Chaos Control is a WBR control deck that eschews card-draw and instead runs a large amount of removal spells to stall the game until it naturally draws its finishers.
Why play Chaos Control?
Chaos Control is able to go bigger than midrange decks without sacrificing strength against combo decks like other big mana decks such as Tron do. This means that it can destroy midrange without losing strength against decks like Splinter Twin. Chaos Control running more removal and stabilizers instead of card-draw and counterspells like traditional control decks makes it much stronger against threats that have already resolved and helps deal with aggro matchups a lot more than counterspells and card-draw would.
Card Choices
Lightning Bolt: Lightning Bolt has often been called the best card in Modern, and a lot of the time this is true. Most decks have targets for it, even Junk has Treetop Village and RG Tron has Karn Liberated (after exiling a permanent). Always play 4 unless if your meta doesn't have a lot of Jund, Junk, or Zoo (more about that under Burst Lightning).
Path to Exile: While Lightning Bolt might be the best card in Modern, Path to Exile can kill almost anything at any time, which makes it a lot stronger against BGx, Splinter Twin, RG Tron, Amulet Bloom, Grixis Control, and other bigger decks. Always play 4 unless if your meta is swamped with Burn.
Murderous Cut: Murderous Cut technically costs 5 mana, but it will almost always be 1-2 mana in this deck. Unfortunately, it often can't get cast before turn 3. It is a strong choice if you are expecting to cast multiple spells in the same turn, but if you are only casting 1 spell per turn the various 3 mana removal spells with upsides are better.
Dismember: Dismember technically is 3 mana, but it can be used as early as turn 1. However, the cost for using it for 1 mana is much greater than the cost for Murderous Cut. In a meta with aggro decks, paying 4 life could be devastating. I might run it over Murderous Cut in a meta without a lot of aggressive decks, but in an average meta I wouldn't play Dismember.
Burst Lightning: Lightning Bolt has created an interesting dichotomy in Modern. Because it is arguably the strongest card in the format, it has forced out all creatures that don't meet the Bolt Test (a 3+ mana creature either has to be immune to Bolt or get some value from entering the battlefield or dying to see play in Modern). This means that there are very few 3 toughness creatures in Modern, which is the entire point of running Lightning Bolt over something like Burst Lightning in a Control deck that doesn't need to burn its opponents directly. Burst Lightning can kill almost everything that Lightning Bolt can kill, but with the kicker it can also kill larger creatures like Restoration Angel, Deceiver Exarch, and Celestial Colonnade, as well as stopping Liliana of the Veil. However, there still are some relevant 3-toughness creatures in Modern, such as Olivia Voldaren, Treetop Village, Raging Ravine, and Wild Nacatl (as well as sometimes Karn Liberated). Because of this, I would only run Burst Lightning over Lightning Bolt or Lightning Helix in a meta with no Zoo and not a lot of Jund, RG Tron, and Junk.
Forked Bolt: While Forked Bolt is another possible alternative to Lightning Bolt in a meta with less BGx, Zoo, and Tron, being sorcery speed is a big downside. If your meta is saturated with Twin and Delver, then it could be worth it, but otherwise don't run this card.
Terminate: Terminate is not as good as some of the 1-mana spells at answering fast starts, but it comes with no downsides. It should always be a 3-4 of in the deck, depending on how important the instant speed is compared to the ability to answer planeswalkers (see Dreadbore).
Shriekmaw: If you are playing Kolaghan's Command, Shriekmaw is a sweet card. There is just so much value in it, especially since it can double as a finisher and Kolaghan's Command balances out its weaknesses against Affinity. Only play this if you are playing Kolaghan's Command, but if you are this should definitely be a 3-4 of.
Lightning Helix: Lightning Helix is one of the best cards that you can have against aggressive starts and is a very strong card. However, it comes with all of Lightning Bolt's downsides while costing 2 mana, so in metas where the lifegain isn't important I would play more hard removal over it.
Dreadbore: Planeswalkers are a big problem for this deck. Without a Lingering Souls or 2 burn spells at the ready, it is easy to just lose to Liliana of the Veil and Karn Liberated can just +4 to ignore most of what we can do to stop it. Dreadbore is more hard removal that provides an answer to some of this deck's biggest weaknesses. It usually conflicts with Terminate (or Lightning Helix in a meta without Aggro), so I would run 3-4, depending on how important answering planeswalkers is compared to instant speed.
Roast: While Roast is a lot worse than our other removal spells, if we want to run more colored mana-intensive spells and can't support getting red and black on turn 2, it is the best replacement for Terminate and Dreadbore possible.
Kolaghan's Command: Kolaghan's Command is a very strong card and has proven itself in RBx decks throughout Modern. In a version with more creatures, this is a very strong card, but some versions are too creature-light to run it. If you are running this, play Shriekmaw. Recurring removal while gaining extra value is very strong.
Crackling Doom: While 3 mana removal spells aren't great, Crackling Doom can definitely pull its worth. The incremental damage can add up and it usually will kill the creature that you want to be killed, However, it still costs 3 mana and doesn't always kill what you want to die. If you are going to run this, you should only run 1-2 copies.
Mardu Charm: Mardu Charm is a very versatile spell that helps us in situations that the rest of our deck isn't well-suited to answering. It can kill multiple small creatures that are overstretching our removal with the token generating ability, remove combo pieces and planeswalkers from opponents' hands, and will always be a strong removal spell, even though it doesn't hit Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Siege Rhino, and Gurmag Angler. If you are going to run a 3 mana removal spell, this is the most versatile option.
Hero's Downfall: If you are in a high-planeswalker meta (for example, lot's of BGx and Tron), you could play Hero's Downfall alongside Dreadbore. You should only run it if you are running 4 Dreadbores, but if you need even more answers to planeswalkers, Downfall is the best thing after them.
Utter End: Utter End is expensive, but it is a versatile answer to almost everything. It is a bit slow, but in metas with a lot of noncreature permanents and creatures like Kitchen Finks and Wurmcoil Engine, it is a perfect answer.
Pack Rat: While Pack Rat looks bad, it is a cheap threat that has to be killed immediately. If it isn't, your opponent will not be able to stop you from overwhelming them with rats outside of just killing you first or a sweeper. It gets even stronger in the mid-lategame, since once you hit 5 mana your opponents need to removal spells to kill it even on the turn it hits play. At 2 mana, it is also much stronger against countermagic than most of our threats, which makes Pack Rat a powerful option.
Gurmag Angler: Gurmag Angler usually costs around 1-3 mana for this deck and is a very strong creature. However, it doesn't help the deck stabilize other than by being a huge blocker and is very vulnerable to removal. It also competes with Murderous Cut if you are running it. But if you are looking for a cheap threat, this is the best there is out there for our deck.
