This deck is an entry for the Rogue Deckbuilder's Master Brewer challenge, ending end May 15, 2015. The build-around card for this particular challenge was Rally the Ancestors. Coincidentally, all the creatures this deck runs are Elementals, hence the name.
This deck's basic idea is to spit out attack-once-and-die creatures (like
Spark Elemental
and
Hellspark Elemental
) and then, later on (which means turn 4 or 5), to finish off your opponent by recurring the sparkies with Rally the Ancestors. Ball Lightning isn't really meant to really be cast, but mainly to be milled or discarded and then resurrected via Rally; it also represents are more later-game plan, just in case. As an added bonus, the sacrifice-at-the-beginning-of-the-end-step clause on each and every single of our creatures means that the elementals do NOT get exiled by Rally the Ancestors, since they won't be around by the time your next upkeep occurs - so if you can't kill your opponent in one swing, your graveyard is still set up for the second Rally! Hellspark Elemental also has its Unearth ability, so it can recur itself in case you need just a little more damage.
The rest of the deck is set up to support this plan. Lightning Bolt is one of the best removal spells in Modern - and it can also go to the face, so that's an easy four-of. Faithless Looting digs us towards our 'combo' pieces and allows us to set up our graveyard as an added bonus. Serum Visions is just a solid card in general, digging further towards the combo and setting up draw steps. Same goes for Thought Scour, which also fills the graveyard - you may be noticing a pattern here! Mystic Retrieval exists mostly in case you accidentally mill Rally the Ancestors or in case an opponent makes you discard it. You'll be ditching the Retrieval to Faithless Looting most of the time, since its flashback cost is so cheap. Muddle the Mixture, finally, exists exclusively to add two more copies of Rally the Ancestors to the deck. But hey, maybe you'll counter something, some day.
The sideboard I've sketched below should not be seen as morre than a suggestion. All in all, it should probably contain some enchantment hate (since Leyline of the Void shuts us down cold and Blood Moon is also very bad indeed), some ways to deal with aggressive decks (Pyroclasm comes to mind), possibly some more counter-spells, a way to deal with opposing burn decks since we are a bit slower than they are but have a significantly better late-game plan... well, you get the idea.
All in all, the deck is more funny than competitive, but it can still win games (it fairly reliably goldfishes on turn 5, sometimes on turn 4) and hey, it's Rally the Ancestors - what were you expecting? This version of the deck plays fairly burn-ish, in addition to being combo; if you want a more all-in combo variant, look towards
Akoum Battlesinger
. You need at least three of those in your graveyard and Rally the Ancestors becomes an instant win. I tried out that build as well, but while it is better at comboing out, it's much less reliable and keels over and dies if Rally the Ancestors gets countered or removed from your deck, whereas this version can often just push through enough burn-based damage to win anyway. This is also the reason I'm not running
Heartlash Cinder
; it's just not good enough on its own.
One final note on budgets: Modern is an expensive format. Don't let the price tag for this deck fool you! The mana base accounts for 66% of the cost, and the Leylines of Sanctity in the sideboard for another 20%. If you don't have those, here is a budget tip: Cut Blue. Entirely. This does make the deck worse - but Blue exists purely as a support colour, and it is not needed for the main combo. Replace the cantrips and tutoring spells with more burn and maybe a handful of Tormenting Voices. The deck turns into a somewhat janky Burn deck with the Rally as a surprise lategame plan if you do that. On the bright side, though, your mana requirements become much less stringent, since you need only Red mana (and then double-White on turn five). You should, then, be able to make do with something like... four Battlefield Forge, four Clifftop Retreat, four City of Brass, and basics. As an added bonus, this makes the sideboard Leyline less vital since you're not dealing as much damage to yourself with your mana base. If you wait until the Forge rotates out of standard, this will significantly cut the cost of your deck. A sample budget build is availble here
