April TMR R10K Coverage: Interesting Decks
The TMR Modern R10k is a real celebration of Magic and specifically the Modern format. Although many people only focus on the Top 8 decks, and I can assure you they will be published soon but in the mean time I thought I would share 3 interesting decks from the weekend. You can read interesting to mean decks that are not often seen in the South African Modern meta-game.
First up is Jason Ward’s Grishoalbrand deck which is a combo deck which basically has a couple of different plans to win the game:
Plan A
- Cheat Griselbrand into play
- Draw cards and gain life using Nourishing Shoals until you are able to cast Through the Breach on Borborygmos Enraged
- Throw lands at your opponents face
Plan B
- Through the Breach on Worldspine Wurm
I’m pretty sure there are a couple of other ways of winning and possibly Jason can share them in the comments. Jason had a rough day going 0 – 2 drop but he has had great success in previous tournaments and this is just such a cool deck hence I thought it deserved a mention.
Jason Ward – Grishoalbrand
3 Night’s Whisper
2 Izzet Charm
1 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
4 Griselbrand
4 Goryo’s Vengence
4 Through the Breach
4 Worldspine Wurm
4 Nourishing Shoal
4 Serum Visions
4 Faithless Looting
2 Desperate Ritual
4 Simian Spirit Guide
2 Borborygmas Enraged
1 Gemstone Mine
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Mountain
2 Darkslick Shores
2 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Watery Grave
2 Blood Crypt
4 Polluted Delta
1 Bloodstained Mire
Sideboard
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
2 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Rending Volley
2 Blood Moon
2 Pact of Negation
2 Hurkyl’s Recall
Next up is Matt Gradwell’s deck. The first thing that I found interesting is that it wasn’t an Affinity deck which Matt is so well known for. For those of you who have never played against Matt piloting his Affinity deck, he basically first looks to blind you with an awesome deck that he has foiled out. Next he has a tendency to play the deck very very well and rarely makes any wrong decisions.
This month however Matt went with a really cool Land Destruction deck which looked really fun to play. The deck basically looks to start destroying your opponent’s lands as soon as possible. By using Simian Spirit Guide and Utopia Sprawl to produce the extra mana the deck can start destroying lands regularly from Turn 2. It then uses Goblin Dark-Dwellers to recur a LD spell and start smacking for 4, it also has some burn spells, Fulminator Mage and Batterskull to get the job done.
Matt Gradwell – Armageddon
4 Boom/Bust
4 Goblin Dark-Dwellers
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Molten Rain
3 Pyroclasm
4 Rolling Terrain
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Stone Rain
4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Fulminator Mage
1 Batterskull
4 Darksteel Citadel
2 Forest
2 Mountain
4 Stomping Ground
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
Sideboard
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Kozilek’s Return
1 Pyroclasm
2 Shattering Spree
2 Sowing Salt
2 Shatterstorm
2 Zo-Zu the Punisher
1 Anger of the Gods
And finally I really liked the Mill deck piloted by Victor Francis. I have played against Euan Myers who runs a similar build the last 2 weeks at FNM and I’m repeatedly amazed at just how solid the deck is.
This deck looks to get you to throw big chunks of your library into the graveyard using cards like Glimpse the Unthinkable, Hedron Crab, Mind Funeral and Mesmeric Orb. Archive Trap is a milling mega trap which inevitably gets cast for zero mana after your opponent searches their library for a land. Visions of Beyond is also a great way to restock your hand with even more mill spells.
Victor Francis – Mill
4 Archive Trap
4 Glimpse the Unthinkable
4 Breaking/Entering
2 Mind Funeral
4 Hedron Crab
3 Mesmeric Orb
4 Visions of Beyond
2 Thought Scour
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Fog
2 Crypt Inclusions
4 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
2 Watery Grave
2 Breeding Pool
1 Overgrown Tomb
2 Ghost Quarter
3 Shelldock Isle
2 Drowned Catacomb
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Forest
Sideboard
2 Damnation
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Abrupt Decay
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Echoing Truths
2 Natures Claim
1 Crypt Incursion
I hope everyone enjoyed these lists as much as I did, please check back later this week when we will be publishing the Top 8 deck lists.