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.dk
03-13-2013, 05:45 PM
I have an unhealthy love of Ensnaring Bridge + Bottled Cloister. I tried running it in Super Stax in Legacy for a while, but it just didn't quite cut it. Modern seems to be a bit more combat step centric as well as a bit slower, so I thought maybe I could craft something here. Be warned though - I don't play a lot of modern, so it's entirely possible that it is just terrible in the current meta. Any feedback would be appreciated. I'll start with the list and then some comments on card choices:

List as of 3/22/13:

4 Arid Mesa
7 Mountain
1 Plains
3 Rugged Prairie
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
3 Silence
4 Boros Charm
3 Isochron Scepter
4 Lightning Helix
3 Mind Stone
4 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Oblivion Ring
4 Ajani Vengeant
3 Bottled Cloister
3 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Wrath of God
2 Assemble the Legion

Sideboard:

4 Kor Firewalker
3 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Pyroclasm
2 Rest in Peace
1 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Sowing Salt


Ajani Vengeant always seemed like he was waiting for someone to fully exploit him, so I figured that being able to protect him behind Ensnaring Bridge was a good shell to start with. He's pretty boss - locks down problem permanents, kills annoying creatures, and can eventually more or less lock the opponent out of the game.

He isn't a win condition himself, hence the inclusion of others. Assemble the Legions is pretty insane with Ensnaring Bridge, as you end up building a massive army that can defend against small guys that can still attack if no cloister is in play, and then just win.

Isochron Scepter also seems like it could be good in a slower format like modern - and I'm guessing no one is running K-Grip so imprinting Boros Charm onto it can protect it (as well as Ensnaring Bridge, Cloister, Planeswalkers, etc.) indefinitely against everything but Karn. It also functions as a win condition to dome your opponent for 4 every turn.

Silence on Scepter is always fun as well, so I couldn't not include that one...

Lightning Helix is there to recover from fast aggro decks, as well as an early way to kill Deathrite Shaman, since he can kill you and your walkers through Ensnaring Bridge. It's also not too shabby on a Scepter either.

Valakut is pretty much just there for value as the game goes long. Not sure how necessary it is, but turning your lands into lightning bolts in the late game seemed rather enticing for a board control deck.

I've really only tested against 4color Gifts and Tron at this point - both of which seemed like this had pretty good matchups. Karn is a pretty big problem since Boros Charm doesn't stop his vindicate, hence Phyrexian Revokers (although those may want to be Pithing Needle).

Any feedback is welcome - and of course if I managed to miss a thread on a deck similar to this that I missed, feel free to point me there and lock this one.

Raggedjoe
03-13-2013, 06:16 PM
I've seen someone running Bottle Bridge in Legacy to occasional success in a UB colors that was pretty artifact heavy. He ran Jace and Tezzeret AoB as his main wincons, with lots of ramp like Signets. A heavy artifact build gives you Thirst for Knowledge, plus Serum Visions since you are in blue. Your curve will probably be a little high for Bob, but black still gives discard to protect your board. Just some thoughts.

.dk
03-13-2013, 07:02 PM
I've seen someone running Bottle Bridge in Legacy to occasional success in a UB colors that was pretty artifact heavy. He ran Jace and Tezzeret AoB as his main wincons, with lots of ramp like Signets. A heavy artifact build gives you Thirst for Knowledge, plus Serum Visions since you are in blue. Your curve will probably be a little high for Bob, but black still gives discard to protect your board. Just some thoughts.

Yeah, that was actually the deck I was running in Legacy a while back too. Super Stax / Planeswalker Stax / Bridgewalker or whatever you want to call it. I don't think that UB colors in Modern can do enough to stop an aggro onslaught light RW can in Modern, but I could be wrong.

Phoenix Ignition
03-13-2013, 09:59 PM
Have you considered going 3 color in this deck? Splash blue gives you some more interesting spells to put on Isochron, any splash gives you 4 more mountains, and it gives you more hate against combos. Right now I don't really think something like Rugged Prairie is a necessary part of the mana base.

Boros Charm on Isochron is pretty funny, but wouldn't they just kill it when you tap it to shoot them for 4? Or is this like super backup for when you're really starting to get the control part running. If that's the case I'd probably just run something like Spellskite since it's good against a lot of decks.

