Let's try a deck - Modern Affinity

In my quest to try out different Modern decks I now take on Affinity, the great beast of the format.

This deck is so powerful that it feels broken ... until it doesn't. Sometimes it just defeats itself or can be stopped dead in its track by a card such as Stony Silence.

Main deck
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Cranial Plating
4 Ornithopter
2 Etched Champion
4 Galvanic Blast
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Mox Opal
2 Memnite
1 Mountain
4 Signal Pest
4 Spire of Industry
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Steel Overseer
4 Vault Skirge
4 Springleaf Drum
3 Master of Etherium

Sideboard
2 Etched Champion
2 Ancient Grudge
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Rule of Law
3 Whipflare
2 Thoughtseize



Initial video
 


Match against GB Midrange


Match against RG Ponza


More Let's try a deck articles:

Let's try a deck - RG Ponza: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2017/06/lets-try-deck-modern-rg-ponza.html

Let's try a deck - Living End. http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2017/05/lets-try-deck-modern-living-end.html

Let's try a deck - Modern RG Ponza

In my quest to try different Modern decks I am now testing RG Ponza - Red Green ramp with land destruction. I have a soft spot in my heart for this kind of deck as I once won entry on the Pro Tour playing a similar deck. Blood Moon might be my favorite magic card.

Here is the current deck list I am using:

4 Arbor Elf
1 Beast Within
2 Birds of Paradise
4 Bonfire of the Damned
4 Inferno Titan
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
4 Stone Rain
1 Kessig Wolf Run
3 Stomping Ground
4 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Primal Command
1 Mountain
8 Forest
2 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Thragtusk
4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Blood Moon

4 Ancient Grudge
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Sudden Shock
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Lightning Bolt


The initial video


Match against Mono White Humans


Match against Bant Eldrazi




More Let's try a deck articles:

Let's try a deck Modern Living End: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2017/05/lets-try-deck-modern-living-end.html

Let's try a deck - Modern Living End

I have started a new series called "Lets try a deck". The four first entries are all Modern decks. Today I am going to talk about Modern Living End that got a few new toys in Amonkhet.

Living End is still a rather cheap deck in Modern and plays very differently from anything else. I am still a noob in playing the deck but if I like it I might go deeper into the strategy.



Here is the deck list used in the videos

Main deck
4 Archfiend of Ifnir
1 Simian Spirit Guide
3 Verdant Catacombs
1 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Demonic Dread
4 Desert Cerodon
2 Faerie Macabre
1 Swamp
1 Stomping Ground
2 Overgrown Tomb
4 Horror of the Broken Lands
3 Living End
4 Monstrous Carabid
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
3 Fulminator Mage
4 Street Wraith
1 Forest
1 Mountain
4 Violent Outburst
4 Architects of Will
1 Beast Within

Sideboard
3 Blood Moon
1 Dismember
2 Faerie Macabre
4 Ingot Chewer
2 Brindle Boar
1 Fulminator Mage
2 Shriekmaw

In my first match I took on Red Deck Wins.




More discussion on Living End after Amonkhet here: http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/developing-competitive-modern/220258-living-end?page=251

Binkabi goes to GP Copenhagen with Modern Grixis Delver

My buddy Binkabi is going to GP Copenhagen (May 26-28 2017) and he is now playtesting every day on our youtube channel.

The format is Modern. His deck of choice is Grixis Delver.

The deck list is constantly mutating. Here is one version. You can find another in the first video below. The things that differ is the choice of counterspells, which Delve creatures to use etc. Main deck
1 Blood Crypt
1 Bloodstained Mire
2 Darkslick Shores
2 Island
1 Mountain
4 Polluted Delta
4 Saclding Tarn
1 Spirebluff Canal
2 Steam Vents
1 Swamp
1 Watery Grave

4 Delver of Secrets
4 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendillion Clique
3 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Gurmag Angler

4 Serum Visions
3 Spell Snare
4 Thought Scour
3 Fatal Push
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Censor
1 Collective Brutality
2 Terminate
1 Electrolyze
1 Mana Leak
2 Kolaghan's Command

Sideboard
1 Dispel
1 Collective Brutality
3 Anger of the Gods
1 Vandalblast
1 Crumble to Dust
2 Countersquall
1 Fulminator Mage
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Painful Truths
1 Molten Rain

How the testing is going? Well, here is a league he played including a deck tech in the first video.



