MTG Salvation

I ran Living End at my store's Modern night yesterday and went 1-2. Despite that, the deck played well and my build (which I've been tinkering with a lot lately) seemed much more interactive. My losses came mostly through bad matchups and rocky sideboarding (I am still learning how to sideboard properly).

Round 1 vs. Splinter Twin
This guy's deck was pure combo, no Tarmos or other nonsense like that. And both games he managed to curve perfectly into Deceiver Exarch -> Splinter Twin on turn 4 while I was busy cycling and searching for a Fulminator Mage. I guess I misplayed in game 2 because I chose tap out for a Violent Outburst into Living End (which got Swan Songed) but I was holding a Dismember that I should have used when he flashed in his Deceiver Exarch EOT. Oh well, live and learn. Lost 0-2

Round 2 vs. 4-color Gifts Midrange
This was an interesting deck -- he didn't lean heavily on Gifts Ungiven and seemed to mostly just jam value cards like Scavenging Ooze and Liliana of the Veil. Game 1 I got him in classic Living End fashion, cycling for a few turns then dumping my graveyard onto the battlefield and winning a couple of turns later. Kessig Wolf Run actually helped me close out the game in 2 turns. Game 2 he went back to the reanimator plan and managed to stick Elesh Norn (via Unburial Rites) on the turn after I cascaded. Pro tip: Having your Pale Recluses become 2/3 creatures with Elesh Norn in play is an absolute dreamcrusher. I drew Dismember but it was too little, too late. Game 3 was all about the land destruction for me -- turn 2 Fulminator Mage (thanks to Simian Spirit Guide) followed by Violent Outburst, then Avalanche Riders on turn 4 set him back in a big way. I closed out the game with a couple swampwalking Street Wraiths. Won 2-1

Round 3 vs. 8-Rack
This was another really interesting matchup. This fellow's deck wasn't quite optimized (it was missing the Lilianas and Inquisition of Kozilek) but his deck still hummed along quite nicely. It was a rough matchup because, on paper anyway, I always want to be discarding stuff, so his discard spells didn't disrupt me as much as some other opponents. Game 1 I blew up his lands and managed to cascade before he could Damnation or stick any of his Rack-type cards. Game 2 and Game 3 were similar -- I played very cautiously, tried to hold cards in my hand to avoid damage from The Rack or Shrieking Affliction. But once you get down to 2 cards in hand, you're at risk of basically any discard spell. I'm not sure if I played correctly against his deck. To be honest we were both terrified of each others' decks. It was a very stressful game -- he was constantly fearful of a cascade into Living End, and I was afraid he would destroy my hand at a moment's notice. But, very fun games with lots of head scratching and strategizing. Lost 1-2

Ah, you're right, that's a deal breaker.

I really like having Violent Outburst into Living End in the deck as one more tool in the toolbox. But yeah, Jund isn't really an option for me since I lack the Goyfs and Bobs that are so essential to that deck.

I'm also considering dropping DD for ... Bituminous Blast.

Edit: Terrible idea.

I had another fairly poor showing at my LGS last night. I get the feeling that I've fiddled with the deck too much and removed too many big cycling monsters to add in utility cards like Brindle Boar and Dismember. I'm on the Simian Spirit Guide build to be a little more explosive, so I've already got slots dedicated to 4x SSG.

Game 1 was against 4-color Gifts Control. He got me easily in game 1, then game 2 we had a nice grindy battle that finally ended when he landed a Liliana and stripped my hand. I should have boarded in Slaughter Games to take out his Gifts and his Lilianas.

Game 2 was against Kiki-Pod. He assembled the combo early in game 1, but in game 2 I made a pretty strong showing. Demonic Dread is such a heartbreaker in our deck. It is just so bad like 40% of the time. I was just astounded by the number of answers and interactivity his deck had. I had him dead on board after a decent sized cascade but he still managed to win with a crazy pod chain featuring Exarch --> Resto Angel --> Kiki-Jiki all on the same turn. Ugh!

Game 3 was against Blistercoil/Paradise Mantle combo but the guy had to leave early so I "won" the match.