(nameless one)
03-14-2013, 12:34 AM
Suppression Field seems abusable in this deck. Although it doesn't work with Ajani and Scepter.

But it slows down so much from Fetchlands and Planeswalkers.

Also, Modern needs more Blood Moon

.dk
03-14-2013, 11:48 AM
Boros Charm is there to keep everything indestructable. It's a backup wincon, sure, But if your planeswalkers are hiding behind Ensnaring Bridge, keeping Bridge from getting blown up is pretty critical. Bottled Cloister is the same way, since if that is blown up while your hand is exiled, you lose your hand. It can serve as a win-con on Scepter as well if you need it to, but it's not always necessary. Scepter usually doesn't come down until you've gotten some lock pieces on the board, so it's not really there to stop aggro. That said, Spellskite is a good suggestion and likely warrants testing somewhere in the 75 as well.

I'm not a huge fan of adding another color for more variety of spells pretty much because there is no good filtering available in Modern. I would rather have a greater chance of drawing the spells to imprint on Scepter (Silence, Boros Charm, and Lightning Helix) and just use those to win than dilute the spell count in the chance of getting something slightly more relevant depending on the situation. It might be right, sure, but I also get to run more basics this way. And a third color would likely force me out of running Valakut.

It seems like there is a Suppression Field/Ensnaring Bridge deck out there somewhere, but it certainly doesn't have planeswalkers in it, as they don't interact favorably (as you mentioned). That could be a better build in general though - I'm not sure. Could lean more heavily on Assemble the Legion.

Thanks for the replies and sugges

Phoenix Ignition
03-17-2013, 07:21 PM
A Boros Control deck 3-1'ed a Daily. Might have some ideas to take away from it.


Main Deck
60 cards

4 Arid Mesa
12 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Rugged Prairie
2 Sacred Foundry
2 Scalding Tarn
22 lands

2 Boros Reckoner
1 Thundermaw Hellkite
2 Wurmcoil Engine
5 creatures

2 Ajani Vengeant
3 Blood Moon
4 Boros Signet
1 Devil's Play
3 Everflowing Chalice
1 Karn Liberated
3 Koth of the Hammer
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Lightning Helix
4 Molten Rain
2 Pyroclasm
3 Slagstorm
33 other spells

Sideboard
1 Blood Moon
2 Combust
1 Grafdigger's Cage
3 Path to Exile
2 Relic of Progenitus
3 Rule of Law
2 Shattering Spree
1 Wurmcoil Engine

.dk
04-02-2013, 03:12 PM
Yeah, that's an interesting build, and a very different direction from mine. Looks like they want to control the board with removal and beat down with various creatures (Koth mountains, Wurmcoil, etc.). Mine was a bit more of stall of the board with some removal and Ensnaring Bridge, and land a bomb card (planeswalker, scepter, Assemble the Legions) as a win con. A lot of that deck relies on the combat step which doesn't work so hot with Ensnaring Bridge.

However, does bring to mind the possibility of a transformational type board to be a bit more offensive...

/edit: list updated slightly in original post after some more testing. Martial Coup isn't needed - better as the 3rd Wrath. Also some sideboard tweaks (no more damping matrix - too much of a nonbo with scepter).

phazonmutant
04-02-2013, 10:06 PM
Nedleeds was playing a boros control deck for a bit that was a very different take from what you have. I'll see if I can get him to post it. Lots more Wraths for sure, I think more Ajani Vengeant.

.dk
04-03-2013, 09:40 AM
Interested to see someone else's take. More Wraths as in some Day of Judgments as well? I felt that Ensnaring Bridge was generally going to be better than infinite Wraths since it can stall for turns.

Not totally sure how you get more Ajani Vengeant than 4... ;)

nedleeds
04-03-2013, 04:20 PM
I've played W/r control in Modern quite a bit. It was my pet deck when Jund and RUG Delver were the rage. I've played it @ 2 PTQs (this most recent PTQ I played Doran). I would roll creature decks and lose to combo when I didn't draw my hate. My builds went from heavy heavy white with scepter of dominance and ~8 wrath effects (Firespout and Wrath) to some utility removal (burn) and slightly less wraths. My win cons were mostly planeswalkers or sacred mesa / batterskull. Wish Ghostly Prison protected my walkers but most moronic modern players don't even RTFC.