Tombstalker: The same reasoning for Gurmag Angler applies here.
Lingering Souls: Lingering Souls is an amazing card. When you are being beat-down, it gives you time to stabilize. When you need attackers, it is an evasive threat. It should always be a 4-of.
Sorin, Solemn Visitor: Sorin has great synergy with Lingering Souls, and even on his own he is a reasonable threat. He also provides us with a chance against Burn maindeck instead of having to rely on the sideboard completely.
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad: This Sorin is a lot slower than Sorin 3.0 and has worse synergy with Lingering Souls, but if allowed to stay in play he can easily put the game out of reach for the opponent.
Elspeth, Knight-Errant: While Elspeth doesn't help with the Burn matchup like the Sorins do and isn't amazing with Lingering Souls, she is still a strong standalone threat that can't be stopped with removal and can hold off any one non-evasive threat indefinitely.
Hero of Bladehold: With the large amount of removal this deck has, the battlefield will usually be clear, and when it is Hero of Bladehold is the fastest clock you can get. However, she unfortunately doesn't help you stabilize if the game has gone badly and is merely a quick clock.
Ojutai Exemplars: Ojutai Exemplars is great at stabilzing, and with removal backup can provide a great clock. They also can avoid almost all removal. However, this requires that you have enough noncreature spells in hand to guarantee that they stay alive and can win creature combats. We unfortunately cannot always guarantee that, so Ojutai Exemplars is only good, not better than the other options.
Blood Baron of Vizkopa: Blood Baron of Vizkopa has protection from Modern. He has 4 toughness, so he dodges Lightning Bolt. He costs 5 mana, so he dodges Abrupt Decay. He has protection from white, so he dodges Path to Exile. He has protection from black, so he dodges Maelstrom Pulse, Dismember, and Terminate. The lifelink is a great way to stabilize. Almost every nongreen creature either is in the wrong colors to block it or doesn't have 4 power. It is essentially unblockable and unkillable, a Modern version of True-Name Nemesis. In any meta that has Path to Exile, Dismember, or Terminate, I would run 4.
Gideon Jura: Gideon Jura can easily stabilize the board. The turn you cast him he can Time Walk with the +2 if your opponent is swarming the battlefield. Or he can kill your opponent's biggest threat with the -2. And if he survives, he can just keep killing creatures and redirecting attacks until you've gained complete control. Or, he could just be a 6/6. He also is one of the few threats that can be cast safely against Splinter Twin because if he is countered they probably won't have the mana to go off, and if he resolves, you can activate the +2 to fog the infinite combo for a turn until you can kill the creature. However, since we already run a lot of removal, he will often be an overcosted 6/6. He can be great, but he can also be very mediocre.
Baneslayer Angel: While Baneslayer Angel is a great card, she does not shine in a removal-heavy format like Modern. She is better than Blood Baron of Vizkopa only if there are few white and black removal spells running around. If that is the case, then you should run her instead, but otherwise don't run Baneslayer Angel.
Batterskull: Batterskull doesn't have much to equip to in this deck, which makes it pretty bad against Tasigurs, Gurmag Anglers, and Siege Rhinos. In versions with more creatures or tokens he could possibly have a role, but otherwise stay away from Batterskull.
Stormbreath Dragon: Stormbreath Dragon is to 5-drops what Hero of Bladehold is to 4-drops. It isn't great at helping you stabilize, but it is a very fast clock that can destroy your opponents. Don't run it in metas with Terminate and Dismember, and be aware that topdecking this is not going to save you like topdecking a Baneslayer Angel, Blood Baron of Vizkopa, or Gideon Jura would have, but if you keep that in mind it is a very powerful threat.
Elspeth, Sun's Champion: While I am not a fan of 6-mana finishers, since we can run out of removal before we can cast them, Elspeth 3.0 is the best possible one. She can either build an army to hold off small creatures or kill all of the big ones, which is usually all that you will need. If you are going to run a 6 mana finishers, Elspeth is an excellent choice.
Grave Titan: Grave Titan is very similar to Elspeth, but more vulnerable to Terminate and Path to Exile. In a meta where you are more worried about creatures attacking Elspeth than you are about removal, this is an excellent choice.
Wurmcoil Engine: Like Elspeth, Wurmcoil Engine is a very powerful 6-drop that can easily take over the game, is immune to most removal, and is an excellent choice as an expensive finisher. However, if you see Path to Exiles in your meta, don't play Wurmcoil.
Runed Halo: Runed Halo is an excellent card. It can serve as a removal spell for creatures and solves some of our issues with combo decks. However, it is difficult to cast on turn 2, especially if you are running Terminate and Dreadbore. If you choose to run this, you should try to play Roasts instead of some of the Dreadbores and Terminates. As long as you can cast it, it is great.
Blood Moon: Blood Moon is usually avoided in 3-color decks, but we don't have any harsh color requirements, so we can easily play the amount of basics necessary to run it. It helps a lot against many of our worst matchups and is just a great card in general. However, in metas that have less RG Tron, Amulet Bloom, and Scapeshift, it should be avoided.
Ajani Vengeant: Ajani is a strong control tool, but he is a bit slow. He costs 4 mana, and can't remove creatures very regularly. His +1 keeps permanents locked down, but we aren't that into mana-denial, our removal should be able to kill almost all of their creatures, and there aren't many artifacts that we'd want to stop from untapping. He is decent, but not great.
Liliana of the Veil: Liliana is one of the most powerful cards in Modern. She is very strong with Lingering Souls and is a strong repeatable removal engine. Her +1 is also very strong against combo and control decks. Unfortunately, most decks will have more dead cards against us that they want to discard than we will, which means that her +1 isn't great in this deck. Still, she might be powerful enough that it doesn't matter.
Lavaclaw Reaches: There is only one 2-color manland in our colors, and it is unfortunately the worst one. However, we can easily keep the battlefield clear for it to attack. It is a lot worse than our other finishers and dies to most removal spells in the format, but it is a nice manasink if we don't draw one of our finishers. Don't run more than 3, since being stuck with multiple Lavaclaw Reaches is not great.
Ghost Quarter: This is better than Tectonic Edge in our deck because of our problems with Amulet Bloom and Tron. However, with Terminate and Dreadbore in the deck, colorless lands are risky. If there is enough Tron and Amulet in the meta, it is still worth running.
Vault of the Archangel: While Lingering Souls and the tokens produced by Sorin 2.0, Sorin 3.0, Elspeth 1.0, and Elspeth 3.0 are already great, they get even better if you add lifelink and deathtouch. However, the problems with colorless mana still apply here.
Kabira Crossroads: While Kabira Corssroads look bad, they are actually decent in a meta filled with Burn. Don't run them if you are running Lavaclaw Reaches.
