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 to Team Modern Super League 2! This week is the first set of quartefinals between two teams that went 1-1 in the swiss rounds: the Stream Team and the Brew Crew. The Stream Team is made up of Jessica Estephan, MTGNerdGirl, and April King, while the Brew Crew features Corbin Hosler, Caleb Durward, Pleasant Kenobi, and Saffron Olive.
Stream Team Decklists
The Stream Team is bringing a lineup full of high-synergy decks: Tron, Hogaak, Burn, Rakdos Skelementals, Hogaak, and Izzet Phoenix.
Tron
After strong showings over the weekend at the SCG Tour and Mythic Championship IV, it makes a lot of sense to register Tron for this week’s Team Modern Super League.
The Stream Team is choosing to go with the Karn, the Great Creator, which is a new spin on the deck made possible by War of the Spark. Karn, the Great Creator gives the deck have access to “seven” Relic of Progenitus-type effects and four copies of Ensnaring Bridge to help in a lot of matchups.
I am certainly interested in watching how this does against Hogaak and the other popular meta decks right now.
Modern Tron
| Creatures (2) 1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger 1 Walking Ballista Spells (10) 2 Wurmcoil Engine 4 Ancient Stirrings 4 Sylvan Scrying Artifacts (18) 4 Chromatic Sphere 4 Chromatic Star 4 Expedition Map 3 Oblivion Stone 3 Relic of Progenitus Planeswalkers (11) 4 Karn Liberated 4 Karn, the Great Creator 1 Ugin, the Ineffable 2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon | Lands (19) 1 Blast Zone 4 Forest 1 Ghost Quarter 1 Sanctum of Ugin 4 Urza’s Mine 4 Urza’s Power Plant 4 Urza’s Tower Sideboard (15) 1 Walking Ballista 1 Relic of Progenitus 1 Ensnaring Bridge 1 Grafdigger’s Cage 1 Liquimetal Coating 1 Mycosynth Lattice 3 Nature’s Claim 1 Pithing Needle 2 Thought-Knot Seer 1 Thragtusk 1 Witchbane Orb 1 Trinisphere |
Hogaak
Hogaak is without a doubt is the best deck in the format. Throughout last weekend we were able to see the deck is flexible enough to ignore or pack answers to the hate and continue to execute their game plan.
The Hogaak list that Stream Team is bringing with them has two maindeck Leyline of the Void. This will certainly help against a few of the match ups lined up for them and is at worst an easy pitch with Lightning Axe or Faithless Looting.
Modern Hogaak Vine
| Creatures (31) 4 Bloodghast 4 Carrion Feeder 4 Gravecrawler 4 Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis 3 Insolent Neonate 4 Satyr Wayfinder 4 Stitcher’s Supplier 4 Vengevine Spells (8) 2 Assassin’s Trophy 4 Faithless Looting 2 Lightning Axe Enchantments (2) 2 Leyline of the Void | Lands (19) 3 Blackcleave Cliffs 2 Blood Crypt 4 Bloodstained Mire 1 Marsh Flats 2 Overgrown Tomb 2 Snow-Covered Swamp 1 Stomping Ground 4 Verdant Catacombs Sideboard (15) 2 Assassin’s Trophy 2 Engineered Explosives 2 Fatal Push 2 Leyline of the Void 1 Nature’s Claim 2 Rotting Regisaur 1 Shenanigans 3 Thoughtseize |
Burn
The Hogaak deck doesn’t block well because half their creatures have rules text that say that they can’t block. So one of the best ways to beat this deck is going under it with creatures—and thats exactly what Burn does. With the eight one-drops, Burn is able to apply early pressure, which is crucial because of Hogaak’s painful mana base, and close out the game with burn spells to the face.
