The Team Modern Super League continues today at 9 PM Eastern (GMT -4) on twitch.tv/magic. Zack Kanner also contributed to this post.
Welcome back for Week 4 of the Modern Team Super League 2! This week we have Scary Pterrys against the Brew Crew. The Scary Pterrys is made up of Autumn Burchett, Meghan Wolff, and Emma Handy, while the the Brew Crew is made up of Saffron Olive, Corbin Hosler, Caleb Durward, and Pleasant Kenobi.
The Brew Crew’s Decklists
As their name would suggest, these guys like to brew and we see some of that on display this week with a lineup of Bant Geddon, Urza Thopter Sword, Hogaak, Jund Footfalls, and Green White Taxes. Four of the five decks here are new or revitalized archetypes since the release of Modern Horizons.
Bant Geddon
Bant Geddon is a deck similar to the Celestial Kirin deck that we saw ChannelFireball play last week. The twist this week is that the Brew Crew added blue to get access to Deputy of Detention and Spell Queller as tutor targets, and Teferi, Time Raveler for added protection. The list also adds some counter magic in the sideboard presumably to help out in the combo matchups.
Modern Bant Geddon
| Creatures (30) 3 Birds of Paradise 4 Celestial Kirin 1 Courser of Kruphix 1 Deputy of Detention 4 Knight of the Reliquary 4 Noble Hierarch 2 Scavenging Ooze 3 Spell Queller 1 Tireless Tracker 4 Ugin’s Conjurant 3 Voice of Resurgence Spells (7) 4 Eladamri’s Call 3 Path to Exile Planeswalkers (1) 1 Teferi, Time Raveler | Lands (22) 1 Bojuka Bog 1 Breeding Pool 1 Field of Ruin 3 Forest 1 Gavony Township 1 Ghost Quarter 1 Hallowed Fountain 1 Horizon Canopy 4 Misty Rainforest 2 Plains 2 Temple Garden 4 Windswept Heath Sideboard (15) 1 Blast Zone 1 Bojuka Bog 2 Disdainful Stroke 1 Gaddock Teeg 1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar 2 Knight of Autumn 1 Negate 1 Path to Exile 1 Remorseful Cleric 2 Settle the Wreckage 1 Teferi, Time Raveler 1 Tireless Tracker |
Urza Thopter Sword
The versions of the Urza Thopter Sword deck that most of us have seen are Grixis to utilize Goblin Engineer—but not this one. The Brew Crew brought a Sultai build with a bevy of charge counter-based mana rocks in Astral Cornucopia and Everflowing Chalice to pair with Coretapper and Surge Node to make boatloads of mana.
What will they do with all this mana though? Enter Urza, Lord High Artificer, which lets you pay five mana to shuffle your library and play the top card without paying its mana cost. With tons of mana and Urza, Paradox Engine will let you cast your entire deck and find Karn, the Great Creator, which will tutor Aetherflux Reservoir out of the sideboard to kill your opponent in one big blast!
Modern Urza Thopter Sword
| Creatures (7) 4 Coretapper 3 Urza, Lord High Artificer Spells (4) 4 Ancient Stirrings Artifacts (25) 4 Astral Cornucopia 4 Everflowing Chalice 2 Mox Opal 2 Paradox Engine 4 Surge Node 4 Sword of the Meek 1 Temple Bell 4 Thopter Foundry Planeswalkers (3) 3 Karn, the Great Creator | Lands (21) 3 Botanical Sanctum 4 Darksteel Citadel 3 Glimmervoid 3 Inventors’ Fair 2 Island 4 Spire of Industry 1 Tolaria West 1 Underground River Sideboard (15) 1 Aetherflux Reservoir 2 Assassin’s Trophy 1 Chalice of the Void 1 Ensnaring Bridge 4 Grafdigger’s Cage 1 Mycosynth Lattice 1 Paradox Engine 1 Spellskite 2 Tormod’s Crypt 1 Walking Ballista |
Hogaak Bridge
Hogaak remains to be one of the most powerful and popular decks in the format, and that holds true this week as Brew Crew shows up with a copy themselves. Not quite a brew anymore, the deck has such a high power level it would be a mistake not to bring it.
