The Apprentice's Workshop - Episode 19

The Apprentice's Workshop

Jimhawk

4 August 2013

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KrazyCaley's note: Jimhawk has graciously volunteered to help me catch up on my long queue of decks waiting for an Apprentice's Workshop. I will still be commenting, but my comments will be in italics. Everything else is Jimhawk.

Welcome!

The Workshop returns to witness the Dramatic Entrance of:

Dynamic Entry!

Modern GureiSeion

SCORE: 2 | 3 COMMENTS | 1355 VIEWS | IN 1 FOLDER

What does this deck do?

Ramp, ramp, instant-speed fatty on the cheap.

A surprisingly effective strategy for Modern, where decks often tend to be more self-focused than you might expect.

Yes, that is pretty much everything we have going here. As simple as that may sound, there are still a lot of moving parts to get something like this working. Let’s look at the cards that we’re not adjusting at all:

4x Summoning Trap, 4x Dramatic Entrance – Both of these cards are the engine that makes this deck run. We want to cheat our guys in, and we want to maximize the number of cards that allow us to do so.

Agreed, this is the core of the deck.

4x Overgrown Battlement, 4x Wall of Roots – These walls perform double duty, stalling the rush of aggro decks while also synergizing to produce a lot of early mana.

4x Explore – Two mana to play an extra land and draw a card? Since when is Time Walk legal in Modern?!

I am slightly unsure about the efficacy of this card in a deck with only 22 lands. I know it's a ramp deck, but I would either try to get to 25 lands to have four copies of this card, or maybe 24 lands and 3 copies of this card. It's more effective the more lands you have, obviously.

4x Search for Tomorrow – A staple of the Modern Masters limited format, Search for Tomorrow is very efficient turn 1 ramp; the goal is to fire off a Dramatic Entrance or Summoning Trap on turn 3 or 4, and this gets us there more consistently.

3x Progenitus – The all-star creature to cheat into play, we almost always want to get this guy into play more than any other creature. However, running four puts us at risk of drawing multiples, creating dead cards. Three is the perfect number here.

I would consider going to four at the expense of other creatures, though we probably should fix the land before we do that. Other creatures are not nearly as powerful or difficult to be rid of. Still, Jimhawk's concern is valid, it's just that often having multiples won't be minded as long as we can get out one of them. The problem comes when the second Progenitus was drawn instead of a cheat-into-play spell, but we're already maxed out on those.

It’s a Numbers Game

There are a couple of cards that I want to adjust the numbers on. They are:

3x Chancellor of the Tangle – Unassuming as he may be, the Chancellor allows for a lot of explosive starts. Getting to Explore on turn 1, play a land, and then play a 1-drop gets us way ahead, and even just playing an Overgrown Battlement on the first turn gets us going faster. He’s also not as impossible to cast as one might think in a deck like this. We’re going to try going up to the full set.

I can follow the logic here. You want lots of Chancellors because he's free mana early, and this deck just eats up free mana early, especially with all those Explores and mana walls.

4x Worldspine Wurm – When the only other 15/15 in all of Magic is the plane-devouring spaghetti monster, you’re in good company. That being said, Worldspine Wurm is a little vulnerable at times, especially when Path to Exile is one of the most common removal spells around. We’re going to drop down to two of this guy. This makes room for other, more versatile creatures that can help with our gameplan, so it’s not the end of the world(spine).

Under no circumstances should we run more Worldspine Wurms than Progenituses, in my opinion. Wurm is better against wrath and is the bigger creature, but Progenitus is better in almost every other considerable way, and still kills you in two swings, just like the Wurm.

22x Forest – We’re dropping a couple of forests (going to 20) for two of a very useful land that I’ll bring up later.

I believe this deck should have 24 land, minimum.

Not Pulling Their Weight

Let’s be honest, there’s a lot of enormous weight in this deck to pull around in the first place, so you can’t fault these guys for not quite getting the job done:

4x Simian Spirit Guide – These guys help us on the single turn we exile them to accelerate into an early ramp spell or, ideally, one of our cheaty cards a turn earlier. However, we don’t get multiple uses out of it like we would with alternative ramp sources. Because our combo doesn’t instantly win the game, this leaves us very vulnerable to get 3-for-1’d by a removal spell (Spirit Guide, Trap/Entrance, and the creature we jam into play). Let’s try something a little more consistent.

