MTG Modern General

Not specifically a modern deck, just that all of the cards and the mechanic in question are modern so i figure this would be the most likely thread to get some help in. I had been a fan of the transform mechanic for a while but werewolves weren't really my thing. So I had been trying to parse out a Black&Blue transform deck focused on cards that change things up as the game goes on.

So far I've got
[Nonbasic Lands]
2x Westervale Abbey
[Creatures]
4x Accursed Witch
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Thraben Gargoyle
4x Ludevic's Test Subject
4x Uninvited Gheist
2x Docent of Perfection
2x Elusive Tormentor
2x Thing in the Ice
[Artifacts]
4x Cryptolith Fragment
2x Elbrus the Binding Blade
[Spells]
4x Startled Awake

Now clearly this is a terrible deck, which is why I'm coming here for input and assistance. I'd really prefer to keep the Gheists and Fragments in, since they are easy to deal damage with once they're transformed, and Elbrus and Westervale are heavy hitters, but as long as it can be a working transform deck I'm open to suggestion.

No, you can't sacrifice permanents you don't control, and you control Pacifism. It's just enchanting an opponents' creature. Now, he can sacrifice the enchanted creature to get basically the same effect of removing Pacifism, but he sacs his creature.

Either way it's a win for you.

Your best creature, delver of secrets only has a 4 in 60 chance of flipping. Either cut him or add 20+ instants and sorceries

This card is so fucking good at grinding people out

Sell your copies of Inquisition of Kozilek now, senpai. It's going to get reprinted in Duel Decks: Nissa vs. Nixilis for sure

Jokes on you! I already sold 8 of my 12 IoK at SCG Dallas! I picked up Zendikar fetches in return!

What have you been playing it in? What has it been good against in particular? Why don't we have Food Chain in Modern?

I'm playing it in a hard control shell and it's been extremely good against UWx decks
Path? Fizzles. Bolt? Fizzles. Nahiri? I'll just cast it again from exile and hit her on the backswing.
People tend to not side in wrath cards for a 3/3 which only leaves you open to counters, but Cavern of Souls fixes that

>Emrakul is a "she"
>Anything female can be a waifu, as per rules of the internet
>I can build a waifu deck around Emrakul
Wish me luck, Veeky Forums. I'm going to waifu an eldritch horror

For the previous thread:

Dec in Stone is really good in R/W blood moon decks as premium spot removal, since you cannot run Path.
Other uses for it are acceptable such as a token sweeper, but moon should be the main consideration for the card.

>this card is good in a deck nobody plays

Do tell me more

Well perhaps the deck will become more popular as good cards make it stronger?????

Anyone been speccing on any cards from EMN for modern? For me it's been the Spirits, Collective cycle, and Bedlam.

The best spot removal in RW Moon Decks is Snow Lands + Skred.

Bedlam Revelers

Perhaps you're a literal fucking idiot and should fuck off

>LMAO these decks are figs Dr j jo d y bjuğ!!!!!

Yeah, I was gonna play test him in there. That's where I would drop the desperate ravings and shattered memories, because they seem to be the weakest dig spells I have. I was also thinking to throw in a manamorphose or two, though, because generally when I go off, I don't have any lands left untapped, and all the Battle Hymns produce are red mana, making Epic Experiment a dead card.

Hey man at least one person plays it.

Skred is a delight. I always thought the giant in the art was doing the damage, but on closer inspection the giant is getting slammed by 6 damage worth of rime.

Yeah, it's good for tokens, but you're paying an extra mana and doing the removal at sorcery speed to give him at least one card drawing artifact instead of a basic land. Plus, the artifact only needs colorless to pop, so it gives the opponent something to do with all those mountains.

I get why you suggest that, but a 2 mana sorcery speed removal is a lot different than a 1 mana instant speed removal.

You ok there buddy

I just thought, if you plan on dropping the paths for some other exile, you're playing RW, and you're fine with it being at sorcery speed, why not just play Chained to the Rocks instead?

You're right, but I still think it would be okay in a R/W prison deck. I suppose things like Oust exist, it just seems like on paper Dec can do quite a bit of work, and having played it in Standard the clue token (while pretty bad) isn't as bad as you would think.

The Bileblight clause is where it really shines but that upside is so fringe that it's quite hard to justify, and gives the card power variance and the illusion of being better than it is (in standard killing two thalia's lieutenants made me think highly of it)

Are...are you having a stroke? Do you have somebody near you who can call an ambulance?

