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By: IYankemDDS, Jeff Nowacki
Jul 29 2014 12:00pm
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Welcome back everyone! This week I am going to look at a Modern Masters Flashback Draft. Last summer, when Modern Masters first came out, I wasn't interested. I didn't know the cards and I was afraid that the format would feature too many combos that I wasn't familiar with. Moreover, the only constructed formats that I play are Standard and Block Constructed, so I wouldn't be able to use any of the cards for that. Therefore, I skipped it. In retrospect I now regret it!

I finally played Modern Masters limited at the MTGO Anniversary Event that I wrote about recently, and had a blast. I decided to play R/B Goblins, but my pool was close to providing reasonable decks in U/B Faeries and R/W Giants. I really wanted to try out those archetypes as well. Luckily, Flashback Draft gave me a chance! Here is a look at one of those archetypes.

  Pack 1 pick 1:

  My Pick:


I open the first pack and I am considering two cards. First is the rare, Knight of the Reliquary. This is in G/W, which is not my favorite color combination in this format. The other card I'm looking at is Dreamspoiler Witches, which is a key card in the Faeries deck. I take the Witches, but I can see how the Knight could be a very powerful card.

  Pack 1 pick 2:

  My Pick:


I open the next pack and don't see any cards that are absolutely key to the Faeries deck. If I wanted to push the archetype hard, I could take either a Mothdust Changeling to increase my volume of Faeries, or Phthisis for some removal and potential finisher. Instead, I am going to stay open and take Torrent of Stone, which is fine removal and very splashable.

  Pack 1 pick 3:

  My Pick:


The next pack has a couple of interesting options. There is a Thieving Sprite if I want to stay with the Faeries plan, but there's also a Bonesplitter. This is really good equipment that goes well into several decks, and it helps me stay a little more open, so I'll take that.

  Pack 1 pick 4:

  My Pick:


I see some decent options here, but I go with Avian Changeling because it helps me stay the most open. Other picks, such as Hillcomber Giant, Thallid Germinator and Warren Pilferers are key in their respective decks, but the Changeling doesn't commit me as much.

  Pack 1 pick 5:

  My Pick:


I get the next pack and decide that it is time to change plans. I think that Thundercloud Shaman is probably the most important card in the R/W Giants Archetype, and seeing it 5th pick is something of a signal. I will take it here and move in on Giants. Bound in Silence is also a powerful card, and Stinkdrinker Daredevil would be an excellent wheel, but I don't expect it to happen.

  Pack 1 pick 6:

  My Pick:


I am going to move in on the Giants strategy now, so I am taking Thundering Giant. He's just hasty beef, but I want as many Giants as possible.

  Pack 1 pick 7:

  My Pick:


I see two Giants in this pack: Hammerheim Deadeye and Ivory Giant. The Deadeye comes with a high Echo cost, but the effect can be powerful. Even if I can't pay it, it's a Plummet. The Ivory Giant is a little slow and can actually cause anti-synergy in my deck, so I'll take the Deadeye here.

  Pack 1 pick 8:

  My Pick:


Up next I have a choice between another Hammerheim Deadeye, Thundering Giant, or Fury Charm for the Sideboard. I'll take the Deadeye, although the Thundering Giant may have been correct.

  Pack 1 pick 9:

  My Pick:


I grab the Amrou Seekers out of the next pack. Although they don't have synergy with Giants, a 2/2 intimidate is usually okay. Gleam of Resistance would have been reasonable, but not exciting.

  Pack 1 pick 10:

  My Pick:


I decide on the Otherworldly Journey here in hopes of grabbing some Cloudgoat Rangers later. I can also use it to blink Thundercloud Shaman, but hopefully that is not necessary.

  Pack 1 pick 11:

  My Pick:


Veteran Armorer does not necessarily synergize with Giants, but he does give them all an extra point of Toughness, which could be relevant.

