Brain Getting Too Big

The Purpose

I've been on a little personal quest to build decks that have win-cons that utilize a part of the game other than the battlefield. Here, we're gonna take a look at the hand. This deck is centered around the strategy of manipulating the hand of your opponent. The idea is to flood their hand with cards and then punish both their drawing and their forced discard at the end of their turn. Something that's kind of nice about it is that this deck is very much the sum of it's parts. Nothing is absolutely essential, it all just starts to overwhelmingly pile up by the end.

This idea came flooding into my brain (heh) when I saw the card Kederekt Parasite and realized the potential. The ability to punish people just for doing something they HAVE to do every turn. Hurt them just for playing. I had never made such a thing!! And so my journey began, and here is where I have come to rest for the time being.

The current weakness is really just lack of combat power. Any numbers or power centric deck is gonna be difficult to handle. Master of the Feast has the best combat ability amongst the creatures on the board standing at an okay 5/5. You pretty much have to rely on the chaos that this deck causes in the opponents hand to keep them from really setting up a good board state.

Card Breakdown

Bloodchief Ascension

  • This is a pretty cheap and easy way to punish opponents. It doesn't directly specify that the trigger has to be discard, but it doesn't have to. Functionally, it works very similarly to some of the other cards in this deck
  • It's pretty easy to activate with all the other life-loss triggers that go off when you start getting cards out.
  • Little lifegain never hurt anyone.... coughSanguine Bond...

Cerebral Vortex

  • This pretty much is the entire idea of the deck all in one card. Draw, and punishment. In any other deck, you'd want to play this on yourself, however you've set up a scenario in which drawing is something the opponent wants to do less. So this guy is played to deal (sometimes quit a bit) of direct damage to the opponent.
  • Best to play this during the end-step to maximize the amount of damage done.

Ebony Owl Netsuke

  • This card hurts. It really hurts. If you do your job, by the time the opponents turn comes around, they should have quite a few cards in their hand, definitely more than 7. This puts your opponent on an approximate 5 turn timer all by itself if you can get them to keep drawing.

Fevered Visions

  • One of the main players in the deck, I'd say. It has a similar effect to Ebony Owl Netuke, but it triggers at 4 cards instead of 7 which makes it easier to proc.
  • As a bonus, this card also forces a draw for everyone, including you! Which is just helpful for both your strategy, and just for you generally.

Forced Fruition

  • This is a kill card. It's expensive as frick to play, but if you're having trouble closing the deal, this will either combo with just about any punishment card for some big numbers, or force your opponent to come to a grinding halt.

Howling Mine

  • This card is pretty popular. And for good reason. Some of the best draw out there. Normally, it'd be a bit of a trade off, giving opponents draws just to speed things up. However, in this deck, it gives you the advantage.

Jace's Archivist

  • This card will get a lot of procs with the draw punishment cards, Cerebral Vortex, Kederekt Parasite, or Underworld Dreams. So be sure you have your punishers set up when you start up that tap ability.
  • This little guy cause a LOT of chaos. Makes games become very unpredictable as strategies come and go and people just start to scramble to do what they can. Can be pretty fun.
  • Basically a free mulligan machine. If you're having a bad hand and need a refresher, this guy can help you out.

Kami of the Crescent Moon

  • A draw engine on a stick. Every little bit helps.
  • It also does help flesh out the creature defense department a little bit at a WHOPPING 1/3. Don't wanna leave yourself wide open while you're up to all your shenanigans.

Kederekt Parasite

  • Here he is, Ladies and Gentlemen. The inspiration behind this whole operation. Nothing too special, just a draw trigger ping on a weak creature, but as I stated earlier, every little bit helps. It all adds up, and we couldn't do it without him.
  • Pretty cute

Liliana's Caress

  • Now things are getting interesting. Not only do you punish the draw with life-loss, but now you can hit them AGAIN when they ultimately have to discard a bunch of cards once they load up on draws.
  • It really helps that this thing is cheap. You can really start piling up the damage pretty early.

Master of the Feast

  • This guy comes handy with his own draw!! See, demons usually have some draw back to summoning them since they're usually a lot stronger than their mana cost would suggest. This guy's drawback is that you have to give your opponents free cards. However, we're pretty much turning the game on it's head here, and this becomes a good thing. Makes this card kinda broken. It's also nice that the draw hits everyone if you play with multiple people. And unlike the other draw cards, this one takes place on YOUR turn. NO ESCAPE!!!!
  • Just so happens that this is also your strongest creature, so he's probably gonna handle most of the major combat.

Teferi's Puzzle Box

  • Really just acts as a sort of automatic Jace's Archivist if you get desperate.
  • Be careful with this one, there's no off switch.

Underworld Dreams

  • An all-star for draw punishment. No conditions, no "may," no if ands or buts. No messing around. Take the damage.

Other Decks

I’m always looking for advice and suggestions on decks. Here’s some more of mine in the Modern format if you’re down to help me out!


Unblockable Abuse

Modern Lord_Olga

SCORE: 40 | 26 COMMENTS | 4420 VIEWS | IN 16 FOLDERS



Life Drain

Modern Lord_Olga

SCORE: 5 | 9 COMMENTS | 1842 VIEWS | IN 3 FOLDERS



Duskmantle Milled-Mage

Modern Lord_Olga

SCORE: 3 | 3 COMMENTS | 513 VIEWS | IN 3 FOLDERS


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Revision 6 See all

(3 years ago)

Top Ranked
  • Achieved #57 position overall 5 years ago
Date added 5 years
Last updated 3 years
Exclude colors WG
Legality

This deck is Modern legal.

Rarity (main - side)

34 - 0 Rares

14 - 0 Uncommons

Cards 60
Avg. CMC 2.39
Folders Modern, Quest To Win With The Board, Modern, Fun, GRIXIS DISCARD, Decks
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