Please let us know what you think of the deck, its strength, its weaknesses and what he should do differently.

Thoughts on Modern and Modern Masters 2017

My friend Binkabi gives some deep thought to Modern in general and Modern Masters 2017 in particular.

Modern Naya Burn updated

I am still swinging Burn in Modern. Here is a sample match against Time Walk Combo.




This is my updated deck list.

Main deck

4 Atarka's Command

4 Bloodstained Mire

4 Boros Charm

4 Eidolon of the Great Revel

4 Goblin Guide

3 Stomping Ground

4 Rift Bolt

2 Mountain

4 Monastery Swiftspear

4 Lightning Bolt

4 Lava Spike

3 Sacred Foundry

4 Searing Blaze

1 Grim Lavamancer

4 Wild Nacatl

3 Arid Mesa

4 Wooded Foothills

Sideboard

2 Deflecting Palm

4 Destructive Revelry

4 Kor Firewalker

2 Path to Exile

3 Skullcrack

One extensive sideboard plan for Burn: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IAUv_SnPqTzsyRelnrOiotMBInzw0zKm5xeCN5ZJZdQ/edit?pageId=106024238989036834136#gid=1948138265

Another sideboard plan: http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/sideboard-like-a-grand-prix-finalist/

The top ten decks in Modern after the bannings

Gitaxian Probe and Golgari Grave-Troll were banned. What happened with the metagame? Lets have a look.

As of today, Jan 22 2017, this is the top ten decks of the Magic Online metagame.

1. Abzan (10% of the metagame)
2. Jund (7,6%)
3. Tron (7,1%)
4. Affnity (5,7%)
5. Burn (5,1%)
6. Titan Shift (4,4%)
7. Bant Eldrazi (4,4%)
8. Amulet Titan (3,8%)
9. Grixis Control (3,3%)
10. Ad Nauseam (3%)

If the aim of banning Gitaxian Probe was to get rid of combo that did not really happen.

Dredge is nowhere to be seen so it seems Golgari Grave-Troll was extremely critical to the deck.

GBx is back in force. I guess that is only natural. Much like aggro is often the better choice in a new Standard format, GBx is always the safe choice n a new Modern format. Grim Flayer seems to be doing some work.

I am amazed at the success of Tron. I had counted Tron out. I was definitely wrong. At some point I will get back to playing it. I am still playing Burn and enjoying it very much.

Overall the metagame looks very healthy. Look, there is even a control deck in there!

Gitaxian Probe and Golgari Grave-Troll are banned in Modern

Dredge had really gotten a boost from Cathartic Reunion and Prized Amalgam which means that Golgari Grave-Troll goes back on the banned list once again. It was fun to see the troll in play for a while but I can only agree with this decision.

Gitaxian Probe enabled too many strange things in the format and I think it is time to see it go away. Phyrexian mana is utterly broken and this card proved the point.

Standard had also gone a bit crazy and we see some Standard bannings, something that is not very common.

Three cards were banned in Standard:

Emrakul, the Promised End
Smuggler's Copter (finally)
Reflector Mage

Pauper was untouched, which I agree with.


Full announcement here: http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/january-9-2017-banned-and-restricted-announcement-2017-01-09

What is your opinion on the bannings?

Tom Ross wins SCG Modern Open Columbus with Tron

Tom Ross won the SCG Modern Open! Great job! But it was not RG Tron. It was GW Tron!

Why would you give up the best dual land in Modern to play white instead of red?

Well, there are a couple of reasons.

First, lets have a look at the deck.

Main deck
4 Ancient Stirrings
1 Brushland
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
4 Expedition Map
1 Forest
1 Ghost Quarter
4 Karn Liberated
3 Oblivion Stone
3 Path to Exile
3 Razorverge Thicket
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Sanctum of Ugin
1 Spellskite
4 Sylvan Scrying
2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
2 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Tower
2 World Breaker
2 Wurmcoil Engine


Sideboard
3 Blessed Alliance
1 Ghost Quarter
3 Nature's Claim
1 Ravenous Trap
2 Rest in Peace
2 Thragtusk
3 Warping Wail

The idea of playing GW instead of GR is not new to Tron players. The main reason has been Path to Exile. Get a powerful spot removal spell instead of  Pyroclasm - should work well in certain metas. Timely Reinforcements also was a staple in the GW Tron decks. This is noticeably missing in Tom Ross's list.

