Rothgar’s Competitive Corner: Back in the Game

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rothgar13

23 June 2017

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Hi everyone,

I'm Roland Rivera, and I'd like to welcome you to Rothgar's Competitive Corner. This will be my new article series on TappedOut focusing on decks in the competitive sphere. As with my previous efforts, this series will primarily focus on Modern, but I hope to branch out to other formats in the future.

In the spirit of getting back into things, we'll be looking at some decks that were on a bit of a hiatus in terms of high-level competitive results, but have started making moves in the metagame. In some cases, the resurgence has been fueled by innovation within the archetype; in others, the archetype has gotten a shot in the arm with new cards entering the pool. Regardless of the reason, these archetypes are on the uptick, and it behooves us to pay attention to them.

Let’s kick things off with the classic example of control colors in Modern: Jeskai. This deck has gone through several iterations in years past, ranging from draw-go versions with only Celestial Colonnade and Snapcaster Mage as win conditions to combo-control shells that have featured everything from Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Restoration Angel to Saheeli Rai + Felidar Guardian to Nahiri, the Harbinger + Emrakul, the Aeons Torn to close games out. These iterations of the deck all still exist with varying levels of success, but the most exciting innovation to come out of the archetype in quite some time has been a list by Ryoichi Tamada which embraces the color combination's extensive suite of quality direct damage spells. Here’s the list that Tamada took to a Top 8 finish at Grand Prix Kobe last month:

I think this list's major strength as compared with previous versions of the archetype lies in its consistency. It has deep suites of removal (with the burn spells doubling as ways to close the game out) and permission effects, with some card draw to ensure it hits its land drops and curves out smoothly. The sideboard features tools to combat big-mana strategies in Ceremonious Rejection and Spreading Seas, which means that most bases are covered. The addition of Spell Queller cannot be overlooked here – not only is Queller able to snatch lots of bothersome spells from the stack, it has a solidly sized flying body that can help make your burn-based close-out plan more effective. I think that Tamada's list is excellent, and any tweaks I would seek to implement are centered on the manabase (which leans toward white more than red, whereas the actual spells in the list are split evenly) and the sideboard (which may have too many Grim Lavamancers). Overall, this list has the makings of innovation within the archetype, which is usually a harbinger of consistent results.

Next, we’ll look at one of Modern’s most unique archetypes in Eldrazi and Taxes (E&T for short). This tempo deck has a white-based disruptive creature shell, along with some splashes in black and colorless to support a hand disruption and Eldrazi creature package. This archetype’s presence in the metagame has always been in flux thanks to having heavy overlap with other versions of the Death and Taxes shell, and until recently seemed to have fallen out of favor as compared to the powerful top-end flyers featured by the more traditional versions of the deck. However, a combination of innovative changes (namely the addition of Dark Confidant) and additions to the card pool (the increasingly popular Fatal Push) have combined to make it a contender in the Modern metagame once again. Here’s a list championed by an MTGO grinder by the name of penips that did well in an MTGO Modern Challenge:

Here we see a list that has a strong generalist maindeck: Thought-Knot Seer and Tidehollow Sculler make for a formidable hand disruption tandem, and the classic Taxes package of Flickerwisp, Ghost Quarter, Leonin Arbiter, Path to Exile, and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is annoying for many decks to face. E&T's signature additions of Eldrazi Displacer and Wasteland Strangler are also well positioned against the field, and Dark Confidant allows the deck to refill its hand, thereby addressing one of its most notable weak points.

The sideboard, on the other hand, is very focused: the deck is clearly zeroing in on beating graveyard-based decks like Dredge, Living End, and Shadow by playing the full 4 copies of Rest in Peace, and is also gunning for Affinity with its 4 copies of Stony Silence. Fatal Push and Mirran Crusader are additional hedges for Shadow that can contribute elsewhere, and Orzhov Pontiff is a powerful way to deal with decks opting to go wide (especially when combined with Displacer). I think the depth of this deck’s answer suite and the relative lack of traditional grindy decks like Jund or Abzan (which were E&T’s most notable weakness) are auspicious omens for its prospects going forward.

Lastly, we’ll touch upon an archetype that is technically new, but has elements reminiscent of several decks from Modern’s past. White-black Tokens was a deck well-known for its plus matchups against midrange decks and Affinity thanks to its armies of flying creatures that spot removal is ill-equipped to address, but the evolution of the format’s aggro and combo decks have pushed it out of the metagame. The mono-black discard-based deck known as 8-Rack could punish slower creature decks and combo decks with its combination of cheap discard, edict-based removal effects, and land destruction, but aggressive decks like Burn have kept it from gaining much of a foothold in the format. Recently, a deck featuring a combination of Tokens' armies of creatures and 8-Rack’s discard and land destruction package has emerged. Colloquially referred to as WB Smallpox, this deck has begun to make its presence felt in online events, and looks poised to continue its upward trajectory. Here’s a list that achieved a 5-0 result in an MTGO competitive league:

This deck starts things off with lots of interaction – between targeted discard, removal, and the all-purpose disruption that is Smallpox, few gameplans will survive the early game unscathed. Next, it seeks to take over the game with powerful planeswalkers. Liliana of the Veil can finish off an opponent's hand and take down powerful creatures, while Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and Sorin, Solemn Visitor can both flood the board and pump the team. Bloodghast and Lingering Souls are ways to ensure the deck gets value out of its self-discard effects, and Flagstones of Trokair does the same for Smallpox’s land destruction clause.

This deck figures to be very potent against midrange decks such as Shadow, which rely on trading cards with their opponents and then using powerful beaters to come out on top. It also has the tools to battle combo decks (thanks to its land destruction package and a playset of Leyline of the Void in its sideboard). Aggressive decks still pose a challenge, but it’s ameliorated by a playset of Fatal Push, some sideboard copies of Collective Brutality in addition to the steady stream of blockers that Gideon can provide. If you’re looking for a grindy deck that can also overwhelm removal by going wide, this is likely the best choice available.

That's all I have for you this week. If you enjoyed it, have any comments, or have any suggestions for decks that I can feature in future pieces, let me know in the comments section here, or on Reddit (my username there is /u/rothgar13). I'll see you all in my next article.