MTG Salvation

Living End
Rating:
While the card has more text on it than the constitutions of several countries, it might as well read 'You win the game' against many opponents. The deck's namesake essentially flips the battlefield and the graveyard, making your investment in dead creatures much more profitable than your opponent who summoned them the old fashioned way.

Normally, drawing this card is bad, BUT do remember that it's OK to suspend the card. This comes up against decks playing Remand or similar counterspells, as we can overload their ability to counter by timing a cascade spell right after one comes off suspend. Also, note that when you cascade, you can choose not to cast Living End. However, when it is coming off suspend, you must cast it.

The general consensus is that 3 copies is correct, though some users have reported success with lists running only 2. This is a bit loose, and definitely not advised for heavy U metas.

Violent Outburst
Rating:
Of our 2 cascade cards, this one is a cut above. You can (and, in most cases,should!) fire this off at instant speed. Waiting until after your opponent's post-combat main phase ensures you get any creature played, though you will likely play this in combat a lot of the time. It's even better when they animate a creature-land. Muahahahaha!

Also, don't forget that this can be a surprise 3-5 damage if cast after blocks during your combat phases. As noted above, you do have to resolve your Cascade trigger, but you can choose not to cast the card it finds, instead leaving it in exile. You may be able to end the game a turn sooner, or trade for an important creature by using the overcosted anthem ability.

Always play 4.

Demonic Dread
Rating:
So, this isn't as good as Violent Outburst. But it still is often a 3-mana one-sided Wrath of God/one-sided Eureka, so that makes it a staple. However, it is strictly worse at sorcery speed, and it does require a target. It also can be used to remove a blocker and guarantee a lethal attack, so don't forget that mode as well.

Most lists play 3, but in any meta where you will NEED to cascade on turn 2 or 3, bring all 4 copies.

Prime Time Cyclers
While other cyclers have occupied deck slots over time, these five cards represent the core cyclers, occupying 16-20 main deck slots.

Monstrous Carabid
Rating:
He may have a drawback (rarely comes up), but this insect cycles for one hybrid mana. And that alone makes his 4/4 body one you should never leave in the binder or move to the sideboard. Play 4 always.

Street Wraith
Rating:
Though the wraith has the weakest power of any prime time cycler, "free" cycling is a huge benefit when racing Burn or Affinity. While we used to side him out against these decks, our ability to race has improved and in the long run, the 2 life this costs to cycle should result in 3-6 damage. Plus, the evasion is relevant more often that you might think. Bring all 4 copies.


Horror of the Broken Lands
Rating:
Horror is the better of the two common cyclers we got from Amonkhet, and it may not appear so on the front end. However, as an Living End player worth their salt knows, you often have cyclers in your hand post-cascade. Having an onboard, uncounterable pump ability can allow the Horror to sneak in 2-4 extra damage, or force you opponent to respect it and make blocking more difficult. Additionally, his 4B casting cost makes him an easy to cast beater when we're on Plan B. Again, bring all 4 copies, though if you are playing against a Blood Moon deck, you can shave 1-2 Horrors.

Desert Cerodon
Rating:
The Cerodon kind of exemplifies the Living End deck. He's draft trash that didn't even always make the cut in Amonkhet Limited, but he's a reliable, face-smashing monster for R in this deck. Always play 4, though when given the choice, it's better to cycle Horror of the Broken Lands first.

Archfiend of Ifnir
Rating:
In a format where 2 mana cycling is often too slow, the demon lord makes up for his 2 cost by being a total bomb. Few decks run many answers to a 5/4 flier outside of Path to Exile, and his ability is an absolute house against small creature aggro decks. There isn't a consensus to how many to play, though most successful builds have recently had 2-3.

Others Receiving Votes
In a post-Amonkhet world, these simply cards don't measure up, either due to creature size or cycling cost. However, there are potential corner cases to consider, and maybe 1-2 of these could sneak into your 75 under the right circumstances.

Deadshot Minotaur
Rating:
Formerly a 4-of, but there are just better options these days, despite his hybrid mana. Plus, he is a nombo with Faerie Macabre, as his ETB ability is not a may. That said, if you plan on playing all single mana cyclers, this is your best bet to replace Archfiend of Ifnir. Play 0-2.

Architects of Will
Rating:
Inferior as a B cycler to Horror of the Broken Lands. The ETB ability is actually kind of cool, but this was much more important when Living End decks relied on 2-3 attack steps to win. At this point, I would recommend against playing these guys as they die to Lightning Bolt and do not synergize well with Ingot Chewer.

