rupus
08-13-2011, 02:25 PM
Living End is a deck from old extended based on cycling creatures into the graveyard and then casting a 3 mana cascade spell to cascade into the namesake spell for a one sided wrath and putting 10+ power of creatures onto the field. With many combo enablers banned (especially Hypergenesis which this deck directly competed with for players) this will likely become a combo deck (or at least the cascade deck) of choice for many players. Even in old extended when both Hypergenesis and Living End were legal the deck's proponents argued that it made up for being less explosive than Hypergenesis with consistency and resiliency. Without further ado, here is my current decklist and some explanations:
Land
2 Forest
2 Swamp
3 Mountain
2 Marsh Flats
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Blood Crypt
2 Stomping Grounds
2 Overgrown Tomb
Creatures
4 Street Wraith
4 Deadshot Minotaur
4 Igneous Pouncer
4 Monstrous Carabid
3 Valley Ranneret
1 Jungle Weaver
4 Fulminator Mage
1 Spitebellows
2 Ingot Chewer
3 Shriekmaw
Instant
4 Violent Outburst
Sorcery
4 Living End
3 Demonic Dread
Sideboard
2 Spitebellows
1 Ingot Chewer
1 Shriekmaw
2 Cloudthresher
2 Mournwhelk
4 Mindbreak Trap
3 Sadistic Sacrament
Card Explanations
As you can see I went with a Jund colored manabase because the best cycling creatures happen to be Black, Green, and Red. However, it's entirely possible to try different color combinations. Bant colors in particular seem like a reasonable idea because it gives you access to Wargate, Reveillark, and Mulldrifter. However, I just based my list on the old extended ones and haven't done any testing with different colors because Jund has been working fine for me. Anyways onto the creatures:
Cyclers
4 Street Wraith
Mainly, this guy cycles for free with is pretty huge. The bodies on all the creatures are pretty weak for their CMC but remember that you are almost never hard casting them and your Living End will have wrathed their dudes away so you can usually swing unmolested. Cycling for free is huge like I said and I wouldn't play without 4 even if I eschew black in future builds.
4 Deadshot Minotaur
4 Monstrous Carabid
These guys are the second best cyclers costing only 1 mana. Deadshot Minotaur also has some added utility but generally you won't have any targets to hit. Still, without any fliers of your own he can stop problematic flyers that happened to be in their yard from beating you.
4 Igneous Pouncer
3 Valley Ranneret
These guys help to fix your mana and provide pretty large bodies to put the beats down. I chose to go with 4 Pouncers because haste can be pretty important plus the both die to bolt anyways. Still, if Zoo or Burn turn out to be largely popular and pack spells like burst lighting switching up the ratio might be the right call.
1 Jungle Weaver
This dude is just a miser because he doesn't fix mana and is more expensive to cycle than the others but he has a large body (and butt) and can stop fliers. It's entirely possible that we may want more of him instead of the land cyclers if fliers are largely popular or if burn spells become too problematic.
Utility Creatures
3 Shriekmaw
This guy plays a lot of roles. First he is the best creature removal available because we can't play anything <3 CMC. Second he is an evasive beater. I guess 2 isn't really a lot of roles but they are pretty important nonetheless.
2 Ingot Chewer
Playing him in the main might not be correct anymore without SFM, Jitte, etc in the meta but he deals with Ethersworn Canonist which is otherwise a big problem. Not to mention he is a body to beat with after you Living End him back.
1 Spitebellows
This guy kills big creatures. Simple as that. Shriekmaw is more easily castable which is why I chose him as my main removal but Spitebellows might turn out to be better if black/artifact creatures are the main threats.
4 Fulminator Mage
The only guy who doesn't evoke or cycle but he still plays an important role. Anyone who played extended knows what a house this guy is vs greedy manabases and with Living End you can potentially destroy 2 lands with each one. He also kills manlands which you can otherwise only hit by Violent Outbursting into Living End. I think people are going to be playing greedy 3, 4 or even 5 color decks so I feel good playing 4 in the main but he can easily become something else depending on how the meta shapes up.
