Living End
I. Introduction
The Origins of Living End
Living End is a Modern deck that actually predates the format, developing during the period in which Extended was a format. Originally designed by Travis Woo in 2010, who piloted to a Top 4 finish at GP Oakland.
After Woo's initial success, the deck was not often talked about. With the introduction of the Modern format, many of Extended's premier decks were rendered unusable (mainly due to the banlist), leaving Living End as one of the few decks that was able to survive a direct port into the new format.
Living End, by Travis Woo - Grand Prix Oakland 2010 (Extended)Magic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards | ||
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Creatures 4 Deadshot Minotaur 4 Fulminator Mage 4 Ingot Chewer 4 Jungle Weaver 4 Monstrous Carabid 4 Street Wraith 4 Valley Rannet Spells 4 Violent Outburst 2 Night of Souls' Betrayal 4 Demonic Dread 3 Living End | Lands 2 Arid Mesa 1 Blood Crypt 1 Overgrown Tomb 2 Scalding Tarn 1 Stomping Ground 4 Verdant Catacombs 2 Forest 3 Mountain 3 Swamp | Sideboard: 3 Kitchen Finks 4 Shriekmaw 1 Yixlid Jailer 1 Night of Souls' Betrayal 3 Maelstrom Pulse 3 Thought Hemorrhage |
Interestingly, Woo's original deck shares a huge amount of overlap with current Living End builds, despite 8 years of new Magic cards influencing the Modern format, with the same core strategy of cycling big dumb monsters and cascading into Living End.
Living End 2010-2017
Though the deck has been a viable strategy since the dawn of the Modern format, much of the deck's success was tied to the larger Modern metagame. Of particular note was during the Eldrazi Winter following Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch. Living End enjoyed a renaissance of sorts, as long-time pilots were rewarded with a metagame built around Eye of Ugin and various mid-range Eldrazi decks. In fact, Danish pro Martin Mueller brought Living End to the 2015 World Championships, finishing the tournament in the Top 8, and as the only player to 4-0 the Modern portion of the event.
Living End, by Martin Mueller - 2015 Magic World ChampionshipsMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards | ||
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Creatures 1 Faerie Macabre 4 Deadshot Minotaur 4 Fulminator Mage 3 Simian Spirit Guide 2 Jungle Weaver 4 Monstrous Carabid 4 Street Wraith 4 Architects of Will 1 Pale Recluse Instants 4 Violent Outburst 3 Beast Within | Sorceries 4 Demonic Dread 3 Living End Lands 4 Blackcleave Cliffs 1 Blood Crypt 1 Overgrown Tomb 4 Copperline Gorge 1 Stomping Ground 4 Bloodstained Mire 1 Forest 1 Mountain 2 Swamp | Sideboard: 3 Brindle Boar 2 Dismember 2 Faerie Macabre 3 Ricochet Trap 3 Ingot Chewer 2 Shriekmaw |
After the banning of Eye of Ugin, the deck fell back into relative obscurity, and also hurt by the rise in Dredge-based decks using the then unbanned Golgari Grave-Troll (banned again in January of 2017).
Living End and Amonkhet
The deck got a significant power boost (literally) with the release of Amonkhet in April of 2017. Desert Cerodon and Horror of the Broken Lands are common, single mana cycling monsters that were able to immediately replace the underwhelming bodies of Deadshot Minotaur and Architects of Will and the cycling costs of Pale Recluse and Jungle Weaver. Plus, Archfiend of Ifnir not only gave the deck a huge, evasive beater, but also a viable way to annihilate boards of small creatures. Despite the improvements to the deck, Living End has remained a fringe strategy in Modern. Only one player brought Living End to Pro Tour Rivals of Ixalan, though Italian Valerio Luminati, a Pro Tour necomer, was able to finish the Modern slate with a 7-3 record.
Living End, by Valerio Luminati - 2018 PT Rivals of Ixalan (7-3)Magic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards | ||
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Creatures 3 Faerie Macabre 4 Horror of the Broken Lands 4 Fulminator Mage 3 Simian Spirit Guide 2 Archfiend of Ifnir 4 Monstrous Carabid 4 Street Wraith 4 Desert Cerodon Spells 4 Violent Outburst 2 Beast Within 4 Demonic Dread 3 Living End | Lands 4 Blackcleave Cliffs 4 Verdant Catacombs 1 Blood Crypt 1 Overgrown Tomb 3 Grove of the Burnwillows 1 Stomping Ground 1 Bloodstained Mire 1 Forest 1 Blooming Marsh 2 Swamp | Sideboard: 4 Leyline of Sanctity 3 Ricochet Trap 4 Ingot Chewer 3 Shriekmaw 1 Beast Within |
II. How Does it Work?
The deck runs, with few exceptions, 2 types of cards: 1.) creatures that cheaply go to the graveyard and 2.) cards that cascade into the deck's namesake: Living End.
The combo is quite simple. You want to dump an arbitrary number of creatures from your hand to the graveyard (though some may make a quick battlefield appearance), and then cast one of you Cascade spells. Then you flip the top of your deck until you find Living End, which has a lot of text, but basically says 'switch the battlefield and the graveyard.' This will work out in your favor the vast majority of the time, returning a pile of creatures to your side of the table, while wiping away everything your opponent has on the battlefield.
The early game isn't too exciting - you'll want to spend your first couple turns cycling creatures, maybe casting a Fulminator Mage to try and trip up your opponent. Then, when you have a sizable force in your graveyard, you cast the cascade spell of your choice (typically Violent Outburst or Demonic Dread) and deposit a lethal attacking force onto the battlefield.
Of course, there are certainly times when things don't go according to plan, and despite our ability to essentially win on turn 3-4, we also often find ourselves grinding it out in the late game. Plan B, as it is called by long time players, involves us playing a game of Limited, where we used overcosted creatures to dominate the board. You'd be surprised at how scary a flavor text-clad 6/4 beatstick can be when your opponent is playing Memnite.
IMPORTANT DECKBUILDING NOTE
Any nonland cards with converted mana cost 2 or less are unplayable in this deck. Since your cascade spells each cost 3 CMC, the only card in your deck that can cost 2 CMC or less is Living End (which costs 0 mana). The only exceptions to this rule are fringe sideboard strategies, like cascading into Kor Firewalker against Burn or Rest in Peace against Dredge. Unless you know the metagame will be highly saturated with decks that fold to a 2 CMC card or less, it is best to simply never even consider any cards that cost less than 3 CMC.
III. Card choices
The Core Combo Pieces
Living End
Rating:
While the card has more text on it than the constitutions of several countries, it might as well read 'You win the game' against many opponents. The deck's namesake essentially flips the battlefield and the graveyard, making your investment in dead creatures much more profitable than your opponent who summoned them the old fashioned way.
Normally, drawing this card is bad, BUT do remember that it's OK to suspend the card. This comes up against decks playing Remand or similar counterspells, as we can overload their ability to counter by timing a cascade spell right after one comes off suspend. Also, note that when you cascade, you can choose not to cast Living End. However, when it is coming off suspend, you must cast it.
The general consensus is that 3 copies is correct, though some users have reported success with lists running only 2. This is a bit loose, and definitely not advised for heavy metas.
Violent Outburst
Rating:
Of our 2 cascade cards, this one is a cut above. You can (and, in most cases,should!) fire this off at instant speed. Waiting until after your opponent's post-combat main phase ensures you get any creature played, though you will likely play this in combat a lot of the time. It's even better when they animate a creature-land. Muahahahaha!
Also, don't forget that this can be a surprise 3-5 damage if cast after blocks during your combat phases. As noted above, you do have to resolve your Cascade trigger, but you can choose not to cast the card it finds, instead leaving it in exile. You may be able to end the game a turn sooner, or trade for an important creature by using the overcosted anthem ability.
Always play 4.
Demonic Dread
Rating:
So, this isn't as good as Violent Outburst. But it still is often a 3-mana one-sided Wrath of God/one-sided Eureka, so that makes it a staple. However, it is strictly worse at sorcery speed, and it does require a target. It also can be used to remove a blocker and guarantee a lethal attack, so don't forget that mode as well.
Most lists play 3, but in any meta where you will NEED to cascade on turn 2 or 3, bring all 4 copies.
The Cyclers
Prime Time Cyclers
While other cyclers have occupied deck slots over time, these five cards represent the core cyclers, occupying 16-20 main deck slots.
Monstrous Carabid
Rating:
He may have a drawback (rarely comes up), but this insect cycles for one hybrid mana. And that alone makes his 4/4 body one you should never leave in the binder or move to the sideboard. Play 4 always.
Street Wraith
Rating:
Though the wraith has the weakest power of any prime time cycler, "free" cycling is a huge benefit when racing Burn or Affinity. While we used to side him out against these decks, our ability to race has improved and in the long run, the 2 life this costs to cycle should result in 3-6 damage. Plus, the evasion is relevant more often that you might think. Bring all 4 copies.
Horror of the Broken Lands
Rating:
Horror is the better of the two common cyclers we got from Amonkhet, and it may not appear so on the front end. However, as an Living End player worth their salt knows, you often have cyclers in your hand post-cascade. Having an onboard, uncounterable pump ability can allow the Horror to sneak in 2-4 extra damage, or force you opponent to respect it and make blocking more difficult. Additionally, his 4 casting cost makes him an easy to cast beater when we're on Plan B. Again, bring all 4 copies, though if you are playing against a Blood Moon deck, you can shave 1-2 Horrors.
Desert Cerodon
Rating:
The Cerodon kind of exemplifies the Living End deck. He's draft trash that didn't even always make the cut in Amonkhet Limited, but he's a reliable, face-smashing monster for in this deck. Always play 4, though when given the choice, it's better to cycle Horror of the Broken Lands first.
Archfiend of Ifnir
Rating:
In a format where 2 mana cycling is often too slow, the demon lord makes up for his cost by being a total bomb. Few decks run many answers to a 5/4 flier outside of Path to Exile, and his ability is an absolute house against small creature aggro decks. There isn't a consensus to how many to play, though most successful builds have recently had 2-3.
Others Receiving Votes
In a post-Amonkhet world, these simply cards don't measure up, either due to creature size or cycling cost. However, there are potential corner cases to consider, and maybe 1-2 of these could sneak into your 75 under the right circumstances.
Deadshot Minotaur
Rating:
Formerly a 4-of, but there are just better options these days, despite his hybrid mana. Plus, he is a nombo with Faerie Macabre, as his ETB ability is not a may. That said, if you plan on playing all single mana cyclers, this is your best bet to replace Archfiend of Ifnir. Play 0-2.
Architects of Will
Rating:
Inferior as a cycler to Horror of the Broken Lands. The ETB ability is actually kind of cool, but this was much more important when Living End decks relied on 2-3 attack steps to win. At this point, I would recommend against playing these guys as they die to Lightning Bolt and do not synergize well with Ingot Chewer.
Jungle Weaver
Rating:
Ol' Butt Spider used to have the distinction of being the "worst creature" that LE decks played. With the coming of cycling in Amonkhet and Hour of Devastation, there's a lot of competition for 2-mana cyclers, and the spider has been relegated to the sidelines.
Hollow One
Rating:
The payoff just isn't here with Hollow One, as dropping one on T1 is not very likely. Plus, there's already a great deck for this card. Simply playing Archfiend of Ifnir is a better use of mana. Play 0, or play 4 in your Hollow One deck.
