MTG Salvation

Three times must be the charm on MTGO, right? This deck has a Modern Challenge Top 32 to its name and two appearances in MTGO Modern Leagues:



I'm happy to note that not all of these appearances were by the same user, so it looks like plenty of people can find success with it!

I've tried an earlier list posted by someone else with Wheel of Fate, and Wheel of Fate sucked in testing (let opponents dump creatures into the graveyard), so I'm glad that Flameblade Adept is rocking it instead.

Here's my list. The flex slots keep changing (they're Iona and Deadshot Minotaur right now):

Other cards I have tried in the flex slots include Sphinx of Foresight (is better in more all-in-on-Living End versions), Angrath's Marauders like in the second list, and Chancellor of the Forge (interestingly plays into both the Hollow Flameblade and the Living End plans, but might not speed up the clock fast enough in practice).

The MTGO lists imply that one of my flex slots should really be a 3rd Urabrask, but I'm not the biggest fan of that because I'd be stacking the same legend hard.

Anyone else interested in this deck?

Hi there, im also into this deck, im having the same core like warren on mtgo except im running 4 demigod of revenge and 2 dragonlord kolloghan, instead of angrath marauders and urabrask.

Been doin some playtest and kept on switching chancellor of the annexdroos over demigod of revenge for hand effect.

I'm planning to play some games with a list running 2-3 Magus of the Moon. I think that if your deck CAN support moon effects in modern, it should be playing them (with a few exceptions). The idea behind Magus instead of Blood Moon is that Magus interacts with living end. i.e, he can be cast to slow down the opponent, block, or force removal, and then come right back with a living end. He can also be discarded to a Faithless Looting, or Cathartic Reunion, and then come back later. I'm hoping that it will be a bit like Fullminator Mage, but with more capacity to be an "oops, I win" condition against some decks.

This version of LE looks sweet! I’m tempted to build it. How’s the consistency been?

Quote from n0bunga »

This version of LE looks sweet! I’m tempted to build it. How’s the consistency been?

The consistency has never been 100% there, but I've typically been able to get either the Hollow Flameblade plan working or the Mono-Red Living End plan working in each game. The Hollow Flameblade plan only works in the early game (but it has won some games), and this deck does not switch between plans easily.

In my experience, this deck pumps Flameblade Adept markedly more consistently than BR Hollow One does; I believe this is because of this deck's sheer cycler density.

Yeah FBA and Hollow One seem super potent.

Has there been any consideration for wraths like Nahiri’s Wrath? It may suck not getting the draw off them, but against an opposing aggro stratrgy it seems like a good way to clear the board and fill the grave.

Wooooooooowwwwwwwww!!!! my mind....my mind.... explosion!!!! I loved this deck only first look

This deck is actually functionally very similar to a list in pauper, BR Reanimator. I that format though you are trying to discard an ulamogs crusher and dragons breath to your faithless and then exhume, but this deck has much more of a plan B. For this reason I think Ubrask is 100% the correct call over anything that is not hard castable.

I like the Iona in the list because it can lead to magical Christmas land scenarios where you win on turn 2, but at the same time it feels much more vulnerable than some other options because there are some other decks that will just murder it and move on. Void Winnower or Elish Norn may be a better option depending on your meta game and could be viable sideboard options.

I honestly think that if you go blood moon in the sideboard you likely just want 4 of them and 4 SSGs in the list as well. The point of the card is to soft lock your opponent and if they have to much time early on for set up then drawing it late is a dead card. It is well worth -1 card to sneak a moon in a turn earlier and it will pay for itself.

Why guttural response over Ricochet trap?

Also, is the neonate really worth it over 2 more Cathartic? Is having a 1/1 body really relevant? It can help you fight relic activations but at the same time I think I would rather just have more relic hate.

Quote from protoaddict »

This deck is actually functionally very similar to a list in pauper, BR Reanimator. I that format though you are trying to discard an ulamogs crusher and dragons breath to your faithless and then exhume, but this deck has much more of a plan B. For this reason I think Ubrask is 100% the correct call over anything that is not hard castable.

