Hey there! Last week, I wrote about the G/W Auras deck in Pauper, and I received some good feedback. I think I’m going to write some more about Pauper in the future, as there is clearly an interest in the format. I’ve been trying out U/B Cloudpost lately, but I haven’t gotten quite enough games in to write about it yet—but stay tuned!

This week, I’ll be taking a look at the Modern format. The last time I wrote about Modern was two months ago, and I haven’t really played all that much in the time between. I recently became interested in the format again, as I wanted another Constructed format that I could play on Magic Online. I’ve always had a liking for various combo decks, and when I saw the version of Storm running Goblin Electromancer and Epic Experiment, I knew I wanted to try it out. There is a sort of satisfying feeling in being able to keep your opponent guessing and just kill him out of seemingly nowhere. Who ever said Magic has to be fair?

Charge Your Engines

To start things off, here is the list I have been running. Credit for the original list goes to norbicky on Magic Online.

"U/R Storm"

• Creatures (4)
• 4 Goblin Electromancer

• Spells (39)
• 1 Peer Through Depths
• 4 Desperate Ritual
• 4 Manamorphose
• 4 Pyretic Ritual
• 4 Seething Song
• 3 Epic Experiment
• 3 Grapeshot
• 4 Gitaxian Probe
• 4 Past in Flames
• 4 Serum Visions
• 4 Sleight of Hand

• Lands (17)
• 1 Mountain
• 2 Island
• 3 Shivan Reef
• 3 Sulfur Falls
• 4 Scalding Tarn
• 4 Steam Vents

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Echoing Truth
• 2 Dispel
• 1 Empty the Warrens
• 3 Blood Moon
• 3 Pyroclasm
• 1 Torpor Orb
• 3 Defense Grid

Buy This Deck

Tricks of the Trade

I’ve tried to gather some general advice regarding this deck—I hope you will find it useful. I’m sure people familiar with the deck will know all of this, but it never hurts to read just in case.

• Think of how you resolve the spells from an Epic Experiment. A good guideline is to resolve Serum Visions before individual card-draw spells such as Gitaxian Probe and Manamorphose—that way, you gain the advantage of the scry. Sleight of Hand can be resolved either first or last, but preferably not between Serum Visions and a cantrip.
• Remember to play seemingly unnecessary spells from Epic Experiment, such as other Epic Experiments. Even though the spells don’t do anything, they still count for storm. Also remember that Grapeshot triggers always go on top of all other spells cast from Epic Experiment—there is no way to avoid this.
• If your opponent has some form of graveyard hate and you play a big Epic Experiment hitting a Past in Flames, take a minute to think about how to best play the spells. A good idea is to try to balance the spells so that some resolve before the Past in Flames and some after. If you do this, your opponent will most likely use the graveyard hate to remove your graveyard before the Past in Flames resolves. In this case, the rest of the spells will still head to the graveyard, ready for that next Past in Flames. I’ve found this to be something that can often be the difference between losing and winning, so pay attention.
• You will most likely have to play Grapeshot at least twice in order to kill your opponent, so plan accordingly. I’ve had some games in which I’ve generated enough storm to kill my opponent with just one Grapeshot, but the most common play is to cast Grapeshot once and then flash it back via Past in Flames.
• It’s often safest to play Goblin Electromancer the turn you plan on going off, but sometimes, you just have to take a leap of faith and play it out there a turn earlier. Gitaxian Probe helps out here, as you can find out if your opponent has any removal waiting.

As stated, these are mostly things I’ve thought about while playing the deck for myself, so I am sure there are many things I haven’t covered. If there is anything you are feeling perplexed about, go ahead and ask me in the comments section.

Sideboarding

In general, I mostly just shave stuff when sideboarding. I know that this is often thought of as bad practice and that it shows you don’t really know the deck well. However, with engine combo decks such as Storm, it’s often impossible to cut all of a certain cards, but as there are countermeasures to hate that you need to bring in, something needs to go. When I am sideboarding in Pyroclasm, I often sideboard out the Goblin Electromancers. They also get the boot when my opponent is playing a deck that keeps most of its creature removal in because they are burn spells. These are decks such as burn, R/W/U Delver, and other similar decks. The cards I most often take out one of are Peer Through Depths, Pyretic Ritual, Past in Flames, and Serum Visions. It’s worth noting that Desperate Ritual is always better than Pyretic Ritual even though it’s marginal.

Other than graveyard hate, the most problematic cards for you are Ethersworn Canonist, Rule of Law, Leyline of Sanctity, and various counterspells. Of these, Rule of Law is clearly the toughest to beat, as it really locks you down. Leyline of Sanctity can keep you from winning right now, but you can potentially just go off and draw most of your deck, so if you have a single Empty the Warrens or Echoing Truth, you should be fine. Counterspells in large numbers can be tough to deal with, and they require a lot of play skill to outmaneuver your opponent.

Signing Off

So, there you have it: my experiences of killing my opponent with a flurry of 1-damage chunks. I hope this gave you something to think about. For those of you looking for a combo deck to play in Modern, I can recommend Storm. I think it is quite well-rounded and has a decent chance against many of the top decks. Storm is also quite cheap to assemble, with the only cards that are somewhat expensive being Scalding Tarn and Past in Flames, which is nothing compared to many other decks.

As usual, I would love to hear your input. If you have any questions, comments, or ideas, be sure to share them either via the comments section below or through Twitter. I try to check the comments quite regularly, at least for my newest articles, and I’m practically always on Twitter. Next week, I think I will take a look of some of the Gatecrash cards that have been spoiled so far. Until then!

Thanks for reading,

Max

@thebloom_ on Twitter

Maxx on Magic Online

You can find my music on: http://soundcloud.com/bloomlive