Land Cyclers
Landcycling used to be very common in Living End decks prior to Amonkhet. However, with the increased format speed of Modern, spending 2 mana to cycle has become a liability. However, the presence of Blood Moon as a sideboard, and even main deck, card lends some credence to at least the consideration of including landcyclers in your 75, especially if you plan on running the land hoser.
Pale Recluse
Rating:
Probably the best of the landcyclers. It can grab most of our relevant duals, and has a good sized body. That said, only play a copy or two if you run Blood Moon or expect to see a lot of it in a particular tournament to go grab a basic Forest.
Twisted Abomination
Rating:
Arguably the second best landcycler, and though a 5/3 isn't a great body, many players overlook the fact that he can regerate for a single . As basic Swamp can be the most important land to fetch under a Blood Moon effect, he warrants consideration.
Valley Rannet
Rating:
Probably the best landcycler in terms of what it can get (all 3 shocks and the basic Forest), but it's stats are pretty poor. Don't play this guy.
Igneous Pouncer
Rating:
Total poop. Don't ever think about this card again.
Supporting Cards
Fulminator Mage
Rating:
Modern is a format that is rampant with nonbasic lands, including entire decks based on them such as TitanShift. The mage can steal games by Stone Raining your opponent back into the Stone Age, while you craft your graveyard and set up your cascade spell. Also, Fulminator can be a clutch target for Demonic Dread against creature-lite opponents (or pesky Slippery Bogles). Just don't forget to sacrifice him in response to your cascade trigger so he comes back for more fun! At least 3 main deck copies with the 4th in the board.
Beast Within
Rating:
This deals with nearly any problem permanent, and leaves behind a target for Demonic Dread to boot. Blow up Relic of Progenitus, Rest in Peace, Kitesaild Freebooter, Meddling Mage, or, best of all... Island. That's right... this is a great tool against control decks, as we can deny them the mana needed to counter our cascade spells with a token that tidily dies to Living End with no pesky residue. Most lists play 2-3.
Faerie Macabre
Rating:
This card is an all-star simply because it does infnite things that are all great. Dredge player dump a Bloodghast and Stinkweed Imp from a Faithless Looting? No problem! Snapcaster Mage wants to flashback that Remand in the graveyard? Not so fast, my friend! Storm opponent taps out to cast Past in Flames? Cool, but first let me get those two Manamorphose out of there for you so you can cast Rituals for days, but never get mana! Need 2 extra power to end the game in one swing? Just dump the faerie and don't target anything! Opponent casts Surgical Extraction targeting a copy of Living End? Fizzle that, and let's get rid of the Griselbrand you binned off a Faithless Looting for good measure.
I could list dozens more applications, but suffice to say... it's amazing. You have uncounterable graveyard interaction at instant speed. It's great. Play 4 in your 75, with 2-4 in the main deck.
Shriekmaw
Rating:
Sometimes you need to remove a troublesome creature before you're ready to cascade. From personal experience, the number one offender is Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, although there are certainly others, including Meddling Mage and all the Eldrazi sisterhood. The card is certainly main deckable, though you should keep the majority in the sideboard.
Avalanche Riders
Rating:
Another supplement to the LD plan, this one is a turn slower, but can also hit basic lands. Echo is another mechanic that plays well with Living End - you won't feel bad about not paying. The haste is rarely relevant, but this is one of the few creatures that can swing if you cast End off Demonic Dread, for what that's worth. All-in-all, it's probably a hair too slow, but if you expect to see a lot of control decks, you could do worse than including a couple of these cowboys.
Kolaghan's Command
Rating:
This card is great in 3 of 4 modes, and the discard ability isn't irrelevant, though a saavy opponent will ditch a big creature that could come back should Living End resolve. More relevant is the Shock/Shatter combination that can set Affinity back to square one, or the ability to return a Fulminator Mage to choke an opponent's mana situation. Main deck 1 and you likely won't take it out.
Simian Spirit Guide
Rating:
It's generally accepted that 3-4 apes are a must have in the face of fast combo and aggro decks. Your most broken draws usually involve cycling on turn 1, then cascading on T2, usually bringing back 2-3 creatures if you were lucky enough to draw Street Wraith or multiple guides. These are generally worse against control decks, but they also allow hidden casting of Ricochet Trap, so most players leave them in. It can also ramp us into turn 2 Fulminator Mage/Blood Moon, so don't forget that as a way to get ahead/stay ahead.
Also, don't forget the Gray Ogre mode on this card. Just because you can cash it in for mana doesn't mean you have to, though casting a Simian Spirit Guide is officially Plan C.
Sideboard Options
Ingot Chewer
Rating:
The evoke mechanic works very favorably with Living End, and Ingot Chewer is a top choice because of its cheap evoke cost, reasonable body, and relevant secondary effect. A fair amount of grave hate cards are artifacts (Tormod's Crypt, Relic of Progenitus, Nihil Spellbomb), and this elemental can also help shore up the matchup against Affinity by taking out Cranial Plating. This is a valuable creature to have in your 75. Play 3-4 copies in your sideboard.
Ricochet Trap
Rating:
The idea is to cascade into Living End, then when your opponent plays a counterspell targeting it, cast this card and change the target to Ricochet Trap (yes, you can do this.) This card is therefore only playable against decks with counter magic (which is a lot), but if you find yourself in a meta full of aggro decks, leave this one at home.
Note this pairs really nicely with Simian Spirit Guide, as it can appear that you are tapped out before the blowout.
Boil/Choke
Rating:
If you need extra Island hate, these two cards usually get the job done. Boil being an instant is quite nice, while Choke is more vulnerable to being removed, but is a long-term answer.
Anger of the Gods
Rating:
Non-LE sweepers are always a bit of a risk because you sometimes place yourself in a position where a Living End is unprofitable for you later in the game. Anger solves this by exiling anything it kills! The 3 damage is a death sentence vs. all manner of aggro decks (particularly Affinity), and all of your own guys survive it. You probably want 1-3 copies in your sideboard.
Dead // Gone
Rating:
Thanks to a rules update regarding the CMC of split cards, Dead // Gone is able to be played without interfering with our cascading. However, it is inferior to Shriekmaw in the vast majority of cases, though being castable Turn 1 on the draw could matter against certain decks like Infect, though that deck in particular has been very little played recently. Your mileage may vary.
Leyline of the Void
Rating:
If you need graveyard hate, this is an option, though many players prefer to preserve these sideboard slots for other answers and run the max number of Faerie Macabre. The downside of running Leylines is that you need to run the playset to maxmize your chance of drawing them and they are awful topdecks.
Leyline of Sanctity
Rating:
Some players have decided to try to beat Burn or Scapeshift by playing the hexproof game. It can be a hoser, but the number of sideboard slots required and the fact that any one you draw is a brick make this a riskier proposition.
Brindle Boar
Rating:
This guy is olid against red decks. A Gray Ogre that can sac itself anytime for 4 life, then come back off Living End for 4 more. It may seem silly, but try it - you won't be disappointed.
Spike Feeder
Rating:
85% of the time this will just be a harder-to-cast Brindle Boar, a creature that is only brought in for specific matchups. Feeder is a little more flexible in that you can spread its counters out onto evasive creatures, but that situation doesn't turn up very often. As a sideboard card, this one is marginally better than Boar as something you can bring in to replace dead cards (Fulminator Mage vs. a mono-color deck, for example), so there's that.
Gnaw to the Bone
Rating:
This card competes with Brindle Boar as the sideboard card of choice against burn and Red Deck Wins. Gnaw has the advantage of being able to potentially gain you more life than the Boar. It's also an instant, which means you can surprise your opponent with it if they are not expecting it. The downside is that it is dependent on the number of creatures in your graveyard. Ordinarily, this wouldn't be an issue, but there are plenty of instances where you would rather have Brindle Boar. The choice is up to you - both cards do their job pretty well.
Krosan Grip
Rating:
This card some extra sideboard hate vs. artifacts and enchantments. The split second is nice, allowing you to kill a Relic of Progenitus and leave your graveyard intact, as well as any Arcbound Ravager shenanigans when picking off affinity's nastiest artifact. This card is comparatively narrow, since we're already running Beast Within, but is a serviceable choice if you're looking to round off your sideboard.
Maelstrom Pulse
Rating:
Another catch-all card, a la Beast Within, if you're into that sort of thing. Sorcery speed really hurts, though, and unless you expect to see a lot of Thopter or Goblin tokens, it's probably not worth it.
Blood Moon
Rating:
Once thought by some to be a Living End hoser, Blood Moon is too good of a Modern card to not consider, especially against Valakut, Tron, Eldrazi decks that need mana, and any three color deck based on nonbasics. Note that the lands simply become Mountains, but they are still nonbasic, so you can target them with Fulminator Mage.
Crumble to Dust
Rating:
Sometimes Tron can fight through all of our land destruction. Sometimes Scapeshift decks sandbag their Valakuts. Sometimes a spell that can put a gaping hole in both of those strategies is in order.
Slaughter Games
Rating:
If you want to be absolutely, positively certain that you'll hit a combo deck where it hurts, then this card would appear to be the one you want. Uncounterable is good, right? Well, yes... but costing four mana isn't. In builds without Simian Spirit Guide, this card may not even be fast enough on the draw. Wizards has been pretty good about limiting any combo decks in the metagame to a turn-4 kill (I said PRETTY good - exceptions are abound), so while this will put them out of commission in game 2, it might not even matter game 3. Use at your own risk.
Lost Legacy
Rating:
Like Slaughter Games, this card says NO to combo. It's not easy to cast with , but it's only 3 CMC. However, the drawback is real when you realize this does nothing against Krark-Clan Ironworks. Some players prefer it though as a cheaper option.
The Manabase
Fastlands - Blackcleave Cliffs, Copperline Gorge, Blooming Marsh
These lands are perfect for our deck, as we only need three mana to operate. Generally, run the full playset of Blackcleave Cliffs as those can cycle every card in the deck, and supplement 0-3 of the others.
Shocklands - Blood Crypt, Overgrown Tomb, Stomping Ground
Run one of each.
Fetchlands - Verdant Catacombs, Wooded Foothills, Bloodstained Mire
Modern has great mana, and Living End especially so. These lands help ensure that you'll always be able to find the colors you need. Catacombs is far and away the best of the bunch, as it can grab every color, as well as fetch a basic Forest or Swamp for playing with and around things like Blood Moon. Bloodstained Mire is the second best of the bunch, though there isn't much difference between it and Wooded Foothills. You should run all 4 Verdant Catacombs, unless budget is a concern, and supplement with 1-3 of the others.
Basic Lands - Swamp and Forest
There is not really a reason to run a basic Mountain, as you will have multiple Simian Spirit Guides and all but 1-2 of your duals will produce . 2 Swamps is considered stock to give a chance to suspend Living End from under a Blood Moon.
Other DualsGrove of the Burnwillows,Sulfurous Springs, Karplusan Forest
Grove is the most attractive option here as a R/G dual that enters untapped and doesn't damage you. The lifegain is mostly inconsequential, but be wary of over-using it, as it could result in lengthening your clock. It has the corner case of helping manage the life total of Death's Shadow opponents, so don't miss the opportunity to mess with their math.
The painlands should only be played in extreme budget versions.