Spells
These are pretty self explanatory. Some decks only play 3 or even 2 Ends but I like the full set because you have no way to shuffle back drawn ones and if a control can counter both you are pretty screwed. 7 cascade spells is the least I would play and playing all 8 could be a good choice as well.
Sideboard Choices
This board was made with combo decks in mind but given the new banned list many choices might not be right anymore. Still, I'll explain my choices because they are still all good cards.
4 Mindbreak Trap
3 Sadistic Sacrament
2 Mournwhelk
This is my anti combo package. Mournwhelk and Sad Sac are kind of slow and Trap is less than ideal but they are the best we can do seeing as we can't play <3 cmc spells. Of these three Mournwhelk has the most potential to be played even in a non combo meta as he can hose control pretty well too.
2 Cloud Thresher
This guy was mostly for Faeries but without Bitterblossom he may be unnecessary. People will still probably try to port the new Caw Blade decks to Modern so he might be ok to leave in.
2 Spitebellows, 1 Shriekmaw
Sometimes you just need to max out on creature removal. Spitebellows is especially important because you need a way to deal with artifact and black creatures.
1 Ingot Chewer
There are lots of nasty artifacts still.
Other potential side board cards: Choke, Kitchen Finks, Leyline of Sanctity/the Void/ Punishment/Vitality, Beast Within, Chaos Warp (if its legal)
Please give suggestions for board cards as I have trouble thinking of any. Here might be a better board given how WOTC killed combo:
2 Ingot Chewer
3 Spitebellows
1 Shriekmaw
4 Mournwhelk
4 Kitchen Finks
1 Cloudthresher
I just maxed out on removal. Mournwhelk for control. Finks for red and Zoo and a singleton thresher because I had one slot left.
Playing the deck:
Ideally you want to spend your first few turns cycling at least 3 dudes into your yard and getting to 3 mana. Vs Control decks it's usually right to cast your cascade spells as soon as you can even if you are only putting 3 or 4 threats onto the field because you want to bait as many counters as possible and just put pressure on them. Vs creature decks you want to wait as long as you can so you wrath as many creatures as possible. Games 2 and 3 you want to go off sooner because they won't over commit as much so you want to pressure them because 1 or 2 dudes and maybe some burn can finish you off.
To Suspend or Not to Suspend
This is a tough question. If you have both a cascade spell and an End you definitely don't want to because you will just end up wrathing your own dudes. However, if you have an End but no cascades it might be correct to suspend especially vs control so you have a chance at resolving it before you can set up. Remember that casting it off suspend is mandatory so never suspend multiples or suspend one when you already have a board presences (expect maybe if there's a strong potential that you will be wrathed). 9 times out of 10 however, you won't want to suspend them.
A Note on Shriekmaw
Never, ever evoke him without a target. This is because his ETB trigger is not optional. If you evoke him just thinking you will have an extra beater you will end up killing one of your guys when you go off. Actually, I lied. You can evoke him for an extra beater if all your other cyclers are your black ones but just keep in mind that killing your own guys kind of sucks. Also, if you kill one of their dudes with him, when you cascade you can kill their guy again leaving them even farther behind on board presence.
Matchups
I don't really know what the meta will look like but in general you have a good matchup vs creature decks, an even to slightly unfavorable vs control and an awful one vs combo. Seeing as WOTC is pushing this to be a turning guys sideways format this will initially be a good deck choice. Also, all the fast combo is gone so you probably have a decent chance to get off a Mournwhelk or even sad sac vs whatever combo does exist. As the meta develops I will try to update this section with more information.
So there you have it. This deck is a blast to play and very resilient. Feel free to post lists with other color variations because I'm going to focus my time developing the Jund colored list and don't really have the time or desire to work on multiple different lists concurrently. I hope that this has generated some interest in one of the few combo decks left (and my personal favorite) and that you put this deck together IRL or on MWS and give it a try.
Final Notes On My Current List
The manabase is really sketchy. Feel free to suggest better ones. 19 lands feels right though as you curve out at 3 and every card replaces itself. It's even possible that the mana could work with as few as 16 lands but I wouldn't want to risk anything lower than 18. Also more sideboard suggestions are very welcome. Right now there probably won't be much if any yard hate without dredge in the picture but as it is there's no way to beat Leyline of the Void without using crappy cards (at least as far as I can think of) so that is the main area I would like suggestions for (EDIT: Beast Within and/or Chaos Warp are good answers). Scavenging Ooze is also annoying but I have no idea if commander is legal.
