Charmwood Sultai

Modern* BUG (Sultai) Competitive

Zertog

Land (15)

• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Forest
• 1x Island
• 2x Overgrown Tomb
• 4x Polluted Delta
• 1x Swamp
• 4x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Watery Grave

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Grist, the Hunger Tide

Creature (22)

• 4x Dark Confidant
• 4x Death's Shadow
• 4x Grim Flayer
• 2x Phyrexian Crusader
• 4x Snapcaster Mage
• 4x Spellskite

Enchantment (2)

• 2x Rancor

Instant (14)

• 4x Assassin's Trophy
• 2x Dismember
• 4x Fatal Push
• 4x Vines of Vastwood

Sorcery (4)

• 4x Traverse the Ulvenwald

Artifact (4)

• 4x Mishra's Bauble

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Sideboard

Instant (11)

• 4x An Offer You Can't Refuse
• 4x Surgical Extraction
• 3x Swan Song

Sorcery (4)

• 4x Thoughtseize

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Deck Type: Omni

Playstyle: Tempo (Grow)

Gameplan: Synergy (Life Loss)

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Jank Busting as aggressor

Jank Busting as control

Shifting stances

There are two key stances the deck takes. It always has the cards for both in the list, but shifts towards one or the other by default depending on the meta. Sideboarding is almost always transformative.

In a combo-heavy or degenerate meta, the Chi Blocking stance is the default one. In a healthy and diverse meta, one will want the Charmwood stance to be the default one. The lists will almost be the same 75; however, depending on the default stance certain functions of cards will be prioritized in the list and mainboard.

Chi Blocking Configuration [Degenerate Metas]

Attack every zone. Rip their strategy apart. Cripple the battleship.

Characterized by Surgical Extraction heavy strategy. Counterspells, discard, or creature removal as appropriate. Surgical + Snapcaster to rip opponent’s deck apart. Great against combo decks or decks with a small number of key cards. For instance, only two playsets of creatures worth caring about. Or lack of diversified removal spells, inviting punishment of card choice. E.g. Maybe a deck only has 4 Path to Exile and no other removal in the list.

On Chi Blocking

The concept known as Dim Mak (pronounced: [ dee-an mai ], means "press artery" ) is a martial arts technique reputed to kill using seemingly less than lethal force targeted at specific areas of the body. By attacking the opponent's pressure points, their chi (energy) is blocked which effects how they can apply their jin (force). Dim Mak is utilized by hitting pressure points with quick jabs and punches and must be done rapidly, often giving little time for the recipient to react.

The deck in Chi Blocking configuration operates by using the Dim Mak technique to dismantle the opponent's strategy (chi blocking) such that they lose their efficacy (decreased jin). It relies heavily on tempo plays and throwing the opponent off balance with a varied disruption suite that targets every relevant zone of Magic (graveyard, deck, hand, battlefield). Everything is used as a resource in order to win. Card advantage, life, and the graveyard are all leveraged in service of pressure and tempo. Wherever an opponent's strategy is focused, The deck in Chi Blocking configuration will neutralize while applying pressure of its own.

Charmwood Configuration [Healthy Metas]

Protect the Queen at all costs!

Best for disrupting Modern’s spot-removal heavy play patterns. Force them to board wipe. Punish them for trying to board wipe. This configuration is also excellent against aggro. Rancor lets you Trample over Chump blockers and Vines of Vastwood gives that final aggressive push. Great against Weissmann control as well as you disrupt their spot removal and other cards.

Archetype Engagement

Combo

• Creature-based combo --> Usu. defeat with spot removal and Surgicals
• Spell-based combo --> Usu. defeat with Dispel, Invasive Surgery, Thoughtseize, and Surgicals
• Permanent-based combo --> Usu. defeat with Assassin’s Trophy, Thoughtseize, and Surgicals

Aggro & Aggro-Combo

• Artifact Aggro --> Archetypes are dead without Mox Opal
• Graveyard Aggro --> Surgical Extraction with Vines and Rancor to up the aggression
• Zoo-style Aggro --> Dispel, Invasive Surgery, Fatal Push, Spellskite, and Bob, yes Bob. You don’t run out of gas but they do. Even against Burn.

Control

• Weissmann Control --> Thoughtseize, Vines, Dispel, Invasive, Swan Song
• Prison --> Assassin’s Trophy, Thoughtseize, Surgical. See Combo.

Aggro-Control

• Tempo/Fish/Grow --> Bob, Nissa, Grim Flayer, Rancor, Spot Removal, Vines
• Midrange/Stompy/Rock --> Bob, Nissa, Grim Flayer, Rancor, Spot Removal, Vines, Spellskite

Omni Decks

• Aggro-control with combo element --> See Aggro-control section
• Aggro-combo with control capability --> See Aggro section
• Combo-control with aggressive finish --> See Combo section

Degenerate Metas

• Three categorizations of degeneracy: Slightly so, Moderately so, Completely degenerate. For slightly degenerate, just shuffle the default location of cards around. For instance, Thoughtseize main instead of the sideboard. For Moderately so, do that and shave a couple of cards to shore up. For Completely so, you’ll be taking drastic actions like running 4x Surgical Extraction and 3x copies of Extirpate or something along those lines. In other words, you’ll be including backup cards that tend to sit on the sidelines normally because you have to.
• If there’s less aggro, you can shave 1 Rancor. Never less than 2x. But usually that means a degenerate meta.
• You might also shave 1 Vines of Vastwood. The ratio of Vines:Rancor is 4:3 or 3:2. Vines has a lot of utility, though, so think very carefully about cutting it to 3. Never less than 3.
• In a degenerate meta, Nissa should be cut. That’s your canary though. If the list shouldn’t run 2-3x Nissa, the meta is broken. I’ve always taken her out in degenerate times (Hogaak, etc.) and put her right in after things are settled.
• Usually add more Inquisition of Kozilek in degenerate metas and cut Planeswalkers. Perhaps add Extirpate as well to complement Surgical.
• Probably want to mainboard Surgical Extraction during degenerate metas. Also discard. Otherwise, Thoughtseize is the only hand disruption in the list and it is always in the sideboard so you can be aggressive game 1.
• You’re essentially going all in on the Chi Blocking stance of the list in degenerate metas. Just rip their deck apart. Just rip it apart. The whole thing.

Date added	7 years
Last updated	6 months
Legality	This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 38 - 11 Rares 12 - 4 Uncommons 4 - 0 Commons
Cards	62
Avg. CMC	1.55
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Insect 1/1 BG, Treasure
Based on	Charmwood Delver Zertog MDN