Saw Caleb's article first, then came on here looking to see if anyone was talking about this deck... I'm all about it, and would love to both learn more and help tweak it through play-testing. I'm a PTQ grinder based out of Fort Worth, and am pretty much known locally as the "jund" guy. I pretty much only play jund, naya burn and rg breach/shift. I love ramping, burning, kill spells and efficient creatures, and I was instantly drawn to this deck, especially since I keep top 8'ing PTQ's with jund but can't seem to take one down. (I keep losing in the first round of top 8 : three straight times.)
Any changes you suggest since your 5-0 finish (or anything you'd like me to test) as I'd love to play it at a PPTQ this weekend? (especially if you feel the deck is in a good spot to surprise people and spike a tournament)
Couple of quick thoughts:
a) do we just lose to blood moon?
b) does the deck want any qasali pridemage?
c) do you agree with caleb's thoughts / changes... do you have any unique ones of your own?
d) what's the ideal fetch sequencing? (stomping -> godless -> anything? would be my guess...)
e) what's the best and worst match-ups you've found so far? (any thoughts on how to shore up the bad ones?)
I cut the wildwood for a swamp. The etbt was too much of a drawback. That's the only change. I have only played one league since the 5-0 (Family has had me busy) and I went 4-1. I'm 18-2 with the deck in league matches. So I haven't felt like anything was bad. The matches are a lot like playing with Jund and I board similarly. It is basically just a Jund deck built to be a little faster. I can race decks like Valakut that Jund can't.
Blood Moon is difficult. It's not like Jund can really beat it either. The plan is to either hit it with discard or just have enough on board that that can finish them. Blood Moon is definitely good against us.
I don't think Pridemage is worth it for the same reasons Jund wouldn't run it. I would cut a K Command for Abrupt Decay before QP. I've been considering that anyway.
I prefer my build to Calebs. I have found that I can race GY decks and the cards he cut for the GY hate (Finks, Thrun, Fulminator) all come in against BGx deck which he lost to twice. I also haven't liked seige rhibo very much. In top deck wars I usually just want to draw Lingering Souls and Tribal Flames. He is correct to add the Swamp. Bauble is probably good for GF, but I like 6 main deck discard like a normal Jund deck. The downside to Bauble is it makes Goyf a 5/6. Good for us until we need to kill one with Tribal Flames.
I want to fetch for Godless Shrine and Stomping Ground first. Then it is usually based on my hand after that. Sometimes we have to hurry and get that Island in play, but frequently I get that with my 4th land. I probably fetch out Blood Crypt the 3rd most often, but it's all hand dependent.
I need to play more matches, but I've only lost to BW Eldrazi and Intruder Alarm Elves. Eldrazi had vial and RiP games 2 & 3. RiP is good against us. It was close though. Elves got me with Intruder alarm game 1. I was not expecting that. G2 I was a turn too slow but it felt winnable. I added the zealous persecution after that match. It has been very good.
One Decay for a Command could definitely help deal with problem permanents.
My biggest advice is play this like any other Rock deck. Nacatl is just a one mana mini goyf. We get down an early threat and clock them while disrupting them with discard or removal just like in Jund.
Post board we are typically all removal or no removal and all discard or no discard. This is why Finks is so good in the board. It is flexible and plays offense and defense really well.
I've never boarded out Nacatl or Tribal Flames. Everything else has at least been trimmed. Against decks like Infect I want max disruption. If they can't kill me I'll eventually win. I trim my creature count. The Nacatl stays in and is a cheap threat that is bigger than their dudes.
Caleb played ok in his videos. I think he normally plays better than that. Nothing major but he did small sequencing things wrong which he acknowledged. He still was winning with the deck. His worst mistake was boarding against the BG decks. All the discard comes out first just like a Jund mirror. It is a bad top deck. We want Nacatl because it comes down early and if they don't have an answer they get too low on life. If they do answer it, then our next creature lives. Lingering Souls is MVP here.