Land
2 Forest
2 Swamp
3 Mountain
2 Marsh Flats
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Blood Crypt
2 Stomping Grounds
2 Overgrown Tomb
Creatures
4 Street Wraith
4 Deadshot Minotaur
4 Igneous Pouncer
4 Monstrous Carabid
3 Valley Ranneret
1 Jungle Weaver
4 Fulminator Mage
1 Spitebellows
2 Ingot Chewer
3 Shriekmaw
Instant
4 Violent Outburst
Sorcery
4 Living End
3 Demonic Dread
Sideboard
2 Spitebellows
1 Ingot Chewer
1 Shriekmaw
2 Cloudthresher
2 Mournwhelk
4 Mindbreak Trap
3 Sadistic Sacrament
Card Explanations
As you can see I went with a Jund colored manabase because the best cycling creatures happen to be Black, Green, and Red. However, it's entirely possible to try different color combinations. Bant colors in particular seem like a reasonable idea because it gives you access to Wargate, Reveillark, and Mulldrifter. However, I just based my list on the old extended ones and haven't done any testing with different colors because Jund has been working fine for me. Anyways onto the creatures:
Cyclers
4 Street Wraith
Mainly, this guy cycles for free with is pretty huge. The bodies on all the creatures are pretty weak for their CMC but remember that you are almost never hard casting them and your Living End will have wrathed their dudes away so you can usually swing unmolested. Cycling for free is huge like I said and I wouldn't play without 4 even if I eschew black in future builds.
4 Deadshot Minotaur
4 Monstrous Carabid
These guys are the second best cyclers costing only 1 mana. Deadshot Minotaur also has some added utility but generally you won't have any targets to hit. Still, without any fliers of your own he can stop problematic flyers that happened to be in their yard from beating you.
4 Igneous Pouncer
3 Valley Ranneret
These guys help to fix your mana and provide pretty large bodies to put the beats down. I chose to go with 4 Pouncers because haste can be pretty important plus the both die to bolt anyways. Still, if Zoo or Burn turn out to be largely popular and pack spells like burst lighting switching up the ratio might be the right call.
1 Jungle Weaver
This dude is just a miser because he doesn't fix mana and is more expensive to cycle than the others but he has a large body (and butt) and can stop fliers. It's entirely possible that we may want more of him instead of the land cyclers if fliers are largely popular or if burn spells become too problematic.
Utility Creatures
3 Shriekmaw
This guy plays a lot of roles. First he is the best creature removal available because we can't play anything <3 CMC. Second he is an evasive beater. I guess 2 isn't really a lot of roles but they are pretty important nonetheless.
2 Ingot Chewer
Playing him in the main might not be correct anymore without SFM, Jitte, etc in the meta but he deals with Ethersworn Canonist which is otherwise a big problem. Not to mention he is a body to beat with after you Living End him back.
1 Spitebellows
This guy kills big creatures. Simple as that. Shriekmaw is more easily castable which is why I chose him as my main removal but Spitebellows might turn out to be better if black/artifact creatures are the main threats.
4 Fulminator Mage
The only guy who doesn't evoke or cycle but he still plays an important role. Anyone who played extended knows what a house this guy is vs greedy manabases and with Living End you can potentially destroy 2 lands with each one. He also kills manlands which you can otherwise only hit by Violent Outbursting into Living End. I think people are going to be playing greedy 3, 4 or even 5 color decks so I feel good playing 4 in the main but he can easily become something else depending on how the meta shapes up.
Spells
These are pretty self explanatory. Some decks only play 3 or even 2 Ends but I like the full set because you have no way to shuffle back drawn ones and if a control can counter both you are pretty screwed. 7 cascade spells is the least I would play and playing all 8 could be a good choice as well.
Sideboard Choices
This board was made with combo decks in mind but given the new banned list many choices might not be right anymore. Still, I'll explain my choices because they are still all good cards.
