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Main » Articles » Modern Paradise

Modern Paradise

Ali Aintrazi
Posted on November 11, 2016
 Reddit

Madcap Experiment
People have complained a lot this year, over every little thing. Every day I wake up and get on social media to see someone complaining about something. Instead of doing anything, we’d much rather complain and moan. I can’t do much about everyday life things, but I can do something about Magic, especially when it comes to Modern. I hear people complain about the Modern format all the time. It’s too fast, the format has no skill, and the worst one, it’s a solved format. I’m of the belief that Modern is nowhere near a solved format. If you have the time and put forth the effort, you can find something new or make almost any archetype work. You just must be willing to adapt and not be set in your ways. For example, when people say “control is dead.” Sure, control isn’t played like it used to be played. You can’t counter every single spell your opponent plays and win with a single Stalking Stones. You can gripe and complain about it or build with these powerful new creatures and Planeswalkers they’ve given us. The choice is up to you.

Grand Prix Dallas was this past weekend. Some of the best players in the world gathered here to play some Modern. Skred Red won the event and a handful of people dabbled with Madcap Experiment. A lot of talk happened when Madcap Experiment was spoiled but it was these people that put it to work and put up results. Let’s take a look at some of these new lists and ideas.

What better place to start then the winning decklist?

Skred Red ? Modern| Kevin Mackie, 1st place, Grand Prix Dallas

Anger of the Gods
Kevin’s deck isn’t a new idea, Skred Red has been an idea since the existence of Modern. However, Kevin identified what was good and being played in Modern and built his deck accordingly. Playing Magic isn’t what it’s all about. A good chunk of your results come from your deck choice and how it is configured for the current event you’re playing in. A lot of people don’t realize this but some of your first mistakes in an event comes from what you’ve decided to sleeve up, especially your sideboard.

Kevin had Main Deck Anger of the Gods and the full playset of Relic of Progenitus as his Graveyard hate. He not only identified that Relic would be very good main deck as a four off. He also took advantage of it by running Eternal Scourge. I never thought I’d see Eternal Scourge in a winning decklist, especially so soon. It’s so hard for people to deal with Eternal Scourge since Kevin can just block with it and then Relic himself choosing the Eternal Scourge to Exile and then casting it from exile as an attacker or blocker. It also functions favorably with Anger of the Gods. It’s one thing to identify what synergies and cards work well together, but it’s completely different to put them to use.

Mouth of Ronom seems like a sweet singleton to have in Kevin’s deck since it still works with Scrying Sheets and Skred. It is important to note that it doesn’t work with Koth’s ritual ability though and that is a strike against it.

This weekend was a good weekend for Madcap Experiment, this was the highest finishing list that I saw over the weekend.

R/G Ponza ? Modern | Andrew Wolbers, 25th place Grand Prix Dallas

Andrew took the Madcap Experiment package and put it into an already existing deck. Instead of making a new deck that revolves around a certain card, it’s usually easier to implement it into an already existing strategy. The combo only needs five slots and what better deck to put it into then a deck that can cast Platinum Emperion if it happens to draw it? Andrew has the same game plan of accelerating his mana and blowing up his opponent’s resources or basic lands under a Blood Moon to cripple them. After that the decks goal is to deploy a threat like Inferno Titan, clear the opponent’s board with a Bonfire of the Damned, or just cast a Platinum Emperion. What’s great with this list however is that at any given point, as early as turn three, Andrew can deploy a Platinum Emperion if he has Madcap Experiment. That’s a completely different angle of attack that can just literally end the game on the spot against certain decks like Burn or Elves.

Andrew wasn’t the only one however to play Madcap Experiment on the weekend. Dylan also had a strong finish with his Madcap Experiment list. This one wasn’t a ramp deck however, it was a control deck.

Madcap Moon ? Modern | Dylan Feeman, 30th Place Grand Prix Dallas

Anytime I see these decks I immediately think of Splinter Twin. U/R decks in Modern have mostly just been straight control decks unless they dabbled into White for the Nahiri, the Harbinger finish with Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. Dylan didn’t do that, in fact he’s very much like a Blue Moon deck except with Madcap Experiment as an alternate finish or lock. This list may not be able to hard cast the silver giant as easily as R/G Ponza can, but it can manipulate the golem if it does manage to draw it. Things like Vendilion Clique, Desolate Lighthouse, and Chandra Flamecaller are great ways to get the golem out of your hand when you end up drawing it.

