Woah…two articles in a row? Yea that’s right I work and it interrupts my normal trips to FNM, but hey atleast I get to bring you guys a brand new segment! This is Jank Central; a new part of the show where I post lists that are NOT BUDGET, but will make you shake your head. This list is going to be for the modern format, and is indeed a combo deck. Let’s get started!

4x Pili-Pala and 4x Grand Achitect

The combo in the deck. Lately everyone has been clambering over the Devoted Druid and Vizier of Remedies, but I think this one is cheekier. This two card combo has the potential to generate an infinite amount of coloured mana. By using Grand Architect’s ability to make Pili-Pala blue. By doing this we can use Grand Architect’s second ability to tap Pili-Pala for two colourless mana. We then use that two colourless to untap Pili-Pala, netting a single mana of any colour. Now we can continue this as much as we want until we decide to stop.

4x Pull from Tomorrow and 1x Laboratory Maniac

Now that we have all of this mana, what do we do with it? We dump it into drawing our entire library duh! Sure we won’t necessarily have to draw our entire library, but enough to hit our win conditions. The first of which being the Ad Nauseam all star Laboratory Maniac! Once we hit this guy, all we have to do is cast a second Pull from Tomorrow for the rest of the deck.

1x Banefire and 1x Walking Ballista

Oh no! So you kept a really good hand and drew into Laboratory Maniac. Your opponent hits you with a Thoughtseize and makes you discard it. What do we do now? Well, once we get hold of our combo we can blow up someone’s face. Banefire for 600? Totally doable. Generate 10,000 blue mana, make a 5,000/5,000 Walking Ballista and ping your opponent to death? Yep! These two win cons are a great way to just take it to your opponent’s life total.

4x Muddle the Mixture, 4x Tolaria West and 3x Fabricate

These are our versatile spells. These will help us find the things we need to win the game. We can transmute Muddle the Mixture for either Pull from Tomorrow or Pili-Pala. Transmuting Tolaria West gets us Pact of Negation or Walking Ballista. These cards helps us dig for what we need to seal the deal on our opponents.

4x Serum Visions and 4x Remand

These two are your typical blue staples which help us dig for win cons and establish dominance. 

4x Mana Leak and 2x Exhaustion

Mana leak is sort of a no brainer. Exhaustion on the other hand is super good in certain situations. With Grand Architect we can’t combo off until we have four mana. So being able to ensure that our opponent stays tapped out until our turn four is super clutch.

8x Fetch Lands, 3x Academy Ruins and 1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All

The fetch lands do not matter. These eight blue based fetch lands will ensure we have the mana we need to combo off. Academy Ruins is here to retrieve any artifacts that accidentally hit the graveyard. Boseiju is here to ensure no one has any plans to stop our combo.

SB –
3x Twisted Image – Not only the best Spellskite answer known to man, but a cantrip aswell.
2x Vapor Snag – A little stall can go a long way.
2x Echoing Truth – More stall can go an even further way!
3x Hurkyl’s Recall – Pesky artifacts getting the bump!
3x Negate – So we can stop anyone trying to stop us.
2x Surgical Extraction – A wee bit of exile never hurt anybody.

Death of a Marvel

With WotC’s recent ban announcement it has left me deck-less. I had finally gotten all of my cards together for Sultai Marvel and managed to play it at one FNM. Not even two weeks after I finish the deck, WotC announces the removal of the deck’s namesake. Back to the drawing board for me I guess.

I will leave you all with a little treat…enjoy.

Hello once again my fellow spell slingers. It is I, the Salt Shaker Supreme, and I have returned from my writing hiatus with something a little different. I have not been to FNM in quite some time and since Pro Tour Amonkhet is in our rear views I thought it was be fun to take a look at some of the decks that managed to slag their way into the Top 8. In the latter half of this article I would like to compare two versions of the increasingly popular pseudo-combo deck featuring the legendary artifact from Kaladesh; Aetherworks Marvel.