I agree. We don't just get enough utility out of this card.

Lands and Elves and Elephants, Oh My!

Here are my suggested additions:

3x Joraga Treespeaker – I was looking for a one-drop that could accelerate us faster than your average Fyndhorn Elves, and this seemed ideal. The Treespeaker gives us the consistency of having seven 1-drop ramp spells if you include Search for Tomorrow and gives us as much as 6 mana on turn three if we curve out just right, which is perfect for the cards we’re looking to cast.

I disagree with this addition, though I agree with the need for more one-drops. The problem is that this is not really a one-drop. This is a leveller that requires us to pour three total mana into him before he can start helping us ramp, meaning he's at-all useful by turn three at the earliest under normal circumstances, AND he also eats up our turn 2 when we could be casting one of our many two-cost rampers. AND he's vulnerable to removal even after we do all this. This guy blows up our nice curve. I would suggest instead some classics – Birds of Paradise or Llanowar Elves (depending on whether you want to chop-block flyers or threaten weak non-flyers more). These are true turn one rampers.

2x Terastodon – Sometimes, you’re playing against UW Tron’s Karn Liberated. Other times, your opponent gets an Oblivion Ring on your Worldspine Wurm. And then there’s that guy with Pyromancer Ascencion.dec. The solution? Make some elephants! Terastodon is a monster of a card that can completely shatter your opponent’s game plan. One of the most entertaining ways to use Terastodon is to blow up three of your own lands, giving you an instant 18 power. That’s more than Worldspine Wurm!

I see no problem with this; it's a useful pseudo-control mechanism.

2x Boseiju, Who Shelters All – When our main avenue of victory is to force in a fatty on the opponent’s turn, it sure helps to make KrazyCaley’s favorite type of card useless. With the prevalence of Remand, Mana Leak, and Cryptic Command, it really helps to basically tack on an Insist to your spells at the cost of 2 life.

Makes lots of sense. However, I believe this deck needs 24 mana, as previously noted. I would cut two Wurms and add two Forest in addition to Jimhawk's other changes.

I’ll Have My Beef with a Side of…

Here’s my suggested sideboard:

3x Creeping Corrosion – Blow up ALL THE ARTIFACTS!

2x Nature's Claim – Primarily a weapon against Boglechant decks, this card hits a lot of other problem cards as well.

1x Grafdigger's Cage – Shuts down reanimator and Birthing Pod.

3x Spellskite – It’s dangerous to go alone against targeted exile effects! Take this!

1x Torpor Orb – Good against Melira Pod and Kiki-Twin.

3x Obstinate Baloth – Good against Jund and aggro.

2x Elderscale Wurm – A silver bullet against a lot of decks, this big guy makes sure you always stay alive while also being great to cheat into play.

I defer to Jimhawk's superior knowledge of the modern metagame; this sideboard looks very fine to me in any case.

The Grass is Greener…?

That leaves us with this as the finished product:

deck-large:dynamic-entry-workshopd

Here are a few cards I left out that are worth considering:

Summoner's Pact – This makes Dramatic Entrance oh so consistent, but since Entrance isn’t our only way to win (and is actually anti-synergistic with Summoning Trap), I left this powerhouse of a spell on the bench.

This should stay out of the deck for the reason Jimhawk Mentions

Vine Trellis – Another wall that makes mana. Sometimes you just won’t have the Overgrown Battlement, in which case this is much more underwhelming.

Beast Within – A really solid removal spell, but I couldn’t find space for it over other options.

Thrun, the Last Troll – The last troll is the last card I want to leave on the sidelines. With the new M14 rules changes, he’s more resilient than ever. I’m not sure what I would cut to make room for him.

These cards are all reasonable to contemplate, but I think cards already in the deck are better.

Thus concludes another installment of The Apprentice’s Workshop! What changes would you have made? Are there any cards you think should make the cut? Leave your comments and suggestions below!