In this experiment, we fill the pits with creatures and then empty them.

I’ve been trying to come up with something for Empty the Pits for weeks. Basically, I wanted to come up with a shell that would efficiently combo off and result in a bunch of Zombie tokens. I think a control shell that used Empty the Pits as a finisher would be pretty reasonable, but that’s not what I was hoping to end up with.

I was fine with making it a semi-competitive Legacy or Modern deck, though Standard didn’t seem equipped to really make Empty the Pits as efficient as I wanted. I’d have been fine if a Commander option jumped out at me, and going fully casual was fine as well. Nonetheless, I just couldn’t find anything I was happy with.

Today, however, I think I have something. No, it’s not a work of art, but here’s my attempt at emptying the pits.

On the Other Hand, the Graveyard

I considered Hermit Druid. That’s certainly a powerful option, but it’s banned in Legacy, and building casual decks built around banned-in-Legacy cards is in pretty awkward space.

Balustrade Spy was an option as well—there are already Legacy decks built around running no lands and milling themselves out entirely with the Spy. The problem is these decks already have better win conditions than Empty the Pits, and in addition, Empty the Pits, because of its , would be essentially uncastable. Perhaps if Priest of Gix produced instead of , I’d have had something, but alas . . . 

Finally, I remembered an old Standard deck with Zendikar and Shards of Alara. Grixis’s unearth mechanic, cycling, Crypt of Agadeem, and Hedron Crab—perhaps mostly Hedron Crab—powered a deck that sped through a third or more of its deck, generated a bunch of mana, and then threw a ton of unearthed creatures at its opponent in one, big, game-ending turn. Translating that deck into Modern and adding Empty the Pits, perhaps that could be what I was looking for.

Adding Modern Power

Dredge is an extremely powerful graveyard mechanic that would fit perfectly, and it even has a Modern deck named after it. Life from the Loam might be worthwhile for fetching Crypt of Agadeem, though the old Standard deck already had Grim Discovery, which lets us regain a potentially more useful card. Lands are useful, too, because of Hedron Crab, but I decided to forego Life from the Loam nonetheless. Stinkweed Imp seems great, however, as we can block scary attackers and mill our library in big, one-twelfth chunks.

The other Modern graveyard deck from which I borrowed was the Living End deck. These decks operate on similar principles, even sharing Alara block’s cycling creatures to fill its graveyard before cascading into a Living End to put those creatures onto the battlefield. While we’ll be making Zombies instead, I decided to let Living End deck-builders find some powerful stuff for me to run.

Shriekmaw seems especially nice here, as instead of cycling our creature for a card, we can cycle our creature for killing an opposing creature. Fulminator Mage operates on a similar principle, taking a key land from our opponent.

Finally, Vengevine decks use the graveyard as well, and I used that concept to build a bit of the sideboard, including Vengevines and Gravecrawlers.

A couple cards I decided to add for myself were one copy of Avatar of Woe and a couple Nyx Weavers. We can hope to cast the Avatar for not too late into the game, and it could just take over all on its own. The Nyx Weavers help fill our graveyard, though relatively slowly, but they also attack and block and can rebuy for us a dredged Empty the Pits, which could be crucial.

Empty the Crypt ? Modern | Andrew Wilson

• Creatures (31)
• 1 Avatar of Woe
• 1 Fatestitcher
• 2 Nyx Weaver
• 3 Shriekmaw
• 4 Fulminator Mage
• 4 Hedron Crab
• 4 Stinkweed Imp
• 4 Street Wraith
• 4 Viscera Dragger
• 4 Architects of Will

• Spells (7)
• 3 Empty the Pits
• 4 Grim Discovery

• Lands (22)
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 2 Misty Rainforest
• 2 Verdant Catacombs
• 4 Crypt of Agadeem
• 4 Overgrown Tomb
• 4 Polluted Delta
• 4 Watery Grave
• 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

• Sideboard (15)
• 4 Vengevine
• 4 Gravecrawler
• 3 Abrupt Decay
• 2 Gnaw to the Bone
• 2 Swan Song

Buy This Deck

The deck has a bunch of fetch lands—they’re expensive, but they’re pretty key with Hedron Crab. The one Fatestitcher is a holdover from the old Standard list. It lets us double up on Crypt activations. Empty the Pits’s delve already lets us essentially double up, but with Fatestitcher, we can triple up instead. At some point, enough is enough, and that fact combined with the fact that unearth only works at sorcery speed—compared to Empty the Pits’s instant status—means I cut the ’Stitchers down to one copy.

The shorthand I’ve used for myself when figuring out how many Zombies I need to make is to think of the I have to pay as power. If I make the a total of 10, I’ll make five Zombies, which collectively have 10 power. If I need to deal 20, I’ll have to make the 20 (each is 10) for ten Zombies and 20 power. After that, just add for the total. Of course, computing Crypt of Agadeem math can be tricky as well, Fatestitcher further complicates that, and delving also makes things interesting.

Don’t forget that Viscera Dragger has unearth, so when given the option of leaving some cards in the graveyard, keep the Draggers to add 3 damage apiece to the forthcoming attack.

If you needed another Crypt of Agadeem deck, if you want to trick your opponents into thinking you’re playing Living End, or if you’re just nostalgic for Sedraxis Specter (actually, never mind that last one! Sorry!), give this deck a try.

Andrew Wilson

@Silent7Seven

fissionessence at hotmail dot com