Pro Tour Amonket

Even though I’ve been off of standard for a while, I still thoroughly enjoy watching it. I especially enjoy spectating standard when the cards are in the hands of some of the best Magic players on the planet. On the weekend of May 13th, 2017, the worlds’ best MTG spell slingers traveled from around the globe to Nashville, Tennessee, to battle it out for the prestigious Pro Tour trophy!

The Pro Tour was a magnificent spectacle to behold. Watching all of the cool new innovative ways to utilize the fresh cards coming out of Amonkhet was quite the sight. After a brutal slugfest of draft and standard swiss, there arose eight players to duke it out in single elimination until only one remained. The Top 8 lists can be found here, but I’ll give y’all a quick run down of the standings.

The Top 8 consisted of four Aetherworks decks, three Zombie lists, and one Black-Green Energy deck. After the quarterfinals we were granted our 8th place lists; White-Black Zombies piloted by Chris Fennell, Mono-Black Zombies piloted by Christian Calcano, Temur Aetherworks by Marc Tobiasch, and another Temur Aetherworks by Eric Froehlich. After the semi finals it was another Temur Energy list piloted by Martin Muller, and Ken Yukuhiro’s Black-Green Energy list that were slotted into 4th place, thus leaving Gerry Thompson and Yuuya Watanabe on Mono-Black Zombies and Temur Aetherworks respectively. In the end it was zombie horde which clambered its’ way to victory earning Gerry Thompson the Pro Tour Amonkhet title.

Vroom Vroom?

I’ve seen a few people trolling around on Reddit and Facebook asking the REAL BURNING question of “Where was Mardu Vehicles?” and I believe I have the answer. You see, in a world where Saheeli Rai and Felidar Guardian are a turn 4 auto win, you need someone able to rise up and beat it, because there is a reason Splinter Twin got banned in Modern, no one likes a turn 4 kill.

In my honest opinion I believe Mardu Vehicles was a necessary evil to combat Copy Cat Combo. It was full of cheap burn, spot removal to deal with Felidar Guardian, and evasive cheap creatures to kill Saheeli when she hits the field. In a post-Felidar banned format, I believe we will see less and less of Mardu Vehicles, as the threat of monstrous eldrazi titans and hordes of recurring zombies slowly takes over the format.

Temur or Sultai? Red or Black?

For those of you whom have been following my blog for a while, are aware that I have been out of the standard game for a wee bit. There hasn’t been anything that really makes me go “oooh shiney!” for quite some time. However, watching the Pro Tour I stumbled onto a list by one Reid Duke that didn’t have a particularly strong showing, of 6-4, but I thought the deck was sweet. The deck is an interesting take on the typical Aetherworks Marvel lists by removing the red and adding black. The temur list feels more like an actual energy list where as the sultai list feels more like a delirium-esque list.

There are quite a few pros in terms of running the temur build. The biggest and probably most apparent bonus is Harnessed Lightning. This versatile instant speed removal spell is not merely just an expensive bolt. One of the most innovative ways I’ve seen this played is to target ones’ own creature, generate the three energy, then spend none, dealing zero damage to the target. Another perk of running temur is Whirler Virtuoso. This three mana dude has a pretty cool ability to vomit 1/1 flying thopter tokens for three energy. Whirler Virtuoso enables one to go wide with tokens when the board is gummed up with creatures. The third and final big perk to playing red is Chandra, Flamecaller. Not only can she refill your hand with her zero ability, but she can just Ball Lightning. If that isn’t your speed she can deal three damage board wide while retaining one loyalty counter.

