Since Origins was spoiled I’ve been tuning iGrow, a Delver deck abusing Day’s Undoing to crush the midrange strategies that have historically oppressed my buggy buddy since Abrupt Decay’s printing. It worked, but at the cost of dedicating an entire sideboard to beating the aggressive decks that benefitted from my mainboard set of Undoings. With today’s metagame shifting away from midrange and towards aggro, iGrow looks less appealing, and I’ve begun re-tooling my first Delver brew, Counter-Cat (more on this deck in another article). But this week, something else had my attention.

Monday night, a friend asked to borrow Confidants for a Jund deck he was putting together. As I dug Bob out of my Modern box, I realized how bad a time opponents would have trying to kill him through Disrupting Shoal. Something clicked, and I scribbled down a list that soon evolved into this one:

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Disrupting Shoal: The Reason to Play Grow

I have to stress how integral Disrupting Shoal is to the tempo archetype in Modern, and specifically, to grow decks. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out my four-part series on Modern archetypes.) Grow plays the nastiest threats a format has to offer, ignoring tribal synergies in favor of raw efficiency. Its pilot sticks one or two of these creatures early, and protects them long enough to win, often depleting his cards and life as the game progresses. Ideally, the grow deck beats opponents with all its resources exhausted. For this reason, the player sitting across from a grow deck usually feels like he’s winning until the turn he loses.

Part of what enables grow is efficient countermagic, which Modern lacks. Our catchall answers, Mana Leak and Cryptic Command, boast costs so prohibitive (yes, two mana is prohibitive in this archetype) that grow decks struggle here; we can’t expect something like Young Pyromancer to survive the second turn in a format where half the decks run a set of Lightning Bolt. Tempo decks must then slow down to ensure the safety of their sparse threats, pushing them into midrange territory and eliminating a need for cheap creatures altogether. After all, if we’re waiting until turn four to play a threat, why not just cast Siege Rhino instead of Delver of Secrets?

Disrupting Shoal solves this problem, letting us tap out for Pyromancer and counter Lightning Bolt in the same turn cycle. The two cards we spend net us a boatload of advantage if we consistently untap with cantrips and Mana Leak. Additionally, most opponents won’t have multiple answers in hand, giving us time to draw additional countermagic and to carry the game away on the wings of our fragile, ferocious threat. Years of Jund domination have conditioned Modern players to fear card disadvantage and to shy away from Disrupting Shoal. But free countermagic has always been integral to grow decks, and Shoal shines brighter here than any other permission spell.

These last couple months with iGrow showed me how easy it is to carry a game after protecting a frail threat for that crucial, “open” turn – Shoaling a Bolt aimed at Pyromancer ends things right away in that deck. Saving Delver of Secrets, Tarmogoyf, and Young Pyromancer with Disrupting Shoal may cost us a second card, but saving these threats lets us untap and attack with them . Bob offers something other than damage output for his protection, but the resource he provides has always granted tempo decks many victories regardless: cards.

In “Power Calls: iGrow and Broken Tempo," I wrote about how busted card advantage engines are in tempo decks. Bob might just be a 2/1, but as he draws us into removal, threats, and countermagic, his hits begin to add up, and opponents have difficulty overcoming him.

Just as Legacy players have established a "minimum" of 15 blue cards for Force of Will, I've found that 22 blue cards should be included to take full advantage of Disrupting Shoal in Modern grow decks. We require more than Force of Will does because of Shoal's "CMC" clause, which only allows certain blue cards to pitch successfully. Holding on to blue cards rarely poses an issue with 22 in the deck, since when we're ahead (we often are), we don't mind conserving a Probe or Snag in hand to secure our threat's leading position.

Dark Confidant: The Reason to Play Black in Grow

Grixis Delver: Firmly Midrange

Grixis Delver decks have done well in Modern since Tasigur, the Golden Fang began his reign. I want to specify that these decks are not tempo decks. Grixis Delver is a midrange strategy that usually disrupts opponents before it begins committing threats to the board, explaining cards like Kolaghan's Command and Snapcaster Mage. Tempo decks can't run so many high-curve cards, as they need to land threats early and dedicate the rest of the game to protecting their initial investment.

I’ve heard Grixis Delver players call Delver of Secrets “the worst card in the deck.” To me, that makes perfect sense: why wouldn’t the best tempo threat be the worst card in a midrange deck? Still, these players often defend the deck against my categorization. I’ll argue that if a deck can play a tempo game, it doesn’t necessarily become a tempo deck. Consider Jund: sometimes, this deck casts Goyf, then Abrupt Decay and Thoughtseize, then Liliana of the Veil, then Maelstrom Pulse. And by then, the Goyf has dealt lethal damage. In this instance, Jund committed a threat, then disrupted its opponent. It played a tempo game. But unless a deck utterly dedicates itself to reliably executing this gameplan, it doesn’t qualify as a tempo deck. Most of us can agree that Jund is designed to play in the opposite direction, tearing opponents apart with disruption before cleaning up the mess with a huge Lhurgoyf.