Also, if you ever hit Souls with Flayer, put it in the yard it's pure value. The only reason not to is if you absolutely need 4 tokens.
I think the deck is pretty close to optimal for this meta, not perfect. There is some tweaking that can be done for sure. Unfortunately I haven't played a game of Magic in about 2 weeks now, or I'd have way more testing in. But I'm 18-2 overall in leagues, so I can't complain.
Liliana is a great card but I don't think it is as well positioned right now as it has been in the past. K Command is additional reach and bringing back a creature is really good. Liliana would probably be fine if you wanted to run it.
Spellskite is good. I don't think we need it for the burn matchup though. We don't want to be fetching for blue because we want to conserve our life total. Plus we have 7 lifegain spells after board and 6 cards that can hit their hand without damage. We have the ability to race them and with minor disruption it's not too bad.
The 2 k Command are flex slots. They are probably fine as a lot of other options.
What about Filigree Familiar in place of Rhino in the main since you said you haven't been liking the Rhino and that cuts the curve even lower and eases the mana requirements? It also gives an artifact for Goyf so we don't have to play Bauble, gains a little life and is a nice Kommand target. However, I also agree on cutting one Kommand for a Decay.
I think the deck wants one or two card draw spells since we're not running Dark Confidant, which is another reason I suggested the Familiar. What about one Painful Truths or Harmonize in the board, or even Phyrexian Arena, for the grindy match-ups?
I also think we might want one emergency reset button (a Damnation or Radiant Flames) for Bogles, traditional zoo, and Merfolk.
Lastly, I don't hate one Liliana otV in the board for control and Bogles, but I agree that this deck doesn't want her in the main.
The only cut I could really see would be the Negate, the 3rd Finks or the 2nd Timely, as I also really like Thrun.
You have played the deck way more than me and I'm just theory-crafting but these are... /justmythoughts - Feel free to disagree.
However the namesake card of the deck, Tribal Flames, seems rather questionable to me, it is basically a lot of setup and fetch-shocking yourself for what is essentially a slightly better Volcanic Hammer.
Why not go with Lightning Helix instead ? (or even Incinerate)
Obviously, Verdant Catacombs is the most important fetch in the deck but I'm not there yet.
rd1 Loss to Little Kid Abzan.
rd2 Win against Temur Control.
rd3 Win against Esper Gifts.
rd4 Win against Nahiri Jeskai.
Tribal Flames is one of the best cards in the deck. Dismissing this card right now is sort of dumb. It does a lot of the things that Jund is lacking right now. Obviously, it answers big threats. Big walkers and creatures etc. It also helps you close the door efficiently. You don't give your opponent an extra turn, they're just dead. 5>3. Figure it out.
To compensate for this aggressive game plan, you're more threat oriented and less answer oriented, so your curve is low and removal spells cheap.
I never cast Arlinn Kord. Probably terrible but I didn't have Mishra's Baubles, didn't want to shell out $, and wanted an extra card type.
The deck is an absolute blast to play. Although I wouldn't mind have 1-4 extra threats. I'm not sure how necessary Kolaghan's Command is. I don't hate something like Anafenza, the Foremost.
Tribal Flames is pretty nuts. It changes the game by giving you so much reach. 5 damage is a lot. Sometimes you draw 2. Ooponents frequently deal damage to themselves, making 10 damage from creatures all you need to get the job done with how much reach there is. The damage is negligible because of our decks own speed. Once we hit our 3rd land we are often just fetching no shock since the curve is so low. I use it as removal a lot.
The slots that I think are adjustable or testable in the main deck right now are the 4th lingering souls, k commands, and siege Rhino. Caleb D cut a thoughtseize, I don't like that, but it's not terrible. I don't like Bauble because then Tribal Flames can't kill their Goyfs. Flayer turns himself on.
