Your thoughts on modern archetypes?
Modern forum
Posted on July 8, 2014, 1:53 a.m. by TheGamer
So, I was wondering what the TappedOut community thinks about these specific Modern decks:
1) Amulet Combo/Hive Mind
2) Infect
3) UWR Control
4) Kiki Pod
5) Melira pod
6) Storm
7) Ad Nauseum
8) Splinter Twin
9) Living End
10) Tron
This is what I think:
1) Coolest deck ever. During testing, I have found it to be VERY inconsistent. Basically, if you don't have Amulet of Vigor in your opening hand, you lose. If you do, your win percentage is high.
2) I feel this deck can be very powerful. But, without a hand of 2 lands, a creature, and 4 pump spells (one has to be a Vines of Vastwood ), you just lose.
3) IMO, it is the best deck in the format. It has removal, a good amount of win cons, and stall. It is VERY powerful. Considering it won Pro Tour BOTG and the 2013 World Championship, it has to be good.
4) I like both Pod decks, but I feel Kiki pod is stronger IMO. It has more win cons and is very consistent.
5) A bad Kiki Pod deck ;). Like I said, I like both lists but I like Kiki better.
6) Very powerful deck as well. But I feel after my experience playing Storm, if you run out of gas too early, its just game over. But if you don't run out of gas, you just win with a HUGE Grapeshot turn 3.
7) I honestly think this deck is very cool. I know there are things like Serum Visions and Sleight of Hand to get the god hand of Angel's Grace and ad nauseum, but with out it there is no back up plan.
8) Eh, seems too easy. I like a deck that goes infinite a better way, like in Pod. All you need is a removal spell, and the combo dies.
9) I have loved this deck forever. If you spend turns 1 and 2 massing up your graveyard, you can have a huge army on turn 3. I personally LOVE this deck and wish I could build it.
10) I tried this deck, but I would honestly rather ramp with Elves than use 3 lands. Just my opinion.
That's what I think, how about you guys? I would love to hear! Thanks for sharing your opinion in the response below :)
I'm biased because I like to play cool rogue ish decks like The Rack (although it seems to be gaining in popularity). But of those you mentioned, I think UWR control is the strongest and the most fun to play. It takes a lot of skill to pilot, but if you know what you're doing you can answer pretty much everything they have. Its very good at grinding out games while maintaining the upper hand in most matchups.
July 8, 2014 2:57 a.m.
derKochXXL says... #4
Tron! The Modern Deck for Timmys! You want to play gigantic things? Tron! You want to stay on a budget? Tron! You still want to be competitive? Tron!
July 8, 2014 4:06 a.m.
CrazyLittleGuy says... #5
I think you're underestimating Splinter Twin , TBH. It's arguably the best archetype in the entire format, depending on the variation. UWR Control is a serious contender though, you're right. It's just the pure consistency and resiliency of it that makes it so good. It pulls out ahead in matches that it has no business winning. Saying that the combo is "too easy" is kind of illogical. Winning the game can never be too easy; that's the point :D
I also don't know if Amulet of Vigor combo or Ad Nauseam can even be considered major archetypes at this point, unfortunately. I'm a huge fan of both decks, and have had a lot of experience with the TitanBloom build, but it just doesn't work consistently enough to ever win a major tournament. Ad Nauseam is a bit better, but it suffers from some similar problems. Living End maybe as well.
I would way sooner put Scapeshift , U/R Aggro/Tempo, GW Hatebears, and Jund on this list before even discussing the fringe combo decks like TitanBloom.
July 8, 2014 4:12 a.m.
I put this thread forward a few days ago - Interesting Metagame Breakdown. It's an actual look at the metagame.
derKochXXL - Tron ain't cheap if youre playing a playset of Karn, my friend.
There are some very peculiar choices on this list and why is Rock and other golgari variants being left out? Given that they make up most of the meta.....
The only decks really worth talking about on that list are 3, 4, 5, 8, 10. The rest are fringe playable and sometimes do good things but most people know how to deal with them now.
July 8, 2014 6:18 a.m.