As the author of the Modern Bible of RG Tron I have never advocated GW Tron. Today, I might have changed my mind.

Modern Bible or RG Tron: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2015/02/the-modern-bible-of-rg-tron-part-1.html

The answers are all in the sideboard. Rest in Peace seems a much more powerful answer to Dredge than Relic of Progenitus. Blessed Alliance also swings the troublesome Burn Match in a way the older sideboard cards just never did. 

Also, it helped that Blood Moon decks are very popular. Contrary to popular belief, Blood Moon is not very effective against Tron decks with Oblivion Stones, Ugins and Karns.

Amazing deck choice, Tom! One day I may even consider playing Warping Wail which I am still on the fence about. 

Braid of Fire

Look at this beautiful card, designed for a world with mana burn. Without mana burn in the rules anymore, should this card not be exploitable? How to exploit it?

Sure, there are disadvantages. Lets look at them.

Modern is fast.
You have to use the mana in your upkeep
This card gives you a lot of mana when it is too late to really use it for anything.
An two mana enchantment is quite vulnerable
Other decks do this more efficiently (i.e. Tron or ramp strategies)

I want to try to break this card. I see two routes.

The combo route
Upwelling.
Kruphix, God of Horizons.

There are better combo decks. I will not try to go the combo route today.

The control route

What if we take an Izzet control shell and only use instants in the deck? Suddenly all the cards are good on their own and they become great with Braid of Fire. I am thinking along the lines of the Izzet Post decks of old in Pauper.

Well, lets experiment.



Very rough first draft of a deck list 
4 Braid of Fire
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Think Twice
1 Whispers of the Muse
4 Steam Vents
2 Stomping Ground
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Arid Mesa
5 Mountain
4 Manamorphose
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Magmaquake
2 Ravaging Blaze
1 Firespout
1 Mysteries of the Deep
4 Serum Visions
2 Comet Storm
2 Volcanic Geyser

Sideboard
3 Pyroclasm
4 Ancient Grudge
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Firespout
1 Magmaquake
2 Vandalblast
1 Ravaging Blaze

How would you exploit Braid of Fire? What cards are needed for the deck? Leave your comments below

10-tix Modern Goats

Our 10-tix Modern league at magicgatheringstrat.com is in full swing. We had 66 players.
Here are the basic details: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2016/09/10-tix-modern.html
It turns out that format was quite varied.

I crashed and burn with my Burn deck, but not before I had this epic match against Coalition Victory (!).



My friend Brennon decided that 10-tix Modern was a perfect place to play a Goat Tribal deck (!).
Yes, that is what he played. Tribal Goats!



And then of course we have my other buddy, Bobgar, who played Stompy.

Enchantress in Modern

I was looking for a fun, new, casual Modern deck. I looked around on mtgsalvation and found this thread:
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/deck-creation-modern/221520-modern-enchantress

I am way to used to the tier 1 threads with excellent primers so I was quite disappointed that the first post was not updated but there was some gold on the later pages.

Then I came upon Saffron Olive excellent budget article:
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/budget-magic-99-28-tix-modern-enchantress

It convinced me that the deck was indeed worthy of some play.

This was my first attempt at winning against a "real" deck.



Strengthened by this experience and some comments, I came up with this list.


Main deck
8 Forest
4 Plains
4 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills

1 Greater Auramancy
2 Journey to Nowhere
1 Luminarch Ascension
1 Nyx-Fleece Ram
4 Ghostly Prison
4 Oblivion Ring
1 Story Circle
2 Sphere of Safetly
1 Sigil of the Empty Throne
4 Utopia Sprawl
2 Fertile Ground

4 Arbor Elf
4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Eidolon of Blossoms
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

Sideboard
3 Nyx-Fleece Ram
3 Rule of Law
3 Nevermore
3 Story Circle
1 Sphere of Safety
1 Open the Vaults
1 Seal of Primordium

That's 31 enchantments. I should be able to draw some cards.

