The Doctor Is In: Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

Faithless Brewing, Episode 13: Yawgmoth

One month after Modern Horizons, the Good Doctor is well on his way to becoming a Modern staple. Free sacrifice outlets are powerful, free card draw is insane, and that's not even half of the card's text box! But is Yawgmoth best used as a value engine, a combo piece, or something in between? Brewers have been succeeding with both approaches, and the crew has a couple ideas of their own.

Brewers' Mailbag (New!)

Is it better to pick your best cards and play as many copies as you can, or is there value to playing a mix of 1-ofs? Does the equation change for main deck versus sideboard? What about for playtesting a deck versus registering for a tournament?

Have a question for us about the brewing process? Send them to us @FaithlessMTG and we will get to your question on air!

Flashback: Brought Back

Brought Back for a land and another card is slick, and Brought Back for two lands is the slickest. But the resulting decks necessarily end up being white-based control, and graveyard-reliant on top of that. As great as Brought Back is, the ceiling for this card may just prove to be too low.

Bant Midrange v1: 8-7 leagues, functional but weaker than Karn version

Bant Midrange v2: 4-6 leagues, stronger, but still needs improvement

Sun Titan Control (fincown, 5-3 Modern Challenge): 3-2 league, solid but hard work

Abzan Shadow (cavedan, test deck): Brought Back maybe worse than Unearth here

Listener-submitted decks with Brought Back:

White Amulet (blakfishy, test deck): explosive but fragile

Eternal Value (breakfast4dinner911, test deck): needs more disruption

BW Smallpox (Matt Young, test deck): interesting planeswalker angle

Brew Session: Yawgmoth

Monoblack Yawgmoth (Sketch)

Yawgmoth Evolution (Sketch)

Yawgmoth Zombies (Nick Vallas)

Other lists referenced:

Unearth Zombies (zorloth, 6-3 Modern Challenge)

4c Yawgmoth (TheWillHallExp, 5-0 league)

Sultai Aristocrats (visitor636, 5-0 league)

Mardu Pyromancer (MisterKite, 5-0 league)

Jund Superfriends (lucky_dragon, 5-0 league)

Contact Us

Twitter: @FaithlessMTG

Email: faithless.brewing@gmail.com

Homepage: faithlessbrewing.podbean.com

Brought Back, Real Smooth

Faithless Brewing, Episode 12: Brought Back

Core Set 2020's Brought Back took a star turn during our Lotus Field deep dive a couple weeks ago. So naturally, we Brought it Back for another chance at Modern glory, this time as the featured build-around. Part ramp, part card draw, part reanimation, Brought Back offers a little bit of everything. The only catch? You have to play white. Dave has some ideas, but what did we miss?

Spice Roundup: New Takes on Old Favorites

The wicked Bridge is dead, so it is time for the brewers to come out to play. Spicy decks are everywhere in the 5-0 league results, including some nice takes on cards we have previously explored.

Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner

Kiora's Dragons (Damon): 2-3 Modern Invitational, powerful but sideboard has "leaky bucket" problem

Niv-Mizzet Reborn

Glittering Niv (lan2_13, 5-0 league): six dorks, 4 Glittering Wish, light on green sources

Rainbow Snow (Jiggywiggy, 5-0 league): 10 snow basics + Astrolabe, no Pillar of Paruns

Flashback: Crashing Footfalls

We hoofed it through a few leagues with Crashing Footfalls, trying out multiple strategies for getting the rhinos into play. The card was quite powerful in a number of shells, but in the end there could only be one winner of the Rhino Rumble.

Brew Session: Brought Back

If you have a list with Brought Back, or suggestions for one of our builds, we would love to hear from you! Send us your build and we may feature it on next week's episode of the cast.