So, this list can play out like a typical U/R control deck with the your countermagic, removal, and Blood Moon. But again, has a sweet other route in Madcap Experiment.

WHAT ELSE CAN PLAY MADCAP EXPERIEMENT YOU ASK?!

I know, I know. You’re dying to know, right? Ramp can do it, control can do it, ALI!!! WHAT ELSE CAN DO IT?!

Jund, Jund can do it all obviously.

Madcap Jund ? Modern | VidiantoWijaya

Grim Flayer
What can’t Jund do right? We’ve seen it be the midrange king as it always has been, some people have recently adopted Grim Flayer and have gotten a delirium package that has overall made it more aggressive. Then some Jund lists have adopted the Harbinger herself, Nahiri with her buddy Emrakul. Then you even have Jund lists splashing a tiny bit of White mana for Lingering Souls and / or Timely Reinforcements.

Now? Well now Jund wants to try its hand in some experimentation and why not? Who’s to say it can’t? It’s already been around the whole entire Modern block. It’s seen things! It has lost its baby, Bloodbraid Elf! The elf ran away from home never to be seen again. Then it got divorced with Deathrite Shaman! We thought Jund was going to commit seppuku! But no, it carries on. Through all the burdens and tribulations, it carries on in this format for looking for new things that it may call its own.

Apparently Jund has stumbled upon this combo as well. Unlike the other decks, Jund’s best way to get rid of the Emperion if it draws it is to discard it to Liliana of the Veil. This also grows Tarmogoyf a little more since typically Jund doesn’t run any artifacts. Woot! We’ll take all the extra bonuses we can.

Call me crazy but I feel like if this deck can somehow adopt Blood Moon too it will have answers to basically everything in the format. Blood Moon seems to solve a lot of problematic cards and decks for Jund. Bant Eldrazi, Infect, Affinity, and even Tron don’t like Blood Moon. The only deck that Blood Moon doesn’t hurt much that is a bad matchup is Burn, but you’ll have Platinum Emperion for that!

I just want to talk about these last couple lists that I stumbled upon. They weren’t at the Grand Prix this past weekend, but they’ve been performing well on Magic Online. For example, look at this Collected Company list.

Bant Company ? Modern | RIWBTU

Guys. It’s adopted Tireless Tracker! It’s one thing to say a card is theoretically good in Modern since it’s Courser of Kruphix’s evil twin. In that they both draw cards but one will kill the opponent while the other keeps you alive. However, it’s a totally different thing to play the card. The full playset of Trackers is here too! That’s exciting!

This deck seems hard to pilot though. Not only do you have to think about if you want to Collected Company in response to a spell or not because of Reflector Mage and Spell Queller. Now you must think about what your opponent is playing thanks to Meddling Mage. You’ll want a good grasp of the format, the decks, and what the decks play to fully abuse Meddling Mage. Even then, you’re bound to mess it up sometimes. Voidmage Prodigy is another nice one. Kai would be proud.

One last look! I just can’t fully stay away from Tron. Let’s look at this G/W list.

G/W Tron ? Modern| GREAT_LEXX

Blessed Alliance
White has the best sideboard options in Modern. Same goes for Tron. Main deck you lose the Lightning Bolt, Pyroclasm, or Kozilek's Return for Path to Exile. However, in the sideboard you can a plethora of options for your bad matchups. Blessed Alliance and Timely Reinforcements are fantastic cards to combat Burn, one of your bad matchups. You also can put away those embarrassing Sudden Shocks. You get to play Blessed Alliance now against the Infect Player. Instead of targeting their creatures and trying to kill it with burn, you can now just target the player and get around Hexproof. The last White card is Rest in Peace, which is a fantastic option against what some people think is the best deck in the format, Dredge.

One thing I will say though is that Brushland is an interesting option over the fourth Razorverge Thicket. This could very well be due to budget reasons but it also might be a land you must get with an Expedition Map or Sylvan Scrying because you need access to White mana on that turn and can’t afford to wait a turn to gain access to your White mana. That’s smart if that’s the case.

I will be going to the Modern Open this weekend. I’m not sure what I’ll be playing but I’m keeping my options open. If you have any sweet Modern brews or ideas, make sure to share them below in the comment section! Don’t give up on the format, try out new cards in old and new decks alike. You might be surprised at what you find.

As always, thanks for reading!

Ali Aintrazi

Follow me on Twitter @Alieldrazi

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TAGS articles, metagame, constructed, analysis, deck lists, modern, ali aintrazi, madcap experiment

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