I'm not sure if anyone else has looked through the list of 12 point and better on the coverage page, but I noticed a deck that really piqued my interest. It was run by Alan Comer and Noah Swartz. I don't know Noah, but I'm not surprised to see something clever and under the radar coming from Comer.
It was a Faeries listing with Splinter Twin. Not a Twin deck. Actual Faeries, Spellstutters, Cliques (Vendilion and Mistbind) with Pestermites and Splinter Twin. What I found so clever about the deck is that it incorporates the Pester/Twin combo without making Twin a combo-only card. For instance, Twin on a Mistbind Clique is essentially a Silence on an Isochron Scepter. Twin on a V. Clique lets you sculpt your opponents hand, effectively locking them out of doing relevant things as well. Comer ran a singleton Twin, Swartz 3, but both decks had the ability to pull off the combo win without ever giving a hint that it was coming.
There's a lot of data there to go through, so I'm sure we'll come up with new insights in the weeks to follow, but I've got that Faeries listing pegged as a deck to watch going forward. There's some potential there, I think.
Originally Posted by Draener
UR faeries with a couple of Twins in it is obviously pretty good, but you really don't want to put Twin on Clique... Legendary rule also applies to tokens.
Otoh, most of the other dorks in the deck do indeed like a bit of copying, it's overfull of etb triggers.
I hope you realize that Twin on Vendi would work only once due to the legend rule. It's a clever trick, but I wouldn't do that unless in great need against a combo deck...but faeries already has good odds vs. combo by packing countermagic.
I tried this in extended a while back...just packing red for Bolts and Splinter Twin. It worked ok, but I don't remember having much success with it. Modern is of course a Brave New World though.
EDIT: I squirreled through the decklists...I can't tell you how boring it was. Lots of 4-color aggro variants (bant splash red or zoo splash blue, whatever you want to call it.) I saw some interesting mid-range decks with Smallpox in them, but nothing crazy-exciting. A handful of combo decks in there (a surprising amount of Ad Nauseum decks...I liked the Conflagrate kill much better than the Seismic Assault kill, if only to avoid difficult mana costs.) A couple of storm decks that looked pretty hot, and I love the Past in Flames addition. It seems alittle better than Pyromancer's Swath.I f anyone has seen the newly spoiled Dark Ascension card (the red Careful Study) they will know that it will solidly puts u/r storm on the map as tier 1.
A lot more Birthing Pod decks than I expected...pretty cool deck there.
The most exciting deck was a Bant/Gifts deck that played 4 Gifts along with Unburial Rites and Iona...wow, cool tech there.
Brainstorm Realist
I close my eyes and sink within myself, relive the gift of precious memories, in need of a fix called innocence. - Chuck Shuldiner
I felt like Seismic Assault was the best win-con I saw. When Dave was talking to me about the listing that the Canadian team was kicking around early in the week, they were using Lightning Storm. Assault is better, to my mind, as it can't be shut down with Spellskite. Lightning Storm is potentially dead against Spellskite and Conflagrate (the oldest tech of the 3) is always shut down by it. Since you're casting whatever it is off of 3-4 SSG's, the color cost is irrelevant, making Seismic Assault the best option. It's vulnerable to K. Grip, but no one is running Grip right now.
You guys are right about V. Clique. Bad idea on my part. Guess that knocks out the idea of using Venser as well. Still, Mistbind, Snapcaster and Spellstutter all look pretty hot when you can make copies for free. Makes me wonder if there's a potential Mimic Vat deck out there too.
What I didn't understand about the Iona deck was how it got Iona in the yard. Your opponent's not going to put Iona in the yard when you've got an Unburial Rites and I didn't remember seeing a discard outlet. Of course, I just scanned the lists, I didn't look too deeply. But that one stuck out for me too.
I was surprised that there was any control in there. I mean, some people will play blue no matter what, but it was more than I expected, given the expected metagame. I knew there was going to be a lot of Domain Zoo, it was one of the decks that was generating a lot of buzz from the pros there. And it sucks :P
The way you get Iona in the yard is that you only find two cards with Gifts, those being Rites and Iona. Yes - you can do this. You can get any number less than four cards with Gifts if you want, and the opponent chooses two of those cards for you to put in the gy.
Iona, in that deck, could be hardcasted in the late game. Realize also that if they were playing their Gifts piles correctly, the cards they let you keep were going to be just as much trouble as the cards they didn't want you to keep. I see it more like an Intuition that works as a tutor more than a graveyard enabler.
I only scanned the lists, too...were they using Compulsive Research too? That would be a way to get Iona/Rites in the graveyard. Now I'll have to check, lol...
Brainstorm Realist
I close my eyes and sink within myself, relive the gift of precious memories, in need of a fix called innocence. - Chuck Shuldiner
I'm looking forward to the "Incredibly Fucking Gargantuan-Sized Zoo vs the " We play only dem fluffy kittens Zoo" matches. What a great format.
Gah, is it just me or is every other list an [insert size here]zoo or bant or jund?
Its a green format folks.
Digging the Maher List btw.
With so many Zoo decks, it might be worth it to try Leyline of Vitality.
Please stop talking about whether Force of Will is broken or not. It obviously is, and rather than "the glue that holds vintage together" it would be better to call it "the rug under which you hide the filth until there's so much that you can no longer conceal it".
I see. So, you see a ton of decks based on overly efficient creatures and burn, so you want to start the game off on a mulligan. Interesting.
Also, Mikey, Conflagrate beats Spellskite. If you hit Spellskite for one, then for 37 they can't redirect to Spellskite because it already is targeting it.
You're absolutely right, my bad.
The format still has a lot of growing to do, guys. Don't start worrying about the amount of Zoo just yet. Zoo has a natural leg up because of the nature of the format (the banned list and the shocklands) but there are other things out there. The Swartz/Comer listings show that. And Splinter Twin is still a deck. It doesn't do as well against Domain Zoo as it does against other things, but I don't expect Domain Zoo to stick around too long. Against any deck that can present even a minor clock, it falls apart. It beats Twin only because it can get away with paying 10 life because combo is all-or-nothing.
Well, I for one think that the newly spoiled Faithless Looting will put Past in Flames/storm into the top slot.
I saw a lot of awkward Ad Nauseum decks in there...while Conflagrate works as a win/condition, you really needed an Angel's Grace or Norn's Annex to be able to reliably combo out and not die to your own deck. I think Faithless Flames will be a much better combo deck.
Brainstorm Realist
I close my eyes and sink within myself, relive the gift of precious memories, in need of a fix called innocence. - Chuck Shuldiner
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