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. A brief overview of how the deck generally plays out (from my experiences) throughout a game can be seen below:
Early Game (Turns 1 - 4):
The early game focuses heavily on survival and removal. Life gain is incorporated in the form of removal to ensure we're gaining as much life as possible to be able to cast our bigger spells and plays for the midgame. Lightning Helix and Recumbent Bliss act as removal while adding on to our life total. Sun Droplet helps keep our life total up while we are ferociously attacked. Kabira CrossRoads Can gain us a little life if we can afford having the land ETB tapped this early in the game. Depending on our hand and our opponents deck, Ajani's Pridemate can serve a role as a big beefy blocker (thanks to all the lifegain triggers) in the early game as well. Kitchen Finks Provides us with more welcome lifegain, a double blocker, and a nice followup to the pridemate.
Mid Game (5 - 7):
If you've survived until the mid game and controlled most of the opponents aggressive drops, then you're in good shape!Pristine Talisman Helps you ramp up for the late game whilst gaining life. Ajani Vengeant can help take care of any problematic creatures/permanents lingering about, while also providing a means of gaining life if need be. Meanwhile, you're still gaining life from your Recumbent Blisses and Sun Droplets. Ajani's Pridemate might be good to get out on the board now if you haven't already, as it wil get really big with all the lifegain triggers in no time. If possible, drop Searing Meditation or Well of Lost Dreams onto the battlefield. The earlier we can start shocking creatures and gaining card advantage, the better.
Late Game(8+):
By this point you should have the board under control and either have Searing Meditation or Well of Lost Dreams out. Sun Droplet, Recumbent Bliss, and Pristine Talisman are all permanently recurring life gain events that trigger either of these two cards, thus allowing us to easily shock anything (or anyone) and/or draw cards. If necessary,Battlefield Forge can be used to damage ourselves, netting a charge counter on Sun Droplet if it runs dry at this point in the game. A late game Ajani's Pridemate can also prove devastating here, gaining 5 +1/+1 counters easily within a turn. Late game Kabira Crossroad topdecks are also welcome. With all of the synergy and support, it should be easy to shock you opponent to death within a few turns, or swing in with a massive pridemate.
The sideboard is pretty self explanatory, though needs a little work. Though this deck is geared towards handling mostly created based/aggro decks, I don't know how well it will hold up against the top modern aggro decks. This deck is quite weak to combo however, as there are very few answers. I was thinking of replacing the walls with 4x Graffdigger's Cage As a way to stop melira-pod or any recursive strategies, but I'm not sure if there's something better that can be in my sideboard. What I'm looking for here are suggestions for mainboard and sideboard that could help this deck when pitted against the top tier decks. I realize this isn't a tier 1 deck by any means, but I'd like to push this deck to it's limit. I've done a lot of goldfishing and casual playtesting and the deck's done very well. It works fine and the draws are pretty good. I just don't know how well it can do in modern. I Any suggestions are appreciated! If there's interest, I can discuss the inner workings of the deck in further detail.
Ive been thinking about splashing red for meditation and lightning helix in Martyr-Proc. I think it gives the deck some reach and other tools in red.
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For Lists, Click Here EDH: GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU. UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax RW: Gisela, Boros Control RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?! B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering
I tested this a bit tonight after seeing your decklist, it seems to do fairly well versus aggro. The main problem I've had is against combo (Griselbrand Reanimator) and Green Tron. I like the idea of the deck and it is fun to pilot.
Ive been thinking about splashing red for meditation and lightning helix in Martyr-Proc. I think it gives the deck some reach and other tools in red.
I recall seeing a few Martyr-Proc builds attempting this, but I didn't really follow up with it, but I think it could work as a nice alternative wincon. I wouldn't play more then 3 Searing Meditations in the deck though, since you don't want to really draw it until you have the mana to abuse it. The only reason I'm running 4 maindeck is because my build is pretty dependent, though I myself have been switching back between running 3 and 4. Feel free to post your decklist if you fit meditation into your deck. It's a direction I've thought about going a few times myself, I'd be interested in seeing what you come up with.
Quote from "Antz0r" »
I tested this a bit tonight after seeing your decklist, it seems to do fairly well versus aggro. The main problem I've had is against combo (Griselbrand Reanimator) and Green Tron. I like the idea of the deck and it is fun to pilot.