Emrakul might look odd but it gives me inevitability plus prevents me from decking myself.

The only budget choice I made was to not go buy Leyline of Sanctity which has an obvious spot in the deck. The budget version of Leyline is Ivory Mask.

Stay tuned for an update and you will learn how I did with the deck.

If you have any suggestions for the list, please let me know

10-tix Modern

Me and my  buddies at MagicGatheringStrat are running a Modern League starting this week so get your decks in before Sunday. It is a budget league so decks can cost no more than 10 tickets. That seemed like an interesting challenge.

The league is free to enter and we do have prizes.

You will find all the revelant information in this video.



I started thinking about this format. I checked out my old Urzatron Modern Silverblack deck but the Urzalands are too expensive for 10-tix Modern.

Then it occured to me! Burn! Mono Red Burn. Boring perhaps but always a strong contender in budget formats.

This is the list I came up with

2 Flames of the Blood Hand
4 Hellspark Elemental
4 Keldon Marauders
4 Lava Spike
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Magma Jet
19 Mountain
4 Rift Bolt
3 Searing Blaze
4 Shard Volley
4 Skullcrack
4 Thermo-Alchemist

2 Aggressive Mining
4 Dragon's Claw
2 Electrickery
2 Flames of the Blood Hand
1 Searing Blaze
4 Smash to Smithereens

It comes in a 9.86 tickets today. Do you have any suggestions for improvements? 

Modern Masters 2017 coming on March 17, 2017

MM3 has been announced. There will be cards from Eigth Edition through Magic 2014 with the emphasis on Innistrad and Return to Ravnica blocks.

MSRP is $9.99. Hopefully that is not the online price.

The structure of the set seems to be the same as MM and MM2.

So what could the ten archetypes possibly be? These are my guesses.

WU: Fliers with detain
WB: Sacrifice - probably Humans
WG: Populate and big things
WR: Battalion seems like the natural choice but that would win against any other of these decks.
UB: Self mill. I don't think Cypher stands a chance.
UG: Please please be Evolve
UR: Spells. Possibly with Burning Vengeance. Always popular.
BG: Morbid Golgaris
BR: Vampires
GR: Werewolves

What do you think? What are your guesses? Let me know in the comments below.

Interesting that some of the archetypes will be well known because of Shadows over Innistrad being so recent.

I hate what this is going to do to my bot inventory. I think it is time to stop buying anything from ISD and RTR blocks. And it is definitely time to sell your Snapcaster Mages and Lilianas.

Full announcement here: http://magic.wizards.com/en/content/modern-masters-2017-info

A Modern League with Naya Burn - the conclusion

A couple of weeks ago I started my very first league with a solid 2-0 result taking down Hate Bears and Affinity. You can check it out here: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2016/08/playing-modern-league-with-naya-burn.html

Then I went 1-1 and was 3-1 going into this final match.

Interestingly enough, my final match was against Naya Burn featuring Wild Nacatl.

The question whether to include Wild Nacatl in Naya Burn is a difficult one and seems to come down to taste - i.e. decks with or without Wild Nacatl have a similar win percentage over a large sample size.



Overall, I enjoyed my first league experience and I have already started a second one. I also like the deck quite a bit - I feel it is a very strong deck against a large amount of the field.

Here is my deck list:  http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2016/04/my-new-tier-1-modern-deck.html

A Modern League with Naya Burn part 2

Last week I started my very first league with a solid 2-0 result taking down Hate Bears and Affinity. You can check it out here: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2016/08/playing-modern-league-with-naya-burn.html

This week I played another two matches.

The first was against Abzan CoCo.

I don't feel this is a super good matchup for burn. I did get an interesting comment I wanted to share with you here in the everlasting discussion about playing Wild Nacatl or not in Naya Burn.

Taylor said: "Great job!! I'm starting to see through your games (and my own small play testing) that Nacatyl might not deserve a place in the current meta, so thank you for letting me see how a Nacatyl-less build plays out. "

Match #4 was against Bant Eldrazi. Here is where my inexperience got the best of me. I had not even seen this deck before and I was unsure of what to do against it.


