With SCG Philadelphia this weekend being Modern, the team has been hard at work figuring out the best pile to attack the format with.
Harlan Firer—UWr Resto
UWu Resto
| Creatures (14) 2 Snapcaster Mage 3 Wall of Omens 3 Kitchen Finks 2 Vendilion Clique 4 Restoration Angel Planeswalkers (1) 1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor Spells (19) 1 Condemn 4 Path to Exile 2 Spell Snare 1 Negate 2 Absorb 3 Cryptic Command 3 Hieroglyphic Illumination 3 Settle the Wreckage Enchantments (1) 1 Detention Sphere | Lands (25) 3 Celestial Colonnade 4 Field of Ruin 4 Flooded Strand 1 Ghost Quarter 2 Glacial Fortress 2 Hallowed Fountain 6 Island 1 Mystic Gate 2 Plains Sideboard (15) 1 Dispel 2 Surgical Extraction 1 Celestial Purge 2 Disdainful Stroke 1 Negate 3 Rest in Peace 1 Crucible of Worlds 2 Cataclysmic Gearhulk 2 Lyra Dawnbringer |
This deck may look like a pile (it probably is), but I believe it is well positioned to attack the winner’s metagame this weekend at SCG Philly. The creature suite and maindeck Settle the Wreckage are what set this deck apart from the other Snapcaster Mage/Hallowed Fountain decks. Being able to enact a proactive game plan to pressure your opponents into playing into your reactive cards will let you extract full value out of your cards.
Just like all the other Azorius-based control decks, you get the powerhouse White sideboard cards. Rest in Peace is incredibly important right now with Dredge being so powerful in the current metagame and this deck is better poised to take advantage of Rest in Peace compared to something like Jeskai Control, which is much more reliant on the power and flexibility of Snapcaster Mage.
You’ll notice the lack of known Modern powerhouse Stony Silence in the sideboard and that’s because of the addition of Cataclysmic Gearhulk. Gearhulk has been incredible for me so far. It is an incredible sweeper against Spirits and Humans, dodging common answers such as Spell Queller, Mausoleum Wanderer, Selfless Spirit, Gaddock Teeg, and almost always dodging Meddling Mage. Gearhulk is also a huge improvement to Stony Silence against the artifact deck on the rise: Whir Prison.
Ally Warfield—Izzet Phoenix
Izzet Phoenix
| Creatures (8) 2 Pteramander 2 Crackling Drake 4 Arclight Phoenix Spells (34) 4 Opt 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Thing in the Ice 4 Manamorphose 4 Thought Scour 1 Gut Shot 2 Surgical Extraction 1 Pyromancer Ascension 2 Lightning Axe 4 Serum Visions 4 Faithless Looting | Lands (18) 2 Mountain 4 Scalding Tarn 1 Sulfur Falls 1 Flooded Strand 4 Spirebluff Canal 3 Steam Vents 3 Island Sidboard (15) 2 Abrade 1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance 1 Anger of the Gods 2 Blood Moon 2 Dispel 1 Snapcaster Mage 1 Negate 1 Surgical Extraction 1 Flame Slash 1 Shatterstorm 2 Dragon’s Claw |
I am someone who switches decks frequently in an ever-changing format like Modern. I usually gravitate towards playing the “best deck,” so it’s not particularly surprising that I’m recommending Izzet Phoenix for SCG Philly this week. The deck is consistent, powerful, and very resilient to hate cards because the deck does not only function by working out of the graveyard. For the flex spots in the mainboard, I recommend Pyromancer’s Ascension because of the chance of seeing a lot of fair decks at this tournament, as well as it being another axis to win other than Arclight Phoenix. I have also become a huge fan of Pteramander because it blocks well in the mirror and a 5/5 with flying is difficult to answer in the format.
For the sideboard, I like Snapcaster Mage to help add theoretical copies of every card to your deck. This makes some of your one-of spells better and Snapcaster Mage can help with more of the fair matchups, as well. Anger of the Gods is one of my favorite sideboard flex spot options. In my testing, Dredge has been a close matchup, and Anger of the Gods gives you another axis to fight the deck on if they are able to work around all your Surgical Extractions. Another sideboard card I’m interested in but haven’t tested yet is Echoing Truth. There are a lot of problem cards that are easily dealt with by Echoing Truth, such as Ensnaring Bridge or Leyline of the Void, that this deck can bounce and then proceed to win.
Will Pulliam—Amulet Titan/UW Control
This week I had to make an interesting decision, to play the deck I think is better positioned for the expected metagame or the deck that I think will play close to 100%.
The Deck I Should Be Playing: UW Control
The Deck I am Playing: Amulet Titan
I stressed over what deck to play all week leading up to SCG Philly. I think that UW is an excellent choice right now, ESPECIALLY at SCG events where decks like Dredge are underrepresented and decks like UR Phoenix are normally overrepresented. UW Control also has a very close Amulet Titan matchup and an extremely favorable Whir Prison matchup. Another strong draw to UW Control is that cards like Circle of Protection: Red out of the sideboard make the UR Phoenix and Burn matchups into cakewalks.