Modern Hogaak Bridge
| Creatures (28) 4 Bloodghast 4 Carrion Feeder 4 Gravecrawler 4 Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis 4 Insolent Neonate 4 Stitcher’s Supplier 4 Vengevine Spells (6) 1 Darkblast 4 Faithless Looting 1 Lightning Axe Artifacts (4) 4 Altar of Dementia Enchantments (4) 4 Bridge from Below | Lands (18) 4 Blackcleave Cliffs 3 Blood Crypt 2 Marsh Flats 2 Overgrown Tomb 3 Polluted Delta 1 Swamp 3 Verdant Catacombs Sideboard (15) 2 Ingot Chewer 4 Leyline of the Void 1 Lightning Axe 4 Nature’s Claim 4 Thoughtseize |
Jund Footfalls
Jund Footfalls is a revitalization of an old favorite. Cutting some of the less impactful cards from the list for Crashing Footfalls is some real innovation. Jund has traditionally been great at not dying, but not dying doesn’t win you the game. Two 4/4 rhinos with trample will likely do the trick, though, and at the low cost of one mana, you can suspend it early and spend the early and mid game interacting until the reinforcements arrive!
Dreadhorde Arcanist is a new card to show up in the archetype as well. The Red two-drop boasts some synergies with the cheap interactive spells in the deck, but can also bring some of its rhino friends along should Crashing Footfalls end up in the graveyard! I know I for one am excited to see this deck in action!
Modern Jund Footfalls
| Creatures (12) 4 Bloodbraid Elf 3 Dreadhorde Arcanist 2 Scavenging Ooze 3 Tarmogoyf Spells (19) 2 Assassin’s Trophy 3 Crashing Footfalls 2 Fatal Push 4 Inquisition of Kozilek 2 Kolaghan’s Command 4 Lightning Bolt 2 Thoughtseize Planeswalkers (4) 4 Liliana of the Veil | Lands (25) 3 Blackcleave Cliffs 1 Blood Crypt 3 Bloodstained Mire 2 Blooming Marsh 1 Copperline Gorge 1 Forest 1 Mountain 1 Nurturing Peatland 2 Overgrown Tomb 1 Raging Ravine 1 Stomping Ground 2 Swamp 4 Verdant Catacombs 2 Wooded Foothills Sideboard (15) 1 Ancient Grudge 2 Collective Brutality 3 Fulminator Mage 4 Leyline of the Void 1 Maelstrom Pulse 1 Shenanigans 3 Surgical Extraction |
Green White Taxes
Green White Taxes is a deck that shows up in Modern every now and then when big mana decks are popular, which the Brew Crew seems to be banking on with this deck and Bant Geddon. The combo of Leonin Arbiter and Ghost Quarter is both a mainstay in this strategy and a nightmare for decks with a higher curve. Packing a number of small disruptive creatures this deck looks to keep finding ways to just keep the opponent off balance for long enough to shut the door on them. Unfortunately for Brew Crew, it doesn’t seem that Scary Pterrys has brought a big mana deck to battle this week, so this could be a tough deck to snag a win with the deck.
Modern Green White Taxes
| Creatures (30) 3 Blade Splicer 2 Eldrazi Displacer 1 Eternal Witness 4 Flickerwisp 2 Giver of Runes 1 Knight of Autumn 4 Leonin Arbiter 4 Noble Hierarch 4 Restoration Angel 2 Scavenging Ooze 3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben Spells (4) 4 Path to Exile Artifacts (4) 4 Aether Vial | Lands (22) 1 Field of Ruin 2 Forest 2 Gavony Township 4 Ghost Quarter 2 Horizon Canopy 3 Plains 3 Razorverge Thicket 1 Stirring Wildwood 4 Temple Garden Sideboard (15) 1 Declaration in Stone 2 Eidolon of Rhetoric 1 Kitchen Finks 1 Knight of Autumn 1 Kor Firewalker 2 Rest in Peace 1 Scavenging Ooze 1 Selfless Spirit 2 Settle the Wreckage 1 Sorcerous Spyglass 2 Stony Silence |
Scary Pterrys’ Decklists
The Scary Pterrys brought a few aggressive decks in the form of Burn and Mono-Red Phoenix and rounded out their strategy with some synergy-based decks like Mill, Hogaak, and Druid.
Mill
One of the decks that stands out here is Mill. Mill is not playing any new Modern Horizon so why is this deck good right now? I personally think it is the best main deck Surgical Extraction deck, which positions it well against the many graveyard decks in the format. It also has game against the Hogaak deck with the main board hate for the deck that isn’t too detrimental to its own plan.
