In this experiment, we exploit and endure.

This week’s deck started off as I tried to figure out a way to mix my Blisterpod with Enduring Renewal. But as I investigated other synergies to include, I eventually just gave up on Blisterpod and focused on exploit.

Modern Control

While I certainly won’t claim this is a competitive Constructed deck, the lens through which I viewed these cards while making choices was one of both synergy and power in Modern. A lot of these cards were chose with the assumption we’d have Enduring Renewal on the battlefield, but most should at least function in other circumstances at well.

Sidisi's Faithful — With Enduring Renewal on the battlefield, this is like a sorcery-speed Unsummon with buyback . I don’t know how many opposing creatures we’ll need to Unsummon in Modern, but we have one just in case. It can also return one of our other creatures in case we want to reuse it.

Qarsi Sadist — I don’t know if this warrants main-deck inclusion, but running one as a win condition seems reasonable with our tutor effect we’ll cover later.

Wall of Omens — This doesn’t have exploit, so we won’t be able to reuse it the way we can Sidisi's Faithful or Qarsi Sadist. But that’s good because we just might find a time when we want to block with a 0/4. And we’ll need some solid standbys to help us reach Enduring Renewal. Oh, and when we do have Enduring Renewal, having a 2-mana cantrip creature sure can dissuade our opponent from attacking.

Silumgar Sorcerer — This was probably the most exciting card when considering exploitable Enduring Renewal interactions. Countering a creature spell and then taking the counterspell back to our hand seems very strong. The effect will be telegraphed after the first time—and even including the first time since Enduring Renewal makes us play with our hand revealed—but it’s still quite strong. Of course, it can’t hit noncreature spells, which is a bummer.

Glen Elendra Archmage — Unfortunately, this only counters noncreature spells. Oh wait, that makes it the perfect complement to Silumgar Sorcerer! And this has the upside that we only have to pay full price every second time we use it—the other times, it costs instead of .

Shriekmaw — Like exploit, evoke works with Enduring Renewal quite well. This is like a sorcery-speed Terror with buyback . I guess it could attack at some point.

Mulldrifter — The classic three-for-one, Mulldrifter can help us dig to Enduring Renewal early and then gain buyback later on.

Reveillark — Reveillark is known for its power, and here, it can be used to bring back the creatures that died before we resolved Enduring Renewal. Also, Enduring Renewal makes us ditch any creatures we’d draw after it’s cast, so if we have a Reveillark, we can use that to return some of those.

Sidisi, Undead Vizier — This is an expensive exploit creature, but it lets us search up any card we want. And though we’ll often be having creatures exploit themselves, we may want to keep this 4/6 around since searching up another card will cost us another . So exploit something small (like a Wall of Omens!), and make that tutor count!

Back from the Grave

Enduring Renewal returns any of our creatures that dies, but it doesn’t let us keep any more creature cards we’d draw. Here are a few ways to circumvent that.

Ojutai's Command — This has four modes, and we can choose two. One of those modes can return a few of our creatures. Countering creatures, gaining life, and drawing cards are great, too.

Makeshift Mannequin — This seems great with Enduring Renewal, as the downside of the mannequin counter is offset by Enduring Renewal’s . . . well . . . renewal. Use this to bring back a Reveillark we were forced to discard, and when that dies, bring back a Mulldrifter and a Qarsi Sadist. Sounds like a plan.

Emeria, the Sky Ruin — Another way to return the creatures we’re forced to discard as we draw them, Emeria is around to bring out the big guns. This one-of is a great late-game option to search up with Sidisi, but it does require support. I tried to include as many Plains as possible in the land base in order to increase our chances to bring this online.

Sideboard

Since I’m operating under the guise of this being a Modern deck, I figured I’d throw in a sideboard. Real sideboards should be built with the metagame in mind and to shore up weaknesses of the deck against known opposition, but for this one, I instead just threw in cards that I kind of wanted in the main deck but couldn’t fit.

Dawnfluke — When Enduring Renewal was in Standard as part of the Time Spiral time-shifted sheet, so was Dawnfluke. I had a casual deck on Magic Online that used Dawnflukes to repeatedly prevent damage for . The deck was trash, but maybe it’s not completely terrible against aggressive, probably-red-based decks. Okay, it’s probably still completely terrible.

Rise of the Dark Realms — I don’t know exactly how many creature cards will end up in our graveyard after we’ve resolved Enduring Renewal, but in a long game, we can use Rise of the Dark Realms to bring them all onto the battlefield—along with all the opponent’s creatures we’ve countered with Silumgar Sorcerer and killed with Shriekmaw.

Ojutai's Command — Here are the other two copies of the Command in case . . . you know . . . in case you need them.

Spellstutter Sprite — Here’s another creature that’s a counterspell. This one doesn’t kill itself, and a single one can only counter a 1-mana spell. But in the right circumstances, it can counter bigger spells with other Sprites or with Glen Elendra Archmages around, and if we leave them as chump-blockers, opponents will have a hard time deciding how to attack and cast spells.

Sidisi's Faithful — Here are the other three copies of that guy for times when we really need early blockers and/or want to bounce creatures a lot.

Enduring Exploitation ? Modern | Andrew Wilson

• Creatures (26)
• 1 Qarsi Sadist
• 1 Sidisi's Faithful
• 2 Reveillark
• 4 Glen Elendra Archmage
• 4 Mulldrifter
• 4 Shriekmaw
• 4 Silumgar Sorcerer
• 4 Wall of Omens
• 2 Sidisi, Undead Vizier

• Spells (10)
• 2 Ojutai's Command
• 4 Makeshift Mannequin
• 4 Enduring Renewal

• Lands (24)
• 6 Plains
• 1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
• 1 Watery Grave
• 4 Godless Shrine
• 4 Hallowed Fountain
• 4 Marsh Flats
• 4 Prairie Stream

• Sideboard (15)
• 4 Dawnfluke
• 2 Rise of the Dark Realms
• 2 Ojutai's Command
• 4 Spellstutter Sprite
• 3 Sidisi's Faithful

Buy This Deck

So if any of these cards are enduring in your collection, if you want to renew your play of them, and you like spells with buyback , give this deck a try.

Andrew Wilson

@Silent7Seven

fissionessence at hotmail dot com