Modern Burn
| Creatures (12) 4 Goblin Guide 4 Eidolon of the Great Revel 4 Monastery Swiftspear Spells (28) 4 Boros Charm 4 Lightning Helix 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Lava Spike 4 Rift Bolt 4 Skewer the Critics 4 Searing Blaze | Lands (20) 4 Bloodstained Mire 4 Inspiring Vantage 2 Scalding Tarn 2 Sacred Foundry 1 Wooded Foothills 4 Sunbaked Canyon 3 Snow-Covered Mountain Sideboard (15) 1 Wear // Tear 2 Smash to Smithereens 2 Skullcrack 4 Searing Blood 3 Rest In Peace 3 Path to Exile |
Rakdos Skelementals
This aggressively slanted mid-range deck makes a return on both sides of the table this week. Capitalizing on the ability to have Lightning Skelemental pull double duty by pressuring the opponent’s life total and hand, this deck can put the opponent behind in short order. What this deck doesn’t want to run into however is the Hogaak match up as making them discard can be quite scary. Should the 6/1s square off against another fair strategy expect this deck to perform quite well.
Modern Rakdos Skelementals
Izzet Phoenix
Izzet Phoenix is the second most popular deck in the Modern format and was the graveyard synergy deck of choice before Hogaak showed up. It’s goal dump multiple Arclight Phoenix into the graveyard and bring them back as quickly as possible by casting multiple cheap spells on the same turn—or just one Finale of Promise.
Modern Izzet Phoenix
| Creatures (8) 4 Arclight Phoenix 4 Thing in the Ice Spells (32) 1 Echoing Truth 2 Opt 4 Serum Visions 2 Sleight of Hand 4 Thought Scour 2 Surgical Extraction 4 Faithless Looting 2 Finale of Promise 1 Flame Slash 1 Lava Dart 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Manamorphose 1 Magmatic Sinkhole Enchantments (2) 2 Aria of Flame | Lands (18) 1 Fiery Islet 1 Flooded Strand 3 Island 2 Mountain 1 Polluted Delta 4 Scalding Tarn 4 Spirebluff Canal 2 Steam Vents Sideboard (15) 2 Abrade 1 Alpine Moon 1 Blood Moon 1 Anger of the Gods 3 Force of Negation 3 Leyline of the void 1 Spell Pierce 1 Ceremonious Rejection 1 Magmatic Sinkhole 1 Narset, Parter of Veils |
Brew Crew Decklists
To no one’s surprise, the Brew Crew have brought a few offbeat brews to battle in this week’s quarterfinals to complement their on-meta choices.
Hogaak
What can be said about Hogaak that hasn’t already been said? It’s the best deck to play if you’re trying to win, it’s the boogeyman of the format, and much like Stream Team, Brew Crew is capitalizing on that fact and bringing it to battle with this week. Coming in with a pair of Leyline of the Void in the main deck, this build of the deck definitely has the mirror in mind.
Modern Hogaak Vine
| Creatures (31) 4 Bloodghast 4 Carrion Feeder 4 Gravecrawler 4 Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis 3 Insolent Neonate 4 Satyr Wayfinder 4 Stitcher’s Supplier 4 Vengevine Spells (8) 2 Assassin’s Trophy 4 Faithless Looting 2 Lightning Axe Enchantments (2) 2 Leyline of the Void | Lands (19) 3 Blackcleave Cliffs 2 Blood Crypt 4 Bloodstained Mire 2 Overgrown Tomb 1 Polluted Delta 2 Snow-Covered Swamp 1 Stomping Ground 4 Verdant Catacombs Sideboard (15) 2 Assassin’s Trophy 2 Engineered Explosives 2 Fatal Push 2 Leyline of the Void 1 Nature’s Claim 2 Rotting Regisaur 1 Shenanigans 3 Thoughtseize |
Rakdos Skelementals
Rakdos Skelements can put the opponent behind in short order by capitalizing on the ability to have Lightning Skelemental pull double duty by pressuring the opponent’s life total and hand. What this deck doesn’t want to run into however is the Hogaak match up as making them discard can be quite scary. Should the 6/1s square off against another fair strategy expect this deck to perform quite well.
Modern Rakdos Skelementals
| Creatures (18) 4 Thunderkin Awakener 4 Seasoned Pyromancer 4 Lightning Skelemental 2 Dreadhorde Arcanist 4 Ball Lightning Spells (23) 4 Unearth 3 Thoughtseize 3 Inquisition of Kozilek 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Faithless Looting 3 Fatal Push 1 Collective Brutality 1 Dreadbore | Lands (19) 2 Mountain 2 Polluted Delta 1 Swamp 2 Arid Mesa 4 Blackcleave Cliffs 2 Blood Crypt 4 Bloodstained Mire 1 Cavern of Souls 1 Fiery Islet Sideboard (15) 1 Terminate 1 Shenanigans 2 Plague Engineer 4 Leyline of the Void 1 Engineered Explosives 2 By Force 3 Fulminator Mage 1 Collective Brutality |
Neoform
Neoform is deck that many expected to really take off after the London mulligan was officially adopted but it has been relatively quiet as of late.
