Suggestions to be a Better Death and Taxes Player

Modern Deck Help forum

Posted on Jan. 12, 2018, 7:50 p.m. by Konglicker

Hey guys, so I'm thinking of buying into my first modern tier deck, and I'm thinking of buying Death and Taxes, starting with the Mono-White version, also known as Hatebears. I'm considering this choice because I was looking for a deck that was aggressive, interactive, upgradeable, and a strategy I could port to legacy.

I'm looking for some tips and tricks on how to play this deck better. Most of the articles I've read only justify card inclusions, nothing more.

If you know a deck that's more aggressive, interactive, and less likely to get boring than Death and Taxes, please let me know! I haven't spent a dime yet.

IzzetFanatic says... #2

Try BW eldrazi. There are some more synergies. It can be slightly more aggressive. Still hate bears. Black gives you access to stuff like thoughtseize and Inquisition. There's been a ton of great work on this deck too by MTG goldfish ibeleive.

January 12, 2018 9:30 p.m.

Boza says... #3

1/ Upgradable to Legacy

Well, the idea is that both formats require different hate cards, but there is overlap. You need basically 3 Karakas, 4 Rishadan Port, 4 Wasteland and 4 Stoneforge Mystic and probably Batterskull, Sword of Fire and Ice and Umezawa's Jitte and 4 Swords to Plowshares and the newer lists play Recruiter of the Guard and Sanctum Prelate. and that is just the main board.

There is overlap but very minimum. I would ignore it.

2/ Death and Taxes is just not a good deck. Modern is quite a cheaty format. You either cheat on how much mana you have(valakut decks, tron), how many spells you can cast in a single turn (affinity, storm) or have 10/10s for a single mana (Death's Shadow) something, while death and taxes does none of that - it is a fair deck.

3/ Burn has all the qualities you list and is super easy to port to legacy.

January 13, 2018 3:13 a.m.

Xica says... #4

BW death and taxes, despite appearances is a 3 color deck with one of (if not THE) greediest manabase in the format.
On the upside it has better nutdraws, on the downside it manascrews itself more often, and is a lot more vulnerable to blood moon.

While modern is a cheaty format, death and taxes is a cheaty deck.
You can blow up your opponent's lands
You can play creatures that give 0 fucks about 12/12 Death's Shadow for B - Mirran Crusader
You can screw wit hthe number of spells that can be cast, or card that can be drawn in a single turn - Spirit of the Labyrinth, Eidolon of Rhetoric
(Not to mention that agains storm card like Dryad Militant & Kambal, Consul of Allocation offer even more game)

The deck is very far from being a dead, useless jank - like some posters portray it. Like it or not it can't be THAT bad if it consistently puts up results.

January 13, 2018 9:08 a.m.

xyr0s says... #5

Many games, you get to be the control deck, not the aggressive deck. And that is perhaps the most important advice on modern death & taxes - you have to pay attention and adapt to what your opponent plays. You can't race against burn, and you're slower than combo decks like, say, ad nauseam. Instead you'll have to pretend that you play control, and look for ways to drown their plans in disruption. You have some super-flexible cards mainboard, like Aether Vial and Flickerwisp. Vial is often as good a threat, as the card it can play (2 counters on untapped vial - no opponent cracks a fetch without having mana up for a potential Leonin Arbiter, for example).

Not all decks die to being starved on mana (which is one of the main tricks of D&T, with arbiter and Ghost Quarter). Be very aware of when that is the way to go, and when it's less-than-great. Elves and affinity are decks that aren't particularly bothered by losing a random land, and in some cases likes you to lose a land.

It's a hard deck to give any solid advice on, because you often have to play reactive to your opponent, and can't to the same extent as linear aggro decks just follow the same plan every game. On the best days, it feels like you are playing sideboarded cards all the time. On the worst, it feels like very underpowered white weenie deck. But Boza is only partially right; it IS a fair deck. It is actually so fair, that it forces other decks to play fair too (pay extra mana, stop searching your deck, and occasionally only allow drawing or casting one card pr. turn).

January 13, 2018 11:21 a.m.

antacidbrn says... #6

Would it make sense to splash Red for things like Stone Rain, Molten Rain, and Ajani Vengeant. I feel like this combos with the mono white taxes to wreck lands so they can't pay the taxes.

January 13, 2018 1:10 p.m.

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