Faithless Brewing MTG: Modern and Pioneer for the Spike Rogue

Season 19, Episode 6: Brew Session (Blossoming Tortoise) + Flashback (Spiteful Hexmage)

Yertle the Turtle was king of them all. Yertle the Turtle had a great fall. But while he was down there, he also milled a few helpful lands, and set up a game-winning infinite combo.

David’s favorite card from Wilds of Eldraine takes center stage in our final brew session of Season 19. Blossoming Tortoise boasts the all-powerful Titan clause, combining card advantage and ramp every time it attacks. What’s more, the built-in selection from the self-mill finds specialty lands like Mutavault and Lavaclaw Reaches that combine with Tortoise’s cost reduction for infinite activations. Is that enough to secure the win? That’s the question on our minds as we explore a half dozen ways to unlock Turtle Power in Pioneer and Modern.

Intro: Yertle the Turtle, by Dr. Seuss

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Decklists for this episode can be viewed at FaithlessBrewing.com

Season 19, Episode 5: Brew Session (Spiteful Hexmage) + Flashback (Agatha’s Soul Cauldron)

Is there anything more beautiful than a game object? Rectangle theory is back in full force this week with our favorite 1 drop from Wilds of Eldraine. Spiteful Hexmage is a beautiful puzzle, offering two fresh permanents on an above-rate creature at the cheapest possible price. The only catch? One of them is a Cursed Role, which is ostensibly a drawback.

The brewer’s gears are turning this week as we seek to turn a liability into an advantage, cashing in our Cursed Role for fun and profit and unlocking a black Wild Nacatl in the process. The possibilities are endless: we can enchantments-matter or auras-matter effects to gain advantage, or sacrifice the token to pay a cost, or even straight-up replace the token with a different Role. We can count the game objects, using Spiteful Hexmage to power Celebration or Regal Bunnicorn. We can “hide” the Cursed Role on a 1/1 creature, or even use it to upgrade a 0/0 creature. We can even find creatures that benefit from being shrunk into 1/1s! (Hello, Tree of Perdition.)

David is brewing up a storm in Pioneer and he’s already snagged his first 5-0 trophy with Spiteful Hexmage (which, incidentally, was also the first recorded 5-0 trophy with Setessan Champion since the Trump administration). Are there more to come? Let’s find out!

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Decklists for this episode can be viewed at FaithlessBrewing.com

Season 19, Episode 3: Weekly Roundup (Wilds of Eldraine Week 1) + Brew Session (Beseech the Mirror)

The first week of results with Wilds of Eldraine is in the books. In Modern, Hot Ring Summer is drawing to a close, and players now clambering Up the Beanstalk to unlock endless value. Meanwhile, strange things are brewing in Agatha’s Soul Cauldron, with multiple known archetypes already picking up the artifact successfully, and dozens of more suspicious combos bubbling up besides. In Pioneer, Sleight of Hand is making early moves, and there’s so much left to explore.

What does all this mean for the early darling of preview season, Beseech the Mirror? The card is certainly powerful, as first week wins in Legacy and even Vintage can attest. But making this cheaper Bring to Light variant work in smaller formats is a trickier task. David has some ideas in Pioneer (hint: they involve Demonic Pact), while Modern players have taken a more brute force approach in decks like Oops All Spells. Cavedan and Lawson put their heads together to review eight new homes for Beseech the Mirror, to separate the truth from the hype. Is Beseech going to be a $75 dollar flop, or will we get more than we bargained for?

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Decklists for this episode can be viewed at FaithlessBrewing.com

Decklists

Agatha Yawgmoth by claudioh

Yawg Cauldron by CalebD

Hardened Scales by MentalMisstep

Heliod Life Combo by LFC

David’s Yorion Beseechiok Pact Combo

David’s Yorion Fires Beseech Pact Foretold

David’s Turbo Demonic Pact

Oops All Spells by Ashanti

Mono Black Coffers by IlGianB

Dimir Hatching Plans by Dack_Fayden07

As Foretold Waste Not by DylanMTG

Living End Reanimator by NinjaTheNick

Red Burn-finity by CrusherBotBG

Magda Changelings by toaohuntmaster

Season 19, Episode 2: Wilds of Eldraine Full Set Review, Part 2 of 2

Cavedan and David go hog wild in a 3-hour finale to our Full Set Review. Wilds of Eldraine is practically Pioneer Masters, but it has great new cards for Modern as well.

