Deck Feature: Modern Eggs
Challenges and Articles forum
Posted on Dec. 6, 2011, 3:29 p.m. by burkek
The modern eggs deck is by far the most complicated deck to play I have ever seen. I would be willing to bet half the games ever lost with this deck were the result of player error. So what is the deck list? Here:
This deck may not look like it does anything, but its win condition is Pyrite Spellbomb or Moonglove Extract . The basic idea is you get out a ton of artifacts and activate Lotus Bloom (either by removing last counter or casting a Reshape ) and then activate all your artifacts, cycle with Edge of Autumn , ghost quarter your own lands to fetch another basic lands, and then finally hit a Second Sunrise and repeat. Eventually you will run out of cards, this is when you immediately start looping card:Conjurer's Bauble and Pyrite Spellbomb to win.
So that is the general way the deck is played, but its complexity is in knowing when to go off and when to hold back and wait. In order to play this deck well you must learn how to only half go off, and then put second sunrise back on top of your deck with Reclaim or Noxious Revival .
This is again an incredibly difficult deck to play, but beyond that it has certain strengths and weaknesses like any other deck.
Strengths:It can be very hard to interact with decks that not only are graveyard based, but also resurrect everything from your graveyard every time you go in. This is very hard to deal with.
Reshape : This is a win condition in your deck. Read it as pay 2 blue and sacrifice something you were about to sacrifice anyways to play an un-suspended lotus bloom. This is basically a black lotus, and at this point and you can start your combo.
Lotus Bloom : The black lotus that really makes your deck work from a mana perspective
Second Sunrise : The last piece needed to drive this combo, and it is absolutely insane in this deck.
Reclaim , Noxious Revival : Oh no, I have one draw left and no second sunrise in hand, what do I do? I use this to put it back on the top of my library. This card saves your life, use it.
Elsewhere Flask : This card both draws you a card on entrance and converts your mana to that of a different color. This allows you a free draw once your Second Sunrise combo starts as well as a way to pay for Second Sunrise or Reclaim with just your lands.
Ghost Quarter : A great card in this deck, it is a mana ramp. Think about it, by using this card and then using second sunrise you all of a sudden have 3 mana open. Use it on a tapped land if you can, but always use it before you let a Second Sunrise resolve.
Chromatic Star : This is your main target for Reshape because it lets you draw a card at the same time as playing putting a un-suspended lotus bloom into play, otherwise it just gives you a free draw on the turn you need the draw.
Pyrite Spellbomb + card:Conjurer's Bauble: This is how you actually win, by looping this. You constantly use your infinite mana to loop pyrite-spell bomb 10 times. You can also use Moonglove Extract if you prefer, but Pyrite Spellbomb also gives you a way to draw if you are not ready to combo off.
Lifespark Spellbomb : your game plan if they somehow manage to get your Pyrite Spellbomb exiled or useless is to get infinite life and then just wait until they run out of cards in your library... yeah that would be a really long game, but you would eventually get the win.
Other tips:Do not be afraid to use draw spells while performing your combo if you have enough mana.Do not forget about your Noxious Revival s and Reclaim .Count your mana carefully.
Weaknesses:This deck is subject to instant speed graveyard/artifact exile, counter spells, and Chalice of the Void .
So in short the best ways I can think of to beat this deck are:
Counter the Second Sunrise , so all their artifacts remain in their graveyard instead of coming back. This does not permanently end their combo (see reclaim/noxious revival), but it certainly puts slows them down a lot.
Play Chalice of the Void for 1, this completely destroys their win condition if played early on. Playing it for 3 might be effective too, because they cannot play second sunrise, but requires much more money.
expatriate, Surgical Extraction , etc: The good part of this is that you can remove their key combo pieces if you do it correctly, the bad part is you have 2 to 3 targets, so their sideboard has to be somewhat of a committed sideboard to be able to eradicate all of them. Overall, this is probably a poor choice of strategy for beating the deck, but it is a possibility.
Now, at this point in the article I have pretty much expanded what I have learned about modern egg so far. If anyone wants a challenging fun deck (for you, not necessarily for your opponent) that is very reasonably priced, I would recommend this deck.
It is in the deck list, but you are absolutely right that I somehow forgot to include it >.<
Do you need the infinite turns? I mean, it seems like you don't but... heck might as well try it out.
Actually, I assumed it was named after food >.< (it is an old tradition to name combo decks after food that is sadly no longer followed). Thanks for the bit of history!
December 6, 2011 7:55 p.m.
KorApprentice says... #4
Ah yes, the good old combos that you needed a Treat Fork to eat? That's an inside joke, pay no attention :D
KorApprentice says... #2
You forgot to talk about the Legacy Eggs deck and how it got its name! "Eggs" is from the Legacy version of this deck that features the Odyssey set 'eggs'; Mossfire Egg , Darkwater Egg , Skycloud Egg , Shadowblood Egg , and Sungrass Egg ; instead of the Modern 'eggs'; Chromatic Sphere , Chromatic Star , and Elsewhere Flask . Just thought I would leave that little history here so people know why it's called 'Eggs'. By the way, you missed Chromatic Sphere , that is a must have in here. You don't get to draw a card when you Reshape it, but you should have at least 8 eggs. Oh, and I saw a really nice version of this that threw in Time Sieve for infinite turns!
December 6, 2011 6:52 p.m.