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

The Modern Bible of RG Tron chapter 33 - RG Tron vs Living End

Living End currently stands as #3 in the MTGO metagame so I figured that would be a good topic for our last look at a specific matchup with RG Tron in Modern. 

You can find a sample list here: http://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/modern-living-end-21637#online

Combo is death for RG Tron. We fear combo decks above everything else. The worst are the quick combo decks that win on turn 3 or turn 4 that we simply have no answers for in game 1. This is one of these decks. Living End also maindecks Fulminator Mage, which is one of the best answers for RG Tron in the format. 

Fortunately for us, we happen to maindeck a card that is one of the best answers for Living End. This is the time that you will regret cutting those copies of Relic of Progenitus. 

Is this a bad matchup for RG Tron?
Yes, it is. Living End is a fast combo deck. We do not like that. 


Useful and less useful sideboard cards
Chalice of the Void: Set it to 0 and watch them cry. Until they draw Ingot Chewer. 

Grafdigger's Cage: I have no idea how you fit this into your SB but here it might prove useful.

Pithing Needle: For Fulminator Mage. Beast Within will take care of it and it will hamper your Oblivion Stone. 

Relic of Progenitus: If you managed to leave a copy or two in the sideboard (I know how much competition there are for those slots) this is the time you will be rewarded for it. 

Slaughter Games: Take Living End. Even though this is a card I highly recommend sideboarding it is less useful here than against, for example, Scapeshift. Living End can still play like a durdly midrange deck. However, RG Tron excels against durdly midrange decks ... except when they maindeck Fulminator Mage. 

Spellskite: See above

Stone Rain: If you are on the play you can stop their turn 3 from wrecking you.

Torpor Orb: Depending on what creatures they are using, this might another matchup than Twin where you want to board in your Torpor Orbs.

Less useful main deck cards
Oblivion Stone: Extremely useful if you can clear out their graveyard after you blow everything away.

Pyroclasm: Does nothing. Sideboard out.

Relic of Progenitus: This is the #1 reason you maindeck Relic of Progenitus

Spellskite: Does not do much.

Wurmcoil Engine: The fact that Wurmcoil Engine actually survives a Living End in a sense is extremely useful. 

Next week will be problem matchup video week, including two recent matches I played against Affinity. 

For a full list of the chapters of The Modern Bible: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/