Ideally this Modern Deck Would be Epic
Modern
SCORE: 20 | 32 COMMENTS | 3035 VIEWS | IN 6 FOLDERS
PPTQ Rivals of Ixalan (2-1-2) —Aug. 26, 2017
Took the deck out for a spin at the local PPTQ with the hope that I'd at least get a few confused looks and I've got to say I succeeded.
I also took out the copies of Copy Enchantment for another Oblivion Ring and Form of the Dragon.
Round 1 - Mono Black Zombies (1-1)
Got off to a great start in game 1 with ramp to hit turn 4 Enduring Ideal. However, the zombies were beating down and Gerralf's Messenger had me down to about 9. Figuring that all the zombies were pretty much stuck to the ground and with a Leyline of Sanctity in play I tutored for Form of the Dragon, dropping me down to 5, but feeling reasonably safe. Unfortunetely I failed to spot the Westvale Abbey  Flip with 5 zombies in play and promptly lost the game!
Game 2 went pretty similarly, except I made sure to put up plenty of defences after resolving Enduring Ideal before trying to go for the kill. However, I ended up with both copies of Form of the Dragon in my hand, leaving me to just fish for a Mistveil Plains turn after turn after turn! Eventually my opponent just scooped as he was completely locked out of the game, but definitely an annoying situation to be in (and part of the reason I actually put a second copy of Form in the deck before the tournament started).
Game 3 started with 10 minutes of round time remaining so it was really just a race to see if I could ramp into an early enough Ideal without being beaten down. The ramp part went well with 2x Lotus Petal in the first 2 turns, but I never found a copy of Enduring Ideal. Thankfully my opponent didn't realise they had a winning board position and the game went to time leaving me with the draw.
Round 2 - Dredge (2-1)
Turn 1 of the first game and I feared the worst as Faithless Looting dropped Stinkweed Imp and Life from the Loam into the graveyard, signalling the dredge match-up. This game went very quickly as I was rapidly swamped by Narcomoeba, Bloodghast and several Prized Amalgams.
Game 2 was much better as Rest in Peace was found in my mull to 6 and the dredge deck had to play fair. This game went pretty well as the lack of lands in dredge struggled to get past Ghostly Prison and I found an Enduring Ideal to shut the game off.
Game 3 surprisingly went exactly the same way as game 2. Getting lucky enough to hit Rest in Peace in the opening hand and forcing my opponent to play fair. This time Wear / Tear made an appearance, but enough time had been bought to put me ahead. Once again Enduring Ideal was cast for the win.
Round 3 - Death's Shadow (1-2)
Round 4 - UB Faeries (0-2)
Round 5 - Humans? (2-1)
I have Solemnity in the sideboard and had considered it mainboard for the interaction with Phyrexian Unlife, I'm just weighing it up against removing Luminarch Ascension as it prevents the quest counters.
I'm a little nervous dropping to one win-condition (Form of the Dragon) against Surgical Extraction etc and other win conditions I've considered (Heliod, God of the Sun and Assemble the Legion) tend to not get through blockers.
Perhaps though game 1 is better suited to Phyrexian Unlife + Solemnity with the option to board in Luminarch Ascension or a second Form of the Dragon as the risk of losing all copies permanently is low enough.
Thanks for the suggestion.
July 23, 2017 4:05 a.m.
jon_hill987 says... #3
So you do, I missed that in the sideboard. I don't think you need worry about it breaking Luminarch Ascension, you can keep it in hand and only play it when you start getting poison counters.
July 23, 2017 4:14 a.m.
jon_hill987 says... #4
Perhaps you could use Sigil of the Empty Throne in place of Luminarch Ascension? You have enough enchantments.
July 23, 2017 4:19 a.m.
The problem with both of those ideas is that the main aim to to cast Enduring Ideal to tutor for enchantments each upkeep, which means that I am unable to cast future spells, so cards in hand are stuck there. Also as the enchantment cards are put into play I don't cast them so they wont trigger Sigil of the Empty Throne.
But I do agree with your earlier suggestion and I think that I'll switch out the Luminarch Ascension for Solemnity and see if I ever regret it.
July 23, 2017 4:33 a.m.
If you're running 4x Lotus Bloom, you really aught to consider running As Foretold. That would open up Ancestral Vision as a draw source as well.
July 26, 2017 1:16 p.m.
That is a pretty good combination, but I think it's in the wrong colours for this deck. I know I can get pretty much any enchantment through Enduring Ideal, but two off colour spells seems a bit too high risk. Thanks for the suggestion though.
I have been looking at As Foretold as it was originally described to me as Aether Vial for spells. In that regard I thought it would be a way to get around the 'Epic' restriction of Enduring Ideal, but unfortunately it doesn't as the spells are still cast.
I agree the synergy with Ancestral Vision is excellent, but at the moment I don't think there is a place for it in the deck, mostly because I don't own any copies of that $50 card!! I have seen it played in a pretty good deck along with Restore Balance, Greater Gargadon and Living End so definitely respect it's power.
Thanks again for the comment.
July 26, 2017 3:06 p.m. Edited.
Enduring ideal has been a win con in my edh deck for a couple years now, the first card out is always Possibility Storm as it doesn't effect Enduring Ideal
July 27, 2017 9:43 a.m.
That is a genius synergy that I have never considered. The added disruption may just be a final lock piece to cover creature-based removal such as Reclamation Sage, Qasali Pridemage or Acidic Slime that have a habit of knocking Dovescape over.
Think I'll try running it in a few playtests and see how it fares. Thanks for the suggestion.
jon_hill987 says... #1
You should add Solemnity to go with Phyrexian Unlife.
July 23, 2017 3:48 a.m.