Modern Showdown #1

Features

GlistenerAgent

8 April 2015

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Hello all, and welcome to the first ever Modern Showdown! In this series, ChiefBell and I will pit competitive Modern decks against each other for the entertainment (and hopefully education) of you, the users of TappedOut. This series will showcase not only the top tier of the format, but also some fringe decks that can still hold their own in a fight. Hopefully through this series we can introduce you to the diversity afforded by twelve years of Magic cards, and to gameplay strategies that can improve your record when playing this wonderful format.

For our inaugural Showdown, I will be piloting my own take on UB Faeries:

Faeries is a tribal deck that uses Bitterblossom alongside tempo-oriented flash creatures, cheap removal, discard and counterspells to gain control of the game and turn that control into a blazing fast win. Faeries is the quintessential aggro-control deck, as each of the creatures serves both as a means of stopping the opponent’s game plan while also advancing your own aggressive ends.

An array of cheap removal allows the Faeries player to remove opposing threats at the same or lower cost that they paid for it, affording you extra mana to cast discard spells or creatures. Dismember, Go for the Throat and Slaughter Pact are all hyper-efficient cards that allow you to play multiple spells in a single turn.

Cryptic Command alongside its pal Mana Leak allow the Faeries player to maintain an advantage when they are employing an aggressive game plan. If your opponent tries to deploy a large blocker, Mana Leak can effectively Time Walk them while allowing you to deploy additional threats. Cryptic Command is an incredibly powerful spell, providing card advantage and disruption regardless of your board position.

On the opposite side of the table (or in this case, the Cockatrice interface) will be ChiefBell piloting Naya Midrange:

This particular build of Naya focuses on a more value-based gameplan than more traditional builds that focus purely on early aggression. Attrition components such as Voice of Resurgence and Scavenging Ooze punish opponents as they play removal, whilst Woolly Thoctar and Spellbreaker Behemoth outmuscle opposing creatures in the late game. Domri Rade is used both as a removal spell and as a card advantage tool.

The deck can have very fast starts with Wild Nacatl and Woolly Thoctar curving into Boartusk Liege; leading the charge into opposing slow decks that will have trouble handling such large creatures so early in the game. These creatures put your opponent on the back foot right away, and give you a chance to clean up with larger creatures that can rush in to end the game, or gold old fashioned Lightning Bolt.

On the other side of things, Voice of Resurgence, Scavenging Ooze, and incredibly efficient removal in Lightning Bolt and Path to Exile present ample opportunities for interaction with the opponent. These cards comprise the more long-game half of the deck, which wins the game through attrition: grinding to the point where you have a threat in play while the opponent does not. A strong focus on removal coupled with Scavenging Ooze’s ability can often result in scary amounts of lifegain and a huge threat.

Game 1: ChiefBell plays first

ChiefBell: Keeps Windswept Heath, Wooded Foothills, Kessig Wolf Run, Wild Nacatl, Boros Charm, Woolly Thoctar, Boartusk Liege. It’s a very explosive curve with some early pressure and a late game plan in Wolf Run. One of the advantages to this deck is being able to deploy the largest creatures at most points in the game. What I particularly liked about this opening hand was the healthy mixture of offensive and defensive options. Wild Nacatl and Wolly Thoctar provide incredibly early game pressure. Boros Charm gives me the ability to shrug off a board wipe, or just swing for some absurd amount of damage due to doublestrike.

GlistenerAgent: Keeps 2 Creeping Tar Pit, Darkslick Shores, Sunken Ruins, 2 Bitterblossom, Scion of Oona. This is on the weaker side of things, but we have a turn 2 Bitterblossom and a Scion to hopefully put on some pressure if we can draw removal for his early plays. There certainly seems to be enough stalling in this hand for me to be able to slowly draw into more powerful cards.

CB1: Windswept Heath gets a Forest (19/20) and Wild Nacatl hits the battlefield. This lets me fetch a Sacred Foundry tapped next turn (I have no turn 2 play yet) and hit for 3.

GA1: Aggro was the main reason our hand was weak. This could be rough. Draws Bitterblossom. Darn. Creeping Tar Pit, pass.