Leyline of Sanctity: Our game 1 matchups against Burn, Scapeshift, and Storm are pretty bad. Leyline of Sanctity fixes all of these problems for us, and it does it for free. It also is a nice tool to side in against WUR Control because our deck becomes heavily favored if they can't burn us out.
Timely Reinforcements: The Burn matchup isn't just bad. It is near-unwinnable in game 1. Boarding in Timely Reinforcements is a nice way to help delay them until we can win.
Slaughter Games: The decks that are best against us in game 1 are creatureless combo decks, since we eschew discard spells in exchange for more removal. Slaughter Games completely changes that and can make it impossible for the opponent to win. It also can be used against RG Tron to exile Emrakuls and Karns.
Blood Moon: Blood Moon is strong against almost all of the decks that we are bad against (RG Tron, Scapeshift, Amulet Bloom, UWx Control). As long as we build our manabase to support it, it is an excellent sideboard card.
Magus of the Moon: Alternatively, one could run Magus of the Moon. Most decks board out their removal against us, so Blood Moon having a body is an upside. While it isn't a fast clock, any sort of pressure against Tron, Scapeshift, and Amulet before they draw their answers is very helpful. It also dodges enchantment destruction that is often preemptively brought in in fear of Blood Moon.
Hide // Seek: Hide // Seek is a powerful sideboard card against RG Tron as it can exile Emrakul and Eye of Ugin and easily kills Wurmcoil Engine. It also randomly hoses combo decks like Storm and Ad Nauseum and can be brought in against decks like Affinity, Bogles, and Amulet Bloom for the artifact and enchantment destruction.
Akroma, Angel of Fury: The games against UWx Control decks tend to go long. UW Control, WUR Control, and Esper Control all can't beat a resolved Akroma, and Akroma always resolves.
Spellskite: Bogles is probably one of our worst matchups, and Spellskite utterly destroys them. It also wrecks Infect and helps against Twin, Burn, and WUR Control.
Crackling Doom: This is the best possible card that we can have against Bogles. It also helps us burn out WUR Control as much as they burn out us.
Engineered Explosives: Engineered Explosives helps us against Bogles, destroys WB Tokens, and swings the Junk and Affinity matchups even more in our favor.
Fulminator Mage: While it doesn't have as high of an impact as other sideboard cards, Fulminator Mage helps a lot in delaying Scapeshift, Tron, and Amulet Bloom. It is especially good if you run Kolaghan's Command.
Leyline of the Void: Leyline of the Void improves the BGx matchups even more by making almost all of their threats useless, destroys Grixis Delver, and helps a lot against Living End and Dredgevine.
1) Liliana of the Veil. Wonderful against Combo and Boggles. I think she's worth trying in the deck in some number.
2) Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek. Again good against combo, and very strong against decks like Splinter Twin. I'd like to 2-4 of these in the and a few in the side. I love Slaughter Games but 4 feels like too many in my opinion.
3) Rending Volley Again for Twin. It'll never hurt to play 1-2 in the side.
4) Anger of the Gods and Wrath of God. I think running 1 - 3 sweepers in the main and an additional 1-2 in the side could be the way to go for this deck.
Those are some of the cards you didn't mention that I think we should look at. I think getting a bit of discard would really help the combo match-up, which is one we shouldn't ignore.
And I just want a deck where I can play 4 Blood Baron's again (Dega RTR-Theroes standard the dream) and an Elspeth Sun's Champion or 3. So I want to help this deck take off in any way I can!
1) Liliana of the Veil. Wonderful against Combo and Boggles. I think she's worth trying in the deck in some number.
Liliana is a bit iffy for me. She definitely is a strong card, but we will usually be discarding better cards than our opponents since we don't have many dead cards like lategame discard spells. I'll add a section about her to the primer.
2) Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek. Again good against combo, and very strong against decks like Splinter Twin. I'd like to 2-4 of these in the and a few in the side. I love Slaughter Games but 4 feels like too many in my opinion.
I actually have a reason for not running these. The reason why this deck is able to work without running mediocre card-draw spells is because almost all of its mid-lategame topdecks are excellent. For example, Terminate will be just as strong on turn 7 as on turn 2. When I was testing this deck, I found that, while Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize helped against combo, they made the deck a little too inconsistent. I could see them as sideboard cards, but they are less impactful than our other possible options.
3) Rending Volley Again for Twin. It'll never hurt to play 1-2 in the side.
I'm not that concerned about Twin. We have more answers than they have threats, and 10-11 pieces of removal that can kill a Deceiver Exarch on turn 3. We also can avoid most of their counterspells. By the time they can combo off with Mana Leak or Remand backup, we will have the mana to cast a removal spell and either pay 3 mana or pay again.
4) Anger of the Gods and Wrath of God. I think running 1 - 3 sweepers in the main and an additional 1-2 in the side could be the way to go for this deck.
Anger of the Gods could be a possible option if there is enough Abzan Company in a meta, but other than that I am not a fan of them. Our deck runs over 20 removal spells. There really aren't going to be a large amount if opposing creatures in play.
Those are some of the cards you didn't mention that I think we should look at. I think getting a bit of discard would really help the combo match-up, which is one we shouldn't ignore.
Thanks for the suggestions!
And I just want a deck where I can play 4 Blood Baron's again (Dega RTR-Theroes standard the dream) and an Elspeth Sun's Champion or 3. So I want to help this deck take off in any way I can!
You should really play it. Blood Baron is even sweeter in Modern than it was in Standard.
Have you tested Char for enemy Lilianas/Ajani Vengeants?
EdIT: NVM, Dreadbore takes care of them. I'm a fool.
As we were discussing, I was thinking of making a Dega control list, and I should have about 90% of these cards. I'll put the list together and take it to the next event.
Have you tested Char for enemy Lilianas/Ajani Vengeants?
EdIT: NVM, Dreadbore takes care of them. I'm a fool.
As we were discussing, I was thinking of making a Dega control list, and I should have about 90% of these cards. I'll put the list together and take it to the next event.
This idea looks interesting, to say the least. How well are you able to live off the top of your deck against discard heavy attrition strategies? That's one of the things that would concern me with this kind of deck. My philosophy towards beating discard heavy BGx is to go over the top with lots of card draw to make their discard seem silly, but that's something this deck obviously can't do, at least not without something like Phyrexian Arena or Outpost Siege.
This idea looks interesting, to say the least. How well are you able to live off the top of your deck against discard heavy attrition strategies? That's one of the things that would concern me with this kind of deck. My philosophy towards beating discard heavy BGx is to go over the top with lots of card draw to make their discard seem silly, but that's something this deck obviously can't do, at least not without something like Phyrexian Arena or Outpost Siege.
The nice thing about this deck is that if both players are topdecking, this deck has better topdecks than BGx. BGx will topdeck discard spells, useless removal spells, and weaker creatures. Chaos Control will only topdeck removal spells that are always live and threats that are near-impossible to 1-for-1.