1) Summer Bloom /Amulet of Vigor Combo: one of the few turn 2 kills in the format. While it's a really cool deck, I think most people would rather just play Scapeshift . It's more consistent, has similar mechanics/style, and packs removal.
2) Infect: Consistent turn three kills, but it has to mulligan until it finds something with infect, then go full HAM on it. If the opponent has any sort of hard or unconditional removal, the infect player will just lose. The deck is incredibly resilient to Lightning Bolt , considering how small its creatures are.
3) UWR Control: Definitely among the best decks in the format. I think a lot of it has to do with how powerful Snapcaster Mage + Lightning Bolt can be. The one thing that really hurts this deck is that it doesn't beat too many archetypes by a landslide. However, it doesn't lose easily. It pretty much has a 51% win rate against every deck in the format.
4) Kiki Pod: I think most people don't play it as much because of how much it relies on Birthing Pod getting activated. Melira Pod doesn't need it to win; it can just go on a beatdown plan. Kiki Pod? Not so much.
5) Melira pod: One of the other contenders for the best deck in the format, along with UWR Control. What really stops it from being the best deck in the format is how badly Tron and Living End beat up on it. Those match-ups aren't just bad...they're fucking awful for the Pod player while their opponent sits down for a free win. Not that Pod can't win, but it's so unforgiving.
6) Storm: I think Eggs is the only deck harder to pilot than Storm in Modern. The combo itself is easy, but playing around hate cards and knowing when to go off is incredibly difficult. Kai Budde and Jon Finkel both struggled piloting this deck at PT: BNG. That should tell you something.
7) Ad Nauseam : I've only playtested against my friend's build a few times, so it's hard for me to offer any valuable input. We both concluded that, while a really cool deck that has a lot of potential, Storm was just more consistent.
8) Splinter Twin : I'd say this and UWR Control are the best decks in the format, with Affinity and Pod close behind. This deck struggles if it's in top deck mode, but the threat of "Deceiver Exarch , untap, kill you" forces opponents to be overly cautious. Splinter Twin also has multiple ways of winning, via burning people to death or just going on a beat down with 1/4s and 2/1s backed up with counter magic. This isn't even considering how well this deck functions with Tarmogoyf and Blood Moon .
9) Living End : I think this is the format's Dredge deck. If you don't have 4 to 8 sideboard slots dedicated to beating it, it can just steamroll you. Violent Outburst offers instant speed Living Death to help play around creature-based combo decks, while the combo itself beats up on aggro decks. If you know the meta well enough, this can be a great deck to curbstomp tournaments with.
10) Tron: This used to be one of the best decks in the format, but Deathrite Shaman getting banned took away Tron's best matchup, which is G/B/x Control and Midrange strategies. Tron is still a solid tier 1.5/tier 2 deck, but no longer tier 1 simply because it doesn't prey upon fair decks like it used to.
July 8, 2014 6:31 a.m.
1) Amulet Combo/Hive Mind
It's an interesting deck that doesn't do anything too unfair. I like it. It's fun to play against.
2) Infect
Herp-Derp I don't know how to build a good deck so I just mash some pump spells and bad creatures together and try to kill you in one shot, if I fail to do that I loose... I strongly dislike 1-shot-or-dead decks.
3) UWR Control
Solid deck, probably amongst the Top5 Modern-Decks right now (alongside Rock, Scapeshift, Pod and Twin).
4) Kiki Pod
Probably the better Pod-version even though less played. But what else is there to say: It's Pod. Nuff said.
5) Melira pod
The worse of the Pod-variants imo. If I were to play Junk-Pod I'd cut the melira combo completely. This deck excells at tool-boxing, not so much at comboing.
6) Storm
Make it unplayable please. Any deck, no matter what deck, that encourages uninteractive magic and makes one player take 15ish minutes to play one turn should be made unplayable. The same goes for Eggs, Ironworks, Endless Turns w/e. This is not Magic, this is bullshit.
7) Ad Nauseum
I really like this combo. It's not broken as often you struggle to find the right pieces. If it resolves you win. If you fail to find it you lose. Not the most consistent deck in the world.
