Hey everyone!

Over the last few weeks I've written about various takes on Stoneblade. Today I'm going to discuss a new version - OmnathBlade. In addition, I'm going to also share an updated take on Azorius Stoneblade by RIW teammate, Zach Allen.

It all started with Kelvin Chew's brew that made waves on Magic Online a few weeks ago:

Omnath Blade | Modern | Kelvin Chew

• Creatures (18)
• 3 Omnath, Locus of Creation
• 3 Tireless Tracker
• 4 Noble Hierarch
• 4 Spell Queller
• 4 Stoneforge Mystic

• Planeswalkers (7)
• 1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
• 3 Teferi, Time Raveler
• 3 Wrenn and Six

• Instants (8)
• 4 Mana Leak
• 4 Path to Exile

• Enchantments (2)
• 2 On Thin Ice

• Artifacts (3)
• 1 Batterskull
• 1 Sword of Feast and Famine
• 1 Sword of Fire and Ice

• Lands (22)
• 1 Snow-Covered Plains
• 2 Snow-Covered Island
• 3 Snow-Covered Forest
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Horizon Canopy
• 1 Raugrin Triome
• 1 Stomping Ground
• 1 Temple Garden
• 2 Wooded Foothills
• 4 Misty Rainforest
• 4 Windswept Heath

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 On Thin Ice
• 2 Aether Gust
• 2 Ashiok, Dream Render
• 1 Celestial Purge
• 2 Force of Negation
• 2 Rest in Peace
• 2 Timely Reinforcements
• 2 Veil of Summer

Buy This Deck Export text format

This is essentially a Bant Stoneblade deck splashing for Omnath and Wrenn and Six. I've dubbed it "BinderBlade" because it's just a surprisingly cohesive amalgamation of Modern's top staples.

I like this Green version of Stoneblade because prior attempts were mainly to add Ice-Fang Coatl and maybe Toski. It didn't provide enough of an impact to justify the weak mana base. This deck plays non-Azorius spells and means it.

Immediately after Uro was banned I saw potential in an Omnath Pile as it was one of the strongest cards remaining in Modern. The Time Warp strategy is weaker without Field of the Dead as it no longer takes advantage of the extra attack step. Bring to Light fetching Valki shows promise, but five colors is greedy. I'm afraid of playing Bring to Light in a metagame filled with Teferi, Time Raveler. The equipment from Stoneforge Mystic is a great mana sink.

Tireless Tracker is another great mana sink. A fetch land generates four mana from Omnath which is exactly enough to crack the two clues generated. Tracker is also another creature to suit up with equipment. Its biggest downfall is not being a Blue card to pitch to Force of Negation.

OmnathBlade leans on Noble Hierarch to quickly deploy threats that generate card advantage and fix the mana. I don't have to worry about drawing too many lands in the late game because Noble Hierarch fills out the mana base. Additional creatures allow me to play the third maindeck equipment and not feel bad.

Wrenn and Six not only dramatically improves your creature matchups, but helps reduce the land count like Noble Hierarch. If I keep a two land hand with a Wrenn and Six I'm set for the game. Unlike Jund, I plan on taking advantage of every mana generated each turn. A lot of the changes I want to make to the stock list happen to make the emblem more powerful- mainly retracing Lightning Bolt.

Azorius Stoneblade focuses on countering early spells and then turns the corner with Sword of Feast and Famine. Omnath Blade has less room for a plethora of counters so it's more important to be proactive.

The stock OmnathBlade deck plays Four Mana Leak, but I prefer swapping two copies for Force of Negation. I plan on tapping out on the second turn for Stoneforge Mystic and Wrenn and Six.

Spell Queller rounds out the spell interaction. There are plenty of other great removal targets which keeps Spell Queller safe for a longer period of time. Noble Hierarch and Stoneforge can be cast ahead of Queller to draw out removal. I can also ramp out Teferi, Time Raveler on the second turn to protect Queller.

Path to Exile and On Thin Ice is a safe choice for the removal suite. The White removal is slow, but discriminates the least. I prefer dipping into Red for Lightning Bolt as it can be cast more aggressively on the first few turns.

The mana base has plenty of Green sources to support the first turn Noble Hierarch. This makes sense if you keep the Red spells to a minimum. If we're going to add Lightning Bolt the mana base will need to be changed.