Second timely is an option to cut, but it's really good against aggro. It really clogs up the ground. Kitchen Finks is great because it is so flexible. Negate and Snapcaster come in for matchups where the life totals don't matter too much. Against control and combo Negate is amazing. Snapcaster comes in against everything that isn't threatening our lifetotal (combo, slower aggro, control, midrange, Infect).
So, I was thinking of adding Lili in the side. Do you think we would want LotV or last hope? Also, I completely agree, Tribal Flames seems like it's worth it.
What about tossing in 1 or 2 Snapcaster Mage simply for mid-late game getting another use out of a Tribal Flames? Seems really good. Has been done before with relative success in modern.
The Dredge MU feels not great but he had turn 1 Faithless Looting into the nut both games (15 pwr into play turn 3 game 1 and turn 1 Looting away Vengeful Pharaoh). I had 2x MD Anafenza, the Foremost but only ever saw them vs. Infect and Tron.
I feel like this deck could totally take off with enough representation, it has an absurd amount of reach for a deck with as much disruption at it does.
I really like rhino here. A beater immune to grave hate that compliments both tribal flames in the main and kitchen finks out of the board makes a ton of sense. I would keep a copy, at least.
Yeah I'm SUPER interested in this deck after watching caleb's series, so much so that I just registered an account for the first time (long time lurker) to talk abou5 it. Getting to talk to the innovator of the deck would be invaluable, I really hope this thread doesn't die lol. Also, I'm a noob and idk how to autocard so if one of yall told me or something I'll do it from now on. Anyway, onto the deck:
I love it. I'm gonna build it from scratch when I get my taxes, or at least start. Like I have 0 pieces of anything in it at all, sold my collection a while ago. So that leads to my first question, staying power. Obviously the deck is powerful, but do you envision a meta that can be very hostile to this deck? I believe, if ever, it'd be now with dredge being a boogie man everyone is packing hate and some folks are maining cards like relic and nihil spellbomb, which TOTALLY nerfs goyf and makes flayer pretty bad. Do you guys think this is a solid enough investment as a modern deck? I highly doubt anything from this list would be banned, and the disruption is versatile and tweakable enough that I think it'll always have a fighting chance, it's basically an aggro midrange deck with great reach in the burn spells. I saw abrupt decay was mentioned, is there any consideration there at all over path? I like a 3-1 split or even 2-2, I really value hitting non creatures and I've always disliked path in modern specifically. The land is always relevant and bolt is usually good enough. Okay, no onto my controversial ideas. I LOVE grim flayer, okay? Love it. As soon as it was spoiled I tried brewing a flayer/goyf sultai midrange deck with stubborn denial and just a ton of gy elements. It didn't have enough staying power and wasn't fast enough and was REALLY weak to hate and was basically a worse dredge. But damnit i tried and I think grim flayer is totally modern playable. But I just can not stop thinking about snapcasting tribal flames. I've been on cockatrice (I'm poor) testing a version with +4 snap +3 lightning helix and -4 flayer -3 lingering souls. I haven't gotten many matches in with it but it's been testing super well. Obviously I had to tweak the mana base to accommodate blue but I've really really liked having 11 burn spells main, and really liking the life gain from helix in a ton of matchups as well as just alleviating some pain from the lands. Don't get me wrong, I'm not at all on here saying the snap/helix version is better than flayer/souls, but I absolutely think it warrants testing. I noticed a lot of times in testing I found myself wishing I could goldfish just a little faster. The extra burn did just that and even had me wondering about monastery swiftspear, pushing ever closer to a traditional zo0 deck haha. I think with the added burn, along with the discard and paths, means swiftspear could be very good. I agree with whoever said a draw spell feels like it would be a good inclusion, but there just isn't a very effecient one in modern in line with this decks game plan, and really, k command is usually akin to a divination that effects the board. In the snapcaster version. I've been liking rhino well enough but it's definitely cuttable, and I really like going down a land as well. You did run 23, right? I like 22 in the snap version and 21 in a flayer version, if I have to cut rhino to go to 21 I feel like that's totally fine with how low the curve is and I feel like flood has lost me more modern games than anything else. I have been testing out 1 or 2 more good 3 drops though, anafenza hadn't crossed my mind yet but I love it. I pondered a single scooze for a while because I really love having random, hard hosing hate maindeck in modern for certain matchups. In the snap version with more blue I had a single mantis rider for a while that was pretty darn sweet, a singleton grim lavamancer has been decent at times too. Anyway, sorry for rambling, I really really love your deck moxZZZ. I'm sorry if you feel I butchered it lol. I'm just a brewer at heart and constantly trying to find little improvements or awesome little synergies or interactions (grim flayer and souls being one of those that really impressed me. I'd love to hear back from you or anyone with thoughts on the deck as it is relatively unknown still and I want to build this from the ground up, probably ordering the full 75 as singles online. Which is gonna cost me what, around a grand including sideboard? Geeze. I hope the thread isn't dead, even if yall get on here and just tell me every single idea I had was terrible, I'd appreciate it! Thanks!
