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 the Modern Team Super League 2! Week 6 pits ChannelFireball against Team Play Design, with both teams fielding four players instead of the usual three. Andrew Baeckstrom, Luis Scott-Vargas, Matt Nass, and Sam Pardee with suit up for ChannelFireball, while Team Play Design will bring Michael Majors, Paul Cheon, Andrew Brown, and Dan Musser.
The Modern metagame is finally starting to settle down now that Modern Horizons has been legal for a few weeks. Let’s see what each team brought!
ChannelFireball Decklists
The weapons that team ChannelFireball have brought this week are: Mardu Death’s Shadow, Devoted Amulet, Eldrazi Tron, Grixis Urza, and Temur Snow.
We’ve seen a couple decks before, but ChannelFireball brought some strategies that are new to the Modern Team Super League, and some new takes on some old favorites. With Eldrazi Tron and an Amulet of Vigor deck, ChannelFireball has leaned into the big mana plan more than most teams have in the past. They are choosing to accompany those decks with Mardu Death’s Shadow, a lean midrange deck, Temur Snow which is a bigger blue midrange deck, and finally Grixis Urza to have a combo deck to lean on.
While we’ve seen Grixis Urza and Eldrazi Tron before, Mardu Death’s Shadow, Temur Snow, and Devoted Amulet are all new!
Mardu Death’s Shadow
Mardu Death’s Shadow is a deck that has popped up a little bit over the last couple weeks, and is the newest shell for the one mana 13/13. This version is tuned pretty well to beat up on Izzet Phoenix and Hogaak Bridgevine. Capitalizing on the condensed meta created by those two decks, Mardu Death’s Shadow is playing two Nihil Spellbomb and two Surgical Extraction in the main deck, with additional hate in the sideboard.
Modern Mardu Death's Shadow
| Creatures (16) 4 Death’s Shadow 3 Dreadhorde Arcanist 1 Giver of Runes 4 Ranger-Captain of Eos 4 Street Wraith Spells (19) 2 Faithless Looting 2 Fatal Push 3 Inquisition of Kozilek 4 Path to Exile 2 Surgical Extraction 4 Thoughtseize 2 Unearth Artifacts (6) 4 Mishra’s Bauble 2 Nihil Spellbomb | Lands (19) 2 Arid Mesa 1 Blood Crypt 3 Bloodstained Mire 2 Godless Shrine 4 Marsh Flats 1 Plains 1 Swamp 1 Sacred Foundry 4 Silent Clearing Sideboard (15) 1 Celestial Purge 1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar 1 Grim Lavamancer 4 Lingering Souls 3 Plague Engineer 1 Shenanigans 4 Yixlid Jailer |
Devoted Amulet
Devoted Amulet is what happens when you jam Devoted Druid, Vizier of Remedies, and Finale of Devastation into an Amulet Titan deck. Hitting both the infinite mana combo with the Devoted Druid package, and the big mana required to fire off a large Finale of Devastation from the Amulet of Vigor package, this deck can switch between multiple game plans to trip up the opponent.
Modern Devoted Amulet
Temur Snow
Rounding out the newer decks for ChannelFireball is Temur Snow, a slightly larger midrange deck similar to Jund that forgoes Black disruption for Blue card advantage. With cards like Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Ice-Fang Coatl, and Snapcaster Mage to pull ahead after trading early resources, this deck is set up to win a long game by grinding with the best of them!
Modern Temur Snow
| Creatures (8) 2 Ice-Fang Coatl 4 Snapcaster Mage 2 Vendilion Clique Planeswalkers (9) 2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor 4 Narset, Parter of Veils 3 Wrenn and Six Spells (20) 1 Archmage’s Charm 1 Spell Pierce 2 Serum Visions 4 Cryptic Command 3 Force of Negation 4 Lightning Bolt 1 Magmatic Sinkhole 4 Opt | Lands (23) 1 Breeding Pool 1 Field of Ruin 1 Fiery Islet 1 Lonely Sandbar 3 Misty Rainforest 1 Prismatic Vista 4 Scalding Tarn 1 Snow-Covered Forest 5 Snow-Covered Island 1 Snow-Covered Mountain 3 Steam Vents 1 Stomping Ground Sideboard (15) 2 Anger of the Gods 1 Ceremonious Rejection 1 Collector Ouphe 1 Negate 1 Return to Nature 1 Shenanigans 2 Tireless Tracker 2 Surgical Extraction 1 Dispel 1 Counterflux 1 Blood Moon 1 Abrade |
Eldrazi Tron
Modern Eldrazi Tron
| Creatures (16) 3 Walking Ballista 4 Thought-Knot Seer 4 Matter Reshaper 4 Reality Smasher 1 Endbringer Planeswalkers (6) 4 Karn, the Great Creator 2 Ugin, the Ineffable Spells (6) 1 Warping Wail 3 Dismember 2 All Is Dust Artifacts (8) 4 Expedition Map 4 Chalice of the Void | Lands (24) 2 Blast Zone 1 Scavenger Grounds 3 Wastes 1 Cavern of Souls 4 Eldrazi Temple 1 Ghost Quarter 4 Urza’s Mine 4 Urza’s Power Plant 4 Urza’s Tower Sideboard (15) 1 Sorcerous Spyglass 1 Walking Ballista 1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship 1 Emrakul, the Promised End 2 Grafdigger’s Cage 1 Wurmcoil Engine 1 Basilisk Collar 1 Trinisphere 1 Mycosynth Lattice 1 Ensnaring Bridge 1 Warping Wail 1 Welding Jar 1 Spatial Contortion 1 Tormod’s Crypt |
Grixis Urza Thopter Sword
Modern Grixis Urza Thopter Sword
Team Play Design Decklists
Team Play Design definitely isn’t slacking on the deck department this week. Looking at their arsenal, they have registered Trash and Taxes, Mono Red Phoenix, Humans, Grixis Urza, and Mardu Pyromancers. While Humans, Red Phoenix, and Grixis Urza have been a mainstay to the league line ups as of late, Team Play Design did spice it up a bit. They brought a new deck in Trash and Taxes and blast from the past Mardu Pyromancers.