8) Splinter Twin
As I play Rock I don't really care about Twin. It's still amongst the Top5 Decks of Modern right now and I think Tarmo-Twin might be the best Deck right now.
9) Living End
Not unbeatable, but I dislike that it utilizes bad cards like Street Wraith .
10) Tron
I don't like it. Most Tron players are arrogant assholes anyway (from my personal experience, no offense). I'm always happy if they fail to find their pieces and blowing up lands with Fulminator Mage has never been more fun. With the current rise of B/G/x decks in the meta we might see more of it in the near future.
To comment on the other 2 Top5-Decks:
11) Scapeshift
Super strong straightforward deck. Difficult to race, can protect the combo with counterspells. Has a hard time against LD/disruption.
12) B/G/x
Rock/Jun/K/D, always strong, always respectable. Utilizes the best cards of the format. Reason enough for me to love it.
July 8, 2014 8:08 a.m.
ChiefWannaHacka says... #9
I have to agree with Putrefy How did you miss Scapeshift and G/B/X? On top of that Affinity, Zoo, Burn, B/W Tokens etc. I feels like you just picked 9 combo decks and U/W/R control to look at.
July 8, 2014 9:24 a.m.
Yeah, I saw your thread ChiefBell and posted on it. I just wanted to hear more of what people thought of the specific archetypes.
Also, I now realize im missing A LOT of major archetypes. I did do this at 2:00 in the morning so I was thinking that hard.
July 8, 2014 10:19 a.m.
derKochXXL says... #11
@ChiefBell: My point was supposed to be, that you can stay on a budget with tron. And I just wanted to show my enthusiasm for Tron (, which hit a severe bumper with Putrefy s comment :,()
July 8, 2014 11:49 a.m.
derKochXXL says... #14
Ah. I hope they also do someday print a card in my honor.
July 8, 2014 12:10 p.m.
fluffybunnypants says... #15
1) Amulet Combo/Hive Mind
Meh. Inconsistent, but funny.
2) Infect
Bogles lite. Prone to being destroyed if your draw isn't perfect.
3) UWR Control
Solid choice, most malleable deck of the format. You will be prone to draws in large tournaments though,
4) Kiki Pod
More explosive than Melira Pod, but pays for it with a screwed up mana base.
5) Melira pod
Solid deck, really only prone to removal and decks that it has to race.
6) Storm
Meh, it's a pretty solid combo deck, probably the most solid of the uninteractive decks. Turn 3 kill is possible, but not consistent, if you can't kill by turn 5, you did something wrong or are playing against 8 Rack.
7) Ad Nauseum
If you learn the ins and outs, it's not bad. Turn 3 kill capable, probably one of the more consistent decks when it comes to turn 4 kills, capable of hilariously broken openings, kills at instant speed. Still susceptible to discard.
8) Splinter Twin
Strong deck, but currently a poor choice as Rock eats it for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
9) Living End
Do not build T Woo's shitty version and you could do well for yourself.
10) Tron
Beats Rock soundly. Right now that's all that matters.
Want to do well? Run G/W Hatebears, B/G/x or Eidolon Burn.
July 8, 2014 12:25 p.m.
I really honestly believe that there are many things that rock can do to not lose against Tron.
July 8, 2014 12:31 p.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #17
Fulminator Mage + Shadow of Doubt + Creeping Corrosion destroy Tron game 2. Game 1 your kinda dependent on your discard suite. Lilly & Pulse can make it happen though
.
July 8, 2014 12:46 p.m.
I've found that if tron doesn't hit the perfect 3 land opener then tec edge + discard + Maelstrom Pulse ends them with no problem.
I've never seen anyone pull off the perfect T3 tron opener.
July 8, 2014 12:51 p.m.
....and when I did the maths I could understand why I've never seen it. It's like scary how improbable it is to work 'perfectly'
July 8, 2014 12:51 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #20
Here are my opinions:
1.) Amulet of Vigor Combo - This deck is one of Modern's quirks. It is capable of doing very powerful things and blowing people out, which makes it something that is very worth playing in Modern. However, folding to Thoughtseize and other disruption make it very fragile and risky.