The reason I am not playing UW Control is that I think I am much better at playing Amulet Titan than I am at playing any other deck in Modern. I think that UW is a better choice, but at the end of the day, it is still a Modern deck and it’s almost always correct to play the deck you know.
This Amulet Titan build is similar to the one I posted in this column last week, which I used to Top 8 the MTGO Modern Challenge. Most of the slots have become pretty stock at this point, but the ones I have been playing around with lately have been: the Primal Command, Relic of Progenitus, and the second Engineered Explosives in the main. I am not sure where I will end up but the list I posted is my favorite configuration I have found so far.
Brad Carpenter—Death’s Shadow
Death's Shadow
I’m pretty likely to play the above Grixis Death’s Shadow list this weekend at MagicFest Tampa. Shadow, while not having a lot of favorable matchups, instead has a ton of even matchups with a lot of play. In a format as volatile as Modern, I’d much rather have control or the illusion of control over the the outcome of every game.
The three best decks this weekend in both SCG Philly and MF Tampa will likely be Grixis Death’s Shadow, Dredge, and Izzet Phoenix. This has led to some of “odd” choices in the decklist. Rise // Fall has become the new tech among the Shadow aficionados since it’s great against Burn, the mirror, and basically any grindy matchup. This psuedo-Hymn to Tourach is great at not only gaining card advantage in the early game but it can also lead to insane value turns involving Snapcaster Mage or just getting pesky blockers out of the way of your massive Shadows. The other interesting thing about this list is the lack of Serum Visions and Sleight of Hand. The format is in the weird place where it’s pretty fast and you don’t have a lot of time to just durdle and cast cantrips. With four “zero-mana Opts,” as Ben Friedman likes to call Mishra’s Bauble, and four Thought Scours, our Turn 2 trips to the aquarium to see the Gurmag Angler exhibit have never been more likely. Quick threats and cheap interaction are a much in the current age of Modern ruled by our Phoenix overlords.
I’ve opted for 4 graveyard hate cards. 3 Surgical Extractions is pretty stock, but I added the psychotic one-of Leyline of the Void as it’s the most impactful a single sideboard slot can be. The one-of Hurkyl’s Recall is a concession to Whir Prison and most the other cards rounding out the sideboard are cards that have a multitude of uses, like Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy, which happens to be great versus both creature decks and grindy matchups, or Anger of the Gods, which plays versus both the aggressive creature strategies and is pretty handy against a great Dredge draw.
Austin Collins—Izzet Phoenix
Arclight Phoenix is a card that not many people, including myself, would of expected to dominate Modern when it was first spoiled. The card seemed a bit too gimmicky with its “cast three spells in a turn” requirement. Surely that would end up being too difficult and there was no way this card could be good.
After a few months and the banning of Krark-Clan Ironworks, the deck is at the top of the food chain. It checks a lot of the same boxes KCI did and operates at a pretty similar power level. The deck has access to super powerful draws that are close to unbeatable combined with a great Plan B that allows the deck to operate even in the face of powerful interaction like Surgical Extraction, Rest in Peace, or Leyline of the Void.
Arclight Phoenix has been the best deck in Modern for a while now and that begs the question: why has no one been able to consistently beat this deck despite the prevalence of hate cards? Burn has been a popular choice in order to beat the Arclight Phoenix menace, but the fact is that even Burn, while slightly favored, is probably the only mainstream deck Phoenix strategies worry about.
A deck I was considering playing this weekend, but ultimately decided against, was Mill. The deck has good matchups vs a few of the top decks in the format right now, like Phoenix, Dredge, and Amulet titan. I think the deck could quite possibly be very good with more work on the list, but it just isn’t quite there yet.
I plan on playing Dylan Donegan’s 75 from Regionals last weekend. I like the inclusion of the Pyromancer’s Ascension as it gives you an advantage in the mirror and other grindy matchups. I might make a few sideboard changes last second but overall I have been impressed with this list.
Izzet Phoenix
| Creatures (12) 2 Crackling Drake 4 Arclight Phoenix 4 Thing in the Ice 2 Snapcaster Mage Spells (30) 4 Thought Scour 4 Faithless Looting 2 Surgical Extraction 1 Pyromancer Ascension 4 Manamorphose 1 Gut Shot 2 Lightning Axe 4 Serum Visions 4 Opt 4 Lightning Bolt | Lands (18) 2 Steam Vents 4 Scalding Tarn 4 Spirebluff Canal 1 Misty Rainforest 1 Breeding Pool 1 Flooded Strand 3 Island 2 Mountain Sideboard (15) 1 Beacon Bolt 2 Life Goes On 1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance 1 Surgical Extraction 1 Flame Slash 1 Dispel 2 Spell Pierce 1 Ravenous Trap 1 Ancient Grudge 1 Threads of Disloyalty 1 Shatterstorm 2 Blood Moon |
Feel free to let the team know what you think or if you have any questions about their decks post on Twitter at @TeamNovaMTG.