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September ’20 Brew Report, Pt. 2: Hard Landings

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The second half of September 2020 brought us swaths of new decks, as Zendikar Rising did more than its fair share in shaking up the Modern metagame. Today, we'll explore new combo options and view the myriad directions ramp strategies are starting to take.

Kombo Krazy

We'll start with Belcher, a deck that recently received an exposé here at Modern Nexus. David found that while the combo itself was broken on multiple metrics, its inherent unfairness didn't necessarily mean it would come to dominate Modern. Indeed, Belcher achieved modest success this month. But any measure of success should count as a victory for the die-hards who have fruitlessly slaved away at making the deck tick for close to a decade. With the new spell-lands, the deck is at least good enough to place in high-level online events in its opening weeks, which bodes well for Goblin Charbelcher's big fans!

Pure Belcher, SEBASTIANSTUECKL (24th, Challenge #12208833)

Creatures

4 Simian Spirit Guide

Artifacts

4 Goblin Charbelcher

Enchantments

3 Vessel of Volatility

Instants

4 Desperate Ritual
4 Manamorphose
4 Pyretic Ritual
4 Spikefield Hazard
4 Valakut Awakening
4 Veil of Summer

Sorceries

4 Bala Ged Recovery
4 Emeria's Call
4 Irencrag Feat
4 Recross the Paths
1 Reforge the Soul
4 Shatterskull Smashing
4 Turntimber Symbiosis

Sideboard

3 Blood Moon
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Goblin Bushwhacker
4 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Mountain
3 Pyroclasm
2 Wilt

This Pure Belcher deck is simple enough: it seeks to make enough mana to cast and activate Goblin Charbelcher, which ends the game. It runs Leyline of Sanctity in the sideboard as protection from targeted discard, a full set of Veil of Summer in the mainboard to hedge against such disruption in game 1. Veil also beats pesky counterspells, allowing pilots to force through their rituals and payoff spells.

Also featured in the sideboard is Blood Moon, a card that, combined with a turn two ritual, can also end games early. Resolving Moon can give pilots enough time to assemble their Belcher combo the hard way (re: through Damping Sphere), or otherwise assemble an alternate win condition like Empty the Warrens with Goblin Bushwhacker.

Some players liked Moon's prison dimension enough to back it up with Chalice of the Void... and mix all of those elements into the mainboard, giving Belcher a two-pronged attack as of the beginning of a match.

Prison Belcher, SKK (9th, Champs #12208810)

Creatures

3 Tangled Florahedron
4 Simian Spirit Guide

Artifacts

4 Chalice of the Void
4 Goblin Charbelcher

Enchantments

4 Blood Moon

Instants

4 Desperate Ritual
4 Manamorphose
4 Pyretic Ritual
4 Spikefield Hazard
4 Valakut Awakening

Sorceries

4 Bala Ged Recovery
4 Irencrag Feat
4 Recross the Paths
1 Reforge the Soul
4 Shatterskull Smashing
4 Turntimber Symbiosis

Sideboard

1 Collected Company
3 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Lightning Bolt
1 Thassa's Oracle
1 Undercity Informer
4 Veil of Summer
2 Wilt

Running Chalice main in Prison Belcher shifts the deck's makeup a bit. Most notably, Veil of Summer has been relegated to sideboard duties. Veil happens to be dead against the aggro strategies that both decimate combo traditionally and struggle to beat Chalice of the Void, especially Infect and Prowess, so perhaps this build is better suited to combat Belcher's strategic predators.

Mill, D00MWAKE (10th, Champs #12208810)

Creatures

4 Hedron Crab
4 Ruin Crab

Artifacts

4 Mesmeric Orb

Enchantments

1 Search for Azcanta

Instants

4 Archive Trap
1 Cling to Dust
4 Drown in the Loch
4 Fatal Push
1 Mission Briefing
4 Surgical Extraction
4 Visions of Beyond

Sorceries

4 Maddening Cacophony

Lands

2 Darkslick Shores
4 Field of Ruin
3 Island
1 Mystic Sanctuary
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
4 Polluted Delta
2 Prismatic Vista
1 Shelldock Isle
2 Swamp
1 Watery Grave

Sideboard

1 Lurrus of the Dream-Den
3 Aether Gust
2 Crypt Incursion
2 Echoing Truth
2 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Extirpate
2 Mystical Dispute
1 Set Adrift

We saw this one coming, too, as Mill was putting up light results even before Ruin Crab was released. Now, though, the deck has undergone some significant changes: gone are clunky once-staples like Glimpse the Unthinkable. Doubling up on the deck's best card lets Mill streamline its strategy like never before, and it'll be interesting to see if tech like Emrakul, the Aeons Torn starts cropping up should Mill sustain its online presence in the coming weeks.