2.) Infect - So far in this thread, I have seen Infect talked about as:
TheGamer: "without a hand of 2 lands, a creature, and 4 pump spells (one has to be a Vines of Vastwood ), you just lose"
sylvannos: "it has to mulligan until it finds something with infect, then go full HAM on it. If the opponent has any sort of hard or unconditional removal, the infect player will just lose"
Putrefy:"Herp-Derp I don't know how to build a good deck so I just mash some pump spells and bad creatures together and try to kill you in one shot, if I fail to do that I loose... I strongly dislike 1-shot-or-dead decks."
fluffybunnypants: "Bogles lite. Prone to being destroyed if your draw isn't perfect."
You should all know that you are wrong. Your hand does not have to be perfect, and the deck is way less fragile than it is made out to be. You are remarkably resilient to removal spells, as you run at least seven protection spells and Inkmoth Nexus is hard to kill. Many think that the deck is a glass cannon that must kill on turn 2-3 or lose, but this is simply not true. The games you win more often are those that you grind out by dealing 2-3 poison at a time while protecting your creature. Deckbuilding for Infect takes a great deal of understanding the format to know what kinds of spells you need, and it's not just mashing pump spells and bad creatures. It has a lot of major differences from Bogles, mainly being more explosive and quick.
Now that the rant is over, I can continue.
3.) UWR Control - It's what you'd expect from control. Plenty of answers, card advantage and a resilient finisher in Celestial Colonnade . One thing about UWR that makes it better than Grixis or Esper is that you have the best removal with Lightning Bolt , Lightning Helix and Path to Exile , and turn aggressive quickly and close games unexpectedly.
4.) Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker Birthing Pod combo - It's a very objectively powerful deck, with a relatively fast win that an experienced pilot can spring on unknowing opponents. It gives up a great deal of the midrange power and resiliency of Melira Pod to be more outright game-winning, but is nevertheless a strong choice.
5.) Melira, Sylvok Outcast Birthing Pod combo - I disagree with TheGamer that this is the worse of the Birthing Pod decks. It has a lot more consistency, and more card advantage engines so that it can actually still win the game if you remove its combo, something that isn't always true of Kiki Pod. You also have better grindy options out of the sideboard, namely Thoughtseize and Sin Collector effects instead of Kiki Pod's alternative of Path to Exile . Best deck in the format by a mile IMO.
6.) Storm combo - The most powerful deck in the format in terms of winning without interaction. You goldfish turn 4, and can combo on turn 3 with about 20-25% success rate. Hate cards hurt, but you have answers in the sideboard and can easily beat opponents who can't present a fast enough clock or interact with you.
7.) Ad Nauseam combo - Another cool deck that is very powerful without opposing interaction. While you are more of a glass cannon than Storm and other combo decks, you make up for it by guaranteeing a win no matter what if your spells resolve.
8.) Splinter Twin combo - Previous posts have been underselling this deck. It is the second or third best deck in the format by most ratings, including my own. TheGamer cites the "dies to removal" argument, which is true of any creature combo deck, but this one can play a strong tempo (UR), midrange (Tarmo-Twin) or control (UWR) game until it is able to combo. This versatility makes it really hard to completely outperform a competent Twin player, and good pilots of the deck go really far.
9.) Living End combo - This is yet another deck that does very powerful things without interaction. It folds to counterspells, but is more resilient to Thoughtseize via its great redundancy.
10.) Tron - Tron is a very strong deck that doesn't seem to get enough love. You do very powerful things very early in the game, something that some people don't seem to understand. It's a similar thing to people saying that Dark Confidant dies to Lightning Bolt . At the end of the day, you are reliably casting Karn Liberated and Wurmcoil Engine along with plenty of wrath effects to preserve your life total, which is going to win you many games through sheer power.
11.) Scapeshift control/combo - This is very similar to UWR Control, but your game control effects focus more on delaying your opponent while you dig to your finisher. The big difference is that while UWR dumps mana into Celestial Colonnade each turn to win, your game-winner costs four mana. The downside is that you must fight for this card, and play so that you don't get too many Mountains into play. It is a very powerful deck that everyone should be prepared for, as it is extremely powerful.
