Faithless Brewing MTG: Modern and Pioneer for the Spike Rogue

Season 18, Episode 12: Brew Session (Sarkhan, Soul Aflame, Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin, Narset, Enlightened Exile, Urborg Scavengers)

And just like that, March of the Machine: The Aftermath is here. Not sure where to get started? Never fear? David Robertson, our resident Pioneer brewmaster, has been cooking up a half dozen spicy decklists to get you ready for battle on Day 1. Here’s what’s on the menu:

Sarkhan, Soul Aflame allows explosive sequences with 5 mana dragons, building on Izzet ramp shells we’ve had good results with in the past. Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin can be a curve topper in value decks but also has a unique combo finish with All Will Be One. Narset, Enlightened Exile has drawn comparisons to Sheoldred: a seemingly clunky 4 drop that nevertheless runs away with the game if you untap. And Urborg Scavengers gives us a higher density of Soulflayers than ever before.

Can any of these decks crack the tier 1 Pioneer meta? Let’s find out!

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Decklists for this episode can be viewed at FaithlessBrewing.com

Timestamps

[4:46] Aftermath First Impressions

[14:34] Housekeeping

[16:08] Deck 1: Izzet Sarkhan Aflame

[27:11] Deck 2: Rakdos Backup

[36:36] Deck 3: Ob Will Be One

[46:43] Deck 4: Jeskai Narset Spells

[49:32] Deck 5: Boros Narset Tokens

[59:27] Deck 6: Sultai Urborg Scavengers

Season 18, Episode 11: Brewer’s Guide to March of the Machine: The Aftermath

Fifty more cards are being foisted onto all formats with March of the Machine: the Aftermath, a small supplemental set full of wordy text boxes and big dreams. Luckily, only a handful are poised to make an impact in non-rotating formats.

In today’s compressed Set Review, Cavedan and Morde sort the wheat from the chaff and identify the most important Aftermath cards for Modern and Pioneer. They also evaluate the newly revealed Ring Temptation mechanic, and the extended Standard rotation aimed at reviving tabletop play.

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Decklists for this episode can be viewed at FaithlessBrewing.com

Timestamps

[3:49] Housekeeping

[4:34] New Standard rotation

[7:53] The Ring Tempts You: new LotR cards

[13:13] Frodo Baggins

[15:34] Call of the Ring

[17:10] Wizard’s Rockets

[18:27] Delighted Halfling

[22:37] March of the Machine: The Aftermath Set Review

[26:55] Sigarda, Font of Blessings

[28:30] Niv-Mizzet, Supreme

[31:24] Jirina, Dauntless General

[33:37] Urborg Scavengers

[37:12] Training Grounds

[39:39] Coppercoat Vanguard

[41:22] Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin

[44:57] Nissa, Resurgent Animist

[48:22] Honorable mentions

[56:29] Closing thoughts

Season 18, Episode 10: Weekly Roundup

Morde and Lawson talk new Modern brews with March of the Machine: Battle Zoo, Errant and Giada Flash, Mono Black Coffers, and more.

Season 18, Episode 9: Weekly Roundup

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Decklists for this episode can be viewed at FaithlessBrewing.com

Season 18, Episode 8: Brew Session (Rona, Herald of Invasion) + Flashback (Chrome Host Seedshark)

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Decklists for this episode can be viewed at FaithlessBrewing.com

Season 18, Episode 7: Brew Session (Yargle and Multani)

What if they printed a creature with LITERAL DEATHTOUCH FOR PLAYERS? No, I’m not talking about that pesky Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer. Not talking about Phage, the Untouchable either. No, I’m talking about everyone’s favorite Frog Spirit. Yargle and Multani is a foolish card. An insipid card. A team-up no one asked for that earned, at best, a mirthless chuckle during previews.

And yet… it has 18 power.

Is 18 power the same as literal deathtouch for players? Not quite, but it’s tantalizingly close.

Cavedan has Frog Stew on the brain, and the craving won’t go away until he does his darnedest to convert Yargle’s 18 power into damage applied directly to the face. He’s been rummaging around in the bulk bins pulling out every copy of Cragganwick Cremator, Morgue Burst, Voldaren Thrillseeker, and Manifold Key he can find, with a little help from Goryo’s Vengeance and Shadowspear. For a card with no text, Yargle and Multani allows a surprising number of Modern brews.

Meanwhile, Lawson Zandi has been on an insane quest of his own. Lawson is a full hundred matches deep with Windbrisk Heights brews in Modern, and while he has yet to post any 5-0s, he’s been winning at a steady 67% clip. Can he crack the code on Hideaway and finally snag that trophy? More importantly, can he save Cavedan from himself before all his tickets are incinerated on terrible Frog brews?

