Article: Modern BW tokens
Hello users of imtg. Today I have a deck tech for you!
After playing standard competitively for 1 1/2 - 2 years it was time to try another format. After looking around tcgplayer, I realized that even if I wanted to go with burn it would cost me 80-100 dollars and who wants to be that guy? After looking at other decks I came across this:
BW Tokens by Philomathematic
Format: Modern - M15
Location: MTGO Modern Premier - 7263446 - 7/7/14
Finished: 9th - 16th Place
Deck Price
$1,069.69
$448.96
$320.69
2 {Hero of Bladehold}
4 {Tidehollow Sculler}
2 {Elspeth, Knight-Errant}
2 {Dismember}
4 {Honor of the Pure}
3 {Inquisition of Kozilek}
1 {Intangible Virtue}
4 {Lingering Souls}
3 {Path to Exile}
4 {Raise the Alarm}
4 {Spectral Procession}
3 {Thoughtseize}
2 {Zealous Persecution}
4 {Godless Shrine}
4 {Isolated Chapel}
4 {Marsh Flats}
6 {Plains}
1 {Caves of koilos}
1 {Vault of the Archangel}
2 {Windbrisk Heights}
2 {Auriok Champion}
2 {Aven Mindcensor}
2 {Disenchant}
1 {Ghostly Prison}
2 {Rest in Peace}
2 {Rootborn Defenses}
2 {Stony Silence}
2 {Torpor Orb} -note this is his sideboard and I might include mine in the comments.
{Although this may look expensive}, it's not. The 4 {marsh flats} take up 160 dollars and can be EASILY replaced with more {caves of koilos}. The bulk of the deck can be bought via the modern event deck. I found it for 50 dollars on amazon . After buying the event deck, I already had a play set of {godless shrines} and {thought seizes} from my play in standard, and then traded for 2 {bladeholds}, my final Elsbeth, inquisition, and tide hollow. lets get into the deck!
{The basic plan}:
Use early disruption like {tidehollow}, {inquisition}, {thoughtseize}, to disrupt combo decks or get rid of what we need too. We follow up the disruption with pressure from tokens, removal, and can finish the job with things like hero of the bladehold, Elsbeth, and our anthems.
{Deck brakedown}:
{Lands}: besides the basic mana fixing, we have 2 windbrisk heights, and 1 vault of the Archangle. The {windbrisk hights} are a great way to replace extra plains. They give us extra reach and can sometimes tutor what you need a few turns earlier than you would of normally drawn it. The vaults are amazing in the burn matchup, or any deck who tries to win with creatures (excluding infinite combos). We only run 1 vault so we can have on time {spectral processions} on turn 3.
{Creatures}:
We only use 6 creatures. This may seem somewhat strange considering we are a midrange deck that wins with damage. The tidehollows are part of the desruption plan, and can severely slow down the opponents tempo if they chose to deal with it. The heroes are a powerful finisher that can normally present lethal if you get the chance to untap with them, but in some matchups we side them out.
{The spells}:
Token pumpers:
4 {spectral procession}
4 {raise the alarm}
4 {lingering souls}
These cards help apply cheap and early pressure and can produce a large amount of tokens in a short time period.
Anthems:
4 {honor of the pure}
1 {intangible virtue}
We run 4 honors because they buff everything when the virtues do not cover the tidehollows, or bladeholds. These spells are crucial to finish off the game and ensure victory!
Disruption/removal:
3 {inquisition of kozilek}
3 {thoughtseize}
3 {path to exile}
2 {dismember}
/4 {tidehollow sculler}
These cards do not need much explaining.
They disrupt your opponent and win you games!
{Now that we are done with the deck...}
I have tested this deck a bit on untap.in and found a few things on certain matchups.
Burn:
Game one feels kind of 50/50. If we get early game hand disruptment and are able to apply pressure we can win, and drawing our vault is a win for us. Post sb it is a much easier game considering we have cards like auriok champion, duress, leyline, etc. This matchup is in your favor if you have a good sb.
Affinity:
This is one of our strong matchups. We can easily trade with most of there creatures and jump block there problematic creatures until we stabilize. With cards like path to exile, dismember, and disruption this is a easy matchup. Post sideboard it's a breeze.
Jund: I lighting bolt one of your spirit tokens tokens...2 for 1? I make you discard your lingering souls with Lilliana..2 for 1..? Abrupt decay one of your spectral procession tokens...3 for 1.? So I think you get he point, we beat them on card advantage and do pretty well against them;)
Although this is only a few matchups, this is what I think about the deck overall; one of its weakest matchups or kind of luck of the draw is probably control, although that's how it it's mostly for every non combo deck. We are good against most of the aggro/midrange decks although I'm not sure how it does against pod. And in the combo matchup we can we if can either apply a lot of pressure, or disrupt its combo pieces.
{Why you should play this deck}:
number 1, who wants to be that guy who wins with burn unless you like being that guy...
Not every aggroey deck has the resilience to have hand disruption with a lot of pressure (although Jund/the rock/midrange decks have more card advantage they cant match our pressure).
Finally, in this past month I have seen several similar versions of this deck do great in modern states tournaments and on MTGO.
And to conclude, here are some brief other variations of the many that exist:
The pack rat: you can swap out heroes/tidehollows for 4 pack rats and change the intangible ratios with the honor of the pure ratio.
Squadron hawk:
Well its a hawk and it has friends that like to join parties...(good if you like aggro, but you lose disruption)
The Deadguy ale:
Take away the anthems and most of the token produces for restos, pack rats, bobs, blade splicer, more removal etc! Random list: http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=1210093
Alright, I think that's enough for today! I hope you have
Enjoyed;) don't forget to spam those tokens and have fun!
Ill post my version of the sb if your interested!
Bump?
I like the deck idea, and the fact you can find many of the cards quickly with a prebuilt event deck.
My only issue was, you had many of the cards already (shocks, thoughtseize, and Elspeth) which by no means appear cheap to casual players. At least from my experience. So either way you slice it. Modern is a bit of an expense of a format. There's no way around that.
Although. Still a nice article. And I will indeed give a +1.
Quote from: Destore117 on August 13, 2014, 11:13:06 AM
I like the deck idea, and the fact you can find many of the cards quickly with a prebuilt event deck.
My only issue was, you had many of the cards already (shocks, thoughtseize, and Elspeth) which by no means appear cheap to casual players. At least from my experience. So either way you slice it. Modern is a bit of an expense of a format. There's no way around that.
Although. Still a nice article. And I will indeed give a +1.
There are a lot of great ways to replace these cards by the way. {sorin lord of innistrad} is cheaper then Elsbeth and equally as good or better. And 1 Elsbeth comes with the deck. I've seen people run {mirodin crusaders} or {squadron hawks} instead of thoughtseize for a more aggro take, and sometimes scry lands, or guild gates instead of shocks. The deck does come with 2x city of brass 4x isolated chapel and 4x caves of koilos so mana base can still be great on a budget!