I played M0@R GIDEON

4 Ghostly Prison
2 Mind Stone
2 Boros Signet
1 Trading Post
2 Pyroclasm
3 Firespout
3 Wrath of God
2 Gideon Jura
1 Ajani Vengeant
3 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Boom // Bust
3 Flagstones of Trokair
3 Ghost Quarter
2 Horizon Canopy
6 Plains
1 Mountain
4 Sacred Foundry
1 Temple Garden
4 Arid Mesa
1 Red Sun's Zenith
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Batterskull
1 Crucible of Worlds
3 Path to Exile
2 Ensnaring Bridge
SB: 2 Baneslayer Angel
SB: 3 Leyline of Sanctity
SB: 2 Blood Moon
SB: 2 Disenchant
SB: 3 Rest in Peace
SB: 2 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 1 Aura of Silence

Koby
04-03-2013, 04:22 PM
Trading Post! Awesome.

nedleeds
04-03-2013, 04:27 PM
I think the main choice is to go heavy WW or more RR. I like WWWW better ... and then there's blood moon main or side. Boom // Bust is sometimes just Stone Rain for 1R if you have a fetch or a flagstone. It rolls the man decks but struggles with Twin, and Eggs. I think with more Lil of the V around Lightning Bolt might be better than path. Anyway, I've played probably 4-5 different iterations of this archetype. Modern is really hard to pin down, your opening draws kind of win or lose you the game so some nights after 4-5 rounds you think your deck is a shitbox then the next week you're a world beater.

nedleeds
04-03-2013, 04:30 PM
Trading Post! Awesome.

I think in this deck it's super good, I've run 2 before. The obvious synergy with Bridge. But also being able to bin your bridge and smash face with Gideon or a horde of soldiers when you need to win. Top decking with a control deck in Modern can be miserable and trading post is a poor mans draw engine (with an artifact, mind stone or whatever). Sometimes it's forcefield. Sometimes it keeps you alive versus the reach spells of the URW deck (SCM -> Bolt your face).

.dk
04-03-2013, 05:42 PM
Trading Post is pretty cool - I had tested an earlier build with a couple of them, but I ended up cutting them as I preferred the Bottled Cloister synergy with Bridge more. But that could just be me playing my pet cards. :) It's likely that it still has a place somewhere though.

Blood Moon seems great in general - would have to cut the Valakut package from my build if that were the case. I've certainly thought about it, but it usually seems like Sowing Salt has been getting the job done enough.

I like the Red Sun's Zenith a lot though - that definitely seems worth testing in almost any build.

My issue with my list right now is the potential for 2 for ones. Hence, Boros Charm for Scepter, in that it can protect Cloister, Scepter, as well as your Planeswalkers. However, playing against bounce.dec you just kind of lose.

I thought about Gideon as well, but didn't like his interaction with Bridge which is why Assemble the Legions was chosen. Honestly, Assemble the Legions is insane, and opponents basically can't deal with it at all. It seems like the perfect finisher for a deck that wants to hide behind Ghostly Prison or Ensnaring Bridge - spew out tokens to chump block those creatures that can get through your Prison until you can start making enough to attack back with. It builds up super fast.

nedleeds
04-08-2013, 11:13 AM
RSZ is pretty good with Fink, Bob, Mana Dorks and GC running around. I've found early it's just bad Zap but having it late is sometimes awesome as it handles planeswalkers.

Phoenix Ignition
04-08-2013, 12:49 PM
I'm too scared to build this without knowing anything about its matchups. Have you played it enough to be able to give me a rundown on how well it does against the normal gauntlet of Modern decks?

It looks like a blast to play. I might have to build it, I just don't want to throw down a bunch of money online for Ensnaring Bridge if I won't get some good use out of them.

