All right, that’s all I want to say on that. Today we are going to be talking about Modern again. Last week I gave you four Modern decks that all seemed sweet and powerful in the format and today I’m going to be doing the same thing. This is because this coming weekend I have the SCG Charlotte Open which is in my backyard and these are all the decks I’m considering playing myself. We got four more Modern decks today, so get ready!

First up is a deck Travis Woo originally built and he’s said that Living End is now a much stronger deck with the new cycle creatures thanks to Amonkhet. Last I checked he went undefeated in two different Magic Online Leagues with his deck. Let’s have a look at it.

Living End ? Modern | Travis Woo

• Creatures (30)
• 2 Archfiend of Ifnir
• 4 Architects of Will
• 4 Desert Cerodon
• 4 Faerie Macabre
• 4 Horror of the Broken Lands
• 4 Monstrous Carabid
• 4 Simian Spirit Guide
• 4 Street Wraith

• Instants (5)
• 1 Beast Within
• 4 Violent Outburst

• Sorceries (7)
• 3 Living End
• 4 Demonic Dread

• Lands (18)
• 1 Forest
• 2 Swamp
• 1 Blood Crypt
• 1 Overgrown Tomb
• 1 Stomping Ground
• 2 Blooming Marsh
• 2 Copperline Gorge
• 4 Blackcleave Cliffs
• 4 Verdant Catacombs

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Beast Within
• 3 Brindle Boar
• 2 Dead // Gone
• 3 Ingot Chewer
• 3 Ricochet Trap
• 2 Shriekmaw

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Living End is a deck that cycles as many creatures as it can as quickly as it can. After filling the graveyard with a solid number of creatures it then will play Demonic Dread or Violent Outburst which will always Cascade into Living End. The first Living End will usually clear the board of all creatures and then bring back all the creatures you’ve cycled onto the battlefield. So you get a Wrath of God and get to reanimate all the creatures in your graveyard. This deck has been around for a while and it has fallen in and out of favor but what has really pushed it are the new cycle creatures from Amonkhet.

Horror of the Broken Lands not only meets criteria of wanting a creature to cycle for a single Black mana but it also has an insanely powerful ability that synergies very well with the rest of our cycle cards. After we cast a Living End we’ll get a 4/4 creature that will get +2/+1 anytime we cycle other cards? Sign me up! This was a huge addition to this deck.

The other cycling creature is Archfiend of Ifnir.

Traditionally a creature that takes two mana to cycle is a no go for this deck because the difference between one and two mana is huge! However, we make an exception for Archfiend of Ifnir because it’s so powerful when on the battlefield. When Archfiend of Ifnir is on the battlefield cycling any card will put -1/-1 counters on all our opponent’s creatures. That’s an extremely powerful ability. This stops infinite Pestermites, Felidar Guardians, and Deceiver Exarchs from killing us. It also slams the door shut against Infect and other small creature decks like Affinity. Over the course of a turn or two it will just Plague Wind your opponent.

I really like this list but I’d personally try to find room for more Beast Within since that card works amazingly well with Living End or try to find room for some Fulminator Mages to slow down Tron. This strategy is powerful and is one of the decks I’m considering for the tournament.

Next up is a deck based around Devoted Druid and Vizier of Remedies. We’ve seen decks play these combinations of cards alongside Collected Company but we’ve never seen an all-in version of the deck like this. Matsugan took this list to a 5-0 finish on Magic Online.

W/G All In ? Modern | _Matsugan

• Creatures (15)
• 1 Duskwatch Recruiter
• 1 Walking Ballista
• 1 Wild Cantor
• 4 Devoted Druid
• 4 Street Wraith
• 4 Vizier of Remedies

• Instants (11)
• 3 Manamorphose
• 4 Pact of Negation
• 4 Summoner's Pact

• Sorceries (8)
• 4 Commune with Nature
• 4 Traverse the Ulvenwald

• Enchantments (7)
• 3 Unbridled Growth
• 4 Oath of Nissa

• Artifacts (5)
• 1 Conjurer's Bauble
• 4 Mishra's Bauble

• Lands (14)
• 1 Forest
• 2 Horizon Canopy
• 2 Misty Rainforest
• 2 Temple Garden
• 3 Verdant Catacombs
• 4 Hall of the Bandit Lord

• Sideboard (15)
• 4 Mirran Crusader
• 1 Mystic Enforcer
• 4 Path to Exile
• 4 Qasali Ambusher
• 2 Reclamation Sage

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Turn one play anything.

Turn Two play Hall of the Bandit Lord and use it to cast Devoted Druid. Tap Devoted Druid for mana then untap Devoted Druid and tap it again for mana. Use the 2-mana to play Manamorphose so that you can play Vizier of Remedies and precede to add infinite mana with Vizier and Devoted Druid. After that you can tutor for something like Walking Ballista with Traverse the Ulvenwald or Summoner's Pact and kill your opponent. You don’t need Manamorphose if you played a Wild Cantor on turn one.

