-combo cards, and the others developed as I played.
2 Stony Silence
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
2 Nature's Claim
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Torpor Orb
Nature's Claim gives the deck more and faster outs vs RiP and Leyline of the Void. I also found that I really needed exile and increased creature removal in some matchups since Decay and Maw have restrictions, so Path to Exile was the obvious choice. I could have use Maelstrom Pulse, but Path just seemed to fit better.
Reprint Opt for Modern!!
FREE DIG THOROUGH TIME!
PLAY MORE ROUGE DECKS!
I'm not saying it has to be Nimble Mongoose before it can be considered for play, and it's nice that it has pro-black for the occasions where it counts, but something about it just isn't setting right with me.
...it's probably something to do with Scooze, but that should be covered by Ground Seal, right?
One thing I forgot to say last night is that I plan on finding a place for Nighthowler in the deck, though I'm not quite sure where.
I think a lot of people look at a list like mine and wonder why not just go for dredge and why don't I run Goyf. Goyf is a card I will probably never own, and I refuse to let that restrict me when I brew new decks. With regard to dredge, I just see it as too fragile and focused of a strategy for my taste. I don't want to run a sac package and cards that come back from the grave are not great synergy. I have Darkblast as a one of (along with Raven's Crime) as sort just another tool if I need it, but I don't want to devote resources to it. I also don't want to run blue.
Reprint Opt for Modern!!
FREE DIG THOROUGH TIME!
PLAY MORE ROUGE DECKS!
Nighthowler's actually kinda cute but that too kinda evokes "needs more dredge."
It'd be one thing if cycling lands were Modern legal, where you could possibly get insane value with a Life from the Loam engine powering your pseudo-Lhurgoyfs +/- giving Knight of the Reliquary a lot of value. But they're not, so there's only so much cute stuff that can be done.
It's nothing against the idea, it's just my optimization compulsion gnawing at me when I'm looking at the list, that there's something about it that could be better even though I'm consciously drawing blanks.
Fauna Shaman itself is really at it's best in this deck when it is grabbing more Korlash and feeding Splinterfright at the same time.
Incidentally, I have a deck based around Vengevine and friends, but every time I update the thread it is actively ignored. I like playing it, but apparently it looks like weird garbage to everyone else. LOL.
Reprint Opt for Modern!!
FREE DIG THOROUGH TIME!
PLAY MORE ROUGE DECKS!