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Shape Anew

Modern Combo Creature Cheat Tokens UBR (Grixis)

EldritchEvil

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Creature (18)

Instant (8)

Land (22)

Sorcery (12)

Maybeboard

Instant (8)

Creature (4)

Sorcery (4)

"Wasted potential surrounds us. Lend me that bauble, and let me see what it can be made to be" - (Master Transmuter)

Flip-off-the-top lists are often a lot of fun to build and run (if sometimes tedious to play against). This budget brew is extremely straightforward, attempting to sacrifice an artifact token to flip into Darksteel Colossus.

A myriad of cards generate the precious treasure tokens that we care about. A hand needs a T1/2 option of one of these guys, and will have a hard time getting off the ground without them.

Greedy Freebooter, Voldaren Epicure, and Strike it Rich are our three 1-drop options here. The Epicure can be better due to making a token on entry, pinging, and serving as a body, but the fact its token isn't a Treasure can cause some challenges where you may need to burn it for early blue.

On turn two, we're relying on Charming Scoundrel and Deadly Dispute. Best-case scenario is Deadly Disputing our Greedy Freebooter to fix our draw and net an extra treasure, but either 1-drop is a fine target. Charming Scoundrel is an excellent modal card that primarily exists to make a treasure, but can also rummage (and can shunt a colossus out of our hand and back into the library) or even stick a Wicked role on our colossus.

Two cards make our token aggregate pay off. By turn 4, we want to sacrifice a token to Shape Anew, flipping off the top until we find an artifact to slam on the field. We're removing the randomness by having Darksteel Colossus as our only artifact! It lands, it stomps, we win. If it gets removed, we have one more shot at ripping the combo...past that, you might be out of luck. 4 colossi(?) are drawn too often, however, so like all combo decks, we eventually just have to close our eyes and try to force it through.

Kuldotha Rebirth is great to buy time and gum up the board while we establish the combo. Any of those piddly artifacts is now 3 blockers - great rate! Fatal Push (swapped in to replace Lightning Bolt) snipes out early threats to buy time for our win attempt. Token sacrifice can easily satisfy the Revolt clause, as well. Dimir House Guard exists strictly to tutor for Shape Anew. Fear and regeneration also makes it a fine tool for finishing off players that have been hit by the colossus.

Originally, this was built as an Izzet list, running early control pieces like Mana Leak and somewhat slower, harder-hitting creatures like Burdened Aerialist. Black's access to earlier tokens and sacrifice initiated the swap into a primarily Rakdos shell, but there are still some tempting pieces in blue. Kitesail Larcenist sticks out to me as a potential dual-threat of shutting down opponent threats while also having the option to activate our combo...but I haven't been able to justify it yet. The shift into black has only grown, actually: Bone Shards is looking like a possible addition to the removal package for its ability to eat the Greedy Freebooter, and Clutch of the Undercity has already been traded in for the much better Dimir House Guard. As in my other recent modern list, I'm trying to keep this build below $50 to keep it in-line with my local group's power level. To this end, Strike it Rich may have to be cut in the final paper version. $$$ is additionally the largest hindrance to a better mana base that might enable a true Grixis build, along with a stronger artifact to hit (i.e., Portal to Phyrexia).

Still, if you know a card that might encourage a pivot, or otherwise lean more heavily into tri-color, let me know. Swiftwater Cliffs at least are easy to find.

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