This deck is all about assembling the combo as fast as possible. It’s playing a lot of cards that cantrip like Street Wraith, Mishra's Bauble, Unbridled Growth, and Oath of Nissa so that it can turn on Delirium for Traverse the Ulvenwald very quickly. It then has Commune with Nature, Traverse the Ulvenwald, Oath of Nissa, Summoner's Pact, and Duskwatch Recruiter to find the combo as fast possible and continue to find the combo if your opponent is disrupting you. It even has Pact of Negation for the turn it goes off and can even pay for the pact with the help of Unbridled Growth, Wild Cantor, or Manamorphose.

The toughest matchup for this deck I imagine are the Black removal decks so the deck has a playset of Mirran Crusaders to help with that alongside Mystic Enforcer. Mystic Enforcer should easily be a 6/6 flying creature with Protection from Black when you play it.

Take your opponent by surprise with this deck, especially since it’s still very new and not many people have seen it yet. Really like Matsugan’s list.

Next up is a deck from the Top 8 from Grand Prix Kobe.

Esper Midrange ? Modern | Akio Chiba, Grand Prix Kobe Top 8

• Creatures (9)
• 1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
• 4 Glory-Bound Initiate
• 4 Snapcaster Mage

• Instants (12)
• 1 Devour Flesh
• 2 Cryptic Command
• 2 Mana Leak
• 2 Path to Exile
• 2 Spell Snare
• 3 Fatal Push

• Sorceries (15)
• 2 Lingering Souls
• 2 Thoughtseize
• 3 Collective Brutality
• 4 Painful Truths
• 4 Serum Visions

• Artifacts (1)
• 1 Batterskull

• Lands (23)
• 1 Plains
• 1 Swamp
• 3 Island
• 1 Celestial Colonnade
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Seachrome Coast
• 1 Watery Grave
• 2 Polluted Delta
• 3 Shambling Vent
• 4 Darkslick Shores
• 4 Flooded Strand

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Ceremonious Rejection
• 2 Engineered Explosives
• 2 Lost Legacy
• 2 Vendilion Clique
• 1 Celestial Purge
• 1 Disenchant
• 1 Tormod's Crypt
• 1 Nihil Spellbomb
• 1 Negate
• 1 Go for the Throat

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For example, if your opponent happens to have two Death's Shadows in play and they are both 6/6s. When you cast Devour Flesh they are forced to sacrifice one and gain six life. After gaining the six life the other Shadow will now be a 0/0 and die due to state based effects.

Tron and Eldrazi Tron is probably this deck’s worst matchup Game 1, but games two and three it’ll have access to Ceremonious Rejections, Negate, hand disruption, and even Lost Legacy if it so desires.

Some new cards and a fresh brew took Akio Chiba very far. Kudos to him and his deck!

The last deck I want to talk about didn’t Top 8, but was a very interesting list that focused around As Foretold. Tomoya Saeki’s deck aimed to milk all the value he could from As Foretold but the most exciting part was that he also played Panoptic Mirror!

As Foretold ? Modern | Tomoya Saeki

• Creatures (4)
• 4 Greater Gargadon

• Instants (15)
• 1 Condemn
• 1 Echoing Truth
• 2 Spell Pierce
• 3 Noxious Revival
• 4 Path to Exile
• 4 Remand

• Sorceries (14)
• 2 Sleight of Hand
• 4 Ancestral Vision
• 4 Restore Balance
• 4 Serum Visions

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 As Foretold

• Artifacts (2)
• 2 Panoptic Mirror

• Lands (21)
• 1 Mountain
• 1 Plains
• 2 Island
• 1 Arid Mesa
• 1 Ghost Quarter
• 1 Scalding Tarn
• 2 Hallowed Fountain
• 2 Seachrome Coast
• 2 Steam Vents
• 4 Flooded Strand
• 4 Gemstone Mine

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Ghost Quarter
• 1 Spell Pierce
• 2 Condemn
• 4 Leyline of Sanctity
• 3 Relic of Progenitus
• 3 Fragmentize
• 1 Pithing Needle

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What’s also super cool is Tomoya Saeki played a pet card of mine, Panoptic Mirror. With Panoptic Mirror, you can exile Restore Balance and continuously lock your opponent out of the game turn after turn or you can put Ancestral Visions on the Panoptic Mirror and cast Ancestral Recall every turn on your upkeep. While I’ve always wanted to put Time Warp under the Mirror, I’ll settle for Ancestral Visions, Restore Balance, or even Path to Exile. Of course, you can exile any Instant and Sorcery with Panoptic Mirror and overtime you’re guaranteed to bury your opponent in card advantage.

This is a deck I want to look at and tweek before I play it but it’s a sweet one! The players at Grand Prix Kobe brewed and tested a lot and it showed in all their decklists. Modern continuous to be an awesome format and one I’m glad to have available when Standard can be a little stale from time to time.

Well that’s all I got for you fine folks today.

As always thanks for reading!

Much love,

Ali Aintrazi

Follow me @AliEldrazi on Twitter