It's got me thinking about the deck though. Has anyone considered dropping Demonic Dread altogether and retooling the deck to be more of a midrange/control build? We can cast value creatures like Fulminator Mage and Kitchen Finks in the early game while cycling to draw cards. These guys can reasonably be cast on turn 2 with Simian Spirit Guide. Stuff like Dismember, Beast Within and Maelstrom Pulse can help control the board. Then we have a few options for the late game: trigger a cascade off Violent Outburst (at this point, the only cascade card in the deck), suspend Living End the old fashioned way, hardcast our overcosted fatties, or grind out some value with cards like Whip of Erebos or Bow of Nylea (both cards I'm considering for the deck).

I dunno if I'm straying too far off the beaten path here. Demonic Dread is so bad; that's why I'm considering a build that doesn't lean on it.

Quote from Katla

What do you guys think about utility lands such as Kessig Wolf Run and Dryad Arbor? Are they mandatory or can you easily play without them?

I run both in my 19-land build. I've never actually used Kessig to win a game, but Dryad Arbor has been pretty useful. Plus you can fetch it with Verdant Catacombs.

Thanks for the feedback. I will try out a couple Anger of the Gods in the SB. I can reliably cast it on turn 2 with a Simian.

I am down to zero Faerie Macabre in the main, which is troublesome, but it hasn't proven to be a truly clutch card in my meta so far. I'm often happier just seeing more cyclers.

All in all I'm having a tough time in my local meta. Every other deck is either explosively fast or filled with counterspells.

I had a lackluster showing piloting LE at my local shop last night. I'm not too good at judging my local meta (still fairly new to modern) but I've come to the conclusion that I need to have plays on turns 1 & 2 to compete. Too many aggro & combo decks have me on the ropes by the time I'm ready to cascade. Landkill in particular is weak in my meta, as about half the decks are mono-color that can function and win with 2 basics in play.

To that end, I'm adding a couple Dismember to the main and another to the side. Having a turn 1 kill spell would have tilted a lot of games in my favor. I've got Simiam Spirit Guide x4 in my build so this addition seems particularly strong.

I'm also adding a couple Brindle Boar to the main even though I feel bad about it. Several times last night I died to aggro just 1 turn away from an epic cascade. Is there a better life gain option than Brindle Boar?

Hey guys. I played last night at my LGS and got wrecked by storm matchups. One was traditional storm, and I did an OK job of killing his lands and reanimating my monsters and managed to make it a close 1-2 match.

The other game was against Blistercoil Weird / Paradise Mantle combo that really only needs 1 or 2 lands to get rolling and can reliably combo off on turn 2 with a 12/12 Blistercoil backed up by a Grapeshot to the face. I just wasn't quite fast enough. I brought in 4x Leyline of the Void but he didn't really use his graveyard all that much. I'm considering going with the Simian Spirit Guide build so I can be a bit more explosive vs. storm. Postboard I brought in Ingot Chewers and still couldn't cast them fast enough to kill his Paradise Mantle. If he equips Mantle to Blistercoil and I can't stop it, GG.

Really, though, both matches were just miserable. Watching storm players go off when I have 3 lands in play and can really only cast Beast Within or Violent Outburst to interact with his board is just feelbad all around.

EDIT: Here is my deck, I'm running 20 lands so perhaps I can shave that down a bit if I put in some SSG.



Oh yeah, I played against Goryo's Vengeance too. I played well but he had a lot of redundancy and I never saw my Leylines the whole match. Those super fast combo decks just kill me unless I get a really optimal opening hand. Any insight? Thanks in advance.

Hey guys, new Living End player here (new to Modern, plenty of experience with EDH though). I put this list together and ran it through the gauntlet at my LGS last week. Thought you guys might appreciate a report. First here's the list I ran:


Round 1 vs. Storm
My opponent was super cool and very forgiving since this was my first time piloting the deck. It was a tense match … I comboed off and killed him fast in game 1, then he Grapeshotted me to death in Game 2 right before I was going to have a big turn and dump my graveyard onto the battlefield. In game 3 I opened with Leyline of the Void and he never really found a way to deal with it. I killed a few of his lands and he still managed to almost beat me with only 2 mountains in play. Manamorphose is such gas. Once storm gets going all you can do is sit back and hope he screws up his math or draws the wrong cards. The latter in this case. Won 2-1.

