Greetings!
I had the pleasure of playing in a somewhat small Modern Format tournament this Wednesday and I'm pretty excited to talk about it. Modern is my favorite non-Commander format as I've said many times before and I very rarely get to play it competitively. Our local scene is made up of mostly folks on (understandably) limited budgets and so the demand for Eternal Format tournaments is pretty low. That has started to change slowly as Wizards has made it ever so slightly easier to get your hands on the essential cards and we finally have the required 8 showing up to sanction a tournament.
I personally started to scoop up most of the Modern essentials just before the format boomed and so many cards shot up in value. This means I have access to several of the core decks in the format like Melira Pod, Robots, Storm, Splinter Twin and most of the slower control decks. I've also started to pick up parts of some of the more fringe decks like the crazy Restore Balance and Ad Nauseum combo decks. Just about the only decks I can't build are Kiki Pod (I'm missing Noble Hierarchs) and anything that calls for Dark Confidant or Tarmogoyf.
While it's definitely nice to have options, I sometimes wish I was a little more limited. It would absolutely make choosing a Modern deck a lot easier!
This time around I settled on playing Splinter Twin since none of our other locals had shown up with the deck and I thought it looked fun. I initially put together the version with 4 Boomerangs in it but switched at the last minute to Patrick Dickman's list from the recent Grand Prix. His deck looked like it had game against anything since it could actually win with damage when a combo wouldn't be possible.
If anyone is unfamiliar with the combo you're looking to pair up either Pestermite or Deceiver Exarch with Splinter Twin or Kiki Jiki to make a million copies of whichever creature you happen to have.
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Snapcaster
4 Pestermite
2 Deceiver Exarch
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Kiki Jiki
3 Remand
4 Serum Visions
2 Peek
2 Cryptic Command
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Dispel
2 Izzet Charm
4 Splinter Twin
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Steam Vents
1 Breeding Pool
1 Mountain
3 Island
1 Desolate Lighthouse
4 Sulfur Falls
2 Tectonic Edge
Sideboard
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Dispel
1 Grim Lavamancer
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Dismember
3 Molten Rain
2 Threads of Disloyalty
2 Batterskull
I particularly liked the looks of the sideboard which would let you remove most or all of your combo elements to become a more controlling or tempo-type deck. I was able to assemble the entire deck minus the Molten Rains but I was sure I'd be able to get them at the shop in time for the tournament.
I got to Magic Comics & Hobbies at around 5:30 PM and was surprised to find Ryan Smith and another regular battling it out. I was surprised because A) I didn't know this other local had a Modern deck and B) it was still pretty dang early. I dug through the boxes of non-rares and eventually found a playset of Molten Rain to slot into my sideboard and then sat down to watch the Modernity.
Ryan was playing Melira Pod and the other chap was playing....green. I saw him assemble some pretty impressive board states and do some really neat things with Druidic Satchel, Elvish Archdruid, Jade Mage and a pile of Saproling Tokens but I'm not really sure what his endgame was supposed to be. I laughed out loud when Ryan assembled the Archangel of Thune + Spike Feeder combo, attacked for a million and was Fogged. Of course, Ryan still had a colossal Archangel and some equally huge Kitchen Finks on the board and the opponent still wasn't DOING anything, but I liked it.
We ended up with 10 people including 1 poor bastard that didn't know it was Modern night.
Round 1 - Peter E. w/ UB Control
Peter's a newish guy to the shop and I know him mostly from playing Commander. He seems to know the game well and he's definitely been playing for a while and has amassed a pretty sweet collection. Peter doesn't usually stay for the tournaments so I was excited to see him playing Modern.
Game 1 - I lead off with a Grim Lavamancer into a Serum Visions and another Lavamancer after seeing Peter's Drowned Catacombs. Peter played a Far//Away, Royal Assassin and a Shimian Specter but I was able to combo off with Pestermite and Twin when he tapped out for the Specter. Peter was genuinely shocked when I explained the combo but he had a smile on his face as he realized he was dead.