Alright. With some tweaking and suggestions from friends offline and the advice from this thread I now have a Version 2 of the deck, for the one(1) person that actually cares.

>Creatures (20)
4x Accursed Witch
2x Elusive Tormenter
4x Ludevic's Test Subject
2x Soul Seizer
4x Thraben Gargoyle
4x Uninvited Gheist
>Artifacts (8)
4x Cryptolith Fragment
2x Elbrus, the Binding Blade
2x Neglected Heirloom
>Instants & Sorceries (12)
4x Murder
4x Slip Through Space
4x Startled Awake.
>Lands (20)
2x Westervale Abbey
9x Island
9x Swamp

Might not win any tournaments but I still feel pretty good about it. Still would like suggestions because there's never a reason to not improve a deck.

>CttR
Honestly that works too.
That works quite damn well.
Even if they can remove it, and that's a big if, they're using enchantment removal on something other than blood moon

Nj user

Doom Blade is better than Murder 8/10 times.

Could even work as bait for enchantment removal.

Thanks, user. I'm happy to be useful for once.

Go for the Throat is better against anything that isn't Affinity

Go for the throat is better than Doom Blade in 8/10 times

I'm starting him off easy.

fair enough, but I'd rather not have a spell that's blind to a certain color or type of creature if possible.

Play Hero's Downfall then

Who was in the wrong here?

rollback is privilege, not right that should be taken for granted

It's all really high Cmc, for starters. I get that it's a theme deck, and that's hard to change, so I would drop some stuff for more kill/counter to help out your early game.

I really like Uninvited Geist and Neglected Heirloom.

Startled awake doesn't really seem to fit the deck. It can't trigger Heirloom, and it's only gonna do one damage every other turn. None of the rest of your deck has any mill elements, so I would drop it.

I'm sure you can find better removal in modern than murder. Run dismember, doom blade, victim of the night, anything but murder.

Normally I would allow rollback since it's just a game we play for fun, but I can understand him not wanting to sit through another 5 minutes of nothing.
Also you don't get to be upset for not getting a rollback. They are definitely not guaranteed.

Depends. Practice game, guy who denied a roll back is in the wrong.

this is my affinity list currently, looking to get glimmervoids and steel overseers still.

any advice on my sideboard in the current meta? still not 100% sure what my bad matchups are and what decks i need to heavily sideboard against.

Lands
4 x Blinkmoth Nexus
2 x Glimmervoid
4 x Inkmoth Nexus
4 x Darksteel Citadel
1 x Island
1 x mountain
Creatures
3 x Memnite
1 x spellskite
4 x Ornithopter
4 x Signal Pest
4 x Vault Skirge
4 x Arcbound Ravager
3 x Etched Champion
1 x Master of Etherium
Noncreature Spells
2 x ensoul artifact
3 x Thoughtcast
4 x Galvanic Blast
4 x Mox Opal
3 x Springleaf Drum
4 x Cranial Plating

Sideboard
2 x spell pierce
2 x Ancient Grudge
1 x wear//tear
1 x Thoughtseize
2 x relic of progenitus
1 x Torpor Orb
1 x Blood Moon
2 x Whipflare
1 x ghirapur aether grid
1 x grafdiggers cage
1 x izzet staticaster

Looks good to me, f a m. I'm shit at tuning decks, though, so I dunno what amount of what cards is perfect.

Not him, but I've been playing Affinity for almost two years. Your list has some problems.
>1 Master of Etherium, 2 Ensoul, 3 Thoughtcast, 4 Blast
that's 10 colored spells. You have nine colored sources. I understand you're looking for glimmervoids, but you need to cut way down on the spells. I only run 5 colored spells (2 Masters, 3 Blasts). Thoughtcast really isn't that great a card when you have so many low impact draws like memnites and ornithopters, and they're clunky in multiple so you should consider running only 1 if at all, maybe two if you really like the card. Also, you need to run 4 springleaf drums, the card is practically a necessity. Opal and Drum is to Affinity like Aether Vial is to Merfolk, or Top is to Miracles. It just streamlines the deck and gives it the explosiveness that Affinity is known for. As a general rule, you should have no more than 8 colored spells in your 60 (both pre and post board) and even then you're really stressing your mana base.