Oh shoot, I forgot to mention the single card I'm excited about testing the most! Stubborn denial! I've loved that card to pieces since it was printed and it's a great maindeck card with at least 8 2 drops or under that turn it on, ie goyf and flayer. I'm not saying to main 4x but I have to imagine it's very good here. We've got the absolute best most effecient removal, burn, why not include one or a couple of the most effecient negate ever printed? I like 1x tasigur to turn it on easier as well, and thinking about it, maybe even just in the regular list period. Between 13 fetches, 6 discard spells, bolt and path it I don't think we'd have to make any changes to accommodate the delve, and I don't think delving would harm goyf or flayer too much. Flayer typically has to connect to turn on or wait until turn 3 or 4 to do it naturally anyway, and goyf checks opponents graves so the first tasigur feels basically free, and I love me some bolt proof abrupt decay proof cheap effecient threats that also double as more than serviceable mana sinks. Lastly, a single liliana the last hope (I know it seems like I have a million changes, but they wouldn't all be run simultaneously or at all, mostly just a few cards deviation at a time, barring snapcaster) has worked really excellently well. Buying back creatures is as great as you'd expect but it's the +1 that's surprisingly great in modern. It just flat out kills so much, and since it's a plus your little 3 drop walker is actually quite hard to kill. I watched a video series on CFB with pascal Maynard where he tried last hope in regular Jund and one game it was literally a 6 or 7 for 1. Like it literally killed 6 or 7 creatures by itself. It was against a coco deck and killing all the dorks actually constrained his opponents mana pretty bad and there was a gavony that otherwise would have run over the game, and it made kitchen finks extremely manageable. I like it here, either in the main or side. Just one though, for a little added staying power. At first it was really hard for me to figure out if this deck was aggro or midrange, and honestly it's a little of both and dependant on the opponent. It's definitely closer to aggro though and against most decks you are the beat down. I love the ability to switch gears and play different roles depending on what you're pitted against, and the deck is just super duper powerful. Maybe being 5 colors is my downfall with it since you can play literally anything I just want to play literally everything lol. There's so many good cards in modern, and especially printed in these past few blocks, ugh.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
The deck first arrived on the modern scene with a 5-0 magic online finish.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/473408#online
Then it was featured on two different strategy websites.
http://www.starcitygames.com/article/33648_Daily-Digest--Wrecks-Education.html
http://modernnexus.com/eve-kaladesh-interesting-brews-metagame-musings/
Finally it was featured in a video series here:
http://www.channelfireball.com/videos/channel-calebd-modern-grim-tribal-zoo/
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Grim Flayer
1 Seige Rhino
Sorceries
4 Lingering Souls
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
4 Tribal Flames
Instants
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path to Exile
2 Kolaghan's Command
Lands
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Forest
1 Swamp
1 Godless Shrine
1 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
1 Blood Crypt
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Breeding Pool
1 Watery Grave
1 Duress
1 Collective Brutality
1 Negate
1 Snapcaster Mage
2 Timely Reinforcements
3 Kitchen Finks
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Fulminator Mage
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Zealous Persecution
1 Stony Silence
1 Ancient Grudge
Any changes you suggest since your 5-0 finish (or anything you'd like me to test) as I'd love to play it at a PPTQ this weekend? (especially if you feel the deck is in a good spot to surprise people and spike a tournament)
Couple of quick thoughts:
a) do we just lose to blood moon?
