Kroxa sounds like crotch.
This deck is insane. Lurrus ban incoming? M20, Eldraine, and Theros - the last 3 sets - have all had bans. Would be a shame if Ikoria didn't keep the trend going.
The shell of the deck is just grixis goodstuff. Premium discard, cheap removal, powerful creatures, and a few counterspells to extend our window to win. Speaking of, I think playing counterspells is essential. This deck wants to get value early and then win before the opponent can catch back up. Playing Lurrus turn 3 and holding Force of Negation is really good. But counterspells prevent opponents from going over the top by resolving one heavy-hitter. Especially against big mana decks like Tron. Force of Negation is the counterspell of choice because it can be cast for free - we can keep building our boardstate while holding countermagic. Playing it for 3 mana is totally reasonable too.
Lurrus + Mishra's Bauble is a crazy good value engine. If you cast Snapcaster Mage with Lurrus in a card advantage game, you probably win. Casting Kroxa off of Lurrus is also really good.
Kroxa is an insane magic card. The life loss really adds up in matchups where it matters. And getting a 6/6 that actually swings for 9? Bonkers. He represents 15 damage usually. 3 on the first cast, 3 when he emerges, and 9 when he attacks. Opponents have to do something or they just die.
I'm currently rounding out the creatures with Sprite Dragon, but there are options to play in that spot. The maybeboard contains other potential cards to play in this slot. I'll discuss some of them here.
- Delver of Secrets
comes down early and hits hard. Mishra's Bauble is actually really good at flipping Delver. But with Delver we need to run Serum Visions and the deck runs smoother without. Delver is also a terrible topdeck because it takes a turn or 2 to get going.
- Dreadhorde Arcanist is more value, but eats away at Kroxa's graveyard and isn't a huge threat on its own. It is a great value engine, but other cards in the deck are better value engines. I really think this spot needs to be used on a clock. Otherwise we won't be able to close games without drawing Kroxa, which is not a good place to be.
- Sprite Dragon can get big. My reservation is he might take too long to get going. Delver swings for 3 on turn 2. Sprite Dragon swings for 1. But since he can swing right away, he might have the best potential for casting from the graveyard with Lurrus. Playing Delver off of Lurrus feels terrible. Sprite Dragon also triggers off of Mishra's Bauble, which means he pairs very well with Lurrus. Being able to sequence turn 1 discard into turn 2 Sprite is very nice.
- Pteramander can be a 5/5, but I think it's too hard to make it happen. Too much graveyard dependence makes us completely blown out by graveyard hate.
- Young Pyromancer - I don't think going wide with 1/1s quite cuts it in modern. But maybe!
The sideboard is very much under construction. I think we want some land destruction for Tron and Amulet Titan and some wraths for go-wide deck. I feel like I have to include some stuff like Nihil Spellbomb, Engineered Explosives, and Goblin Cratermaker because they pair so well with Lurrus. Nihil Spellbomb especially fights other Lurrus decks. Burn is a nightmare with so many Thoughtseize in the main. Thus, I think we should play several Collective Brutality in the sideboard.