12.) GB/x - Rock/Jund decks will always be in Modern, and will always be solid. I can't say much more here, as the combination of discard spells and strong threats make it solid. Solid, and nothing else.
I probably missed some decks. I don't feel like talking about Affinity, because everyone knows about that deck already. Hatebears and Delver are not real decks to me in this format yet.
July 8, 2014 8:07 p.m.
fluffybunnypants says... #21
@ thispersonisagenius: I commented on the general meta. If you are one of the 5 people who has built infect properly with Inkmoth Nexus and Noble Hierarch , you can absolutely do that, but.... about 97% of the time I have run into infect, it has been the $10 glass canon version.
July 8, 2014 8:13 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #22
@fluffybunnypants I do happen to be one of those people who came to that deckbuilding decision independently, without looking at anything else, and am damn proud of it. I feel the need to defend Infect whenever some tries to beat up on it. :)
I think that threads like this (where presumably the OP is trying to get an idea of which deck to play) bring to light a very important piece of info about Modern that deserves its own paragraph, which I will now create:
Pay attention to how your deck plays. Knowing what your deck needs or what deck you should even play is a function of understanding the common interactions that come up against popular decks, and what general plans you want to be implementing to win in the format. For example, late 2013 was a time for beating pure midrange decks like Deathrite Shaman Jund, and thus everyone shifted to decks that could go over the top like Tron. Another example is with Infect. Noticing that you often don't have the mana for protecting your creatures and casting pump spells leads to wanting more resilient threats (Inkmoth Nexus ) and mana acceleration (Noble Hierarch or Birds of Paradise ). If there's one thing I want a new Modern player to know, it's that. Happy deckbuilding :)
July 8, 2014 8:19 p.m.
CrazyLittleGuy says... #23
I would like to point out that the DCI tries their damnedest to tear apart un-interactive Magic decks. Every single one has seen a major banning after some time in the limelight. The decks still exist though, simply because they are incredibly resilient, flexible, and powerful. The reason that it's near impossible to just get rid of them is because decks like that play to win, and the easiest way to consistently win is to combo off regardless of any variation in your opponent. It's unfortunate that they're uninteractive, yeah, but that's what makes them powerful.
July 8, 2014 10:06 p.m.
1) Im not new to modern, im just new to building Infect. This thread was purely made to just hear the opinions of the TappedOut community about specific Modern Archetypes.
2) "Happy deckbuilding"... is my thing -_- lol
July 8, 2014 10:17 p.m.
Also, When I said the whole thing about it losing to imperfect hands. I was mostly trying to say the deck has worse odds late game and one removal spell can almost kill the whole deck. That's why I said you need Vines of Vastwood .
July 8, 2014 10:21 p.m.
@thispersonisagenius: There's no way you keep a hand without a creature that has infect. My point still stands. Obviously, you don't dump all of your pump spells in one turn because then you risk getting blown out by Abrupt Decay . But your goal is to land a creature with infect and keep it alive for as long as possible.
July 8, 2014 11:49 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #27
@sylvannos Fine. You're right. Happy? The ""removal --> Infect loses" part was wrong, however.
July 9, 2014 7:52 a.m.
yeah but they're not trying hard enough imo as Storm was able to pull a PT Top8 this year. Just ban Manamorphose (a card no other deck really utilizes) and farewell Storm.
my point still stands: one-shot decks suck. And I've never seen Infect win a grindy game, that just doesn't happen. Your opponent will eventually draw the right removal you cannot answer and then win with what's on his board.
July 9, 2014 10:12 a.m.
Putrefy, infect may be a one shot deck, but it does beat decks like Blue Moon and 8 Rack quite easily. Zoo may be a hard match-up, but if you just keep attacking with your one creature and keep pumping it as Zoo is blocking, you can tear apart their boardstate. Or, if they don't expect a turn 2 win, they wont block with tarmogoyf and just letall your pumps destroy the opponent.
Also, infect can be very versatile. Infect may try to win on turn 2 and 3, but I have won a game on turn 10 with Infect. Later in the game, all you need is an inkmoth nexus and just keep attacking.