As for your sideboard, you should tailor it to your specific meta, but some general thoughts.
The Staticaster is a strange inclusion since ghirapur is a card you could run. The colored mana requirement is just too much for the deck to cast reliably. Also, 2 relics + 1 cage is a lot of graveyard hate. As for torpor orb, there's no real reason to run it anymore since twin is not a deck, but if your meta if filled with Kiki Chord and Melira Company, it's a fine card.

Not that user, but that's good to know. A lot of the locals at my shop have been playing with full playsets of thoughtcast, galvanic, and probably 2 Master. I was wondering why they got fucked so often.

the extra colored spells are fillers for steel overseer, my only alternatives are a memnite and an etched champion currently

i thought springleaf drum could kind of clog up hands, i only have 3 though, i'll get another and put it in.

staticaster is a recommendation from a friend of mine who is a better player than me, he says it's really good so i'm giving it a try.

kiki chord and melira are a big deck in my meta.

in a pptq recently i went 3-3 and 2 of my losses were to jund so i feel the 2 relics could be warranted?

my current sideboard options i can add include another thoughtseize, more ghirapur aether grids, pithing needles, adding the fourth etched champion to the side instead of using a slot for it in the main, tormods crypt

these are my options until i purchase more cards, on that note, do you have recommendations?

>the extra colored spells are fillers for steel overseer, my only alternatives are a memnite and an etched champion currently
You could try a one of hangarback and a 4th champion. You just need to keep the colored spell count low.

>i thought springleaf drum could kind of clog up hands, i only have 3 though, i'll get another and put it in.
It barely happens from my experience.

>in a pptq recently i went 3-3 and 2 of my losses were to jund so i feel the 2 relics could be warranted?
If it's jund you're worried about, you're not looking for relics. You need some way to grind back. Hangarback, etched champion, sea gate wreckage, thoughtcast are much better here as well as having applications in other grindy matchups like UWR control. You don't put relics in for jund.

>staticaster is a recommendation from a friend of mine who is a better player than me, he says it's really good so i'm giving it a try.
Does he say why? The only situation I could think of in which staticaster is better than aether grid is if my opponent creates 18 goblins off empty the warrens.

>my current sideboard options i can add
No. Tailor it to your meta. For example I don't run any ancient grudges because for some reason I'm literally the only affinity player at my LGS. You know your meta better than I do, just do what you feel is right.

>hangarback
All opinions discarded

It's much better then ten colored spells in a deck with only 11 colored sources. in the absence steel overseers, it's better than nothing. Alternatively you could play a welding jar instead.

i wasnt the guy responding rudely, i'm considering your choices.

It's fine. Hangarback really isn't that good outside of grindy metas.

HURRY
does anyone have the jace, architect of memes, pepe?

nvm found him

I just stuck 4 copies into Skred. Going to see how it plays out on Wednesday .

Ugh. Ok, let's do this.
Cut all creatures except 4x Delvers and 3x Docent of Perfection. With so many creatures and so few sorceries, you will never be able to flip them - and they are the best creatures in your deck. Add 2x Snapcaster Mage and 1x Tasigur. Then add 4x Serum Visions, 3x Vapor Snag, 4x Spell Snare, 3x Thoughtseize, 3x Scry the Bones, 4x Remand, 2x Cryptic Command. 9 Swamps, 9 Islands, 4 Polluted Delta, 2 Abbeys. Basically a shittier version of Grixis Delver, but hey, Docent of Perfection is a cool card. Go make it work.

>docent of prefection
more like
docent of trash

That's basically the opposite of what I had wanted to do, but okay.

user asked for help tuning his meme deck. I could tell him to stop playing a meme deck, but that would be quite autistic. Brewing meme decks is a guilty pleasure that I, for one, endorse.
Then do the opposite. Cut everything but Elusive Tormenter, Thraben Gargoyle, Uninvited Gheist, Cryptolic Fragment and Neglected Heirloom, and you got yourself a meme Standard deck instead of a meme Modern deck.

>tfw judging others but you have a standard triskaidekaphobia deck and want a modern hedron alignment

Triskaidekaphobia is legit. Run Languish mainboard and Vessels in sideboard to dodge Dromoka's Command all day long.

