MTG Salvation

I think you're right. It's positioned pretty well in the current meta.

Bloodmoon is still very solid, especially with the 'canopy-lands' nowadays. And therefore line up pretty well against humans, jund, UW control etc.
Anger and Relics fight most of the graveyard decks. Although, some are too fast for us (Hogaak).
The burn and Phoenix matchups are a bit more problematic. But some Dragon's Claw really helps

The problem in the current meta is Force of Negation. Most of our threats and hate cards, could be countered out of nowhere.
Therefore I still play 2 Stormbreath Dragon and a Hazoret in stead of the 4th Koth.

In my opinion it's one of the most impactful cards from my sideboard.
Oppononents will almost always board out their creature removal. A resolved Scab-Clan Berserker is game changing, because they can't interact with it.

For Tron I'll have bloodmoon, pillage and sorcerous spyglass as hate. And hazoret, koth and stormbreath as tempo plays.
For combo I'll have Spyglass. And yes, this doesn't shut down all the combo. But hey, you can't win everything

So I did some additional playtesting this week and watched a lot of youtube-skred.
I’m on this list now:



I think it’s pretty competative. I’m not gonna write a full report, but these were (in short) the friendly and FNM matches I played last week:

- Grixis Death Shadow: lost 1-2. I only saw 1 Bloodmoon and 1 Relic in 3 matches. A bit unlucky. Gurmag angler is a problem for Skred. Hard to deal with. Overall: matchup does feel pretty ok, but you need a bloodmoon or relic.
- Golgari Vampires: won 2-0. Skred is resilient against a lot of removal. But multiple Assassin's Trophy were a bit of a problem. Nevertheless I could resolve some late game Koth and Stormbreath for the win.
- Blue Faerie / Sky Hussar deck: 1-1. he play’s a LOT of counterspells. Force of negation Flusterstorm, combined with Faerie control. Normally, blue control matchup’s are good for us. But this was a bit too much. Although Eternal Scourge almost won me game 1. In game 2 the opponent made a mistake and I got a free Koth emblem for the win. Overall: bad matchup for us.
- Urza Thopter: lost 0-2. Very bad matchup. I left my Vandalblast at home. Which I regretted. Played a Spyglass on his Thopter Foundry. But it got killed in the end. Lost to the combo twice.
- Merfolk: lost 1-2. Very close games. Bloodmoon did surprisingly a lot of work, but Aether Vial kept them in the game. We traded a lot of 1 for 1 resources and got into topdeck modus. I drew 6 lands in a row... game over. Overall: before Force of negation this matchup was favoured. Now it’s more 50/50.
- Grixis control: won 2-0. Bloodmoon locked him out of game 1. Game 2 was funny. I played a scourge on turn 3 with a relic in play. He Logic Knot the scourge. I exile it and cast scourge turn 4. He respons with snapcaster en Logic Knot again. I play scourge turn 5. Opponent starts feeling desperate. Turn 6 I topdeck my second scourge and opponent scoops. Overall: easy matchup!

So I got a 50% win in these matches. And it felt, with a little bit of luck, that percentage could have gone up easily.
For me, this was a test to stick with this decklist or switch to the karn artifact variant. But I’m very happy with this list and keep playing it. If you can dodge some of the problematic matchups (Hogaak, Thopter combo, Tron etc), this deck could really swing

Thoughts on some cards:
Abrade: I really like them in de main. The 2cmc slot had always been somewhat problematic for me. This cards feels great so far!
Simian Spirit Guide: I tried them in the main for a while. But they feel better in the sideboard. They come in, when I’m on the play and need a fast threat on the table.
Stormbreath Dragon: It’s just great. We need a hasty finisher to end games quickly, before we lose control of the game. So many decks can’t deal with this card.
Sorcerous Spyglass: really happy with this one. Shuts off some combo and planeswalker decks. Better than Pithing Needle, because you’ll see there hand on turn 2. And helps your decision making on your crucial turn 3 and 4 plays.
Ratchet Bomb: I don’t know yet. It’s a potential sweeper, token killer and universal permanent killer. I like the versatility of it. But it’s not game changing. Maybee I switch one or two for the Vandalblast

That’s it. Would still recommend this deck to everyone. Price-quality ratio is amazing!

I like your idea. But I'm not sure, if we need a splashed color. The painless mana base of Skred, is really something to embrace in modern.

But if you go for a rakdos Skred build, it should at least contain some Prismatic Vista too for consistancy. Especially with 6 1cmc black discard spells. You need your black mana the first turn.
I like Arcum's Astrolabe here. Great addition too Karn!
Not sure on Chandra, Acolyte of Flame. I still would consider anger of the gods here.
Not sure on 4/2 split between Skred / Bolt. Maybee it should be the other way around. Bolt is more versatile.