I like the Iona in the list because it can lead to magical Christmas land scenarios where you win on turn 2, but at the same time it feels much more vulnerable than some other options because there are some other decks that will just murder it and move on. Void Winnower or Elish Norn may be a better option depending on your meta game and could be viable sideboard options.

I honestly think that if you go blood moon in the sideboard you likely just want 4 of them and 4 SSGs in the list as well. The point of the card is to soft lock your opponent and if they have to much time early on for set up then drawing it late is a dead card. It is well worth -1 card to sneak a moon in a turn earlier and it will pay for itself.

Why guttural response over Ricochet trap?

Also, is the neonate really worth it over 2 more Cathartic? Is having a 1/1 body really relevant? It can help you fight relic activations but at the same time I think I would rather just have more relic hate.

I figured Void Winnower didn't hose enough (too many removal spells cost odd-numbered amounts of mana, it cannot shut down Burn), and I also figured that Elesh Norn hosed close to nothing, was vulnerable to removal, and didn't increase the clock as much as Urabrask does.

Guttural Response is run over Ricochet Trap in the sideboard because Guttural Response can nullify Gifts Ungiven and Cryptic Command on Fog + cantrip mode, while Ricochet Trap cannot.

I've found the body of Insolent Neonate to matter, but more importantly, Neonate costs 1 mana while Cathartic Reunion costs 2 (the better for digging for the second land with), and Cathartic Reunion requires you to discard 2 cards up front, while Neonate lets you save your discard until later. I've had situations where Cathartic Reunion would force me to discard Electrodominance or Living End a fair few times.

We got a Modern MCQ result! That's pretty big!


...OK, surely a mild black splash for sideboard cards and maybe hardcast maindeck creatures is light enough to ignore?

I think black splash is great. Aside from making all the creatures castable (excluding minotaur) it also allows as to suspend living end which is not irrelevant. Overall, I like changes GlauberT has made to the list. Cathartic Reunion wasn't stellar for me when I was trying out his initial list and 4 main macabres are great. They provide 4 more "free" cyclers making hollow bois easier to cast on t1 with or even without looting as well as maindeck GY hate. The one thing i'm not sure are fatal pushes in the SB. They're probably there for Thing, but I wonder if lightning bolt might be better to have additional reach for plan B (hollow/jackal)

I suppose getting 3rd place in a 25-person tournament is better than nothing.

Gonna try this deck again after it just got Finale of Promise.

So this deck has two ways to win: 1) stick a H1/Adept early and aggro them out, or 2) cycle some creatures, cheat out LE and beat them with overwhelming force. Plan 1 can lead into plan 2 if they kill your beaters with non-exile/tuck removal. Plan 2 can also be done very quickly as an imitation of plan 1 by cycling/looting two creatures and casting Electrodominance/Finale on turn 2.

The pre-Finale build had this annoying problem of running out of cards in hand very quickly because it played Looting, Neonate and SSG, all of which were negative CA. Finale solves this problem by turning a discarded LE/AV into a live card. Also, both Finale and Electrodominance cost 2 mana, so SSG is no longer needed.

Finale provides another interesting post-SB plan: you can board into Bolt and Flame Slash, board out LEs, and transform into a weird Jeskai-like deck with tons of spot removal and Finale as your version of Snapcaster Mage.

That's a pretty interesting list, izzetmage.
How well does 16 lands work for you?

16 lands hasn't been a problem with the sheer number of cyclers and looters. A close comparison would be Grixis DS, which has 17 lands, 11-12 cantrips, and functions on 2-3 lands fine. I have 16 and 12, but 8 looters in addition.

In my goldfishing the deck has been very consistent. I know everyone says it about any deck that they've just brewed up, but trust me when I say I'm not being biased here. The cantrip count kind of speaks for itself. You can get a turn 1/2 Hollow One reliably without random discard screwing you over, and Neonate helps because it can "store" a discard for turn 2. Not having to play SSG is also a liberating feeling.

