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By: MarcosPMA, nn
Nov 01 2016 12:00pm
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Hello all!  So the first weekend in November I'll be competing at Grand Prix Dallas and the format is Modern.  The last time I went to a large competitive Modern event I took U/R Storm and after starting 3-0 with no byes, the wheels came off a bit and I ended up not making Day 2 at SCG Dallas.  Since then I've not played much Modern with Storm, instead opting to try to build my own deck for this Grand Prix.

I wanted to make a deck that was designed like Grixis Control but instead was Esper.  I desired to play with Gideon Jura/Lingering Souls and thought that white was the better option over red.  I spent the majority of my time testing and building it, only to come to the conclusion that it was a worse Grixis Control, and that Grixis itself wasn't that great.  It wasn't proactive enough and couldn't put a ton of pressure on the opponent.  After realizing that the deck was not what I wanted, I decided to go back to Storm.  

Storm is my old standby since I know how to play the deck and I've played it enough that I don't need much time to get back in the groove of things. For me, once I learned how to combo with the deck and all the tricks, it didn't go away.  I can still goldfish and make decisions now as I was able when I was preparing for SCG Dallas.  However, I'm in a conundrum.

It's Storm.  It's a 50/50 deck at best across the board and it's not that strong of a deck.  You can play well and hope to get a little lucky with some matchups, but your general gameplan isn't quite as strong as one might think it is.  It's a tough sell, especially given that Texas is aggro heavy (or so I've heard) and Storm has a bad matchup against aggressive decks.  In my spare time I made a B/W Tokens deck using pieces of the Esper deck I had saved in case I needed them.  This is the deck I've been playing the last few weeks:

 

The deck is not technically complete since I want to keep my fetchlands in Storm until I decide which of the decks I'm going to be playing.  The manabase can use a little work as there's a lot more basic Swamps than needed and the number of Ghost Quarters is too high.  After the manabase I could add a Wrath of God to the sideboard and add Bitterblossoms into the maindeck.  When I've played the deck I've felt a little light on 2 mana plays and Bitterblossom would not only be an excellent 2 mana play, it's also a source of repeatable tokens.  I've also been toying with the idea of a single Pack Rat in games that go long so I have a use for extra land.  These are the tentative changes I would make to the maindeck and sideboard:

  • -1 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
  • -1 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
  • -2 Ghost Quarter
  • -2 Plains
  • -1 Swamp
  • +4 Flooded Strand
  • +1 Polluted Delta
  • +2 Bitterblossom
  • -1 Night's Whisper
  • -1 Celestial Purge
  • +1 Wrath of God
  • +1 Pack Rat

I believe the B/W Tokens deck is better built to deal with aggressive decks that I'd face in the early rounds of the tournament since I have no byes to play with.  All my aggro matchups are much improved and even some of the slower decks get better since I'm playing tokens instead of actual creatures.  Removal spells don't do much against tokens and a resolved Planeswalker is hard to get off the table if there's very little pressure.  Lightning Bolt and Terminate are poor choices against Lingering Souls tokens.  Being a base white deck means that I have the full array of white sideboard cards to choose from: Rest in Peace, Stony Silence, Wrath of God, Celestial Purge, Kor Firewalker, etc.  The black sideboard cards are okay, the best ones being Leyline of the Void and Hero's Downfall (for what I want in certain matchups).

Having said all that I don't think the deck plays well from behind.  Once you have to start blocking, all the 1/1s you have seem as small as they are. Elspeth, Sun's Champion can help you stabilize in some situations but in others you're out of luck.  I also don't have much experience with the deck as I'd like to have, even though I know it's a good option.  Knowing how to mulligan and how to sideboard is very important and I don't have those skills with this deck yet.  Here's the other deck I'm considering:

 

This list is my own creation, inspired by the Thing Ascension lists that floated around a few months back.  I started off trying to play that deck, but I realized that Thing in the Ice is not what I want to be doing.  It doesn't fit my playstyle and I wouldn't be able to be an actual storm deck.  Instead it'd be a spellslinging deck that won with a bunch of Lightning Bolts and Lightning Helix if the plan of Thing in the Ice didn't work.  I did like the idea of being able to play Lightning Helix in the deck and have the manabase work, so I kept the Lightning Helix and made the deck a bit of a Jeskai Storm deck.  Once I was there I figured I could play white sideboard cards and that lead to me adding Path to Exile into my sideboard.  Adding white gives me access to good sideboard cards if I need them so I'm better equipped to play against some decks that I feel I would have no shot at winning against.  Having said that, it's Storm and your sideboard isn't worth much given the construction and nature of the deck.  You can only bring in so many cards in a particular matchup and still be consistent with your Pyromancer Ascension triggers.  There are some games where you are better off not bringing anything in and hope for a good draw as your way to win.  

My experience with the deck is my greatest asset, but I know realistically what the odds are to do well with the deck and those odds aren't very high. My aggro matchups are poor and while removal is bad against me, Abrupt Decay can hit both Goblin Electromancer and Pyromancer Ascension.  If Dredge is a factor (which it might be), then sideboard hate will be out in force and it's not easy to beat the hate.  Some hate is fine (Rest in Peace, Leyline of the Void), while others are a little trickier (Scavenging Ooze, Relic of Progenitus).

Conclusion

In a format where deck selection and knowledge carry a lot of weight, what deck do you think gives the best chance of doing well at the GP?  Should I stick with what I know and hope to get good pairings, or take a safer deck choice but be way less experienced with it?  My chances at doing well at the GP aren't very high and that's just be me being realistic.  I don't play as much as I used to and so my skill in constructed Magic has tapered off quite considerably.  I want to go, do well, and have fun but I don't know which path to take.  What would you do if you had these two options?

3 Comments

In all honesty by Plainswalker83 at Tue, 11/01/2016 - 14:55
Plainswalker83's picture
4

I know this won't be the most helpful but if I was playing a Modern tournament anytime soon, I would not want to bring either of the decks you mentioned. Out of the two BW Tokens does sound like a better choice but I would scour around and find other lists to look off of. Good article though and no matter what you pick I wish you well at the GP.

If I had the choice of any by MarcosPMA at Tue, 11/01/2016 - 21:45
MarcosPMA's picture

If I had the choice of any deck I would not pick these two, that's for sure. It was a matter of time and card availability. I was on my own Esper brew for too long to be able to acquire cards for a different deck.

BW Tokens is the better choice, but ultimately it's a fair deck in a format of unfair decks (for the most part). Sadly, the plans that I thought were set in stone ended up falling through, so I won't be able to attend the Grand Prix.

Thank you for your comment, I appreciate it :)

understood by Plainswalker83 at Wed, 11/02/2016 - 13:15
Plainswalker83's picture
4

That stinks about not getting to go to the GP now. I do understand not being able to play what you want though. If I had any card available to me I would be playing something different in almost every format.