Looking to start playing MODO and wanted to start with a deck that I don't play in paper magic. With the printing of Young Pyromancer I really wanted to fit it into a deck. I've always liked the BRW combination and the sideboard options it provides. The idea of the deck is to just play good cards pretty much.
Grim Lavamancer seems really good right now with all the pod creatures and Deathrite Shamans running around. Dark Confidant doesn't really need an explanation, Cartel Aristocrat on the other hand. I got the idea from another thread on the boards. It plays well with the token producers and when equipped with a 'sword' can always get through. A few creatures I didn't include but may warrant slots are Mirran Crusader, Tidehollow Sculler, and Aven Mindcenor.
The spell suite is pretty basic, Thoughtseizes could be Inquisitions but I figured with only playing three I might as well always hit. There will probably be additional discard in the sideboard.
For equipment slots I choose Sword of War and Peace and Mask of the Memory. I feel Sword of War and Peace to be the best sword in modern due to two relevant protections and game ending triggers. Hell, I could see running Sword of Light and Shadow, Fire and Ice, or Feast and Famine in this list. Mask of Memory is more of a pet card. I've been trying to find a deck that it'll work in and it probably just isn't good enough but I'd love it if it was.
Sideboard will mostly contain hate to stop combo, tron, and pyroclasms.
Thanks in advance for any comments or suggestions.
seems nice, just one question: how in the world is BWR "italy"???
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Huey, Dewey and Louie are always dressed in RUG. it is CLEARLY going to be the wedges block Pioneer: WURFaerie fires BRGDragons ModernBGElves WRBurn UR Fires Turns URGift Storm UG Twiddle Storm
I don't think you can't play 4 equipment (2 max), and you should play 4x blackcleave cliffs (for the turn 1 bolt, discard or lavamancer). And you want 1-2 zealous persecutions in this deck to make your tokens more potent. I liked the interaction with Cartel Aristocrat and the tokens, so you could get the equipment to hit the opponent. I'm not sure what the best sword is, you could talk me into any of them really (though fire and ice seems the weakest, i'd rather draw a bob, YP, lavamancer, aristocrat with sword of light and shadow, than a random card in my deck). And I think you want 1 darkblast in their to help with grim lavamancer.
I wanted cards that were good on their own and to lessen the cards that were bad in multiples (or bad on their own), so I trimmed a lavamancer and aristocrat. YP is bad on his own, but maybe he's powerful enough to warrant risking him as a bad top deck. Cutting creatures also makes YP better.
I tried to find more cards that made tokens (to synergize with YP and aristocrat), but you can't really play spectral procession in this deck (color requirement and it's a 6 off bob), and midnight haunting and raise the alarm are pretty bad without anthems. And I didn't want to go to 4 mana to play stuff like elspeth or sorin.
The sideboard could use some work. I probably want less artifacts and more instants/sorceries, but nihil spellbomb and rest in peace are much better than rakdos charm. This deck can be pretty weak to sweepers, so it might want more boros charms. Boros charm also counters abrupt decay. The emerge unscathed, triggers twice on YP, so that's why it's there. You could talk me into playing that card main deck. Rebound is good with YP, but there aren't any other playable cards, consuming vapors and surreal memoir are too costly. And this deck doesn't play enough instants for the memoir anyways.
Some changes I made were, 3 scullers, 1 aristocrat. Inquisition over thoughtseize since i'm cheap. Though i'm not sure you'd want 3 in this deck, as you can do a lot of damage to yourself. a 2/1 seize/iok split might be better. You definitely want 8 fetches, you have lavamancer and you really want to cast your spells on time. I don't see why you'd need more than one of each basic. I also cut 2 paths as they're pretty bad vs jund and UWR. I added 2 terminates in their place.
Cartel Aristocrat is really bad unless you have tokens. So that's why I have the 3/1 sculler/aristocrat ratio. Probably going to drop to 0 aristocrats. When you have tokens + aristocrat out you can mess up their removal. So you can screw up lightning helix, maelstrom pulse, electrolyze, etc... That's a pretty mediocre ability. I haven't had a chance to equip the aristocrat, but that's a 3 card combo since you also need tokens, and equipment.
The equipment are average. I haven't drawn the mask of memory yet. But it's pretty bad if you don't have it on a flyer or have a way to clear ground blockers. The sword has been okay. It ends games quickly.
Some other equipment to consider that are cheaper than swords are, grafted wargear, livewire lash, runechanter's pike. I think you want the equipment to quickly kill the opponent. Which means it needs to give a lot of power. Also sometimes you're behind and you want your equipment to be able to trade with your opponent, so boosting power is also good here. I think the pike might be too much of a nombo with grim lavamancer. I think I might try grafted wargear.