b) does the deck want any qasali pridemage?
c) do you agree with caleb's thoughts / changes... do you have any unique ones of your own?
d) what's the ideal fetch sequencing? (stomping -> godless -> anything? would be my guess...)
e) what's the best and worst match-ups you've found so far? (any thoughts on how to shore up the bad ones?)
Blood Moon is difficult. It's not like Jund can really beat it either. The plan is to either hit it with discard or just have enough on board that that can finish them. Blood Moon is definitely good against us.
I don't think Pridemage is worth it for the same reasons Jund wouldn't run it. I would cut a K Command for Abrupt Decay before QP. I've been considering that anyway.
I prefer my build to Calebs. I have found that I can race GY decks and the cards he cut for the GY hate (Finks, Thrun, Fulminator) all come in against BGx deck which he lost to twice. I also haven't liked seige rhibo very much. In top deck wars I usually just want to draw Lingering Souls and Tribal Flames. He is correct to add the Swamp. Bauble is probably good for GF, but I like 6 main deck discard like a normal Jund deck. The downside to Bauble is it makes Goyf a 5/6. Good for us until we need to kill one with Tribal Flames.
I want to fetch for Godless Shrine and Stomping Ground first. Then it is usually based on my hand after that. Sometimes we have to hurry and get that Island in play, but frequently I get that with my 4th land. I probably fetch out Blood Crypt the 3rd most often, but it's all hand dependent.
I need to play more matches, but I've only lost to BW Eldrazi and Intruder Alarm Elves. Eldrazi had vial and RiP games 2 & 3. RiP is good against us. It was close though. Elves got me with Intruder alarm game 1. I was not expecting that. G2 I was a turn too slow but it felt winnable. I added the zealous persecution after that match. It has been very good.
One Decay for a Command could definitely help deal with problem permanents.
My biggest advice is play this like any other Rock deck. Nacatl is just a one mana mini goyf. We get down an early threat and clock them while disrupting them with discard or removal just like in Jund.
Post board we are typically all removal or no removal and all discard or no discard. This is why Finks is so good in the board. It is flexible and plays offense and defense really well.
I've never boarded out Nacatl or Tribal Flames. Everything else has at least been trimmed. Against decks like Infect I want max disruption. If they can't kill me I'll eventually win. I trim my creature count. The Nacatl stays in and is a cheap threat that is bigger than their dudes.
Caleb played ok in his videos. I think he normally plays better than that. Nothing major but he did small sequencing things wrong which he acknowledged. He still was winning with the deck. His worst mistake was boarding against the BG decks. All the discard comes out first just like a Jund mirror. It is a bad top deck. We want Nacatl because it comes down early and if they don't have an answer they get too low on life. If they do answer it, then our next creature lives. Lingering Souls is MVP here.
Also, if you ever hit Souls with Flayer, put it in the yard it's pure value. The only reason not to is if you absolutely need 4 tokens.
I think the deck is pretty close to optimal for this meta, not perfect. There is some tweaking that can be done for sure. Unfortunately I haven't played a game of Magic in about 2 weeks now, or I'd have way more testing in. But I'm 18-2 overall in leagues, so I can't complain.
Little shocked at lack of Spellskite. Helps the burn match up, Stuttersteps infect, autowins against boggles alot of the time.
I too have been looking at Decay instead of a command. Perhaps we just drop them altogether for a Decay and Lili?