Dread Targets - Dryad Arbor, Forbidden Orchard
Sometimes our opponents are big meanie-heads and don't give us a target for our Demonic Dreads. That's where these come in. Dryad Arbor is the preferable choice because it can be fetched by Verdant Catacombs, but the Orchard is an acceptable replacement that can also fix your mana in the early going. To be honest, these have fallen out of favor, as few decks give us no targets, and we can always target our own 3 CMC creatures or a Beast token.
Utility Lands - Kessig Wolf Run,Raging Ravine
Of these two, Kessig Wolf Run is the best - trample means your biggest guy won't have to stare stupidly at a 1/1 every combat. Though colorless mana only can make an opening hand quite awkward. Ravine is okay , and can be your only hope if you run out of Living Ends, but ETB tapped reeeeeeally hurts sometimes. Pick your favorite, but only run 1.
IV. Sample Decklist
"Ken Carson's Living End"Magic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards | |||
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Land (19) 4 Verdant Catacombs 4 Blackcleave Cliffs 2 Blooming Marsh 2 Grove of the Burnwillows 2 Swamp 1 Blood Crypt 1 Overgrown Tomb 1 Stomping Ground 1 Forest 1 Kessig Wolf Run Creature (28) 3 Simian Spirit Guide 4 Desert Cerodon 3 Faerie Macabre 3 Fulminator Mage 3 Archfiend of Ifnir 4 Monstrous Carabid 4 Horror of the Broken Lands 4 Street Wraith | Spells (13) 4 Violent Outburst 3 Demonic Dread 3 Living End 2 Beast Within 1 Kolaghan's Command | Sideboard (15) 3 Ingot Chewer 3 Ricochet Trap 2 Blood Moon 2 Shriekmaw 1 Anger of the Gods 1 Boil 1 Faerie Macabre 1 Fulminator Mage 1 Slaughter Games |
Want to see the deck in action? Check out this series of videos by Luis Scott-Vargas!
And for some extra reading, here's an article by Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa detailing Living End post-Amonkhet.
V. Matchups
Humans can be very tricky because it is basically two decks in one. It's a straightforward beatdown deck and it's an annoying little disruptive deck. The two combine very well, and Humans has quickly become the top deck in the format. The three cards you care about are Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Meddling Mage, and Kitesail Freebooter. Everything else they play is scary, but we don't care so much about creatures that don't disrupt our combo. Thalia makes cascading into Living End cost 5 mana, so getting her off the board is critical. Meddling Mage makes Living End uncastable regardless of how much mana we have, so it's even more critical to kill her. Ideally, they draw the wrong half of their deck in Game 1 and you can win without disruption. In Game 2, max on Shriekmaw, Anger of the Gods, and you can even consider bringing in Ingot Chewer for their Aether Vial.
Best sideboard cards: Shriekmaw, Anger of the Gods
Once considered a horrible matchup, the Burn matchup has gotten better thanks to our higher power 1-mana cyclers. It's still not favorable, but we can reliably go off on turn 3 and win on turn 4-5, which is just about when they can finish us off as well. The die roll is hugely important in the matchup. We are sigificantly helped by a copy or two of Simian Spirit Guide in our opening hand, and it will often be correct to cascade on turn 2 for a Street Wraith + another cycler. Eidolon of the Great Revel hits us for 4 when we cascade, so it's often best to respond to him on the stack if possible. He will end up as a chump blocker or a disadvantage for our opponents.
Sideboarding generally involves taking out some number of Fulminator Mage, Faerie Macabre and Beast Within. The only 3 CMC thing we want to do is cascade. Side in any lifegain and Shriekmaw to hit their Eidolon. We used to board out Street Wraith, but our most broken draws include a couple of them to go with a T2 cascade.
Arcbound Ravager and Cranial Plating are the biggest threats to us. Stopping Ravager requires timely use of graveyard hate (Faerie Macabre really shines here), and Plating is a priority target for anything you have that can target it. If you can weather the initial onslaught, you should be in good shape. A main deck Kolaghan's Command can be what swings the matchup. Archfiend of Ifnir is also at its absolute best here. Cycling once is devastating for your opponent. Cycling twice is assuredly the game.
Best sideboard cards: Ingot Chewer, Anger of the Gods, Faerie Macabre, Kolaghan's Command
Creature decks will cry at the sight of early-turn cyclers. Don’t fall too far behind in the life race before cascading, or they’ll use the reach of their burn spells to finish you off. If Living End resolves and you’re above 8 life, you’ll be fine.
Best sideboard cards: Shriekmaw, Anger of the Gods
Here's a deck that uses cycling and the graveyard, just like us. It may seem like an OK thing, binning our creatures for the cost of their mana on occasion, but they have a lot of recursive threats in Bloodghast and Flamewake Phoenix to go with creatures that are as big or bigger than what we put on the board. You should be slightly favored, but they can do a lot of damage out of nowhere, and a savvy opponent will fill their yard with fatties while they are ahead on board. Shriekmaw is woefully inadequate here.
Best sideboard cards: Leyline of the Void, Ingot Chewer
This deck is a new kid on the block and can get out a scary amount of hastey flying damage or board bouncing 7/8 Horrors. They both use the graveyard, which can be problematic, plus they can lower our life total with burn to the face as well. One important note is that Thing in the Ice will not bounce Horror of the Broken Lands. Remember, it could save your life!
Best sideboard cards:
The usually grave hate is useful here, but it won’t lock the opponent out of the game. Faerie Macabre is an overperformer in the matchup, both as interaction and as a serviceable blocker. Shriekmaw interacts favorably as well.
Of the two major versions of Death's Shadow, Grixis is the more difficult. We can often kill them in one swing, but they are just as likely to return the favor. Patience is key in this matchup, as a well-timed Violent Outburst is our very best chance at winning. Grove of the Burnwillows is an all-star in this matchup, and don't be afraid to liberally give your opponent life. The more resources they spend reducing their life total, the better. They also play very few nonfetchlands, so use Fulminator Mage to punish their risky keeps.
Best sideboard cards: Blood Moon
Cycle aggressively in the early turns – you want to keep multiple cascade spells, because you are likely lose at least one to discard. Fulminator Mage is powerful here – if you can manage back-to-back LD spells on them, you may very well cripple them completely. The fact is, our deck blanks a lot of their cards, and this matchup is pretty miserable for them. Many times they will mulligan aggresively to hate or discard, and you will be able to grind out the grind masters. Keep Faerie Macabre around to exile a Living End targeted by Surgical Extraction in post-board games. Expect some number of Scavenging Ooze in the main deck and sideboard, which is a reason to max on Shriekmaw in post-board games.
Best sideboard cards: Shriekmaw, Blood Moon
While we may want to grumble about the fact that a deck can make infinite mana on turn 3, Living End can also be a 12-for-1, so perhaps it's best we just attack this deck by being the better combo. If we win the die roll and can go off on turn 3, it's very difficult for CoCo to win early. However, unlike many other creature decks, CoCo can rebuild quickly, so while going off early is usually correct, they can use Path to Exile to brunt the assault. Faerie Macabre is good here as you may need to use multiple Living Ends, so be sure to just leave them with mana dorks and not combo pieces.
Best sideboard cards: Shriekmaw, Anger of the Gods, Dead//Gone
Eldrazi Tron is an interesting deck, because on paper it should be a good matchup: mid-range creature deck with minor interaction, vulnerable to Fulminator Mage. However, the deck can be resilient, and plays problem cards like All Is Dust, Wurmcoil Engine, and Chalice of the Void. Overall, we should be favored, but make sure you close out the game, because they can go over the top in the late game.
Best sideboard cards: Ingot Chewer, Blood Moon
This version of Tron is probably the toughest for us as they consistently have Tron on turn 3. It's also very good at making its land drops even under the duress of dedicated land destruction, so you don't have forever to close out the game. Ugin, the Spirit Dragon is a total beating. One tip for using your Fulminator Mage correctly is to pay attention to what they search for. If they have all 3 pieces of Tron in hand/on the battlefield, they will often go get an Urza's Tower. If they have a Tower in play and search for something else, they likely are getting the "missing piece." When in doubt though, always hit whatever you've already seen.
Best sideboard cards: Ingot Chewer, Blood Moon, Avalanche Riders, Crumble to Dust
This can be a very bad matchup. Winning the die roll helps, but once they have a Goblin Electromancer or Baral, Chief of Compiance in play, you are potentially dead. Faerie Macabre is your best chance, other than purely racing them or getting lucky with mana denial. They do need at least 3 lands to go off, even with a cost reducer. And if you can keep the board clear of a creature, you have a chance, making Anger of the Gods and Shriekmaw reasonable sideboard options.
Best sideboard cards: Leyline of the Void, Lost Legacy, Slaughter Games, Leyline of Sanctity
Another matchup where you are going to want to wrath the field Turn 3 no matter what. Demonic Dread is not going to have a target on their side of the field, so play out a 3 CMC creature or pray they fetch a Dryad Arbor. The first LE should be good enough to win the game, but keep on cycling after the first one, just in case it isn’t. You WILL see Rest in Peace out of their sideboard in games 2-3, so don’t board out your Beast Withins! Note that this is matchup where playing your own Dryad Arbor is very helpful.
Best sideboard cards: Extra enchantment destruction if you've got it, otherwise just run it back; you are heavily favored.
This matchup is very difficult. This deck plays like draw-go with an “I win” button ready to fire at a moment’s notice. Be aware of how many Sakura-Tribe Elders they have in the bin when you go to cast Living End – each one counts as another 3 (or more) damage in the event of a follow-up Scapeshift. Demonic Dread is a bit more suspect here than in most matchups – sorcery speed means you may still just be dead to the combo when your opponent untaps, and your opponent may just deprive you of targets by saccing their Elders during their own turn or on your upkeep. Fulminator Mage, Beast Within, and Avalanche Riders are your greatest weapons here. Remember how Valakut, the Molten Pinnalce math and triggers work. If they Scapeshift for 6 Mountains and a Valakut, you can destroy one of the Mountains in response to the triggers. Upon resolution of each trigger, it will fizzle all but one trigger, as Valakut will only see 4 other Mountains, save for the trigger of the one you destroyed. However, destroying Valakut will do nothing. Some decks play Relic of Progennitus main, most have it in the board, so don't forget about Ingot Chewer.
Also, if you face a TitanShift deck playing Prismatic Omen, you'll be very happy to side in Boil if you have it.
Best sideboard cards: Lost Legacy, Slaughter Games
Fortunately for us, the banning of Gitaxian Probe has plummeted the Infect deck away from widespread play, as it is a fast combo deck that really only needs a turn to win. Being as fast as possible helps here, and, as always with Infect, it's best to cast your interactive spells on your own turn or after their combat phase.
Best sideboard cards: Dismember, Shriekmaw, Dead//Gone
This is a very favorable matchup for us, but the tokens deck can rebuild much faster than a traditional creature deck. You should be able to grind your opponent out , especially if you have out a Kessig Wolf Run
Honorary mention to Street Wraith for being unblockable the vast majority of the time here.
Best sideboard cards: Anger of the Gods, Maelstrom Pulse
Their goal is to just continually 1-for-1 you until they can pull ahead with a planeswalker or just beat you dead with a Celestial Colonnade. Your creatures all dodge Bolt and Helix, so expect those to be aimed at your face. Game 1, it’s all about overloading their mana on their end step so you can force a Living End to resolve. Suspending LE is not out of the question here, either, as they lack a quick clock. Beast Within is helpful for getting rid of Celestial Colonnade, but be careful – they may just protect the token with countermagic and kill you with it.
