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By: Plainswalker83, Plainswalker83
Feb 10 2016 1:00pm
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As many of you know I love Modern. So I like many other Modern fans waited patiently for the arrival of Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch. However the wait for me was a huge let down. Day 1 was fun to watch for the most part but it didn't take long for the coverage to start focusing on the new hot deck in the form of Eldrazi. I really was looking forward to seeing things like B/W Tokens, Zoo, and things of that nature but that was just not the case. They did showcase one of my favorite decks in the form of the Death's Shadow Zoo but other than that Colorless decks were really thrust into the spotlight. Even though Eldrazi got talked about the most talk there were other decks that finished the Modern portion with 24-28 points. Here are some of those lists.


Even with Birthing Pod being banned this creature value deck still continues to kick and it had a very respectable finish.


One of my favorite Modern decks though at times it does seem very underpowered. When you are just trying to attack with small creatures and your opponent is playing 5/5's on turn 2 or 3 it does not look great for you. The mainboard Magus of the Moon does seem like a nice touch though and can help disrupt opposing mana bases enough for you to jump ahead.


Lastly this deck was played by one of its champions in Reid Duke. Playing the best cards from the 3 colors is not a bad strategy and Reid was able to battle back from a 0-2 start and his Modern deck was a big reason for that.

The top 2 decks though were didn't really have a lot of color to them. Affinity is a deck we are all familiar with and the lists that did well were not something that we haven't seen before.


Patrick Dickmann took this list to the semi-finals and with some better draws could have been in the finals. The shift from red to blue seems to be the biggest change from previous months and in fact is a very good one. Master of Etherium does not care about Stony Silence and does a great job at beating down your opponent. It seems that this deck has the best the chance against the Eldrazi Menace and here are those lists.

Eldrazi
 
Creatures
4 Simian Spirit Guide
2 Spellskite
4 Eldrazi Mimic
4 Endless One
4 Matter Reshaper
4 Reality Smasher
4 Thought-Knot Seer
6 cards

Other Spells
4 Dismember
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Ratchet Bomb
10 cards
Lands
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Eye of Ugin
4 Ghost Quarter
3 Mutavault
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Wastes
22 cards

Eye of Ugin


Ivan Floch and the rest of the Channel Fireball/Face to Face games team piloted this deck to amazing results with him making it into the finals. However that deck was not good enough to take home the trophy. It was this list that took it all home.

UR Eldrazi
 
Creatures
4 Drowner of Hope
4 Eldrazi Mimic
3 Eldrazi Obligator
4 Eldrazi Skyspawner
4 Endless One
4 Reality Smasher
2 Ruination Guide
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Vile Aggregate
0 cards

Other Spells
3 Dismember
6 cards
Lands
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Eye of Ugin
1 Gemstone Caverns
2 Island
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Shivan Reef
2 Steam Vents
3 Cavern of Souls
21 cards

Eye of Ugin


Jiachen Tao and his team seemed to have the best Eldrazi Deck for facing the mirror and apparently the whole field. Their win rate was actually insane and after beating three of the Channel Fireball team members he hoisted a trophy.

I know I just bombarded you with a lot of decklists and information so what does it all mean? To me, it means that as long as Eye of Ugin and Eldrazi Temple are legal in Modern the Eldrazi will be a force to be reckoned with from now on but the big question is how do we fight it?

I think there are two ways but I will need to be doing a ton of testing in the next few weeks and see where the metagame goes. Something I expect to kick up will be aggro decks that can possibly go under the Eldrazi decks. We already saw that Affinity can beat it so be prepared for the robots to be out in full force. Another type of deck that I want to try is some sort of tempo or control deck. I really think cards like Remand and Mana Leak should be very well positioned against a deck that pretty much taps out each turn to play their threats. Another card that I thought should have been more popular was Path to Exile. It cleanly handles any threat in the Eldrazi deck even the Reality Smasher if you have a card to discard. So if all of those cards are going to be good, then I can think of another card that I am really surprised was not in the top decks of the weekend. That card is Snapcaster Mage.

If cheap counters and cheap removal are looking better, than a card that lets you reuse them should be a lot better. The issue I could see is that the Eldrazi could get one of their great draws and you are not able to counter their spells. However with Path you would still be able to fight them off. I am also wondering if sweepers will be effective. (that is if you can live that long) Perhaps cards like Supreme Verdict and Wrath of God will see more play. I would be lying if I said I was not a bit worried about playing an endless sea of Eldrazi every time I load up a deck on MTGO.

What are your opinions? What are you going to be doing to fight off the new threat that has risen before us? Will there be a swarm of control or combo to step up to take on the monsters. Perhaps you will be one of those that decide to play Eldrazi if so what will you change to fight off all of those that are seeking to slay the giant. I will be deep in the tank as I think about what the state of Modern will be coming up. I might be turning toward a Snapcaster deck but only time will tell.

Until then, see you next time!