It’s okay that Grixis Delver is a midrange deck. A case can be made in favor of the Grixis Delver deck we’ve seen thus far, and that case relies on midrange’s undeniable strength in Modern. Unfortunately, Grixis Delver’s diluted gameplan does the archetype no favors. When it comes to midrange, I think Abzan (in metagames teeming with fair decks) and Jund (everywhere else) outpace Grixis Delver every time. But either way, I have little interest in the disrupt-then-commit strategy. To me, rewarding games of Magic involve the meticulous resource management only the grow archetype requires of its pilots.

Grixis Grow: Tempo, at Any Cost

To make Grixis Delver a grow deck, we first need to lower its curve. That means we trade clunky three-drops like Kolaghan's Command for grow staples like Disrupting Shoal. Then, we choose to either abuse Delve fatties with Thought Scour, or to find other cheap threats to back our namesake bug. I’ve chosen the latter option, because when it comes to grow in Modern, I don’t see what Grixis offers the archetype that Temur doesn’t. Tasigur and Angler? We have Hooting Mandrills and Tarmogoyf. Sideboard tech? We have Destructive Revelry and Feed the Clan. “Hard” removal? Who needs it? We’re tempo, not midrange! Bounce effects will do just fine, especially when they boast the supreme versatility of Simic Charm.

If the Tasigur/Shoal deck is just a worse Monkey Grow, we need a better reason to play black. Enter Dark Confidant. Like Young Pyromancer and Delver of Secrets, here’s a threat that dies to Lightning Bolt, but wins you the game if he doesn’t. Unfortunately, it’s too risky in a format full of Burn decks to run delve fatties and Dark Confidant. It’s possible that the Grixis grow deck is better with delve guys and no Bob, but in that case, we should just go Temur. Dark Confidant is the only reason to play black in a Modern grow deck.

Analyzing Grixis Grow

Card Choices - Mainboard

Monastery Swiftspear: A one-mana lightning rod to compliment Delver of Secrets. Bob’s cards turn Swiftspear into a quick win condition, but if she eats a Bolt on turn one, she’s more than done her job. She also makes Inquisition of Kozilek and Gitaxian Probe better.

Young Pyromancer: A must-answer two-drop to compliment Dark Confidant. Instead of cards, Pyromancer gives us 1/1s for our trouble, which in a deck with eight highly effective removal spells can end games very rapidly.

Vapor Snag: As mentioned above, bounce spells frequently get the job done in tempo decks. Terminate’s expensive, colorful cost sometimes undermines its strength, and Snag can do a similar job for less. Snag also supports Swiftspear and Pyromancer in ways Terminate can’t, but it's Snag’s blueness that seals its inclusion here.

Mana Leak: Catchall countermagic that follows Disrupting Shoal perfectly, while pitching to the Instant once it’s passed its prime.

Darkslick Shores: The Dimir fastland feels right at home here, cranking out threats, cantrips, counterspells, or discard pain-free in a deck that wants to trade life for cards. The ETB condition is rarely relevant since our curve is so low, but I may want a third red land as I continue testing.

Card Choices - Sideboard

Spellskite: One of the sideboard's key components, Skite shuts down decks like Bogles and Infect while bringing our Burn matchup to favorable. Between the Shoals, the threats, and the Skites, that deck has a hard time overcoming our own aggression. Against other Bolt decks, the artifact Horror does a fantastic job soaking up removal spells aimed at Confidant and Pyromancer.

Inquisition of Kozilek: A card I originally played mainboard, IoK shines turn one, paving the way for Pyromancer or Confidant to take over the game. It works with Shoal to ensure our game-winning threats go untouched, but loses value later on. IoK also syngergizes with Young Pyromancer and Monastery Swiftspear. I moved it to the board to max out on Terminate, but IoK still proves its worth against Bolt-heavy decks and linear aggro strategies like Burn.

Kolaghan's Command: My Affinity hate of choice, since it has other applications against non-Robots aggro decks. Along with Forked Bolt, KC improves this matchup enough that we don't need ultra-specific hosers like Hurkyl's Recall or Shatterstorm.

Remand: Complements Day's Undoing against midrange decks, which this deck has more trouble with on paper than green grow iterations, thanks to the fragility of its threats.

Weaknesses

Red sweepers: No deck is perfect. This one hates Pyroclasm. Midrange Grixis decks and green grow decks run enough beef to ignore the devastating sorcery, but Grixis Grow doesn’t have that luxury. Luckily, Grixis Grow doesn’t struggle with Tron like its midrange cousins, and playing out threats one or two at a time should help immensely with this issue.

Midrange: Grixis Grow can never “go Kolaghan” against BGx. As such, it can struggle in game one against Abzan and Jund. I crafted the deck with this weakness in mind, including a set of Day's Undoing in the sideboard and building the mainboard to facilitate a transformation into iGrow. Undoing single-handedly beats decks shooting to win via incremental advantage, giving Grixis Grow the tools it needs to address midrange matchups.