Round 2 vs. Merfolk
This deck was pure aggro, but it lacked much of a sideboard plan against graveyards. It just so happened that I drew the god hand in games 1 and 2, which allowed me to cascade into Living End with a pretty full graveyard on turn 3. He couldn’t stop that, nor could he sideboard in much stuff to stop me, so I won the match and he left the table with a newfound appreciation of graveyard hate. I think he literally went to the store’s display case to look for Relic of Progenitus. Won 2-0.

Round 3 vs. Zoo
All the other players were saying how Zoo is the “best” matchup for Living End, and that I should just coast to victory, so of course I set out to prove them wrong! Actually my problems game before the game even started … I didn’t mulligan properly. What can I say, I'm a new Living End player and still need to learn how to properly evaluate an opening hand. In this case, I really needed a cascade card + a couple lands & cyclers to really have a chance against aggro type decks. I learned this lesson the hard way, dying in both matches to a horde of cats, lions, apes and goyfs. The guy also Bojuka Bogged me for good measure in both games, which was really harsh. Lesson learned! Lost 2-0.

I ended up scoring 2nd place, which felt a little hollow since I avoided playing 2 other really good decks that were present: RUG Tarmo-Twin (is that what the kids are calling it?) and Affinity. Both were piloted by really good players and it was just the luck of the draw that I never had to face them. After the tournament I played a few more games against various other decks. I battled U/R Delver and the guy kept Remanding my Living Ends so I resorted to hardcasting my dudes, which proved to be too little too late.

I also played UWR Flash against a new Modern player, a cool guy who just got into the format after playing EDH for a while. He didn’t quite know how Living End worked but still knew enough to counter various spells and win game 1, then game 2 I showed him how the deck worked by dumping my graveyard onto the battlefield when he was tapped out. He played very carefully in game 3 so I started hardcasting my dudes, trying to bait out his counterspells. It worked and I won game 3 by turning giant monsters sideways.

Anyway, I had a ton of fun with the deck -- cheating giant monsters into play is something my 13-year-old self would have absolutely loved to do back in 1995.

Thanks guys! I've got the added bonus that most of these zany 5-color cards are super cheap to acquire.

So I've got this Cromat deck and at the moment it's sort of a zany funhouse where I jam any newly discovered card that tickles my fancy. I'd like to refocus around a "colors matter" theme to get some more value out of the big C.

The poster child for this new direction is Civic Saber. One mana to give Cromat +5/+0, I'll take it! I'm also throwing in the Steel of the Godhead aura cycle, as well as a lot of two- and three-color utility creatures like Madrush Cyclops and knight of New Alara. Oh yeah, and a Sunforger package.

Any other suggestions on sweet cards to enhance this theme?

Strionic Resonator, to let you trigger Daxos's ability twice?

I run keyrunes and have had good luck with them. Nobody really expects them and sometimes an opponent will watch you cast one and then forget it's a creature option three turns later and attack into it.

I'm going to play around with Thassa. If it were just an indestructible scry 1 that came down on turn 3, that would be one thing. But the fact that it becomes a beastly attacker or blocker when we are playing our deck right (Jace AOT --> Aetherling = Thassa online) makes it worth a second look.

What do you guys think about Planar Cleansing as a 1-of in the mainboard?

Interesting thread. I'm also tinkering with U/W for Standard, and I think Thassa is going to be an important part of the deck. She comes down on Turn 3 and starts generating card advantage on Turn 4. After that point she makes it even more attractive for you to cast Jace and Aetherling with their UU mana requirements to get her online. Later in the game she makes our Mutavaults (or just her own bad self) unblockable.

As far as threats, I'm looking at the following for my deck:

3x Aetherling
2x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2x Thassa, God of the Sea
1x Heliod, God of the Sun

Thoughts on this mix? It's backed up by the typical U/W package of Jace AOT, Verdict, Revelation, Azorius Charm, counterspells, etc, plus some Mutavaults for good measure.

I would love to hear how this went. It seemed like so much fun...and it could/should have been an on-camera event just for the spectacle of cracking those old packs, etc.