1) Koth is a powerhouse. I use the +1 all the time, if not to attack but to activate Myth Realize to untap a Sacred Foundry or cast a 1 CC spell. Against an opponent who I know who is not able to put down a threat or have no direct damage, I use his -2 to cast bigger spells to control the board. Blood Crypt and Godless Shrine are shocks I always keep in play, Sacred Foundry is 2nd choice. All the other lands I will sacrifice to Pox / Crack the Earth so keeping them in play is no problem. If I already have 3 lands in play, i have no qualms of sacrificing whatever 4th land it is.
2) Chandra is important for this deck. She is able to control the board with her +1 or give you another chance to press your board when you draw a land instead of a spell. I have ultimated her in stalemate games and finished off the opponent with Bolt / Molten Rain or Lingering Souls.
Ideally, my choice of Planewalkers for this deck is:
1) Elspeth, Knight Errant or Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2) Ajani Vengeant
3) Chandra, Pyromaster
4) Koth of the Hammer
5) Sorin, Solemn Visitor
i have yet to acquire Elspeth or Gideon (modern pro tour spiked the cards quite a bit) and have tested them as proxies and they are the key Planewalkers to have. Ajani and Chandra are next. So the ideal set up is:
Elespeth + Gideon + Ajani + Chandra, one of each with Sorin in the sideboard. Against burn / swarm based decks, I side in Pyroclasm and Sorin.
my current set up is Koth, Ajani, Chandra and Sorin. this by all means is NOT optimum but already very powerful and i never lost a game when i resolved a PW. Majority of the times, when any of the Planewalkers hit the board, you almost have the game because of the state of the board after 4-5 turns of control, if you ever resolve a 2nd PW, its almost impossible to lose unless its some situation when by you were already losing before the 1st one hit.
As a disclaimer, this deck is not easy to pilot. You need to know when to mulligan and what type of opening hand to play. This deck requires you to be very aggressive on the first 3 turns. This deck doesn't really like it when your opponent floods out but you can wait for them to play a creature before Small Poxing them. If you have Chromatic Star or Nihil Spellbomb in play, just Crack the Earth anyways to draw the card to keep their land count low so they cannot play more than 1 spell a turn.
Thanks! I will proxy 1 x Chandra, Pyromaster, 1 x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and 1 x Koth of the Hammer. I would like to keep 2 Ajani Vengeant, but I will try this before. Who knows...
Finally, Koth seems good. Like I never played with it before, I totally miss the fact that you can use your mountain to cast another spell or to activate Myth. This is certainly good.
I'm agree that the deck is not easy to pilot. Playing BW Smallpox since a while helps me to pilot Mardu Myth.
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Legacy : RGoblinR Modern BBW SmallpoxB RWBMardu MythBWR UUMerfolkUU
turn 1 eldrazi temple and turn 2 eye of ugin with a 3/3 or 4/4 eldrazi makes the deck degenerate. unless you have an opening hand of chromatic star + crack the earth + small pox + red/black source + black/white source + flagstones you are in for a hard time.
however, i do not think the pro tour versions will stay the way they are. over the course of the year, the eldrazi deck will change but however, the key play of the deck will remain the same.
. Akki Blizzard-Herder, I think we must, at least, playtest several times with it. Worst case, it will hit for one or prevent opponent to attack. That plus : Crack the Earth and Smallpox.
I proxied Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, didn't have the time to test it. It should be good, I'm eager to test it.
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Gideon is kinda weak to so many dismembers in the format, so it's most of the time a biggerblossom, unless you also have Liliana on the board to force their hand.
I'm now playing with 3x Gemstone Mine and 3x Urborg. I sacrificing the Mine to Pox when it is low on counters, target it with Boom, and has Urborg with it. Urborg, is also a fine Pox/Boom/discard target to mitigate it's legendary drawback.
i have slot one into my deck (finally managed to get one) and so far they greatly help offset my aggressive mana base and help out against aggressive decks especially post sideboard.
however, its not always a card i wish to see in my opening hand. but i think its a great card to include in the abzan versions that run Loam.
I'm surprised I haven't seen Bloodghast show up in more lists in this thread. I just built this deck two weeks ago, I had a week of testing with 4x Young Pyromancer, 3x Monastery Mentor, and 2x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet (<<filler for Gideon at the time) and it did pretty well. When I switched the creature suite to 4x Young Pyromancer, 4x Bloodghast, and 2x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, it was just bonkers. The synergies between Smallpox + Bloodghast and Bloodghast + Kalitas are just insane. I highly recommend it.
That list looks really cool, thanks for sharing. I really can't think of any to add. Any reason not to run the full playset of Flagstones of Trokair? Or just budget?
