Recently took it upon myself to brew something in this archetype just to sling cardboard at an LGS, but I wanted to go in with something that I vibed with and cards I had an affinity for, at the cost of playing the most competitive shell out there. I mean, why take an LGS too seriously yknow? I slapped this together, using some mid 2000's technology lol
The first thing I feel needs some debate is Young Pyromancer. Combing through Raphael Levy's twitter earlier in the week, I saw he wrote in an article that it wasn't good enough for Modern because it only pumped out about two tokens a turn. I couldn't say he convinced me with that argument, because the card in a vacuum doesn't do much but you have to do something with it proactively to make your opponent spread thin on their plan, and that's what I aimed for in this build.
If they focus on hating your graveyard resources with Rest in Peace, Relic of Progenitus, etc. then you can just forgo playing anything out of the yard and just jam your Pyromancers, Pharaoh(s), Garruks, use your removal spells for on-board threats, and save your dead lands for Seismic Assault. You aren't just cold because of some low impact guys like Bloodghast and Zombie tokens which hinge so heavily on graveyard resources.
If your opponent uses options like Path to Exile, other creature removal, and Abrupt Decay, etc. then you can go over the top with Garruk and Worm Harvest. Plus, many times you can just blank these options with redundant copies of Raven's Crime. This is also how you beat an opponent who is trying to respect your midrange spells, so they have their work cut out for them if they leave open 1U for Garruk or something.
I don't mean to make some grandstanding post about my card choices so I'll cut it short there on my reasoning for the shell. Two Maelstrom Pulse helps against opposing Karn Liberated and Ugins out of Tron if we don't see our Ghost Quarters in time to stop those plays, also double as a critical mass of enchantment removal alongside Abrupt Decays, Crime // Punishment, and Krosan Grip. Crime // Punishment makes the cut here because an Elves opponent can just cast Chord of Calling for 2 to tutor a Phyrexian Revoker in response to our Engineered Explosives. Also, it actually triggers Pyromancers.
Lastly, Syphon Life is there because it's a more live way to craft a kill against an opponent that we are trying to hit with redundant activations of Ghost Quarter every turn, opposed to having to tap out for 5 to cast Worm Harvest. It doubles as a clutch (expensive) cushion against Burn, though it is just unplayable against aggro decks that commit heavily to the board. I think this is one of the more loose cards in the 75 because I didn't have any data for it, just kind of went on a hunch in playing it since this is one of those decks that needs to use the entire ox so to speak.
It's critical to have XYZ cards in the list that can be utilized from the yard, or else we have no incentive to Dredge. Not committing to the virtual card advantage that comes with Loaming in order to concede to naturally drawing such a wide array of non-graveyard resources is usually bad (this is why it's rare to find a winning deck that relies on Loam only as a Seismic Assault enabler.) I digress...
Tournament report for Modern FNM
Round 1 - Elves
Game one I'm on the draw and had to mull to 4 game one on some very dead draws. I have Smallpox, Life from the Loam, Wooded Foothills, and Graven Cairns, which would have been insane on the play. He ends up dropping too many dorks for an early Smallpox to matter, so I end up actively dredging hoping to bump a Vengeful Pharaoh or Flame Jab into the yard, or to perhaps Faithless Looting into live draws. I end up just giving too much information as he curves into two lords, and after seeing no outs I concede.
Game two I wipe his early wave of creatures with a Jund Charm after either a Looting or Loam, hitting my own Cairns with a Ghost Quarter to get the colored mana for the play. I saw a Temple Garden on my opponent's board, but elected to ignore it since it was impossible for him to Chord into a Burrenton Forge-Tender being that he had no cards in hand. He goes on to topdeck a Rest in Peace lol, so I had to run out Pyromancer tokens conventionally, using one Faithless looting at a time. Eventually he refills his grip with a Lead the Stampede. After a turn of running out manadorks and a Dwynen Elite, I topdeck a Pharaoh and jam it onto the board. He draws very low impact creatures and I answer an end turn Chord of Calling with Abrupt Decay on his Ezuri. With a horde of Elemental tokens stonewalling his creatures from getting in, and a Pharaoh swinging for 5 a turn, he goes to 7 only to pass as I topdeck a Crime // Punishment which I cast for 1cc, which leaves him with two creatures on board before I hit his Elite with an Abrupt Decay, and swing for lethal.
Game three he has a very linear draw with no outs to Jund Charm, and I get a 7-for-1 with the three mana instant. I went on to end the game by concession shortly after.
1-0 (2-1)
Round 2 - Abzan Little Kid
I get paired with my roommate and good friend, who is on a more aggressive version of Abzan. We are very 50/50 since I end up relying on Flame Jab and Darkblast to neutralize his board of Spirit tokens and Voice of Resurgence, Ghost Quarter for his manlands, Elemental tokens to chump Tarmogoyf, and Loam/Retrace spells to neutralize Liliana. Game one goes to me after a snoozefest of hitting him with redundant Ghost Quarters, countless Flame Jabs hitting the aforementioned creatures, a Goyf of his going to the bin off of Smallpox, and numerous Flame Jabs onto his Liliana to keep it at bay.