Onto Mr. Duke’s list which he played at the Pro Tour. I’ve been playing this version online quite a bit and it feels very similar to the Green-Black Delirium list that I used to run back in the day. Now what are the pros of playing black? WELL LET ME TELL YOU I’M LOVING IT! To start things off, the most format shaping card in a while, Fatal Push. This one drop kill spell has completely shaken up the modern format and I feel it is still super strong in standard as well. Whirler Virtuoso grants the temur list a cheap way to drain energy, black gives us Demon of Dark Schemes. Not only does he act as a pseudo-sweeper, but him sweeping some wheenies can grant crazy amounts of energy. Not only that, but he has the insanely good ability to pick creatures out of not only my graveyard, but my opponent’s graveyard as well. Temur Aetherworks gets Chandra, and Sultai Aetherworks gets an equally awesome femme fatale in the shape of Liliana, Death’s Majesty. Her plus one ability feeds delirium, and she works well with DoDS in filling my yard, giving me an ample supply to pluck from. Her negative three ability is the real kicker though, being able to grab back an Ulamog, or a Demon is sweet business. Finally her negative seven wipes the board, sparing zombies. This is relevant as her second ability makes the creatures she reanimates into zombies so she doesn’t wipe her own board. There are also other huge boons to playing black. Black gives us access to the mirror killer Dispossess, the reanimation killer Kalitas, and the new walker removal spell Never//Return.

I guess it all comes down to a matter of one’s own play style. As I played delirium before and was a fan of it I believe that is why I am drawn to the sultai version as opposed to the temur version.

That looks like all about I wanted to talk about today…WOAH! SPOILER ALERT!

RETURN OF THE GOD-PHARAOH

HOLY CHRISTMAS LAND BATMAN! Looks like we have officially received our first spoilers for the upcoming set Hour of Devastation!

First off we have a gorgeous new board wipe in black. I just wanted to begin by saying this art is beautiful. Oh it looks amazing. Now onto the actual card. A three mana board wipe is yuge, and yes, I am talking Trump yuge. However, the downside to this card could be quite crippling. I have high hopes for this card and how we will eventually see the pros find a way to break it.

Samut was a red and green legendary creature from Amonkhet with a white activated ability. Seeing her returning as a strictly two colour planeswalker is interesting. At four converted mana cost and four loyalty she has a one plus ability and two minus abilities. My first instinct right off the bat is she isn’t going to be particularly strong. Her immediate presence on the battlefield is heavily dependent on you having a creature to utilize her double strike. Playing her on an an empty board is basically useless, unless you count shocking your opponent for four mana and two loyalty is productive. Her ultimate is kinda cute as you can just slam things from your library, but I feel that is the only thing this “tested” Tessa has at her disposal.

ALL HAIL THE GOD-PHARAOH! Oh baby! Bolas is back and he is maaaaaaaad! This seven cmc, seven loyalty, four ability gangster dragon looks mad enough to break the Donald. His first ability is possibly the most broken walker ability I have ever seen. It exiles cards from your opponents’ library until they hit a nonland, then casts it for free…are you kitten me. How is that not a negative ability? That is insane. His alternate up ability has your opponent exiling two cards from their hand…that is also insanely good. He has a negative four ability which is straight up deal seven damage to either a creature your opponent controls, or their face, whichever you prefer. Finally, the piece de resistance, exile each nonland permanent your opponents control. This is gonna be hectic as anything in multiplayer, and in one on one? Gummed up board? Sure, exile everything they have. Pesky Ulamog in your way? Ok byeeeee.

So far, two of the three cards spoiled have gotten me really excited! I can not wait to see what WOTC does with the next set. HYPE HYPE HYPE.

Until next time! Stay sodium’d my friends.

What Masters?

If you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple weeks then let me fill you in on a little something…. WIZARDS OF THE COAST HAS LOST THEIR MINDS. A month and a bit after WotC denounced Modern as a format, they produce the greatest money machine of all time. Modern Masters 2017 is the culmination of all the great stuff that us modern players want in our lives. It’s a magical Christmas set. This set will be opened like crazy, so if you are on the bubble about throwing together a modern list, it’s the best time to do so.