Tidehollow sculler has been really good in the deck. It basically stretches their removal. It's another creature they want to kill. Or you cast it first to eat their spell snare and hopefully let bob resolve next. It eats removal for bob or Young Pyromancer (YP) or you get to keep their card for a while. One of the weaknesses of non blue decks is their combo match up, and sculler certainly helps with that. Plus seeing their hand is really relevant, it lets you play around removal (namely electrolyze) or certain counters. I think playing 4 is correct.
YP has not been that impressive. If I have a chance to lead with YP or bob on turn 2, I always go with bob. YP is not really a turn 2 card. It requires you to have cheap spells to use. If you have YP out and bolts in hand, but they have no bolt targets, burning their face then they're at a high life total is pretty bad a lot of the time. On turn 5 when you kill 2 of their guys, or double cast lingering souls, or make them discard, YP is amazing. But not so amazing on turn 2. I'm not sure what that says about the card. It's okay in this deck but it's not that amazing.
The lavamancers have been great in the deck. Once they get active it makes combat hard for the opponent, allowing a lot of my 1/1s to trade or even race.
Bob is the best card in the deck, not much to say other than that.
Another sideboard decision to consider is to just play 4 boros charms, and become a burn deck so you can close out games fast.
The deck is promising. It's probably not the best YP shell, I think the blue/x version might be better. But it's not complete garbage.
I can't tell if this deck is good or not. There are games where I just crush my opponent with tokens, discard and burn. But then there are games where I play a dude each turn and my opponent kills/counters it.
I think the best card in the deck is bob, followed by lingering souls, then YP.
YP needs a lot of things to go right for him to be good. You need a spell to cast, you need him not to die on turn 2 if you played him on turn 2, and you're going to want that spell in your hand to be relevant. If you have no targets for your bolt/terminate/path YP does nothing. If you cast him on turn 3, those things still apply, you need the spell you cast to be impactful.
I think i'm going to cut the equipment. I'm always siding out mask of memory. Sadly i've never drawn it in the ~20 or so games i've played. The sword usually stays in if the opponent is playing red. But I can see cutting it, it costs a lot of mana, and doesn't trigger off YP. I think i'm either going to play night's whisper or Conjurer's Ban.
Zealous persecution is sort of a concession to electrolyze. I think i've had it 7-8 times in my hand, and only 1 time it was dead (had no creatures on board). Other times it speed up my clock by a turn, saved me from electrolyze blow outs, removed pesky blockers like snapcaster, sakura tribe elder, it screwed up combat math for my opponent (killed a spellskite), and wrecked affinity.
I'm not interested in cutting it anytime soon.
YP is not that impressive. I'm guessing he's better in a heavy 1 mana cantrip version. Sadly i'm not interested in trying that kind of deck as it's really threat light (12-13 threats). The dega version of the deck has ~20 cards the opponent usually has to deal with.
I played this deck on Saturday and would now make a few changes. Dark Confidant is amazing as always and I won every game where I managed to keep one in play for a few turns. Grim Lavamancer also did a ton of work killing Deathrite Shamans, other annoying creatures, trading up, or closing out a game. I did remove a Lavamancer and Aristocrat for 2 Figure of Destiny but didn't draw them all day. Only time I played Cartel Aristocrat I didn't have creatures I wanted to sacrifice and Young Pyromancer just didn't do enough.
The spells were all pretty great. Mask of Memory was amazing. Drawing 2 and discarding 1 is much more powerful than just drawing 1. While it doesn't give combat bonuses the card advantage it provided won me a few games. I didn't draw Sword of War and Peace often but when I did it felt too slow. It did win me a game against a white weenie deck but I might have won that anyways. Most times I draw it I'd rather be casting all the other cards in my hand over the Sword. I had planned on running 1 Mask, 1 Sword of War and Peace, and 1 Sword of Fire and Ice along with a Steelshaper's Gift but couldn't find them before the tournament.
Going forward I can see dropping some number of Cartel Aristocrat (or all), all the Young Pyromancers (saddens me), and switching up the equipment package (Maybe 1 Steelshaper's Gift, 1 Mask, and 1 other equipment. Would be tempted to try a batterskull although it would hurt with bob). I also want to add some more 1 drops to the deck. Maybe Figure of Destiny or Deathrite Shaman.
