Once again we will have all the videos included in this very article for this week’s Modern Monday! Be sure to let us know whether you like this format better or not.
Welcome back to another Modern Monday. Today we’re taking a look at a sweet Mardu Tokens list that was played by Magic Online user crumbles2010 to a 5-0 finish in a Modern League. I know I’ve played decks similar to this before, and I had mixed results with them. For some reason Mardu never ends up being a very competitive option for Modern, but maybe we can change all that today. Take a look at the list we’ll be piloting.
2 Anguished Unmaking
1 Bitterblossom
1 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
3 Godless Shrine
1 Hero of Bladehold
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Intangible Virtue
3 Lightning Bolt
4 Lingering Souls
4 Marsh Flats
1 Mountain
4 Path to Exile
2 Plains
2 Sacred Foundry
1 Secure the Wastes
1 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
3 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2 Spectral Procession
2 Swamp
2 Temple of Silence
4 Thoughtseize
2 Westvale Abbey
3 Windbrisk Heights
2 Windswept Heath
1 Zealous Persecution
Sideboard
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Bitterblossom
1 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Kor Firewalker
1 Rakdos Charm
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Stony Silence
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 Wrath of God
It’s always nice to see new cards in Modern, and here we have a couple copies of not only Anguished Unmaking, but also Westvale Abbey. There are also some other unconventional choices, like two Temple of Silence and a single Bitterblossom in the main deck. I guess we’ll see how those work out for us.
Hmm. Unfortunately, this list did not perform as well for us as it did for crumbles2010. I’m not sure why, but as I mentioned, we always seem to have subpar luck with Mardu lists in Modern. My guess is that the casting costs are just too hard on the mana bases. I mean, look at some of the most popular cards. They all cost things like WW, WWW, BB, BW, RR. It’s a nightmare on our mana base, especially when you’re constantly cracking fetchlands and putting shocklands into play untapped. This doesn’t even take cards like Thoughtseize into account!
Take this deck for examples. Sure, we can opt not to get the Sacred Foundry, but getting the basic Mountain means no Spectral Procession until turn four at the earliest. Which makes sense why there are only two in here. Often times you want to be able to produce WWBR by turn four, which is not the easiest thing to do, especially when we want black mana on turn one for our discard spells, but also three white mana by turn three to cast Spectral Procession. Whew!
Speaking of mana, I actually don’t even know why the red is in the deck. For three Lightning Bolts and one Rakdos Charm? It feels like such an unnecessary strain on the mana base when we could be using something like Go for the Throat or Dismember instead. Sure, they don’t go to the face, but the difference to our lands is sizable. Additionally, we can play more things like Raise the Alarm or the full four copies of Spectral Procession. One problem you might have noticed our token deck having was…well, not enough tokens!
This deck was…odd. It had a ton of one-ofs not just in the main deck, but the sideboard as well. Things like one Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, one Brimaz, King of Oreskos, one Bitterblossom, and one Hero of Bladehold. Surely some of these cards are better than others and should be in the deck in multiples. Like I said, I think the main problem comes down to simply splashing red for three Lightning Bolts and not focusing enough on the token aspect of the deck, which is arguably the most powerful part.
Did I hate the deck? Not at all. I love innovation and I really like B/W Tokens in Modern. I just think this list could use a little bit of work, despite the impressive 5-0 finish. Well, that’s about all we have for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll catch you next week, guys!
Frank Lepore
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