I believe there's an Agains the Odds article on Hedron Alignment. Or channelfireball, or something.

its too outdated

Managed to trade away all my standard trash for two Ancestral Visions. Only did this just to secure value but now I'm wondering whether it's actually a good idea to play them in my Jeskai Harbinger deck. How many copies of them are the ideal number?
My meta consists of:
2 Jund
1 Affinity
1 Infect
1 Grixis Delver
2 Titanshift/Scapeshift
3 Coco decks
1 Coco elves
1 G/W Hatebears
1 Eldrazi (MonoU)
1 Dredge
and a whole ton of random brews/standard people putting together decks last minute

Ive been living in a cave for a few months, whats the general consensus for bedlam reveler in burn? seems like the game should be over by turn 4 or 5 when it would likely come into play, has anyone been testing?

3 is a good number. You want them early but at the same time they are a terrible top deck.

I've been testing the salt shaker deck on Xmage recently and have finished it in paper.
Turn 3/4 wins occur often and it seems fairly resilient.

>tfw can never get xmage to work properly
I mean I can play but no symbols load and I'm missing over half the images. Also can't get any backgrounds

He was never meant for burn. He's 'fixed' treasure cruise

You could play four visions and be fine. Just discard them to Nahiri in the late game.

Yeah if I remember correctly EFat tried to brew a Hedron deck.

Wow I'm retarded, that never came to mind. That makes my decision to include them way easier.

>dredge won the most recent starcity modern event

Is Maro gonna have to ban something so people stop having fun?

I can't help but feel that someone on R&D loves the mechanics that Maro loathes and is trying to subtly push support for them. Dredge obviously but to a lesser extent with storm with the red vessel.

Pretty much ask this questions when deciding to or not to include Ancestral Visions. How many fair decks are in my meta?
Ancestral is amazing against grindier match-ups like Collective Company decks and Grixis/Jeskai decks (just hope to god they don't remand it) as well as giving it more wiggle room before it becomes a bad draw, but against combo or linear aggro the cards can come too late and it becomes a dead card past turn 2.

Alright guys I'm back from yesterday with an update version of Bant Company. Feel free to give me your general thoughts as I move ahead with further testing.
tappedout.net/mtg-decks/bant-company-20-2/

Where the goyfs at?

I had a UW control tezz/hedron alignment deck that sort of didn't suck. tappedout.net/mtg-decks/uw-hedron-tezz/
I think it needs an ensnaring bridge main and another codex shredder. I don't know what the prismatic lens is in there for since it's fucking useless.

In case you didn't get it by now, they are trying to make Dredge and Storm more "Modern" by introducing creatures that can be interacted with rather than consistency spells.

Dredge got Insolent Neonate and Prized Amalgam. Storm got Thing in the Ice and Bedlam Reveler.

MaRo is fine with these. I wouldn't be surprised to see Eggs-like support in Kaladesh so it becomes quicker or something.

Yep, remember kids. Instants and Sorceries are unfun and feelsbaddy. Creatures are A OK!

When was the last time they printed a good I/S?

Khan's? Even then coco has to deal with creatures and the commands are just goodstuff

...

I just don't get it. You have less than a set of counters to actually protect your thing and nothing to take advantage of the large amount of spells you can cast a turn

You can see it being played here:

>match 1
youtube.com/watch?v=ZHh2buC48t8
>match 2
youtube.com/watch?v=FckpaRzxAjU
>match 3
youtube.com/watch?v=0SPCNCVrgvc
>match 4
youtube.com/watch?v=gaIu_ItkLVI
>match 5
youtube.com/watch?v=Y3evsRnFDj8

It seems to be working pretty well.

We've gotten good I/S of course, but they've mostly interacted with creatures like with Coco, or k-command. But yea, they've really been stepping away from non-creature spell based strategies. It's very clear they want Magic to mostly be pokemon in recent years.

Played against this this a few times, always felt worse than regular storm. Having thing let me use my removal g1 and g2 and g3 it was still pretty weak to graveyard hate.

If I use whip of erebos to pull liliana heretical healer from the graveyard, and then kill another of my creatures, I still get her planeswalker right?

I watched a steam today and saw UR Faeries vs Blue Moon. Why has no one tried UR Fae with blood moon, why can't these be one deck.

It's called blue moon. It just removed the shit faeries for good cards

UR fae looks like a lot of fun though, might not be twin again, but same tempo-y style with an oops I win.

They're locked behind "no thanks vault"

Can someone tell me why Nahiri Control can get away with 23 lands?

Because high land counts are a meme.
A deck that tops around 4 cmc could get away with 21. Add filtering and draw and it's easy

Because fuck you that's why. Nahiri doesn't give a shit about anything modern players hold dear. She's just here to spread our cheeks and fuck us silly.

Because it's a bad deck