Drake Sasser
Izzet Phoenix
| Creatures (12) 2 Snapcaster Mage 4 Thing in the Ice 4 Arclight Phoenix 2 Crackling Drake Spells (30) 4 Faithless Looting 1 Gut Shot 2 Lightning Axe 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Opt 4 Serum Visions 2 Surgical Extraction 4 Thought Scour 1 Izzet Charm 4 Manamorphose | Lands (18) 1 Flooded Strand 3 Island 1 Misty Rainforest 1 Mountain 4 Scalding Tarn 1 Shivan Reef 4 Spirebluff Canal 3 Steam Vents Sideboard (15) 1 Dispel 1 Flame Slash 1 Shattering Spree 2 Spell Pierce 1 Surgical Extraction 2 Abrade 3 Dragon’s Claw 1 Young Pyromancer 1 Beacon Bolt 2 Blood Moon |
I am leaning towards playing Izzet Phoenix at Regionals. This deck has a lot of hype built up around it, and after a small amount of initial testing I can definitely see why. The deck has the power to win a lot of its “bad matchups” based on the power level of the deck alone, and the high number of decisions means I can leverage my skill as a Magic player more. Both of these traits are very appealing to me for tournaments that are a little smaller than an Open.
I find myself favoring Snapcaster Mage over Pteramander since there are many times the deck wants to slow down when sideboarding, and Snapcaster plays to the fair control plan better than Ptermander does when you have to take that role.
Chad Harney
Serum Powder Eldrazi
| Creatures (23) 4 Eldrazi Mimic 4 Eternal Scourge 4 Matter Reshaper 3 Simian Spirit Guide 4 Thought-Knot Seer 4 Reality Smasher Spells (4) 4 Dismember Artifacts (10) 4 Chalice of the Void 2 Smuggler’s Copter 4 Serum Powder | Lands (23) 3 Blinkmoth Nexus 4 Eldrazi Temple 2 Gemstone Caverns 4 Ghost Quarter 3 Mutavault 2 Scavenger Grounds 2 Wastes 3 Zhalfirin Void Sideboard (15) 1 Gemstone Caverns 1 Grafdigger’s Cage 2 Gut Shot 1 Pithing Needle 3 Relic of Progenitus 1 Surgical Extraction 3 Ratchet Bomb 3 Spatial Contortion |
No, the new mulligan rule isn’t out yet but that doesn’t mean you can’t sleeve up Serum Powder. Serum Powder Eldrazi has always been a deck that I’ve found interesting but I actually think it’s fairly well-positioned for this weekend. If I had to pick what the Tier 1 decks of Modern were right now, it’d be a very short list of Dredge and UR Phoenix. This deck has the tools to very easily handle both of these decks.
Chalice of the Void can stop Phoenix from functioning completely, leaving them to heavily rely on flipping a Thing in the Ice. Dredge can probably beat you game one, as the deck is meant to; but they’re going to have an uphill battle post-board with Serum Powder allowing you to consistently find disruption and a fast clock.
For every other deck, you’re a Chalice deck that can follow it up with turn two or three Thought-Knot Seers and Reality Smashers. Every deck needs to have a plan in Modern, this deck’s plan is to Chalice and Smash. That sounds like a pretty good plan right now.
Will Pulliam
Amulet Titan
Last year I started playing Amulet Titan and have not looked back since. Amulet is a toolbox deck that rewards tuning week in and week out and is very well-positioned in the current Modern metagame. For SCG Regionals, I am playing cards like Hurkyl’s Recall due to the rise of Mono Blue Prison, and Chameleon Colossus for Grixis Death’s Shadow. Amulet Titan is one of the best decks in Modern if you spend the time mastering it. If you have the chops, it is a great choice for this weekend.
Harlan Firer
Izzet Phoenix
| Creatures (12) 4 Monastery Swiftspear 4 Thing in the Ice 4 Arclight Phoenix Spells (30) 4 Faithless Looting 2 Gut Shot 2 Lightning Axe 4 Lightning Bolt 2 Mutagenic Growth 4 Opt 4 Serum Visions 4 Thought Scour 4 Manamorphose | Lands (18) 1 Flooded Strand 3 Island 2 Mountain 1 Polluted Delta 4 Scalding Tarn 4 Spirebluff Canal 3 Steam Vents Sideboard (15) 2 Flame Slash 2 Spell Pierce 2 Surgical Extraction 2 Abrade 1 Beacon Bolt 2 Blood Moon 1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance 2 Ravenous Trap 1 Shatterstorm |
I prefer to have Monastery Swiftspear as my tertiary threat in my builds of Izzet Phoenix over the more conventional Crackling Drake, Pteramander, or Snapcaster Mage. Having Swiftspear in the deck both wants and enables the inclusion of Mutagenic Growth that can drastically swing games in the mirror and Dredge matchup. The inclusion of Swiftspear and Mutagenic Growth provide more frequent turn three kills, which I find very useful in a format as linear as Modern.
Giving the maindeck an aggressive slant makes the deck a bit less interactive and worse at grinding; this is addressed in the sideboard with the additional removal spells and copy of Chandra, Torch of Defiance. This build is much better vs linear decks and weaker vs the fair decks, which is exactly where I’d like to be heading into SCG regionals this weekend.
Feel free to let the team know what you think or if you have any questions about their decks post on Twitter at @TeamNovaMTG.