Modern FNM

Ollo Motto! I know right, how late can this possibly be? Well life gets busy so y’all have to suck it up! Last Friday was the weekly party night at Jack’s on Queen. As Aether Revolt was still fresh in everyone’s minds, Jack’s decided to host draft and modern side by side. Being the struggling student that I am I entered the modern event with my B/W Eldrazi list, newly outfitted with Fatal Push from the latest set Aether Revolt!

Round 1; Draw in 3 vs Wall Worship

This deck is hilarious. Not only is it mono defenders, it generates a massive amount of mana. The deck utilizes cards like Axebane Guardian and Overgrown Battlement to generate stupid amounts of mana and finishes with cards like Banefire and Debt to the Deathless. Game one I was stalled with a myriad of walls until Banefire finished me off. Game two was much more in my favour. I brought in Warping Wail to counter things like Debt and exile all the 0/5 walls. As we finished game two we five turns was sounded and as per the rules it was a draw! I couldn’t figure out any better way to play against this deck. Time MVP!!!

Round 2; Win in 2 vs 4-Colour Gifts

So for those of you that don’t know how this deck works, it uses Gifts Ungiven to fetch out two cards; Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and Unburial Rites. Good thing for me is that my deck runs a playset of the fantastic card Relic of Progenitus. The second I dropped it on turn one my opponent let out a sigh. Both games ended pretty convincingly after I picked my opponent’s hand clean and exiled their graveyard. Relic of Progenitus MVP!!

Round 3; Win in 2 vs G/W Hoomans

The probably with running a wheeny deck, is balancing the wheenies and the land. During game one my opponent had to mulligan to five, not only was it a hard mulligan, my opponent kept a two land hand and never drew a third land. Game two rolls around and my opponent had to mulligan to six, but this time he got flooded. Fatal Push was really handy in clearing out the small little two drop wheeny creatures. Mulligan MVP!!!

Conclusion

We came first you salty buggers! 2-0-1 managed to take the night! I am very happy with the addition of Fatal Push in the deck and it allows me to deal with little things like Dark Confidant, that I don’t want to Dismember.

SNOW-MENTALS Deck Tech

So since the above post was awfully short, I wanted to do something a little different. Back in the day when I first began my adventures into the modern format I came up with a gimmick. This gimmick won me a couple games at a Face to Face Open, formerly known as an MDSS. What is this gimmick you might ask? Well I’m going to let you in on a little secret, it involves a little trick I like to call swing’n’fling.

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So I used to play this combo in modern, but felt it was somewhat lacking. While I was at a recent Face to Face Open and it hit me, as my opponent sat across from me and played their first land for turn I knew what was missing….SNOW MOUNTAINS…

Utilizing things like Skred, to remove blockers and Scrying Sheets to prevent the constant top decking of land, this deck has become a viable threat.

Creatures

The Enablers

4x Flamekin Harbinger; is a key component to the combo. Slamming this guy on turn one can aid you in ensuring you grab another crucial combo piece, or even just a hastey beater to finish the game.

4x Incandescent Soulstoke; is another vital piece of the deck. Not only does this act as a lord, pumping all the creatures in the deck, but it has an activated ability which allows you to play an elemental from your hand, it gains haste, and you have to sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step. What’s cool about this is you can activate it at any time, so turning this guy sideways and dropping a Ball Lightning on your opponent’s turn to brick wall an attack from say, Tasigur the Golden Fang, feels pretty good.

4x Simian Spirit Guide; pretty self explanatory, it’s a free mana…

The Beaters

3x Ball Lightning; not only does this monster of a 6/1 have haste, but he has trample as well. With the ‘sacrifice at the beginning of the next end step clause’ it will sometimes cause your opponent’s to second guess blocking it.

4x Hellspark Elemental; a much smaller Ball Lightning, but with the threat of Unearth. This card has synergies with our draw spell Faithless Looting.

2x Mindsparker; this is a good card to stick against control based strategies. Making your opponent’s counter spells shock them is pretty good, as well as it is a three mana 3/2 with first strike.

3x Nova Chaser; oh baby. One part of the swing’n’fling combo. This 10/2 trampling monster is a huge threat, especially when given haste thanks to our trusty Incandescent Soulstoke. Once swung, or blocked, it can be flung to slam your opponent for ten points of face damage.

Instants & Sorceries

4x Lightning Bolt; pretty sure I don’t have to explain this one. I’m playing red, I’m playing bolt.

4x Skred; the main reason I’m running snow lands. I thought the original deck could play this premium blocker spot removal.

3x Fling; because nothing feels better than flinging a Nova Chaser.

3x Faithless Looting; going to use this to make sure I have enough gas and not too many lands, or vice versa. Also ditching Hellspark Elemental is fine.

2x Rift Bolt; this is kinda like playing a Doomsayer. It is mainly a deterrent for your opponent to play any creatures on their turn as at your upkeep you bolt something.

The Land

2x Scrying Sheets; only running two of these bad boys. Not running many lands, therefore I need access to red land. But with this it will hopefully stop the dead draws of just lands.

18x Snow-Covered Mountain; DO NOT MAKE ME EXPLAIN THIS…

Summary

I hope to have this deck done sooner or later. I’ve got a solid base of all the meat of the cards, but I’m still trying to scrounge together the remaining Snow-Covered Mountains I require for the list, as well as Simian Spirit Guides. All in all I’ve played this deck online with varied results, but I just love playing it. Seeing people freak out online when I OTK (one turn kill) on turn four is hilarious. Have a Soulstoke, activate it, drop Nova Chaser, “Sure, I’ll take 10”, then post combat proceed to Fling it at my opponent, feels really good.

I’m still trying to put together a sideboard so if you guys have any suggestions feel free to leave a comment and I will see that it is addressed.

Until next time, stay salty my friends.