.dk
04-08-2013, 12:56 PM
I haven't tested much against a gauntlet of tier decks, no. Mostly been screwing around on MODO with it a bit, and taken it to a local modern FNM. It has trouble with fast aggro (Affinity) and aggro elves - pyroclasms are in the board for that. any of the decks that are sporting a lot of permanent bounce are a bit rough as well.

Midrange aggro (G/W, haven't played against any of the RWU stuff) though has been great for me thus far. I played against Eggs once and won the match handily on the backs of Leylines, Revokers, and Silence.

nedleeds
04-09-2013, 02:11 PM
Gideon is pretty boss. Sometimes he just comes out and commits murder and then fogs but other times he +'s a few times then just soaks damage and makes attacking miserable for your opponent. He was a little more valuable when I was running 4 x Scepter of Dominance, and I was running 4 scepter because Emrakul ramp was all over my local store. Scepter also helped to push the opponent into over committing and getting hammered by Wrath of God and Firespout. You can also mana lock people with it, but eventually I found it was too slow, the pod deck can win with 1 pod activation (DE -> Untap -> etc.).

I think I'm playing modern this week instead of legacy so maybe I'll rebuild this. I used to call it Judgement Day.

nedleeds
02-21-2014, 02:21 PM
A small update. I played this at a local GPT a few weeks back. I went 3-2-1. Memory is a little foggy but I think it went:

Kiki Pod - Win
G/W Arbiter Hate - Loss
Affinity - Win
G/W/b Souls Junk - Win
Kiki Pod - Draw
Affinity - Somehow a loss ...

I basically played the list below but with 2 key failures ... the first was (pre DRS banning, Kittie unbanning) Firespout over Pyroclasm. The second was Wear/Tear instead of Grudge in the board. Wear/Tear was a hot shitbox in a format without any real enchantments I could fine to care about. I think the enchantment I care about is Stony Silence. Maybe I could find room for more O-Rings.

I lost to the G/w hate deck 100% because I had Firespout instead of Clasm. He overextended his board and would have gotten his cock roasted on a spit if I had Pyroclasm in hand instead of shitspout.

1) Thalia and me just not drawing lands put it 1 out of reach to 5 for 1 him.
2) Being a green spell vs. Mirran Crusader is about as good as being a woman in Afghanistan ... you just get raped.

I think I could have won the Pod match if had done my homework and understood some of the interactions a little better. I was up 1-0 and the second game had a number of lock pieces out, may opponent went to a billion life with Feeder / Angel but I didn't really care because I was up 1-0 and had Prisons and Scepters fucking with his board. I believe I made several misplays in terms of when to tap his stuff. I was also unsure of what he was getting up the curve because I hadn't looked at the pod list. I didn't even know that fucking thune angel exists.

I think Scepter is sweet once it gets rolling but it's a turn too slow. You are trying to get your opponents to overextend into your wraths which it's super good at but I think Timely Reinforcements might just be better. That card is a post hole digger in the ass of any aggro deck. I'd remove the 2 scepters for 1 engineered explosives and the 4th prison. Losing scepter isn't great vs. Emrakul but maybe you could argue the game is lost if they get that much mana online.

Baneslayer is a concession to time. Most people took Path out. Baneslayer is a beating but maybe I could live without it.

The deck actually has some play once you establish control the interactions are usually around

- Crucible -> Flagstones / Horizon Canopy
- Trading Post -> Crucible / Recycling EE / Draw Engine (Goats into Cards) / Wrath (via Forcefield)



2 Boros Signet
2 Mind Stone
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Temple Garden
3 Sacred Foundry
1 Snow-Covered Mountain
6 Snow-Covered Plains
4 Arid Mesa
1 Marsh Flats
3 Flagstones of Trokair
1 Ghost Quarter

4 Ghostly Prison
2 Wrath of God
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Pyroclasm
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Red Sun's Zenith
2 Boom // Bust

2 Trading Post
2 Crucible of Worlds
2 Crystal Ball

3 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Ajani Vengeant
1 Gideon Jura
2 Batterskull

SB: 2 Baneslayer Angel
SB: 2 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 3 Leyline of Sanctity
SB: 2 Blood Moon
SB: 3 Ancient Grudge
SB: 2 Pithing Needle
SB: 1 Jester's Cap