Really interested on where this deck goes and how it develops.
Spellskite is good. I don't think we need it for the burn matchup though. We don't want to be fetching for blue because we want to conserve our life total. Plus we have 7 lifegain spells after board and 6 cards that can hit their hand without damage. We have the ability to race them and with minor disruption it's not too bad.
The 2 k Command are flex slots. They are probably fine as a lot of other options.
I think the deck wants one or two card draw spells since we're not running Dark Confidant, which is another reason I suggested the Familiar. What about one Painful Truths or Harmonize in the board, or even Phyrexian Arena, for the grindy match-ups?
I also think we might want one emergency reset button (a Damnation or Radiant Flames) for Bogles, traditional zoo, and Merfolk.
Lastly, I don't hate one Liliana otV in the board for control and Bogles, but I agree that this deck doesn't want her in the main.
The only cut I could really see would be the Negate, the 3rd Finks or the 2nd Timely, as I also really like Thrun.
You have played the deck way more than me and I'm just theory-crafting but these are... /justmythoughts - Feel free to disagree.
However the namesake card of the deck, Tribal Flames, seems rather questionable to me, it is basically a lot of setup and fetch-shocking yourself for what is essentially a slightly better Volcanic Hammer.
Why not go with Lightning Helix instead ? (or even Incinerate)
Another option is maybe going with more cheap creatures like Kird Ape (to be more aggresive) or Scavenging Ooze (for value).
Or a big 3-drop like: Loxodon Smiter/Anafenza, the Foremost/Knight of the Reliquary/Doran, the Siege Tower.
4x Grim Flayer
4x Tarmogoyf
2x Siege Rhino
1x Arlinn Kord
3x Lingering Souls
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
1x Thoughtseize
4x Path to Exile
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Tribal Flames
2x Kolaghan's Command
4x Bloodstained Mire
4x Wooded Foothills
1x Polluted Delta
1x Forest
1x Swamp
1x Godless Shrine
1x Stomping Ground
1x Temple Garden
1x Blood Crypt
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Breeding Pool
1x Watery Grave
Plus a random 15 card SB.
Obviously, Verdant Catacombs is the most important fetch in the deck but I'm not there yet.
rd1 Loss to Little Kid Abzan.
rd2 Win against Temur Control.
rd3 Win against Esper Gifts.
rd4 Win against Nahiri Jeskai.
Tribal Flames is one of the best cards in the deck. Dismissing this card right now is sort of dumb. It does a lot of the things that Jund is lacking right now. Obviously, it answers big threats. Big walkers and creatures etc. It also helps you close the door efficiently. You don't give your opponent an extra turn, they're just dead. 5>3. Figure it out.
To compensate for this aggressive game plan, you're more threat oriented and less answer oriented, so your curve is low and removal spells cheap.
I never cast Arlinn Kord. Probably terrible but I didn't have Mishra's Baubles, didn't want to shell out $, and wanted an extra card type.
The deck is an absolute blast to play. Although I wouldn't mind have 1-4 extra threats. I'm not sure how necessary Kolaghan's Command is. I don't hate something like Anafenza, the Foremost.
The slots that I think are adjustable or testable in the main deck right now are the 4th lingering souls, k commands, and siege Rhino. Caleb D cut a thoughtseize, I don't like that, but it's not terrible. I don't like Bauble because then Tribal Flames can't kill their Goyfs. Flayer turns himself on.
Second timely is an option to cut, but it's really good against aggro. It really clogs up the ground. Kitchen Finks is great because it is so flexible. Negate and Snapcaster come in for matchups where the life totals don't matter too much. Against control and combo Negate is amazing. Snapcaster comes in against everything that isn't threatening our lifetotal (combo, slower aggro, control, midrange, Infect).
Another 3-1.
Beat Bant Eldrazi, GB Infect, and Tron.
Lost to Dredge.
