The Eldrazi are some of the most powerful and resilient threats in Modern. Sure, Tarmogoyf and Death's Shadow are more efficient, but it’s really hard to compete with Thought-Knot Seer and Reality Smasher in their ability to just end games before they really get started. The biggest issue with the Eldrazi decks? Consistency. There’s only four copies of Eldrazi Temple, and while Noble Hierarch and Ancient Stirrings help to make things more consistent, you’d really like a few more ways to set up turn three Reality Smasher and Thought-Knot Seer. It turns out that there’s a pretty clean way to up the consistency if you’re willing to accept a little bit of risk:
W/G Eldrazi - Modern | Khokden, 5-0 Modern League
- Creatures (24)
- 1 Acidic Slime
- 1 Eternal Witness
- 1 Kitchen Finks
- 1 Strangleroot Geist
- 1 Thragtusk
- 3 Eldrazi Displacer
- 4 Matter Reshaper
- 4 Noble Hierarch
- 4 Reality Smasher
- 4 Thought-Knot Seer
- Instants (5)
- 1 Dismember
- 4 Path to Exile
- Sorceries (7)
- 3 Eldritch Evolution
- 4 Ancient Stirrings
- Artifacts (2)
- 2 Engineered Explosives
- Lands (22)
- 1 Plains
- 1 Wastes
- 3 Forest
- 1 Temple Garden
- 2 Ghost Quarter
- 3 Cavern of Souls
- 3 Windswept Heath
- 4 Brushland
- 4 Eldrazi Temple
- Sideboard (15)
- 1 Blessed Alliance
- 1 Celestial Purge
- 1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
- 1 Gaddock Teeg
- 1 Kataki, War's Wage
- 1 Thrun, the Last Troll
- 1 Reclamation Sage
- 2 Relic of Progenitus
- 3 Rest in Peace
- 3 Stony Silence
The core of this deck is the same as all of the other Eldrazi decks. You have mana creatures and Ancient Stirrings to stand in for Eldrazi Temple and increase the consistency of your fast mana. You’ve also got Matter Reshaper, Reality Smasher, and Thought-Knot Seer that function as great threats at every point along the curve. So what does this deck have that other takes on Eldrazi don’t?
It all comes down to Eldritch Evolution. This card lets you pull all kinds of crazy tricks, and substantially increases the consistency of your Eldrazi gameplan. The ability to turn 3-drops into either Thought-Knot Seer against combo and control or Reality Smasher or Thragtusk if you’re racing is absolutely huge. That’s ignoring the fact that you can find cute singletons like Acidic Slime or Whisperwood Elemental if you were so inclined.
The best part? Playing interesting singletons pays off in a big way because you can buy them back with Eternal Witness once your opponent finds their interaction. Particularly when paired with Eldrazi Displacer, Eternal Witness helps to ensure that your haymakers stay in play.
If you’re looking for a new way to bring the Eldrazi beatdowns at your next Modern event, this seems like an interesting evolution of the archetype, and one that has some compelling reasons to play it over the typical Bant variations.