And the sideboard... It Is amazingly techy. I've never seen a better sideboard for it. After sideboard, I honestly don't see how it could lose.post board.
Now, im pretty sure thispersonisagenius has a lot better way of explaining it than me, but that's what I got.
July 9, 2014 11:11 a.m.
3 Dismember : brought in against Pod, Twin, and Zoo
2 Nature's Claim : brought in against Pod and Affinity
3 Spell Pierce : brought in against Blue Moon, control, and anything with lots of spells
3 Spellskite : brought in against any deck with heavy removal and buffs
2 Hurkyl's Recall : brought in against affinity
2 Twisted Image : any deck that runs Spellskite and Pod.
July 9, 2014 1:27 p.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #32
Yea okay, I don't think that SB is anything special and certainly doesn't make Infect unstoppable.
I like Infect quite a bit but it becomes boring & stale to play rather fast.
I have taken this deck to FNM & had a decent amount of success. 8 Dead, 9 If U Count the Fetus :) ...but u can't really run it 2 weeks in a row. We don't usually have modern tournies, just modern money matches on FNM :)
July 9, 2014 1:39 p.m.
Most of the current uninteractive decks like infect and like storm aren't that good. Like, they're fine - but they're not great. They beat a lot of other quite bad T2 decks like 8rack and others but you won't see them like consistently do well against twin, pod, rock, tron etc.
I really don't think wizards need to do much about infect and about storm because they're not that prevalent anyway.
They're kind of like irritating children that most of the bigger older decks swat away.
July 9, 2014 1:45 p.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #34
well wizards did just kinda give infect a boost. Ensoul Artifact
July 9, 2014 1:52 p.m.
I see your points ChiefBell and APPLE01DOJ, and I didn't mean it is unstoppable. I just meant it is pretty powerful.
July 9, 2014 1:58 p.m.
It's not a bad deck at all. It can be really, really powerful. It's just very comfortably a T2 deck - and that's fine.
July 9, 2014 2:01 p.m.
Ya... I always saw infect as a powerful deck, just not Tier 1 material. For Pod, Twin, Control, Scapeshift, and Rock are Tier 1.
Also, speaking of Scapeshift ChiefBell, can you explain it to me? Surprisingly, I have never seen a match of scapeshift being played. All I know about it is that Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle is basically the win con of the deck.
July 9, 2014 2:12 p.m.
Jund is very well positioned right now, even more so than rock in my opinion. I play Tarmo-Twin, but my first PTQ choice right now would be Jund.
July 9, 2014 3:24 p.m.
I'm not sure scape shift is t1? Well whatever. Basically they play 8 lands and then they play scape shift and sacrifice all their lands to fetch 1 valakut and 7 mountains - instant win. It's something like that. My numbers might be a bit off. The problem is that it loses to Tectonic Edge even more badly than tron does.
July 9, 2014 3:33 p.m.
notamardybum says... #40
Not sure if anyone here has playtested the ad nauseam negative life combo, but its fun as shit.
Nothing like having a 60/60 deaths shadow to fling
July 9, 2014 3:44 p.m.
So that's what it is... Thanks ChiefBell!
Seems very interesting notamardybum, I may have to look into it!
wnorris17: Jund does seem very good. But, I've also been very interested in Tarmo-Twin. How does it play? Like, I know how it wins, I just mean does it playout good?
July 9, 2014 3:50 p.m.
CrazyLittleGuy says... #42
That's exactly what they said about Rite of Flame and Seething Song , unfortunately.
July 9, 2014 4:05 p.m.
@thispersonisagenius: You don't get to just tell people "You should all know that you are wrong," and not expect there to be a response. Cool your jets. No one is saying it's a bad deck or that it doesn't take skill to play properly or that it doesn't have outs.
But it's also a deck that only plays 12 creatures and 4 lands capable of actually winning the game, and they're all 1/1 creatures to start with. Decks like UWR Control or Jund are known for having 10~15 spot removal spells. Then, you have to factor in they play creatures that can block. Nor does this factor in countermagic, board wipes, and discard spells.
