Hey everyone!

Standard is in flux given we’re in spoiler season, so I want to focus on Modern. The SCG Invitational is beginning tomorrow which will also shake up the format. I have plenty of sweet Modern brews to discuss and also highlight the Bant Coco deck I would play. Grand Prix Cleveland was last weekend and my team did great so I’ll talk about that, too.

Let’s get to it!

Modern

My step-brother, Steve, has been playing blink in Modern and I think it has some legs. Reveillark and Blade Splicer are serious business against fair decks. It doesn’t play a ton of expensive cards which also make it a strong semi-budget option, too.

W/U Blink ? Modern | Kyle Boggemes

• Creatures (28)
• 2 Reveillark
• 2 Venser, Shaper Savant
• 4 Blade Splicer
• 4 Kitchen Finks
• 4 Mulldrifter
• 4 Restoration Angel
• 4 Spell Queller
• 4 Wall of Omens

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Gideon Jura

• Instants (7)
• 3 Mana Leak
• 4 Momentary Blink

• Lands (24)
• 3 Island
• 3 Plains
• 2 Ghost Quarter
• 2 Hallowed Fountain
• 2 Mystic Gate
• 4 Flooded Strand
• 4 Glacial Fortress
• 4 Seachrome Coast

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Supreme Verdict
• 1 Gideon Jura
• 2 Stony Silence
• 3 Rest in Peace
• 2 Dispel
• 3 Ceremonious Rejection
• 2 Lone Missionary

Buy This Deck

Blade Splicer is the greatest threat in this deck. Do you kill the 3/3 golem or the 1/1 human? It feels awful to have to kill the 1/1 because it’s actually the more scary threat with Momentary Blink and Restoration Angel. To make matters worse, once the Blade Splicer dies it can be returned to the battlefield with Reveillark.

Spell Queller is nice in here because you can cast it on turn three without a spell being cast. A queller without a spell being exiled means it can be flickered with Momentary Blink and Restoration Angel for profit the following turn. Queller can permanently exile a spell with the trigger on the stack if it leaves the battlefield because the second ability will resolve before the spell actually is exiled. Venser, Shaper Savant and Path to Exile can complete this trick.

This deck should be very potent against fair decks, but could use some help against tribal-themed creatures like Elves and Merfolk. The Dredge matchup gets a lot of help from the Rest in Peace from the sideboard. The Stony Silence and Ceremonious Rejection are for Tron decks, but can also bleed over to fight Affinity and Top Control.

Felidar Guardian Combo ? Modern | Kyle Boggemes

• Creatures (26)
• 1 Blade Splicer
• 1 Huntmaster of the Fells
• 1 Glen Elendra Archmage
• 1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breake
• 1 Kitchen Finks
• 1 Reveillark
• 1 Scavenging Ooze
• 1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
• 2 Noble Hierarch
• 2 Wall of Omens
• 3 Eternal Witness
• 3 Felidar Guardian
• 4 Birds of paradise
• 4 Voice of Resurgence

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 3 Saheeli Rai

• Instants (3)
• 3 Path to Exile

• Sorceries (3)
• 3 Eldritch Evolution

• Enchantments (3)
• 3 Oath of Nissa

• Lands (22)
• 1 Plains
• 2 Forest
• 1 Fire-Lit Thicket
• 1 Gavony Township
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 1 Temple Garden
• 2 Breeding Pool
• 2 Stomping Ground
• 3 Razorverge Thicket
• 4 Windswept Heath
• 4 Wooded Foothills

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
• 3 Unified Will
• 2 Stony Silence
• 2 Relic of Progenitus
• 1 Path to Exile
• 1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
• 1 Izzet Staticaster
• 1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
• 1 Obstinate Baloth
• 1 Magus of the Moon
• 1 Harmonic Sliver

Buy This Deck

And the cat came back the very next day . . . 

Yep, Saheeli Rai and her pesky cat are still causing trouble, but it’s now in Modern. Teammate, Stu Parnes, has been winning quite a bit with this deck at local Modern events. When I was working on initial versions of Bant Company, this was the other deck I wanted to play.

Saheeli combo appears to be less focused than Bant Company, but it’s very effective at assembling millions of cats. Eldritch Evolution can not only find Felidar Guardian, but a whole host of absurd creatures like Glen Elendra Archmage, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Sigarda, Host of Herons, and Reveillark. There are plenty of quality creatures to sacrifice at the beginning of the curve to get the chain started: Wall of Omens, Voice of Resurgence, Eternal Witness, and Blade Splicer.