Glad to hear you had fun piloting it. It's a fun deck to play for sure, not so much to play against from what I've heard :). Comforting to hear that it did well against aggro. Out of curiosity, what aggressive decks/builds were you pit up against?
Interesting choice using Lightning Bolt and Earthquake over Lightning Helix. Does it really help with the tempo? I've found that I'm usually ok with paying an extra mana for the helix, even if it's a turn later, since the life gain usually offsets any damage you may have taken the previous turn. Late game, the life gain from helix can serve as a useful resource still, where-as I feel bolt is not as useful at this point in the game. A board sweeper does seem like a good idea though, I'll consider something at least for the sideboard.
Combo does seem to be a big problem for the deck. The tron matchup seems rough since there really isn't anything to sideboard in against it in either of our decks. Blood Moon and Graffdigger's Cage can slow their deck down, which might give us enough time to get them down to 0 with pridemate, finks, and helix. I am leaning more towards using cage in the sideboard since it's cheaper and a little more versatile in stopping decks that specifically give this deck problems.
Actually, I've had my eye on Hide//Seek for a while. It's Disenchant, but it can also be used to wreck combo decks by searching for and exiling their singletons. The lifegain is also a bonus in this deck. Only problem is that the card is black, so I would have to splash black, and I don't know if it's worth putting shocks/fetches and paying the extra life just to use this (seemingly) amazing sideboard card. It does however open the possibility to splashing other black cards so maybe there's something worth looking at here?
EDIT: For some reason I though graffdigger's stopped players from searching their library. So yeah...Blood moon would probably be the better choice against Tron. As long as they can't ramp into their Eldrazi this deck should be able to hold off me thinks.
Actually, I forgot to put in Lightning Helix last night haha, but I didn't seem to have many issues. Earthquake also recharges your Sun Droplet, which seems to have helped me get a larger Pridemate, as well as thinning out the field and pushing for the last points of damage.
The aggro I played against included Combo Elves, some Puresteel Paladin Aggro (of some variant), Dark Bant, Geist Bant (if that's considered aggro).
Delver and U/W tempo decks have also been an issue, but I think the sideboard could be arranged to help the matchup. As well as switching earthquakes out for something different as a sweeper or Lightning Helix if you expect a lot of tempo.
Interesting decklist. I might note that ajani's mantra will generally be strictly better than sun droplet, for the simple reason you'll never gain more than 1 life of it off an upkeep and that it's harder to kill than the sun droplet (fewer colors can hit it) and at the same time, it's not dead late game if you somehow do run out of counters on your sundroplet.
Against control variants, your better strategy, besides the removal of the creature removal (path to exile doesn't do much against several of them) might be to attack their mana base more effectively. With Ajani Vengeant already in, perhaps you should consider a land destruction sideboard package? Stone rain could be rough, in addition to the blood moons, etc.
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[14:58]  Paramount_Elite: Anyways don't confuse Casual EDH with EDH or the highly compettive format called French Duel Commander.
Sun Droplet ticks on EACH upkeep giving more life than ajani's mantra for as long as you get damage, for 2 mana that is unbeatable. Against burn that card single handly makes the game 2-4 turns longer
Exactly. It's also very rare that Sun Droplet runs dry since I can refill it with Battlefield Forge. If I'm really desperate for life gain triggers, I can always Searing Meditation myself to get a few counters on the droplet.
Quote from weltkrieg »
Against control variants, your better strategy, besides the removal of the creature removal (path to exile doesn't do much against several of them) might be to attack their mana base more effectively. With Ajani Vengeant already in, perhaps you should consider a land destruction sideboard package? Stone rain could be rough, in addition to the blood moons, etc.
Interesting sideboard idea. I don't have time to explore this at the moment, but I'll definitely consider it for the future.
I've adjusted my deck a bit, and edited the original post (-1 ghost-lit, -1 faith's shield, +2 o-ring, so I at least have a chance against some combo decks game 1). I'm also taking out the walls from my sideboard, so I have 4 slots open. Was thinking of trying to fit the following cards somewhere in my sb:
Graffdigger's Cage: Stops pod/rites decks, but easily susceptible to removal
: Seems like excellent hate for rites and pod. If I'm understanding correctly, this can stop melira pod from going infinite by exiling Kitchen FInks or Murderous Redcap from going infinite by playing any of these in response to the wither trigger.
