This deck is a lot of fun for the one piloting it but less so for the one who has to try and stop it. Basically you just have to stay alive long enough and you have the tools to do it with your cheap counter magic and efficient removal, including the very powerful Kozilek’s Return, all of which plays at Instant speed. As long as you’re making your land drops the removal keeps you going long enough to drop down a walker to really get ahead or a Drowner of Hope to put some pressure as well as use the tokens to ramp. Once you have the mana, which can be as early as turn 6, you drop Ulamog and it’s pretty hard to lose from there especially as you get to exile your opponents bests two permanents and clock them with his ability as well as damage. This deck matches up well against the GW/x decks like Tokens or Company and is generally well positioned in the current meta due to the fact that you really don’t care what your opponent is doing, and really you just need to make it to turn 5-6 to snowball advantage.

 

Moving on to Modern…

This Eldrazi deck isn’t strictly a ramp deck, yes you play a bit of ramp to power out your Eldrazi a bit faster BUT you are mostly an aggro deck which better creatures then other aggro decks and for cheaper too! It’s not uncommon to go turn two Thought-Knot Seer followed by a turn three Reality Smasher. That is an insane opening and an absurd clock that few decks can actually race against, not even taking into account the built-in disruption these monsters have! Looking at your opponents hand to exile one of their cards is already a solid ability then put that on a 4/4 body that can come out so quickly and it’s so amazing. The best part is if they kill it they don’t get that card back, yes they get to draw one at random but the card you stole is gone for good. Reality Smasher is a pain to deal with but you must because a 5/5 with haste and trample…well let’s just say it does a very good job of living up to it’s name while dealing with it is difficult at best. One of the cards that doesn’t get enough credit is Matter Reshaper because on defense or offense it’s just good and if the opposition isn’t playing Path then even if they get rid of it you get value. Easily the best card in the deck is Eldrazi Displacer giving your guys evaision, clearing your way for attack, actual removal for tokens, and abusing the hell out of Thought-Knot. He does it all and generally your opponent is going to try everything to get rid of him right away. Other key elements are Ancient Stirrings which hits almost every card in this deck and is arguably as good, if not better, here than it was in Tron and as a former Tron player that is saying something. Cavern of Souls makes control match-ups much easier and leaves them with a bunch of dead cards in hand while Eldrazi Temple itself is a straight-up ramp card. This deck is insane and provides a fast clock while causing some minor disruption all at the same time.

These three powerful eldrazi decks have all been very fun to play and have been giving me amazing results. I will continue to pilot them for the foreseeable future, especially now that I have gotten my two byes from a Grand Prix Trial for a trip to Grand Prix Indianapolis for some Modern where I will hopefully be laying waste to the opposition (see what I did there? wastes?!? ahhh screw you it’s funny!)

Until next time…

Norman Fried
@NormanFried1
normanfried@live.ca

 

Mono-Black devotion is no stranger to the Champion’s Deck and as such hardly needs an explanation. It attacks on two axies  both of which are capable of decisive kills. The ideal opening for the deck comes from turn one Thoughtseize to strip away their answer into turn two Pack Rat which then proceeds to lay down the beats so fast that most opponents need to rely on top decks to stay alive. Alongside the Rat we find a full set of Mutavault which basically act as an anthem for the Pack to gnaw away at the enemies life points, and as a bonus often attack through as well. The other side of the coin has a trio of creatures sliding up the mana curve with Nightveil Specter first as a three drop which contributes all three as devotion and is able to build added value by stealing the opponents options away especially when the Scry and leave the card on top forgetting exactly what Specter will do. Next is huge beater Desecration Demon at four and while it is possible for the opponent to hold him off for a while it is an inevitable conclusion that unless they remove him from the board he will smash in for significant damage. The third creature in at the five drop slot is Gray Merchant of Asphodel that while on the surface not much more then a glorified wall has a very useful draining ability that can be a finishing blow, and as a bonus from Pack Rat its tokens as they are exact copies they add devotion as well. Talking about adding devotion we have Underworld Connections to help draw into more threats and answers along with M15 reprint Sign in Blood, which consequently acts as a Shock to the face to kill your opponent should they be at two life or less. The flipside has a full set of Thoughtseize to strip the opponent of his threats and answers while providing you with information to be sure to have a good defense ready. The remaining spells in the deck form the removal package with a set of  Hero’s Downfall, trio of  Bile Blight, pair of Devour Flesh and a singleton Ultimate Price sure to find answers to many of the problems you’ll find along the way. The other M15 addition to the deck is Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth which pair with Mutavault is able to turn the inherent disadvantage from them in this Black mana hungry deck into a non-factor, but as it is legendary the solo copy is fine basically replacing a Swamp.

Now while I won’t argue that this deck is a strong choice as it has been consistently performing above the curve it is certainly not a deck to plan towards the future with. Unless you are planning to compete in FNMs during the summer or are heading to a WMCQ then I would keep away. Once we reach rotation in a couple of months with Khans of Tarkir a huge chunk of the meat from Mono-Black devotion is going to rotate out. But if you do plan on beating face all summer long then this deck is certainly one that will be consistent, but often time boring and repetitive. If you do take the plunge just understand what you’re getting into.