A few years ago I took this deck to a modern tournament (back when Pod was legal) and didn't do so well. In my defense, I made a lot of play mistakes as I didn't really know how to play against certain cards/decks. Creature based decks I seemed to do ok against but it was combo that gave this deck the most trouble.
I took a small break for a while and recently got back into magic. The release of Nyx-Fleece Ram compelled me to take another stab at this. This card just seems perfect for the deck; I believe it could be the push the deck needs to make it resilient against creature decks and a possible rogue contender in the ever-growing modern deck base. Here's what I have at the moment:
The general idea is to survive long enough until you can contain the board, then have your opponent locked down from playing any creatures with Searing Meditation. From there, you can just start shocking your opponent to the face with Searing Meditation or swing in with a large Ajani's Pridemate. Card choices are explained below:
Main wincons
Searing Meditation - What the deck is built around. Doesn't take too much work to get online, just need some mana. Recurrable damange to keep creatures off the board and hit our opponent with lethal once the board is under control. I compare it to Punishing Fire, and we all know how good that card was...
Ajani's Pridemate - An excellent beater, he's like a better goyf in this deck. You can play him early if you have an aggressive hand or you can plop him down late game and watch the counters pile on like crazy.
Well of Lost Dreams - Not a direct wincon, but it can help us draw into our wincon, an answer, or just huge card advantage
Removal/Control
Lightning Helix - Can be used aggressively in conjunction with Ajani's Pridemate in the early game. Also useful late game when we need a lifegain trigger for any of our wincons above, though most of the time I find I don't really need the lightning helixs. There is also the unfortunate matter that helix is out of range of some of modern's staples like Deceiver Exarch and Spellskite. Maybe I should consider swapping this out for something else?
Recumbant Bliss - Pacifism may not be the strongest removal in the format, but the life gain sets us up nicely with our wincons later on and at the end of the day it does what it needs to against some of modern's best beaters. With all the other cards in the deck, it's not uncommon to gain 4-5 life on each of your upkeeps, making it difficult for creature decks to race against us. Can probably be sideboaraded out when necessary
Oblivion Ring - The deck doesn't have any other real answers to non-creature threats so this seems necessary.
Ajani Vengeant - Honestly, I've always just had this guy in here just because. Seems to help with the control aspect, but maybe I could be running something better in this slot?
Lifegain/Other
Nyx-Fleece Ram - An excellent two drop that will stop most creatures in their track, buying us the time we need to get setup. The lifegain is also incredibly relevant.
Sun Droplet] - Another card to help slow down aggressive decks. Note that it gains us 1 life on each UPKEEP. If it's dry, we can use Battlefield Forge to damage ourselves and put more counters on. While it does help protect us and gain life, it's not as efficient as Nyx-Fleece Ram and doesn't really have much use outside of this role. This is another card that I've been considering swapping out (though maybe I could keep it as a 1 or 2 of)
Ghost-Lit Redeemer - I like having this in here as a 1 of just incase. It's a nice little mana-sink if you happen to have it in play. The channel ability is also nice if you really need a surprise lifegain trigger. Could also consider removing this out, but if I end up swapping out Lightning Helix and/or Sun Droplet for something else then I'd probably be more inclined to keep this in the deck
The Sideboard
The sideboard I just threw together tbh. Just things that I think could help against certain match ups but I didn't put too much thought into it. May consider mainboarding some or all of the paths.
The deck is a lot of fun to pilot and I think it's resilient enough to stand against creature based decks. However, I feel it may struggle against combo-y based decks like Splintertwin, urzatron, bloom, etc. I'm not sure what changes I could/should make, if any. I've also considered moving the deck in another direction, possibly midrange with green splash for goyf, Kitchen Finks and Archangel of Thune, but I'm not sure if that would be more effective.
Thoughts? Opinions? I may try taking this to a local modern event sometime just to see how it plays out.
A few years ago I took this deck to a modern tournament (back when Pod was legal) and didn't do so well. In my defense, I made a lot of play mistakes as I didn't really know how to play against certain cards/decks. Creature based decks I seemed to do ok against but it was combo that gave this deck the most trouble.