Here's my take on the deck:

OmnathBlade | Modern | Kyle Boggemes

• Creatures (17)
• 2 Tireless Tracker
• 3 Omnath, Locus of Creation
• 4 Noble Hierarch
• 4 Spell Queller
• 4 Stoneforge Mystic

• Planeswalkers (8)
• 1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
• 1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
• 3 Teferi, Time Raveler
• 3 Wrenn and Six

• Instants (10)
• 2 Force of Negation
• 2 Mana Leak
• 3 Lightning Bolt
• 3 Path to Exile

• Artifacts (3)
• 1 Batterskull
• 1 Sword of Feast and Famine
• 1 Sword of Fire and Ice

• Lands (22)
• 1 Snow-Covered Forest
• 1 Snow-Covered Island
• 1 Snow-Covered Mountain
• 1 Snow-Covered Plains
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 Field of Ruin
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Ketria Triome
• 1 Raugrin Triome
• 1 Steam Vents
• 1 Stomping Ground
• 1 Temple Garden
• 1 Windswept Heath
• 2 Scalding Tarn
• 3 Flooded Strand
• 4 Misty Rainforest

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 On Thin Ice
• 3 Aether Gust
• 2 Celestial Purge
• 1 Force of Negation
• 1 Rest in Peace
• 1 Ashiok, Dream Render
• 1 Timely Reinforcements
• 2 Veil of Summer
• 1 Ceremonious Rejection
• 1 Ancient Grudge
• 1 Mystical Dispute

Buy This Deck Export text format

This version of the deck is solidly four colors.

The third Tireless Tracker is swapped for a Jace, the Mind Sculptor to add to my Blue spell count making room for maindeck Force of Negation.

I cut the fourth Path to Exile and two On Thin Ice to make room for three Lightning Bolt. On Thin Ice gets worse as the fourth color becomes more prevalent because it's enchanted with basic lands.

I still want one On Thin Ice in the sideboard as a catch-all against creature decks. It's a hybrid between Lightning Bolt and Path to Exile as I can exile large creatures on early turns without giving them a land.

The mana base is significantly different to accommodate Lightning Bolt.

A second Triome is another land that enters the battlefield tapped, but grants all four colors regardless of what basic has been drawn. I can leave the second Triome in the deck to cycle every turn with Wrenn and Six in the late game.

Field of Ruin is another utility land to recur with Wren and Six. The lack of colored mana is a serious drawback, but it gives an edge in the Tron matchup. It's also another way to generate mana from Omnath similar to a fetch land.

I have one of every basic land as my fetch lands are diversified. Particularly in an open decklist event I wouldn't want the opponent to know that using a Field of Ruin on any color prevents me from replacing with a basic. Since most cards in the deck require a single color I have plenty to do with all four basics. There is a chance Mountain should be a different land.

The sideboard has plenty of customization with four colors.

A single Ancient Grudge rarely has the opportunity to be played in Stoneblade mirrors, but I would feel significantly advantaged with it in my deck. The only card to watch out for is Force of Negation as it exiles. It also costs two mana to get around the dreaded Chalice of the Void for one.

Three Aether Gust is a concession to Primeval Titan decks. The maindeck of OmnathBlade is much better at fighting "fair" decks, but falls short against big mana strategies. I'm essentially trading Cryptic Command for Omnath. Since there are only two maindeck Mana Leaks I'm not overboarding on the two-mana interaction.

I have a single Ashiok, Dream Render as it's stronger in a deck with Noble Hierarch. I typically think Ashiok is overrated in the sideboard of Stoneblade decks because there are so many 3-drops already. Since there are fewer points of instant-speed interaction in OmnathBlade I'm more comfortable tapping out to shore up a challenging matchup.

A single Rest in Peace is for dredge as well as any other deck that has graveyard interactions. The second RIP would only be for Dredge because it makes my deck worse as I can't recur lands with Wrenn and Six. Most other graveyard decks will naturally diversify their game plan after sideboard.

Timely Reinforcements is less important in OmnathBlade because Omnath gains life in addition to Batterskull. Azorius Stoneblade can play a second Timely Reinforcements as a catch all to swap for the numerous counterspells in the maindeck which isn't an issue here.

Veil of Summer is the main draw to playing Green. I've found in the past that three Veil of Summer was too many as the opponent is constantly playing around it.

