Didn’t realize you can’t edit your comments here. Just wanted to add that condemn might not be the right card for the suggested MD slot, I feel there ought to exist better options for this deck other than Serum Visions though.

Trevor I appreciate the reply, and I actually think the deck is very well configured to both complement Spell Quellers weaknesses with some early cheap counters/wall of omens/removal and then take advantage of it’s strength once in the midrange portion of the game.

Might I ask why you have included 3 Serum Visions? Is it solely to have other turn 1 plays other than vials and path? I feel like you should be favoured in most grindy matches but will be struggling mostly against linear decks in suicide zoo / affinity / infect / elves / and the like, so have you considered maindecking for example a number of condemn’s for the early interaction freeing up a SB slot or 2, possibly going up to 2 Engineered Explosives SB?

Curtis,

Glad to hear you did well with the deck! Infect does seem like an area where we can use a bit more help, I’ve been considering splashing black to cast EE for three and doing so would give us access to Lingering Souls/discard if we desired. I don’t think I’m there yet, as the matchup can be winnable without adding the third color, but I am keeping it in mind.

Keep testing and let me know how you do!

Trevor

Ricardo,

I can agree with you that against Suicide Zoo and Infect Spell Queller isn’t the best, but I have to disagree in how it plays against Burn and Jund. Most of my article contained Jund references and stats to my performance in that matchup, so I won’t really talk about that more other than saying so far, my Jund matchup feels awesome and the results back it up.

I also talked about Burn, and what Spell Queller does to that matchup. Sure, sometimes they blow right through us, but in my experience stabilizing at around 5 life with a Spell Queller in hand is much “safer” than with any other archetype. Putting them on three spells (one the Queller eats, one to kill the Queller and release it, and another to kill) is often game over if we have any amount of pressure. Kitchen Finks and Ojutai’s Command help us to “trade” with our opponent’s cards and get us to that point where they are topdecking and we still have life left to play with.

Thanks for the comments!
Trevor

Mikefon,

Cryptic Command is definitely the more abstractly powerful card, but there are a few reasons why I like Ojutai’s better here (though keep in mind that it is probably the weakest card in the deck and on the chopping block).

Against decks interested in attacking (read: most) returning a Wall of Omens after they’ve killed it and started hitting finally can set them back even further, and gives us more than just the “draw a card” value that Cryptic Command can. Getting our wall back so we can continue to block and blink it adds up to more than a card and some amount of life over the course of a game.

Access to four life at instant speed can really make racing math hard for our opponent and get us out of tight situations, and we often end up in racing situations because our opponent can’t interact with our fliers. Also, when it’s “dead” we can grab a Wall of Omens and cycle for two cards, which Cryptic cannot do.

Finally, triple blue is not “hard” in the sense that we are a two color deck, but without it in our list I’m able to prioritize white and fetch basic plains without any fear of cards getting stranded in hand. Minor, but a real point still.

Thanks,
Trevor

Leander,

Anthems (in my opinion) fall under the category of synergistic cards that are bad are on their own. The list is tight as is, and I would much rather have a two drop like Thalia or more three drops/interaction than something that only helps my favorable board position already.

Thanks,
Trevor

Jacob,

Maybe I should have titled the article instead “3000 words on a deck I brewed a week ago that I’ve done pretty well with”

I understand your point, but I can’t help but throw a little Kappa in there. There’s a fine line between an interest-generating title and clickbait, and I don’t think we’ve crossed that. Wafo has indeed been crushing online with Esper, Dredge has more than proved it’s a major player in Modern, and based on my (given, limited) experience with this deck I believe there is something here that will stick around for a long time. Such is the way of discovering new technology, nobody questions articles titled “The Bant Company Menace” because it’s proven itself for weeks.

Thanks for the feedback!
Trevor

Roland,

A lot of people have been suggesting Reflector Mage, and it’s possible I might add it. I haven’t often felt the need to bounce a creature, not when Wall of Omens is on the field, and the three slot is a little crowded with Displacer/Finks/Clique all vying for the “third spot”.

It’s possible the counters get moved around to fit some more creatures in the maindeck, and in that case I’ll definitely be looking at Mage more closely.