If you can get into the long game with them, we’re actually a lot better off than most decks thanks to our ability to continually hardcast draft trash.
Best sideboard cards: Ricochet Trap, Blood Moon, Faerie Macabre
This one is pretty painful if they are running Cursecatcher, and they have plenty of annoying dudes that can swarm together and kill you if you brick on cascade spells. Be wary of their Aether Vial and expect Spell Pierce in the main deck with more countermagic in Games 2 and 3. If they just happen to draw a bunch of lords, then you should be fine.
Best sideboard cards: Anger of the Gods, Ricochet Trap, Shriekmaw
Do you have Faerie Macabre in your opening hand? That will likely determine how this match goes. If you aren't paying attention to their discard pile, you could accidentally bring Griselbrand back for them. Do your best to keep scary things out of their graveyard and deny them mana until you can lethal them.
Best sideboard cards: Faerie Macabre, Leyline of the Void
This deck is really annoying to play against. Shriekmaw is slow and Ingot Chewer can't do much better than killing a Mox Opal. Ideally, you don't face this deck.
Best sideboard cards: Ingot Chewer, Anger of the Gods
This matchup feels really one-sided in game 1, as they do nothing but make mana and threaten to go off, plus they can prevent you from winning with Phyrexian Unlife and Angel's Grace. Fulminator Mage and Beast Within are your absolute best cards in Game 1. Deny them mana for as long as possible, and maybe you too can live the dream of turning a Phyrexian Unlife into a Beast token as Ad Naseum takes them below 0 life. In Game 2, aggressively go after their artifact mana with Ingot Chewer and Lost Legacy/Slaughter Games on their namesake if you have it.
Best sideboard cards: Lost Legacy, Slaughter Games, Ingot Chewer
The printing of As Foretold allows a new way to cheat the casting of Living End, while the printing of powerful cycling options such as Curator of Mysteries and Striped Riverwinder gave rise to a mono version of the deck. This has also spawned variations such as . However, these versions of Living End do not have the track record of tournament results, and are not the subject for prolonged dicussion in this thread. If you wish to inquire about the or versions of the deck, there is another primer which can be found here. If you wish to discuss the mono version of this, you can find that discussion here
VII. FAQ
I added this section to address frequently asked questions about Living End. This should save you all some time having to scroll through pages of discussion to find the answers you're looking for.
I’m looking to get into this deck. Which cards do I absolutely need to have to make it work?
You’ll want to start with a playset of Monstrous Carabid, Desert Cerodon, Horror of the Broken Landsand Street Wraith. That will form your cycler core. Next, you’ll need the combo package: 4 Violent Outburst, 3-4 Demonic Dread, and 3 Living End. And finally, you’ll want a full set of Fulminator Mage. Yes, they are pricey, but without them the deck is extremely linear and not nearly as disruptive.
The rest of the deck can be fleshed out with various cards from the Card Choices section listed above.
How does Ricochet Trap work? I see it in a bunch of sideboards and I’m confused as to how it protects Living End.
Let’s say you have a Ricochet Trap and a Violent Outburst in your hand. Your opponent passes the turn, and you play Outburst at his EOT. You flip cards and find a Living End. Your opponent taps some mana and casts Remand targeting your Living End.
Now that your opponent has cast a blue spell, you tap for and cast your Ricochet Trap, changing Remand’s target to Ricochet Trap. You see, a spell can’t ever target itself, but it CAN target a spell that is above it on the stack. Here’s what will happen next:
-Your Ricochet Trap will resolve, changing Remand’s target and leaving the stack.
-Your opponent’s Remand will be countered for having an illegal target. Your opponent will not draw a card from Remand’s effect.
-Your Living End resolves.
-Your Violent Outburst resolves.
Bear in mind that this trick only works if your opponent’s spell has a single target. Example: If your opponent in the above example tries to counter your spell with Cryptic Command, choosing “counter and draw,” you can Ricochet it. (This will also stop your opponent from drawing a card.) However, if your opponent chooses “counter and bounce”, then Cryptic Command will have two targets (your spell and whichever permanent they chose to bounce), and you can NOT Ricochet it.
Does this deck just lose to graveyard hate?
Hardly! Living End is a surprisingly resilient combo deck, and has a multitude of ways to battle the litany of grave-hate cards commonly used in the Modern format.
-Fighting Scavenging Ooze: This creature is troublesome, as it doesn’t need to sit for a turn before going after your ‘yard, and can eat multiple guys a turn while applying pressure. ScOoze can be combated with Shriekmaw, Dismember, LD on green sources, and sweeping with Living End.
-Fighting Leyline of the Void: This one is annoying because it comes out on turn zero and deals with everything at little opportunity cost to the user. If you have a bunch of cyclers, save your Street Wraiths – they are the easiest to cycle once you’ve dealt with the Leyline. If you need to throw away some one-mana cyclers to dig for an answer, that’s okay! We run plenty. It’s also important to remember that Living End is still a wrath effect with this in play.
Beast Within is the best answer we have to this card. Sideboard options include Maelstrom Pulse and Krosan Grip.
-Fighting Relic of Progenitus, Nihil Spellbomb, and Grafdigger’s Cage: The one-mana artifacts can be played around by sandbagging cyclers (Street Wraith again!) and forcing your opponent to blow it at an inopportune time. You can catch Relic with Ingot Chewer if you can get them to tap out somehow. Remember to stack your triggers on Ingot Chewer such that its ETB ability resolves before it’s sac’d to Evoke. That way, even if your opponent pops their Relic/Spellbomb, you’ll still have a 3/3 in the bin.
Oh, and as for Grafdigger’s Cage? Just ignore it. The Oracle text when facing Living End decks actually reads ' : Discard this card onto the battlefield. It remains blank for the remainer of the game.' It doesn’t stop Living End in any way; the creatures are entering the battlefield from exile, not from the graveyard. Don’t tell the other threads!
-Fighting Rest in Peace: This is the worst of the bunch. Again, Beast Within is your best out. But even if you destroy it, RiP has done its damage by wiping your graveyard clean the second it comes down. If you think your opponent is running it (if they’re in white, they probably are), be ready – try not to overextend. If they draw into it late game, you can respond to it by cascading via Violent Outburst and getting your army onto the table before it lands.
I can’t afford Fulminator Mages. Is there a budget option available?
No.
What are your thoughts on running Bloodbraid Elf as another cascade card?
The point of the deck is to cascade into Living End. 100% of the time. No exceptions. BBE is a great card, but not for this deck.
You’ll want to start with a playset of Monstrous Carabid, Desert Cerodon, Horror of the Broken Landsand Street Wraith. That will form your cycler core. Next, you’ll need the combo package: 4 Violent Outburst, 3-4 Demonic Dread, and 3 Living End. And finally, you’ll want a full set of Fulminator Mage. Yes, they are pricey, but without them the deck is extremely linear and not nearly as disruptive.
The rest of the deck can be fleshed out with various cards from the Card Choices section listed above.
How does Ricochet Trap work? I see it in a bunch of sideboards and I’m confused as to how it protects Living End.
Let’s say you have a Ricochet Trap and a Violent Outburst in your hand. Your opponent passes the turn, and you play Outburst at his EOT. You flip cards and find a Living End. Your opponent taps some mana and casts Remand targeting your Living End.
Now that your opponent has cast a blue spell, you tap for and cast your Ricochet Trap, changing Remand’s target to Ricochet Trap. You see, a spell can’t ever target itself, but it CAN target a spell that is above it on the stack. Here’s what will happen next:
-Your Ricochet Trap will resolve, changing Remand’s target and leaving the stack.
-Your opponent’s Remand will be countered for having an illegal target. Your opponent will not draw a card from Remand’s effect.
-Your Living End resolves.
-Your Violent Outburst resolves.
Bear in mind that this trick only works if your opponent’s spell has a single target. Example: If your opponent in the above example tries to counter your spell with Cryptic Command, choosing “counter and draw,” you can Ricochet it. (This will also stop your opponent from drawing a card.) However, if your opponent chooses “counter and bounce”, then Cryptic Command will have two targets (your spell and whichever permanent they chose to bounce), and you can NOT Ricochet it.
Does this deck just lose to graveyard hate?
Hardly! Living End is a surprisingly resilient combo deck, and has a multitude of ways to battle the litany of grave-hate cards commonly used in the Modern format.
-Fighting Scavenging Ooze: This creature is troublesome, as it doesn’t need to sit for a turn before going after your ‘yard, and can eat multiple guys a turn while applying pressure. ScOoze can be combated with Shriekmaw, Dismember, LD on green sources, and sweeping with Living End.
-Fighting Leyline of the Void: This one is annoying because it comes out on turn zero and deals with everything at little opportunity cost to the user. If you have a bunch of cyclers, save your Street Wraiths – they are the easiest to cycle once you’ve dealt with the Leyline. If you need to throw away some one-mana cyclers to dig for an answer, that’s okay! We run plenty. It’s also important to remember that Living End is still a wrath effect with this in play.
Beast Within is the best answer we have to this card. Sideboard options include Maelstrom Pulse and Krosan Grip.
-Fighting Relic of Progenitus, Nihil Spellbomb, and Grafdigger’s Cage: The one-mana artifacts can be played around by sandbagging cyclers (Street Wraith again!) and forcing your opponent to blow it at an inopportune time. You can catch Relic with Ingot Chewer if you can get them to tap out somehow. Remember to stack your triggers on Ingot Chewer such that its ETB ability resolves before it’s sac’d to Evoke. That way, even if your opponent pops their Relic/Spellbomb, you’ll still have a 3/3 in the bin.
Oh, and as for Grafdigger’s Cage? Just ignore it. The Oracle text when facing Living End decks actually reads ' : Discard this card onto the battlefield. It remains blank for the remainer of the game.' It doesn’t stop Living End in any way; the creatures are entering the battlefield from exile, not from the graveyard. Don’t tell the other threads!
-Fighting Rest in Peace: This is the worst of the bunch. Again, Beast Within is your best out. But even if you destroy it, RiP has done its damage by wiping your graveyard clean the second it comes down. If you think your opponent is running it (if they’re in white, they probably are), be ready – try not to overextend. If they draw into it late game, you can respond to it by cascading via Violent Outburst and getting your army onto the table before it lands.
I can’t afford Fulminator Mages. Is there a budget option available?
No.
What are your thoughts on running Bloodbraid Elf as another cascade card?
The point of the deck is to cascade into Living End. 100% of the time. No exceptions. BBE is a great card, but not for this deck.
VIII. Update Chronology
1/9/2013 - Posted new primer
1/10/2013 - Edited matchup for Jund
1/11/2013 - Added cards to primer, posted new winning decklists
1/13/2013 - Added Slaughter Games to primer
1/20/2013 - Expanded matchups section
1/31/2013 - Expanded RG Tron matchup, added Aven Mindcensor to primer
2/22/2013 - Added Joe Hemmann's Top 8 decklist
1/9/2014 - Added "Common Questions" section
1/14/2014 - Added Crypt Incursion and Whip of Erebos to the primer.
8/19/2014 - Major overhaul to Matchups section
7/26/2015 - Added Kolaghan's Command to the primer and tidied up a bit.
12/29/2015 - Added Amulet Bloom and Abzan CoCo to the matchups section.