CB2: Creeping Tar Pit tells me its some sort of control deck that I’m up against. Esper or Grixis perhaps. We want an early lead here because he can hold up Mana Leak on turn 2 and we want to get as many things as possible in under Cryptic Command. Draws Windswept Heath, which casts our four drops. Wooded Foothills gets Sacred Foundry tapped, and I attack for 3 (18/17). We aren’t casting Boros Charm with a Forest, so getting the tapland is fine.

GA2: Draw Scion of Oona. Another clunky draw, but hopefully we can start trading our Faerie Rogues with his creatures. Darkslick Shores and Bitterblossom is the obvious play here. Pass. The tokens I produce should hopefully keep him at bay.

CB3: GlistenerAgent being Dimir colours and playing Bitterblossom led me to believe that this is a Faeries deck. Draws Wooded Foothills - another land, flooding a bit but we’ve got a Wolf Run. Wooded Foothills gets a Mountain and I attack for 3 (17/14). Woolly Thoctar hits the battlefield after combat, totally safe because GA doesn’t have mana for countermagic up. I want to try to force him to use the tokens defensively, instead of offensively because he could swarm me if I let him.

GA3: Make a 1/1 from Bitterblossom going to 13. Thoctar is rather obnoxious, as he gets to keep hitting for 3 while we chump block that guy. Draws Go for the Throat. This is where we want to be: removal spells. Creeping Tar Pit hits play tapped so that I can hold up the removal spell. I don’t want the second Blossom because it will likely do more harm than good as the game progresses.

CB4: He’s got two open, which could be Mana Leak or some removal spell. Draws Woolly Thoctar - perfect for our beats plan. Let’s attack first to bait a removal spell. I attack with Nacatl and Thoctar into a chump block and Go for the Throat on my 5/4. Postcombat I can safely deploy a Windswept Heath → Forest (16/14) and slam Boartusk Liege because GA has no mana open.

GA4: Make a 1/1 from Bitterblossom going to 12. Draw Slaughter Pact. Again, we don’t have mana for two spells so it’s better to pass and hold up Scion of Oona so that he plays around Cryptic Command. Sunken Ruins, pass the turn.

CB5: Draw Path to Exile. This is reasonable if he ever deploys a real threat, but using it on tokens isn’t too good. Play Kessig Wolf Run so that he’s forced to cast removal during attacks and let me resolve other spells postcombat. I attack with my Liege and Nacatl, and he chump blocks with a token. I don’t see a response at this point so I (naively) think that GA isn’t holding removal. I choose to use all of my mana to Wolf Run the Liege. GA to Slaughter Pacts it. I have effectively Time Walked myself, and he gets to play another spell at my end step if he so chooses.

GA5: Hopefully his Wolf-Running means he’s out of gas. Draw Darkslick Shores (pretty poor at this stage) after going to 11 for a token and paying for Slaughter Pact. We’ll play the Shores tapped and pass, once again holding up removal spells for his creatures.

CB6: Draw Wooded Foothills, which isn’t what we want here. Attack Wild Nacatl into a chump block, and play Woolly Thoctar postcombat, which can’t be countered with the one mana GA has up. Pass the turn after playing the Foothills.

GA6: Go to 10 during my upkeep for a token, and draw Vendilion Clique. We’ll pass yet again, because all the cards we want to cast can be played at instant speed.

CB7: Draw Spellbreaker Behemoth. Perfect. Pressure and a way to nullify his blue cards. Attack with Nacatl and Thoctar, prompting a Vendilion Clique that takes my Behemoth and draws me a Voice of Resurgence (an excellent replacement). He chump blocks my creatures with his (Note from GlistenerAgent: Yeah, this was bad. I should have traded my Clique with the Nacatl to keep him on one, chumpable creature) and I deploy Voice of Resurgence postcombat. Thankfully he had no counterspell, because now it’s very likely I win the game through attrition. Even if he can draw lots of removal, he can’t kill everything, and that Bitterblossom is slowly killing him.