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4 Dark Confidant
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Cartel Aristocrat
4 Young Pyromancer
Spells 17
4 Lingering Souls
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Lightning Helix
3 Path to Exile
3 Thoughtseize
Equipment 4
2 Mask of Memory
2 Sword of War and Peace
3 Marsh Flats
3 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Godless Shrine
2 Sacred Foundry
1 Blood Crypt
3 Tectonic Edge
2 Plains
2 Swamp
1 Mountain
Looking to start playing MODO and wanted to start with a deck that I don't play in paper magic. With the printing of Young Pyromancer I really wanted to fit it into a deck. I've always liked the BRW combination and the sideboard options it provides. The idea of the deck is to just play good cards pretty much.
Grim Lavamancer seems really good right now with all the pod creatures and Deathrite Shamans running around. Dark Confidant doesn't really need an explanation, Cartel Aristocrat on the other hand. I got the idea from another thread on the boards. It plays well with the token producers and when equipped with a 'sword' can always get through. A few creatures I didn't include but may warrant slots are Mirran Crusader, Tidehollow Sculler, and Aven Mindcenor.
The spell suite is pretty basic, Thoughtseizes could be Inquisitions but I figured with only playing three I might as well always hit. There will probably be additional discard in the sideboard.
For equipment slots I choose Sword of War and Peace and Mask of the Memory. I feel Sword of War and Peace to be the best sword in modern due to two relevant protections and game ending triggers. Hell, I could see running Sword of Light and Shadow, Fire and Ice, or Feast and Famine in this list. Mask of Memory is more of a pet card. I've been trying to find a deck that it'll work in and it probably just isn't good enough but I'd love it if it was.
Sideboard will mostly contain hate to stop combo, tron, and pyroclasms.
Thanks in advance for any comments or suggestions.
Pioneer: WURFaerie fires BRGDragons
ModernBGElves WRBurn UR Fires Turns URGift Storm UG Twiddle Storm
http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?20755-Deck-Team-Italia
Edit: "He named the deck Team Italia in honor of his own heritage and in reference to the BUG deck that is so popular in Legacy."
Looks like it's a joke name in reference to Team America.
So here would be my rough draft
4 Young Pyromancer
3 Grim Lavamancer
3 Cartel Aristocrat
4 Dark Confidant
1 Tidehollow Sculler
Spells 20
4 Lingering Souls
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Path to Exile
3 Lightning Helix
3 Thoughtseize
2 Zealous Persecution
1 Darkblast
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Mask of Memory
Lands 23
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Arid Mesa
3 Tectonic Edge
3 Marsh Flats
2 Snow-Covered Swamp
2 Sacred Foundry
2 Godless Shrine
1 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Snow-Covered Mountain
1 Blood Crypt
1 Slay
1 Duress
1 Rest in Peace
1 Stony Silence
1 Celestial Purge
1 Emerge Unscathed
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Sowing Salt
1 Boros Charm
1 Slaughter Games
1 Torpor Orb
1 Spellskite
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Wear/Tear
I wanted cards that were good on their own and to lessen the cards that were bad in multiples (or bad on their own), so I trimmed a lavamancer and aristocrat. YP is bad on his own, but maybe he's powerful enough to warrant risking him as a bad top deck. Cutting creatures also makes YP better.
I tried to find more cards that made tokens (to synergize with YP and aristocrat), but you can't really play spectral procession in this deck (color requirement and it's a 6 off bob), and midnight haunting and raise the alarm are pretty bad without anthems. And I didn't want to go to 4 mana to play stuff like elspeth or sorin.
The sideboard could use some work. I probably want less artifacts and more instants/sorceries, but nihil spellbomb and rest in peace are much better than rakdos charm. This deck can be pretty weak to sweepers, so it might want more boros charms. Boros charm also counters abrupt decay. The emerge unscathed, triggers twice on YP, so that's why it's there. You could talk me into playing that card main deck. Rebound is good with YP, but there aren't any other playable cards, consuming vapors and surreal memoir are too costly. And this deck doesn't play enough instants for the memoir anyways.
4 Young Pyromancer
3 Grim Lavamancer Cartel Aristocrat
4 Dark Confidant
4 Tidehollow Sculler
Spells 20
4 Lingering Souls
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Path to Exile
2 Terminate
3 Lightning Helix
3 Inquisition of Kozelik
2 Zealous Persecution
1 Darkblast
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Mask of Memory
Lands 23
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Arid Mesa
3 Tectonic Edge
4 Marsh Flats
1 Swamp
2 Sacred Foundry
2 Godless Shrine
1 Plains
1 Mountain
1 Blood Crypt
1 Slay
1 Duress
1 Rest in Peace
1 Stony Silence
1 Celestial Purge
1 Emerge Unscathed
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Sowing Salt
1 Boros Charm
1 Slaughter Games
1 Torpor Orb
1 Spellskite
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Wear/Tear
Some changes I made were, 3 scullers, 1 aristocrat. Inquisition over thoughtseize since i'm cheap. Though i'm not sure you'd want 3 in this deck, as you can do a lot of damage to yourself. a 2/1 seize/iok split might be better. You definitely want 8 fetches, you have lavamancer and you really want to cast your spells on time. I don't see why you'd need more than one of each basic. I also cut 2 paths as they're pretty bad vs jund and UWR. I added 2 terminates in their place.
