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Thread: [SCD] Behold the Beyond

  1. #1

    [SCD] Behold the Beyond

    So, I saw the Seasons Past/Dark Petition deck in action and wondered if Petition was good, wouldn't Behold be even better?

    So I did some testing, and it both is and isn't better.

    Like most people, I looked at 7 mana, discard your hand, and just flat out dismissed the card. This was a huge mistake.

    Behold the Beyond is very, very legit.

    First of all, "discard your hand" is fairly irrelevant on this card. By the time you're dropping seven mana spells, your hand is pretty empty, or full of useless cards that you would have already cast if they were good.

    Second, 7 mana is a lot. Unless you're playing rituals or ramp spells. Hello combo, hello B/G.

    I basically just slammed a couple copies of this card into some of the Seasons Past decklists from PT SoI. I ran it alongside Dark Petition.

    The result is brutal. Admittedly, Standard right now is a ridiculously slow format. But I can't help wondering how good this card will be when it's accelerated by Search for Tomorrow/Sakura-Tribe Elder/Kodama's Reach instead of by Explosive Vegetation.

  2. #2

    Re: [SCD] Behold the Beyond

    Sooooo....no list?

  3. #3
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    Re: [SCD] Behold the Beyond

    Yeah, I too don't really know what you're talking about. Just like a control list where you play a 7 cost card to grab 3 more control cards? Or are you going to combo with those 3 cards?

  4. #4

    Re: [SCD] Behold the Beyond

    I didn't post a list because the deck is just stupidly, crazy raw and untuned at this point, but here's where I'm at, with commentary on testing so far below each section of the deck:

    Ramp
    4x Sakura-Tribe Elder
    3x Kodama's Reach
    1x Explosive Vegetation
    1x Nissa's Renewal

    Comments: The Vegetation and Renewal are left over from Standard versions of the list, and will probably be cut at some point. More than anything else, they're there to fill in points on the curve. The lifegain from Renewal is big, but I'm sure there are better options for that I haven't considered yet.

    Removal
    3x Path to Exile
    1x Declaration in Stone
    1x Abrupt Decay
    3x Flaying Tendrils
    1x Maelstrom Pulse

    Comments: Mostly a bunch of typical Azban removal choices. Declaration is good vs. tokens, and Flaying Tendrils is just amazing vs. CoCo decks, since it kills and exiles all their dudes. Wrath of God/Day of Judgment/Damnation are for the board, Damnation is probably the ideal choice, since it uses the same double black as Tendrils. Ruinous Path is something I also looked at as simply another way to hit planeswalkers. Numbers can probably be tweaked into optimalization, since I doubt I got it on my first try.

    Planeswalkers
    1x Ob Nixilis Reignited
    1x Gideon Jura
    1x Elspeth, Sun's Chamption
    1x Sorin, Grim Nemesis

    Comments: Liliana of the Veil probably needs to get added to this list as a 1x or 2x, espcially since she can be directly cast off of a resolved Dark Petition, and is capable of absolutely wrecking some decks/strategies. Not really sure about any of the others except Sorin, they all do good work, none except him have felt super indispensable.

    Draw/Tutors
    1x Read the Bones
    3x Dark Petition
    2x Behold the Beyond

    Really happy with the 3/2 Petition/Behold ratio, Read the Bones is - eh, it's a draw spell, I'l probably try Night's Whisper there shortly. This is a deck that desperately wants an SDT/Sylvan Library type effect. If anyone knows of even a bad one in Modern, please, let me know.

    Discard
    1x Duress
    1x Transgress the Mind
    1x Pick the Brain

    I feel like this is a section that really needs to be expanded. Slowing down our opponent is a pretty key requirement for this deck, and discard is great for that. IoK, TS, Castigate, Sculler, I don't know for sure yet, but there needs to be more of this.

    Recursion/Lifegain
    1x Secure the Wastes
    1x Timely Reinforcements
    1x Pulse of Murasa
    1x Siege Rhino
    2x Seasons Past

    This is kind of a catch all category for everything that's left in the deck. 2 Seasons Past definitely feels like the right number, Pulse has been underwhelming, Rhino is Rhino, and Reinforcements is situational, but basically it's a singleton pre-board card. Secure is either a blowout or useless.

    Lands
    4 Fetchlands
    4 Duals
    2 Westvale Abbey
    13 Basics

    The Abbey's only work with Secure, and themselves, so there is some room for improvement there. If Vegetation and Renewal go away, there is room to run more duals/fetches, but this is a deck that can take advantage of large numbers of basic lands, so you don't want to go too low on those numbers. Not taking any kind of a beating from your manabase is also very nice.

    Sideboard - just still entirely in flux, kind of a big pile of cards at this point.

    So, as of right now, the deck is really desperately in need of some tuning. I mean, it does a lot of powerful things, and when you're rolling, you're just basically invincible, but getting to that point is harder than it should be, and despite all the tutors, the deck doesn't really have a way to just "End Things". There is a real gap of useful spells in this deck at the 4 cmc slot, totally open to any and all suggestions for stuff to run there. I've also been looking at either swapping out the white for red (goggles + bolt + X damage spell = cool), or just running both white and red. Sticking in a mountain and two duals to power out some lategame combos isn't exactly hard after all.

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    Re: [SCD] Behold the Beyond

    If you have 7 lands in play in Modern, you can cast Scapeshift (with Dispel and Remand backup even) and win on the spot. Ramping into a spell that wins you the game next turn will always be worse than ramping into a spell that wins you the game on the spot.

  6. #6
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    Re: [SCD] Behold the Beyond

    Yeah I'm pretty underwhelmed by the concept. Casting a 7 mana tutor and not even having a solid win plan from there is something that won't port from Standard to Modern. I was expecting something more like Doomsday combo when I read the card, not "dig for more control by discarding your hand."

    If you want a good control/combo deck, check out 4-color Gifts Ungiven. It's really good.

  7. #7
    Martha D. Paulk
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    Re: [SCD] Behold the Beyond

    Behold the Beyond Welcome to the Fold From Under the Floorboards Avacyn's Judgement Fleeting memories Daring Sleuth/Bearer of Overwhelming Truths Murderous Compulsion Grotesque Mutation Foreboding Ruins
    What do you guys think?

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