Thanks!
Trevor

Patrick,

You make good points, and I should have elaborated on my process in filteringremoval spells that hit Queller. For example, in Tron I chose not to inlcude Karn/Ugin/Ulamog, since we’re usually losing if they’re casting those spells anyways. I’m not familiar with the Dredge matchup, but I can’t imagine them often investing a Conflagrate into killing a Spell Queller which is usually only holding a Faithless Looting, as they don’t even cast many spells in that matchup besides Looting and Life from the Loam anyways.

A couple of the others are misses though, it’s not fair to say Ad Nauseam and Living End have “0” when they definitely don’t. Thanks for keeping me honest!

Trevor

I was the guy on your stream taking the deck to the local modern tournament that evening. Ended up going 3-1 eating a loss to Affinity, which does not feel like the best match.

We came to the same conclusion about Displacer. Card was not only good but shut down things like etched champion hard.

Infect was also not great on thier decent draw, though manged to scrape out two games on the back of thier bad ones.

I’m on the fence about the Vials and the Wisps (mostly because without Vial the card is pretty mediocre). I was also running Cryptic over Command, as an old Eternal Command player it’s hard to see Vial and Snapcaster and not jam Cryptic into the deck.

Either way, this is a solid backbone and I agree, Queller is the real deal.

The mention of Ancestral Vision next to Snapcaster was just supposed to explain how both generate card advantage independently. The text has been updated to clarify that.

The mention of Ancestral Vision next to Snapcaster was just supposed to explain how both generate card advantage independently. The text has been updated to clarify that.

Tron does not really care about Queller except for O-Stone, and they have 0-4 ways of killing him? More like 9-12+ ways in Karn, Ulamog, Ugin, O-Stone, Bolt or Firespout, not to mention that half of those can’t be exiled.

Jund has a ton of removal to handle Queller, and if in the example provided, the opponent has abrupt decay instead of terminate, then the dispel in your hand will not save you. I don’t think a 3 drop counter can be reliably good here when he dies to any of the million 1-3 drop removal spells they run.

And the other Jund example provided was a bit off, if you Flickerwisp the Spell Queller targetted by terminate then the terminate will fizzle instead of getting exiled. You basically wasted a Flickerwisp if you then proceed to exile the LOtV with another Spell Queller, instead of just exiling Terminate right off the bat.

Oh and Ancestral Vision can’t be Snapcastered, that would be OP ^^;

The wafo-tapa deck certainly does not have the metagame percentages, but Guillame wafo-tapa is a hall of fame player, known for developing very powerful draw-go archetypes in unknown formats. He has posted 8 5-0 performances with very little variation in lists (usually only a few slots in the mainboard from league to league) in the last 35 days. Not every 5-0 finish is posted, so to have eight reported 5-0 finishes (basically one every four days) indicates that he is likely actually tearing through the field. This is notable the same way that frank karsten performing well with affinity in a metagame mostly hostile to it, or John Finkel piloting storm in modern is notable–surprising in that the deck isn’t necessarily well positioned or inherently strong, but the pilot is extremely skilled. What makes this notable is that two OTHER players have posted 5-0 finishes in the last week or two using almost identical lists. This in and of itself is enough to show that the deck is in fact actually a viable contender.

Dredge and Draw-go control are also worth talking about just from the fact that, as archetypes, they are previously unrepresented in the competitive tiers of modern, but have a strong competitive history in previous “large” formats (dredge in legacy, draw-go in old extended)–they can indicate modern trending (slowly) towards a more stable equilibrium state similar to legacy, with multiple archetypes represented in a checks-and-balances type of arrangement, even if color diversity is nonexistent or very skewed.

I admit we probably came on a little too strong in those articles. I’m still getting a sense as the editor of what tone to strike and when to pare back the authors’ claims, and your feedback helps.

As for Dredge, the data pretty clearly show an ascendant archetype. If MTGO data is mirrored in paper it will be Tier 1 next month. That said, I definitely don’t think it’s the “only” deck or “broken” or something, which was hopefully reflected in my discussion.

BTW.: Ancestral Vision can’t be snap’ed.