New age 8-Rack
Modern
SCORE: 23 | 13 COMMENTS | 27477 VIEWS | IN 9 FOLDERS
Another 3rd place finish —June 23, 2019
Took 10 rack to modern last Friday, mostly because it was the deck I currently had my set of Leyline of the Voids in and I knew that a Hogaak deck won last week.
Round 1 I lost against jeskai saheeli combo cat/superfriends deck using new teferi and Narset to help protect the combo. It is the definition of the type of deck that rack decks should be good against, but my draws in both games were terrible. Didn't draw enough discard in game one, and never hit my 3rd land in game 2 when I was flooded on 3-drops. I guess variance is a thing, although I should have mulled my game 1 hand most likely.
Game 2 was against Naya tribal cats. It was pretty much a zoo deck with loam lion in place of kird ape and the new cat lord alongside Brimaz. It got me good in game 1 when he got a turn 1 vial, but the next 2 games were all about me finding multiple smallpoxs and fatal pushes to keep him off of lands and creatures. He made a misplay that cost him the match when he attacked into my Mutavault which was able to trade with a Brimaz token and keep my Lily alive long enough to help clear his board, so it was a close match. I haven't seen zoo in a while so it was a good reminder for why we still plan for creature aggro in our SBs.
Round 3 against uw turbofog mill was pretty easy since fog doesn't stop damage from racks. I just need to strip his hand of howling mine effects and it's GG.
Round 4 was against a real deck in 5-C humans. Fortunately in game 1 he didn't have a vial and started with a Champion of the Parish. I started on the draw with Iok stripping the new Unsettled Mariner from his hand, and his turn 2 freebooter revealed the two fatal pushes I drew. That was my turn 2, and his reflector mage didn't do much for him that game since I was able to smallpox it away later. Game 2 he flooded on lands a bit and I found enough smallpoxes and pushes to keep him at bay. Nether Spirit did work in this game by chumping his creatures over a few turns then coming back for free. It was the clutch card in game 2 and made my turn 3 smallpox hurt much less by being excellent discard fodder. It is a great addition to the deck!
Anywho, I ended up getting 3rd since my round one loss was to one of the guys who eventually split for first, and with a big turnout I got a nice chunk of store credit. The Silent Clearings felt great in the deck, and helped draw me into gas in multiple games. As far as being revolt enablers though, it takes until turn 3 when you have 3 mana up to use them for that reason, so I might add a fetch or 2 to help make the pushes better. The deck feels strong in a combo meta, and smallpox is great against creature decks. I feel like it definitely has legs against non-GY decks. Further testing is needed against GY decks too see where it stands on that front, but this deck is still super fun to play!