Jungle Weaver
Rating:
Ol' Butt Spider used to have the distinction of being the "worst creature" that LE decks played. With the coming of cycling in Amonkhet and Hour of Devastation, there's a lot of competition for 2-mana cyclers, and the spider has been relegated to the sidelines.

Hollow One
Rating:
The payoff just isn't here with Hollow One, as dropping one on T1 is not very likely. Plus, there's already a great deck for this card. Simply playing Archfiend of Ifnir is a better use of mana. Play 0, or play 4 in your Hollow One deck.

Land Cyclers
Landcycling used to be very common in Living End decks prior to Amonkhet. However, with the increased format speed of Modern, spending 2 mana to cycle has become a liability. However, the presence of Blood Moon as a sideboard, and even main deck, card lends some credence to at least the consideration of including landcyclers in your 75, especially if you plan on running the land hoser.

Pale Recluse
Rating:
Probably the best of the landcyclers. It can grab most of our relevant duals, and has a good sized body. That said, only play a copy or two if you run Blood Moon or expect to see a lot of it in a particular tournament to go grab a basic Forest.

Twisted Abomination
Rating:
Arguably the second best landcycler, and though a 5/3 isn't a great body, many players overlook the fact that he can regerate for a single B. As basic Swamp can be the most important land to fetch under a Blood Moon effect, he warrants consideration.

Valley Rannet
Rating:
Probably the best landcycler in terms of what it can get (all 3 shocks and the basic Forest), but it's stats are pretty poor. Don't play this guy.

Igneous Pouncer
Rating:
Total poop. Don't ever think about this card again.

Fulminator Mage
Rating:
Modern is a format that is rampant with nonbasic lands, including entire decks based on them such as TitanShift. The mage can steal games by Stone Raining your opponent back into the Stone Age, while you craft your graveyard and set up your cascade spell. Also, Fulminator can be a clutch target for Demonic Dread against creature-lite opponents (or pesky Slippery Bogles). Just don't forget to sacrifice him in response to your cascade trigger so he comes back for more fun! At least 3 main deck copies with the 4th in the board.

Beast Within
Rating:
This deals with nearly any problem permanent, and leaves behind a target for Demonic Dread to boot. Blow up Relic of Progenitus, Rest in Peace, Kitesaild Freebooter, Meddling Mage, or, best of all... Island. That's right... this is a great tool against control decks, as we can deny them the mana needed to counter our cascade spells with a token that tidily dies to Living End with no pesky residue. Most lists play 2-3.

Faerie Macabre
Rating:
This card is an all-star simply because it does infnite things that are all great. Dredge player dump a Bloodghast and Stinkweed Imp from a Faithless Looting? No problem! Snapcaster Mage wants to flashback that Remand in the graveyard? Not so fast, my friend! Storm opponent taps out to cast Past in Flames? Cool, but first let me get those two Manamorphose out of there for you so you can cast Rituals for days, but never get U mana! Need 2 extra power to end the game in one swing? Just dump the faerie and don't target anything! Opponent casts Surgical Extraction targeting a copy of Living End? Fizzle that, and let's get rid of the Griselbrand you binned off a Faithless Looting for good measure.

I could list dozens more applications, but suffice to say... it's amazing. You have uncounterable graveyard interaction at instant speed. It's great. Play 4 in your 75, with 2-4 in the main deck.

Shriekmaw
Rating:
Sometimes you need to remove a troublesome creature before you're ready to cascade. From personal experience, the number one offender is Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, although there are certainly others, including Meddling Mage and all the Eldrazi sisterhood. The card is certainly main deckable, though you should keep the majority in the sideboard.

Avalanche Riders
Rating:
Another supplement to the LD plan, this one is a turn slower, but can also hit basic lands. Echo is another mechanic that plays well with Living End - you won't feel bad about not paying. The haste is rarely relevant, but this is one of the few creatures that can swing if you cast End off Demonic Dread, for what that's worth. All-in-all, it's probably a hair too slow, but if you expect to see a lot of control decks, you could do worse than including a couple of these cowboys.

Kolaghan's Command
Rating:
This card is great in 3 of 4 modes, and the discard ability isn't irrelevant, though a saavy opponent will ditch a big creature that could come back should Living End resolve. More relevant is the Shock/Shatter combination that can set Affinity back to square one, or the ability to return a Fulminator Mage to choke an opponent's mana situation. Main deck 1 and you likely won't take it out.