Land Drop & Give Me 50

Belcher doesn't play any "lands," in a sense; to trigger Archive Trap, Mill forces opponents to search up their basics. And on the complete other side of the spectrum lies Ramp, a macro-archetype mostly concerned with making as many land drops as possible. September brought new developments on this front, too, one that had long stagnated around Ponza and Tron.

Uro Gifts, ASPIRINGSPIKE (29th, Modern Challenge #12203374)

Creatures

1 Snapcaster Mage
3 Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath

Instants

3 Abrupt Decay
1 Assassin's Trophy
1 Cryptic Command
4 Fatal Push
3 Force of Negation
4 Gifts Ungiven
4 Growth Spiral
3 Remand

Sorceries

1 Damnation
1 Hour of Promise
1 Life from the Loam
1 Splendid Reclamation
1 Time Warp

Lands

1 Breeding Pool
2 Field of the Dead
1 Forest
1 Ghost Quarter
2 Island
1 Lonely Sandbar
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Mystic Sanctuary
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1 Overgrown Tomb
4 Polluted Delta
1 Prismatic Vista
1 Snow-Covered Forest
2 Snow-Covered Island
1 Sunken Hollow
1 Swamp
1 Watery Grave
1 Zagoth Triome

Sideboard

4 Aether Gust
1 Arasta of the Endless Web
3 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Elder Gargaroth
1 Plague Engineer
1 Pulse of Murasa
1 Raven's Crime
2 Veil of Summer
1 Weather the Storm

While Uro decks haven't been tremendously popular as of late, Uro Gifts takes the Titan in a whole new direction. Employing Gifts Ungiven over Fact or Fiction (a common include among Wilderness Reclamation-featuring Uro decks) as an instant-speed card advantage engine lets Uro more selectively dump its escaper, and also sets up the Life from the Loam engine.

The sideboard can also be twisted to get the most out of Gifts, with different packages earning includes alongside the now-requisite full set of Aether Gust.

Omnath Ramp, MCWINSAUCE (6th, Challenge #12208833)

Creatures

4 Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath
3 Omnath, Locus of Creation

Planeswalkers

2 Teferi, Time Raveler
3 Wrenn and Six

Instants

1 Aether Gust
2 Cryptic Command
3 Force of Negation
2 Growth Spiral
1 Lightning Bolt
2 Mana Leak
4 Path to Exile
1 Remand
1 Spell Snare

Sorceries

2 Hour of Promise
1 Sea Gate Restoration

Lands

1 Breeding Pool
2 Field of Ruin
2 Field of the Dead
3 Flooded Strand
1 Forest
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Island
1 Ketria Triome
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Mystic Sanctuary
1 Raugrin Triome
3 Scalding Tarn
1 Snow-Covered Forest
1 Snow-Covered Island
1 Snow-Covered Mountain
1 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Steam Vents
1 Temple Garden

Sideboard

2 Aether Gust
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Celestial Purge
3 Cleansing Wildfire
1 Dispel
1 Elder Gargaroth
1 Firespout
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Mystical Dispute
1 Stony Silence
1 Timely Reinforcements
1 Veil of Summer

Modern, meet Omnath Ramp, the deck that's been terrorizing Standard and just got Uro banned in that format. Omnath put multiple copies into that same Challenge Top 8, and has also been spotted this month placing in Champs and Preliminaries alike. So, what's up with this Elemental? Let's break down its heavy card text and find out!

When Omnath, Locus of Creation enters the battlefield, draw a card.

We're already off to a pretty good start; this line of text turned Uro into a format-definer, after all. Four mana isn't so steep in a ramp deck, and locking in self-replacement isn't bad at all for a 4/4 at this rate. Think: Thought-Knot Seer!

Landfall — Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you gain 4 life if this is the first time this ability has resolved this turn.

Now, think: Thragtusk! One mana less for one life less seems like a great trade to me. Or even... Siege Rhino? 4 is less than 6 (Rhino's total swing), but there's more to the story....

If it's the second time, add RGWU.

Triggering two land drops in a turn ain't tough in Modern. Just play and crack a fetchland, and voila! To immediately be rewarded with Omnath's entire casting cost for doing so is a bit ridiculous—that's the payoff of two active Lotus Cobras. And it's not like this deck lacks for things to do with all that mana; it's got walkers, interaction, and more. Still, it's a shame RGWU doesn't cleanly cast Cryptic Command or escape Uro.

If it's the third time, Omnath deals 4 damage to each opponent and each planeswalker you don't control.