Modern Mill
| Creatures (4) 4 Hedron Crab Spells (28) 4 Visions of Beyond 3 Surgical Extraction 2 Fatal Push 3 Inquisition of Kozilek 3 Mission Briefing 2 Collective Brutality 4 Glimpse the Unthinkable 2 Crypt Incursion 4 Archive Trap 1 Murderous Cut Artifacts (6) 3 Ensnaring Bridge 3 Mesmeric Orb | Lands (22) 4 Field of Ruin 3 Island 2 Swamp 2 Darkslick Shores 2 Scalding Tarn 4 Polluted Delta 2 Watery Grave 2 Shelldock Isle 1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds Sideboard (15) 1 Surgical Extraction 1 Fatal Push 1 Collective Brutality 1 Crypt Incursion 1 Ensnaring Bridge 2 Mind Funeral 2 Set Adrift 3 Extirpate 3 Damnation |
Devoted Druid Combo
The Devoted Druid Combo deck has been growing in popularity. This deck has been becoming a mainstay in Modern events and just crushing those events that it’s registered in. It’s just as fast as a lot of the more degenerate decks in the format and very resilient to removal with Eladamri’s Call and Postmortem Lunge. Giver of Runes also helps with the plan of being very resilient in this very fast format.
Modern Devoted Druid Combo
Mono-Red Phoenix
With Modern Horizons, Mono-Red Phoenix got access to two different Red Canopy lands, which can help the deck find action when it’s desparate. They also got from Lava Dart from Modern Horizons, which seems kind of innocuous for the power level of the format, but this 1 CMC is one mana for two-thirds of the spells needed to bring back Arclight Phoenix all by itself.
Modern Mono-Red Phoenix
| Creatures (14) 4 Arclight Phoenix 4 Monastery Swiftspear 4 Soul-Scar Mage 2 Bedlam Reveler Spells (28) 4 Faithless Looting 1 Finale of Promise 2 Lava Dart 4 Gut Shot 4 Lava Spike 4 Light Up the Stage 4 Manamorphose 4 Lightning Bolt 1 Forked Bolt | Lands (18) 3 Sunbaked Canyon 15 Mountain Sidboard (15) 2 Abrade 3 Blood Moon 2 Ravenous Trap 1 Dismember 2 Shrine of Burning Rage 2 Surgical Extraction 1 Smash to Smithereens 2 Pyroclasm |
Boros Burn
Well…it’s Burn, with a lot of Lightning Bolts.
Modern Boros Burn
| Creatures (12) 4 Monastery Swiftspear 4 Eidolon of the Great Revel 4 Goblin Guide Spells (28) 4 Skewer the Critics 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Boros Charm 2 Skullcrack 4 Searing Blaze 4 Rift Bolt 2 Lightning Helix 4 Lava Spike | Lands (19) 2 Arid Mesa 3 Scalding Tarn 4 Bloodstained Mire 2 Sacred Foundry 1 Inspiring Vantage 3 Mountain 4 Sunbaked Canyon Sideboard (15) 2 Searing Blood 4 Rest in Peace 2 Path to Exile 2 Skullcrack 2 Ravenous Trap 3 Smash to Smithereens |
Hogaak Bridge
Like Mike said, it’s one of the most powerful decks in Modern and every team should be playing it.
Modern Hogaak's Bridge
| Creatures (29) 4 Bloodghast 2 Stinkweed Imp 3 Carrion Feeder 4 Gravecrawler 4 Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis 4 Insolent Neonate 4 Stitcher’s Supplier 4 Vengevine Spells (4) 4 Faithless Looting Artifacts (4) 4 Altar of Dementia Enchantments (4) 4 Bridge from Below | Lands (19) 4 Blackcleave Cliffs 3 Blood Crypt 4 Bloodstained Mire 4 Marsh Flats 1 Swamp 1 Polluted Delta 2 Overgrown Tomb Sideboard (15) 4 Leyline of the Void 1 Shenanigans 4 Nature’s Claim 2 Lightning Axe 4 Thoughtseize |
Schedule
Be sure to catch the show tonight on twitch.tv/magic at 9 PM EST, then stay tuned for our recap (including our Match of the Week) on Wednesday!
Match 1: Autumn Burchett (Devoted Druid Combo) vs. Pleasant Kenobi (Green & Taxes)
Match 2: Meghan Wolff (Mono-Red Phoenix) vs. Caleb Durward (Jund Footfalls)
Match 3: Emma Handy (Hogaak Bridge) vs. Saffron Olive (Bant Geddon)
Match 4: Autumn Burchett (Mill) vs. Caleb Durward (Urza Thopter Sword)
Match 5 (if necessary): Emma Handy (Burn) vs. Pleasant Kenobi (Hogaak Bridge)
Match 6 (if necessary): Meghan Wolff (Hogaak Bridge) vs. Saffron Olive (Urza Thopter Sword)
Match 7 (if necessary): Emma Handy (Mill) vs. Caleb Durward (Jund Footfalls)