Why would this be the deck to try him out? The OP's list has no way of filling up the yard or of ramping into it. Unless you plan on mixing things up a bit (by adding things like Liliana of the Veil and/or Faithless Looting), I really don't see why this would be a good home for Demigod of Revenge.
Why would this be the deck to try him out? The OP's list has no way of filling up the yard or of ramping into it. Unless you plan on mixing things up a bit (by adding things like Liliana of the Veil and/or Faithless Looting), I really don't see why this would be a good home for Demigod of Revenge.
The OP's list also has no way of ramping into BBoV or any of the planeswalkers, the idea of the deck is to just kill things to get it to the point where you can hard cast them.
While BBoV is able to dodge most removal, Demigod doesn't care about most of it anyway; if he gets countered? Guess he's going to come back next time. SLaughter Pacted? Again, he'll sit in the graveyard for me to find another one. He's a very.... persistent son of a *****.
The problem will be grave hate, but any grave hate used on him is card slots/mana that isn't coming after me or Sorin.
The mana cost may be an issue (at some combination of RRRRR or BBBBB), but an Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth or two will fix that issue.
You know, I've always wanted to play Demigod of Revenge in Modern, I think this is the deck to try him out in.
Demigod of Revenge is similar to Stormbreath Dragon and Hero of Bladehold since it is a threat that doesn't help you stabilize but kills very quickly. The question is, is the ability to return it from the graveyard to the battlefield and the extra point of power worth the warped manabase and the loss of monstrosity and protection from white compared to Stormbreath Dragon? I don't think it is.
Slaughter Pact used to be an amazing card in Modern, but it is very bad in a format with creatures like Olivia Voldaren, Siege Rhino, Tasigur, Dark Confidant, and Gurmag Angler. Dismember can kill everything in Modern other than Primeval Titan, so it is better. I'm not playing either though.
If Demigod was such a premier, go-to threat as a finisher, I think it would've found a home by now. It only seems worthwhile to me if you're abusing the recursion aspect of it, rather than just waiting for it to happen naturally. Even with slowing the game down via removal, modern is too fast a format for that.
And while removal is good in modern right now, I think this deck might be overdoing it. Plenty of decks floating around that don't care about one for one removal.
Final though, the Lingering Souls in the original list seems a little out of place to me. It's okay on offense and okay on defense. I don't think it's amazing at either. Starts to really shine when it has some deck synergy, like the other Sorin or Liliana or Intangible Virtue, but original list has none of that. It's better than something like Elspeth?
Does Boros Charm over some number of Dreadbore work here? Could be a more flexible answer for planeswalkers?
We don't have that many creatures to give double strike (and it can't even target Blood Baron) and we don't have many things that need indestructibility, so it isn't great.
If Demigod was such a premier, go-to threat as a finisher, I think it would've found a home by now. It only seems worthwhile to me if you're abusing the recursion aspect of it, rather than just waiting for it to happen naturally. Even with slowing the game down via removal, modern is too fast a format for that.
Agreed.
And while removal is good in modern right now, I think this deck might be overdoing it. Plenty of decks floating around that don't care about one for one removal.
Which decks don't care if you kill their best threat every turn? It seems like it is just Amulet Bloom and RG Tron.
Final though, the Lingering Souls in the original list seems a little out of place to me. It's okay on offense and okay on defense. I don't think it's amazing at either. Starts to really shine when it has some deck synergy, like the other Sorin or Liliana or Intangible Virtue, but original list has none of that. It's better than something like Elspeth?
Sorin 3.0 is pretty strong with Lingering Souls too.
You know, I've always wanted to play Demigod of Revenge in Modern, I think this is the deck to try him out in.
Demigod of Revenge is similar to Stormbreath Dragon and Hero of Bladehold since it is a threat that doesn't help you stabilize but kills very quickly. The question is, is the ability to return it from the graveyard to the battlefield and the extra point of power worth the warped manabase and the loss of monstrosity and protection from white compared to Stormbreath Dragon? I don't think it is.
If Demigod was such a premier, go-to threat as a finisher, I think it would've found a home by now. It only seems worthwhile to me if you're abusing the recursion aspect of it, rather than just waiting for it to happen naturally. Even with slowing the game down via removal, modern is too fast a format for that.
I dunno; if you're doing your job killing everything that hits the battlefield, then Demigod comes down swinging taking out a fourth of their life per turn, and when they do finally kill it, a second copy brings back the first; you aren't totally playing it for the recursion, but the recursion does make each one that much more potent of a clock. Since the deck is in it's infancy there really isn't a reason NOT to try it out at the very least.
Also, on the point of it "not having a home, so it can't be that good", the mana cost of kinda means you're playing it in a Rakdos deck first and foremost, of which we don't have. (We have BGr and URb, but no BRg or BRu for instance). It is currently in the Phyrexian Obliterator category of "Being really good, but doesn't have a home".
And while removal is good in modern right now, I think this deck might be overdoing it. Plenty of decks floating around that don't care about one for one removal.
Which decks don't care if you kill their best threat every turn? It seems like it is just Amulet Bloom and RG Tron.
I dunno, considering Bloom needs it's titans to survive in order to kill you via damage and we can Hide // Seek their Hive Mind away. In a more black based (Urborgerg) one we might even be able to run Sadistic Sacrament or even Slaughter games which doesn't even require the Urborg.
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Oath of the Gatewatch; the set that caused the competitive community to freak out over Basic Lands.
Decks that might not worry too much about your gameplan include:
Burn (although you've got that covered in your sideboard)
Boggles
G/r Tron
B/W/g Tokens
Scapeshift
Storm/Pyro Ascension
Decks playing Collected Company seem like they might be able to recover
Other control decks
Deck's playing persistent critters (Finks, Voice of Resurgence, Wurmcoil, Gravecrawler, Bloodghast, etc.) or value creatures (Solemn Simulacrum, Huntmaster, Restoration Angel, Siege Rhino, etc.)
I dunno. Modern just seems too diverse for a deck like this, but I will admit if ever a giant pile of removal and a few threats has a chance it is in the current metagame.
Decks that might not worry too much about your gameplan include:
Burn (although you've got that covered in your sideboard)
Boggles
G/r Tron
B/W/g Tokens
Scapeshift
Storm/Pyro Ascension
Decks playing Collected Company seem like they might be able to recover
Other control decks
Deck's playing persistent critters (Finks, Voice of Resurgence, Wurmcoil, Gravecrawler, Bloodghast, etc.) or value creatures (Solemn Simulacrum, Huntmaster, Restoration Angel, Siege Rhino, etc.)