4 Mindbreak Trap
3 Sadistic Sacrament
2 Mournwhelk
This is my anti combo package. Mournwhelk and Sad Sac are kind of slow and Trap is less than ideal but they are the best we can do seeing as we can't play <3 cmc spells. Of these three Mournwhelk has the most potential to be played even in a non combo meta as he can hose control pretty well too.
2 Cloud Thresher
This guy was mostly for Faeries but without Bitterblossom he may be unnecessary. People will still probably try to port the new Caw Blade decks to Modern so he might be ok to leave in.
2 Spitebellows, 1 Shriekmaw
Sometimes you just need to max out on creature removal. Spitebellows is especially important because you need a way to deal with artifact and black creatures.
1 Ingot Chewer
There are lots of nasty artifacts still.
Other potential side board cards: Choke, Kitchen Finks, Leyline of Sanctity/the Void/ Punishment/Vitality, Beast Within, Chaos Warp (if its legal)
Please give suggestions for board cards as I have trouble thinking of any. Here might be a better board given how WOTC killed combo:
2 Ingot Chewer
3 Spitebellows
1 Shriekmaw
4 Mournwhelk
4 Kitchen Finks
1 Cloudthresher
I just maxed out on removal. Mournwhelk for control. Finks for red and Zoo and a singleton thresher because I had one slot left.
Playing the deck:
Ideally you want to spend your first few turns cycling at least 3 dudes into your yard and getting to 3 mana. Vs Control decks it's usually right to cast your cascade spells as soon as you can even if you are only putting 3 or 4 threats onto the field because you want to bait as many counters as possible and just put pressure on them. Vs creature decks you want to wait as long as you can so you wrath as many creatures as possible. Games 2 and 3 you want to go off sooner because they won't over commit as much so you want to pressure them because 1 or 2 dudes and maybe some burn can finish you off.
To Suspend or Not to Suspend
This is a tough question. If you have both a cascade spell and an End you definitely don't want to because you will just end up wrathing your own dudes. However, if you have an End but no cascades it might be correct to suspend especially vs control so you have a chance at resolving it before you can set up. Remember that casting it off suspend is mandatory so never suspend multiples or suspend one when you already have a board presences (expect maybe if there's a strong potential that you will be wrathed). 9 times out of 10 however, you won't want to suspend them.
A Note on Shriekmaw
Never, ever evoke him without a target. This is because his ETB trigger is not optional. If you evoke him just thinking you will have an extra beater you will end up killing one of your guys when you go off. Actually, I lied. You can evoke him for an extra beater if all your other cyclers are your black ones but just keep in mind that killing your own guys kind of sucks. Also, if you kill one of their dudes with him, when you cascade you can kill their guy again leaving them even farther behind on board presence.
Matchups
I don't really know what the meta will look like but in general you have a good matchup vs creature decks, an even to slightly unfavorable vs control and an awful one vs combo. Seeing as WOTC is pushing this to be a turning guys sideways format this will initially be a good deck choice. Also, all the fast combo is gone so you probably have a decent chance to get off a Mournwhelk or even sad sac vs whatever combo does exist. As the meta develops I will try to update this section with more information.
So there you have it. This deck is a blast to play and very resilient. Feel free to post lists with other color variations because I'm going to focus my time developing the Jund colored list and don't really have the time or desire to work on multiple different lists concurrently. I hope that this has generated some interest in one of the few combo decks left (and my personal favorite) and that you put this deck together IRL or on MWS and give it a try.
Final Notes On My Current List
The manabase is really sketchy. Feel free to suggest better ones. 19 lands feels right though as you curve out at 3 and every card replaces itself. It's even possible that the mana could work with as few as 16 lands but I wouldn't want to risk anything lower than 18. Also more sideboard suggestions are very welcome. Right now there probably won't be much if any yard hate without dredge in the picture but as it is there's no way to beat Leyline of the Void without using crappy cards (at least as far as I can think of) so that is the main area I would like suggestions for (EDIT: Beast Within and/or Chaos Warp are good answers). Scavenging Ooze is also annoying but I have no idea if commander is legal.