Saheeli Rai and Felidar Guardian have plenty of creatures to copy and blink to get additional value which makes this deck very scary. I enjoy playing decks where my creatures have crappy stats, but powerful effects upon entering/leaving the battlefield. It gets even better when they can randomly win the game so your opponent needs to leave up removal spells.

Here are some cute combos I’ve found so far:

1. Saheeli Rai can create a Birds of Paradise/Noble Hierarch to make a mana.
2. Felidar Guardian can blink Glen Elendra and Kitchen Finks to remove the persist counter.
3. Both Felidar Guardian and Saheeli Rai play well with Reveillark because it triggers upon leaving the battlefield.
4. If you copy Harmonic Sliver it destroys two artifacts or enchantments. This is why it gets the nod over Reclamation Sage.
5. Path to Exile has plenty of creatures to remove on your side of the battlefield if the opponent doesn’t have targets.
6. Kiki-Jiki kills with Felidar Guardian so you can finish the combo with Eldritch Evolution.

The sideboard for this deck is also very powerful given that it plays White. I can handle both artifacts as well as cards in the graveyard. Eldritch Evolution is also helpful at packing a ton of silver bullets: Obstinate Baloth, Magus of the Moon, Eidolon of Rhetoric, and Linvala, Keeper of Silence.

This deck is currently under the radar so your opponent will likely not realize all of the potential tricks.

Bant Company Updated

I’ve been making minor updates to the Bant Company shell because there’s so much room for customization. With that being said, I still prefer an efficient list compared to the toolbox-style of prior formats.

This is what I would play if a Modern tournament was tomorrow:

Bant Company ? Modern | Kyle Boggemes

• Creatures (30)
• 1 Scavenging Ooze
• 1 Tireless Tracker
• 1 Viscera Seer
• 1 Walking Ballista
• 2 Birds of Paradise
• 3 Duskwatch Recruiter
• 3 Eternal Witness
• 3 Kitchen Finks
• 3 Spell Queller
• 4 Devoted Druid
• 4 Noble Hierarch
• 4 Vizier of Remedies

• Instants (8)
• 4 Chord of Calling
• 4 Collected Company

• Lands (22)
• 1 Plains
• 2 Forest
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Overgrown Tomb
• 1 Wooded Foothills
• 2 Breeding Pool
• 2 Gavony Township
• 2 Razorverge Thicket
• 2 Temple Garden
• 4 Misty Rainforest
• 4 Windswept Heath

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
• 2 Tireless Tracker
• 1 Qasali Pridemage
• 3 Path to Exile
• 3 Unified Will
• 1 Spell Queller
• 1 Voice of Resurgence
• 2 Burrenton Forge-Tender
• 1 Orzhov Pontiff

Buy This Deck

I have only made some slight changes to the main since I last discussed the deck:

• -1 Kitchen Finks
• +1 Tireless Tracker

My Burn matchup gets hurt by this change, but I added a second Burrenton Forge-Tender to the sideboard to fight Dredge. I can also use the little kithkin to help against Burn, too. The second Forge-Tender will protect Spell Queller from Lightning Bolt so I can tap out more often against decks such as Scapeshift.

I cut the Eidolon of Rhetoric from the sideboard because there were less Chord of Callings in the deck against combo after sideboard. It’s good against Storm, but I have plenty of interaction post-board already.

Overall, I still really like this deck and intend to keep improving it. There are a lot of ins, outs, and what-have-yous in Chord of Calling strategies which rewards dedication.

Legacy

Brian Demars got a chance to run the sweet Stoneforge Mystic + Leovold, Emissary of Trest deck at Grand Prix Las Vegas and thought there were better decks out there. I tend to agree with him, but the deck was super fun. It’s hard to get away from Leovold and I hate playing Sultai in Legacy which locks me into Four-Color brews.

