Much Abrew: Vannifar Pod (Modern, Magic Online)

Tweet by SaffronOlive // Jan 28, 2019

video modern Much Abrew About Nothing

Hello, everyone! Welcome to another episode of Much Abrew About Nothing. Ravnica Allegiance is here, and the set has some really sweet options for Modern! Today, we're going to try out one of the most exciting Ravnica Allegiance Modern decks: Vannifar Pod! The basic idea of the deck is to build in such a way where if we ever get the opportunity to untap with a Prime Speaker Vannifar and any other creature, we can win the game with a convoluted Birthing Pod–style loop, tutoring up creatures to untap Prime Speaker Vannifar until we end up with some sort of infinite combo involving Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker. Does the printing of Prime Speaker Vannifar mean that Birthing Pod is back in Modern? Let's get to the video and find out; then, we can talk more about the deck!

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Much Abrew: Vannifar Pod (Modern)

Discussion

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The other infinite combo we have is Archangel of Thune and Spike Feeder, which gives us infinite life and infinitely big creatures, since we can keep removing a +1/+1 counter from Spike Feeder to trigger Archangel of Thune to repeat the process.

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Despite all of the combos, the first one is by far the most common, to the point where I'm not sure we need quite as many combo pieces in the deck. We never really wanted to draw or tutor for cards like Zealous Conscripts or Sun Titan, so it might be worth cutting them from the deck altogether and replacing them with more silver-bullet tutor targets.

Speaking of silver bullets, one of the biggest upsides of Vannifar Pod is that we have access to a lot of good one-ofs but can find them consistently thanks to Prime Speaker Vannifar and Chord of Calling. Cards like Knight of Autumn, Kitchen Finks, and Scavenging Ooze are all really good in certain situations, and we can typically find them when they are good thanks to all of our tutors.

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One of the toughest slots in the deck is the three copies of Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. Old Birthing Pod decks typically played Voice of Resurgence in the two-drop slot, and while Voice of Resurgence is great with Prime Speaker Vannifar, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is really helpful in fighting faster combo decks like Storm. With Krark-Clan Ironworks being banned, we might be able to trim back on Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and play some more good sacrifice fodder.

While the deck looks complicated, the actual combo is pretty easy once you get used to it. The harder parts are figuring out the silver-bullet one-ofs and making the ambitious mana work.

So, should you play Vannifar Pod in Modern? I think the answer is yes. While I'm not sure that Vannifar Pod will end up at the very top of the format, it seems at least good enough to join the huge group of playable decks that can spike a tournament with tight play and a bit of luck. On the other hand, this build of Vannifar Pod is unfinished. With the potential to be five colors and the ability to play a lot of one-ofs, there are endless ways to build around Prime Speaker Vannifar. While the combo will probably remain the same, there are plenty of possibilities outside of the combo that can be explored. While the build we played today was good, it could be even better with some more brewing and work!

Conclusion

Anyway, that's all for today. Don't forget to vote for next week's deck by liking, commenting on, and subscribing to Instant Deck Tech videos. As always, leave your thoughts, ideas, opinions, and suggestions in the comments, and you can reach me on Twitter @SaffronOlive or at SaffronOlive@MTGGoldfish.com.