Simian Spirit Guide
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It's generally accepted that 3-4 apes are a must have in the face of fast combo and aggro decks. Your most broken draws usually involve cycling on turn 1, then cascading on T2, usually bringing back 2-3 creatures if you were lucky enough to draw Street Wraith or multiple guides. These are generally worse against control decks, but they also allow hidden R casting of Ricochet Trap, so most players leave them in. It can also ramp us into turn 2 Fulminator Mage/Blood Moon, so don't forget that as a way to get ahead/stay ahead.

Also, don't forget the Gray Ogre mode on this card. Just because you can cash it in for mana doesn't mean you have to, though casting a Simian Spirit Guide is officially Plan C.

Ingot Chewer
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The evoke mechanic works very favorably with Living End, and Ingot Chewer is a top choice because of its cheap evoke cost, reasonable body, and relevant secondary effect. A fair amount of grave hate cards are artifacts (Tormod's Crypt, Relic of Progenitus, Nihil Spellbomb), and this elemental can also help shore up the matchup against Affinity by taking out Cranial Plating. This is a valuable creature to have in your 75. Play 3-4 copies in your sideboard.

Ricochet Trap
Rating:
The idea is to cascade into Living End, then when your opponent plays a counterspell targeting it, cast this card and change the target to Ricochet Trap (yes, you can do this.) This card is therefore only playable against decks with counter magic (which is a lot), but if you find yourself in a meta full of aggro decks, leave this one at home.

Note this pairs really nicely with Simian Spirit Guide, as it can appear that you are tapped out before the blowout.

Boil/Choke
Rating:
If you need extra Island hate, these two cards usually get the job done. Boil being an instant is quite nice, while Choke is more vulnerable to being removed, but is a long-term answer.

Anger of the Gods
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Non-LE sweepers are always a bit of a risk because you sometimes place yourself in a position where a Living End is unprofitable for you later in the game. Anger solves this by exiling anything it kills! The 3 damage is a death sentence vs. all manner of aggro decks (particularly Affinity), and all of your own guys survive it. You probably want 1-3 copies in your sideboard.

Dead // Gone
Rating:
Thanks to a rules update regarding the CMC of split cards, Dead // Gone is able to be played without interfering with our cascading. However, it is inferior to Shriekmaw in the vast majority of cases, though being castable Turn 1 on the draw could matter against certain decks like Infect, though that deck in particular has been very little played recently. Your mileage may vary.

Leyline of the Void
Rating:
If you need graveyard hate, this is an option, though many players prefer to preserve these sideboard slots for other answers and run the max number of Faerie Macabre. The downside of running Leylines is that you need to run the playset to maxmize your chance of drawing them and they are awful topdecks.

Leyline of Sanctity
Rating:
Some players have decided to try to beat Burn or Scapeshift by playing the hexproof game. It can be a hoser, but the number of sideboard slots required and the fact that any one you draw is a brick make this a riskier proposition.

Brindle Boar
Rating:
This guy is olid against red decks. A Gray Ogre that can sac itself anytime for 4 life, then come back off Living End for 4 more. It may seem silly, but try it - you won't be disappointed.

Spike Feeder
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85% of the time this will just be a harder-to-cast Brindle Boar, a creature that is only brought in for specific matchups. Feeder is a little more flexible in that you can spread its counters out onto evasive creatures, but that situation doesn't turn up very often. As a sideboard card, this one is marginally better than Boar as something you can bring in to replace dead cards (Fulminator Mage vs. a mono-color deck, for example), so there's that.

Gnaw to the Bone
Rating:
This card competes with Brindle Boar as the sideboard card of choice against burn and Red Deck Wins. Gnaw has the advantage of being able to potentially gain you more life than the Boar. It's also an instant, which means you can surprise your opponent with it if they are not expecting it. The downside is that it is dependent on the number of creatures in your graveyard. Ordinarily, this wouldn't be an issue, but there are plenty of instances where you would rather have Brindle Boar. The choice is up to you - both cards do their job pretty well.

Krosan Grip
Rating:
This card some extra sideboard hate vs. artifacts and enchantments. The split second is nice, allowing you to kill a Relic of Progenitus and leave your graveyard intact, as well as any Arcbound Ravager shenanigans when picking off affinity's nastiest artifact. This card is comparatively narrow, since we're already running Beast Within, but is a serviceable choice if you're looking to round off your sideboard.

Maelstrom Pulse
Rating:
Another catch-all card, a la Beast Within, if you're into that sort of thing. Sorcery speed really hurts, though, and unless you expect to see a lot of Thopter or Goblin tokens, it's probably not worth it.