Beseech the Mirror has players dreaming of combos as far back as Legacy, and Up the Beanstalk is a dark horse contender for a Modern format full of free Elementals and cost reduction effects.

In Pioneer, David has his eye on Yurtle the Turtle (Blossoming Tortoise), while Dan is salivating over the second coming of Witching Well and Bedlam Reveler (Candy Trail and Hearth Elemental). For fans of smashing face, two new Otters juice up the Prowess archetype, while Goddric might just be the curve topper that red aggro has been waiting for.

Young heroes, wicked combos, and tasty gingerbread snacks await as we complete our 5-hour review of every card that’s fit to brew in Modern and Pioneer.

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Decklists for this episode can be viewed at FaithlessBrewing.com

Season 19, Episode 1: Brewer’s Guide to Wilds of Eldraine

Once upon a time, Eldraine ruled the multiverse. An innocuous plane of fairy tales and enchantment quickly broke every format in Magic, thanks to brutally efficient cost reduction spells, pushed standalone threats (hello, Oko), and Adventures that allowed us to squeeze more out of a single piece of cardboard than ever before.

Wilds of Eldraine has a tough act to follow, but Wizards seems to have swung for the fences. Not only are Adventures back for seconds, but they are cheaper, free-r, and more colorful than ever before. On top of that, the innovative Role mechanic (and its counterpart, Bargain) has led to a set absolutely stuffed to the brim with 1 and 2 mana plays. These cards are meant to see play, and that means the rate is pushed across the board. It seems like every single 1 drop is “best in class” compared to the 30 years of Magic that came before.

Cavedan and Lawson kick off the new season of Faithless Brewing with a long look at the best Modern and Pioneer cards from Wilds of Eldraine. The bar is high in non-rotating formats, but when you fill a set with so many generously costed cheap plays some of them are bound to break through. Power creep intensifies with every visit to Oko’s woods; which new card will steal the trickster’s crown?

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Decklists for this episode can be viewed at FaithlessBrewing.com

Season 18, Episode 27: Weekly Roundup + Brew Session

Cavedan and David look three year’s into Magic future, and unpack the shocking return of Preordain in Modern. Did Wizards get it right in their “only-once -each-year-really-trust-us-we-promise” B&R update? What impact will blue’s newest toy have on the known and unknown decks of the meta?

They also discuss David’s latest experiments at the cutting edge of Pioneer, where he has been hunting trophies with Stern Lesson, Galazeth Prismari, BTL Valki, and Dread Presence Scapeshift. Is Reckoner Bankbuster the savior we need?

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Decklists for this episode can be viewed at FaithlessBrewing.com

Season 18, Episode 26: Weekly Roundup

Lawson Zandi returns to break down the results from Pro Tour: Barcelona, where The One Ring and Orcish Bowmasters put on dominant displays. Big mana was the big winner, with Tron and Amulet Titan harnessing The One Ring to tremendous effect while going way over the top of midrange and control players who had planned to outduel Rakdos Scam. And as for Rakdos itself? The most popular deck was also among the winningest decks, making it a ripe target for action in Monday’s upcoming B&R window.

There’s plenty to unpack this week, as we take stock of the current state of the format and speculate where Modern can go from here. We also take a look at Wilds of Eldraine, analyzing the first batch of sneak peek preview cards.

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Decklists for this episode can be viewed at FaithlessBrewing.com

Season 18, Episode 25: Weekly Roundup + Brew Session (God-Eternal Kefnet)

The age of man is over. You know what comes next.

