Introduction
Hello Fellow Magic Players!
I hope everyone had a great time since the last article. Soon we will be back at the gathering like we all used to. Meanwhile, stay strong and safe as much as possible and maybe take some of your MTG time to play some modern. My 11-month child has cut my MTG time quite significantly, but jamming modern leagues has definitely been on the top of my free time.
The last time I played Modern competitively was on the MOCS finals. I then choose Temur Scapeshift as my Modern deck. I really liked the deck, it reminded me of my favorite Modern deck ever, 《Splinter Twin》 where it played the control role until it kills you out of nowhere. Now with the most recent ban this deck was very affected.
The axe on 《Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath》 made it so that a very powerful tool against the aggro decks was lost and also made the deck much more dependent on the 《Scapeshift》 to win the games. At the same time, that dependence became much more fragile due to the ban on 《Mystic Sanctuary》.
All of the sudden you lost the ability to chain 《Time Walk》 with 《Remand》, fast mana with 《Growth Spiral》 and 《Cryptic Command》 lock your opponent. You also lost the ability to laugh in your opponent’s face whenever they get their 《Thoughtseize》 countered by a simple troll fetch land.
DoomSwitch Enters the Picture
Let’s take some time to talk about this guy, shall we? For the last 3 years, he has been one of the biggest responsible for the way modern has been shaped and to create or tune decks so well that they end up being so dominant that some of the cards end up getting banned. Not only he has been benefiting from this by chaining a few MTGO PTQ wins but also on our group many players qualified using his creations. I remember the Bant Snow deck qualifying him and 3 other persons for one PT.
I am lucky enough to have him on our discord group and have access to his latest pieces of technology in the first person, but luckily for the community he has is patreon with updated regularly as well as a lot of free content on his Twitter. Later in the year, he will be playing the Rivals Gauntlet and I’m sure I will be cheering for him! So before we move on please take 1 minute to give him a follow on Twitter.
Introducing 5-Color 《Bring to Light》
When I asked DoomSwitch if he had an updated post ban list of my Temur Scapeshift he was like: “Yes, but not really”
Click to Wide
Unlike Temur Scapeshift where the deck was built around counterspells to gain some time to 《Scapeshift》, this is more like a 《Bring to Light》/《Omnath, Locus of Creation》 midrange deck that has that 《Scapeshift》 bullet to finish games.
With this being said, let’s go over the card choices.
Mana Base
Yep, 30 lands. That’s a looooot of lands…but you need them!
4 《Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle》
4
Having 《Dryad of the Ilysian Grove》 and 《Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle》 means that some games all you actually need to be doing is cast 2 lands a turn and giving 6 to 12 damage with each. You heard me right.
If you have 《Dryad of the Ilysian Grove》 and 2 《Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle》 in play each fetch gives 12 damage and the 《Dryad of the Ilysian Grove》 ability to cast an extra land means that you only need to draw 1 《Dryad of the Ilysian Grove》 and lands to win the game by turn 5.
For this reason you should definitely play the full set of 《Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle》. The combination with the dryad is just too strong.
12 Fetch Lands Minimum
4
4
4
Fetch lands are really important in this deck. Combined with the Triomes they provide you perfect mana fixing. Combined with wren and six provide you card advantage and combined with 《Omnath, Locus of Creation》…well…you know what happens…
9 Mountains
1
2
2
1
1
1
1
This is the bare minimum that you need to have a consistent 《Scapeshift》. Remember that you don’t actually need the 6 mountains inside your deck to have a lethal 《Scapeshift》 though, unlike the previous version where you had only 2 《Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle》.
With this deck, you can make up for that with fetching an extra 《Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle》. For example, if you have 3 mountains in play and only 3 in your deck you just fetch for 3 《Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle》 and 3 mountains for 27 damage.
4 Basics with No 《Swamp》
1
1
1
1
You need the option to fetch untapped lands without losing life against the aggro decks. Also having some outs against 《Blood Moon》 is necessary. You don’t really need nor want the 《Swamp》 though. It will be painful when you draw it and have 《Omnath, Locus of Creation》 in hand and also there rarely situations where you need your untapped land to be a 《Swamp》.
Key Cards
4
4
3
3
1
1
I can see a world where you change every other card of this deck, but not these.
As I said before 《Dryad of the Ilysian Grove》 does too much for this deck in combination with 《Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle》 that’s pretty much all you need.
《Bring to Light》 is what gives consistency to this deck. It makes you almost always have the 《Scapeshift》 when you have lethal mana to cast it without being too awkward when you draw multiples. It is also the perfect card to cast with 《Omnath, Locus of Creation》 since the WURG mana provides you pretty much perfect Converge.
Talking about 《Omnath, Locus of Creation》…combined with 《Wrenn and Six》 it is the glue to this deck. Both cards provide you resources, card advantage, and a very good tread against aggro, midrange, and control decks.
