Long ago, in the extended days of yore, there existed a deck called Pebbles. The deck used a 3-card combo involving Enduring Renewal, Goblin Bombardment, and 0-cost creatures such as Shield Sphere. You would play the 0-cost creature, sacrifice it to the bombardment, dealing one damage, and it would return to your hand. Repeat for infinite damage. Why was it called Pebbles? because in those days, combo decks were named after cereals. No joke.
Flash forward to the present day. Enduring Renewal is timeshifted and Modern-legal, allowing for more pebbles action. Modern Pebbles is born.
How does it work?
The key thing here is the Pebbles combo, made into the modern day: Enduring Renewal, Heartless Summoning, and Perilous Myr. When the two enchantments are on the battlefield, play the myr for free. the Summoning gives it -1/-1, so when state-based effects are checked it immediately dies, dealing 2 damage to something. It then immediately goes back to your hand, where you can repeat for infinite damage. However, if the only trick in this deck's book were a graveyard-reliant 3-card combo, I wouldn't be posting this here. So, we turn to the engine that makes the deck tick: Muddle the Mixture. Muddle the Mixture, of course, can search for 2 of the three combo pieces directly. However, it can also get you Enduring Renewal, by searching for a singleton Plunge into Darkness, which can then grab either Enduring Renewal or any Idyllic Tutors, another critical search piece that can grab either side of the combo. That, however, isn't all. You can ALSO use it to grab either half of ANOTHER combo: Isochron Scepter and Dawn Charm, which can make it literally impossible to kill you with combat damage. This can either buy time for a pebbles kill, or let you win with a singleton Luminarch Ascension, which can be tutored for by Muddle the Mixture and Idyllic Tutor.
That's not all, of course. The deck also packs a card-advantage engine in the form of Dark Confidant, which can put pressure on the opponent, draw you into tutors and answers, and you guessed it, can be tutored for with Muddle the Mixture. Finally, Modern Pebbles plays a diverse set of answers tuned to cover the maximum number of possibilities.
What cards are involved here?
There are a few different groups of cards you want to work with. First is the core. While you may find yourself cutting down to 3 copies of the clunkier enchantments or Idyllic Tutor, the rest of these should all be 4-ofs maindeck.
Next up are the answers. You'll have to do a fair bit of numbers-tuning here, but you should remember to keep mana costs low for Dark Confidant, and to maximise versatility. Probably start with these options:
Here's another innovation that's key to making Modern Pebbles work: a transformative sideboard. You're running a fairly disruptable 3-card combo that relies on the graveyard, in Modern. You're gonna see some quite effective hate, and a lot of decks that are faster and more consistent with comboing off. You have a lot of unique strengths-you're the only combo deck playing cards like Dark Confidant, you can play reactively fairly well, and you have a concrete backup plan that will make a lot of players cry-but you have to be ready to be outclassed post-board. How do you get around this? By cutting out all the enchantments in the pebbles combo, your Plunge into Darkness, and your Idyllic Tutors and replacing them with disruptive threats in the sideboard. Sure, maybe they can beat Heartless Summoning, but that graveyard hate won't fare too well against Geist of Saint Traft. This sideboard plan allows you to play aggro, combo, and control at almost any point in the match, and makes it almost impossible for your opponent to know what to do.
If some of the choices surprise or confuse you, not to worry! I'll be filling out this primer over the next few days, with explanations for the sideboard choices and numbers throughout the deck, and adding new cards that I've missed but you all probably won't. Happy brewing!
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Go to my blog, Musings of the False God, for in-depth guides playing the game, from the building blocks of deck design to deceiving your opponent through clever game play!
You may also know me as the guy in the art of Dark Confidant. No, not Bob Maher, the OTHER one.
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Pebbles? What kind of a name is that?
Flash forward to the present day. Enduring Renewal is timeshifted and Modern-legal, allowing for more pebbles action. Modern Pebbles is born.
That's not all, of course. The deck also packs a card-advantage engine in the form of Dark Confidant, which can put pressure on the opponent, draw you into tutors and answers, and you guessed it, can be tutored for with Muddle the Mixture. Finally, Modern Pebbles plays a diverse set of answers tuned to cover the maximum number of possibilities.
Heartless Summoning
Perilous Myr
Muddle the Mixture
Dark Confidant
Idyllic Tutor
Harm's Way
Spell Snare
Spell Pierce
Inquisition of Kozilek
Thoughtseize
Dismember
Engineered Explosives
Sleight of Hand
Telling Time
Halimar Depths
Dawn Charm
Heartless Summoning
Luminarch Ascension
I'm so glad you asked.
1 Godless Shrine
2 Hallowed Fountain
3 Island
4 Marsh Flats
3 Mystic Gate
2 Plains
2 River of Tears
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Swamp
1 Watery Grave
4 Perilous Myr
3 Enduring Renewal
3 Heartless Summoning
4 Muddle the Mixture
1 Plunge into Darkness
4 Dark Confidant
4 Path to Exile
4 Spell Pierce
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Dawn Charm
3 Isochron Scepter
1 Luminarch Ascension
2 Geist of Saint Traft
2 Weathered Wayfarer
1 Hurkyl's Recall
4 Lingering Souls
1 Trickbind
2 Sword of Fire and Ice
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
If some of the choices surprise or confuse you, not to worry! I'll be filling out this primer over the next few days, with explanations for the sideboard choices and numbers throughout the deck, and adding new cards that I've missed but you all probably won't. Happy brewing!
You may also know me as the guy in the art of Dark Confidant. No, not Bob Maher, the OTHER one.