David, Morde, and Manacymbal join forces this week for a Modern + Pioneer doubleheader. With Pro Tour weekend approaching, the M&M boys have their eyes on some spicy numbers in Modern, including a challenge-winning Game Objects deck with both Samwise Gamgee and Lonis, Cryptozoologist. Meanwhile, David is back in the laboratory in Pioneer, brewing up fresh concepts with a surprising combo engine: God-Eternal Kefnet!

Season 18, Episode 24: Modern 5-0s with Dack_Fayden07

The Greatest Thief in the Multiverse has stolen The One Ring, and stolen our hearts! Josip Jukic, better known as DackFayden07, has been on a stunning streak of 5-0 results, racking up trophy after trophy with original Lord of the Rings brews. He is the best kept secret in Modern, a Croatian aspiringspike, an indomitable brewer and a talented Blues Rock musician besides.

So what is the secret to Dack’s tremendous success? We find out today in a massive interview. Cavedan and Josip discuss the state of Modern with The One Ring, Orcish Bowmasters, and Delighted Halfling, and then take a deep dive into eight of Dack’s trophy winning Modern lists. They also peer into the Palantir to divine the future of Lord of the Rings in Modern. Which cards have more undiscovered potential? Josip has some ideas, and when he speaks, we listen.

Where to find Josip:

Subscribe to the Dack_Fayden07 YouTube Channel

Join the DackFayden07 Discord

Follow Josip on Twitter

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Decklists for this episode can be viewed at FaithlessBrewing.com

Decklists

Rakdos Rings ft. Waste Not (Decklist) (Gameplay)

Naya Winota Legends (Decklist) (Gameplay)

Bowmasters HollowVine (Decklist) (Gameplay)

Giada Flash Esper Scam (Decklist) (Gameplay)

Asmo Wizard Kitchen ft. Flame of Anor (Decklist) (Gameplay)

Urborg Scavengers Domain Zoo (Decklist) (Gameplay)

Zoo Ring ReScaminator (Decklist) (Gameplay)

Abzan Nissa Scam (Decklist) (Gameplay)

Season 18, Episode 23: Brew Session (Archfiend of the Dross) + Flashback (Invasion of Gobakhan)

Archfiend of the Dross burst onto the scene at DreamHack Dallas, where cftsoc unleashed a devastating combo with Metamorphic Alteration that took the tournament by storm. Turning an opponent’s creature into a copy of Archfiend, without access to Oil counters, means instant death on their upkeep. The one two punch of a 6/6 flier for 2BB, paired with a blue two drop, harkens back to the days of Dimir Inverter, when the unique combo-control strategy menaced the Pioneer format while racking up an impressive 47% win rate.

Excitement for the Archfiend combo has abated in recent weeks. Despite the heavy scrutiny among dedicated Pioneer players, there is still no stock build of the combo that has delivered consistent results. While cftsoc splashed blue into a mostly Rakdos shell, others like laa11 and DJeffMTG have pushed for a dedicated Dimir build. Then there are weirder options like Golgari Fight Rigging, or even Jund with Harmless Offering — all decks predicated on the promising observation that Archfiend of the Dross is a powerful standalone card. This is a combo that should work, and it’s a great mystery why the new Inverter has so far failed to live up to its billing.

Today on Faithless Brewing, David and Cavedan put on their sleuthing caps to get to the bottom of the mysterious missing demon. We look at eight different Pioneer builds with Archfiend, some featuring Metamorphic Alteration, and others not. We also review our testing results with Invasion of Gobakhan, which snagged David a nifty 5-0 trophy with a unique aggro brew.

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Decklists for this episode can be viewed at FaithlessBrewing.com

Decklists

David’s Sultai Fiend Rigging

Sultai Fight Rigging by biz1 (5-0)

David’s Jund Harmless Offering

Dimir Archfiend Combo by DJeffMTG

Dimir Alteration (Yorion) by laa11 (5-0)

Dimir JVP Alteration by OafMcNamara (T16 Pioneer Challenge)

David’s Atraxa Rise to Glory

Drossed to Kill by KilgoreTrout503

David’s RW Shatterskull Invasion (5-0)

Dan’s BW Demonic Processors