The Dredge MU feels not great but he had turn 1 Faithless Looting into the nut both games (15 pwr into play turn 3 game 1 and turn 1 Looting away Vengeful Pharaoh). I had 2x MD Anafenza, the Foremost but only ever saw them vs. Infect and Tron.
Deck still feels great.
I really like rhino here. A beater immune to grave hate that compliments both tribal flames in the main and kitchen finks out of the board makes a ton of sense. I would keep a copy, at least.
I love it. I'm gonna build it from scratch when I get my taxes, or at least start. Like I have 0 pieces of anything in it at all, sold my collection a while ago. So that leads to my first question, staying power. Obviously the deck is powerful, but do you envision a meta that can be very hostile to this deck? I believe, if ever, it'd be now with dredge being a boogie man everyone is packing hate and some folks are maining cards like relic and nihil spellbomb, which TOTALLY nerfs goyf and makes flayer pretty bad. Do you guys think this is a solid enough investment as a modern deck? I highly doubt anything from this list would be banned, and the disruption is versatile and tweakable enough that I think it'll always have a fighting chance, it's basically an aggro midrange deck with great reach in the burn spells. I saw abrupt decay was mentioned, is there any consideration there at all over path? I like a 3-1 split or even 2-2, I really value hitting non creatures and I've always disliked path in modern specifically. The land is always relevant and bolt is usually good enough. Okay, no onto my controversial ideas. I LOVE grim flayer, okay? Love it. As soon as it was spoiled I tried brewing a flayer/goyf sultai midrange deck with stubborn denial and just a ton of gy elements. It didn't have enough staying power and wasn't fast enough and was REALLY weak to hate and was basically a worse dredge. But damnit i tried and I think grim flayer is totally modern playable. But I just can not stop thinking about snapcasting tribal flames. I've been on cockatrice (I'm poor) testing a version with +4 snap +3 lightning helix and -4 flayer -3 lingering souls. I haven't gotten many matches in with it but it's been testing super well. Obviously I had to tweak the mana base to accommodate blue but I've really really liked having 11 burn spells main, and really liking the life gain from helix in a ton of matchups as well as just alleviating some pain from the lands. Don't get me wrong, I'm not at all on here saying the snap/helix version is better than flayer/souls, but I absolutely think it warrants testing. I noticed a lot of times in testing I found myself wishing I could goldfish just a little faster. The extra burn did just that and even had me wondering about monastery swiftspear, pushing ever closer to a traditional zo0 deck haha. I think with the added burn, along with the discard and paths, means swiftspear could be very good. I agree with whoever said a draw spell feels like it would be a good inclusion, but there just isn't a very effecient one in modern in line with this decks game plan, and really, k command is usually akin to a divination that effects the board. In the snapcaster version. I've been liking rhino well enough but it's definitely cuttable, and I really like going down a land as well. You did run 23, right? I like 22 in the snap version and 21 in a flayer version, if I have to cut rhino to go to 21 I feel like that's totally fine with how low the curve is and I feel like flood has lost me more modern games than anything else. I have been testing out 1 or 2 more good 3 drops though, anafenza hadn't crossed my mind yet but I love it. I pondered a single scooze for a while because I really love having random, hard hosing hate maindeck in modern for certain matchups. In the snap version with more blue I had a single mantis rider for a while that was pretty darn sweet, a singleton grim lavamancer has been decent at times too. Anyway, sorry for rambling, I really really love your deck moxZZZ. I'm sorry if you feel I butchered it lol. I'm just a brewer at heart and constantly trying to find little improvements or awesome little synergies or interactions (grim flayer and souls being one of those that really impressed me. I'd love to hear back from you or anyone with thoughts on the deck as it is relatively unknown still and I want to build this from the ground up, probably ordering the full 75 as singles online. Which is gonna cost me what, around a grand including sideboard? Geeze. I hope the thread isn't dead, even if yall get on here and just tell me every single idea I had was terrible, I'd appreciate it! Thanks!