1/27/2016 - Matchup section and Sideboard Cards tweaked to reflect recent bannings.
10/26/2016 - Housekeeping and potpurri; added Goblin Dark-Dwellers. Added a "no-landcyclers" list to example decklists.
11/28/2016 - More housekeeping; minor elaborations in sections 1, 3, and 5
07/07/2017 - Added Amonkhet cyclers and Hollow One to section 3.
05/17/2018 - Primer fully updated, including card selection and matchups.
1/10/2013 - Edited matchup for Jund
1/11/2013 - Added cards to primer, posted new winning decklists
1/13/2013 - Added Slaughter Games to primer
1/20/2013 - Expanded matchups section
1/31/2013 - Expanded RG Tron matchup, added Aven Mindcensor to primer
2/22/2013 - Added Joe Hemmann's Top 8 decklist
1/9/2014 - Added "Common Questions" section
1/14/2014 - Added Crypt Incursion and Whip of Erebos to the primer.
8/19/2014 - Major overhaul to Matchups section
7/26/2015 - Added Kolaghan's Command to the primer and tidied up a bit.
12/29/2015 - Added Amulet Bloom and Abzan CoCo to the matchups section.
1/27/2016 - Matchup section and Sideboard Cards tweaked to reflect recent bannings.
10/26/2016 - Housekeeping and potpurri; added Goblin Dark-Dwellers. Added a "no-landcyclers" list to example decklists.
11/28/2016 - More housekeeping; minor elaborations in sections 1, 3, and 5
07/07/2017 - Added Amonkhet cyclers and Hollow One to section 3.
05/17/2018 - Primer fully updated, including card selection and matchups.
Archived Discussions:
The old and crusty Living End threadThe older and crustier Living End thread
The oldest and crustiest Living End thread
8
I. Introduction
The Origins of Living End
The Living End deck was a brainchild of ChannelFireball's Travis Woo, who took the deck to the Top 4 of Grand Prix Oakland in 2010. This was a format where things like Dark Depths, Hypergenesis, and the infernal Thopter combo were wreaking havoc, and yet the deck was successful:
4 Deadshot Minotaur
4 Fulminator Mage
4 Ingot Chewer
4 Jungle Weaver
4 Monstrous Carabid
4 Street Wraith
4 Valley Rannet
Instants
4 Violent Outburst
Legendary Enchantments
2 Night of Souls' Betrayal
Sorceries
4 Demonic Dread
3 Living End
2 Forest
3 Mountain
3 Swamp
Lands
2 Arid Mesa
1 Blood Crypt
1 Overgrown Tomb
2 Scalding Tarn
1 Stomping Ground
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Kitchen Finks
4 Shriekmaw
1 Yixlid Jailer
1 Night of Souls' Betrayal
3 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Thought Hemorrhage
After Woo's initial success, the deck was not often talked about. With the introduction of the Modern format, many of Extended's premier decks were rendered unusable (mainly due to the banlist), leaving Living End as one of the few decks that was able to survive a direct port into the new format. Cedric Philips, and later Travis Woo himself, would write articles on the deck, bringing it back into the light, where it sits as one of the more accessible Modern decks.
Living End and the World of Tomorrow (Today)
Living End has made small splashes in high-level tournament settings over the last several years, but has yet to really break through as a regarded archetype. As various decks vault into the top tables and clutter Day Two metagames, the viability of Living End similarly ebbs and flows. The changes to the Modern banlist also have an effect on Living End's showing - for example, during the height of "Eldrazi Winter" in the later stages of 2015, Living End was one of the few decks that could reliably combat the best deck in the field. Then, after the banning of Eye of Ugin, a surge of aggro/combo decks rushed in to fill the void - matches that Living End has traditionally fared poorly against.
Living End currently sits in limbo (aka "Tier 2"), mostly due to a lack of tournament results. Every so often, shifts in the Modern metagame allow Living End to put up strong results, seemingly out of the blue. Don't be fooled - the deck is powerful, and has helped savvy meta-diviners coast to the top tables!
II. How Does it Work?
The modus operandi of the Living End deck revolves around three card types: cascade spells, creatures that can easily bin themselves, and Living End itself.
The idea is to fill your graveyard with a pile of creatures, then cast a spell with cascade. You'll flip cards over until you hit Living End. The result will be an empty field for your opponent, and a heap of creatures for you. Easy, right?
The early game isn't too exciting - you'll want to spend your first couple turns cycling creatures, maybe casting a Fulminator Mage to try and trip up your opponent. Then, when you have a sizable force in your graveyard, you cast the cascade spell of your choice (typically Violent Outburst or Demonic Dread) and deposit a lethal attack onto the battlefield.
The late game for Living End is very strong - nearly half of the deck is creatures, and opponents will typically fold under the repeated impact of 3/4 or 4/4 bodies. Top-of-the-curve cyclers like Jungle Weaver will almost certainly be the meatiest chunk of power and toughness on the field once you've resolved a Living End.
"Did... did you just call us fat?"
NOTE: Please, for the love of Urza, keep this in mind when dealing with this deck.
In order to ensure that your cascade spells will hit Living End, it's imperative that you do NOT run other spells that you could potentially cascade into instead of it. That being said, it is easiest to assume that any nonland cards with converted mana cost 2 or less are unplayable in this deck. The only exceptions are used in fringe sideboard strategies, which involve boarding out the deck's titular spell and cascading into crippling hate cards.
III. Card choices
So you can't play any of the staple 1-2cc spells in this deck? How do you not just get run over?! Modern is a Turn Four Format™! What the heck do you put in a deck like this, anyway?!
Don't Skip These
Living End
Rating:
The Time Spiral redux of Tempest's Living Death, this is what our deck's strategy revolves around. Toss your creatures into the graveyard like corn husks, then cascade into this baby. Neat, clean, and efficient.
It's important to note that it's okay to suspend this card! Against slower, more controlling decks, suspending a Living End is a great way to force your opponent to overload their mana.
Violent Outburst
Rating:
This is the card you most want to have when you're ready to combo off. Instant speed is back-breaking when dealing with an effect as strong as Living End's, as you can effectively turn it into a Rout/Twilight's Call tandem. Your guys will be itching to attack once you untap!
Once you've got some beef on the board, this card doubles as a neat little pump effect, allowing you to get in that last little bit of damage. You will want to run four of these all day, every day.
Demonic Dread
Rating:
It's the less desirable of the 3-mana cascaders we're running, but only slightly so. Sorcery speed means you won't be surprising your opponent, and it leaves you open to the nonchalant "untap, wrath, go" response on their next turn. Additionally, you need to have a target for this one to work. It shouldn't be a huge deal, as lots of decks will have a creature you can target (and we have our own ways of providing targets, discussed below), but the truth is that this card is a bit more clunky than Violent Outburst.
Bloodbraid Elf
Rating:
Stahp.
Tour de France Participants
Deadshot Minotaur
Rating:
He cycles for one mana and is a 3/4 body, which is actually extremely important. Three power is enough to take down small chump blockers that your opponent is likely to toss out there after getting blown out by Living End, and four toughness shrugs off Lightning Bolt and Lightning Helix. The ability to shoot fliers is gravy - he can be a 2-for-1 even when hardcast!
Monstrous Carabid
Rating:
It's really quite amazing how much trouble a big, dumb 4/4 can create for your opponent. His "attacks each turn if able" drawback is rarely an issue, and he can take big chunks out of an opponent when left unchecked. He'll usually eat up your opponent's worst chump blocker every turn, but when everything else is attacking for 3, it's really not that bad.
Street Wraith
Rating:
Free cycling is sweet. The swampwalk is sweeter (hello there, Jund). The 3/4 body is par for the course. You'll want to be careful with these against aggressive decks, however - in those games, life can be a precious resource, and you'll probably want to side him out against things like affinity or burn.
Horror of the Broken Lands
Rating:
Now we move into the single-color, 1-mana cyclers; Horror provides the magic four toughness and is even nice enough to provide you some incentive to continue cycling post-LE by turning each one into an uncounterable pump spell. 4B is a flexible casting cost, too. Requiring black mana (and nothing else) to cycle shouldn't be a huge deal, but it does require a little more care in constructing your manabase.
Desert Cerodon
Rating:
Ridge Rannet, we hardly knew ye. 6/4 is a bruiser we all wish we could play, and R is a lot more palatable than 2 to cycle one. Cerodon gets a special mention for being especially good in Blood Moon builds.
Archfiend of Ifnir
Rating:
THAT's what I'm talking about. No longer does LE have to play Alara-block draft refuse in the two-mana cycling slot! Archfiend is a strong, evasive(!) threat at a good rate, and even provides a powerful board-controlling effect when you cycle creatures while he's in play. You probably don't want to overload on them, since two mana is still a slow cycle no matter how you slice it, but this guy is the real real.
Hollow One
Rating:
At first glance, paying two to cycle a fragile 4/4 (it Shatters easily, you see) seems lame. But the ability to run them out ahead of schedule by cycling some other guys first (you can turn-1 this with Street Wraiths) can be a great way to impact the board in the early turns while you set up a devastating Living End.
Jungle Weaver
Rating:
Ol' Butt Spider used to have the distinction of being the "worst creature" that LE decks played. Sadly, with the coming of cycling in Amonkhet and Hour of Devastation, there's a lot of competition for 2-mana cyclers, and the spider has largely been relegated to the sidelines. Not a horrible option, but you really want to be playing things like Archfiend of Ifnir or Hollow One instead.
Valley Rannet
Rating:
Landcycling is very important for the Living End deck, as you will typically not want more than 19-20 lands. That being said, you will probably dedicate anywhere from 3-6 of your slots to landcyclers. Valley Rannet grabs mountains and forests, and is therefore able to fetch any of the Jund-colored shocklands, as well as Temple Garden (which is needed for the next creature on this list). His weakness? Three toughness. This means he dies to just about every removal spell that's worth a damn in Modern. Run him at your own risk.
Pale Recluse
Rating:
Probably the best of the landcyclers. It can grab most of our relevant duals, and has a body comparable to our big buddy Jungle Weaver. You'll definitely want to splash a Temple Garden or Godless Shrine if you plan to use these.
Twisted Abomination
Rating:
Another capable landcycler. The limitation of swampcycling is easily mitigated by running a smattering of black shocklands, and the cheap regeneration cost goes a long way toward keeping this guy on the table. He is slightly less good than Pale Recluse (reach is deceptively powerful), but there's a pretty low opportunity cost to running them. A-Bomb is sometimes the odd-man out, but no one will fault you for packing one or two in your deck.
Architects of Will
Rating:
Architects is a weird one. Its merits include being a one-mana cycler and having a very handy ability that can screw your opponents out of being able to deal with your army. Its flaws are a small body (it fails the Bolt test), awkward cycling cost (we're not running blue unless Forbidden Orchard is in the list), and being an artifact. Try him out and see how he works for you.
Igneous Pouncer
Rating:
Haste is not enough to save this creature from its debilitating weakness of having one toughness. Seriously. A stiff breeze will kill this guy. Stick with Pale Recluse and Twisted Abomination.
Things that Don't Cycle
Fulminator Mage
Rating:
Modern is a format where just about every deck (except burn) leans on nonbasic lands to play their spells efficiently. Fulminator Mage punishes all of them. Land destruction is a strong secondary theme in Living End, as it helps us keep our opponent from recovering post-End. Fulminator has the added benefit of being a creature, coming back on the heels of a Living End to snipe another land. Screw them out of a color, break up the UrzaTron... this card is an absolute must. No fewer than three maindeck.
