Once again we will have all the videos included in the article for this week’s Modern Monday!
Every week following a new set release on Magic Online, I get really excited to take a look at some of the Modern decks that are going to show up. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem like Eldritch Moon is going to have a huge impact on the format. At least, it doesn’t seem to have just yet anyway.
That being said, we’re going with a deck that I’ve never actually seen before! The list we’re looking at today was played by Magic Online regular osmanozguney. At first I thought it was a black/red list, as that was how it was listed. But it turns out that, no, the only “red” cards are Simian Spirit Guide and Fulminator Mage, which are hardly red cards at all.
Take a look.
2 Bojuka Bog
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Damnation
4 Death Cloud
4 Fulminator Mage
3 Gemstone Caverns
4 Guardian Idol
3 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
4 Liliana of the Veil
3 Mind Stone
4 Mutavault
4 Simian Spirit Guide
3 Solemn Simulacrum
13 Swamp
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Sideboard
1 Damnation
2 Engineered Explosives
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Night of Souls’ Betrayal
2 Ratchet Bomb
4 Thought-Knot Seer
This list looks pretty grindy, I have to admit. Our only win conditions are Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, and some 2/2 creatures provided by Guardian Idol and Mutavault. I guess we also have Solemn Simulacrum, and we can maybe cast a Simian Spirit Guide in a pinch off of a Gemstone Caverns. Who knows! I guess we’ll have to find out.
I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect with this deck. I played against the Storm deck for my first round, and I was a little discouraged. I felt like we didn’t really have many meaningful ways to interact with our opponents, especially if they were playing a deck like Storm. But then I realized I misplayed by not casting a Death Cloud when I should have, and after the next three matches, I realized maybe the deck had more legs than I initially thought.
Now, I’d still love to see a few copies of something like Thoughtseize in the board perhaps, but the deck was surprisingly resilient for a weird combo/control hybrid with so few win conditions. Cards like Damnation and Death Cloud itself really help to keep the board clear, and cards like Chalice of the Void can single handedly shutdown certain strategies. Unfortunately, you usually want to play these before you land a Kalitas. Technically you could also play them after you drop a Kalitas, and net some zombies, but I really like Kalitas…maybe too much. I suppose either way is fine.
As I believe I said in one of the matches, I definitely wouldn’t mind replacing Night of Souls’ Betrayal with Curse of Death’s Hold. I’ve always liked the curse better and with so few creatures in the deck – many of them being 2/2s even – it really slows us down. This isn’t a deck that seems to have trouble getting to five mana (rather than four), so it seems like a pretty simple switch.
This deck definitely surprised me. I don’t know if it’s a legitimate contender, but I love decks like this because there’s usually a lot of room to add more personal cards. Like I could see slipping in a couple of Grave Titans or something. Sure, you’d want to wait to Death Cloud until you cast one, but after doing so, you’ll likely have enough zombies to sacrifice, keeping the Titan alive. Not saying this is the way to go, but rather giving you my thoughts on the potential that’s here. Deck was pretty sweet once the gears started turning and I stopped messing up the basics.
Thanks for reading and I’ll catch you next week!
Frank Lepore
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