A single Mystical Dispute again complements the two Mana Leaks in the maindeck. I say that sentence often and expect to continue to do so when building Modern sideboards.

I have only three Force of Negation in the seventy-five because of the Blue spell count. Time will tell if I want to cut the single Ceremonious Rejection for the fourth. I figure that Tron is the one matchup where it's important to have a ton of counters hence the split. If spell-based combo picks up in popularity I might move to a fourth Force despite the drawback.

I'm interested in playing OmnathBlade when the format is filled with midrange decks. When the metagame is filled with fast Red decks and Noble Hierarchs are under pressure the mana base becomes less consistent.

While OmnathBlade is a very fun deck if I wanted to give myself the best chance of taking down a Modern event I would go with Azorius for consistency reasons. Zach Allen has been in the tank grinding Azorius Stoneblade on the ManaTraders circuit.

Here's his latest list:

Azorius Stoneblade | Modern | Zach Allen

• Creatures (10)
• 2 Skyclave Apparition
• 4 Snapcaster Mage
• 4 Stoneforge Mystic

• Planeswalkers (6)
• 1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
• 2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
• 3 Teferi, Time Raveler

• Instants (18)
• 2 Mana Leak
• 2 Spell Snare
• 3 Cryptic Command
• 3 Force of Negation
• 4 Opt
• 4 Path to Exile

• Artifacts (2)
• 1 Batterskull
• 1 Sword of Feast and Famine

• Lands (24)
• 2 Snow-Covered Plains
• 5 Snow-Covered Island
• 2 Castle Ardenvale
• 2 Hallowed Fountain
• 2 Polluted Delta
• 3 Field of Ruin
• 4 Flooded Strand
• 4 Hengegate Pathway

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Aether Gust
• 2 Rest in Peace
• 2 Mystical Dispute
• 1 Dovin's Veto
• 1 Ashiok, Dream Render
• 1 Winds of Abandon
• 1 Sword of Fire and Ice
• 1 Force of Negation
• 2 On Thin Ice
• 1 Skyclave Apparition

Buy This Deck Export text format

Proving that Azorius Stoneblade has plenty of customization despite only being two colors, Zach favors a more tapout style with Skyclave Apparition and Teferi, Hero of Dominaria instead of Spell Queller. I have yet to play the Apparition, but it has been gaining traction among the top Modern grinders. It's a way to exile Heliod which is becoming a more important interaction as the metagame develops.

When the metagame is filled with Heliods and small Red creatures I agree with Zach's take on Stoneblade. I can tell he built this specific version because it also plays a Winds of Abandon in the sideboard to overload on the catch all removal.

I agree with leaving the Sword of Fire and Ice in the sideboard as it can be swapped for Feast and Famine against creature decks. It's not a requirement, but it does help those matchups as Feast and Famine will rarely connect when the game is close.

The Hengegate Pathways have improved the mana base. It's a way to have fast mana without entering the battlefield tapped in the late game from Seachrome Coast. I'm buying my playset as I expect it to be in Stoneblade for years to come. It's not a basic land which plays worse with Castles, but it's similar to Prismatic Vista. I need enough snow lands to support On Thin Ice so it's not a free upgrade. There are enough ways to shuffle after a Jace Brainstorm so I don't consider that too much of a downgrade.

While I have favored Castle Vantress and Blast Zone in the flex land slots, I agree with Zach's heavy Castle Ardenvale approach in this version. This is because your mana base needs to effortlessly assemble two White sources for Skyclave Apparition. This does create some tension with Cryptic Command.

A fourth Snapcaster Mage is optional. There's room for Spell Quellers and Skyclave Apparition, but they do perform a similar function so I wouldn't want more than a combination of four.

I typically prefer a Dismember over the second Spell Snare, but Skyclave Apparition means I need less creature interaction. There's no wrong way to build Azorius Stoneblade as long as your choices are consistent.

The sideboard is filled with counterspells which is a nod to an uptick in Control. Dovin's Veto can be swapped with Ceremonious Rejection if there's more Tron. I'm looking forward to getting an old-bordered Dovin's Veto in a couple weeks!

That's all I have today. There are still plenty of directions to take Stoneblade; Modern continues to be very interesting. I'm excited to play some paper Modern events some time in the future.

Thanks for reading!

-Kyle