Beast Within
Rating:
Ever wish Vindicate was Modern-legal? How about if it was instant-speed? The addition of Beast Within to this deck's repertoire was nothing short of a godsend. You can take out any troublesome permanent for a flexible 2G, all for the drawback of giving them a 3/3 Beast...
...that dies to Living End. Most of the time this will just be hitting lands to supplement your Fulminator Mages, but the ability to take out planeswalkers and the occasional enchantment is what puts this card over the top. Run as many of these as you can.
Faerie Macabre
Rating:
If Beast Within is our most versatile card, then this little faerie is a close second. This card screws with approxiately two million decks in some way. Shrink a Tarmogoyf. Kick the Gifts Ungiven-into-Unburial Rites-and-a-fatty plan square in the nads. Make your Living End more profitable by exiling the best dudes in their yard. Or, if you just need a flier, stuff her in there and don't target anything! She does have an annoying penchant for getting shot out of the sky by our own Deadshot Minotaurs, but she's already done her job by then.
Shriekmaw
Rating:
Sometimes you need to remove a troublesome creature before you're ready to cascade. From personal experience, the number one offender is Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, although there are certainly others. Shriekmaw will cure what ails ya, provided the problem isn't black or an artifact. With the unbanning of Wild Nacatl and subsequent second wind for Zoo-style aggro decks, this card is much more reasonable to maindeck now.
Avalanche Riders
Rating:
Another supplement to the LD plan, this one is a turn slower, but can also hit basic lands. Echo is another mechanic that plays well with Living End - you won't feel bad about not paying. The haste is rarely relevant, but this is one of the few creatures that can swing if you cast End off Demonic Dread, for what that's worth.
This card works equally well in the maindeck or the sideboard. You won't need more than a couple copies, since they are slow, but they make for a good, tight gameplan with Fulminator Mage and Beast Within.
Kolaghan's Command
Rating:
This card has some excellent modes for the Modern metagame, and is conveniently out of cascade range AND castable without straining the manabase. Destroying artifacts is always relevant with Amulet Bloom and Affinity running around, and the Raise Dead effect feels SO good when you pick up the previous turn's Fulminator Mage. Two damage may not seem like much (and can sometimes work against you if you're killing your opponent's creatures), but it's helpful if you need the quick kill on something like Scavenging Ooze. Finally, instant-speed discard is good when used on yourself to bin a creature for the impending LE, or on your opponent during their draw step* (bonus points if you set them up with Architects of Will first). Find space for this card; it is the truth.
*Make sure they don't bin a big scary creature, or at least have a Faerie Macabre ready for the blowout.
Simian Spirit Guide
Rating:
Once a subject of division among Living End pundits, the ol' mana monkey has established itself as a mainstay of the maindeck. Running a set of SSGs in your deck changes the dynamic of it a fair bit; being able to power out a turn 2 Fulminator Mage or cascade a turn early to negate an Infect deck's god hand is very attractive. Having mana resources in your hand, to be used at a moment's notice, is a very powerful ability, not to mention one that is impossible to play around. The correct number is usually in the 3-4 vicinity, but always run them. Fast mana is that good.
Goblin Dark-Dwellers
Rating:
A new toy from Oath of the Gatewatch, the excellently-named "Fatcaster Mage" has occasionally shown up in lists as an extra Living End effect (assuming there's one in your graveyard). He has a good, Bolt-proof body, but five mana is kind of a lot when you don't have the option to cycle it away, and it could very well end up rotting in your hand. Run it at your own risk.
Guys Come On, That Cycling Joke Was Funny
Ingot Chewer
Rating:
The evoke mechanic works very favorably with Living End, and Ingot Chewer is a top choice because of its cheap evoke cost, reasonable body, and relevant secondary effect. A fair amount of grave hate cards are artifacts (Tormod's Crypt, Relic of Progenitus, Nihil Spellbomb), and ol' Chewy can help shore up the matchup against Affinity by taking out Cranial Plating. This is a valuable creature to have in your 75, and is definitely maindeck-able.
Ricochet Trap
Rating:
I doubt this card will ever see play elsewhere in Modern. Playing narrow reactive cards is generally a bad use of sideboard space, but in the case of Living End, it is sometimes necessary. Nothing sucks more than having your Living End Remanded.
The idea is to cascade into Living End, then when your opponent plays a counterspell targeting it, cast this card and change the target to Ricochet Trap (yes, you can do this.) This card is therefore only playable against decks with counter magic (which is a lot), so if you find yourself in a meta full of aggro decks, leave this one at home.
Jund Charm
Rating:
This card is a veritable Swiss Army knife. It's most common mode is as a graveyard killer, but it can also be used as a Pyroclasm or a double Battlegrowth. Many LE players find this card incredibly handy to have in their 75. Of the listed sideboard options, this one is perhaps the most maindeckable.
Anger of the Gods
Rating:
Non-LE sweepers are always a bit of a risk because you sometimes place yourself in a position where a Living End is unprofitable for you later in the game. Anger solves this by exiling anything it kills! The 3 damage is a death sentence vs. all manner of aggro decks (particularly Zoo and Affinity), and all of your own guys survive it. You probably want a couple of these in your sideboard.
Leyline of the Void
Rating:
A lot of Modern decks heart them some graveyards - Pyromancer Ascension Storm, Dredgevine, Eggs, and UW Tron, to name a few. Bring this in against those decks. Note that if you intend to run Leyline in your sideboard, it should be as a 4-of. Anything less, and you might run into consistency problems.
Brindle Boar
Rating:
Once again, a card that probably no other Modern deck is going to run. This guy is awesome against red decks. A Gray Ogre that can sac itself anytime for 4 life, then come back off Living End for 4 more. It may seem silly, but try it - you won't be disappointed.
Spike Feeder
Rating:
85% of the time this will just be a harder-to-cast Brindle Boar, a creature that is only brought in for specific matchups. Feeder is a little more flexible in that you can spread its counters out onto evasive creatures, but that situation doesn't turn up very often. As a sideboard card, this one is marginally better than Boar as something you can bring in to replace dead cards (Fulminator Mage vs. a mono-color deck, for example), so there's that.
Gnaw to the Bone
Rating:
This card competes with Brindle Boar as the sideboard card of choice against burn and Red Deck Wins. Gnaw has the advantage of being able to potentially gain you more life than the Boar. It's also an instant, which means you can surprise your opponent with it if they are not expecting it. The downside is that it is dependent on the number of creatures in your graveyard. Ordinarily, this wouldn't be an issue, but there are plenty of instances where you would rather have Brindle Boar. The choice is up to you - both cards do their job pretty well.
Krosan Grip
Rating:
This card some extra sideboard hate vs. artifacts and enchantments. The split second is nice, forcing your spell through any and all counter magic to trip up the Splinter Twin combo (not that that's relevant anymore), as well as any Arcbound Ravager shenanigans when picking off affinity's nastiest artifact. This card is comparatively narrow, since we're already running Beast Within, but is a serviceable choice if you're looking to round off your sideboard.
Loaming Shaman
Rating:
I'd really only recommend this card if you predict long, grindy games that involve you running out of Living Ends. This card can really put a damper on control decks, especially when used in tandem with Ricochet Trap. It also works as a (somewhat clunky) graveyard hoser against.... well, other decks that use their graveyard.
Dismember
Rating:
Sometimes, an opposing aggro deck will just up and kill you before you can even get to cascade mana. The most frequent offender is UG Infect, which is entirely capable of killing on turn 2 with a good draw. This card is one of the few answers we have because it can be cast for as little as one mana while still staying at or above 3 CMC.
Sudden Death
Rating:
Outdated tech for the Splinter Twin matchup. Not really useful anymore.
Maelstrom Pulse
Rating:
Another catch-all card, a la Beast Within, if you're into that sort of thing. Sorcery speed really hurts, though.
Leyline of Sanctity
Rating:
This is the card you want to have in your sideboard if you anticipate a lot of combo and burn in your meta (which are otherwise dreadful matchups for this deck). I should caution you, however - there are a couple of risks associated with running this card. Firstly, they will take up a lot of your sideboard, thus limiting the number of answers you can run for other decks. Second, they need WW to be hardcast, which means you had best be running an extra white source in your manabase if you don't want to have to aggressively mulligan into them.
Damping Matrix
Rating:
With the exception of Fulminator Mage (and possibly Brindle Boar out of the sideboard), none of our creatures have activated abilities (NOTE: Matrix does NOT prevent a player from cycling). That makes Damping Matrix a reasonable side-in against Affinity and other decks that are rife with activated abilities. Don't run more than 1 or 2 - I've always found this card to be kind of narrow otherwise.
Crumble to Dust
Rating:
Sometimes Tron can fight through all of our land destruction. Sometimes Scapeshift decks sandbag their Valakuts. Sometimes a spell that can put a gaping hole in both of those strategies is in order. This is a favorite in Big Red sideboards, and may be useful in Living End's, too.
Slaughter Games
Rating:
If you want to be absolutely, positively certain that you'll hit a combo deck where it hurts, then this card would appear to be the one you want. Uncounterable is good, right? Well, yes... but costing four mana isn't. In builds without Simian Spirit Guide, this card may not even be fast enough on the draw. Wizards has been pretty good about limiting any combo decks in the metagame to a turn-4 kill (I said PRETTY good - exceptions are abound), so while this will put them out of commission in game 2, it might not even matter game 3. Use at your own risk.
Bow of Nylea
Rating:
Another case of putting enough options on a single card to make it attractive, the Bow offers multiple small effects that can be powerful in specific contexts. Lifegain can put you out in front of burn spells or Scapeshift, and shuffling spent LE's back into your deck is nice in grindier matchups. Don't forget about the interaction between deathtouch and Kessig Wolf Run!
Terrain Generation
Fastlands - Blackcleave Cliffs, Copperline Gorge, Blooming Marsh
These lands are perfect for our deck, as we only need three mana to operate.
Shocklands - Blood Crypt, Overgrown Tomb, Stomping Ground, Temple Garden, Godless Shrine
Come on. It's a three (sometimes four)-color deck, did you really think we wouldn't be using these? Oftentimes you'll only need one of each, as we have a ton of ways to grab the ones we want.
Fetchlands - Verdant Catacombs, Wooded Foothills, Bloodstained Mire
Modern has great mana, and Living End especially so. These lands help ensure that you'll always be able to find the colors you need. Catacombs is far and away the best of the bunch, as it can grab every color, as well as fetch a basic Forest or Swamp for playing around things like Blood Moon. The other two fetches are about the same, with the slight edge going to Foothills for its ability to fetch Dryad Arbor.
Basic Lands - Swamp, Mountain, Forest
At least one of each, to help fight through Blood Moon and not be sad about Path to Exile.
Other Duals - Grove of the Burnwillows, Fire-Lit Thicket, Graven Cairns, Twilight Mire
Grove is the most attractive option here as a R/G dual that enters untapped and doesn't damage you. The lifegain is mostly inconsequential, but be wary of over-using it, as it could result in lengthening your clock. The filter lands are nice for fixing, but can make opening hands very awkward, as they produce no colored mana for your cyclers on the first turn.
