Sweet Modern Stuff

                   Modern is by far my favorite format.  There are so many decks you can play and it makes a great format.  That said there hasn't been much publicity for the format since the qualifier season and there are a bunch of sweet interactions with the cards from m13 and Avacyn Restored.

                   If you read my blog a lot then you are going to notice me being in love with Restoration Angel.  This card is nuts and only gets better the larger the card pool.  It is an obvious inclusion in a deck like Melira/Birthing Pod as it is designed around creatures with ETB effects.  Another that I am almost positive will see loads of play is Thragtusk, especially because of the lack of people casting the card Phantasmal Image in modern (at least in my experience).  You could also play with cards like Blood Artist as a final part of the combo that has synergies with cards like Reveillark so you can kill your opponent without having to find a card like Murderous Redcap.  You could even go full on combo and change some slots so you have Blood Artist and Redcap as ways to kill your opponent.  If I were to play Pod in an event tomorrow then I would play a list something like this:

Creatures
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Wall of Roots

4 Kitchen Finks
3 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
3 Viscera Seer

2 Restoration Angel

2 Blood Artist

1 Murderous Redcap
1 Ranger of Eos
1 Reveillark
1 Sun Titan

1 Thragtusk

Artifacts
4 Birthing Pod


Sorceries
2 Inquisition of Kozilek


Instants
4 Chord of Calling

Lands

2 Temple Garden
2 Godless Shrine
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Marsh Flats
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Razorverge Thicket
1 Gavony Township
4 Verdant Catacombs


Basic Lands
3 Forest
2 Swamp
2 Planes


Sideboard
1 Driver of The Dead
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Thoughtseize
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Nekrataal
1 Corpse Traders
3 Path to Exile
1 Shriekmaw
1 Spellskite
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Dimir House Guard

Blood Artist gives this deck a way to win games that would not normally be winnable.  This is a good plan for any of the fair decks like Jund and the Mirror because both of those match ups come down to one for ones and if you can keep a Blood Artist around you will be so far ahead.  This list is obviously untested but I definitely think it has potential.

Another list that I loved playing was the modern iteration of Caw Blade.  The evolution of this deck as the season went on forced me to include black for discard spells and Lingering Souls because of the Tron matchup.  With the printing of Restoration Angel I wanted to take a trip back to the sky where Caw Blade became famous.  With cards like Squadron Hawk and Vendillion Clique, Restoration Angel becomes the nuts against both fair and unfair decks.  Against Jund, Angel gives you the ability to keep up with the card advantage that Bloodbraid Elf provides.  Against storm and Splinter Twin the Angel is not too good but thats why I like having access to cards like Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek.  Another card from Avacyn Restored that I really want to play with is Grislebrand.  Another thing that I loved about this deck was the Gifts Ungiven sideboard plan.  Forget Iona and Elesh Norn, Grislebrand seems like the nutter butters against just about anyone.  The other two reanimation targets are very good in certain match ups but if recent legacy events have shown us anything, reanimating Grislebrand is awesome.  If I were to play Caw Blade in an event tomorrow, this is the list I would play:

Creatures

4x Squadron Hawk

4x Snapcaster Mage

3x Restoration Angel

3x Vendillion Clique

Spells

4x Path to Exile

3x Remand

3x Inquisition of Kozilek

2x Serum Visions

2x Thoughtseize

4x Cryptic Command

2x Sword of Feast and Famine

1x Gifts Ungiven

Lands

4x Seachrome Coast

3x Creeping Tar Pit

2x Hallowed Fountain

1x Watery Grave

4x Scalding Tarn

2x Marsh Flats

1x Swamp

1x Planes

4x Island

3x Darkslick Shores

Sideboard

1x Disenchant

1x Wrath of God

2x Gifts Ungiven

1x Dispel

1x Linvalla Keeper of Scilence

1x Sower of Temptation

1x Spellskite

1x Unburial Rights

1x Iona, Shield of Emeria

1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite

1x Grislebrand

1x Mindbreak Trap

1x Thoughtseize

1x Tarland, Sky Summoner

From my experiences playing this deck, the Gifts sideboard is about the best thing you can be doing in this format.  Tarland, Sky Summoner is another card that seems like it would be fantastic against decks that are trying to one for one you out of the game.  This sideboard is a bit tricky to use and I would not recommend this deck at all without some testing of your own.  The sideboard does not seem like it should change much at the moment but if you want to change it I would only touch the parts that are not the reanimation package because it is very very good.

I hope that these lists are helpful to those who read my blog.  If you need advice or have suggestions for me don't be hesitant to post in the comments or find me on twitter.

Cheers,

Thomas Overton

@darkwingduckz on twitter

Standard with M13

Hi, my name is Thomas Overton, I am here to tell you about all the random ideas that I come up with about magic the gathering.  M13 is right around the corner and there are some cards that I am super excited are being newly printed and those that are coming back to us.

Delver of secrets is by far the best thing to be doing in standard right now.  Because of this the delver mirror is a very popular subject.  People have been trying things to beat a the problem card Geist of Saint Traft.  From main deck Phantasmal Images to playing Blade Splicers to beat Geist.  However we have a few black cards that have seen little standard play in the past couple years that I think could swing the delver deck in a different direction.  First we have Vampire Nighthawk that is going to be returning in m13.  This card is a great solution to Geist of Saint Traft and it also helps fight against Restoration Angel and Delver of Secrets.  Next is Duress.  This card seems like its mediocre but it can easily punish a lot of sketchy keeps that Delver players often have due to cards like ponder and other cantrips.  Duress also works well with probe allowing you to get the maximum value out of all your discard spells.  Another discard spell that sees criminally no play is Despise.  Despise could be awesome because of the creature light nature of delver decks.  Turn one on the play you can despise and take delver or whatever creature is in their hand.  Here is a list that is what looks to me something like what I want to be playing once M13 is here:

U/B Delver

Creatures

4 Delver of Secrets

4 Vampire Nighthawk

4 Snapcaster Mage

2 Tarland, Sky Summoner

2 Phantasmal Image

Spells

4 Ponder

3 Mana Leak

2 Gitaxian Probe

2 Dispise

2 Duress

2 Tragic Slip

2 Dismember

4 Vapor Snag

2 Forbidden Alchemy

Lands

4 Darkslick Shores

4 Drowned Catacombs

7 Island

7 Swamp

Sideboard

2 Grave Titan

1 Swamp

2 Phantasmal Image

2 Duress

2 Black Sun's Zenith

2 Dissipate

2 Ratchet Bomb

1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage

1 Sword of War and Peace

This list is obviously tentative but you get the advantage of black removal that can help in all match ups without playing cards like gut shot.  The one part I really don't like about this list is the lack of the card Restoration Angel.  Angel provides so much of an instant speed threat in the vein of Cryptic Command/Mistbind Clique and it is the absolute nutter butters with all the cards that U/W Delver can play.  A card that I hope will make up for the lack of Restoration Angel is Tarland, Sky Summoner.  This card reminds me a lot of Emeria Angel back in the days of Caw Blade, except this time Tarland seems even better with the point of Delver decks abusing cheap instants and sorceries.  Imagine resolving this guy on five mana with a Gitaxian Probe and a Ponder in hand.  Thats eight power you have just made off of five mana which rivals the interaction between Restoration Angel and Blade Splicer.

Obviously this might be all for naught as the Banned and Restricted Announcements are in two days but hopefully whatever is said there will make a format that is a bit more open than it is now.

Until next time,

Thomas Overton

@darkwingduckz on twitter