Cartel Aristocrat is really bad unless you have tokens. So that's why I have the 3/1 sculler/aristocrat ratio. Probably going to drop to 0 aristocrats. When you have tokens + aristocrat out you can mess up their removal. So you can screw up lightning helix, maelstrom pulse, electrolyze, etc... That's a pretty mediocre ability. I haven't had a chance to equip the aristocrat, but that's a 3 card combo since you also need tokens, and equipment.
The equipment are average. I haven't drawn the mask of memory yet. But it's pretty bad if you don't have it on a flyer or have a way to clear ground blockers. The sword has been okay. It ends games quickly.
Some other equipment to consider that are cheaper than swords are, grafted wargear, livewire lash, runechanter's pike. I think you want the equipment to quickly kill the opponent. Which means it needs to give a lot of power. Also sometimes you're behind and you want your equipment to be able to trade with your opponent, so boosting power is also good here. I think the pike might be too much of a nombo with grim lavamancer. I think I might try grafted wargear.
Tidehollow sculler has been really good in the deck. It basically stretches their removal. It's another creature they want to kill. Or you cast it first to eat their spell snare and hopefully let bob resolve next. It eats removal for bob or Young Pyromancer (YP) or you get to keep their card for a while. One of the weaknesses of non blue decks is their combo match up, and sculler certainly helps with that. Plus seeing their hand is really relevant, it lets you play around removal (namely electrolyze) or certain counters. I think playing 4 is correct.
YP has not been that impressive. If I have a chance to lead with YP or bob on turn 2, I always go with bob. YP is not really a turn 2 card. It requires you to have cheap spells to use. If you have YP out and bolts in hand, but they have no bolt targets, burning their face then they're at a high life total is pretty bad a lot of the time. On turn 5 when you kill 2 of their guys, or double cast lingering souls, or make them discard, YP is amazing. But not so amazing on turn 2. I'm not sure what that says about the card. It's okay in this deck but it's not that amazing.
The lavamancers have been great in the deck. Once they get active it makes combat hard for the opponent, allowing a lot of my 1/1s to trade or even race.
Bob is the best card in the deck, not much to say other than that.
Another sideboard decision to consider is to just play 4 boros charms, and become a burn deck so you can close out games fast.
The deck is promising. It's probably not the best YP shell, I think the blue/x version might be better. But it's not complete garbage.
I think the best card in the deck is bob, followed by lingering souls, then YP.
YP needs a lot of things to go right for him to be good. You need a spell to cast, you need him not to die on turn 2 if you played him on turn 2, and you're going to want that spell in your hand to be relevant. If you have no targets for your bolt/terminate/path YP does nothing. If you cast him on turn 3, those things still apply, you need the spell you cast to be impactful.
I think i'm going to cut the equipment. I'm always siding out mask of memory. Sadly i've never drawn it in the ~20 or so games i've played. The sword usually stays in if the opponent is playing red. But I can see cutting it, it costs a lot of mana, and doesn't trigger off YP. I think i'm either going to play night's whisper or Conjurer's Ban.
I'm not interested in cutting it anytime soon.
YP is not that impressive. I'm guessing he's better in a heavy 1 mana cantrip version. Sadly i'm not interested in trying that kind of deck as it's really threat light (12-13 threats). The dega version of the deck has ~20 cards the opponent usually has to deal with.
The spells were all pretty great. Mask of Memory was amazing. Drawing 2 and discarding 1 is much more powerful than just drawing 1. While it doesn't give combat bonuses the card advantage it provided won me a few games. I didn't draw Sword of War and Peace often but when I did it felt too slow. It did win me a game against a white weenie deck but I might have won that anyways. Most times I draw it I'd rather be casting all the other cards in my hand over the Sword. I had planned on running 1 Mask, 1 Sword of War and Peace, and 1 Sword of Fire and Ice along with a Steelshaper's Gift but couldn't find them before the tournament.
Going forward I can see dropping some number of Cartel Aristocrat (or all), all the Young Pyromancers (saddens me), and switching up the equipment package (Maybe 1 Steelshaper's Gift, 1 Mask, and 1 other equipment. Would be tempted to try a batterskull although it would hurt with bob). I also want to add some more 1 drops to the deck. Maybe Figure of Destiny or Deathrite Shaman.