Two weeks ago, when I talked about my favorite cards out of Dominaria for Modern, the card Damping Sphere was at the top of my list. After playing a number of matches with the card since Dominaria dropped on MTGO, I continue to be impressed with this sideboard tool.

The important thing to remember about a card like Damping Sphere when building a deck with it is that it is not a one card win the game, even versus the decks it is good against. Much like cards such as Blood Moon against Tron or Grafdigger's Cage against Storm, Sphere needs to be paired with appropriates amount of pressure in order to really shine. We need to be able to kill our opponent before they draw the answers to our hate card and get back into the game.

This is why the decks I am most interested in testing Damping Sphere in are the ones that generally had decent matchups against the Modern field, but often fell short against Tron.

First on the list is a deck with an aggressive slant:

B/G Midrange -- Modern | Jeff Hoogland

• Creatures (12)
• 2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
• 3 Scavenging Ooze
• 3 Tireless Tracker
• 4 Tarmogoyf

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 4 Liliana of the Veil

• Instants (5)
• 2 Abrupt Decay
• 3 Fatal Push

• Sorceries (12)
• 2 Maelstrom Pulse
• 3 Collective Brutality
• 3 Thoughtseize
• 4 Inquisition of Kozilek

• Artifacts (1)
• 1 Engineered Explosives

• Lands (26)
• 2 Forest
• 3 Swamp
• 1 Treetop Village
• 2 Bloodstained Mire
• 2 Overgrown Tomb
• 3 Hissing Quagmire
• 4 Blooming Marsh
• 4 Field of Ruin
• 4 Verdant Catacombs
• 1 Cast Down

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Fracturing Gust
• 1 Collective Brutality
• 3 Damping Sphere
• 1 Thoughtseize
• 1 Engineered Explosives
• 1 Golgari Charm
• 1 Tireless Tracker
• 2 Surgical Extraction
• 1 Thragtusk
• 2 Languish
• 1 Kitchen Finks

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This deck has a lot of the tools it needs to keep up with a deck like Tron: discard to pick apart their hand, Tarmogoyf / Tireless Tracker to pressure them, and Field of Ruin to eventually pick apart their Tron pieces. It always came up short, though, when the Tron player had a fast start, especially when the player was on the draw. With the addition of Damping Sphere to their resources, will now be able to meaningfully disrupt even Tron's best draws.

The fact that we get to pair this hate card with discard spells means that we will also be able to take away their anti-hate cards. With Abrupt Decay and Maelstrom Pulse we can also help ensure that Oblivion Stone never manages to get cracked.

While I do not expect Damping Sphere to help the Tron matchup much for control decks, I think combo control decks could really leverage it well. Since the hype surrounding Jace, the Mind Sculptor has mostly gone flat in Modern, Damping Sphere has me revisiting another four-mana planeswalker that has felt powerful in the past:

Jeskai Nahiri -- Modern | Jeff Hoogland

• Creatures (5)
• 1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
• 4 Snapcaster Mage

• Planeswalkers (6)
• 2 Gideon of the Trials
• 4 Nahiri, the Harbinger

• Instants (17)
• 2 Cryptic Command
• 2 Mana Leak
• 2 Spell Snare
• 3 Lightning Helix
• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 4 Path to Exile

• Sorceries (6)
• 1 Anger of the Gods
• 1 Supreme Verdict
• 4 Serum Visions

• Enchantments (2)
• 2 Search for Azcanta

• Lands (24)
• 1 Mountain
• 1 Plains
• 3 Island
• 1 Field of Ruin
• 1 Glacial Fortress
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 1 Sulfur Falls
• 2 Hallowed Fountain
• 2 Steam Vents
• 3 Celestial Colonnade
• 4 Flooded Strand
• 4 Scalding Tarn

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Wear // Tear
• 1 Izzet Staticaster
• 1 Disdainful Stroke
• 1 Engineered Explosives
• 1 Supreme Verdict
• 1 Settle the Wreckage
• 2 Negate
• 1 Blessed Alliance
• 3 Damping Sphere
• 2 Rest in Peace

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Those newer to Modern might be unfamiliar with Nahiri, so let's talk about why I feel she is a powerful planeswalker in the current format:

There are a lot of things to like about Nahiri, but the most important is that every one of her abilities is relevant. Her plus ability not only gives her a large amount of loyalty, but also allows us to go through cards in our deck that might not be good in a given matchup or situation. She turns Mana Leaks into new cards in the late game and she turns Path to Exiles into something new against spell based combo decks.

Her minus 2 ability solves problems that Jeskai Control can often have. Large creature beating you down? Gone! Blood Moon tying up your colors? Zapped! Unlike Jace which temporarily removes a creature problem, Nahiri ensures that whatever she is removing stays gone.

Finally Nahiri's ultimate threatens to win the game on the spot, something Jeskai often struggles to do. Instead of flailing around trying to find our own answers to a problem our opponent has presented, we can just demand they answer our own looming threat or lose the game when Emrakul, the Aeons Torn attacks them.

It is this last mode on Nahiri that makes this Jeskai Control shell a reasonable setting for Damping Sphere. A Damping Sphere on turn two or three only needs to hold Tron off of strong plays until turn six when Nahiri can ultimate.

The last deck on my docket to slot Damping Sphere into is an older combo deck that I recently had someone submit to my stream that felt fairly powerful -- Angel Chord:

Angel Chord -- Modern | Jeff Hoogland

• Creatures (27)
• 1 Archangel of Thune
• 1 Fairgrounds Warden
• 1 Qasali Pridemage
• 1 Scavenging Ooze
• 1 Selfless Spirit
• 1 Spike Feeder
• 1 Thragtusk
• 1 Tireless Tracker
• 2 Eternal Witness
• 2 Siege Rhino
• 2 Wilt-Leaf Liege
• 3 Birds of Paradise
• 3 Kitchen Finks
• 3 Noble Hierarch
• 4 Voice of Resurgence

• Instants (7)
• 3 Chord of Calling
• 4 Path to Exile

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Eldritch Evolution

• Lands (22)
• 1 Plains
• 2 Forest
• 1 Gavony Township
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Stirring Wildwood
• 2 Horizon Canopy
• 2 Overgrown Tomb
• 2 Razorverge Thicket
• 2 Temple Garden
• 4 Verdant Catacombs
• 4 Windswept Heath

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Thoughtseize
• 1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
• 1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
• 3 Damping Sphere
• 1 Orzhov Pontiff
• 2 Stony Silence
• 1 Scavenging Ooze
• 1 Reclamation Sage
• 2 Abrupt Decay

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At its core this is a creature toolbox deck with a fair backup plan powered by Siege Rhino and Wilt-Leaf Liege. Like most creature toolbox decks it has a back door combo finish as well:

Traditionally speaking, decks like this have struggled with being a turn or two slow against decks like Storm and Tron when they have their better draws. A two-mana card like Damping Sphere which slows down both of these archetypes could be exactly what this creature toolbox style deck needs to push it over the top to be competitive in these matchups.

Again, I do not think Damping Sphere early means you automatically beat these other decks. I do think that Damping Sphere can give this deck a chance to survive to implement its own combo or find further disruption.

Wrapping Up

While I am still testing these shells with the addition of Damping Sphere, I could very easily see myself playing any of the decks listed here when I attend the open in Louisville next month. Damping Sphere feels like it is exactly the tool these decks wanted to be able to compete with some of their harder matchups in the format.

Have you been testing Damping Sphere in Modern? Has it given you the results you wanted from it or has it been coming up a bit short for you? Let me know in a comment below!

Cheers,

--Jeff Hoogland