What Neoform does do quite well is beat up on the Hogaak deck. Being a fast combo deck, it has a strong matchup against any deck that isn’t great at interacting, like Hogaak. However the inverse is also true and the deck can struggle against some of the more disruptive decks.
Modern Neoform Combo
Hammer Time
Hammer Time is making its TMSL debut this week. The new equipment Colossus Hammer from Core Set 2020, when paired with Sigarda’s Aid and either Glistener Elf or Kor Duelist, can really put the screws to the opponent as early as Turn 2 with either 11 Infect or 11 power-worth of double strike damage. The deck backs up these explosive starts with protection in the form of Giver of Runes and Faith’s Shield, which can also offer a way of pushing through blockers should the opponent have any.
Modern Hammer Time
| Creatures (13) 4 Swiftblade Vindicator 1 Ranger-Captain of Eos 4 Kor Duelist 4 Glistener Elf Spells (22) 4 Sigarda’s Aid 4 Steelshaper’s Gift 3 Magnetic Theft 4 Path to Exile 2 Faith’s Shield 4 Faithless Looting 1 Blossoming Defense Artifacts (6) 4 Colossus Hammer 1 Flayer Husk 1 Basilisk Collar | Lands (19) 1 Temple Garden 4 Windswept Heath 4 Wooded Foothills 1 Stomping Ground 2 Sacred Foundry 1 Plains 2 Inkmoth Nexus 3 Inspiring Vantage 1 Forest Sideboard (15) 1 Anger of the Gods 3 Burrenton Forge-Tender 1 Choke 1 Damping Sphere 1 Faith’s Shield 1 Knight of Autumn 3 Rest in Peace 1 Scavenging Ooze 2 Stony Silence 1 Wear // Tear |
Unexpected Emrakul
Combining a Scapeshift kill using Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle with the Unexpected Results plus Emrakul, the Aeons Torn package, you have a combo deck that can kill from multiple angles. Unexpected Results surely is the best way to describe what is going on here, will it hit a Flame Slash? Or maybe an Emrakul? Who knows! That is part of the experience of this deck that you’ll not want to miss!
Modern Unexpected Emrakul
| Creatures (14) 3 Wood Elves 4 Primeval Titan 3 Sakura-Tribe Elder 4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn Spells (18) 3 Through the Breach 4 Unexpected Results 1 Scapeshift 4 Search for Tomorrow 4 Farseek 2 Flame Slash | Lands (28) 4 Wooded Foothills 2 Windswept Heath 4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle 2 Steam Vents 3 Stomping Ground 2 Forest 1 Island 5 Mountain 1 Breeding Pool 3 Cinder Glade 1 Anger of the Gods Sideboard (15) 2 Anger of the Gods 2 Abrade 1 Fracturing Gust 2 Krosan Grip 1 Obstinate Baloth 3 Surgical Extraction 2 Tireless Tracker 2 Veil of Summer |
Schedule
Be sure to check out the show tonight at 9PM EST at twitch.tv/magic to catch all the action. Let’s see which team manages to come out ahead and make their way to the semifinals!
Match 1: Corbin Hosler (Unexpected Emrakul) vs. Jessica Estephan (UR Phoenix)
Match 2: Caleb Durward (Rakdos Skelementals) vs. MTGNerdGirl (Burn)
Match 3: Pleasant Kenobi (Neoform) vs. April King (Rakdos Skelementals)
Match 4: Saffron Olive (Hammer Time) vs. Jessica Estephan (Hogaak)
Match 5 (if necessary): Caleb Durward (Hogaak) vs. April King(Tron)
Match 6 (if necessary): Corbin Hosler (Rakdos Skelementals) vs. MTGNerdGirl (Burn)
Match 7 (if necessary): Pleasant Kenobi (Neoform) vs. Jessica Estephan (UR Phoenix)