Argent Control

Modern Liquidbeaver

SCORE: 43 | 59 COMMENTS | 5421 VIEWS | IN 11 FOLDERS

Big Rework —Oct. 17, 2018

A recurring problem I was having was not having the spell density to consistently remove artifacts or creatures, or counter spells. Snapcaster Mage helped a little, but wasn't that impactful. Mission Briefing was a bit better, but then I lost board presence. If I boosted the number of raw spells I had, I made the creature base weaker, and had to cut into the Coating package. I didn't want to do any of those things.

In my frustration I added Isochron Scepters, and converted the spellbase to all instants, and under 2 cmc. What started as almost a joke turned into one of the strongest versions of this deck yet.

I carried over the Thing in the Ice  ^Flips and Young Pyromancers from the old deck, which now proc more often because the spells imprinted on the scepter are cast each time.

So not only is the deck stronger, it is also stupidly fun, which is about all I could ask for.

Abrade: This is one of the most powerful spells to imprint in the deck. Having regular artifact removal is awesome, but having the ability to kill a ton of staple creatures each turn is great. This is so good I almost never imprint Bolts because they are weaker on the scepter.

Boomerang: Bounce lands, manadorks, enchantments, anything you want.

Delay: This isn't that great on its own, especially because suspended creatures gain haste, but imprinting it on the Scepter means you can just continue to push the opponent's spell package into a suspended state, and then every turn re-suspend a spell coming out of exile.

Izzet Charm: 3 modes, all of which are amazing to have imprinted. The third mode is especially nice with the loss of Faithless Looting.

Lightning Bolt: I try to avoid putting these on the scepter, which is actually good because I don't have such a deathgrip on them anymore. Can always be re-cast with...

Mission Briefing: Just a stellar card to have imprinted. Every turn sculpting your next draws, triggering TiTi/YP, and flashing back a card for 2 colorless is just too good.

Muddle the Mixture: This was good before, and now it is just great. Can tutor for almost anything in the deck, but when imprinted can now protect from almost all the removal Modern has to offer. I'm gonna try to get this up to a 3-4x.

Surgical Extraction: Oh boy, this is ridiculous. With all the counterspells and removal flying around, moreso than ever the opponent's graveyard is full of spells. Imprinting this means no more losing life to it, and you slowly pick your opponent's library, GY, and hand apart. Especially with humans where Mantis Rider, Meddling mage, Reflector Mage, Kitesail Freebooter, and Cavern of Souls are serious threats, this really does a great job of pulling that apart.

Voltaic Servant is probably just too cute to run. When everything is out and working well untapping a Coating or Scepter is awesome, but I only have 8 artifacts. The best alternatives are either Stormchaser Mage or Crackling Drake, but a 1x Phyrexian Metamorph seems like it could fit really well also.

Experimenting with 3-4 Field of Ruin in place of Blood Moon has gone very well. What I noticed with Moon was that, at least in this deck, it only barely slowed a lot of opponents down. Sometimes it shut them down, but others it had almost no impact, and I would just side it out. Going to playtest with Ghost Quarters too, but I think losing out on the basic land is going to hurt too much when I am only running 20 lands. Who knows, maybe I will end up back on Moon and I can start calling the deck Argent Moon again, haha.

Lightning Helix may be the best scepter target in the game, and I would very much like to run it, but I'm not sure if the landbase can handle it. If I did add it, I think adding some white cards like Silence to the sideboard may be in order. The same question comes up when I think about Assassin's Trophy. Could I even run them as a 1x with no land colors to cast them and hope I land the imprint?

I think this needs just two more MB counterspells, and maybe another couple in the side to switch out, like for when Spell Snare or Vapor Snag have nothing to hit. Not sure which would be best though...

I'd still like to run a few (like 2 max) Cryptic Commands, if I can find a spot.

I need SB answers to Chalice of the Void set on 2. Any ideas?