Strengths

I’ve saved the trickiest section for last. At this time, my testing hasn’t shown me what Grixis Grow does better than my other grow decks. Its advantages over Grixis Delver (the deck with Tasigur and Kolaghan's Command) are obvious, as they mirror the strengths any grow deck has over a midrange deck; conversely, that Grixis Delver deck also outperforms Grixis Grow against decks soft to midrange. Since the two Grixis decks occupy separate archetypical spaces, the real question here is what Grixis Grow gives us over Monkey Grow, iGrow, and Counter-Cat, and with my three days of testing, I don’t yet have an answer.

While it remains to be seen what Grixis Grow has on my other grow decks, I know the great power of grow in Modern, and in every format the archetype is supported. This deck's advantages over Tasigur/Command Grixis Delver (midrange) or Twin (aggro-combo-control) should be obvious to anyone, since Grixis Grow is of a different archetype: grow.

As with most decks, the larger a format's card pool, the more support grow strategies have. But unlike other archetypes, like midrange or aggro (both virtually absent from modern Vintage, for example), grow's competitiveness seems to increase exponentially as support for the archetype improves. That's because grow decks master the resource management at the very heart of Magic. So far, my testing with Grixis Grow suggests its viability. Adding its name to the roster of possible grow decks in Modern is a strength in and of itself, since grow naturally predates so many other Modern archetypes (combo, control, linear anything, and, since the release of Day's Undoing, blue midrange).

Introducing and Analyzing Sultai Grow

Another deck I’ve been messing around with forsakes red entirely. Tarmogoyf gives us some needed bulk, and Simic Charm helps recover the reach that leaves with Lightning Bolt. Charm also improves Disrupting Shoal while supporting our protect-the-queen gameplan, and Abrupt Decay tries to fill Bolt’s shoes as versatile removal.

Card Choices

Pack Rat: No Pyromancer in these colors, but we need another must-answer threat on turn two. With the extra blue from Simic Charm, we can afford a full set of Inquisition of Kozilek, making Pack Rat the perfect candidate for our extra killer. This threat is our funniest, since he basically stops us from playing Magic once he's resolved. After that, we're just playing Pack Rat. Rat gives us a tremendous edge against midrange decks, which is valuable considering we can't run an Undoing plan in the board without Lightning Bolt.

Abrupt Decay: Versatile and powerful. It's no Lightning Bolt, but Decay answers a plethora of random cards like Vedalken Shackles that can otherwise wreck us.

Simic Charm: One of the main reasons to go Sultai. Charm has proven itself in my Monkey Grow builds, and it's no less vicious here, combining with unblocked creatures for reach, saving our beaters from removal as deliberate as Abrupt Decay, and laughing at Wurmcoil Engine and Raging Ravine.

Mana Leak: Simic Charm handles expensive threats, and Decay deals with cheap fatties on the ground, so we don't need the effect as much here as we might in other colors. Still, I like having one copy for opponents to play around, and I love getting to 25 Instants and Sorceries in my Delver decks.

Gitaxian Probe: This card deserves a section here since its applications are less obvious than in Grixis Grow, where it supports Swiftspear and Pyromancer. Besides helping Goyf and Snapcaster, Probe gives us information that allows us to perfectly sequence Simic Charm, Mana Leak, Abrupt Decay, and Disrupting Shoal. It also provides another blue one-drop for Shoal. We run 23 blue cards in this deck, and Snag is too redundant with Charm to merit inclusion. I don't think life loss is a major issue here because Goyf helps out so much against aggressive strategies, so until we see a better option, I'll stick with the Probe.

Weaknesses

No Bolts makes it harder for us to close out games than Grixis Grow, and Pack Rat doesn't do much against certain strategies. An inherently grindy color combination, Sultai Grow has less game against linear combo than the faster red decks. It may not seem like much on paper, but losing Lightning Bolt - especially for a grow deck - hurts like hell. More on Bolt's essential role in this archetype here.

Strengths

A resistance to Pyroclasm is the biggest draw to Sultai colors. Tarmogoyf is the best creature in Modern and has occupied a place of honor in grow decks since his printing. Pack Rat also packs a huge punch against anyone trying to out-grind us (most people), and the Decay/Inquisition suite answers enough random Modern cards to make this deck extremely well-rounded at the cost of the ability to switch gears instantly, formerly granted by Lightning Bolt.

Adam Fronsee and Sultai Monkey Grow

A week after my IQ win, Adam Fronsee reworked my list in a BUG shell and took 12th at a StarCityGames Invitational. While the deck's core obviously "got him there," I don't think this is a viable place for Sultai Grow. Fronsee's deck improves on nearly all fronts with Bolts, and I've already made the case for Mandrills over his black ilk. As stated above, I don't think there's any reason to play grow decks in black besides Dark Confidant, since we have everything else black offers us in Temur colors.

Bob and the Future

I don't know how much I'll test this deck in the coming weeks, since I consider Counter-Cat so well-positioned at the moment. I'm also anxious to get back to my German Wild Nacatls. But for Grixis Delver players proud of their colors but frustrated by the grindiness of their supposed "tempo deck," Grixis Grow seems like a strong starting point.