Thanks! It has been a blast to play so far and is really good at grinding games out. Your opponent will always feel on the defensive since there is a lot of graveyard recursion built into the deck. Once you land a Kalitas, it is usually game over unless they can remove him quickly.
4 Flagstones might be right, but I didn't want to tax the land base too much since the white is just a splash. To be honest, I don't own any Flagstones yet. I have been playing without them and haven't encountered any problems so far. Without Flagstones, Smallpox has still been a 3-for-2 90% of the time. With the Flagstones, it should be a 3-2 closer to 95% of the time and a 3-1 once in a while.
You could probably replace 1x Plains & 1x Marsh Flats with 2x Flagstone.
You might also be able to incorporate Liliana of the Veil, though I'm not sure what to replace. Depending upon the number of tokens you're producing I could possibly see her working as well as Sorin. Pitching bloodghast/souls with her +1 is a classic move and her edict would fuel Kalitas.
I'll try replacing the 1x Marsh Flats with another Flagstones sometime. I would be hesitant to replace the 1x Plains because there is Blue Moon in my meta. I could see Sorin being replaced with Liliana eventually. I don't have any of her yet, but I think you're right that she synergies well with a lot of the deck. Thanks for the input!
I'm taking the deck to my LGS tomorrow for modern night and I'll report back.
the deck has a learning curve with regards to the hidden (pun intended) workings with Hidden Stockpile. if you have 2 in play, the tokens generated become exponential. sacrificing 1 creature token during ur endstep lets you scry and smoothen out your draws will also net you a new servo token. lingering soul spirit tokens and young pyromancer's elemental tokens lets you go wider with token strategies.
i really love the deck in playtesting. boarding in Rest in Peace AND Surgical Extraction lets us deal with most of the tiered decks in Modern.
hope u guys are able to get as much fun as i am getting from this version!
Also, it would be nice to see your current sideboard.
i used to use Nihil Spellbomb mainboard. Its the most relevant card i could use in the deck a few pages back.
i greatly prefer Chromatic Star because it also offers mana colour fixing, which is impt in a 3 colour deck.
Impliment of Improvement is decent but won't be my first choice.
Generally my sideboard looks like:
4 Surgical Extraction
3 Rest in Piece
3 Stony Silence
3 Kor Firewalker
2 Terminate
its heavily tailored against dredge, affinity, tron and burn with some residual splash damage against abzan company.
jund/junk/grixis generally do not like you attacking their manabase... but the match up is very 50:50 as they are able to bring down a turn 2 beatstick fairly easily/regularly. all 3 also are able to bring in thoughtseize and inquisition of kozilek which greatly tempos you out indirectly.
As soon as possible the deck tries to abuse the Land Destruction spells targeting your own fetches, flagstones and darksteel. Bloodghast is a recurrent threat.
With fewer lands, Magus can hurt your opponent. Walls will give you blocks and creatures yo be saced with Smallpox. The Dark Dwellers allows you to recycle most of your spells and cast boom/bust for mass LD.
A few observations:
1) Didn't liked lingering souls in the deck. Could be really good but I do not have this feeling right now.
2) World Queller could be a nice addition. Worth the test.
3) Decks that heavily rely on mana rocks could be very hard.
4) Though matchups: Burn, Bant Eldrazi, Knight LandFall, Elves (ish)
deck punishes most type of midrange decks like kiki-chord. has a fairly 50-50 game against eldrazi tron (as long as they do not get the double eldrazi temple draw) but is brutal against them post side board (4 surgical extractions for molten rain + 1 mana tithe). against aggressive decks like death shadow, you need to board in path to exile as a starter, DS decks are hard to play against because they play the 8 discard package you need quite a bit of luck to survive a turn 1 thoughtseize / IoK and turn 2 Goyf etc but its doable because they do not like to trade 1 for 1 for the long run. against burn, either go Kor Firewalker or Dragon's Claw.
If your area has Dredge or Living End, Rest in Peace is required along with Surgical Extraction.
Despite Kolaghan's Cmd in the format, its still a one-two of in any of the decks that run it. they either have to answer smuggler's copter when it resolves or they don't. if copter sticks, you will win faster. if copter dies, you can still win, but need a few more turns.
ideally, i prefer sorin, lord of innastrad for ajani vengeant. sorin, solemn visitor is not bad too but lord of innastrad's +1 is a 1/1 vampire with lifelink. and that lifelink can help you out at times. i dropped sorin, solemn visitor mainly because its almost a win more card and my games mostly end before i can ultimate him.