In game two, being on the play gave him a leg up on me as I couldn't stabilize the board in time for two Voice of Resurgence, Tarmogoyf, and a critical mass of removal spells hitting my Pyromancers doing damage against me.
Game three I virtually punted in turns by not going to the dome with a Seismic Assault, only really not going for that plan so I could put him into winner's bracket where I imagined him to run into Burn, Twin, Grixis Delver, and Infect pilots, all which he is better suited to face. Regardless, because prize support is one pack per win, we go home with the same packs and I felt better knowing I'd run into more clunky shells in loser's bracket after round 2 (my prediction was on the money btw)
1-1 (3-3)
Round 3 - UW Tron
Game one I simply lost to a relatively early Karn Liberated, which I had no outs to as he hit my black sources.
+2 Ancient Grudge
+1 Krosan Grip
+1 Maelstrom Pulse
+1 Vengeful Pharaoh
+1 Syphon Life
Game two I hit him with multiple Raven's Crime copies and redundant Ghost Quarter activations, dinged him for 4 a turn with Seismic Assault, and he eventually topdecks a Gifts Ungiven in response to my Raven's Crime to put Unburial Rites and the new Ulamog in the bin. Next turn he only has enough mana to recur the Ulamog, but I simply go to the dome EoT for 4 life, putting him on 6, and cast Life from the Loam to do the last six damage on my turn.
Game three went more or less the same, except I kept one of his creatures at bay with a Smallpox. There's an attrition war that eventually leads to me Loaming away a Worm Harvest, which I cast two copies of for 11 tokens and lethal in three turns.
2-1 (5-4)
Round 4 - UWB(r) Gifts
Game one I put him on some kind of awkward Grixis Control, because he led with a turn two Jace and actually fetched a Steam Vents. I see what he's up to eventually as he starts to cast Gifts to get Snapcaster/Gifts/Cryptic/Kolaghan's Command. Eventually we go down to the wire and before I can really put him away with Raven's Crime, he uses his few remaining cards to Gifts for Unburial Rites and Iona. He recurs her next turn, naming Green to put me off of Loam, then casts his final card (Jace) and passes. I have four mana at my disposal next turn, and my hand has land/Flame Jab/Smallpox. I ding the Jace twice, cast Pox and proceed to eke out many cards as the game goes along, eventually finishing with Garruk beasts.
Game two is very attrition based as he is always playing on my turn, and I am always trying to make him respect a possible Jund Charm. I actually have it up the entire game except for the turn that I decide to almost put him away, as my first Raven's Crime doesn't put an Iona into the yard, and I can get him down to one card in hand by the end of the turn... it ends up being being a Gifts to put Iona and Rites in the bin, and he brings it out next turn naming black this time. It shuts off all my plays except Loam/Ghost Quarter and Faithless Looting, so I decided to go for Looting and ended up able to put a Pharaoh in the bin. He draws a few blanks as I loam away a Lavaclaw Reaches after two or three turns. By the time I untap with it, I threaten half his life total with all my lands on board for the pump, assuming he doesn't concede his Iona to stop it momentarily. He goes down to 7, draws another blank, and extends the hand.
3-1 (7-4)
Got absolutely nothing in my packs (BFZ packs are still golden to open though) but I did get a few oohs and ahhs from the playerbase there. It was amusing to watch the new guard of the community be exposed to mid-2000's technology, and have to respect a card like Garruk Wildspeaker lol. Hopefully my post was insightful, and I'd appreciate any feedback or suggestions for the list and sideboard plans. I'd rather not impose my advice or suggestions on anyone else unless they explicitly ask for it, even though I am seeing some wonky card choices... I'll stay posted in the forum if I land on anything else or have any kind of revelation that may help tweak the build you're all on. Peace
1x Vengeful Pharaoh
1x Golgari Brownscale
4x Life from the Loam
4x Faithless Looting
4x Smallpox
3x Raven's Crime
2x Flame Jab
2x Abrupt Decay
1x Terminate
1x Murderous Cut
1x Maelstrom Pulse
1x Worm Harvest
2x Garruk Wildspeaker
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Bloodstained Mire
1x Wooded Foothills
2x Blood Crypt
2x Overgrown Tomb
1x Stomping Ground
2x Swamp
1x Forest
3x Graven Cairns
4x Ghost Quarter
1x Lavaclaw Reaches
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2x Ancient Grudge
2x Darkblast
1x Maelstrom Pulse
2x Jund Charm
1x Bojuka Bog
3x Golgari Brownscale
1x Vengeful Pharaoh
1x Crime // Punishment
1x Syphon Life
1x Krosan Grip
The first thing I feel needs some debate is Young Pyromancer. Combing through Raphael Levy's twitter earlier in the week, I saw he wrote in an article that it wasn't good enough for Modern because it only pumped out about two tokens a turn. I couldn't say he convinced me with that argument, because the card in a vacuum doesn't do much but you have to do something with it proactively to make your opponent spread thin on their plan, and that's what I aimed for in this build.