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Decklists for this episode can be viewed at FaithlessBrewing.com

Timestamps

[3:05] Brewing with Windbrisk Heights

[21:06] Bad Ideas: Yargle and Multani Combos

[27:34] Rakdos Cragganwick Kitchen

[32:56] Gruul Yargle’s Kitchen

[37:50] Gruul Cragganwick Evolution

[44:57] Final thoughts

[47:27] Postscript: In the Heights

Season 18, Episode 6: Brew Session (Chrome Host Seedshark)

Shark Typhoon is powerful. A resolved Shark Typhoon is lights out. A resolved Shark Typhoon wins games. Most Modern and Pioneer players know this, or think they know this.

They don’t know the half of it.

Shark Typhoon sees play, but no one truly builds around it. It’s far too expensive to craft your game plan around having a Typhoon in play. Instead we cycle, and move on with our lives.

Enter Chrome Host Seedshark. Putting a Shark Typhoon effect on a 3 mana creature changes EVERYTHING. Synergies that seemed like pie-in-the-sky win-more plays, notably pairing huge cost reduction spells with the Shark Typhoon effect, are suddenly available as early and often as we want them.

Want to cast Leyline Binding? Sure, have a 6/6. Protect the Seedshark with Force of Negation or Metallic Rebuke? No problem, have a 3/3. Delve spells are incredible here, from Treasure Cruise and Temporal Trespass in Pioneer to Logic Knot and Magmatic Sinkhole in Modern. And don’t forget the “Splinter Twin” potential of the Shining Shoal cycle: a turn 3 Seedshark, followed by end step Shoal pitching a huge card (X=15 anyone? Autochthon Wurm and Shadow of Mortality make it happen) means you are attacking potentially for lethal damage on turn 4.

There’s more going on that just a parade of creatures, of course. Incubator tokens are decidedly not creatures, until we invest additional resources. Animating the tokens directly with Tezzeret, Betrayer of Flesh or Jinnie Fae, Jetmir’s Second is downright nasty. For larger Incubators, paying 2 mana is still a great bargain. For smaller Incubators, we can take advantage of the fact that unflipped Incubators are quite hard to remove (unlike, say, the tokens from Third Path Iconoclast or Sai, Master Thopterist). If we want to build up a solid battlefield of wrath-proof game objects for Affinity, for Improvise, for Urza or for Galazeth Prismari, Chrome Host Seedshark is simply best in class. We can even play sweepers of our own, and Seedshark leaves behind a massive token as a going away present.

There’s so much to discover about Seedshark, and about the Incubate mechanic in general, that we couldn’t imagine starting our March of the Machine brewing season with any other card. We’ve got seven new decklists drawn up in Modern and Pioneer, and a half dozen more ideas to explore besides. It’s Shark Week here at Faithless Brewing, and we could not be more excited!

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Decklists for this episode can be viewed at FaithlessBrewing.com

Timestamps

[3:11] Housekeeping

[4:01] Brew Session: Chrome Host Seedshark

[7:59] Closest comparisons

[11:30] Key synergies: cost reduction

[20:08] Key synergies: Incubator tokens

[25:09] Sketch 1: Izzet Galazeth Turns (Pioneer)

[31:51] Sketch 2: Dimir Improvise (Pioneer)

[38:38] Sketch 3: Sultai Glistening Dawn (Pioneer)

[42:45] Sketch 4: 5c Galazeth Shark to Light (Modern)

[49:36] Sketch 5: UW Chrome Control (Modern)

[56:09] Sketch 6: WU White Pitch Please (Modern)

[1:05:44] Sketch 7: 4c Sickening Shoal (Modern)

Season 18, Episode 5: Interview with Dack_Fayden07

Dack Fayden may be the Greatest Thief in the Multiverse, but did you know that he also runs one of the spiciest YouTube channels for original brews in Modern?

Today on Faithless Brewing, Cavedan sits down with special guest Josip Jukic, better known as DackFayden07, to hear about his unique approach to creating winning brews in Modern. Josip’s recent MTGO trophies include gems like Melira Zoo Scam, Winota Reanimator, Rokiric Zoo Rhinos, Sultai Grief Vine, and many others. The best part? You can see all these brews in action on Dack’s YouTube channel, with short format gameplay and insightful commentary. We talk about Dack’s approach to brewing and card evaluation, his most successful recent brews in Modern, and his top picks from March of the Machine.

