Decklist - Cascade Modern

Arg, I still need to post the weird luck-sacking that was my Game Day. In the meantime, something casual. I've had it around for a long time, but seeing as how it's one of my Planechase decks, and a new Planechase set came out...


Resonance Cascade
---Land (26)---
3 Arcane Sanctum
4 Crumbling Necropolis
2 Gemstone Caverns
4 Jungle Shrine
2 Mirrodin's Core
3 Reflecting Pool
4 Savage Lands
4 Seaside Citadel 

---Creatures (10)---
4 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Enigma Sphinx
3 Enlisted Wurm
2 Mulldrifter

---Instants/Sorceries (22)---
4 Bituminous Blast
4 Blightning
4 Captured Sunlight
3 Deny Reality
4 Esper Charm
1 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Mnemonic Nexus

---Noncreature Permanents (2)---
1 Maelstrom Nexus
1 Obelisk of Alara


General Breakdown:
The deck's goal is to abuse cascade, ultimately ending on discard spells most of the time (88% of the time when cascading from cc4). Later, half of the discard (Esper Charm) spells can switch over to card draw, further increasing the card advantage gap. The other half (Blightning) has a built-in Lava Spike, giving it a long term use and enabling a sense of inevitability.

I won't go into to much detail this time around, but I'll make a few notes still;
 - The few lands that come into play untapped are intended to do so to help get casting earlier. The deck is a slower one otherwise.
 - For the above reason, Captured Sunlight is important.
 - Mnemonic Nexus is a vital provider of recursion. It restocks the dangerous spells while also screwing around with some Modern-archetype strategies.
 - Obelisk of Alara and Maelstrom Nexus are fun little add-ins. One gives me late-game shenanigans, the other makes the deck feel like the Half-Life reference that is the deck title.


Now, the above list is what I consider to be the "competitive version." Blightnings can be hell in multiplayer, and Mnemonic Nexuses turn a neutral game into one that lasts for hours. So here's my quick modifications for multiplayer, namely Planechase:
 - 4 Blightning, -4 Esper Charm, -2 Mnemonic Nexus
 +2 Sprouting Thrinax, +2 Rhox War Monk, +2 Wooly Thoctar, +1 Tamanoa, +1 Knight of New Alara, +2 Primal Command

Decklist - Warp World Modern [GR]

Remember my old Warp World decks? As far as MtG goes, I'll never forget them. Nor forgive myself for missing out on their existence back in Ravnica.

After my old Warp World deck stopped being Standard, it sat around for a few months, slowly losing bits of it in a process that I call cannibalization. As for a current example, MonoPod's fighting a losing battle to stay intact. Before that, I had a Heartless Architect that just last weekend succumbed to complete separation. When the decks down to three major parts (Heartless Summoning, Grand Architect, and Myr Superion), it's time to admit defeat.

Anyway, sometime around a year ago, I got the urge to rebuild the deck for casual play. It looked something akin to this, with the additions of Lotus Cobra, Ob Nixilis, and a solo Emrakul.

And then, in early April, I saw this:

I loooooooooooooooove Lotus Cobra.

How to get one of these promo bad boys? Play in a Grand Prix.

So that's what I want to do.

And that meant turning the deck serious. Because I feel it'd be the most appropriate deck to play for that cobra.


Warp World, Modern [GR]
---Lands (25)---
1 Arid Mesa
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Stomping Grounds
8 Forest
4 Mountain

---Creatures (27)---
4 Joraga Treespeaker
4 Lotus Cobra
2 Wood Elves
4 Overgrown Battlement
4 Primeval Titan
2 Avenger of Zendikar
2 Bogardan Hellkite
2 Eternal Witness
2 Rampaging Baloths
1 Urabrask the Hidden

---Enchantment (4)---
4 Khalni Heart Expedition

---Sorcery (4)---
4 Warp World


General Breakdown:
The deck's goal is to cast Warp World, abusing EtB and landfall to gain an upper hand while decks running less permanents suffer. If Warp World isn't around, ramping into big creatures quickly suffices.

The Land: A bit more complicated this time around. The fetchlands are to take advantage of landfall and to abuse Stomping Ground's Forest/Mountain nature. Wolf Run's placing is pretty straightforward. With the amount of ramp effects in the deck, and my need to draw more, I'm feeling pretty comfortable at 25, though going higher was a possibility for some time.

The Ramp: Joraga Treespeaker, Khalni Heart Expedition, Lotus Cobra, Overgrown Battlement, Primeval Titan, and Wood Elves... quite a few here, eh? It's needed, since eight mana's my goal. And believe me, that's a hard number to race towards. I had to sign a deal with the devil and use the Titans. They lowered my average turn-cast for Warp World from turns 5-6 to turns 4-5. A rather important improvement in a competitive environment. Also, they're the main reason I haven't gone up to 28 lands in the deck.

Eternal Witness: General graveyard recursion as usual, with the major note of bringing Warp World back to hand post-Warp. Combined with enough land, or Lotus Cobra's mana, it can lead to a situation I call "Infinite Warping." Infinite Warping tends to lead to a mix of the following: huge battlefield for me; opponent death-by-Hellkite; and lack of battlefield permanents for others. Nine-out-of-ten Judges recommend opponent's concede when that happens.

The Big Guys: Avenger of Zendikar, Bogardan Hellkite, Primeval Titan, Rampaging Baloths, and Urabrask the Hidden all count here. The Avengers and Baloths love the post-Warp environment, pumping out craploads of token critters. And the Hellkite's make quite an entrance, burning opposing creatures as well as throwing fireballs at heads when I need to end things quickly. Primeval Titan helps fuel the token frenzy in addition to busting out the Wolf Run's for more win conditioning. Lastly is the smaller and solitary Urabrask, enabling a free swing post-Warp, which generally is enough to do the trick.

Warp World: Confuses opponents, hates planeswalkers, ignores Cascade, screws up board states, and is a Sorcery that doesn't play well with other nonpermanents. Almost as effective as throwing a Comprehensive Rules print-out at your opponent.


I don't have a set sideboard for it yet, but it'll come. Most likely after I obtain the three each Stomping Grounds and Titans for the deck. Expect mucho anti-counterspells and an obligatory solo Emrakul, She Who Tears the Aeons.

Casual playtesting has mostly been positive for me. We'll see how it goes after putting it through the minor modern tournament grinder. The big tournament for me is in November, so I've got a little time...

alt by Card Kitty