Ricochet Trap: This seems like a great answer against blue control. I think I'm going to try and fit a couple of these in the sideboard at the very least.
I'm planning on testing this deck out tomorrow at a Modern tournament Pastimes is holding. It's my first modern experience so I don't expect to do terribly well, but I'm hoping it will give me some insight into what works well and what needs improvement. I'll be sure to post my findings, but if anyone has any other suggestions, mainboard or sideboard, that they think would be excellent tech/hate for the current modern meta it'd be really appreciated!
grafdiggers cage would stop storm decks pretty well, or at least make it bloody hard to do anything to you. However, why not just disenchant the pod or use torpor orb (stops twin combo cold, too)?
richochet trap could be good, but I expect that since you're most likely worried about counterspells, you might be better off with guttural response.
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4x Clifftop Retreat
4x Battlefield Forge
4x Kabira Crossroads
3x Mountains
7x Plains
//Creatures [8]
4x Ajani's Pridemate
4x Kitchen Finks
4x Sun Droplet
4x Pristine Talisman
3x Well of Lost Dreams
//Enchantments [6]
2x Recumbent Bliss
2x Oblivion Ring
4x Searing Meditation
//Planeswalkers [2]
2x Ajani Vengeant
//Instants[6]
4x Lightning Helix
2x Path to Exile
2x Path to Exile
2x Recumbent Bliss
3x Leyline of Sanctity
4x Disenchant
4x Open slots (graveyard hate?)
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. A brief overview of how the deck generally plays out (from my experiences) throughout a game can be seen below:
Early Game (Turns 1 - 4):
Mid Game (5 - 7):
Late Game(8+):
The sideboard is pretty self explanatory, though needs a little work. Though this deck is geared towards handling mostly created based/aggro decks, I don't know how well it will hold up against the top modern aggro decks. This deck is quite weak to combo however, as there are very few answers. I was thinking of replacing the walls with 4x Graffdigger's Cage As a way to stop melira-pod or any recursive strategies, but I'm not sure if there's something better that can be in my sideboard. What I'm looking for here are suggestions for mainboard and sideboard that could help this deck when pitted against the top tier decks. I realize this isn't a tier 1 deck by any means, but I'd like to push this deck to it's limit. I've done a lot of goldfishing and casual playtesting and the deck's done very well. It works fine and the draws are pretty good. I just don't know how well it can do in modern. I Any suggestions are appreciated! If there's interest, I can discuss the inner workings of the deck in further detail.
For Lists, Click Here
EDH:
GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU.
UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat
BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation
UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery
RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven
UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron
BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax
RW: Gisela, Boros Control
RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck
RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?!
B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed
R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering
Here's my raw list.
4 Searing Meditation
4 Pristine Talisman
4 Sun Droplet
3 Well of Lost Dreams
Creatures
4 Ajani's Pridemate
4 Kitchen Finks
Planeswalkers
3 Ajani Vengeant
Instants/Sorceries
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Earthquake
2 Path to Exile
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Arid Mesa
4 Clifftop Retreat
2 Rugged Prairie
4 Battlefield Forge
3 Mountain
3 Plains
2 Path to Exile
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Disenchant
3 Recumbent Bliss
4 Blood Moon
cockatrice: Antz0r
Modern:
UW Tron
BR Vampires
WX Death and Taxes
I recall seeing a few Martyr-Proc builds attempting this, but I didn't really follow up with it, but I think it could work as a nice alternative wincon. I wouldn't play more then 3 Searing Meditations in the deck though, since you don't want to really draw it until you have the mana to abuse it. The only reason I'm running 4 maindeck is because my build is pretty dependent, though I myself have been switching back between running 3 and 4. Feel free to post your decklist if you fit meditation into your deck. It's a direction I've thought about going a few times myself, I'd be interested in seeing what you come up with.
Glad to hear you had fun piloting it. It's a fun deck to play for sure, not so much to play against from what I've heard :). Comforting to hear that it did well against aggro. Out of curiosity, what aggressive decks/builds were you pit up against?
