---

The recent success of Splinter Twin at both the Pro Tour and at GP Vancouver has seen another chorus of people calling for the banning of the card. So this raises the question - "Should Splinter Twin be banned?"

The first semi-competitive deck that I built when I started playing Magic was a Nivix Cyclops combo deck in Innistrad/Return to Ravnica Standard, I really liked the playstyle and the possibility of just untapping and winning. The departure of Artful Dodge and other Flashback favourites weakened the deck to an unplayable level. When I branched out to Modern, Splinter Twin was naturally the most attractive archetype due to being a (vastly more) powerful projection of my aforementioned favourite deck archetype, as well as the financial benefit of having some of the cards - Sulfur Falls, Steam Vents, Izzet Charm, Counterflux, Dispel etc.

Splinter Twin is a much loved deck, being a competitive archetype that has been around since extended, as well as seeing a brief (accidental) return in Standard. Like other non-rotating formats (some people don't like the term 'eternal'), Modern has many players that end up with a strong affection, appreciation and association with specific archetypes, who will end up playing the same deck regardless of how good or bad it is in the current meta.

   

For me this deck is Splinter Twin. Although I have dabbled with other Modern decks, Twin is the deck I always go back to. When I started playing with Splinter Twin, Jund/BGx was the top dog in the format - this made Splinter Twin the top underdog. Twin has a naturally bad matchup vs BGx as their mainboard cards and strategies are quite effective against Splinter Twin. In my previous article I discussed the impact of the both Treasure Cruise and the updates to the banned and restricted list - how it affected the meta and financial implications as a result of the changes. One of the things that I really liked about the pre-banned Treasure Cruise meta was that it allowed new decks and otherwise 'tier 2' decks to move up in the meta and finally have their turn in the spotlight. A consequence of this was that there were a lot of individuals were upset about Treasure Cruise and of those some were upset because their pet deck was no longer competitive. Some may accuse me of being in the same position 'defending' Splinter Twin from being the likely first cab off the rank for the next Modern Banned and Restricted changes. However there are many reasons why Splinter Twin should stay.

 

The 'Turn 4' policy.

I would like to be directed to the original source, as I am not sure where it was mentioned first, but it has been repeated many times that Wizards aren't comfortable with decks that consistently break the 'turn 4' rule for Modern - this seems to be where Wizards are comfortable or happy with the format. Aside from forcing janky ramp strategies, Splinter Twin is safe from this unwritten rule that is often espoused when people are discussing the banning of decks on the basis of being too fast. If there is a deck that should be hampered by breaking the 'Turn 4 rule', it would not be Splinter Twin, the finger should be pointed to Amulet of Vigor. Not only did it top 8 the PT with a really low proportion of the field, Sam Black just missed out on top 8 after agreeing to draw with housemate Justin Cohen and rolling the dice in the final round of Pro tour Fate Reforged.

Alexander Hayne and Stephen Speck both landed Primeval Titans in the top 8 of GP Vancouver with some spectacular displays of power, speed and synergy. In particular, Stephen Speck had one round where he had a turn 1 Titan on the play and his opponent just scooped, before even being able to play a card. Speck then followed it up the next game by having a turn 1 Hive Mind win, THROUGH a Spell Snared Summer Bloom. Although this is something that has a crazy low percentage of having the perfect 6 or 7 cards in hand, but a turn 1 win is not possible in any other deck that can also grind through 10 or 12 turn games. Amulet of Vigor is the real deal. Maybe it is also the card that needs to go to slow the rest of the deck down enough for other decks to have a chance? Or maybe not, maybe this is exactly what Richard Garfield intended.

     

 

The PVDDR/Ari Lax/Matt Sperling conversation. 

There has been a series of articles and conversations by the above mentioned Magic Pros that is based on PV's original article about Modern being either a bad format or a bad PT format (both of which I completely disagree with, but that is another article). PV's main point was that there are too many linear aggro and combo strategies that dont have broad answers, like the Force of Wills and Dazes of Legacy and Vintage. There were suggestions of increasing the sideboard size, unbanning of some objectively powerful cards and other possibilities, but it seemed like PV was one of the people who I spoke of earlier, whose pet deck is no longer competitive. This may very well not be the case, as it is pointed out that cards like Rest in Peace, Ancient Grudge and Dragon's Claw are so important to hit out of the sideboard against the linear aggro and combo decks that failing to find them creates a large handicap for yourself.

The problem that exists with this assertion is that these answers are so narrow, numerous and necessary that it leaves players in a position where they basically have to either concede sideboard slots to a particular archetype, having only 1 or 2 answers to each deck or conceding the sideboard slots to these deck archetypes completely to have a more favourable matchup against a particular singular archetype. Although I agree that PV has a point about the strain on the sideboard, Josh Utter-Leyton made the point that this is a feature of the format, not a failure. If Abzan midrange and Jeskai Control were able to have 30 sideboard slots, what decks would be able to beat them in games 2 or 3? It would be the death of the linear strategies and combo decks, which would certainly not be in the best interests of the format. We already have Midrange:The Gathering - it is called Standard. For those who havent read the discussion, the offenders in this case are Burn (normally Naya colours, but can include blue and or black as well), UG Infect, and Affinity. The combo decks that also fall under this category currently would be Splinter Twin and Amulet of Vigor.

Others have stated that the banning of fetchlands would reign in the powerful and greedy decks. Although this would probably speed up the play time of matches (by reducing shuffling) it would further increase the relative power of the linear aggro and combo decks. There is another way that players can improve their matchup versus the linear aggro and combo decks without the need of Wizards to change the format - expect it!

 

Expect it!

