Swans of Bryn Argoll is one of my favorite Magic cards. It’s such a unique and interesting effect that both players have the potential to take advantage of, resulting in some truly bizarre play patterns. We’ve seen Swans in a couple of Modern decks, primarily ones featuring Skred, Lightning Bolt, and Harvest Pyre as ways to take advantage of Swans. But what if we could build a deck that can just win the game after resolving a Swans? That’s exactly what Axel_Foley is trying to do.

Seismic Swans - Modern | Axel_Foley, 5-0 Modern League

• Creatures (4)
• 4 Swans of Bryn Argoll

• Instants (2)
• 2 Swan Song

• Sorceries (5)
• 1 Day's Undoing
• 4 Treasure Hunt

• Enchantments (7)
• 3 Molten Vortex
• 4 Seismic Assault

• Lands (42)
• 5 Island
• 11 Mountain
• 2 Shivan Reef
• 2 Swiftwater Cliffs
• 2 Wandering Fumarole
• 4 Cascade Bluffs
• 4 Gemstone Caverns
• 4 Spirebluff Canal
• 4 Steam Vents
• 4 Temple of Epiphany

• Sideboard (14)
• 2 Anger of the Gods
• 2 Ceremonious Rejection
• 1 Echoing Truth
• 1 Laboratory Maniac
• 3 Leyline of the Void
• 1 Mana Leak
• 1 Molten Vortex
• 1 Shattering Spree
• 1 Spell Pierce
• 1 Swan Song

Buy This Deck

The idea is that you spend your early turns using either Molten Vortex or, preferably, Seismic Assault protecting your life total. You can shut down opposing mana creatures as well as aggro decks by throwing lands at key creatures. You can use Treasure Hunt to refuel so that you are never at risk of losing to creatures. Then the game changes when you resolve a Swans of Bryn Argoll.

Once you have Swans and one of your enchantments, you can start throwing lands at your Swans, netting cards in the process. If you have Seismic Assault, you can repeat until you have enough lands to kill your opponent all at once. If you have Molten Vortex, you can dig until you find a Seismic Assault and kill your opponent on the following turn.

On rare occasions, you’ll have issues with running out of lands to kill your opponent with. Enter Day's Undoing, which lets you shuffle all your lands back and kill your opponent immediately. Previously, builds have used Dakmor Salvages and Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre to fulfill this roll. As long as you didn’t draw Ulamog, you could dredge Dakmor Salvages until you hit Ulamog to shuffle your lands back.

If you’re looking for a wacky combo deck with a great matchup against creature decks, this may be the deck for you. It’s an archetype that’s much more consistent than it looks, thanks to only playing a handful of spells and Treasure Hunt, and it’s more than capable of killing on the fourth turn of the game if you can curve Seismic Assault into Swans.