Thanks! I will proxy 1 x Chandra, Pyromaster, 1 x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and 1 x Koth of the Hammer. I would like to keep 2 Ajani Vengeant, but I will try this before. Who knows...
Finally, Koth seems good. Like I never played with it before, I totally miss the fact that you can use your mountain to cast another spell or to activate Myth. This is certainly good.
I'm agree that the deck is not easy to pilot. Playing BW Smallpox since a while helps me to pilot Mardu Myth.
Modern
RWBMardu MythBWR
UUMerfolkUU
however, i do not think the pro tour versions will stay the way they are. over the course of the year, the eldrazi deck will change but however, the key play of the deck will remain the same.
Active thread contributor of Jeskai Prowess Tempo
Akki Blizzard-Herder, I think we must, at least, playtest several times with it. Worst case, it will hit for one or prevent opponent to attack. That plus : Crack the Earth and Smallpox.
I proxied Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, didn't have the time to test it. It should be good, I'm eager to test it.
Modern
RWBMardu MythBWR
UUMerfolkUU
I'm now playing with 3x Gemstone Mine and 3x Urborg. I sacrificing the Mine to Pox when it is low on counters, target it with Boom, and has Urborg with it. Urborg, is also a fine Pox/Boom/discard target to mitigate it's legendary drawback.
and grinding the opponent out with 2/2 knight tokens is always better.
Active thread contributor of Jeskai Prowess Tempo
always breed tokens. always.
Active thread contributor of Jeskai Prowess Tempo
however, its not always a card i wish to see in my opening hand. but i think its a great card to include in the abzan versions that run Loam.
Active thread contributor of Jeskai Prowess Tempo
4x Young Pyromancer
4x Bloodghast
2x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
Instants/Sorceries
4x Smallpox
2x Thoughtseize
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
1x Kolaghan's Command
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Lightning Helix
4x Lingering Souls
2x Painful Truths
2x Faithless Looting
1x Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Lands
4x Bloodstained Mire
2x Polluted Delta
2x Marsh Flats
2x Swamp
1x Plains
4x Blackcleave Cliffs
1x Godless Shrine
2x Blood Crypt
1x Sacred Foundry
2x Flagstones of Trokair
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Vault of the Archangel
1x Blood Baron of Vizkopa
2x Dragon's Claw
2x Fulminator Mage
1x Pyroclasm
2x Rakdos Charm
1x Slaughter Games
3x Terminate
1x Wear / Tear
1x Wrath of God
1x Zealous Persecution
The deck is still in testing, but like I mentioned, the biggest improvement I saw was when I swapped out Monastery Mentor for Bloodghast.
4 Flagstones might be right, but I didn't want to tax the land base too much since the white is just a splash. To be honest, I don't own any Flagstones yet. I have been playing without them and haven't encountered any problems so far. Without Flagstones, Smallpox has still been a 3-for-2 90% of the time. With the Flagstones, it should be a 3-2 closer to 95% of the time and a 3-1 once in a while.
You might also be able to incorporate Liliana of the Veil, though I'm not sure what to replace. Depending upon the number of tokens you're producing I could possibly see her working as well as Sorin. Pitching bloodghast/souls with her +1 is a classic move and her edict would fuel Kalitas.
I'm taking the deck to my LGS tomorrow for modern night and I'll report back.
i still am on and off.
my current list:
4 Chromatic Star
2 Nihil Spellbomb
4 Smallpox
4 Crack the Earth
4 Stone Rain
2 Molten Rain
4 Lingering Souls
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Lightning Helix
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Ajani Vengeant
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Drownyard Temple
1 Swamp
2 Plains
2 Mountain
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Flagstones of Trokair
2 Sacred Foundry
2 Blood Crypt
2 Godless Shrine
1 Shambling Vent
1 Graven Cairns
Will most likely be swapping out Chandra for the new one if she is affordable post release.
Active thread contributor of Jeskai Prowess Tempo
however, aether revolt gifted us with 2 new cards!
fatal push and Hidden Stockpile!
the fastlands from Kaladesh are also tremendously useful since we can take less damage from our mana base and no longer rely on lightning helix.
4 Molten Rain
4 Crack the Earth
4 Stone Rain
3 Smallpox
4 Lingering Souls
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Fatal Push
4 Hidden Stockpile
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Concealed Courtyard
4 Inspiring Vantage
3 Flagstones of Trokair
1 Godless Shrine
1 Blood Crypt
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Swamp
the deck has a learning curve with regards to the hidden (pun intended) workings with Hidden Stockpile. if you have 2 in play, the tokens generated become exponential. sacrificing 1 creature token during ur endstep lets you scry and smoothen out your draws will also net you a new servo token. lingering soul spirit tokens and young pyromancer's elemental tokens lets you go wider with token strategies.
i really love the deck in playtesting. boarding in Rest in Peace AND Surgical Extraction lets us deal with most of the tiered decks in Modern.
hope u guys are able to get as much fun as i am getting from this version!