  Pack 1 pick 12:

  My Pick:


Happy to take a Grapeshot here. I will probably bring it in from the sideboard, but it is pretty good against Faeries and other 1-toughness creatures.

  Pack 1 pick 13:

  My Pick:


Blinding Beam could be a good trick, and there isn't really anything else anyhow.

  Pack 1 pick 14:

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 15:

  My Pick:


  Pack 2 pick 1:

  My Pick:


Spicy! Normally I would be happy with the Kithkin Greatheart, but I will slam Elspeth, Knight-Errant here.

  Pack 2 pick 2:

  My Pick:


Rift Bolt is pretty good removal, so I will take it. Maybe Ivory Giant comes back.

  Pack 2 pick 3:

  My Pick:


I think I am conditioned to take Bonesplitter just about any time I see it, which I do here. I think it's not at its best in the Giants deck, which doesn't have much evasion, and the creatures are beefy anyway. Feudkiller's Verdict is interesting here, as is another Rift Bolt.

  Pack 2 pick 4:

  My Pick:


Oh baby! Slamming another Thundercloud Shaman. Unfortunately I have to pass another Kithkin Greatheart. Brute Force seems like a reasonable trick, too.

  Pack 2 pick 5:

  My Pick:


I'll take Test of Faith here, which looks like another decent trick that may or may not make the deck. It seems better than a second Otherworldly Journey.

  Pack 2 pick 6:

  My Pick:


Torrent of Stone is a removal that I like and better than a second Amrou Seekers, especially when I'm not sure that I'll play the first.

  Pack 2 pick 7:

  My Pick:


Terashi's Grasp is a good card for the Sideboard. I like to bring in as much hate against Affinity as possible in this format.

  Pack 2 pick 8:

  My Pick:


I'll take another Rift Bolt over Ivory Giant. I want these cheap removal spells for my early turns to stay alive long enough to start slamming Giants.

  Pack 2 pick 9:

  My Pick:


I'll take another Hammerheim Deadeye on the wheel, though three might be a little excessive.

  Pack 2 pick 10:

  My Pick:


I'll grab an Ivory Giant on the wheel. While slow, it doesn't seem like the worst T1 play.

  Pack 2 pick 11:

  My Pick:


And I come back with another one. Fury Charm for the Sideboard may have been correct.

  Pack 2 pick 12:

  My Pick:


Nothing for the deck, so I'll take a Festering Goblin to keep it away from a potential Goblins deck.

  Pack 2 pick 13:

  My Pick:


Same here. There are Red cards, but none that I want to play, so I'll hate on the Goblins deck some more.

  Pack 2 pick 14:

  My Pick:


I'll take the Lava Spike, but probably won't play it.

  Pack 2 pick 15:

  My Pick:


  Pack 3 pick 1:

  My Pick:


Oh baby again! I'll slam the Sword of Light and Shadow and not look back. I don't feel like there is much else here. Maybe Fury Charm will make it back around.

  Pack 3 pick 2:

  My Pick:


Avian Changeling is a nice early-game play, which synergizes with the deck as a 2/2 Flying Giant. It's also a good place to equip the Sword. Otherwise I could take another Thundering Giant.

  Pack 3 pick 3:

  My Pick:


I definitely don't need a 4th Hammerheim Deadeye, and Torrent of Stone is removal that I like, so I'll take another one.

  Pack 3 pick 4:

  My Pick:


Hillcomber Giant seems like a reasonable finisher against Red decks, and playable otherwise. Better than the second Grapeshot. Also a good target for the Sword against Red.

  Pack 3 pick 5:

  My Pick:


This is a great pack for me, and I go with Bound in Silence. This is another spell that I can play early if I need to. War-Spike Changeling, Blind-Spot Giant or Tribal Flames all would have been fine.

  Pack 3 pick 6:

  My Pick:


I'll take a Blind-Spot Giant now, although Stir the Pride may have been nice for race situations.

  Pack 3 pick 7:

  My Pick:


I am excited to pick up a Kithkin Greatheart here and not at all excited about anything else in the pack. The Sanctum Gargoyle could have carried the Sword well.