I dunno. Modern just seems too diverse for a deck like this, but I will admit if ever a giant pile of removal and a few threats has a chance it is in the current metagame.
Burn: Covered in the sideboard
Bogles: There really is not much any control deck can do against this.
RG Tron: There is not really much that any fair deck can do against this.
WB Tokens: Sees almost no play
Scapeshift: Sees very little play, covered in the sideboard
Storm: Sees very little play, covered in the sideboard
Other control decks: They still win using creatures and we have more threats than they do
Collected Company/Recurring creatures/Value creatures: We can spend multiple removal spells easily and we can usually ignore the ETB effects of stuff like Siege Rhino until we land a finisher
Then I guess you'll be posting some 4-0 results shortly on MTGO, eh?
Unfortunately not, I'm running this in paper. Hopefully this will work as well as planned at the Chicago and Milwaukee Premier IQs and at PPTQs over the next few months.
*Edit* Any consideration for Young Pyromancer to give you some early game, non-removal action?
That could work. The only problem is that it doesn't work well if we draw it late since we aren't running cantrips to draw into more action. However, that reminds me that Pack Rat could work really well. Like Young Pyromancer, it is a strong early creature, but it is much more resilient to removal and is very strong in the late-game. It is also cheap enough to be effective against WUR Control and Twin's counterspells. Thoughts?
I feel like this deck will be a lot more viable when the RW and WB manlands show up. I've been playing a list similar to this and getting great results at the local modern tournaments.
UUU Merfolk UUU "Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR "The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
I feel like this deck will be a lot more viable when the RW and WB manlands show up. I've been playing a list similar to this and getting great results at the local modern tournaments.
Agreed. I think this deck is already viable, but if we got another 1-2 mana exile effect, a discard spell that wasn't a dead topdeck, a manland that survives Lightning Bolt, or a 1 mana edict like Innocent Blood this deck would be absurd.
What is Chaos Control?
Chaos Control is a WBR control deck that eschews card-draw and instead runs a large amount of removal spells to stall the game until it naturally draws its finishers.
Why play Chaos Control?
Chaos Control is able to go bigger than midrange decks without sacrificing strength against combo decks like other big mana decks such as Tron do. This means that it can destroy midrange without losing strength against decks like Splinter Twin. Chaos Control running more removal and stabilizers instead of card-draw and counterspells like traditional control decks makes it much stronger against threats that have already resolved and helps deal with aggro matchups a lot more than counterspells and card-draw would.
Card Choices
Lightning Bolt: Lightning Bolt has often been called the best card in Modern, and a lot of the time this is true. Most decks have targets for it, even Junk has Treetop Village and RG Tron has Karn Liberated (after exiling a permanent). Always play 4 unless if your meta doesn't have a lot of Jund, Junk, or Zoo (more about that under Burst Lightning).
Path to Exile: While Lightning Bolt might be the best card in Modern, Path to Exile can kill almost anything at any time, which makes it a lot stronger against BGx, Splinter Twin, RG Tron, Amulet Bloom, Grixis Control, and other bigger decks. Always play 4 unless if your meta is swamped with Burn.
Murderous Cut: Murderous Cut technically costs 5 mana, but it will almost always be 1-2 mana in this deck. Unfortunately, it often can't get cast before turn 3. It is a strong choice if you are expecting to cast multiple spells in the same turn, but if you are only casting 1 spell per turn the various 3 mana removal spells with upsides are better.
Dismember: Dismember technically is 3 mana, but it can be used as early as turn 1. However, the cost for using it for 1 mana is much greater than the cost for Murderous Cut. In a meta with aggro decks, paying 4 life could be devastating. I might run it over Murderous Cut in a meta without a lot of aggressive decks, but in an average meta I wouldn't play Dismember.
Burst Lightning: Lightning Bolt has created an interesting dichotomy in Modern. Because it is arguably the strongest card in the format, it has forced out all creatures that don't meet the Bolt Test (a 3+ mana creature either has to be immune to Bolt or get some value from entering the battlefield or dying to see play in Modern). This means that there are very few 3 toughness creatures in Modern, which is the entire point of running Lightning Bolt over something like Burst Lightning in a Control deck that doesn't need to burn its opponents directly. Burst Lightning can kill almost everything that Lightning Bolt can kill, but with the kicker it can also kill larger creatures like Restoration Angel, Deceiver Exarch, and Celestial Colonnade, as well as stopping Liliana of the Veil. However, there still are some relevant 3-toughness creatures in Modern, such as Olivia Voldaren, Treetop Village, Raging Ravine, and Wild Nacatl (as well as sometimes Karn Liberated). Because of this, I would only run Burst Lightning over Lightning Bolt or Lightning Helix in a meta with no Zoo and not a lot of Jund, RG Tron, and Junk.
Forked Bolt: While Forked Bolt is another possible alternative to Lightning Bolt in a meta with less BGx, Zoo, and Tron, being sorcery speed is a big downside. If your meta is saturated with Twin and Delver, then it could be worth it, but otherwise don't run this card.
Terminate: Terminate is not as good as some of the 1-mana spells at answering fast starts, but it comes with no downsides. It should always be a 3-4 of in the deck, depending on how important the instant speed is compared to the ability to answer planeswalkers (see Dreadbore).
Shriekmaw: If you are playing Kolaghan's Command, Shriekmaw is a sweet card. There is just so much value in it, especially since it can double as a finisher and Kolaghan's Command balances out its weaknesses against Affinity. Only play this if you are playing Kolaghan's Command, but if you are this should definitely be a 3-4 of.
Lightning Helix: Lightning Helix is one of the best cards that you can have against aggressive starts and is a very strong card. However, it comes with all of Lightning Bolt's downsides while costing 2 mana, so in metas where the lifegain isn't important I would play more hard removal over it.
Dreadbore: Planeswalkers are a big problem for this deck. Without a Lingering Souls or 2 burn spells at the ready, it is easy to just lose to Liliana of the Veil and Karn Liberated can just +4 to ignore most of what we can do to stop it. Dreadbore is more hard removal that provides an answer to some of this deck's biggest weaknesses. It usually conflicts with Terminate (or Lightning Helix in a meta without Aggro), so I would run 3-4, depending on how important answering planeswalkers is compared to instant speed.
Roast: While Roast is a lot worse than our other removal spells, if we want to run more colored mana-intensive spells and can't support getting red and black on turn 2, it is the best replacement for Terminate and Dreadbore possible.
Kolaghan's Command: Kolaghan's Command is a very strong card and has proven itself in RBx decks throughout Modern. In a version with more creatures, this is a very strong card, but some versions are too creature-light to run it. If you are running this, play Shriekmaw. Recurring removal while gaining extra value is very strong.