Trash and Taxes
Trash and Taxes has a similar feel to the Legacy deck Imperial Taxes. That deck was a Death and Taxes deck with a Red splash for Imperial Recruiter to tutor up a bunch of the creatures in the deck that it gets the Taxes name from.
This Modern version uses more of an artifact-based concept with Goblin Engineer. It plays a bunch of tutorable hate pieces in the main like Tormod’s Crypt, Sword of Fire and Ice, Damping Sphere, and Ensnaring Bridge. The deck itself doesn’t have a lot of artifacts to utilize the first half of Goblin Engineer, so it plays Blinkmoth Nexus to somewhat cheat their artifact count. Their sideboard has some extra tools with Ethersworn Canonist to get it against the combo decks, too.
Modern Trash and Taxes
Grixis Urza Thopter Sword
Grixis Urza has been exploding onto the scene as of late and you can see that both teams are registering it this week. Team Play Design looks like they went with a more stock version of the deck. Playing one Scrap Trawler gives it the “oops, I win combo” in it of going infinite with Mox Opal, Sword of the Meek, and Thopter Foundry.
The coolest addition it has is in the sideboard. Having two Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas makes it similar to the Ghirapur Aether Grid backup plan, only faster. It is able to create a bunch of 5/5s that can just attack the opponent when you don’t need to lock them out with Ensnaring Bridge.
Modern Grixis Urza Thopter Sword
Mardy Pyromancers
Mardu Pyromancers is the last of the decks that catch my eye. This deck has seen some play as of late with the eight Pyromancers proving their worth.
Those Pyromancers, alongside cards like Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, gives the deck a lot of value by sacrificing unneeded Elemental tokens. It also has a bunch of graveyard interactions with Unearth and a bunch of flashback spells. Seasoned Pyromancer also has a bunch of synergy in graveyard as it can be exiled to make two Elemental tokens when needed.
Modern Mardu Pyromancers
| Creatures (10) 4 Seasoned Pyromancer 4 Young Pyromancer 2 Yawgmoth, Thran Physician Spells (26) 3 Fatal Push 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Faithless Looting 4 Inquisition of Kozilek 4 Lingering Souls 3 Smiting Helix 2 Thoughtseize 2 Unearth Artifacts (3) 3 Nihil Spellbomb | Lands (21) 2 Mountain 1 Plains 1 Swamp 2 Arid Mesa 4 Blackcleave Cliffs 2 Blood Crypt 4 Bloodstained Mire 1 Godless Shrine 2 Marsh Flats 1 Sacred Foundry 1 Sunbaked Canyon Sideboard (15) 1 Grim Lavamancer 3 Plague Engineer 4 Leyline of the Void 2 Celestial Purge 1 Force of Despair 1 Wear // Tear 2 Kambal, Consul of Allocation 1 Collective Brutality |
Mono-Red Phoenix
Modern Mono-Red Phoenix
| Creatures (14) 4 Monastery Swiftspear 4 Soul-Scar Mage 4 Arclight Phoenix 2 Bedlam Reveler Spells (28) 4 Faithless Looting 4 Gut Shot 4 Lava Dart 4 Lava Spike 4 Light up the Stage 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Manamorphose | Lands (18) 16 Mountain 2 Sunbaked Canyon Sideboard (15) 2 Abrade 2 Blood Moon 4 Flame Slash 2 Ravenous Trap 2 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer 3 Surgical Extraction |
Humans
Modern Humans
| Creatures (37) 4 Champion of the Parish 4 Noble Hierarch 3 Kitesail Freebooter 4 Meddling Mage 4 Thalia’s Lieutenant 4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben 4 Phantasmal Image 4 Mantis Rider 2 Deputy of Detention 4 Reflector Mage Artifacts (4) 4 Aether Vial | Lands (19) 4 Ancient Ziggurat 4 Cavern of Souls 4 Horizon Canopya 4 Unclaimed Territory 1 Seachrome Coast 1 Waterlogged Cave 1 Plains Sideboard (15) 3 Auriok Champion 2 Collector Ouphe 2 Plague Engineer 1 Deputy of Detention 1 Dismember 2 Militia Bugler 4 Leyline of the Void |
Schedule
Well after talking and reviewing all these decks, we’re excited to see who comes up on top this week. What are your favorite decks from Week 6 of Team Modern Super League 2?
Match 1: Andrew Baeckstrom (Mardu Death’s Shadow) vs. Michael Majors (Trash and Taxes)
Match 2: Luis Scott-Vargas (Temur Snow) vs. Paul Cheon (Humans)
Match 3: Matt Nass (Amulet Druid) vs. Andrew Brown (Mono-Red Phoenix)
Match 4: Sam Pardee (Eldrazi Tron) vs. Dan Musser (Grixis Urza)
Match 5 (if necessary): Matt Nass (Grixis Urza Thopter Sword) vs. Michael Majors (Mardu Pyromancers)
Match 6 (if necessary): Andrew Baeckstrom (Mardu Death’s Shadow) vs. Andrew Brown (Mono-Red Phoenix)
Match 7 (if necessary): Sam Pardee (Eldrazi Tron) vs. Paul Cheon (Humans)