If they focus on hating your graveyard resources with Rest in Peace, Relic of Progenitus, etc. then you can just forgo playing anything out of the yard and just jam your Pyromancers, Pharaoh(s), Garruks, use your removal spells for on-board threats, and save your dead lands for Seismic Assault. You aren't just cold because of some low impact guys like Bloodghast and Zombie tokens which hinge so heavily on graveyard resources.
If your opponent uses options like Path to Exile, other creature removal, and Abrupt Decay, etc. then you can go over the top with Garruk and Worm Harvest. Plus, many times you can just blank these options with redundant copies of Raven's Crime. This is also how you beat an opponent who is trying to respect your midrange spells, so they have their work cut out for them if they leave open 1U for Garruk or something.
I don't mean to make some grandstanding post about my card choices so I'll cut it short there on my reasoning for the shell. Two Maelstrom Pulse helps against opposing Karn Liberated and Ugins out of Tron if we don't see our Ghost Quarters in time to stop those plays, also double as a critical mass of enchantment removal alongside Abrupt Decays, Crime // Punishment, and Krosan Grip. Crime // Punishment makes the cut here because an Elves opponent can just cast Chord of Calling for 2 to tutor a Phyrexian Revoker in response to our Engineered Explosives. Also, it actually triggers Pyromancers.
Lastly, Syphon Life is there because it's a more live way to craft a kill against an opponent that we are trying to hit with redundant activations of Ghost Quarter every turn, opposed to having to tap out for 5 to cast Worm Harvest. It doubles as a clutch (expensive) cushion against Burn, though it is just unplayable against aggro decks that commit heavily to the board. I think this is one of the more loose cards in the 75 because I didn't have any data for it, just kind of went on a hunch in playing it since this is one of those decks that needs to use the entire ox so to speak.
It's critical to have XYZ cards in the list that can be utilized from the yard, or else we have no incentive to Dredge. Not committing to the virtual card advantage that comes with Loaming in order to concede to naturally drawing such a wide array of non-graveyard resources is usually bad (this is why it's rare to find a winning deck that relies on Loam only as a Seismic Assault enabler.) I digress...
Tournament report for Modern FNM
Round 1 - Elves
Game one I'm on the draw and had to mull to 4 game one on some very dead draws. I have Smallpox, Life from the Loam, Wooded Foothills, and Graven Cairns, which would have been insane on the play. He ends up dropping too many dorks for an early Smallpox to matter, so I end up actively dredging hoping to bump a Vengeful Pharaoh or Flame Jab into the yard, or to perhaps Faithless Looting into live draws. I end up just giving too much information as he curves into two lords, and after seeing no outs I concede.
-3 Raven's Crime
-1 Golgari Brownscale
-3 Seismic Assault
+2 Jund Charm
+2 Darkblast
+1 Crime // Punishment
+1 Maelstrom Pulse
+1 Vengeful Pharaoh
Game two I wipe his early wave of creatures with a Jund Charm after either a Looting or Loam, hitting my own Cairns with a Ghost Quarter to get the colored mana for the play. I saw a Temple Garden on my opponent's board, but elected to ignore it since it was impossible for him to Chord into a Burrenton Forge-Tender being that he had no cards in hand. He goes on to topdeck a Rest in Peace lol, so I had to run out Pyromancer tokens conventionally, using one Faithless looting at a time. Eventually he refills his grip with a Lead the Stampede. After a turn of running out manadorks and a Dwynen Elite, I topdeck a Pharaoh and jam it onto the board. He draws very low impact creatures and I answer an end turn Chord of Calling with Abrupt Decay on his Ezuri. With a horde of Elemental tokens stonewalling his creatures from getting in, and a Pharaoh swinging for 5 a turn, he goes to 7 only to pass as I topdeck a Crime // Punishment which I cast for 1cc, which leaves him with two creatures on board before I hit his Elite with an Abrupt Decay, and swing for lethal.
Game three he has a very linear draw with no outs to Jund Charm, and I get a 7-for-1 with the three mana instant. I went on to end the game by concession shortly after.