Siege Rhino, we meet again! Fulfilling this condition is simpler than first appears. Since the first two drops are fulfilled by playing and cracking a fetch, all that's needed for the third is an Uro escape, Growth Spiral resolution, or Field of Ruin activation. 8-point swings, here we come!

Clearly, Omnath provides Ramp decks with enough juice to stick around awhile, especially backed up by the omnipotent Uro. Will Confounding Conundrum manage to suppress this deck in the coming weeks? For that to happen, after all, players have to actually run it!

Borderpost Mastery, ARTEM_KUHTIN (16th, Challenge #12208833)

Creatures

4 Weathered Wayfarer
4 Auriok Champion
2 Daxos, Blessed by the Sun
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
4 Heliod, Sun-Crowned
4 Knight of the White Orchid
4 Walking Ballista

Artifacts

4 Fieldmist Borderpost
3 Wildfield Borderpost

Enchantments

4 Leyline of Sanctity
4 Mastery of the Unseen
3 Runed Halo

Lands

4 Ghost Quarter
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
11 Snow-Covered Plains

Sideboard

1 Runed Halo
1 Aven Mindcensor
4 Leonin Arbiter
2 Leonin Relic-Warder
2 On Thin Ice
3 Rest in Peace
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Winds of Abandon

Last up today is this beautiful disaster. Players using the Borderposts to bounce their own lands have historically favored game-ending power-plays to break symmetry, such as Restore Balance. We've also seen the curious artifacts support blue-pitching spells like Disrupting Shoal and bolster blue devotion strategies. But now, we have something totally novel.

In Borderpost Mastery, the Borderposts serve to reduce the number of lands pilots have in play without restricting their mana production capabilities. That way, they can extract maximum value from Knight of the White Orchid (a ramping weenie) and Weathered Wayfarer (a land-searching engine-in-a-can). The 1/1 can grab Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx if it hasn't been drawn already, letting the deck make tons of mana with few lands in play. Otherwise, there's nothing like searching up multiple copies of Ghost Quarter and running opponents out of basics—who needs Leonin Arbiter?

Rounding things out are Auriok Champion and Daxos, Blessed by the Sun to hose aggro, Walking Ballista to decimate creature-combo strategies, and Leyline of Sanctity to beat random combo decks and prevent engines from suffering the wrath of Thoughtseize. And oh yeah, some two-mana enchantments: Runed Halo, a pseudo-removal spell which certain decks simply don't beat, and Mastery of the Unseen, a head-scratching value engine I never thought would see the light of Modern day.

In short, there's a lot to love here for novelty fanatics; I'd be elated if this deck, or a twist on it, caught on in the format!

Land Ho!

September was a wild month for land-hates and land-lubbers alike. As such, I might've skipped over a couple more post-Rising gems. Do you have a favorite new brew from this new Modern that I've missed? Let's pay the deck its due in the comments!

5 thoughts on “September ’20 Brew Report, Pt. 2: Hard Landings

  1. I played the mono-W devotion list a while back before the Heliod combo existed, and it was definitely a cool deck to play. The one card that that version ran that this one doesn’t (and I would recommend anyone trying our this deck to consider), is Thalia’s Lancers. You can run 2-3 copies of it, and it can tutor up Nykthos, Heliod, or any other legendary one-ofs you decide to run. If I recall correctly, my old list had an Elesh Norn, an Elspeth Sun’s Champion, a Karn Liberated, etc.

  2. I feel like I’ve pretty much played every weird modern deck at one point or another. I even played (mostly) mono-white Charbelcher a couple years ago to some decent success (using Endless Horizons to pull all the lands out of the deck). Let me tell you, that was one of the most fun decks I’ve ever played, because sometimes you ended up with a Charbelcher in play, but still had a bunch of lands in play, so you’re just aiming Charbelcher at your opponents creatures to stay alive and knocking the top of your deck and hoping you flip enough cards to kill them

  3. I’m sure I will sometime soon. I will say though, the one thing I learned with that deck is that if you can build a Mana base with nothing but plains-typed lands (easier than ever with shocks, battle lands, dual cyclers, and triomes, that wants to play a longer game, Endless Horizons is sweet. 4 Mana to guarantee you hit every land drop for the rest of the game AND every draw step will be a spell AND since Irrigated Farmland/etc have cycling, you can even spend two Mana to cash that land in for another spell if you don’t need more Mana. I won so many games against jund-style decks with the deck specifically because as the game grinds longer in the midrange mirror, they are still drawing lands se portion of the time, whereas I’m drawing not necessarily gas, but at least I’m drawing spells every turn. I don’t know that W/x Endless Horizons is going to set the format ablaze anytime soon, but it is a really really fun and cool card to play with if you ever get the opportunity.

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