Blood Moon
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Once thought by some to be a Living End hoser, Blood Moon is too good of a Modern card to not consider, especially against Valakut, Tron, Eldrazi decks that need x mana, and any three color deck based on nonbasics. Note that the lands simply become Mountains, but they are still nonbasic, so you can target them with Fulminator Mage.

Crumble to Dust
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Sometimes Tron can fight through all of our land destruction. Sometimes Scapeshift decks sandbag their Valakuts. Sometimes a spell that can put a gaping hole in both of those strategies is in order.

Slaughter Games
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If you want to be absolutely, positively certain that you'll hit a combo deck where it hurts, then this card would appear to be the one you want. Uncounterable is good, right? Well, yes... but costing four mana isn't. In builds without Simian Spirit Guide, this card may not even be fast enough on the draw. Wizards has been pretty good about limiting any combo decks in the metagame to a turn-4 kill (I said PRETTY good - exceptions are abound), so while this will put them out of commission in game 2, it might not even matter game 3. Use at your own risk.

Lost Legacy
Rating:
Like Slaughter Games, this card says NO to combo. It's not easy to cast with BB, but it's only 3 CMC. However, the drawback is real when you realize this does nothing against Krark-Clan Ironworks. Some players prefer it though as a cheaper option.

Fastlands - Blackcleave Cliffs, Copperline Gorge, Blooming Marsh
These lands are perfect for our deck, as we only need three mana to operate. Generally, run the full playset of Blackcleave Cliffs as those can cycle every card in the deck, and supplement 0-3 of the others.

Shocklands - Blood Crypt, Overgrown Tomb, Stomping Ground
Run one of each.

Fetchlands - Verdant Catacombs, Wooded Foothills, Bloodstained Mire
Modern has great mana, and Living End especially so. These lands help ensure that you'll always be able to find the colors you need. Catacombs is far and away the best of the bunch, as it can grab every color, as well as fetch a basic Forest or Swamp for playing with and around things like Blood Moon. Bloodstained Mire is the second best of the bunch, though there isn't much difference between it and Wooded Foothills. You should run all 4 Verdant Catacombs, unless budget is a concern, and supplement with 1-3 of the others.

Basic Lands - Swamp and Forest
There is not really a reason to run a basic Mountain, as you will have multiple Simian Spirit Guides and all but 1-2 of your duals will produce R. 2 Swamps is considered stock to give a chance to suspend Living End from under a Blood Moon.

Other DualsGrove of the Burnwillows,Sulfurous Springs, Karplusan Forest
Grove is the most attractive option here as a R/G dual that enters untapped and doesn't damage you. The lifegain is mostly inconsequential, but be wary of over-using it, as it could result in lengthening your clock. It has the corner case of helping manage the life total of Death's Shadow opponents, so don't miss the opportunity to mess with their math.

The painlands should only be played in extreme budget versions.

Dread Targets - Dryad Arbor, Forbidden Orchard
Sometimes our opponents are big meanie-heads and don't give us a target for our Demonic Dreads. That's where these come in. Dryad Arbor is the preferable choice because it can be fetched by Verdant Catacombs, but the Orchard is an acceptable replacement that can also fix your mana in the early going. To be honest, these have fallen out of favor, as few decks give us no targets, and we can always target our own 3 CMC creatures or a Beast token.

Utility Lands - Kessig Wolf Run,Raging Ravine
Of these two, Kessig Wolf Run is the best - trample means your biggest guy won't have to stare stupidly at a 1/1 every combat. Though colorless mana only can make an opening hand quite awkward. Ravine is okay , and can be your only hope if you run out of Living Ends, but ETB tapped reeeeeeally hurts sometimes. Pick your favorite, but only run 1.

I’m looking to get into this deck. Which cards do I absolutely need to have to make it work?
You’ll want to start with a playset of Monstrous Carabid, Desert Cerodon, Horror of the Broken Landsand Street Wraith. That will form your cycler core. Next, you’ll need the combo package: 4 Violent Outburst, 3-4 Demonic Dread, and 3 Living End. And finally, you’ll want a full set of Fulminator Mage. Yes, they are pricey, but without them the deck is extremely linear and not nearly as disruptive.
The rest of the deck can be fleshed out with various cards from the Card Choices section listed above.