Why Modern?

But why should you, random player, build an eternal format deck? Because it’s eternal. The great thing about modern is that the cards never rotate, so you can take your time in putting the deck together. I had been working on my original B/W Eldrazi list for about a year, and I’m still looking to optimize it. But there in lies the beauty of modern, I can take my time. In a rotating format like standard it seems like a rush to break the format, and get all the best cards, and then build the best deck while you can before it rotates.

Another great thing about Modern is the diversity. I don’t know about you, but I personally can’t stand playing against the same decks over and over again. The deck diversity in modern is so good, people often complain about it. As an example, if we look at the last three Star City Games Standard Opens, there are three decks that exist; Saheeli/Cat Combo, Mardu Vehicles, and a combination of G/B Aggro decks. These three decks act as a sort of rock paper scissors at times, where in Vehicles beats Saheeli, Saheeli beats G/B and G/B beats Vehicles. Sure this isn’t 100% of the time but these are the better match ups. Not only does this make somewhat boring Magic to play, but it also makes for boring Magic to watch. The casters they get for these televised events are pretty good, but there are only so many ways they can narrate a vehicles mirror before it gets absolutely dry. I would not like to turn your attention to the last three SCG Modern Opens. Out of all three Top 8’s, there were five copies of Death’s Shadow, four copies of Grixis Control, three copies of Bant Eldrazi, and the rest were all one ofs. Not only does deck diversity make for great playing, but it also makes for great spectating.

Modern is currently in the best state it ever has been, and it’s never too late to DELVE into the awesomeness.

Where to Start?

Ok, have I convinced you? Good, let’s begin. The format of modern is a big place, and you have to remember that looking for the best deck is not necessarily the way to go, as with modern there is no definitive “best deck”. If I could be honest, the best thing to do is find a list that looks interesting, and then use some sort of online simulator to test your games out, like untap.in. Doing this can prevent the dreaded “oh I finally put a deck together, played it, and I don’t like it” scenario.

This is where the diversity of modern shines, it has something for everyone. Enjoying blitzing your opponent with hastey one drops and then finishing them with burn? Play Boros Burn. Enjoy lowering your life total to play a one drop creature that has eight power and eight toughness? Death’s Shadow is your list. Do you enjoy monotonously sitting around, slowly killing your opponent and forcing a draw? Looks like you’re going to want to play Lantern Control. Want to have no friends? You’ll probably enjoy 8-Rack. Modern is a format in which any play style can be competitive and fun as well! Well, except maybe 8-rack…

Let’s Get Started!

So now you’re all set, you’ve picked your deck, where are you going to play? Well if you live in the Simcoe County area, Jack’s on Queen holds Modern and Standard based Friday Night Magic. They are also holding Modern formatted Grand Prix Trials throughout the upcoming months for Grand Prix Montreal and Grand Prix Vegas. Check out their Facebook for details.

In addition to these, Face to Face Games hosts huge competitive rules enforcement level events called Face to Face Opens! These large events are held at Seneca College in Toronto and usually host around 160-200 players. The next one is approaching awfully quickly, as it is March 18th. If you are available to attend this event I highly suggest you do so. I’m proud to say that the Head Judge for the event is a very good friend of mine, and also my judge dad, Jason Malott. Jason’s love for the game runs deep, and he was my inspiration for pursuing the life of a Magic judge. I unfortunately am slated to work that day, but I will be with him in spirit!

Drafting the Beast

Modern Masters 2017 is releasing March 17, and a majority of stores are holding drafts for the event. I have a few tips for drafting this monster of a set.