Crackling Doom: While 3 mana removal spells aren't great, Crackling Doom can definitely pull its worth. The incremental damage can add up and it usually will kill the creature that you want to be killed, However, it still costs 3 mana and doesn't always kill what you want to die. If you are going to run this, you should only run 1-2 copies.
Mardu Charm: Mardu Charm is a very versatile spell that helps us in situations that the rest of our deck isn't well-suited to answering. It can kill multiple small creatures that are overstretching our removal with the token generating ability, remove combo pieces and planeswalkers from opponents' hands, and will always be a strong removal spell, even though it doesn't hit Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Siege Rhino, and Gurmag Angler. If you are going to run a 3 mana removal spell, this is the most versatile option.
Hero's Downfall: If you are in a high-planeswalker meta (for example, lot's of BGx and Tron), you could play Hero's Downfall alongside Dreadbore. You should only run it if you are running 4 Dreadbores, but if you need even more answers to planeswalkers, Downfall is the best thing after them.
Utter End: Utter End is expensive, but it is a versatile answer to almost everything. It is a bit slow, but in metas with a lot of noncreature permanents and creatures like Kitchen Finks and Wurmcoil Engine, it is a perfect answer.
Pack Rat: While Pack Rat looks bad, it is a cheap threat that has to be killed immediately. If it isn't, your opponent will not be able to stop you from overwhelming them with rats outside of just killing you first or a sweeper. It gets even stronger in the mid-lategame, since once you hit 5 mana your opponents need to removal spells to kill it even on the turn it hits play. At 2 mana, it is also much stronger against countermagic than most of our threats, which makes Pack Rat a powerful option.
Gurmag Angler: Gurmag Angler usually costs around 1-3 mana for this deck and is a very strong creature. However, it doesn't help the deck stabilize other than by being a huge blocker and is very vulnerable to removal. It also competes with Murderous Cut if you are running it. But if you are looking for a cheap threat, this is the best there is out there for our deck.
Tombstalker: The same reasoning for Gurmag Angler applies here.
Lingering Souls: Lingering Souls is an amazing card. When you are being beat-down, it gives you time to stabilize. When you need attackers, it is an evasive threat. It should always be a 4-of.
Sorin, Solemn Visitor: Sorin has great synergy with Lingering Souls, and even on his own he is a reasonable threat. He also provides us with a chance against Burn maindeck instead of having to rely on the sideboard completely.
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad: This Sorin is a lot slower than Sorin 3.0 and has worse synergy with Lingering Souls, but if allowed to stay in play he can easily put the game out of reach for the opponent.
Elspeth, Knight-Errant: While Elspeth doesn't help with the Burn matchup like the Sorins do and isn't amazing with Lingering Souls, she is still a strong standalone threat that can't be stopped with removal and can hold off any one non-evasive threat indefinitely.
Hero of Bladehold: With the large amount of removal this deck has, the battlefield will usually be clear, and when it is Hero of Bladehold is the fastest clock you can get. However, she unfortunately doesn't help you stabilize if the game has gone badly and is merely a quick clock.
Ojutai Exemplars: Ojutai Exemplars is great at stabilzing, and with removal backup can provide a great clock. They also can avoid almost all removal. However, this requires that you have enough noncreature spells in hand to guarantee that they stay alive and can win creature combats. We unfortunately cannot always guarantee that, so Ojutai Exemplars is only good, not better than the other options.
Blood Baron of Vizkopa: Blood Baron of Vizkopa has protection from Modern. He has 4 toughness, so he dodges Lightning Bolt. He costs 5 mana, so he dodges Abrupt Decay. He has protection from white, so he dodges Path to Exile. He has protection from black, so he dodges Maelstrom Pulse, Dismember, and Terminate. The lifelink is a great way to stabilize. Almost every nongreen creature either is in the wrong colors to block it or doesn't have 4 power. It is essentially unblockable and unkillable, a Modern version of True-Name Nemesis. In any meta that has Path to Exile, Dismember, or Terminate, I would run 4.
Gideon Jura: Gideon Jura can easily stabilize the board. The turn you cast him he can Time Walk with the +2 if your opponent is swarming the battlefield. Or he can kill your opponent's biggest threat with the -2. And if he survives, he can just keep killing creatures and redirecting attacks until you've gained complete control. Or, he could just be a 6/6. He also is one of the few threats that can be cast safely against Splinter Twin because if he is countered they probably won't have the mana to go off, and if he resolves, you can activate the +2 to fog the infinite combo for a turn until you can kill the creature. However, since we already run a lot of removal, he will often be an overcosted 6/6. He can be great, but he can also be very mediocre.
Baneslayer Angel: While Baneslayer Angel is a great card, she does not shine in a removal-heavy format like Modern. She is better than Blood Baron of Vizkopa only if there are few white and black removal spells running around. If that is the case, then you should run her instead, but otherwise don't run Baneslayer Angel.
Batterskull: Batterskull doesn't have much to equip to in this deck, which makes it pretty bad against Tasigurs, Gurmag Anglers, and Siege Rhinos. In versions with more creatures or tokens he could possibly have a role, but otherwise stay away from Batterskull.
Stormbreath Dragon: Stormbreath Dragon is to 5-drops what Hero of Bladehold is to 4-drops. It isn't great at helping you stabilize, but it is a very fast clock that can destroy your opponents. Don't run it in metas with Terminate and Dismember, and be aware that topdecking this is not going to save you like topdecking a Baneslayer Angel, Blood Baron of Vizkopa, or Gideon Jura would have, but if you keep that in mind it is a very powerful threat.
Elspeth, Sun's Champion: While I am not a fan of 6-mana finishers, since we can run out of removal before we can cast them, Elspeth 3.0 is the best possible one. She can either build an army to hold off small creatures or kill all of the big ones, which is usually all that you will need. If you are going to run a 6 mana finishers, Elspeth is an excellent choice.
Grave Titan: Grave Titan is very similar to Elspeth, but more vulnerable to Terminate and Path to Exile. In a meta where you are more worried about creatures attacking Elspeth than you are about removal, this is an excellent choice.
Wurmcoil Engine: Like Elspeth, Wurmcoil Engine is a very powerful 6-drop that can easily take over the game, is immune to most removal, and is an excellent choice as an expensive finisher. However, if you see Path to Exiles in your meta, don't play Wurmcoil.
Runed Halo: Runed Halo is an excellent card. It can serve as a removal spell for creatures and solves some of our issues with combo decks. However, it is difficult to cast on turn 2, especially if you are running Terminate and Dreadbore. If you choose to run this, you should try to play Roasts instead of some of the Dreadbores and Terminates. As long as you can cast it, it is great.
Blood Moon: Blood Moon is usually avoided in 3-color decks, but we don't have any harsh color requirements, so we can easily play the amount of basics necessary to run it. It helps a lot against many of our worst matchups and is just a great card in general. However, in metas that have less RG Tron, Amulet Bloom, and Scapeshift, it should be avoided.