1-0 (2-1)
Round 2 - Abzan Little Kid
I get paired with my roommate and good friend, who is on a more aggressive version of Abzan. We are very 50/50 since I end up relying on Flame Jab and Darkblast to neutralize his board of Spirit tokens and Voice of Resurgence, Ghost Quarter for his manlands, Elemental tokens to chump Tarmogoyf, and Loam/Retrace spells to neutralize Liliana. Game one goes to me after a snoozefest of hitting him with redundant Ghost Quarters, countless Flame Jabs hitting the aforementioned creatures, a Goyf of his going to the bin off of Smallpox, and numerous Flame Jabs onto his Liliana to keep it at bay.
-4 Smallpox
-3 Raven's Crime
-1 Golgari Brownscale
+1 Vengeful Pharaoh
+2 Jund Charm
+2 Darkblast
+1 Maelstrom Pulse
+1 Crime // Punishment
+1 Bojuka Bog
In game two, being on the play gave him a leg up on me as I couldn't stabilize the board in time for two Voice of Resurgence, Tarmogoyf, and a critical mass of removal spells hitting my Pyromancers doing damage against me.
Game three I virtually punted in turns by not going to the dome with a Seismic Assault, only really not going for that plan so I could put him into winner's bracket where I imagined him to run into Burn, Twin, Grixis Delver, and Infect pilots, all which he is better suited to face. Regardless, because prize support is one pack per win, we go home with the same packs and I felt better knowing I'd run into more clunky shells in loser's bracket after round 2 (my prediction was on the money btw)
1-1 (3-3)
Round 3 - UW Tron
Game one I simply lost to a relatively early Karn Liberated, which I had no outs to as he hit my black sources.
-1 Flame Jab
-2 Abrupt Decay
-1 Terminate
-1 Murderous Cut
-1 Golgari Brownscale
+2 Ancient Grudge
+1 Krosan Grip
+1 Maelstrom Pulse
+1 Vengeful Pharaoh
+1 Syphon Life
Game two I hit him with multiple Raven's Crime copies and redundant Ghost Quarter activations, dinged him for 4 a turn with Seismic Assault, and he eventually topdecks a Gifts Ungiven in response to my Raven's Crime to put Unburial Rites and the new Ulamog in the bin. Next turn he only has enough mana to recur the Ulamog, but I simply go to the dome EoT for 4 life, putting him on 6, and cast Life from the Loam to do the last six damage on my turn.
Game three went more or less the same, except I kept one of his creatures at bay with a Smallpox. There's an attrition war that eventually leads to me Loaming away a Worm Harvest, which I cast two copies of for 11 tokens and lethal in three turns.
2-1 (5-4)
Round 4 - UWB(r) Gifts
Game one I put him on some kind of awkward Grixis Control, because he led with a turn two Jace and actually fetched a Steam Vents. I see what he's up to eventually as he starts to cast Gifts to get Snapcaster/Gifts/Cryptic/Kolaghan's Command. Eventually we go down to the wire and before I can really put him away with Raven's Crime, he uses his few remaining cards to Gifts for Unburial Rites and Iona. He recurs her next turn, naming Green to put me off of Loam, then casts his final card (Jace) and passes. I have four mana at my disposal next turn, and my hand has land/Flame Jab/Smallpox. I ding the Jace twice, cast Pox and proceed to eke out many cards as the game goes along, eventually finishing with Garruk beasts.
-1 Flame Jab
-1 Golgari Brownscale
-2 Abrupt Decay
-1 Terminate
-1 Murderous Cut
+2 Jund Charm
+1 Bojuka Bog
+1 Vengeful Pharaoh
+1 Darkblast
+1 Maelstrom Pulse
Game two is very attrition based as he is always playing on my turn, and I am always trying to make him respect a possible Jund Charm. I actually have it up the entire game except for the turn that I decide to almost put him away, as my first Raven's Crime doesn't put an Iona into the yard, and I can get him down to one card in hand by the end of the turn... it ends up being being a Gifts to put Iona and Rites in the bin, and he brings it out next turn naming black this time. It shuts off all my plays except Loam/Ghost Quarter and Faithless Looting, so I decided to go for Looting and ended up able to put a Pharaoh in the bin. He draws a few blanks as I loam away a Lavaclaw Reaches after two or three turns. By the time I untap with it, I threaten half his life total with all my lands on board for the pump, assuming he doesn't concede his Iona to stop it momentarily. He goes down to 7, draws another blank, and extends the hand.
3-1 (7-4)
Got absolutely nothing in my packs (BFZ packs are still golden to open though) but I did get a few oohs and ahhs from the playerbase there. It was amusing to watch the new guard of the community be exposed to mid-2000's technology, and have to respect a card like Garruk Wildspeaker lol. Hopefully my post was insightful, and I'd appreciate any feedback or suggestions for the list and sideboard plans. I'd rather not impose my advice or suggestions on anyone else unless they explicitly ask for it, even though I am seeing some wonky card choices... I'll stay posted in the forum if I land on anything else or have any kind of revelation that may help tweak the build you're all on. Peace