GA7: He has Path to Exile and Boros Charm (which I saw with Clique), and I go to 9 for a token during my upkeep. Drawing Cryptic Command doesn’t help me here, as he can attack with everything and Wolf Run either unblocked creature and use Boros Charm to finish me off. Cryptic Command only delays the inevitable.

Game 1 goes to ChiefBell!

Sideboarding with GlistenerAgent

That was a beating. We need more anti-aggro tools. 2 Damnation and 2 Batterskull are excellent, and Sower of Temptation can really turn the game around. For these six cards I’ll cut a Clique, 2 Inquisition of Kozilek and 1 Mana Leak. On the draw I might be inclined to switch the cuts on Leak and IoK because I want to take his two-drop play more often. Ratchet Bomb isn’t particularly good given what I saw in game 1, as he has very good creatures at every mana slot.

Sideboarding with ChiefBell

Path to Exile is weak against Bitterblossom tokens, and giving the control deck more lands isn’t what I want to be doing. Anger of the Gods will come in to deal with the tokens as well as kill every creature in his deck save for Mistbind Clique. Most of mine survive it, which can create a huge advantage. We really want to put the early pressure on, and topdeck bombs as often as possible instead of semi-useless cards like Path.

Game 2: GlistenerAgent plays first

GlistenerAgent: Keeps Mutavault, Creeping Tar Pit, River of Tears, Watery Grave, Mana Leak, Slaughter Pact, Mistbind Clique. This is a pretty good hand for me as I have a T2, T3 and T4 play along with a decent amount of land. However having an Inquisition of Kozilek or Thoughtseize as a T1 play would have been nice here. I don’t think this will be too slow though, so I’m happy to keep.

ChiefBell: Keeps Windswept Heath, Arid Mesa, Wild Nacatl, Voice of Resurgence, Scavenging Ooze, Woolly Thoctar, Spellbreaker Behemoth. This is almost a god hand in this matchup. I have a strong T1 play that could take the game on its own, a T2 play that ruins his counterspells and leaves a token after removal, and my curve topper is also uncounterable. This hand makes me feel really, really confident.

GA1: Creeping Tar Pit tapped. I have no T1 play so I might as well play this land in tapped. It gives us access to both colours we need on T2, which is decent.

CB1: Draw Boartusk Liege. Not the best draw because I am slightly low on lands, but it’s not awful either. Play Windswept Heath → Forest (19). Play Wild Nacatl. Next turn I hope to use my Arid Mesa to grab a Sacred Foundry then swing for 3 and play out a Voice of Resurgence. What an explosive opener!

GA2: His turn one Nacatl is a problem because I really don’t want to Slaughter Pact it (I can’t even if I wanted to for another few turns), and I also expect he’ll play out many more creatures which means that the Nacatl could just keep on hitting me for a while before I can do anything about it. Draw Cryptic Command which is perfect because it gives me a way to counter a spell and bounce the Nacatl later. Play Mutavault and leave mana open for Mana Leak.

CB2: I know he has two mana open now which is enough for a counterspell, but I want to push him really hard to unload his hand so he runs out of resources. Draw Temple Garden, which is good because I was slightly light on mana before. I play Arid Mesa → Sacred Foundry untapped (16). I swing for 3 with Nacatl (17-16). I expect that if he had a killspell he would have used it precombat on Nacatl so I’m fairly sure he’s holding a counterspell. Play Voice of Resurgence, which gets hit by Mana Leak. I probably should have baited the counterspell with Scavenging Ooze and then played the Voice, but it doesn’t really matter at this stage.

GA3: Draw Darkslick Shores. Attack with Mutavault (17-14), and play Darkslick Shores. I didn’t need any mana open for Slaughter Pact so I could safely get that hit in with Mutavault. It isn’t going to be trading with many of his creatures, so we might as well start pecking away at that life total.

CB3: I see him with one mana open and drop my guard a little because most counterspells and killspells cost at least 2 mana. Draw Domri Rade. Swing for 3 with Wild Nacatl (14-14). Play Temple Garden untapped (12) and play Domri Rade. I really want to get Domri out before he has access to a counterspell. In response to this he Slaughter Pacts the Nacatl. That’s fine by me because I expect I’m about to start drawing into a lot of creatures. +1 Domri → Forest. No card advantage gained but that is the land I need to play Spellbreaker Behemoth next turn.