Ajani Vengeant: Ajani is a strong control tool, but he is a bit slow. He costs 4 mana, and can't remove creatures very regularly. His +1 keeps permanents locked down, but we aren't that into mana-denial, our removal should be able to kill almost all of their creatures, and there aren't many artifacts that we'd want to stop from untapping. He is decent, but not great.
Liliana of the Veil: Liliana is one of the most powerful cards in Modern. She is very strong with Lingering Souls and is a strong repeatable removal engine. Her +1 is also very strong against combo and control decks. Unfortunately, most decks will have more dead cards against us that they want to discard than we will, which means that her +1 isn't great in this deck. Still, she might be powerful enough that it doesn't matter.
Lavaclaw Reaches: There is only one 2-color manland in our colors, and it is unfortunately the worst one. However, we can easily keep the battlefield clear for it to attack. It is a lot worse than our other finishers and dies to most removal spells in the format, but it is a nice manasink if we don't draw one of our finishers. Don't run more than 3, since being stuck with multiple Lavaclaw Reaches is not great.
Ghost Quarter: This is better than Tectonic Edge in our deck because of our problems with Amulet Bloom and Tron. However, with Terminate and Dreadbore in the deck, colorless lands are risky. If there is enough Tron and Amulet in the meta, it is still worth running.
Vault of the Archangel: While Lingering Souls and the tokens produced by Sorin 2.0, Sorin 3.0, Elspeth 1.0, and Elspeth 3.0 are already great, they get even better if you add lifelink and deathtouch. However, the problems with colorless mana still apply here.
Kabira Crossroads: While Kabira Corssroads look bad, they are actually decent in a meta filled with Burn. Don't run them if you are running Lavaclaw Reaches.
Leyline of Sanctity: Our game 1 matchups against Burn, Scapeshift, and Storm are pretty bad. Leyline of Sanctity fixes all of these problems for us, and it does it for free. It also is a nice tool to side in against WUR Control because our deck becomes heavily favored if they can't burn us out.
Timely Reinforcements: The Burn matchup isn't just bad. It is near-unwinnable in game 1. Boarding in Timely Reinforcements is a nice way to help delay them until we can win.
Slaughter Games: The decks that are best against us in game 1 are creatureless combo decks, since we eschew discard spells in exchange for more removal. Slaughter Games completely changes that and can make it impossible for the opponent to win. It also can be used against RG Tron to exile Emrakuls and Karns.
Blood Moon: Blood Moon is strong against almost all of the decks that we are bad against (RG Tron, Scapeshift, Amulet Bloom, UWx Control). As long as we build our manabase to support it, it is an excellent sideboard card.
Magus of the Moon: Alternatively, one could run Magus of the Moon. Most decks board out their removal against us, so Blood Moon having a body is an upside. While it isn't a fast clock, any sort of pressure against Tron, Scapeshift, and Amulet before they draw their answers is very helpful. It also dodges enchantment destruction that is often preemptively brought in in fear of Blood Moon.
Hide // Seek: Hide // Seek is a powerful sideboard card against RG Tron as it can exile Emrakul and Eye of Ugin and easily kills Wurmcoil Engine. It also randomly hoses combo decks like Storm and Ad Nauseum and can be brought in against decks like Affinity, Bogles, and Amulet Bloom for the artifact and enchantment destruction.
Akroma, Angel of Fury: The games against UWx Control decks tend to go long. UW Control, WUR Control, and Esper Control all can't beat a resolved Akroma, and Akroma always resolves.
Spellskite: Bogles is probably one of our worst matchups, and Spellskite utterly destroys them. It also wrecks Infect and helps against Twin, Burn, and WUR Control.
Crackling Doom: This is the best possible card that we can have against Bogles. It also helps us burn out WUR Control as much as they burn out us.
Engineered Explosives: Engineered Explosives helps us against Bogles, destroys WB Tokens, and swings the Junk and Affinity matchups even more in our favor.
Fulminator Mage: While it doesn't have as high of an impact as other sideboard cards, Fulminator Mage helps a lot in delaying Scapeshift, Tron, and Amulet Bloom. It is especially good if you run Kolaghan's Command.
Leyline of the Void: Leyline of the Void improves the BGx matchups even more by making almost all of their threats useless, destroys Grixis Delver, and helps a lot against Living End and Dredgevine.
Decklists
Chaos Control
4 Pack Rat
1 Wurmcoil Engine
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lighnting Helix
2 Mardu Charm
4 Path to Exile
4 Terminate
4 Lingering Souls
4 Dreadbore
2 Arid Mesa
2 Blood Crypt
3 Bloodstained Mire
2 Godless Shrine
3 Lavaclaw Reaches
3 Marsh Flats
1 Mountain
4 Plains
2 Sacred Foundry
3 Swamp
4 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Hide // Seek
4 Slaughter Games
4 Timely Reinforcements
Chaos Control (Command Version)
4 Pack Rat
3 Shriekmaw
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Kolaghan's Command
4 Path to Exile
4 Terminate
4 Lingering Souls
4 Dreadbore
2 Arid Mesa
2 Blood Crypt
3 Bloodstained Mire
2 Godless Shrine
3 Lavaclaw Reaches
3 Marsh Flats
1 Mountain
4 Plains
2 Sacred Foundry
3 Swamp
4 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Hide // Seek
4 Slaughter Games
4 Timely Reinforcements
Matchups
Coming soon!
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Cards I think need to be considered:
1) Liliana of the Veil. Wonderful against Combo and Boggles. I think she's worth trying in the deck in some number.
2) Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek. Again good against combo, and very strong against decks like Splinter Twin. I'd like to 2-4 of these in the and a few in the side. I love Slaughter Games but 4 feels like too many in my opinion.
3) Rending Volley Again for Twin. It'll never hurt to play 1-2 in the side.
4) Anger of the Gods and Wrath of God. I think running 1 - 3 sweepers in the main and an additional 1-2 in the side could be the way to go for this deck.
Those are some of the cards you didn't mention that I think we should look at. I think getting a bit of discard would really help the combo match-up, which is one we shouldn't ignore.
And I just want a deck where I can play 4 Blood Baron's again (Dega RTR-Theroes standard the dream) and an Elspeth Sun's Champion or 3. So I want to help this deck take off in any way I can!
Modern - GB Elves, UW Ojutai Control
Legacy - BWG Junk Stoneblade
Gay and Proud
#MakeAmericaGreatAgain
Liliana is a bit iffy for me. She definitely is a strong card, but we will usually be discarding better cards than our opponents since we don't have many dead cards like lategame discard spells. I'll add a section about her to the primer.