Next week I will share the last match with you. Overall the experience of playing a Constructed League for the first time has been a good one. There will be more.

Here is my deck list:  http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2016/04/my-new-tier-1-modern-deck.html

Playing a Modern League with Naya Burn

I am still playing Naya Burn in Modern. The deck list is in my old article here: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2016/04/my-new-tier-1-modern-deck.html

I have not changed a single card. After 22-5 in practice I felt that the time had come to play my first constructed league on MTGO with the list.

For my first constructed match with my new deck I faced a BW Hate Bears deck. I did not even know that was a thing. I was fairly sure I would win the first duel but I also expected some heavy Burn hate in his sideboard.


In my second match I faced Affinity. This is a tough matchup as both decks are lightning fast. It is fairly hard to know when to play for the win or when to defend myself.



My sideboarding was: -4 Boros Charm, -4 Eidolon, +1 Smash to Smithereens, +4 Destructive Revelry, +1 Lightinng Helix, +1 Searing Blaze, + 1 Path to Exile

I will finish the league and report on the final result here.

Overall I feel I am quite inexperienced with the deck and don't know enough about the meta. Naya Burn still seems to be a solid choice, As of today it is 3.65% of the winning decks on MTGO.

And for all of you wondering, I will probably write a Modern Bible of Naya Burn eventually. I definitely want to get in 100 matches with the deck first and do some serious studying. Somebody already wrote an article named The Modern Burn Bible but it is nowhere near as comprehensive as my study on RG Tron last year which you can find here: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2015/02/the-modern-bible-of-rg-tron-part-1.html

Modern Budget Replacements: Fetchlands

Earlier installments in this series
Budget replacements for Dark Confidant: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2016/07/modern-budget-replacements-dark.html
Budget replacements for Liliana of the Veil: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2016/07/modern-budget-replacements-liliana-of.html

Fetchlands were long the big money gate for the Modern format. After the KTK reprint of the allied fetchlands, this currently mainly applies to the enemy fetchlands, namely Scalding Tarn, Arid Mesa, Marsh Flats, Verdant Catacombs and Misty Rainforest.

It would seem the replacing dual lands with other dual lands should not be a big problem, but it is.

The first alternative is naturally to try to use the allied fetchlands instead of the enemy ones. That does work to an extent. Always consider this as your first alternative.

The Innistrad checklands work with shocklands to a small extent (shocklands have basic land types). Some of them have even seen play in Modern.

As I am writing this one Abzan Rites deck used Woodland Cemetery in one 5-0 League on MTGO. That is not a very good grade.

How about using shocklands? Well, they are played a lot in the Modern format but they are naturally limited in number and you really don't want to hurt yourself too much. It is the fetchlands that make shocklands so good.

What about the painlands? With the recent reprints of the enemy painlands they seem to be a natural fit here.

Five 5-0 Modern decks on MTGO have used Llanowar Wastes. That is an improvement over the checklands. Forget about symmetry with shocklands though.

If you are playing a creature heavy deck, Ancient Ziggurat can be an improvement even over fetchlands.

This card saw play in two 5-color aggro decks. I assume they were zoo-like builds.

If your deck is Dredge or something else really aggressive and have 4 or 5 colors I would consider Mana Confluence over City of Brass as it is slightly better in marginal cases.

This card saw play in nine 5-0 decks on MTGO recently. Seven of them were Dredge decks and two were the 5-color aggro decks I talked about above.

Given the strength of manlands, the recently printed set of enemy manlands could be a replacement for the enemy fetchlands - at least they look strong enough to me.

So far, they are seeing zero play in tournament Modern. 

There are other duals lands. Are they serious possibilities here? If you can think of any other card as a budget replacement for fetchlands, please tell me in the comments below.  If there is any other card you want me to suggest budget replacements for, please let me know.

Modern on a budget

Some competetive modern budget decks: http://magicgatheringstrat.com/2014/06/you-too-can-play-modern-10-budget-modern-decks/
Modern decks that cost under $5: http://magicgatheringstrat.com/2015/02/cheap-as-chips-ep-1-fun-modern-lists-for-under-5/

Modern Budget Replacements: Liliana of the Veil

Earlier installments in this series
Budget replacements for Dark Confidant: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2016/07/modern-budget-replacements-dark.html


Oh, Liliana, that very expensive planeswalker that does so much for so little mana. As I write this she costs $105 on Magic Online. Here is a true need for a budget replacements. Replacing a planeswalker with a budget card is very hard as Liliana is so versatile.