GA4: Have to pay the 3 mana from Slaughter Pact. Draw and play Secluded Glen. Can’t do anything with 1 mana. Whilt this isn’t ideal, he doesn’t currently have any creatures on board, or anything with haste so I shouldn’t be blown out by his next turn.

CB4: Draw and play Forest. +1 Domri → Lightning Bolt. Not a bad draw for next turn, could certainly make this game a lot quicker. He’s tapped out so I take the chance to play Boartusk Liege. It would be a waste to play Spellbreaker Behemoth because that can’t be countered anyway.

GA5: Draw Damnation. That’s really, really good and could potentially put me miles ahead. I play Watery Grave tapped and pass with Cryptic Command in hand. Ideally we get to counter a four-drop here and bounce his Domri, effectively Time Walking him twice.

CB5: Draw Lightning Bolt. I +1 Domri → Woolly Thoctar. He has 4 mana open which is probably a Cryptic Command. I go to combat before I play anything just to see if he wastes his Cryptic Command (well - I assume he has one!) by tapping down Boartusk Liege and returning Domri Rade to hand instead of drawing a card from it. He goes to 11 (I’m on 12). Play Spellbreaker Behemoth (can’t be countered). The reason I do this is so that he has to choose between bouncing the creature that can have him dead in a turn or two, or the planeswalker. In my end step he plays Cryptic Command to bounce Domri and draw a card.

GA6: Draw and play Secluded Glen. Cast Damnation killing Boartusk Liege and Spellbreaker Behemoth. The board is clear, for now. I’d like to draw into some real action. Batterskull would be really sweet, but I’d settle for a Bitterblossom as well.

CB6: Draw and play Plains. I play Domri Rade again and +1 him → Loxodon Smiter. I only have two mana open and so I play Scavenging Ooze (he could get huge!).

GA7: Draw Sunken Ruins. This isn’t good - I need answers, not land! Play River of Tears. I keep all my mana open for Mistbind Clique.

CB7: Draw Scavenging Ooze. I +1 Domri → Voice of Resurgence, which I immediately play. In response to this he animates Mutavault then sacrifices it to Mistbind Clique, resulting in all my lands being tapped. This is a bit weird. Should he not have played this in my upkeep step to stop me casting anything at all?

GA8: Draw Thoughtseize. This is really nice! Could help me to remove whatever the most potent threat is in his hand. I animate Creeping Tar Pit and swing both that and Mistbind Clique for 7 total (11-4). (ChiefBell note: I’m on 4 life instead of 5 at this point which means I must have played a fetchland at some point and forgotten about it - apologies). Play Thoughtseize (9-4) .and take Lightning Bolt. I had to do this or I would have died to his creatures (Scavenging Ooze could be buffed up) and Bolt next turn. There’s nothing else I can do.

CB8: Draw and play Forest. The situation is bad but I do have a plan! I use Scavenging Ooze to exile 3 creatures, and gain 3 life. I go from 4 to 7. I -2 Domri Rade so that my now 5/5 Scooze fights Mistbind Clique. With 7 life I can now survive two more turns of Creeping Tar Pit. I go to combat and swing for 5 with Scooze and 2 with Voice (2-7). He has mana open so I choose the safest option which is to play Loxodon Smiter.

GA8: Draw land. GG because I can’t answer all 3 creatures without Damnation.

Game 2 goes to ChiefBell!

Post-script###

ChiefBell: I felt very happy about those two games because both demonstrated the simultaneous explosive nature of this deck, and the late game attrition engines. In game 1 I started with a hand that had a decent amount of pressure in it and my confidence was boosted by an early Bitterblossom which started a clock on Glistener’s life total. In game 2 I again opened with a large Wild Nacatl to pile on the aggression whilst also holding on to late game options. A funny occurrence in game 2 is that on T2 I had my Voice of Resurgence countered, and I regretted playing it instead of Scavenging Ooze which I saw as less valuable in this matchup. However, my deciding moment on the last turn (turn 8) was caused by a late game Scavenging Ooze being buffed up and gaining me 3 life. I had a single Scooze in my opening hand and I also drew one T7 - but imagine how differently that game could have been if my T2 Scooze was countered and I drew something else on T7. Well - I probably would have lost to Creeping Tar Pit.