Where to find Josip:

YouTube: Dack_Fayden07

Twitter: @DackFayden07

Dack’s 5-0 lists

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Decklists for this episode can be viewed at FaithlessBrewing.com

Timestamps

[1:01] Q&A with Dack_Fayden07

[4:54] Dack’s YouTube channel

[12:30] Approaches to brewing

[17:34] BW Scam GixBlade (decklist) (gameplay)

[18:59] Winota Reanimator (decklist) (gameplay)

[26:18] Urborg Lhurgoyf Crabvine (decklist) (gameplay)

[29:58] Sultai Grief Vine (decklist) (gameplay)

[34:24] Melira Zoo Scam (decklist) (gameplay)

[37:51] Zoo Evolution (decklist) (gameplay)

[48:51] Classic Zoo (decklist) (gameplay)

[52:55] Rokiric Zoo Rhinos (decklist) (gameplay)

[1:08:30] Dack’s picks: March of the Machine

Season 18, Episode 4: Brewer’s Guide to March of the Machine (Part 4) + Top Five Cards

After four grueling sessions, the Great Work of our March of the Machine Set Review is finally compleat. At the top of the mana curve, most cards are long shots for the non-rotating formats. This time, however, several new legends participate in game-winning combos or have intriguing cost reduction options.

To round things out, Cavedan and David predict the Top 5 Most Impactful cards for both Modern and Pioneer, as well as their personal Top 5 lists of cards they are most excited to brew. Clearly this is a set that will keep us busy for a while. What do you think of our analysis? What’s on your personal Top 5 list?

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Decklists for this episode can be viewed at FaithlessBrewing.com

Timestamps

[2:49] Housekeeping

[4:51] Vorinclex — The Grand Evolution

[8:49] Sheoldred — The Scripture of Truth

[11:38] Djeru and Hazoret

[15:22] Quintorius, Loremaster

[19:19] Invasion of Ravnica — Guildpact Paragon

[22:37] Hidetsugu and Kairi

[28:12] Archpriest of Shadows

[31:12] Kogla and Yidaro

[33:42] Kroxa and Kunoros

[37:04] Invasion of Fiora — Marchesa, Resolute Monarch

[40:01] Ancient Imperiosaur

[42:37] Zephyr Singer

[42:45] Interdisciplinary Mascot

[44:03] Invasion of Segovia — Caetus, Sea Tyrant of Segovia

[44:22] Hoarding Broodlord

[47:05] March of the Machine Top 5s

[47:28] David’s Top 5 Cards to Brew

[52:22] Dan’s Top 5 Cards to Brew

[53:57] Top 5 Most Impactful: Modern

[56:15] Top 5 Most Impactful: Pioneer

[1:02:28] Ral’s Reinforcements

[1:04:00] Patreon bonus content

Season 18, Episode 3: Brewer’s Guide to March of the Machine, Vol. 3

The full set of March of the Machine is revealed, and something is clearly amiss. Every card looks good. Incubate looks synergistic and easy to transform. Battles look like tremendous value. Convoke looks fun, and Backup looks extremely versatile. Even the silly infinite combos — and there are many in this set — are looking pretty good.

This can’t be right. Either we are wrong, or Wizards is wrong. Play Design knows their stuff, so it’s probably a case of us wearing brew goggles. But that won’t stop us from trying to break these sweet new cards.

In the third installment of our Set Review, David returns to lend a Pioneer perspective on the best new additions to the brewer’s toolbox.

Rona, Herald of Invasion is the best 2 mana looter we have seen, and supports multiple infinite combos. Change the Equation has main deck potential in the current Pioneer metagame. The 1-mana backup creatures, Scorn-Blade Berserker and Enduring Bondwarden, support a tremendous variety of play patterns. Even the humble Ichor Drinker draws comparisons to Voldaren Epicure and Lingering Souls.

There’s tons of spice up and down the mana curve. Let the Great Work begin!

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Decklists for this episode can be viewed at FaithlessBrewing.com

Timestamps

[3:14] Housekeeping

[4:37] Evaluating Battles: another perspective

[10:44] Backup, Convoke, Incubate

[14:23] Scorn-Blade Berserker

[17:42] Enduring Bondwarden

[21:12] Ichor Drinker

[24:32] Progenitor Exarch

[28:41] Seed of Hope

[31:35] Lithomantic Barrage

[33:08] Rona, Herald of Invasion — Rona, Tolarian Obliterator

[38:39] Invasion of Gobakhnan — Lightshield Array

[43:18] Invasion of Ixalan — Belligerent Regisaur

[47:10] Change the Equation

[50:48] Invasion of New Phyrexia — Teferi Akosa of Zhalfir

[54:24] Marauding Dreadship

[56:53] Zimone and Dina

[59:17] Invasion of Amonkhet — Lazotep Convert

[1:03:47] Glistening Dawn

[1:07:13] Rampaging Raptor

[1:09:21] Urabrask — The Great Work

[1:14:57] Elesh Norn — The Argent Etchings

[1:18:28] Invasion of Innistrad — Deluge of the Dead

[1:20:41] Invasion of Kaldheim — Pyre of the World Tree

[1:24:39] Invasion of Zendikar — Awakened Skyclave

[1:27:46] Archangel Elspeth