Thanks, I’ll definitely will consider those cards! I like them working together indeed

I’m not sold yet on 4 Eternal Scourge. The +1 from Karn should rarely give you an exiled Scourge. Can’t imagine the opponent that kind of a fool ;-) But I’d like to hear your opinion on that!
Eternal Scourge is the least performing card in my deck. Sometimes I doubt this should be an Etched Champion in a Karn based artifact build. It survives anger. And has protection from almost all modern removal (which is one of the characteristics from a skred deck; fatal push, path and bolt isn’t doing anything against us :))

I’ll definitely would prefer the 4th Mind Stone over a Magma Jet. It enables a turn 4 dragon and replaces itself in the late game. Moreover, your threats are on cmc 4 and 5. With 23 lands, I think you need the 4th Mind Stone.
I played Magma Jet in the past too and was happy with it. But in the current modern, it will be a bad burn spell many times.
About Simian Spirit Guide: a turn 2 Blood Moon or Anger of the Gods is still killing in modern. Although, I’m not very experienced in Skred Dragons.

@KothTheHammer
@D90Dennis14:

I really really like your build with Karn, Scion of Urza. Considering to buy those cards and building the artifact skred deck

For now, I’m still on my traditional list. I’m really happy with this build:



Taking this to an FNM soon. But still considering the artifact Karn version. Because it looks so much fun!

I'm not very experienced in that matchup. But we're definitely not favoured
Scavenging Ooze and Surgical Extraction seems to be the key cards.

I also play a Stain the mind in the sideboard. It could be okay but (due to the spot removal) I'm affraid I'll often lack creatures for convoke.

Quote from kysg »

meanwhile would any of these work as sideboard?

Gaea's Herald
Life Goes On
Tormod's Crypt
Wren's Run Vanquisher
Primal Command
Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen

Planeswalkers:
Nissa Revane
Nissa, Vital force

Don't think the plane's walkers will work out but just curious.

3 of them are potential life gainers (Life goes on, Primal Command, Dwynen, Gilt-leaf Daen). They could be sideboard cards against burn. But I would prefer Essence Warden in that spot. Although I like the flexibility of Primal Command.

Gaea's Herald is a great sideboard card, for Elf decks without the expensive Cavern of Souls.

@ Fossil Firebird: I like your list. It's different, it's creative and seems very fun to play. Although, I have to agree with Simon DS advices.

From my perspective: Elves always should play Shaman of the Pack. That card is absurd. But in a budget mono green shell, I like Marwyn and Joraga. Maybee cut a Marwyn, because she's legendary. You could consider some Elvish Clancallers.

@ Simon DS: thanks for the Modern Horizon elves overview. I pre-ordered 2 Nurturing Peatland and 2 Collector Ouphe.
- Very convinced about the peatland. It's the Horizon Canopy for GB Elves. I think that card is going over the top later.
- Curious about the Ouphe. It's not an Elf and easy to remove. But let's try it

Thanks Simon DS!! And congrats on your win.
I'll definitely consider your recommendations. I hate to cut my Nettles. But maybee we should for consistency indeed.

Quote from Hellgrammite »

Does Yawgmoth, Thran Physician seem like a must add? Add in Bridge from Below and Nykthos, and you have some extreme card drawing implications with undying creatures.

I'm affraid it sounds better, then it is. If you get those cards on the table (in addition to a Geralf's Messenger), they are the bomb indeed. But we only play 4 undying creatures.

That said. I like the way it could work with Gravecrawler too.
But I won't swap a 4cmc card for this. Since I'm already on Obliterator and Kalitas in that spot.

It looks like skred players, should consider splashing a second (or third) color. A lot of great snow-cards are spoilered in Horizons. I think Magic is trying to favour the other colors in snow-decks and red won't get a bomb this set. Because; they already got skred ;-)

With Prismatic Vista a multi-colored blood moon snow-deck is pretty acceptable.

Dead of Winter is insane indeed. So is On thin ice. Maybee we will get a skred-version in the top rankings soon

Quote from pzbw7z »

Does anyone use Eldritch Evolution in a BG build? Geralf's Messenger into Gary has to be a hoot.

That’s a pretty much devastating combination of cards! My concern is the manabase; double GG could be problematic in a black deck. Every land should be a swamp at least. Maybee some Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth could help there.

But it also opens options like Assassin's Trophy en maybee some nice sideboard material.
At least it’s should be very fun to play!

Welcome here pzbw7z!

Here are my thoughts:

* Cavern: I only play 13 zombies. And I really like to play a T1 Thoughtseize, T2 Gifted Aetherborn. Which is pretty hard with a Cavern in the opening hand.
* Aehter Vial: Hmmm, interesting. But we're a midrange deck with a wide mana curve (1 - 5). The Vial fits the (semi)aggro decks with a narrow curve.
* Vampire Hexmage: fantastic. Never thought about it. I like it! Great against Humans indeed. But also other Vial decks, Planeswalkers, Affinity etc. etc. Thanks for the input. Maybee I'll try it some day!

By the way, I don't know 'Rex'? But I like Kalitas a lot because of 2 reasons:
- lifegain: our thoughtseizes and phyrexian arenas don't hurt that much
- exile: great in the current meta with al the graveyard decks

p.s. don't have much experience playing with blasting station. Don't know if it fits this build. I think not..

Thanks for your feedback. I will try 2 Collective Brutality in the main. You’re right, it’s never useless. I did cut a Nykthos and a Relentless dead.

Collective brutality will slow the game. I think 23 lands will be fine therefore. And it’s a solid turn 2 play. Something I was looking for in the mana curve