I was at a loss for what to play, but luckily Jacob Haversat made the top 8 of GP Vegas with this hot little biscuit:

Four-Color Delver ? Legacy | Jacob Haversat

• Creatures (14)
• 1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
• 2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
• 3 Snapcaster Mage
• 4 Baleful Strix
• 4 Deathrite Shaman

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

• Instants (17)
• 1 Lightning Bolt
• 2 Abrupt Decay
• 2 Counterspell
• 2 Fatal Push
• 2 Kolaghan's Command
• 4 Brainstorm
• 4 Force of Will

• Sorceries (7)
• 1 Toxic Deluge
• 2 Thoughtseize
• 4 Ponder

• Lands (20)
• 1 Island
• 1 Swamp
• 1 Badlands
• 1 Verdant Catacombs
• 2 Volcanic Island
• 3 Tropical Island
• 3 Underground Sea
• 4 Polluted Delta
• 4 Scalding Tarn

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Thoughtseize
• 3 Diabolic Edict
• 1 Engineered Explosives
• 2 Flusterstorm
• 1 Grim Lavamancer
• 1 Mindbreak Trap
• 1 Pithing Needle
• 1 Pyroblast
• 1 Red Elemental Blast
• 2 Surgical Extraction
• 1 Vendilion Clique

Buy This Deck

Delver of Secrets has been the default in many Blue decks lately, but I really don’t enjoy tempo strategies. Baleful Strix is great at blocking Gurmag Angler which is currently running wild in Legacy.

A big draw to this deck is the mana. It’s able to play Swamp, Island, and Deathrite Shaman to help against Blood Moon and Back to Basics. Four copies of Ponder help smooth out the mana and also ensure there are enough Blue cards to pitch to Force of Will. I often fall short on Blue cards in Sultai-based decks because of Abrupt Decay and Thoughtseize.

I was skeptical of Tasigur, the Golden Fang, as most Legacy players opt for Gurmag Angler. After playing some games I have found plenty of times to activate the ability. Since this deck doesn’t play Daze or other tempo-based spells I can return more potent cards to my hand.

Legacy is more interesting than it has been in a while because there isn’t a best Blue deck anymore. We’re still adjusting to the loss of Sensei's Divining Top so expect more changes in the future.

Team Limited

I attended Grand Prix Cleveland last weekend with Brian Demars and Stu Parnes. It was a ton of fun and we managed to finish in the top 16 teams; good for $500 each. I was happy to have a good Limited finish given my string of disappointing results.

We built the same three decks both days:

Me: -1/-1 counters

Stu: Ramp

Brian:

The team tested for the last two weeks; each of us becoming proficient with our chosen archetype. I’ve teamed with Brian many times and he is the aggro player. My preference is midrange or control so I took . Stu took the Blue decks that go over the top of midrange and have the chance of falling short against aggro.

The seating strategies were interesting. Level 0 strategy suggests to put the fastest deck in the middle so they can help either player with their round. Level 1 is putting the Black deck with access to Splendid Agony in the middle to crush . Level 2 is going in the middle to beat other Blue decks and the Black anti-creature decks. We settled on level 2 and Stu had great results day 2; he didn’t face any fast starts and got to go over the top with Sandwurm Convergence and Lay Claim.

Each day presented a new sealed pool; my deck was easily the best day 1. I had Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons, Never // Return, Archfiend of Ifnir, Plague Belcher, and Bontu, the Glorified. I didn’t play Bontu in the maindeck because my deck was too focused on -1/-1 counters and is typically flooded with 3-drops.

Stu and Brian didn’t have removal spells in their colors for day one so it was a struggle to make day 2 with a 6-3 finish. I needed to win my round in order for the team to have a shot at taking the match. 8-1 was my individual record with Nate Smith being my loss; his team made the top 4.

We opened a very similar pool for day two; I was thrilled because I could take all the Black and Green cards and make another great deck. My rares for day two were Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons, Archfiend of Ifnir, Plague Belcher, and Bontu, the Glorified. Aside from the Never // Return I got to basically run back my deck from day 1.

Since the Grand Prix had 14 rounds, only 500 teams, and no byes awarded we had a chance to win a lot of money even though we entered day 2 at 6-3. This was good news given the strength of our second pool.

Stu and Brian also got upgrades to their decks from yesterday so they could consistently win rounds. I lost round 11, but we still won the match! In fact, the team began 4-0 and then took an intentional draw to secure 2 pro points. This locked Brian for Silver and puts me at 18 points; 2 away from Silver.

Even the rounds I lost it was done as a team. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: team Magic is by far the most fun. It’s not hard to find two friends to jam even at the semi-competitive level so I would like to do this more often.

Big props to RIW Hobbies for being awesome. Also great work from fellow RIW player, Corey Burkhart, for making it to the finals.

That’s all I have this week. Thanks for reading!

—Kyle