Last Friday we talked about how I went rogue in both formats at the SCGCON SCG Tour Invitational, playing Rakdos Midrange in Standard and Loxobots in Modern to a 35th place money finish. That article was primarily focused on my Standard deck, while today we will be looking at my Modern choice for the event... Loxobots!

Time Stamps:

Match 1 - 00:08:49

Match 2 - 00:25:00

Match 3 - 01:08:45

Match 4 - 01:24:39

Match 5 - 01:46:19

Loxobots | Modern | Jim Davis, 35th SCG Invitational

• Creatures (35)
• 3 Blade Splicer
• 4 Leonin Arbiter
• 4 Thraben Inspector
• 4 Toolcraft Exemplar
• 4 Venerated Loxodon
• 4 Memnite
• 4 Ornithopter
• 4 Signal Pest
• 3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
• 1 Hope of Ghirapur

• Spells (7)
• 3 Legion's Landing
• 4 Mox Opal

• Lands (18)
• 3 Shefet Dunes
• 4 Ghost Quarter
• 4 Horizon Canopy
• 3 Snow-Covered Plains
• 4 Darksteel Citadel

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Burrenton Forge-Tender
• 1 Damping Sphere
• 2 Ethersworn Canonist
• 2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
• 4 Path to Exile
• 3 Rest in Peace
• 1 Thalia, Heretic Cathar

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Despite a few mediocre hands and a really tough Bogles matchup we still managed to pull out the bread and butter 3-2, with the deck being on full display in the last two matches.

So what is this absurd looking pile of cards? Loxobots is a synergistic and linear aggro deck in a similar vein to decks like Affinity or Hollow One, that also contains a powerful disruptive element as well. Most linear aggro decks in Modern look to rely on their speed and synergy to win the game before their opponents can get going. Whether it is Cranial Plating attacks for 7 on turn two or turn one double Hollow One, the main goal is speed. While Loxobots is capable of this sort of breakneck speed...

"Nice turn one Jim."

...it also contains a unique element of disruption normally found in slower and more interactive decks.

Decks that usually play disruptive elements like Humans and Spirits are fast but not lightning fast, while Leonin Arbiter is usually only seen in glacially slow and underpowered Taxes decks.

Thalia and Leonin Arbiter are great disruptive elements, but they are not lock pieces. Much like Daze and Spell Pierce in Legacy, they excel at putting an opponent off balance in the early game so you can finish them before they stabilize. By playing both in a deck that commonly puts 13 power into play on turn two, you get to properly utilize that disruption and kill your opponent before they can regain their balance. You also occasionally get to play them on turn one with Mox Opal!

Utilizing speed and synergy alongside disruption is a fantastic place to be in Modern. Also getting to use individually powerful cards like Toolcraft Exemplar, Legion's Landing, and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar out of the sideboard is another nice bonus as well. Being able to play only 18 lands, with many of them having extra utility is another great plus.

Loxobots is new, exciting, and most of all extremely fun to play. I'm not sure if this is the final form of the deck, but there is something very real here!