Active thread contributor of Jeskai Prowess Tempo
Also, it would be nice to see your current sideboard.
Current Decklist- https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/732750#online
Sideboard Guide- https://www.scribd.com/document/384901650/Sideboard-Guide-to-Squeeflagrate
Forum- https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/deck-creation-modern/582542-raphael-levys-loam-pox?page=37
i used to use Nihil Spellbomb mainboard. Its the most relevant card i could use in the deck a few pages back.
i greatly prefer Chromatic Star because it also offers mana colour fixing, which is impt in a 3 colour deck.
Impliment of Improvement is decent but won't be my first choice.
Generally my sideboard looks like:
4 Surgical Extraction
3 Rest in Piece
3 Stony Silence
3 Kor Firewalker
2 Terminate
its heavily tailored against dredge, affinity, tron and burn with some residual splash damage against abzan company.
jund/junk/grixis generally do not like you attacking their manabase... but the match up is very 50:50 as they are able to bring down a turn 2 beatstick fairly easily/regularly. all 3 also are able to bring in thoughtseize and inquisition of kozilek which greatly tempos you out indirectly.
Active thread contributor of Jeskai Prowess Tempo
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Mountain
1 Arid Mesa
1 Plains
2 Sacred Foundry
2 Godless Shrine
1 Darksteel Citadel
3 Blood Crypt
3 Marsh Flats
2 Flagstones of Trokair
1 Swamp
2 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Ajani Vengeant
// Enchantment
2 Ghostly Prison
// Spells
3 Terminate
1 Kolaghan's Command
3 Fatal Push
4 Smallpox
4 Stone Rain
2 Lightning Bolt
4 Boom // Bust
// Creatures
3 Bloodghast
2 Goblin Dark-Dwellers
2 Magus of the Tabernacle
3 Wall of Omens
1 Damnation
1 Stony Silence
2 Crackling Doom
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Blessed Alliance
2 Wear // Tear
1 Anguished Unmaking
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 Hallowed Moonlight
1 Blasphemous Act
As soon as possible the deck tries to abuse the Land Destruction spells targeting your own fetches, flagstones and darksteel. Bloodghast is a recurrent threat.
With fewer lands, Magus can hurt your opponent. Walls will give you blocks and creatures yo be saced with Smallpox. The Dark Dwellers allows you to recycle most of your spells and cast boom/bust for mass LD.
A few observations:
1) Didn't liked lingering souls in the deck. Could be really good but I do not have this feeling right now.
2) World Queller could be a nice addition. Worth the test.
3) Decks that heavily rely on mana rocks could be very hard.
4) Though matchups: Burn, Bant Eldrazi, Knight LandFall, Elves (ish)
Update:
3 Molten Rain
4 Crack the Earth
4 Stone Rain
3 Smallpox
4 Lingering Souls
4 Fatal Push
4 Mana Tithe
2 Smuggler's Copter
3 Hidden Stockpile
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Ajani Vengeant
3 Bloodstained Mire
3 Concealed Courtyard
3 Inspiring Vantage
3 Flagstones of Trokair
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Godless Shrine
1 Blood Crypt
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Mountain
deck punishes most type of midrange decks like kiki-chord. has a fairly 50-50 game against eldrazi tron (as long as they do not get the double eldrazi temple draw) but is brutal against them post side board (4 surgical extractions for molten rain + 1 mana tithe). against aggressive decks like death shadow, you need to board in path to exile as a starter, DS decks are hard to play against because they play the 8 discard package you need quite a bit of luck to survive a turn 1 thoughtseize / IoK and turn 2 Goyf etc but its doable because they do not like to trade 1 for 1 for the long run. against burn, either go Kor Firewalker or Dragon's Claw.
If your area has Dredge or Living End, Rest in Peace is required along with Surgical Extraction.
Despite Kolaghan's Cmd in the format, its still a one-two of in any of the decks that run it. they either have to answer smuggler's copter when it resolves or they don't. if copter sticks, you will win faster. if copter dies, you can still win, but need a few more turns.
ideally, i prefer sorin, lord of innastrad for ajani vengeant. sorin, solemn visitor is not bad too but lord of innastrad's +1 is a 1/1 vampire with lifelink. and that lifelink can help you out at times. i dropped sorin, solemn visitor mainly because its almost a win more card and my games mostly end before i can ultimate him.
Active thread contributor of Jeskai Prowess Tempo