Game 2 - Peter was stuck without a second Blue source this game. I played Peek to see his hand and saw that the coast was clear to combo so I tapped his only Blue in his upkeep and then played Splinter Twin on my turn. I definitely felt dirty doing that.
Peter and I played a bunch of games after our match finished, he explained what he was trying to do with his deck and it seemed pretty sweet. He was combining generally slow creatures like Shimian Specter and Royal Assassin with Lightning Greaves to speed them up a whole turn. He also had bounce spells so he could munch any problem creatures for good with the Specter. I tried to give Peter an idea of what some of the bigger decks in Modern are up to and seemed pretty interested in finding out more.
Round 2 - John W. w/ Boros Landfall
John is also somewhat new to the shop but he's definitely jumped in feet first and has quickly become one of the folks I look forward to running into. He was scrambling before the tournament to scoop up cards for his deck but I still really had no idea what to expect.
Game 1 - I'm pretty sure I won the die roll and led with a Serum Visions that scryed things to the bottom. John led with Flagstones into Steppe Lynx and I knew I was in trouble. I ended up being stuck on 2 lands with several 3 cost things in hand and eventually died to a combination of Geopedes, Lynxes and Seering Blazes. It was unfortunate to not draw additional lands but I don't know if I could have beaten his draw with mine either way.
I sideboarded out all but 1 Twin, Kiki and the Cryptics for more cheap interaction and the Batterskulls. I wasn't sure if I wanted Dispels and waffled a little on that but ended up leaving them in the board.
Game 2 - I started out with double Grim Lavamancer but didn't really have any way to feed them beyond 1 fetch land. Threads of Disloyalty stole a Geopede and let me start beating down with my Mons Goblin Lavamancers and I eventually got John dead through ugly beatdowns. Pestermite was key in tapping a Zektar Shrine Expedition token (go read that one, I'll wait) that John was able to fully load up and send out in one turn.
Game 3 - I again had an early Lavamancer but this one died. Gobin Guide beat be up a bit but was eventually halted by a Deceiver Exarch. I was down to 11 life (John had been targeting my face with burn) when I jammed Batterskull. I definitely could have played differently and held up Izzet Charm but I felt that getting the Skull online was my best chance of getting out of burn range. John had 3 cards in hand and Boros Charmed me down to 7 on my end step. He also still had mana left and thought very hard before fetching and then untapping for his turn. I figured he DEFINTIELY had 1 Bolt and possibly had 2 and was debating shooting my face or the Germ. I held my breath through his entire turn, almost passed out and then, just before The Blackness overtook me, he said he was done. I got to attack with my Skull and felt a lot better but John never gave up. He furiously fetched and search and thinned his library trying to give him the best chance of staying alive. Eventually Batterskull went all the way.
John said he didn't think his deck could ever beat a Batterskull and lamented the fact that he couldn't find any Smash to Smithereens before the event. He also showed me the 2 cards he'd been holding: Lightning Bolt and Lighting Helix. Whew!
Round 3 - Jon K. w/ Robots
Jon was borrowing my Robots deck and obviously doing well. We decided to intentionally draw our match to guarantee prizes. Jon and I had played several games before the tournament and already knew the matchup somewhat so we decided to play some Standard. Jon crushed me with Gu Ramp, making the new Naya Control list look very, very bad.
So the tournament ended, Ryan Smith finished in first, a clean 3-0 with Melira, and there seemed to be a nice spread of decks across the room. I think the breakdown was something like:
2 Splinter Twin
1 Robots
1 Boros Landfall
1 Jund
1 Melira
1 UWR Control
1 UB Control
1 Esper Control
1 Crazy Turn 1 Blood Moon Deck
I had a blast playing the Twin Deck and definitely plan to leave it together. The ability threaten to combo while also applying pressure is very powerful and it lets me use some of my favorite cards in Modern. I worry a little bit that these combo decks will scare off some of the new players trying out Modern but I don't think there's anything that can be done about it while still playing the format as it is.
I'll be writing again about FNM this week and it's back to good old Standard constructed.
If you have any questions or comments please fire away!
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