Modern is a format that demands a lot from competitive decks. You have to be able to keep up with decks that can win as early as turn two or three. You have to be able to keep up with the card advantage engines of cards like Life from the Loam and Ancestral Vision. You have to be able to beat decks that go wide and decks that go big. Unsurprisingly, there are very few decks that can play such a wide range of roles. But sometimes you don’t need a completely new deck. Sometimes modifying an old favorite will do just fine:

Green-Red Valakut ? Modern | Scott Lipp, Top 8 Grand Prix Indianapolis

• Creatures (15)
• 4 Primeval Titan
• 4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 3 Simian Spirit Guide
• 2 Obstinate Baloth
• 1 Courser of Kruphix
• 1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

• Spells (20)
• 4 Search for Tomorrow
• 4 Through the Breach
• 3 Farseek
• 3 Lightning Bolt
• 3 Summoner's Pact
• 2 Anger of the Gods
• 1 Scapeshift

• Lands (25)
• 2 Forest
• 6 Mountain
• 4 Bloodstained Mire
• 4 Stomping Ground
• 4 Wooded Foothills
• 3 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
• 2 Cinder Glade

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Anger of the Gods
• 1 Obstinate Baloth
• 1 Scapeshift
• 2 Engineered Explosives
• 2 Grafdigger's Cage
• 1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
• 1 Reclamation Sage
• 3 Chalice of the Void
• 2 Ancient Grudge
• 1 Crumble to Dust

Buy This Deck

Ever since the unbanning of Scapeshift, we’ve seen various takes on Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle in Modern. Scott Lipp’s build is yet another evolution of the Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle archetype to keep up with the ever changing landscape of Modern. Traditionally, there have been a couple of knobs that you can turn with Scapeshift variants. Are you supposed to play Primeval Titan or Prismatic Omen? What about counterspells? Sweepers? All of these answers change as the metagame shifts, and Scott Lipp’s build has some interesting answers.

Firstly, Primeval Titan has usurped Scapeshift as the threat of choice. This is because it allows your deck to be both faster and more threat dense. Rather than leaning on Scapeshift plus ramp spells, Scott’s deck can power out a Through the Breach as early as turn three thanks to Simian Spirit Guide. Through the Breach plus Summoner's Pact for Primeval Titan allows you to be much more threat dense, and gains you the ability to race turn three and four combo decks more reliably. You also gain ground against counterspell decks since you can cast Through the Breach on their end step and still threaten to get an attack in with your Primeval Titan.

The second thing to note is the presence of maindeck Obstinate Baloth. This is a nod to the presence of fast aggressive decks like burn as well as the rise of Liliana of the Veil decks. This choice is particularly salient in a deck with Summoner's Pact, since you can Pact for Obstinate Baloth in response to Liliana of the Veil's activations and consistently find Obstinate Baloth in matchups where the lifegain matters.

Finally, there’s the choice to pass on Blue altogether. Scott’s deck makes a strong statement that counterspells are bad in current Modern. If the top tier decks are things like Death's Shadow and Affinity, cards like Remand and Mana Leak frequently aren’t going to do what you really want them to. Instead, Scott has emphasized his ability to race and interact with the board, playing Lightning Bolts and Anger of the Gods. Critically important is the choice to play Anger of the Gods over Pyroclasm, given the popularity of Dredge variants and Kitchen Finks.

All in all, Scott’s deck may not look especially exciting or innovative at a glance, but it’s all the small interactions and minute tweaks that really make it a powerhouse in the current Modern metagame.