Hello and welcome to another edition of Making It In Modern! Core Set 19 was released over a month ago, and we have seen it shake up the Standard landscape a bit. I’ve been told that Vinemare has been a pretty good addition to the Mono Green Stompy decks from Dominaria Standard. Who would have thought that a 5/3 Hexproof creature that can’t be blocked by black creatures would see play in a stompy list? Of course, this is pure sarcasm, but there have been some interesting cards from the set seeing play in non Standard formats, as well. In this article, I am going to examine four cards that have been seeing decent play in Modern.
Before I get into the list, I want to preface that I will not be mentioning any of the hate/hoser cards printed such as Alpine Moon. Some of this cycle of cards will obviously see play in sideboards, because that is what it seems they were designed for. The four cards that I will be mentioning have been included in decks with varying forms of success from 5-0s in MTGO Competitive Leagues to actual large paper event Top 8s. This list is in no particular order, as well. Let’s get to it!
SCG Modern Classic Philadelphia 4th Place Humans – Charlotte Lewis
Creatures
3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4x Mantis Rider
Spells
4x Aether Vial
Lands
1x Island
1x Plains
Sideboard
2x Gut Shot
2x Gaddock Teeg
In one of the best decks in the format, Militia Bugler fixes a small card advantage issue that the deck previously had. The ability to look at the top four cards, and then putting a creature card that costs two mana or less into your hand allows you to refuel if you are low on action or push the rest of the way to seal a victory. Being in a deck that has a total of 29 creatures it can hit with its ability means it is very unlikely to whiff. The fact that it is a human itself, gives it awesome synergy with cards like Champion of the Parish and Thalia’s Lieutenant. Militia Bugler isn’t painted into the Human’s corner exclusively, however. The card has been inserted into Counters Company decks, as well, as the bugler can get any of the three pieces needed to combo off in Devoted Druid, Vizier of Remedies, or Duskwatch Recruiter. Militia Bugler honestly is a very good fit in any lower curve centered creature decks that play white cards.
SCG Team Open Worcester 4th Place Bant Spirits – Zan Syed
Creatures
4x Rattlechains
Spells
Lands
1x Forest
1x Island
1x Plains
Sideboard
2x Unified Will
2x Worship
Coming right out of spoiler season, Supreme Phantom was my favorite card printed in the set. In previous articles, I have written about the card when I predicted what would happen to the tribe with its printing. I figured Supreme Phantom would give Spirits a boost in power level, and it has arguably put the deck in the top-tier of the format. Supreme Phantom gives the various spirit decks redundant Lords already having access to Drogskol Captain in the deck prior to the phantom’s printing. In Zan Syed’s build above, you have access to eight to ten lords, depending on what you do with your Phantasmal Images. Of course, Supreme Phantom is limited to spirit tribal decks, but its ability to give other spirits +1/+1 is imperative. Supreme Phantom overall buffs an already disruptive and versatile creature base with a lot of evasion, making it a great selection to take to an event in this non interactive meta.
MTGO Competitive Modern Constructed League 5-0 7/20/18 Bridgevine – Nublkau
Creatures
4x Bloodghast
4x Gravecrawler
4x Vengevine
Spells
3x Corpse Churn
Lands
2x Blood Crypt
1x Marsh Flats
1x Mountain
1x Swamp
Sideboard
2x Ingot Chewer
2x Thoughtseize
In my last article, I examined what decks could benefit from the printing of Stitcher’s Supplier and this was one of the lists that I looked at. To summarize what Stitcher’s Supplier does for Modern decks, it fills the graveyard with cards that are advantageous when they are in the graveyard. Stitcher’s Supplier helps to enable some ridiculously fast lines of play in this Bridgevine list that wants to have as many Vengevines and Bridge from Belows in the graveyard as soon as possible. Bringevine prefers to execute its game plan from the graveyard of casting cheap creatures and having them die to flood the board with zombie tokens and Vengevines. The reason that I wanted to include Stitcher’s Supplier again is because it has been consistently showing up in 5-0 lists on MTGO. It has even showed up in a Legacy deck in the 5-0 brackets on MTGO! It is looking more and more like Bridgevine may be a real deck and Stitcher’s Supplier may have been the missing piece the deck needed.
SCG Modern Classic Philadelphia 1st Place Skred Dragons- Ozzy Kelly
Creatures
4x Glorybringer
Planeswalkers
Spells
4x Skred
4x Blood Moon
2x Ratchet Bomb
Lands
21x Mountain
Sideboard
1x Alpine Moon
1x Ratchet Bomb
3x Molten Rain
1x Batterskull
I will be the first to admit, if you told me a month ago I would have Sarkhan, Fireblood in an article of cards from M19 that made it in Modern, I would have laughed at you. Yet, here we are, after Sarkhan, Fireblood was a four-of in a deck that took down an SCG Modern Classic. The one thing that tripped me up when evaluating Sarkhan, is that I saw it only fitting in a dragon tribal deck which did not exist in the format. Sarkhan, Fireblood is able to enable a dragon theme with its abilities, however. The dragons in this deck are actually fairly good in the meta currently, being able to go over most creature decks and interacting with them earlier than usual with Sarkhan’s mana ability. Jamming a bunch of interactive dragons in an already interactive deck in Skred, you have a deck that can attack with this very creature centric meta in Modern. As well as, Sarkhan, Fireblood also recently showed up in the MTGO 5-0s in a Free Win Red build with dragons. Leave it to Skred and prison decks to make a sleeper red Planeswalker look like a multi-format all-star.
Wrap Up
That’s all that I have to say today in this Making It In Modern article. What do you think of these four cards? Do you think any other M19 cards will make appearances in Modern in the near future with decent results? Let me know what you think by commenting below or giving me a follow on Twitter @T2TKS! Also, don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @MTGDeckTechs and give us a like on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MTGDeckTechs/. We are now affiliates of Inked Gaming! By using promo code TECHS10 at checkout, you will save 10% on your purchase of sweet gaming accessories at inkedgaming.com! I hope you enjoyed this article, and I will talk to you all next week!
