Not all aggro decks need to be of the Mono-Red variety. In fact, this Mardu aggro deck built by AZREN has all the red hits, but goes a little bigger to come out ahead of those Siege Rhinos. Does Butcher of the Horde have what it takes to take Standard by storm? There's only one way to find out!
Mardu Aggro ? Khans of Tarkir Standard | AZREN, 3-1 Standard Daily Event
- Lands (24)
- 2 Battlefield Forge
- 4 Bloodstained Mire
- 4 Caves of Koilos
- 1 Mana Confluence
- 2 Mountain
- 4 Nomad Outpost
- 2 Swamp
- 1 Temple of Malice
- 3 Temple of Triumph
- 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
- Creatures (20)
- 4 Bloodsoaked Champion
- 3 Brain Maggot
- 4 Butcher of the Horde
- 4 Goblin Rabblemaster
- 2 Stormbreath Dragon
- 3 Tymaret, the Murder King
- Spells (16)
- 4 Crackling Doom
- 4 Lightning Strike
- 4 Stoke the Flames
- 4 Thoughtseiz
- Sideboard (15)
- 2 Drown in Sorrow
- 1 Erase
- 2 Harness by Force
- 3 Hushwing Gryff
- 3 Magma Spray
- 3 Nyx-Fleece Ram
- 1 Suspension Field
This deck does a lot of small, cool things. Fundamentally, this is a Bloodsoaked Champion and Goblin Rabblemaster deck. The extra creatures you get to sacrifice to Butcher of the Horde and Tymaret make all the difference. These powerful effects give you ways to steal games once you fall behind, particularly in conjunction with your Crackling Dooms and Stoke the Flames. With plenty of reach and Thoughtseizes plus Brain Maggots to keep your opponents off balance; this deck's always got a shot to steal games before they really get started.
Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time are changing how Modern is played. We've seen a few takes on Dig Through Time control since Khans of Tarkir first became legal, but nothing quite like this list built by LORDMORPETH. Does this unique combination of removal, card drawing, and powerful haymakers have what it takes to compete with the Delver menace?
Jeskai Delve Control ? Modern | LORDMORPETH, 3-1 Legacy Daily Event
- Creatures (5)
- 1 Keranos, God of Storms
- 4 Snapcaster Mage
- Spells (32)
- 2 Batterskull
- 3 Cryptic Command
- 4 Dig Through Time
- 1 Forked Bolt
- 4 Lightning Bolt
- 3 Path to Exile
- 4 Serum Visions
- 4 Sleight of Hand
- 4 Thought Scour
- 2 Vedalken Shackles
- 1 Volcanic Fallout
- Lands (23)
- 2 Arid Mesa
- 2 Celestial Colonnade
- 1 Clifftop Retreat
- 2 Hallowed Fountain
- 5 Island
- 1 Plains
- 1 Rugged Prairie
- 1 Sacred Foundry
- 4 Scalding Tarn
- 3 Steam Vents
- 1 Sulfur Falls
- Sideboard (15)
- 2 Anger of the Gods
- 1 Chromatic Lantern
- 1 Counterflux
- 3 Leyline of Sanctity
- 2 Negate
- 1 Phyrexian Unlife
- 2 Sowing Salt
- 2 Stony Silence
- 1 Supreme Verdict
One of the biggest differences between Modern and Legacy is the power of singletons. In Legacy, we get access to Ponder, Brainstorm, and Sensei's Divining Top in conjunction with fetchlands to help find powerful singleton effects. Cards like Stoneforge Mystic and Green Sun's Zenith give midrange decks an even greater capability to play a powerful toolbox. When you can consistently find powerful singletons when you need them and ship them when they're dead, deckbuilding fundamentally changes.
That's what Dig Through Time is doing in Modern. If your opponent is on a control deck, you can find your Keranos, God of Storms. Aggro? Vedalken Shackles. Midrange? Batterskull. The combination of Thought Scour, fetchlands, and Snapcaster Mage give you the ability to Dig Through Time until you find the combination of removal, Cryptic Command, and powerful haymakers you need to close out the game.
Even in matchups where you're trying to race, the ability to effectively and consistently tutor for Lightning Bolts and Snapcaster Mages fundamentally changes how matchups play out. Suddenly your Sphinx's Revelation doesn't cost six before it starts to swing the game. Now it costs double Blue.
Blue's not your thing? How about Red? This week JOSECABEZAS put up a strong finish with a fresh take on Skred Red in Modern; a powerful Blood Moon deck built around the efficiency of Skred and the card advantage of Scrying Sheets. Powerful Red cards, swingy bombs, and wins from nowhere; this deck has a little bit of everything:
[Cardlist Title= Skred Red ? Modern | JOSECABEZAS, 3-1 Modern Daily Event]
- Lands (24)
- 2 Scrying Sheets
- 22 Snow-Covered Mountain
- Creatures (8)
- 4 Boros Reckoner
- 4 Demigod of Revenge
- Spells (28)
- 3 Anger of the Gods
- 4 Blood Moon
- 4 Koth of the Hammer
- 4 Lightning Bolt
- 1 Pyrite Spellbomb
- 1 Pyroclasm
- 4 Relic of Progenitus
- 4 Skred
- 3 Volcanic Fallout
- Sideboard (15)
- 1 Pyrite Spellbomb
- 2 Boil
- 1 Combust
- 3 Dragon's Claw
- 4 Guttural Response
- 1 Molten Rain
- 1 Shattering Blow
- 2 Shatterstorm
Forget Treasure Cruise. Blood Moon. Boros Reckoner. Maindeck Relic of Progenitus. This deck has a lot of powerful cards that hate on different pieces of the Modern metagame. It's hard to argue with efficient removal backed by resilient threats like Demigod of Revenge and Boros Reckoner. Add to that your ability to just end games with Skred targeting your own Boros Reckoner for a billion to deal the last couple points of damage.
