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By: Plainswalker83, Plainswalker83
Feb 13 2015 1:00pm
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     As I am writing this I am watching coverage of PT Fate Reforged. Round 1 just ended and Randy Buehler just said that Modern is fun. Rashad Miller repeated that statement and I tend to agree with both of them.

     If you have been paying any attention to me in recent weeks I have been on a modern kick. I have been putting a ton of work into the format and came away with quite a bit of knowledge about the format. Due to that testing I have decided to shelf a few of my brews and focus on decks that I feel are more established and more of a chance to thrive in the current meta. First on the back burner list is my Dark Soul Sisters build.

     I am sad that I will be putting this aside but I feel that it is just not what I want to be doing right now. I feel it was a lot stronger when UR Delver was running rampant. It still has a good match up against Burn and Affinity. Unfortunately though it has a terrible matchup against the Abzan Midrange decks and Infect if that picks up speed. I am not totally retiring the deck but with the testing I have done I am not confident spending Tix to take this deck through any tournaments on MTGO.  I will most likely still play it on occasion for fun and such but for competition it is sidelined.

     Next deck is one that I most likely retiring all together. It is not something I am super excited about but the more I have been playing it I am realizing it is just not a great choice. This one is big bummer because it was the first deck I ever built on MTGO and also it is the subject of the first article I have ever written on PUREMTGO. This is the most recent list of my Mono Black Infect deck and I think overall the archetype will not be strong enough when Abzan, Burn, Twin, and Scapeshift become dominant.

     Who knows maybe down the road I will bring this back but I never really was much of a black player and I much rather would play something that is tried and true. It has served me well though but for now it is time to move on.

     Do not shed a tear for me though, I have 2 other decks that I have chosen to try and grind wins with. The first is my 4 color zoo deck that I have been messing with and tuning up.

     I think this is where I want to be in Modern. I took this to a 3rd place finish in a paper tournament last week though there were significant upgrades. Instead of Experiment Ones I had Kird Apes. I also took out 1 Birds of Paradise and the 3 Hooting Mandrills and had the 4 Tarmogoyfs to go in that slot. I also had 2 Noble Hierarchs to replace the other 2 Birds. This has a fast clock but can also have a late game which is great when your early game gets messed up. The sideboard is also something I really like. It has answers to strengthen your deck against bad match ups and it doesn't really change your main deck plan. Even though I am very happy with this list does not mean that I won't continue to test and tune this deck. I am tossing around the idea of squeezing in a Ghor-Clan Rampager and a few Tribal Flames into the main deck. It would give added reach and power to the deck  but I would also have to add a blue source, most likely a Breeding Pool. The sideboard will change and fluctuate depending on how the meta shifts. If Lingering Souls and other token decks get popular then I may be trying to add in a Volcanic Fallout or 2. That card would also have the side effect of helping with Affinity but I could also add a Shatterstorm.

     Another deck that I threw together to play online is burn. I already had most of the cards due to my legacy deck and with the absence of recurring Kitchen Finks and on call Siege Rhinos burn was due to make a comeback. At this point of the PT Burn is undefeated and looking like a great choice in the current meta. The fun part with burn though is finding the right build for the deck. I do not have the right list I am sure but it still is capable of getting plenty of wins. Here is my list.

     I chose to add some green for access to Destructive Revelry in the board but most likely it is just correct to be straight Red/White and use things like Wear/Tear and more Smash to Smithereens. Burn is not my forte so even the main deck could be incorrect I would check out Seth Manfield's list when it gets put up on the mothership's site. What this deck can do though is win and win fast. There is not much to explain about the list but the sideboard has cards for the mirror and for decks like Tron and Bogles which can be rough matchups especially the latter.

     I am hoping to rack up some wins  with both of those decks but that in no way means that I will be giving up on brewing or trying to go rogue with other aggro type archetypes. It just means I am trying to continue to take my game to the next level and want to have decks that I can rely on to get wins and help me become a better player. I use MTGO primarily to help me with triggers, learning various interactions, and test ideas that I have for paper magic. In doing all of that I have really begun to grow as a player and want to start to make that push to get to the next level.

     That being said I went back to drawing board and have another list that I want to test out and play with. This one is an ode to Innistrad/Return to Ravnica standard and adding some of the fun cards that the modern card pool has to offer.

     I only played this deck a few times but it sure is a lot of fun. Chances are I do not want the Raging Ravine and want 4 Copperline Gorges in there as well but I think the rest of the deck is pretty solid. The plus side of the Ravine is that it is the only card in my deck that can't be hit by Abrupt Decay. Domri Rade might be moved to the board as it is really best against controlling matchups and I can stuff in more aggression. Once again Tarmogoyf would be a great inclusion but he will forever be out of my price range. (Unless I go on an amazing win streak and start winning tons and tons of packs) Scavenging Ooze was a thought but will be mana intensive I could increase to 4 Hellspark Elemental and 4 Stormblood Berserker. I also am thinking about making room for Kird Ape as well. Thanks to my buddy Pierakor there is some footage of this deck in action which you can see on his stream of the last Overdrive!. It is located inside of Blippy's article which you can reread here. I would love to hear your input and ideas. I want to make this deck as streamlined and aggressive as possible. I think it can compete and it is a pretty budget deck to boot.

     That is all I have for now, most likely I will have videos again for next week. Who knows I might even get back into standard but in the words of Randy Buehler and Rashad Miller, Modern is fun.

4 Comments

Good work as always. Modern by Joe Fiorini at Fri, 02/13/2015 - 14:24
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Good work as always. Modern is starting to look better each time I see the decks being played.

Not too late... by Plainswalker83 at Fri, 02/13/2015 - 19:19
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It's not too late to come on back Joe :) I actually just sold out of standard to focus on Modern and Legacy. I am only a dozen or so cards from having Elves completely built.

NICE! I'd love to play. Elves by Joe Fiorini at Fri, 02/13/2015 - 19:46
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NICE! I'd love to play. Elves isn't a good match for me, so I could use the practice.

Sadly it will still be a by Plainswalker83 at Sat, 02/14/2015 - 13:29
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Sadly it will still be a while because I need all of the Cradles, Natural Orders, and Glimpses. Though once I have those I am all done.