Hello and welcome to another edition of The Mythic Society’s Set Roulette, the format with spicier brews than a ghost pepper.
Dominaria, New Phyrexian, Morningtide, Core Set 2014, Aether Revolt and Champions of Kamigawa are on the menu this month and the flavors of fun are delicious!
Primary Ingredients (The Cards that Matter)
This group of cards are among the most powerful things that you can be doing in this format. If your deck does not include at least 1 of them, you may find yourself at a disadvantage in terms of power.
Bread and Butter (Cards to Note)
These cards may not be as crucial to the function of their respective decks, but they do enough to warrant your respect when choosing your deck for the event.
The Specialties (Most Dangerous Decks)
This should be public enemy No. 1 going into this weekend’s event. It possesses the most raw power in terms of card advantage engines, mana engines and plan B.
Druid Combo
8 mana dorks, multiple banned cards in multiple formats and the cleanest manabase there is, this is the formats Boogeyman. The objective of the deck is to assemble heritage druid + Paradox Engine + Glimpse of Nature to churn through its decks, all the while generating mana to find a lethal Walking Ballista. Among this deck’s redundancies, you will find Glit-Leaf Archdruid and Lifecrafter’s Bestiary to find more cards or simply steal your opponent’s entire manabase. Gitaxian Probe and Paradox Engine combine to fuel an immediate untap the turn the Legendary permanent is played, allowing its controller to continue to generate mana via Heritage Druid’s ability which could potentially lead to a turn 3 kill.
Kiki Pod
Courtesy of New Phyrexia, we bring you another Modern banned All-Star
Unlike traditional Kiki-Pod list that had a lackluster Plan B, this version comes packed with Artifact Tarmogoyfs in the form of Myr Superion. Thanks to Sensei’s Divining Top, Renegade Map and Birthing Pod all being reliable sources of triggering Revolt, Hidden Herbalist teams up with the 8 mana Elves to power out some very early Myr Superions which deliver the beatdowns fairly quickly.
Those unfamiliar with Pod chains, here are the equations that find a kill:
2x 2-Drops= 2 drop#1>Deceiver Exarch, 2 drop#2>Deceiver Exarch, Exarch>Felidar Guardian blink exarch or pod, Felidar Guardian>Kiki-Jiki
Same can be obtained with: 2-drop + 3-drop, 2x 3-Drops, 3-Drop + 4-Drop<
As for the reasons to include all the silver bullets that this list has:
Priest of Urabrask: Cast Kiki-Jiki if in hand
Reveillark: Buyback the combo or other bullets
Spellskite: Protection
Imposing Sovereign: Stop opposing Kiki Combos
Banisher Priest: Remove opposing hate pieces
Phyrexian Metamorph: A second copy of bullets or Pod
The Entrees (The Contenders)
The decks in this section are either more reactive or accomplish less broken things.
Mono Black Control
Harking back to the days of Cabal Coffers in 2002, this format has the tools required to assemble the beloved mana hungry control deck
This list combines the innovations of the Top + Kite synergy from Champions of Kamigawa Block Constructed with Cabal Coffers’s little brother: Cabal Stronghold to create the second coming of MBC. The biggest secret to this deck’s potential success lies on the back of Night of Souls’ Betrayal. This innocent looking rare is responsible for the deaths of Llanowar Elves, Sakura-Tribe Elders, Young Pyromancers and their tokens, Porcelenne Legionnaires among other, but its greatest strength is making sure you don’t die to Kiki-Jiki combos.The single most potent threat that the format has towards MBC is its inherent weakness to Chameleon Colossus. Due to this fact, cards like The Eldest Reborn, Sheoldred the Whispering One and Karn Liberated show up in the maindeck, while Geth’s Verdict hangs out in the sideboard.The combination of Night of Souls’ Betrayal and Yahenni’s Expertise is also useful for taking out the problematic changeling.
Sheoldred, the Whispering One and Demonlord Belzenlok have both been selected as this decks end game since they are immune to Dismember, Doomblade, Cast Down Urza’s Ruinous Blast, Fight with Fire and Fatal Push
White Weenie
This traditional beatdown deck is well equipped in this format to face adversity from the control decks as well as the combo decks
Benalish Marshal and Mutavault aren’t best buddies, but in low quantities, the colorless manland shouldn’t be too much of an issue. Knights are plentiful as Dominaria brings a curving crusade to the battlefield, Champions of Kamigawa rounds out the Legends and M14 has your bases covered with protection spells, anti-combo hate bears and game ending planeswalker. Everything to love if you are a Battlemage.
The 2 unusual suspects in the sideboard are Silence and Suture Priest. These two innocuous pieces of technology are there to stop your Glimpse of Nature opponents from going crazy, while the other keeps Mirror Breakers from flooding the battlefield with hasty 1/4s.
The Spice Rack (The Unconventional)
Finally, for you wild ones out there that are just looking to play the greasiest piles of value or have a Legendary passion for saying “NOPE!” have I got a gift for you!
Sultai Gifts
This Gifts deck has its own recycling factory. Between Muldrotha, Noxious Grasp, Nature’s Spiral and The Mirrari’s Conjecture it is possible to set up loops of values for days. With every answer cramped into the maindeck, there is nothing this deck can’t stop, it’s only a matter of time. And for when time is of the essence, you can sideboard in the Godo, Bandit Warlord + Helm of the Host combo to get your opponent dead in a hurry. The most dangerous enemies this deck has are explosive starts and piles of counter magic… which leads us to our next combatant…
U/W Legends Control
It’s hard to have access to The Hero of Dominaria and not attempt to brew around him. Luckly, there is a sufficient amount of removal, countermagic and card advantage, that this is plausible. While Urza’s Ruinous Blast may not be the most reliable board wipe that we have ever played, it does come with the added bonus of removing unwanted artifacts and enchantments in its wake. This is one of the few decks capable of supporting a full cast of Mutavaults and puts to good use the cost reduction of Baral, Chief of Compliance
Speaking of Wizard, if you are into aggressive Islands, the next one is for you
Mono Blue Wizards
Reminiscent of the deck that won the first Mythic Championship, this deck is capable of playing offense and defense. The Wizard sub theme allows the inclusion of Sage’s Dowsing and Wizard’s Retort to be “turned on” most of the time and also powers up Azami Lady of Scrolls. Tempo is the name of the game when your supporting cast of disruption is Vapor Snag and Merfolk Trickster.
Everything in between
With so many build around cards to choose from, there isn’t room for everyone in the spotlight, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have their place in the metagame. Here is a list of decks that can likely be built, but may not have the tool necessary to compete with the top dogs:
Mono Green Aggro
Big Red
Mono Black Midrange
Gruul Warriors
Goblins
Gruul Shamans
Mono Red Aggro
Izzet Aggro
Arcane Control
Bant Midrange
BW Knights
Hex Parasite Sagas
Melira Unlife Prison
Dessert
With a format much wider then past set roulettes (or though it seems) all flavors of decks appear to be viable. Whether your thing is going through loops clicking on the same 3 cards 50 times in your turn, or searching up the perfect threat/answer to your opponent’s board presence, to killing everything in sight and mopping up with a giant beatstick, to applying a good ol’ fashion smackdown, there is something on the menu for you.
Author: Philippe Gareau
Author: Philippe Gareau
