Hey guys,
The Magic community is in a huge celebration over the new Modern format. Comprised of the cards using the new border introduced in 8th edition onward, Magic gives cards that disappeared prematurely another chance to shine. As you may recall, when Extended was dominated by the Dark Depths/Vampire Hexmage combo, rather than ban the cards vital to the combo, Wizards responded by making all blocks before Time Spiral illegal. Many strategies failed to flourish due to this decision.
Modern gives these decks another chance to shine. While many people have settled on a popular deck in the format such as 12post, Zoo, or Tooth and Nail, I've come up with my own idea as to how to demolish the format. Check out my thoughts on Wildfire.
What's cool about Wildfire is that it functions both as creature destruction and land destruction, providing a double whammy against an opponent. Sure, you'll take some damage too, but you should be better prepared than your opponent for the spell. And while you won't be playing any Burning of Xinye in the Modern format, you can achieve a similar effect with Destructive Force at a slightly higher cost.
I've already covered much of what makes a Wildfire deck in a previous post (Destructive Force Blazing Like Wildfire in Standard), so check that out if you want a technical explanation. Modern provides land recovery through Crucible of Worlds and alternatives to creatures through planeswalkers.
How would a deck with Wildfire look like? As you may recall, there was one famous deck with Magnivore that could lock out an opponent -- T2 Boomerang, T3 Stone Rain, T4 Annex, T5 Dream Leash, etc. with Wildfire as backup. You can try something like that, but keep in mind it plays its cards in a specific order, making it hard to be successful since it needs the right card at the right time.
The version I settled on runs more like the Legacy Stax decks, using cards that hurt the opponent when he has little mana after an Armageddon. Here's what I decided to use as a beginning build:
Wildfire In Modern, version 1
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Here are some cards that could've fit but didn't:
- Magus of the Tabernacle This card would be good except that there's no way to protect him from removal. Both Path to Exile and Temporal Isolation make his 6 defense useless, with the former making his upkeep ability nonexistent. He would be good against aggro, but against removal he just gives the aggro player a free turn of tempo.
- World Queller I was seriously considering World Queller since the mainboard lacked a way of removing noncreature, nonland permanents. In the end, Shivan Wumpus won just for being able to end the game in less turns.
Here are some cards I would recommend for the sideboard:
- Sowing Salt For 12post. 12post needs the first few turns to set up its ramp, so if you can knock out a component with the salt, the 12post deck will be much smaller and many of the expensive cards will be dead in hand. Wildfire is just insurance.
- Leyline of Sanctity For discard/burn. Wildfire is like a pseudocombo deck in that you need cards at the right time in the right order. Leyline of Sanctity provides some protection from disruption.
The format is still young with its official release on MTGO just happening today. While many players believe that there is a set metagame, many of the primary decks are just spinoffs of previous, established decks. There's plenty of design space left in format and I've got my machine ready to brew up some decks.
With that said, I'd like to hear your feedback. Do you think Wildfire has a shot in the format? Can it topple 12post and blaze through Zoo? Either drop a comment below or message me on Twitter @shadowsketched.
~sketch
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