Step 1; Don’t go in blind

When the first Modern Masters set came out in 2013 I had only ever played standard, so I was completely green to the concept of ‘modern’. So I sat down at my LGS and proceeded to draft my first packs of Modern Masters. It was a pretty chill event, just a couple pals chilling playing draft. So here’s me, flipping through the cards of my first pack, I had a game plan in mind but I didn’t know what any of the cards in the set were. I get to the uncommons and see this four drop 4/4 flier by the name of Tower Gargoyle, and if there is anything I know about drafting, flying is good. I take a peak at the rare and it’s some two drop green creature. It has some text that give it +1/+1 for each card type in the graveyard so I though ‘that’s pretty meh in draft, I can’t build around that’. So just as I was about to pass the pack and my buddy stops me, “Dude…what are you doing?”. “Uh, taking the best card in the pack?” I replied, shocked at his interjection. “You’re going to take the green card, put it in a sleeve, and sell it.” At this point I’m supremely lost. He put his hand on my shoulder, leans in and whispers “That’s a Tarmogoyf, and it is currently priced at $200.” Guys I nearly lost my mind. I never could have imagined that this little piece of paper was a crisp $200 bill. Needless to say my luck to this day has been pretty shook. But if you are going to go draft MM17, please take a look at some of the ‘chase cards’ from the set, because if you pass a Liliana of the Veil, you will never forgive yourself.

Mythics of note;

Rares of note; as well as the fetch lands…

Step 2; Know your archetypes

Every set has certain archetypes that belong to the respective colours, Modern Masters 2017 is no different. According to an article published by Magic R&D Developer Adam Prosak, there are five archetypes in MM17.

White-Blue Blink – This colour combination focuses on enter the battlefield effects and blinking the creatures to abuse these abilities.

Blue-Black Instant Control – This dual colour combination utilizes instant speed removal and counter spells to alter the battlefield.

Black-Red Unearth – Unearth is an ability that allows cards to return from the graveyard with haste for a turn.

Red-Green Wheenie Tokens – This combination wants to create a bunch of small goblin/saproling tokens and go wide, swinging past even numerous blockers.

Green-White Populate – Populate is an ability from Return to Ravnica in which you can create a token that is a copy of another token creature you control.

It is important to know these archetypes when going into a draft scenario to have the knowledge of how the colour combinations are supposed to be played. There are also some three coloured cards in the set, so one can mix and match archetypes to their choosing.

Step 3; Drafting for winning VS Drafting for value

The age old debate comes up. You’re on your last pack, your deck is coming together quite nicely, and you’re super deep in a Green-White token list. Your last pack has ‘meh’ commons, ‘meh’ uncommons, a Snapcaster Mage and a foil Craterhoof Behemoth. Now you know that the Hoofey is going to be awesome in your draft deck, however after the draft it’s just going to sit in your binder and not amount to much, SCG has it at $30. But that Snapcaster, a prime modern staple in any blue deck, besides merfolk. You could start a bidding war over the Snapcaster, SCG has it at $40. So what do you do? Take the Hoofey and hope to do well, or take the Snapcaster and know that it will sell. Truth be told, it’s entirely up to you.

This incident happened quite a while ago at Grand Prix Vegas. Pascal Maynard was in the Top 8 at Grand Prix Vegas, where the draft was Modern Masters 2015. He was pretty deep into a Red/White list when he opened his pack two and stopped dead. There was a copy of Burst Lightning which would have been great for his list, but something shiney caught his eye, a foil Tarmogoyf. What he did next garnered him so backlash, he took the Goyf. This event sparked a huge social media storm known to most Magic players as Goyfgate. The backlash from his fellow Pro-Players was that of anger and disgust. Some saying he “ruined the spirit of the game” by drafting for value rather than winning. But in a statement issued by Maynard, he did indeed ‘win’. He put the foil Top 8 stamped Tarmogoyf up on E-Bay for auction and vowed to donate half of the money to Gamers Helping Gamers. Let’s just say the world was behind him as the card finally ended up selling for $15,000 USD.

Wrap-Up

So yea, that’s it for this blog. I hope you enjoyed the read and that some of my insight into the modern format brought you closer to building your own list.

Until next time, stay salty my friends.