Dread Targets - Dryad Arbor, Forbidden Orchard
Sometimes our opponents are big meanie-heads and don't give us a target for our Demonic Dreads. That's where these come in. Dryad Arbor is the preferable choice because it can be fetched by Verdant Catacombs, but the Orchard is an acceptable replacement that can also fix your mana in the early going.
Utility Lands - Kessig Wolf Run, Svogthos, the Restless Tomb, Raging Ravine, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Vault of the Archangel
Of these, Kessig Wolf Run is the best - trample means your biggest guy won't have to stare stupidly at a 1/1 every combat. Svogthos and Ravine are okay choices, and can be your only hope if you run out of Living Ends. Urborg is a mana-fixer that makes your Street Wraiths unblockable. Vault is one of the most absurd things ever post-End. Pick your favorite, but only run 1.
IV. Sample Decklists
3 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Blood Crypt
1 Copperline Gorge
2 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Snow-Covered Forest
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Snow-Covered Mountain
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Stomping Ground
1 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Temple Garden
3 Verdant Catacombs
1 Wooded Foothills
Creature (28)
4 Simian Spirit Guide
3 Deadshot Minotaur
2 Faerie Macabre
4 Fulminator Mage
2 Archfiend of Ifnir
4 Monstrous Carabid
2 Pale Recluse
4 Street Wraith
2 Horror of the Broken Lands
1 Desert Cerodon
3 Beast Within
4 Violent Outburst
Sorcery (6)
3 Demonic Dread
3 Living End
3 Ricochet Trap
1 Jund Charm
1 Avalanche Riders
2 Shriekmaw
1 Slaughter Games
1 Boil
2 Gnaw to the Bone
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Copperline Gorge
1 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Stomping Ground
2 Swamp
Creatures (27)
4 Architects of Will
4 Deadshot Minotaur
1 Faerie Macabre
4 Fulminator Mage
2 Jungle Weaver
4 Monstrous Carabid
1 Pale Recluse
3 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Street Wraith
3 Beast Within
4 Demonic Dread
3 Living End
4 Violent Outburst
3 Brindle Boar
2 Dismember
2 Faerie Macabre
3 Ingot Chewer
3 Ricochet Trap
2 Shriekmaw
4x Architects of Will
4x Deadshot Minotaur
2x Faerie Macabre
4x Fulminator Mage
2x Jungle Weaver
4x Monstrous Carabid
3x Simian Spirit Guide
4x Street Wraith
Sorcery (7)
4x Demonic Dread
3x Living End
3x Beast Within
4x Violent Outburst
Land (19)
4x Blackcleave Cliffs
1x Blood Crypt
4x Bloodstained Mire
4x Copperline Gorge
1x Forest
1x Mountain
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Stomping Ground
2x Swamp
4x Brindle Boar
2x Dismember
1x Faerie Macabre
3x Ingot Chewer
3x Ricochet Trap
2x Shriekmaw
Want to see the deck in action? Check out this series of videos by Luis Scott-Vargas!
And for some extra reading, here's an article by Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa detailing Living End in the post-Splinter Twin metagame.
V. Matchups
This is one of our worst matchups. Their game plan is not dependent on maintaining a board, and they can largely ignore our land-death and sweepers. Don’t play untapped shocklands except in an absolute emergency. If you have any ways to gain life, they will help, but be wary of Skullcrack and its ilk. Street Wraith's cycling cost is a liability here - consider cutting him in games 2 and 3.
This matchup is quite troublesome even after sideboarding, and some players have elected to concede it entirely by not running any lifegain in the 75. I do not recommend this because no matter where you go, Burn will always be a deck. Cross your fingers.
Best sideboard cards: Brindle Boar, Gnaw to the Bone, Spike Feeder, Bow of Nylea
They’re fast, but as it turns out, we’re the only deck that can reliably wrath on turn 3 if we have to. Don’t waste your time trying to cycle a ton of creatures for the big LE – they’ll kill you before then. Instead, think of your cascade spells as 3-mana board wipes. If you get a guy or two while you’re at it, awesome. Arcbound Ravager and Cranial Plating are the biggest threats to us. Stopping Ravager requires timely use of graveyard hate (Faerie Macabre really shines here), and Plating is a priority target for anything you have that can target it. If you can weather the initial onslaught, you should be in good shape.
Best sideboard cards: Ingot Chewer, Anger of the Gods, Faerie Macabre, Jund Charm, Kolaghan's Command, Kataki, War's Wage, Stony Silence
Creature decks will cry at the sight of early-turn cyclers. Don’t fall too far behind in the life race before cascading, or they’ll use the reach of their burn spells to finish you off. If Living End resolves and you’re above 8 life, you’ll be fine. Expect to see Thalia after game 1, and plan accordingly. (Psst. Shriekmaw.)
Best sideboard cards: Shriekmaw, Anger of the Gods
Zoo with a twist! This deck is trying to create a large/large (usually Death's Shadow, although I've seen some pretty big Monastery Swiftspears attacking for lethal) with some combination of Become Immense/Temur Battle Rage/Mutagenic Growth. They can be just as fast as Infect, and have access to Thoughtseize - if you can fire off a Living End while they're attempting to go off, you pretty much just win, but be careful! Suicide Zoo plays Street Wraith - be mindful of how many unblockable attackers you're giving your opponent. Shriekmaw is still ok here, since it hits everything except Death's Shadow. Extra spot removal might be helpful, but a lot of their defensive tricks are meant to stop that kind of thing (Apostle's Blessing, Faith's Shield, etc.). Living End itself is your greatest weapon. Be prepared for extra discard spells out of their sideboard.
Best sideboard cards: Shriekmaw, Blood Moon (typical lists run no basics), Faerie Macabre
Despite the loss of Deathrite Shaman, this pile of cards continues to persist in the format – fortunately for us, it’s a lot easier now. Cycle aggressively in the early turns – you want to keep multiple cascade spells, because you WILL lose at least one to discard. Fulminator Mage is powerful here – if you can manage back-to-back LD spells on them, you may very well cripple them completely. They also have removal in spades – keep in mind how something like Maelstrom Pulse affects combat math post-LE. Watch out for Slaughter Games from their sideboard.
Best sideboard cards: Dismember, Kitchen Finks
Not often seen, but it’s a favorable matchup. Keep your removal ready for Serra Ascendant. Beast Within answers Ghostly Prison and Rest in Peace. Don’t worry too much about their copious lifegain – just keep plugging away and they’ll go down eventually. A lot of these decks have moved away from Proclamation of Rebirth, but if you see it, bring in some grave hate.
Best sideboard cards: Shriekmaw, Beast Within, Maelstrom Pulse, Faerie Macabre, Jund Charm
This matchup is very tricky, but we have the right answers for it. Try to overload their counter mana with multiple cascade spells. Beast Within can serve as a valuable catch-all in game 1, but this matchup gets a lot better for us after sideboarding. Twin is the number one reason to have split second spells in your 75. If you’re not running a Blood Moon list, expect to see it from them in games 2-3.Twin is dead. Long live Twin!
Best sideboard cards:
Sudden Death, Krosan Grip, Ricochet Trap, Damping MatrixCrying towel, salt, picket sign reading "Down with WotC!"*Pod has been banned since the writing of this bit.
Another deck you’re almost certain to see. Grave hate reigns supreme against persist shenanigans, and can stop them from sacrificing everything in response to Living End. Aim your Beast Withins at Birthing Pod and lands. Exiling sweepers are a house out of the sideboard, as is Damping Matrix. This is a matchup where it’s very important not to over-sideboard; Pod decks are more than capable of just beating down in games 2-3.
Best sideboard cards: Faerie Macabre, Leyline of the Void, Anger of the Gods, Damping Matrix, Jund Charm
*Pod has been banned since the writing of this bit.
Same as above, but they have a combo kill that doesn’t require the graveyard. Be aggressive with the LD in game 1, and cycle your brains out. You want to hit them hard and fast if you want any chance at winning the first game. Post-board, you’ll want more ways to kill their creatures at instant speed.
Best sideboard cards: Damping Matrix, Sudden Death, Dismember
The spiritual successor to the Birthing Pod decks, this deck is trying to cobble together an "oops-I-win" with their signature instant. The good news is that they can only look six cards deep, and typically need two specific creatures to combo. The bad news is that Collected Company is a lot harder for you to interact with than Birthing Pod was. You need to be very careful when pulling the trigger on Living End - too soon, and your opponent will find their combo before you kill them. Too late, and they can fire off CoCo at EOT and win on the spot.
The best way to fight these decks is to attack their mana. Be liberal with your Fulminator Mages, and send Shriekmaws after their Hierarchs/Birds/Wall of Roots. A well-timed Faerie Macabre can also interrupt the combo.
Best sideboard cards: Damping Matrix, Sudden Death, Kolaghan's Command, Avalanche Riders
This is the easier of the Tron variants you'll encounter. Most of them have a Gifts Ungiven/Unburial Rites package, which gets kicked in the nuts by Faerie Macabre. Fulminator their lands early and often, and bring in Ricochet Trap for protection.
Best sideboard cards: Faerie Macabre, Ricochet Trap, Ingot Chewer, Avalanche Riders
We struggle mightily against this iteration of Tron – maindeck gravehate in Relic of Progenitus, a fairly consistent Turn 3 Karn Liberated, and a potential white splash for combo hate/Rest in Peace. Going in on the LD plan is your best bet. This matchup does get a little easier if you happen to be packing Simian Spirit Guide, as the extra speed can help you keep up.
Best sideboard cards: Ingot Chewer, Avalanche Riders, Crumble to Dust (if running SSG)
Another dreadful matchup. We have limited ways to interact outside of land destruction. You'll want to aim for a fast Living End with a couple of creatures (preferably ones that don't die to Bolt, in case they run it) - putting a clock on them is of the utmost importance. If you stumble, Beast Within is your best hope in game one, removing both Goblin Electromancer and Pyromancer Ascension. You may be able to trip them up with a surprise Faerie Macabre when they go for a Past in Flames, but don’t count on it.
Best sideboard cards: Leyline of the Void
Public enemy number one is Scavenging Ooze. Beyond that, this is just a Jund deck with fewer manlands and no burn spells. They may have a heavier portion of discard spells, so don’t hesitate to pull the trigger on Violent Outburst or Demonic Dread if things look even remotely profitable – you might not get another chance. Their biggest claim to fame is Abrupt Decay, which we just sort of ignore completely.
Best sideboard cards: Sudden Death, Bow of Nylea, Damping Matrix
More like "Just Plain Amulet", am I right?!
Land destruction is good in theory; hitting a bounceland can set them back a fair amount. Amulet of Vigor is a priority target in this matchup - if you start any copies of Kolaghan's Command or Ingot Chewer, you might want to consider mulliganing aggressively to find one. The number one card that you absolutely cannot beat is Hive Mind - keep them from casting this at all costs. It turns off Living End! (And you're usually dead to a Pact immediately thereafter, anyway.) Primeval Titan can be dangerous, despite being a creature. A good Amulet player won't go all-in on Titan if you are representing a Violent Outburst, so if they stick one, cascade before attacks so they can't fetch extra lands.Best sideboard cards: Ingot Chewer, Blood Moon, Kolaghan's Command, Angel's Grace (not really a valid option since you'd have to cut LE and cascade into it, but it deserves a mention because it's the only thing that can stop Hive Mind)
Another matchup where you are going to want to wrath the field Turn 3 no matter what. Demonic Dread is not going to have a target on their side of the field, so fetch out your Dryad Arbor as soon as possible if Dread is your only cascade spell. The first LE should be good enough to win the game, but keep on cycling after the first one, just in case it isn’t. You WILL see Rest in Peace out of their sideboard in games 2-3, so don’t board out your Beast Withins!