Instead of being forced to rely on the narrow sideboard strategies as has been discussed by PVDDR and other Magic personalities, there is the option of compromising on broad options, which do exist in Modern, its just that they're not as good as the options are in Legacy and Vintage. Being prepared for Splinter Twin, by both identifying the archetype early on while playing against it and giving yourself the opportunity to have an answer to it. Splinter Twin does not have the redundancy to be truly oppressive, so interrupting the combo once or twice is often enough to swing the game in your favour. Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker is the next best 'Splinter Twin', but it is so far from being a competitor that 99% of decks run zero copies of Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker.

The thing that most people hate about Splinter Twin is not that it can play out like a control deck and beat you down with a lone Deceiver Exarch on turn 35, but that on turn 3 or 4 there is a possibility that if you tap out, at the end of the turn a flash creature will enter the battlefield, untap and cast Splinter Twin, instantly winning the match. It is very important to at least give yourself the opportunity to address this problem in the deckbuilding stage, so that when you have decided that Splinter Twin is the deck that you are up against you are prepared for it.

Here are some broad options that are more than maindeck-able in the current Modern meta, that broadly deal with all of the linear decks and combo decks, while still being great against the 'fair' decks.

 

These 4 cards are probably the most efficient and broad solutions to the linear aggro and combo strategies. Looking at Splinter Twin in particular these are all ideal, but there are many other solutions too. The problem that I have with people claiming that Splinter Twin is this oppressive, overbearing, format warping card/deck being in need of a banning is that the combo can be very easily interrupted. As far as maindeck options go, there are a finite number of efficient answers that are broad enough to be wise choices in a game where there are tight limitations and scarce space and resources. Aside from the large volume of things that only kill Pestermite, there is the above 4 pictured spells, and then there are a tonne of other options. I have broken this down in to Reactive and Proactive solutions.

Reactive Options:

I would like to firstly give special mention to the Charm cycles. The Charms in particular are a brilliant answer for two reasons - each of the ones pictured below can deal with the Splinter Twin combo in some way, but more importantly they are powerful and versatile spells in their own right. Dimir Charm might not be as powerful as Terminate, but it can also counter a Wrath of God or Thoughtseize. Dimir Charm can also give you card selection - for yourself when you are desperate or know exactly what you need and it can be used to mess with your opponent's draws. The Charms might often be an easy cut when sideboarding, replacing them with a more powerful or focused spell, but the versatility alone of these spells should warrant at least one slot in your 60. Note that Rakdos Charm can't stop the combo, but there is a good chance (more so in paper than online) that you will be able to use the Splinter Twin combo against themselves by surprising them and killing them instead.

   

   

      

 

The Destruction Spells - pretty simple and straight forward - kill the creatures before they can combo off. All of these are at instant speed, which is paramount to breaking up the combo when all of the creatures have flash and will likely dodge any sorcery speed removal.

     

    

  

Negative Toughness spells, these particular spells effectively do the same thing as the destroy spells as they will also remove the creatures from the battlefield and break up the combo

   

Spells that force your opponent to sacrifice a creature will also have a high probability of destroying the combo due to Splinter Twin decks usually having a low creature count in the deck and a low creature count if there is an early combo kill

   

 

Countering the ability that Splinter Twin grants Pestermite/Deceiver Exarch is another way to stall the combo. This can buy you time to find an answer or use a sorcery speed solution in your own turn

  

 

You can bounce the Pestermite or Deceiver Exarch in response to them casting Splinter Twin, countering the Splinter Twin as it is being cast

    

     

 

Kill the Pestermite or Deceiver Exarch with burn

   

Counter the Splinter Twin enchantment when they attempt to cast it

 

 

    

   

 

Exile a part of the combo to disrupt and stop it

 

Make the Pestermite or Deceiver Exarch an invalid target for Splinter Twin

   

 There is a even a card that can interrupt the combo on three different fronts

Then there are more proactive strategies:

     

     

     

There are spells that you can use to proactively remove Splinter Twin from the game, turning off the combo permanently

   

 

There are also creatures that can shut down the combo, these have a similar impact to the proactive strategies above 

 

 

 

Further to this there are weaker strategies like fog effects, to buy you a turn. This is only really relevant if you have the pressure to win on the crack back, have a sorcery speed removal such as Supreme Verdict to follow it up, or some other such plan to stop the combo or win on your turn

 

Similarly there are spells to tap the creatures, which is best done in response to casting Splinter Twin & will mean that the combo cannot go off that turn.

   

Splinter Twins own creature suite is quite good at this too

 

There may even be an argument to mainboard some of your sideboard cards especially in the case of the more versatile options, as many decks use artifacts and enchantments meaning that cards like this might be warranted if you're scared to death of a turn 4 Splinter Twin, Cranial Plating equipped Etched Champion or hate losing to Eidolon of the Great Revel or Gladecover Scout

The combination of Pestermite and Deceiver Exarch has another interesting weakness. Spells or abilities that give '-1/-1' at instant speed nullify the combo, by either killing the Pestermites or reducing the horde of Deceiver Exarchs power to Zero, rendering the combo useless and buying you another turn.

 

 There are also static & proactive options that can be used to the same effect:

   

 

That basically covers the more efficient strategies to combat the 'almighty' Splinter Twin, which brings us back to our original question - "Should Splinter Twin be banned?" The answer to that is pretty clear - there are over 100 very playable cards I listed above that can interact with the combo alone, as well as other more non-interactive strategies - beating Splinter Twin before turn 4 or just playing cards that mean you can't lose the game...

 

 Let me know your thoughts on the card, deck and format - if you think it should go and why or if you agree that the case for banning Splinter Twin is pretty underpowered

- The Milk Man