This deck may not have the raw efficiency of other top tier decks in Modern, but you have all the tools you need to trump the biggest strategies in the format. Anger of the Gods against Pod and Affiniy. Skred against Deceiver Exarch. Demigod of Revenge against Cryptic Command. If you tweak your 75 correctly, this seems like it's got all the tools you need.
Treasure Cruise is public enemy number one headed into Grand Prix New Jersey. People are even shifting towards multiple maindeck Pyroblast effects to fight through the overwhelming presence of Blue decks in the Legacy metagame. With that in mind, is it time to play a non-blue combo deck? Hovercraft seems to think so, and I'm inclined to agree:
[Cardlist title= Burning Reanimator ? Legacy | hovercraft]
- Lands (14)
- 4 Badlands
- 4 Bloodstained Mire
- 1 Gemstone Mine
- 2 Polluted Delta
- 2 Scrubland
- 1 Swamp
- Creatures (8)
- 1 Anger
- 1 Sire of Insanity
- 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
- 4 Griselbrand
- 1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
- Spells (38)
- 4 Lion's Eye Diamond
- 4 Lotus Petal
- 1 Simian Spirit Guide
- 4 Dark Ritual
- 4 Thoughtseize
- 1 Cabal Therapy
- 2 Unmask
- 4 Burning Wish
- 2 Gamble
- 4 Entomb
- 1 Reanimate
- 4 Exhume
- 3 Unburial Rites
- Sideboard (15)
- 1 Pithing Needle
- 1 Reanimate
- 1 Smallpox
- 1 Gamble
- 1 Stronghold Gambit
- 1 Pyroclasm
- 1 Vindicate
- 3 Empty the Warrens
- 1 Past in Flames
- 1 Tendrils of Agony
- 1 Unmask
- 1 Unburial Rites
- 1 Ashen Rider
Take Legacy reanimator. Cut the cute Blue spells like Brainstorm and Force of Will. Let's get really unfair and jam some Burning Wishes and Lion's Eye Diamonds. The gameplan is the same. Dump a monster in your graveyard and cheat it into play on the cheap. The black spells are largely the same. Entomb, Reanimate, and Exhume. The difference is that this deck trades in the consistency and resiliency Blue cards for pure explosive power.
Just imagine this turn one sequence: land, Lion's Eye Diamond. Crack your Lion's Eye Diamond and flashback Unburial Rites to reanimate Griselbrand, Iona, or whatever other monster you had in your hand. The combination of fast mana and Burning Wish give you more ways to jam a fatty on turn one or two than most Reanimator decks. Sure, maybe you're vulnerable to Daze. It's a good thing Delver decks are cutting their soft counters for more trumps in the mirror.
When was the last time you saw a Goblin Lackey in Legacy? There was a time when turn one Mountain, Lackey was the most feared opening in Legacy. Deathrite Shaman, Stoneforge Mystic, and True-Name Nemesis changed everything. Suddenly fair creature decks are just not a real thing that you can do. At least until now.
[Cardlist title= Goblins - Legacy | Richard Liu, 6th Star City Games Legacy Open]
- Lands (23)
- 4 Mountain
- 3 Bloodstained Mire
- 4 Cavern of Souls
- 2 Plateau
- 4 Wasteland
- 4 Wooded Foothills
- 2 Pendelhaven
- Creatures (28)
- 3 Gempalm Incinerator
- 3 Goblin Chieftain
- 4 Goblin Lackey
- 4 Goblin Matron
- 4 Goblin Ringleader
- 1 Goblin Settler
- 1 Goblin Sharpshooter
- 2 Mogg War Marshal
- 1 Stingscourger
- 1 Tuktuk Scrapper
- 3 Warren Instigator
- 1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
- Spells (9)
- 4 Aether Vial
- 3 Pyrokinesis
- 2 Tarfire
- Sideboard (15)
- 1 Grafdigger's Cage
- 1 Ethersworn Canonist
- 2 Magus of the Moon
- 1 Tuktuk Scrapper
- 3 Rest in Peace
- 2 Red Elemental Blast
- 2 Umezawa's Jitte
- 3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
This is the reboot that Goblins needed. Forget Rishadan Port and Goblin Warchief. It's time to go big and force through Goblin Lackey and Warren Instigator. Grinding away with Goblin Ringleader might not be good enough anymore. But maybe it is if we turbo-charge the engine with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker.
The secret to this deck is Tarfire and Pendelhaven. These effects give you ways to force through your Lackey effects and cheat ahead on mana. Once you've started chaining Goblin Matron into Goblin Ringleader and tutoring for removal and Goblin Chieftains, you can generate an overwhelming board presence that doesn't care about Batterskull or Umezawa's Jitte. Even if you did, you've got Tuktuk Scrapper anyway.
Is this the beginning of Goblins' glorious return to Legacy? One can only hope.