I actually have a reason for not running these. The reason why this deck is able to work without running mediocre card-draw spells is because almost all of its mid-lategame topdecks are excellent. For example, Terminate will be just as strong on turn 7 as on turn 2. When I was testing this deck, I found that, while Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize helped against combo, they made the deck a little too inconsistent. I could see them as sideboard cards, but they are less impactful than our other possible options.
I'm not that concerned about Twin. We have more answers than they have threats, and 10-11 pieces of removal that can kill a Deceiver Exarch on turn 3. We also can avoid most of their counterspells. By the time they can combo off with Mana Leak or Remand backup, we will have the mana to cast a removal spell and either pay 3 mana or pay again.
Anger of the Gods could be a possible option if there is enough Abzan Company in a meta, but other than that I am not a fan of them. Our deck runs over 20 removal spells. There really aren't going to be a large amount if opposing creatures in play.
Thanks for the suggestions!
You should really play it. Blood Baron is even sweeter in Modern than it was in Standard.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
EdIT: NVM, Dreadbore takes care of them. I'm a fool.
As we were discussing, I was thinking of making a Dega control list, and I should have about 90% of these cards. I'll put the list together and take it to the next event.
Good luck!
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
The nice thing about this deck is that if both players are topdecking, this deck has better topdecks than BGx. BGx will topdeck discard spells, useless removal spells, and weaker creatures. Chaos Control will only topdeck removal spells that are always live and threats that are near-impossible to 1-for-1.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
I like the fact that there are no Liliana of the Veil, Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek: the black splash can be used for useful cards other than hand disruption.
Cheers!
Aggro: Naya Burn RWG
Combo: Scapeshift RG
Control: Jeskai Control UWR
Legacy
Control: Miracles UW
Aggro: Burn R
If you can get the cards, I would definitely play this deck. It is super sweet.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
The OP's list also has no way of ramping into BBoV or any of the planeswalkers, the idea of the deck is to just kill things to get it to the point where you can hard cast them.
While BBoV is able to dodge most removal, Demigod doesn't care about most of it anyway; if he gets countered? Guess he's going to come back next time. SLaughter Pacted? Again, he'll sit in the graveyard for me to find another one. He's a very.... persistent son of a *****.
The problem will be grave hate, but any grave hate used on him is card slots/mana that isn't coming after me or Sorin.
The mana cost may be an issue (at some combination of RRRRR or BBBBB), but an Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth or two will fix that issue.
Val, why play Dismember over Slaughter pact?
Demigod of Revenge is similar to Stormbreath Dragon and Hero of Bladehold since it is a threat that doesn't help you stabilize but kills very quickly. The question is, is the ability to return it from the graveyard to the battlefield and the extra point of power worth the warped manabase and the loss of monstrosity and protection from white compared to Stormbreath Dragon? I don't think it is.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Slaughter Pact used to be an amazing card in Modern, but it is very bad in a format with creatures like Olivia Voldaren, Siege Rhino, Tasigur, Dark Confidant, and Gurmag Angler. Dismember can kill everything in Modern other than Primeval Titan, so it is better. I'm not playing either though.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
KnightfallGWUR
Azorius Control UW
Burn RBG
And while removal is good in modern right now, I think this deck might be overdoing it. Plenty of decks floating around that don't care about one for one removal.
Final though, the Lingering Souls in the original list seems a little out of place to me. It's okay on offense and okay on defense. I don't think it's amazing at either. Starts to really shine when it has some deck synergy, like the other Sorin or Liliana or Intangible Virtue, but original list has none of that. It's better than something like Elspeth?
We don't have that many creatures to give double strike (and it can't even target Blood Baron) and we don't have many things that need indestructibility, so it isn't great.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Agreed.
Which decks don't care if you kill their best threat every turn? It seems like it is just Amulet Bloom and RG Tron.
Sorin 3.0 is pretty strong with Lingering Souls too.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
I dunno; if you're doing your job killing everything that hits the battlefield, then Demigod comes down swinging taking out a fourth of their life per turn, and when they do finally kill it, a second copy brings back the first; you aren't totally playing it for the recursion, but the recursion does make each one that much more potent of a clock. Since the deck is in it's infancy there really isn't a reason NOT to try it out at the very least.
Also, on the point of it "not having a home, so it can't be that good", the mana cost of kinda means you're playing it in a Rakdos deck first and foremost, of which we don't have. (We have BGr and URb, but no BRg or BRu for instance). It is currently in the Phyrexian Obliterator category of "Being really good, but doesn't have a home".
I dunno, considering Bloom needs it's titans to survive in order to kill you via damage and we can Hide // Seek their Hive Mind away. In a more black based (Urborgerg) one we might even be able to run Sadistic Sacrament or even Slaughter games which doesn't even require the Urborg.
Decks that might not worry too much about your gameplan include:
Burn (although you've got that covered in your sideboard)
Boggles
G/r Tron
B/W/g Tokens
Scapeshift
Storm/Pyro Ascension
Decks playing Collected Company seem like they might be able to recover
Other control decks
Deck's playing persistent critters (Finks, Voice of Resurgence, Wurmcoil, Gravecrawler, Bloodghast, etc.) or value creatures (Solemn Simulacrum, Huntmaster, Restoration Angel, Siege Rhino, etc.)
I dunno. Modern just seems too diverse for a deck like this, but I will admit if ever a giant pile of removal and a few threats has a chance it is in the current metagame.
Burn: Covered in the sideboard
Bogles: There really is not much any control deck can do against this.
RG Tron: There is not really much that any fair deck can do against this.
WB Tokens: Sees almost no play
Scapeshift: Sees very little play, covered in the sideboard
Storm: Sees very little play, covered in the sideboard
Other control decks: They still win using creatures and we have more threats than they do
Collected Company/Recurring creatures/Value creatures: We can spend multiple removal spells easily and we can usually ignore the ETB effects of stuff like Siege Rhino until we land a finisher
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
*Edit* Any consideration for Young Pyromancer to give you some early game, non-removal action?
Unfortunately not, I'm running this in paper. Hopefully this will work as well as planned at the Chicago and Milwaukee Premier IQs and at PPTQs over the next few months.
That could work. The only problem is that it doesn't work well if we draw it late since we aren't running cantrips to draw into more action. However, that reminds me that Pack Rat could work really well. Like Young Pyromancer, it is a strong early creature, but it is much more resilient to removal and is very strong in the late-game. It is also cheap enough to be effective against WUR Control and Twin's counterspells. Thoughts?
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Crackling Doom is such a great card.
Level 2 in progress...
UUU Merfolk UUU
"Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR
"The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
Agreed. I think this deck is already viable, but if we got another 1-2 mana exile effect, a discard spell that wasn't a dead topdeck, a manland that survives Lightning Bolt, or a 1 mana edict like Innocent Blood this deck would be absurd.
Also, can you post your list?
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.