Best sideboard cards: Extra enchantment destruction if you've got it, otherwise just run it back; you are heavily favored.
This matchup is very difficult. This deck plays like draw-go with an “I win” button ready to fire at a moment’s notice. Be aware of how many Sakura-Tribe Elders they have in the bin when you go to cast Living End – each one counts as another 3 (or more) damage in the event of a follow-up Scapeshift. Demonic Dread is a bit more suspect here than in most matchups – sorcery speed means you may still just be dead to the combo when your opponent untaps, and your opponent may just deprive you of targets by saccing their Elders during their own turn or on your upkeep. Fulminator Mage, Beast Within, and Avalanche Riders are your greatest weapons here. Aim for U/x mana sources when possible to keep them off Cryptic Command. Out of the sideboard, lifegain cards can effectively increase the lethal land count by 1, and Ricochet Trap will help your spells resolve.
Best sideboard cards: Avalanche Riders, Slaughter Games, Brindle Boar, Ricochet Trap
MAN, is this deck scary. If there was ever a matchup that was tilted by Simian Spirit Guide, this may be it. They can nut-draw you on turn 2 and there’s nothing you can do about that, so let’s just leave that be. Everything that can kill creatures is welcome here – Dismember is the best choice. You can be liberal with your shocks and fetches, as well – full use of your mana each turn is practically required if you want to keep up with them. Fulminator Mage is a key role player here, as they are typically land-light and it deals with Inkmoth Nexus. The first Living End will almost certainly end the game, so just hang on!
Best sideboard cards: Dismember, Shriekmaw (for BUG lists), Bow of Nylea (for Inkmoths and Plague Stingers)
Don’t be fooled – this matchup is far from a cakewalk. While they may be a creature deck at heart, all of their token-producers are X-for-ones, meaning they can recover from a Living End much faster than something like Zoo or Jund. They also pack plenty of discard, so be mindful of how a turn 1 Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek affects your opening hand. The biggest danger from this deck is when they stack multiple anthems – the prime Beast Within target is Intangible Virtue.
Honorary mention to Street Wraith for being unblockable the vast majority of the time here.
Best sideboard cards: Anger of the Gods, Jund Charm, Maelstrom Pulse
Their goal is to just continually 1-for-1 you until they can pull ahead with a Sphinx’s Revelation or a planeswalker. Your creatures all dodge Bolt and Helix, so expect those to be aimed at your face. Game 1, it’s all about overloading their mana on their end step so you can force a Living End to resolve. Suspending LE is not out of the question here, either, as they lack a quick clock. Beast Within is helpful for getting rid of Celestial Colonnade, but be careful – they may just protect the token with countermagic and kill you with it.
If you can get into the long game with them, we’re actually a lot better off than most decks thanks to our ability to continually hardcast 3/4’s and 4/5’s. Incidentally, if yours is a Blood Moon LE list, this matchup is much more favorable.
Best sideboard cards: Ricochet Trap, Avalanche Riders, Faerie Macabre (seriously)
NOPE.
This is our worst matchup. Most of their creatures have counterspells attached to them, which is just miserable for a deck that wants to resolve a single, powerful spell. Spellstutter Sprite pees on Living End. And some lists even have Familiar’s Ruse to pick up their Sprites and Snapcaster Mages. The good news is, if (IF!) you manage to stick something, it’s probably not going anywhere for a while.
Best sideboard cards: Volcanic Fallout, Anger of the Gods, Ricochet Trap (note that this does NOT work on Spellstutter)
I've never played against this before, so.... my best guess is that graveyard hate is good. More to come on this one.
Best sideboard cards: Faerie Macabre, Leyline of the Void, Nightmare Void
VI. FAQ
I added this section to address frequently asked questions about Living End. This should save you all some time having to scroll through pages of discussion to find the answers you're looking for.
You’ll want to start with a playset of Monstrous Carabid, Deadshot Minotaur, and Street Wraith, and some number of Jungle Weaver. That will form your cycler core. Next, you’ll need the combo package: 4 Violent Outburst, 3-4 Demonic Dread, and 3 Living End. And finally, you’ll want a full set of Fulminator Mage. Yes, they are pricey, but without them the deck is extremely linear and not nearly as disruptive.
The rest of the deck can be fleshed out with various cards from the Card Choices section listed above.
How does Ricochet Trap work? I see it in a bunch of sideboards and I’m confused as to how it protects Living End.
Let’s say you have a Ricochet Trap and a Violent Outburst in your hand. Your opponent passes the turn, and you play Outburst at his EOT. You flip cards and find a Living End. Your opponent taps some mana and casts Remand targeting your Living End.
Now that your opponent has cast a blue spell, you tap for R and cast your Ricochet Trap, changing Remand’s target to Ricochet Trap. You see, a spell can’t ever target itself, but it CAN target a spell that is above it on the stack. Here’s what will happen next:
-Your Ricochet Trap will resolve, changing Remand’s target and leaving the stack.
-Your opponent’s Remand will be countered for having an illegal target. Your opponent will not draw a card from Remand’s effect.
-Your Living End resolves.
-Your Violent Outburst resolves.
Bear in mind that this trick only works if your opponent’s spell has a single target. Example: If your opponent in the above example tries to counter your spell with Cryptic Command, choosing “counter and draw,” you can Ricochet it. (This will also stop your opponent from drawing a card.) However, if your opponent chooses “counter and bounce”, then Cryptic Command will have two targets (your spell and whichever permanent they chose to bounce), and you can NOT Ricochet it.
Does this deck just lose to graveyard hate?
Hardly! Living End is a surprisingly resilient combo deck, and has a multitude of ways to battle the litany of grave-hate cards commonly used in the Modern format.
-Fighting Deathrite Shaman: This is the most frequently-seen card, and you really don’t have too much to fear. The deck can easily overcome losing creature per turn. Not to mention that if they’re spending all of their time eating your guys, they aren’t using it for mana, thus slowing down their game plan. DRS can be combated by cycling multiple creatures a turn, Fulminating their green sources, and sweeping with Living End.-Fighting Scavenging Ooze: This creature is a bit more troublesome, as it doesn’t need to sit for a turn before going after your ‘yard, and can eat multiple guys a turn while applying pressure. ScOoze can be combated with Shriekmaw, Dismember, LD on green sources, and sweeping with Living End.
-Fighting Leyline of the Void: This one is annoying because it comes out on turn zero and deals with everything at little opportunity cost to the user. If you have a bunch of cyclers, save your Street Wraiths – they are the easiest to cycle once you’ve dealt with the Leyline. If you need to throw away some one-mana cyclers to dig for an answer, that’s okay! We run plenty. It’s also important to remember that Living End is still a wrath effect with this in play.
Beast Within is the best answer we have to this card. Sideboard options include Maelstrom Pulse and Krosan Grip.
-Fighting Relic of Progenitus, Nihil Spellbomb, and Grafdigger’s Cage: The one-mana artifacts can be played around by sandbagging cyclers (Street Wraith again!) and forcing your opponent to blow it at an inopportune time. You can catch Relic with Ingot Chewer if you can get them to tap out somehow. Remember to stack your triggers on Ingot Chewer such that its ETB ability resolves before it’s sac’d to Evoke. That way, even if your opponent pops their Relic/Spellbomb, you’ll still have a 3/3 in the bin.
Oh, and as for Grafdigger’s Cage? Just ignore it. It doesn’t stop Living End in any way; the creatures are entering the battlefield from exile, not from the graveyard. Don’t tell the other threads!
-Fighting Rest in Peace: This is the worst of the bunch. Again, Beast Within is your best out. But even if you destroy it, RiP has done its damage by wiping your graveyard clean the second it comes down. If you think your opponent is running it (if they’re in white, they probably are), be ready – try not to overextend. If they draw into it late game, you can respond to it by cascading via Violent Outburst and getting your army onto the table before it lands.
Which landcyclers should I run in my deck?
Typically, your choice of landcyclers is dependent on what kinds of lands you’re playing. The general rule of thumb is that every landcycler in your deck should be able to access every color. Pale Recluse, for example, can only forestcycle and plainscycle, but it can grab Overgrown Tomb, Stomping Ground, Godless Shrine, and Temple Garden. Between those four lands, you can access W, B, R, and G. Perfect!
I can’t afford Fulminator Mages. Is there a budget option available?
Short answer: no.
Long answer: There is nothing in the Modern card pool that does what Fulminator does for the same mana cost. The closest facsimile is Avalanche Riders, but that costs more mana and really hampers the LD plan if run on its own. Your best shot is to bite the bullet and pony up for a set of Fulminators – nothing compares.
This deck is jank. Why should I play this over something better like Kiki-Pod?
Because Pod is banned, you condescending behind-the-timer. Go away.
What are your thoughts on running Bloodbraid Elf as another cascade card? Sure it might not always hit LE, but if it hits land destruction or a K-Command it's still gonna be good, right?
STAHP.
VII. Update Chronology
1/10/2013 - Edited matchup for Jund
1/11/2013 - Added cards to primer, posted new winning decklists
1/13/2013 - Added Slaughter Games to primer
1/20/2013 - Expanded matchups section
1/31/2013 - Expanded RG Tron matchup, added Aven Mindcensor to primer
2/22/2013 - Added Joe Hemmann's Top 8 decklist
1/9/2014 - Added "Common Questions" section
1/14/2014 - Added Crypt Incursion and Whip of Erebos to the primer.
8/19/2014 - Major overhaul to Matchups section
7/26/2015 - Added Kolaghan's Command to the primer and tidied up a bit.
12/29/2015 - Added Amulet Bloom and Abzan CoCo to the matchups section.
1/27/2016 - Matchup section and Sideboard Cards tweaked to reflect recent bannings.
10/26/2016 - Housekeeping and potpurri; added Goblin Dark-Dwellers. Added a "no-landcyclers" list to example decklists.
11/28/2016 - More housekeeping; minor elaborations in sections 1, 3, and 5
07/07/2017 - Added Amonkhet cyclers and Hollow One to section 3.
The older and crustier Living End thread
Special thanks to MTGS users PopeJP, IxidorVersionTwo, and Raymond_K_Hessel for their contributions to the new primer, and to the development of the Living End deck in general.
Extra special thanks to Spitlebug for the amazing full-size banner!
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Seeing as how this thread is a million pages long, and I haven't played a game of sanctioned Modern in eight months, does someone want to reboot the primer and start a new thread? Not gonna lie, it's cool seeing my name at the top of this nonsense, but the primer has gone stale with regards to its matchups, and my life has taken enough turns and gotten suitably complicated to the point where it's a disservice to you all not to be involved here anymore.
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Yes, you're right. I shouldn't have implied that beating ramp is as easy as casting Armageddon - you've gotta be smart about it. And that's the most challenging part.
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I'm sure "like a gremlin caught in the headlights" is a common colloquialism on Kaladesh.
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In that case, expect me to forget all about it and make the same remark for the next unplayable cheap red trinket. Because apparently that's what I do. lol
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That said, my group is usually pretty understanding if there's a complicated board to be navigated, or a bunch of math to do. The only time we really harp on one another is when people take long turns without doing anything.
/rant