Sword of the Meek is unleashed into the meta. I’m not one to really buy into the hype, but the great thing about this combo is that it already slots well into one of my favorite archetypes.
Keeping on Giving
Gifts Ungiven is definitely my favorite card in Modern. Nothing is better than putting your opponent in an impossible situation. I’ve updated my old list for one more combo. Sword of the Meek/Thopter Foundry. This combo is great in Gifts because I was already supporting an artifact package. Jeskai Gifts lets me deal with early creature-based threats using Lightning Helix/Lightning Bolt/Path to Exile and it also give me a lot of windmill slam late game finishers like Keranos, Ajani, Jace, and Godo.
Actually, Godo has a unique feature in this deck of being able to get Sword of the Meek, or Batterskull. Super-secret-tech on this tach: Godo plus Colonnade plus BatterSkull is 22 damage!
Here’s my list.
Thopter/Sword Gifts
In this version of Gifts I have the added bonus of Thopter Foundry/Sword of the Meek/Crucible of Worlds/Academy Ruins as another package that my opponent must answer.
As the Meta Stands
The Meta may have gotten a little slower now, with players positioning to play Sword/Foundry Decks and to try out Ancestral Visions. I think this build is great in a meta full of control decks. You have a deck full of must-answer threats and the means to find them. Timing is everything with this deck, meaning you can wait to play Gifts on your opponent’s end-of-turn and be fine with him countering it only to slam Ajani or Keranos during your main phase after they’ve spent their resources to block your Gifts. If they left it through they risk an attrition game no other deck is prepared for.
With Eldrazi out of the picture for the most part, the only deck that you don’t want to face is Death and Taxes. Thalia is a real pain for this deck. Even Zoo can be tough, but your removal matches up so well against that deck you should be able to fight them off, with Helix/Bolt and Snapcaster Mage.
One thing with this deck is that there will be a lot more Stony Silence/ShatterStorm cards in this meta going forward. We may have to take that into consideration but for now, I’m looking forward to being about to brew in this format.
Zac Clark is the Founder of Hipsters of the Coast. An avid gamer since his early teens, Zac can often be found in Brooklyn either playing games or taking photos. When he’s not drawing extra cards, wrathing boards and countering spells, he’s taking pictures of other peoples good times and listening to 90’s Music.