Just look at this amazing card.

My first instict would be to replace her with another walker. There are three alternatives that I can think of.

Domri is as cheap as Liliana but would require a very creature heavy Jund deck to work properly. Domri thrives if you play 30+ creatures. That is not really what Jund is about. The average Jund deck on MTGO right now has 13 creatures.

I think this is more like it. It is an alternate walker that does powerful things but costing four instead of three changes the entire composition of the deck. Can we do even better?

If you are playing Abzan with your Liliana, Sorin could perhaps be your replacement. I don't like the fact that he costs four but he does have some impressive abilites that could turn a game in your favor. 

What if we are after one of the effects of Liliana? What if we like playing off the top against opponents that rely on having cards in their hands?

I think this card is both expensive and weak but it does emulate the Liliana discard ability quite well. It does see fringe play in 8-rack decks where it is probably at its best as a Liliana replacement.

If it is the sacrifice ability we are after there is a better replacement in my opinion.

Gatekeeper of Malakir costs 3 to cast and has a nice sacrifice effect. I think this is probably the best replacement so far. However, there is a pretty big gap between how good this card is and how good Liliana is. 

In the end, Liliana of the Veil is quite hard to replace. It turns out that there is probably a very good reason she costs so much. 

If you can think of any other card as a budget replacement for Liliana of the Veil, please tell me in the comments below.  If there is any other card you want me to suggest budget replacements for, please let me know.


Modern on a budget

Some competetive modern budget decks: http://magicgatheringstrat.com/2014/06/you-too-can-play-modern-10-budget-modern-decks/
Modern decks that cost under $5: http://magicgatheringstrat.com/2015/02/cheap-as-chips-ep-1-fun-modern-lists-for-under-5/

Modern Budget Replacements - Dark Confidant

I often get the question if it is possible to play Modern on a budget. The MagicGatheringStrat collective have addressed the question several times.

Some competetive modern budget decks: http://magicgatheringstrat.com/2014/06/you-too-can-play-modern-10-budget-modern-decks/
Modern decks that cost under $5: http://magicgatheringstrat.com/2015/02/cheap-as-chips-ep-1-fun-modern-lists-for-under-5/

Those two articles addressed the whole deck question, which is probably the way to go. That is not what I will be doing here.

In this series, I will be looking at specific cards and their budget replacements.

Good Modern cards become expensive. What replacements are there are and how well do they compare to the original?

The card we will be trying to replace this week is Dark Confidant.

In Modern, Dark Confidant is played mostly in Jund, but also in other BGx decks and Mardu Harbinger. What replacements are there?

Courser of Kruphix: It may seem strange to suggest a green card instead of a black but this card fills a similar role to Bob. It does provide card advantage but instead of hurting you it actually gains you life. While this all seems stellar the mana cost is steep. Courser sees a lot of play in Modern, particularly in Abzan, RG Breach and Kiki Chord. Courser of Kruphix may serve other purposes as well but I think it is the best budget replacement for Dark Confidant.

Phyrexian Arena: Not having a body is both an advantage and a disadvantage. Creature kill can not destroy the arena, but it also can not win you the game. It costs an extra mana which is a lot in Modern. It also draws cards with a lot less life loss. It sees fringe play in black devotion decks because of its BB mana cost.

Dark Tutelage: This basically has the disadvantages of Phyrexian Arena while costing a lot more life. Avoid it. Dark Tutelage sees very little play in the format.

Pain Seer: This card looks like a Dark Confidant and was the first budget replacement I came to think of for Dark Confidant. Unless you can think of a clever way to untap it Pain Seer has to attack to become a Dark Confidant which is a much bigger disadvantage than it may appear at first. Pain Seer sees no play in Competetive Modern.


If you can think of any other card as a budget replacement for Dark Confidant, please tell me in the comments below.  If there is any other card you want me to suggest budget replacements for, please let me know.