《Valki, God of Lies》…well…as long as they don’t change the rule on how 《Bring to Light》 works with it…it will be a mandatory one-of in every bring to light deck. You can actually cast the plasneswalker side of it when you search for the creature side. When you 《Omnath, Locus of Creation》, fetch, 《Bring to Light》, 《Tibalt, Cosmic Impostor》 you might get diabetes from it, be careful.
Ramp
《Explore》
4
The first versions of this deck were running 《Growth Spiral》, but in this deck, you don’t really care about leaving mana up on your opponent’s turn. Replacing those for explore makes your mana much smoother. It also leaves 《Teferi, Time Raveler》 mana up when you get the second 《Omnath, Locus of Creation》 trigger, which is something that has came up more than once. I can see a world where you play 《Farseek》 instead, but the fact that you run so many lands makes me think that 《Explore》 is the right option and that you don’t actually need more ramp spells.
Interaction
《Lightning Bolt》
4
The one mana spells are pretty trivial. Running 4 《Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle》 as well as the 《Scapeshift》 plan makes it that 4 《Lightning Bolt》 are kinda obvious. Not only it is easier on your mana base since you can cast it out of 《Lightning Bolt》 but also you can target face to help you reach lethal a turn or two earlier.
《Path to Exile》
2
It completes the cheap interaction package. I can see a world where 《Fatal Push》 replaces it here, but let’s try to keep it 《Omnath, Locus of Creation》 friendly as much as possible.
《Teferi, Time Raveler》
2
This card is so powerful that I don’t even need too much to justify it, but it works really well with what you are trying to do. This deck has problems against decks with many counterspells and 《Teferi, Time Raveler》 is just the nuts against those. It also provides you sweet tempo plays against decks like Heliod and Jund.
《Kaya’s Guile》
2
This is the last slot we have. It is the only card in the deck that is not very 《Omnath, Locus of Creation》 Friendly, but it is so well positioned that we really make that concession. It makes our deck total 8 removal spells, with 4 of them dealing with big guys such as 《Death’s Shadow》.
Having maindeck graveyard removal and another gain life spell at the same time is also pretty good and comes in handy very often. With that said I can easily see this being cut for a more efficient spell or maybe an important 《Bring to Light》 bullet.
Tips and Tricks
Before going to the sideboard guide let me just share with you some tips and tricks that you might not see at a first glance.
《Bring to Light》 fetches only Creatures, Sorceries and Instants. It only allows us to play 《Tibalt, Cosmic Impostor》 due to the interaction with 《Valki, God of Lies》. Don’t try to go for a 《Teferi, Time Raveler》 or add some enchantments or artifacts as 《Bring to Light》 Bullets on your sideboard.
《Dryad of the Ilysian Grove》 and 《Blood Moon》 work with time stamps. This means that the last card played gets to keep its effect. For this reason, you want to prioritize getting the basic forest in those matchups. 《Blood Moon》 will still keep you from using fetch lands as well as trigger your 《Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle》, so play accordingly.
Play that extra land drop with 《Dryad of the Ilysian Grove》! It’s easy to forget that the 《Dryad of the Ilysian Grove》 has this extra ability. I forgot it many time, so make sure you don’t do the same!
Opponent’s 《Teferi, Time Raveler》 completely counters your 《Bring to Light》.
You can pay the extra mana for the entwine when you cast the spell. Same goes for kicker.
The matchup against aggro decks is pretty good already, so make sure you save most of your sideboard against the other types of decks. And this is the perfect Segway for the part that everybody loves!
Sideboard Guide
Izzet Prowess
vs. Izzet Prowess
Out
In
Heliod Company
vs. Heliod Company
Out
In
5C 《Bring to Light》《Scapeshift》
vs. 5C 《Bring to Light》《Scapeshift》
Out
In
Amulet Titan
vs. Amulet Titan
Out
In
Boros Prowess
vs. Boros Prowess
Out
In
Eldrazi Tron
vs. Eldrazi Tron
Out
In
Dredge
vs. Dredge
Out
In
Izzet Breach
vs. Izzet Breach
Out
In
Esper Control
vs. Esper Control
Out
In
Gruul Midrange
vs. Gruul Midrange
Out
In
Burn
vs. Burn
Out
In
Niv to Light
vs. Niv to Light
Out
In
Hammer Time
vs. Hammer Time
Out
In
Jund 《Death’s Shadow》
vs. Jund 《Death’s Shadow》
Out
In
Sultai 《Bring to Light》
vs. Sultai 《Bring to Light》
Out
In
Tron
vs. Tron
Out
In
Mono Red Obosh
vs. Mono Red Obosh
Out
In
《Living End》
vs. 《Living End》
Out
In
Conclusion
Thank you so much for reading and supporting my content. Once again a special thanks to DoomSwitch for the sweet decklist and insights.
Make sure you follow me on Twitter for more MTG updates.
Until next time!
Goncalo Pinto (Twitter)