How does Ricochet Trap work? I see it in a bunch of sideboards and I’m confused as to how it protects Living End.
Let’s say you have a Ricochet Trap and a Violent Outburst in your hand. Your opponent passes the turn, and you play Outburst at his EOT. You flip cards and find a Living End. Your opponent taps some mana and casts Remand targeting your Living End.
Now that your opponent has cast a blue spell, you tap for R and cast your Ricochet Trap, changing Remand’s target to Ricochet Trap. You see, a spell can’t ever target itself, but it CAN target a spell that is above it on the stack. Here’s what will happen next:
-Your Ricochet Trap will resolve, changing Remand’s target and leaving the stack.
-Your opponent’s Remand will be countered for having an illegal target. Your opponent will not draw a card from Remand’s effect.
-Your Living End resolves.
-Your Violent Outburst resolves.

Bear in mind that this trick only works if your opponent’s spell has a single target. Example: If your opponent in the above example tries to counter your spell with Cryptic Command, choosing “counter and draw,” you can Ricochet it. (This will also stop your opponent from drawing a card.) However, if your opponent chooses “counter and bounce”, then Cryptic Command will have two targets (your spell and whichever permanent they chose to bounce), and you can NOT Ricochet it.

Does this deck just lose to graveyard hate?
Hardly! Living End is a surprisingly resilient combo deck, and has a multitude of ways to battle the litany of grave-hate cards commonly used in the Modern format.
-Fighting Scavenging Ooze: This creature is troublesome, as it doesn’t need to sit for a turn before going after your ‘yard, and can eat multiple guys a turn while applying pressure. ScOoze can be combated with Shriekmaw, Dismember, LD on green sources, and sweeping with Living End.
-Fighting Leyline of the Void: This one is annoying because it comes out on turn zero and deals with everything at little opportunity cost to the user. If you have a bunch of cyclers, save your Street Wraiths – they are the easiest to cycle once you’ve dealt with the Leyline. If you need to throw away some one-mana cyclers to dig for an answer, that’s okay! We run plenty. It’s also important to remember that Living End is still a wrath effect with this in play.
Beast Within is the best answer we have to this card. Sideboard options include Maelstrom Pulse and Krosan Grip.
-Fighting Relic of Progenitus, Nihil Spellbomb, and Grafdigger’s Cage: The one-mana artifacts can be played around by sandbagging cyclers (Street Wraith again!) and forcing your opponent to blow it at an inopportune time. You can catch Relic with Ingot Chewer if you can get them to tap out somehow. Remember to stack your triggers on Ingot Chewer such that its ETB ability resolves before it’s sac’d to Evoke. That way, even if your opponent pops their Relic/Spellbomb, you’ll still have a 3/3 in the bin.
Oh, and as for Grafdigger’s Cage? Just ignore it. The Oracle text when facing Living End decks actually reads '1: Discard this card onto the battlefield. It remains blank for the remainer of the game.' It doesn’t stop Living End in any way; the creatures are entering the battlefield from exile, not from the graveyard. Don’t tell the other threads!
-Fighting Rest in Peace: This is the worst of the bunch. Again, Beast Within is your best out. But even if you destroy it, RiP has done its damage by wiping your graveyard clean the second it comes down. If you think your opponent is running it (if they’re in white, they probably are), be ready – try not to overextend. If they draw into it late game, you can respond to it by cascading via Violent Outburst and getting your army onto the table before it lands.

I can’t afford Fulminator Mages. Is there a budget option available?
No.


What are your thoughts on running Bloodbraid Elf as another cascade card?
The point of the deck is to cascade into Living End. 100% of the time. No exceptions. BBE is a great card, but not for this deck.

1/9/2013 - Posted new primer
1/10/2013 - Edited matchup for Jund
1/11/2013 - Added cards to primer, posted new winning decklists
1/13/2013 - Added Slaughter Games to primer
1/20/2013 - Expanded matchups section
1/31/2013 - Expanded RG Tron matchup, added Aven Mindcensor to primer
2/22/2013 - Added Joe Hemmann's Top 8 decklist
1/9/2014 - Added "Common Questions" section
1/14/2014 - Added Crypt Incursion and Whip of Erebos to the primer.
8/19/2014 - Major overhaul to Matchups section
7/26/2015 - Added Kolaghan's Command to the primer and tidied up a bit.
12/29/2015 - Added Amulet Bloom and Abzan CoCo to the matchups section.
1/27/2016 - Matchup section and Sideboard Cards tweaked to reflect recent bannings.
10/26/2016 - Housekeeping and potpurri; added Goblin Dark-Dwellers. Added a "no-landcyclers" list to example decklists.
11/28/2016 - More housekeeping; minor elaborations in sections 1, 3, and 5
07/07/2017 - Added Amonkhet cyclers and Hollow One to section 3.
05/17/2018 - Primer fully updated, including card selection and matchups.