For me, Faeries has always seemed to be an odd deck. Leaving aside the fact that I happen to play Scavenging Ooze, Voice of Resurgence and Spellbreaker Behemoth (which are all very good against control) there were other issues going on. Faeries isn’t a pure control deck, it’s more like a tempo deck because you want to play your own threats to harass the opponent whilst also keeping mana open for counterspells. All of the threats you play, unlike more traditional control, aren’t large enough or evasive enough to single handedly take the game. However, Faeries has a really cluttered 4 mana slot with Cryptic Command, and Mistbind Clique being commonly included as 4-ofs. Vendilion Clique is also commonly considered a mandatory 4-of and costs 3 mana to cast. The problem I see with this is that all those high mana options do not allow you to easily play both harassment and threats in the same turn. You have to choose to either harass or control, until you have at least 5 mana which is enough for both Vendilion and a Mana Leak. I understand that both Mistbind and Vendilion have flash but that doesn’t get around the fact that you physically can’t play one of them and a counterspell in the same turn until you have around 5-6 lands.

What’s the problem with this? Well unlike a more traditional control deck your win conditions aren’t things like Keranos, God of Storms or Celestial Colonnade which are extremely hard to deal with. In the case of Faeries, a simple Lightning Bolt is often (but not always) enough to throw you off your plan. If we compare Faeries to UR Delver (another tempo deck) you see a vastly different story. Delver is a deck that has many 1-2 mana threats alongside 1-2 mana counterspells and burn spells. This means it needs only 2-4 mana to both actively harass the opponent and reactively counter their plays. Therefore it’s very easy for Delver to have enough mana to play their own creatures, and counter the opponents removal or threats, whereas with Faeries it seems to be a lot harder. I strongly believe that this elegantly shows the problem with a Faeries deck, and why Delver is a stronger example of the archetype. I don’t know though, I am just a stupid midrange player after all!

GlistenerAgent: Now I know why people don’t play Faeries. While playing it, I just felt that all of my cards were doing less than ChiefBells. Mana Leak stalled his creatures, but his Wild Nacatls were still able to get under my removal and that’s a serious issue this deck has. My wincons are relatively fragile, and turning the game around is very hard to do. This deck is incredibly greedy on mana, as you want to be deploying creatures while also casting removal/counterspells. It helps a bit that all of your creatures have an ETB effect, but this effect quickly stops being useful when all you’re doing is hitting for a couple damage or chump-blocking.

I really liked ChiefBells deck. I would likely have built it differently, however. I am a huge fan of Knight of the Reliquary in Naya midrange decks, as it allows you to present unbeatable endgame with Kessig Wolf Run while also grinding out control decks with Horizon Canopy. Thundermaw Hellkite is incredibly powerful, and having access to more Qasali Pridemage as well as Tarmogoyf makes the more conventional versions better in my mind. Regardless, playing the highest-power creatures at every mana cost is a really powerful thing to do, and many opponents just can’t deal with Woolly Thoctar after Woolly Thoctar after Spellbreaker Behemoth.

In general, though, I wasn’t a fan of how these decks played out and wouldn’t recommend taking either of them to a Modern tournament. In this format, you need to be doing something explosive. Siege Rhino is explosive. Splinter Twin is explosive. Goblin Guide is explosive. Cranial Plating is explosive. Mistbind Clique and Woolly Thoctar are less so. Both of these decks can do great things, but I feel that they are easily overpowered when the opponent chooses to go over the top.

We hope you learned from this first installment of Modern Showdown. Please feel free to point out any misplays you think we made and your thoughts on the matchup in general.

What decks would you like to see us play next? Leave a comment below and we will try our best to use your suggestion. Tier 1 and fringe decks alike will be taken into consideration.