When Lorwyn came out, Evoke was one of the most exciting mechanics for all manner of reasons. First, we saw all manner of decks featuring Evoke plus Momentary Blink and Makeshift Mannequin to generate huge swings of advantage. We also saw evoke used to power Food Chain decks in Legacy. Now, we’re seeing Zac Elsik share another crazy brew featuring evoke, Seance, and all the value you can handle:

Esper Seance - Modern | Zac Elsik

• Creatures (19)
• 1 Filigree Familiar
• 3 Shriekmaw
• 3 Tidehollow Sculler
• 4 Fulminator Mage
• 4 Mulldrifter
• 4 Pack Rat

• Instants (7)
• 3 Fatal Push
• 4 Path to Exile

• Sorceries (5)
• 1 Thoughtseize
• 4 Inquisition of Kozilek

• Enchantments (7)
• 3 Hidden Stockpile
• 4 Seance

• Lands (23)
• 1 Island
• 2 Plains
• 2 Swamp
• 1 Darkslick Shores
• 1 Fetid Heath
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Watery Grave
• 2 Flooded Strand
• 2 Godless Shrine
• 3 Concealed Courtyard
• 3 Polluted Delta
• 4 Marsh Flats

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Collective Brutality
• 1 Fatal Push
• 1 Big Game Hunter
• 1 Ephara, God of the Polis
• 1 Grafdigger's Cage
• 1 Tidehollow Sculler
• 2 Lone Missionary
• 2 Stony Silence
• 2 Sundering Growth
• 3 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

Buy This Deck

The second value engine you have access to is Hidden Stockpile. This card lets you use your Tidehollow Scullers as Castigates with extra value. You can also use this to more effectively fit evoke creatures into your curve, since you can spend an extra mana to net a Scry off of Shriekmaw or Mulldrifter. You can even start netting bodies when you cast Fulminator Mage to keep your opponents off of Tron or cut them off of a color.

Assuming you can use your early disruption, servo tokens, and evoke creatures to buy yourself enough time to cast a Seance, your deck can kick into high gear. Suddenly, you can rebuy your Fulminator Mage to cut your opponent off of key colors and amounts of mana. You can rebuy Mulldrifters to help continue hitting land drops and finding more spells to bury your opponents in value. You can even net Servo tokens off of your Seance tokens by sacrificing them to scry.

It’ll be interesting to see if this is the beginning of Hidden Stockpile breaking out for Modern play. We’ve seen over many years the power of Lingering Souls and Bitterblossom in the format as a way to slow down Affinity and Infect, as well as to pressure the removal spells of control decks. Hidden Stockpile is effectively another Bitterblossom Effect, given the density of fetchlands and its ability to sacrifice creatures for value. Is Hidden Stockpile secretly yet another Modern superstar from Aether Revolt ? I can’t wait to find out!