  Pack 3 pick 8:

  My Pick:


I took the Vivid Marsh for fixing, but another Terashi's Grasp may have been better.

  Pack 3 pick 9:

  My Pick:


As I hoped, the Fury Charm makes it back. Grapeshot or Tribal Flames would have been acceptable as well.

  Pack 3 pick 10:

  My Pick:


Thundering Giant makes it back and I'll take him, though I'm not sure that I will start all of them.

  Pack 3 pick 11:

  My Pick:


Not excited about anything here.

  Pack 3 pick 12:

  My Pick:


There's another Grapeshot for the Sideboard.

  Pack 3 pick 13:

  My Pick:


  Pack 3 pick 14:

  My Pick:


  Pack 3 pick 15:

  My Pick:


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And this is how I built the deck:



I was a little disappointed that I didn't see any Cloudgoat Rangers, but it's hard to complain with two Mythic Rares, two Thundercloud Shamans, and a bunch of removal. I want to suspend the Ivory Giants early and/or play Rift Bolts to stay alive in the first few turns and then start playing my Giants. Getting the Sword down is also not a bad play in the early game. I started all three Hammerheim Deadeyes and I have to admit, that I thought the Echo cost was lower than it is (RTFC). I probably should have started Amrou Seekers over one of them, to give me another T3 play. The biggest concern might be that I only have 13 creatures, but if I can get to the mid game in pretty good shape, I should be alright. Let's see how these Giants perform!

Round 1: I am up against Faeries in Round 1. I mull down to six right off the bat and end up getting stuck on three lands. I play Sword of Light and Shadow, but without much mana, it's slow going. I equip an Avian Changeling with the Sword, but the Sword gets bounced and I get temped out. The second game was more tempo advantage for my opponent and he eventually got recurring Warren Pilferers going and that was it.

Round 2: It's Goblins this round. I get stuck on White mana with Red cards in hand, while opponent gets double Mad Auntie online. He makes short work of me in the first game. In the next game I play out my Giants and summon Thundercloud Shaman to wrath his board. It was more of the same in the last game of the match and I'll improve to 1-1.

Round 3: My final opponent of the tournament is on Affinity. I am able to stay head with my removal. Against Affinity, I tend to sideboard heavily, which was the case here. In the second game I play the Hillcomber Giant and finish him off with the +1/+1 and Trample mode of Fury Charm.

Final Record: 2-1

It's always rough to drop the first round, but it's nice when you can battle back and still finish 2-1 in a Swiss Draft. I thought this deck had a lot of synergy and was a lot of fun to play. I couldn't have asked for more than double Thundercloud Shaman in the Giants deck. Overall, I've had a ton of fun with this format, and I'll will be keeping an eye out for it in the future!

Thanks for reading!

IYankemDDS (MTGO) / Jeff_LR1 (Twitter)

2 Comments

I'm pretty sure I was your by Misterpid at Tue, 07/29/2014 - 12:27
Misterpid's picture

I'm pretty sure I was your 2nd round opponent in this tourney. I normally play sealed, but VMA sealed queues had completely stopped firing so I decided to do an MMA draft while they were still available. Game 1 against you was probably my best game of the tourney. I thought I might have a chance against you game 3, but seeing your full deck list there was no way my deck should have beaten yours.

My deck wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great. If it didn't win quickly, it didn't win at all. I went 0-3, but I did pretty well with the rares I opened - Slaughter Pact, Pact of Negation and Vendilion Clique.

Not bad! After that Game 1, by IYankemDDS at Tue, 07/29/2014 - 12:35
IYankemDDS's picture

Not bad! After that Game 1, I thought I might be headed for 0-3 in the tournament. This was I think my 4th MMA event ever and I haven't played with most of the cards, so even with a powerful deck, I am likely to make play mistakes.

Thanks for the comment! Maybe we'll cross paths again. :P