Hence, Infect just loses to decks with removal. It preys on decks that can't reliably kill 1/1s or kill them after they've been pumped.
Just to add on to what ChiefBell said about Scapeshift : It's a U/G Control deck with a combo finish. Using cards like Sakura-Tribe Elder it can reliably ramp into 7 lands by turn four. Then, it casts Scapeshift , sacrificing all of its lands that aren't Mountain s for 5 Mountain s (or Steam Vents /Stomping Ground s) and two Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle .
Since they all enter the battlefield at the same time, Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle will trigger 5 times each and see that you control 5 Mountain s, doing 30 points of damage. If your opponent is at lower life, you can grab 5 Mountain s and Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle for 15 damage.
July 9, 2014 6:31 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #44
@TheGamer Don't give it away, they're onto us...
@sylvannos The combo you described for Scapeshift is incorrect. The deck can combo with seven lands, but those lands will be Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle and 6 Mountains, as the trigger on Valakut requires 5 other Mountains to be in play. Scapeshift ing with 7 lands deals 18 damage, and Scapeshift ing with 8 lands lets you get a second Valakut to deal 36. It is impossible to combo with six lands in play unless you are running Prismatic Omen , which the more controlling versions will cut. Scapeshift with Prismatic Omen will try to ramp as quickly as possible to six lands, and is much more of a combo deck than the control version, which can combo almost as late in the game as it wants to, so long as it doesn't draw too many Mountains.
I would like to say that a competent Infect player can easily play around and beat removal spells, and playing the deck with experience gives much better results than doing so without experience. While this is the case with any Modern deck, I feel it is most true with aggro decks like Affinity and Infect as you really need to know how your opponents will be trying to stop you, and must be proactive rather than reactive at all times. The idea that infect just loses to decks with removal is somewhat shaky in that all aggro decks have this flaw, and yet many do well. It's simply a case of managing your resources (in this case, your creatures) properly.
@Putrefy Infect isn't a one-shot deck. You're entitled to your opinion, of course, but I will argue that the deck can win a grindy game if you manage your resources properly. There are tools in the deck to combat a wide variety of game states, including when it grinds out.
@APPLE01DOJ I don't think I would play Ensoul Artifact in Infect, as it only goes on Ichorclaw Myr and can get 2 for 1'd, but it's a cool idea nevertheless.
Tarmo-Twin is a really cool deck in my opinion, and I think the reasoning that led to its creation is even more interesting. The Tempo-Twin lists that developed from Patrick Dickmann's win at GP Antwerp tried to have a backup plan of Snapcaster Mage and tempo cards to allow you to mess with the opponent until you could protect your combo, which was an innovation on a previously all-in deck. However, the plan B of tempo wasn't all that great at actually killing people, which is where the idea of adding a big beater in Tarmogoyf and more midrange capability to the deck came along. It can kill people unexpectedly, but also just be RUG midrange and use its combo cards to good effect while beating down. The deck tries to gain small advantages with tempo and force the opponent to play reactively to stop the combo while they beat down anyway. It's hard to stop a two-pronged attack.
July 9, 2014 7:25 p.m.
@thispersonisagenius: You're correct on the Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle . My bad.
July 9, 2014 7:28 p.m.
@TheGamer,
Tarmo-Twin is an extremely resilient deck. It's really demanding to pilot as it has two very viable routes every time you play. It's the kind of deck that rewards you heavily for knowing the matchup.
I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in playing a lot of competitive modern, but it will require you to work hard!
July 10, 2014 12:57 a.m.
I will only comment on how I feel about Storm, since it's my Modern deck. It's a fun deck that will win tons of games, but not a lot of matches. When the deck works, it's amazing. When it doesn't, it's pitiful. But the deck is fairly easy to learn the main concepts, but you won't get good at playing Storm unless you keep playing it.
July 10, 2014 1:05 a.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #49
lol well it was kinda more like it goes on Inkmoth Nexus
July 10, 2014 1:09 a.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #50
@APPLE01DOJ It falls off, though. If you also try Necropede the idea might work.
APPLE01DOJ says... #2
Rock is the best IMO xD
Fatboy Control probably second.
July 8, 2014 2:41 a.m.