Most of the time your hand lends itself to the early H1/Adept aggro plan and you go for the combo only when they've dealt with the initial threat.

Quote from izzetmage »

Gonna try this deck again after it just got Finale of Promise.

Lectrys's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
7 Mountain 4 Spirebluff Canal 1 Steam Vents 4 Bloodstained Mire Cyclers/looters 4 Street Wraith 4 Desert Cerodon 4 Monstrous Carabid 4 Faithless Looting 4 Insolent Neonate	Aggro cards 4 Flameblade Adept 4 Hollow One Combo cards 4 Electrodominance 4 Finale of Promise 4 Living End 4 Ancestral Vision

So this deck has two ways to win: 1) stick a H1/Adept early and aggro them out, or 2) cycle some creatures, cheat out LE and beat them with overwhelming force. Plan 1 can lead into plan 2 if they kill your beaters with non-exile/tuck removal. Plan 2 can also be done very quickly as an imitation of plan 1 by cycling/looting two creatures and casting Electrodominance/Finale on turn 2.

The pre-Finale build had this annoying problem of running out of cards in hand very quickly because it played Looting, Neonate and SSG, all of which were negative CA. Finale solves this problem by turning a discarded LE/AV into a live card. Also, both Finale and Electrodominance cost 2 mana, so SSG is no longer needed.

Finale provides another interesting post-SB plan: you can board into Bolt and Flame Slash, board out LEs, and transform into a weird Jeskai-like deck with tons of spot removal and Finale as your version of Snapcaster Mage.

How has the Ancestral Vision plan been in this deck? I never felt any reason to include AV in the old stock build, and part of me worries that the hoop-jumping required to support it will only slow the deck down. In a UR Aggro As Foretold Electro End brew I tried, AV was better than Wheel of Fate because it didn't give opponents the opportunity to discard their creatures, but the deck was still too inconsistent. (I didn't try the Flameblade plan in that list, though. I think I started ditching Hollow One from it instead.)

AV is fine. I've found Adept/H1 beatdown to be the main plan A, so having a draw 3 is an acceptable recovery method if they manage to deal with that. Against fair decks you have enough time to wait for it to come off suspend (especially if their hands are tied up dealing with Adept/H1), and you won't get punished hard if you end up drawing ED afterwards. I've gotten out from under Ensnaring Bridge by targeting my opponent with an AV off suspend, then flashing it back with Finale to fill my opponent's hand with cards.

It's better than Wheel because as you mentioned Wheel lets your opponent benefit from LE. Also, AV is cheaper to suspend. Never thought I'd see the day when I'm playing AV in an aggro deck

edit: just want to add that AV is always a net +1 whether it's casted via ED or Finale. ED is easy to see: you start with 2 cards (ED+AV) and end up with 3, so it's +1. For Finale, consider looting it with Neonate, then flashing it back with Finale: you start with 3 cards (Neonate, AV, Finale) and end up with 4 (1 from Neonate, 3 from AV), so it's also +1.

Hey guys. Just seen another 5-0. Really cool deck and Im keen on playing it. https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1859488#online

Would Finale of Promise make the list? If so, what would you cut for it?

One last thing...Would a green splash for enchantment hate against Leyline and RiP be worth it?

Cheers

I've been playing Finale and like it quite a bit due to the increase in redundant pieces for the combo part of the deck. It does turn on Grafdigger's Cage against this deck though.

The deck works with 16 Mountains so any splash has little cost, you just have to put fastlands, fetches and shocks in your deck. I think white might be better for removing enchantments though, since Nature's Claim gives them life (hurting your H1/Adept aggro plan) while Wear // Tear and Fragmentize don't.

Good Idea Izzet. I thought tear was 2 mana for some reason but that seemsna better choice. Plus, white has some of the best sideboard cards in modern. I might have to give the white splash a go in the future with Inspiring vantage, Foundry and Arid Mesa.

I'm currently testing 2 Finale's. So far I'm having a blast with the deck!