Interesting choice using Lightning Bolt and Earthquake over Lightning Helix. Does it really help with the tempo? I've found that I'm usually ok with paying an extra mana for the helix, even if it's a turn later, since the life gain usually offsets any damage you may have taken the previous turn. Late game, the life gain from helix can serve as a useful resource still, where-as I feel bolt is not as useful at this point in the game. A board sweeper does seem like a good idea though, I'll consider something at least for the sideboard.
Combo does seem to be a big problem for the deck. The tron matchup seems rough since there really isn't anything to sideboard in against it in either of our decks. Blood Moon and Graffdigger's Cage can slow their deck down, which might give us enough time to get them down to 0 with pridemate, finks, and helix. I am leaning more towards using cage in the sideboard since it's cheaper and a little more versatile in stopping decks that specifically give this deck problems.
Actually, I've had my eye on Hide//Seek for a while. It's Disenchant, but it can also be used to wreck combo decks by searching for and exiling their singletons. The lifegain is also a bonus in this deck. Only problem is that the card is black, so I would have to splash black, and I don't know if it's worth putting shocks/fetches and paying the extra life just to use this (seemingly) amazing sideboard card. It does however open the possibility to splashing other black cards so maybe there's something worth looking at here?
EDIT: For some reason I though graffdigger's stopped players from searching their library. So yeah...Blood moon would probably be the better choice against Tron. As long as they can't ramp into their Eldrazi this deck should be able to hold off me thinks.
The aggro I played against included Combo Elves, some Puresteel Paladin Aggro (of some variant), Dark Bant, Geist Bant (if that's considered aggro).
Delver and U/W tempo decks have also been an issue, but I think the sideboard could be arranged to help the matchup. As well as switching earthquakes out for something different as a sweeper or Lightning Helix if you expect a lot of tempo.
cockatrice: Antz0r
Modern:
UW Tron
BR Vampires
WX Death and Taxes
Against control variants, your better strategy, besides the removal of the creature removal (path to exile doesn't do much against several of them) might be to attack their mana base more effectively. With Ajani Vengeant already in, perhaps you should consider a land destruction sideboard package? Stone rain could be rough, in addition to the blood moons, etc.
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
Cockatrice username- Chrismp19.
Formats played: Modern
Avatar and Sig created by http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=182339
Cocaktrice Game Room Quotes
[14:58]  Paramount_Elite: Anyways don't confuse Casual EDH with EDH or the highly compettive format called French Duel Commander.
It has more reach would be my guess and potentially has mana denial/land destruction and repeatable removal. Worth a try at least.
Exactly. It's also very rare that Sun Droplet runs dry since I can refill it with Battlefield Forge. If I'm really desperate for life gain triggers, I can always Searing Meditation myself to get a few counters on the droplet.
Interesting sideboard idea. I don't have time to explore this at the moment, but I'll definitely consider it for the future.
I've adjusted my deck a bit, and edited the original post (-1 ghost-lit, -1 faith's shield, +2 o-ring, so I at least have a chance against some combo decks game 1). I'm also taking out the walls from my sideboard, so I have 4 slots open. Was thinking of trying to fit the following cards somewhere in my sb:
Graffdigger's Cage: Stops pod/rites decks, but easily susceptible to removal
- Beckon Apparition
- Purify the Grave
- Ravenous Trap
: Seems like excellent hate for rites and pod. If I'm understanding correctly, this can stop melira pod from going infinite by exiling Kitchen FInks or Murderous Redcap from going infinite by playing any of these in response to the wither trigger.Ricochet Trap: This seems like a great answer against blue control. I think I'm going to try and fit a couple of these in the sideboard at the very least.
I'm planning on testing this deck out tomorrow at a Modern tournament Pastimes is holding. It's my first modern experience so I don't expect to do terribly well, but I'm hoping it will give me some insight into what works well and what needs improvement. I'll be sure to post my findings, but if anyone has any other suggestions, mainboard or sideboard, that they think would be excellent tech/hate for the current modern meta it'd be really appreciated!
richochet trap could be good, but I expect that since you're most likely worried about counterspells, you might be better off with guttural response.
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!