I took a small break for a while and recently got back into magic. The release of Nyx-Fleece Ram compelled me to take another stab at this. This card just seems perfect for the deck; I believe it could be the push the deck needs to make it resilient against creature decks and a possible rogue contender in the ever-growing modern deck base. Here's what I have at the moment:
1x Ghost-Lit Redeemer
4x Ajani's Pridemate
4x Nyx-Fleece Ram
//Artifacts [11]
4x Sun Droplet
4x Pristine Talisman
2x Well of Lost Dreams
//Enchantments [10]
2x Oblivion Ring
4x Recumbent Bliss
4x Searing Meditation
2x Ajani Vengeant
//Instants[4]
4x Lightning Helix
//Lands [25]
3x Rugged Prairie
4x Clifftop Retreat
4x Battlefield Forge
4x Kabira Crossroads
3x Mountains
7x Plains
4x Path to Exile
2x Leyline of Sanctity
1x Disenchant
4x Kor Firewalker
2x Celestial Purge
2x Blood Moon
The general idea is to survive long enough until you can contain the board, then have your opponent locked down from playing any creatures with Searing Meditation. From there, you can just start shocking your opponent to the face with Searing Meditation or swing in with a large Ajani's Pridemate. Card choices are explained below:
Main wincons
Searing Meditation - What the deck is built around. Doesn't take too much work to get online, just need some mana. Recurrable damange to keep creatures off the board and hit our opponent with lethal once the board is under control. I compare it to Punishing Fire, and we all know how good that card was...
Ajani's Pridemate - An excellent beater, he's like a better goyf in this deck. You can play him early if you have an aggressive hand or you can plop him down late game and watch the counters pile on like crazy.
Well of Lost Dreams - Not a direct wincon, but it can help us draw into our wincon, an answer, or just huge card advantage
Removal/Control
Lightning Helix - Can be used aggressively in conjunction with Ajani's Pridemate in the early game. Also useful late game when we need a lifegain trigger for any of our wincons above, though most of the time I find I don't really need the lightning helixs. There is also the unfortunate matter that helix is out of range of some of modern's staples like Deceiver Exarch and Spellskite. Maybe I should consider swapping this out for something else?
Recumbant Bliss - Pacifism may not be the strongest removal in the format, but the life gain sets us up nicely with our wincons later on and at the end of the day it does what it needs to against some of modern's best beaters. With all the other cards in the deck, it's not uncommon to gain 4-5 life on each of your upkeeps, making it difficult for creature decks to race against us. Can probably be sideboaraded out when necessary
Oblivion Ring - The deck doesn't have any other real answers to non-creature threats so this seems necessary.
Ajani Vengeant - Honestly, I've always just had this guy in here just because. Seems to help with the control aspect, but maybe I could be running something better in this slot?
Lifegain/Other
Nyx-Fleece Ram - An excellent two drop that will stop most creatures in their track, buying us the time we need to get setup. The lifegain is also incredibly relevant.
Sun Droplet] - Another card to help slow down aggressive decks. Note that it gains us 1 life on each UPKEEP. If it's dry, we can use Battlefield Forge to damage ourselves and put more counters on. While it does help protect us and gain life, it's not as efficient as Nyx-Fleece Ram and doesn't really have much use outside of this role. This is another card that I've been considering swapping out (though maybe I could keep it as a 1 or 2 of)
Pristine Talisman - Searing Meditation and Well of Lost Dreams are both mana intensive, so the mana accel helps. With either of these cards out, it essential reads: tap, pay 1, shock something OR tap, draw a card.
Ghost-Lit Redeemer - I like having this in here as a 1 of just incase. It's a nice little mana-sink if you happen to have it in play. The channel ability is also nice if you really need a surprise lifegain trigger. Could also consider removing this out, but if I end up swapping out Lightning Helix and/or Sun Droplet for something else then I'd probably be more inclined to keep this in the deck
The Sideboard
The sideboard I just threw together tbh. Just things that I think could help against certain match ups but I didn't put too much thought into it. May consider mainboarding some or all of the paths.
The deck is a lot of fun to pilot and I think it's resilient enough to stand against creature based decks. However, I feel it may struggle against combo-y based decks like Splintertwin, urzatron, bloom, etc. I'm not sure what changes I could/should make, if any. I've also considered moving the deck in another direction, possibly midrange with green splash for goyf, Kitchen Finks and Archangel of Thune, but I'm not sure if that would be more effective.
Thoughts? Opinions? I may try taking this to a local modern event sometime just to see how it plays out.