Contact Us

Twitter: @FaithlessMTG

Email: faithless.brewing@gmail.com

Homepage: faithlessbrewing.podbean.com

Rhino Rumble: All the Ways to Use Crashing Footfalls

Faithless Brewing, Episode 11: Crashing Footfalls

Are you ready for a RHINO RUMBLE?!? Crashing Footfalls joins the lineage of "can't be cast" suspend cards that are historically powerful and ripe for abuse. The combination with Ancestral Visions gives a critical mass of generically powerful suspend cards, in contrast to all-in build-arounds like Living End, Restore Balance, or Wheel of Fate. But what is the best route for casting the Rhinos, and from which zone? Are we willing to wait for them, or do we need to make our Rhinos right now?

Roundup: Brewing After Hogaak

They actually did it. Bridge from Below got the axe after just four weeks on Magic Online. The crew discusses the post-ban metagame: what's still strong, what may rise again, and what a brewer should be prepared to face. Also: decks we plan to test in preparation for GP Minneapolis.

Flashback: Lotus Field

We put Lotus Field through its paces in four different builds, discovering quite a bit of clunk (drawing the 2nd copy is awful, Blood Moon and Damping Sphere are embarrassing) but also unlocking several powerful synergies. Blood Sun and the Brought Back + Flagstones + Ghost Quarter package were very solid and worthy of further exploration.

Blood Sun Eldrazi: 2-3 league, curve was disastrous, but Blood Sun is strong

RG Assault Loam: 2-3 league, needs speed and more versatile control elements

GW Brought Back: 3-2 league, Brought Back is strong, but needs better early plays

Twiddle Storm: 5-5 leagues, excellent in game 1, vulnerable after sideboarding

Brew Session: Crashing Footfalls

We take a slightly different approach this week, as several lists with Crashing Footfalls have already seen success. However, each of them tackles the "can't be cast" problem differently, opting to cheat the card into play either from hand, from graveyard, or from the top of the library. If you want to get really crazy, you can even suspend it the "normal" way and wait. Which routes are the most effective, and are there additional enablers that have not been fully explored?

Restore Dominance (Jakesbaked, 5-0 league x2)

Rhino enablers: 7 hand (As Foretold, Electrodominance), 2 graveyard (Finale of Promise). Green mana: yes.

UR As Foretold (KyFly1, 11-4 GP Dallas, 5-0 league, 6-2 Modern Challenge)

Rhino enablers: 8 hand (As Foretold, Electrodominance), 3 graveyard (Dreadhorde Arcanist). Green mana: no.

Black-Red Free (Dzy, 5-0 league)

Rhino enablers: 5 graveyard (Dreadhorde Arcanist, Finale of Promise), 4 hand (Electrodominance). Green mana: yes.

Living End "Fakeout" (MagicAids youtube + keatingn, 5-0 league)

Rhino enablers: 12 library (Violent Outburst, Demonic Dread, Bloodbraid Elf). Green mana: no.

Rhino Conjuring (Sketch)

Rhino enablers: 4 library (Collected Conjuring), 4 hand (As Foretold), 4 graveyard (Dreadhorde Arcanist, Finale of Promise). Green mana: TBD.

Contact Us

Got feedback for us? Have suggestions for one of our builds, or testing results with a deck we've discussed? We would love to hear from you!

Twitter: @FaithlessMTG

Email: faithless.brewing@gmail.com

Homepage: faithlessbrewing.podbean.com

Life from the Lotus: Breaking Lotus Field in Midrange, Ramp, and Combo

Faithless Brewing, Episode 10: Lotus Field

What's better than a Black Lotus? How about a free Black Lotus every turn? Magic 2020's "fixed" version of Lotus Vale comes with a host of interesting clauses: hexproof, sacrifice two lands, enters the battlefield tapped. The crew sets out to use every part of the buffalo, either dodging the drawbacks or turning them into advantages. There might even be some 9/9 hexproof attackers in our future. But which builds are competitive, and which are just a field of memes?

Roundup: The New Tier One

The results from GP Dallas and SCG Pittsburgh are in. Hogaak established itself as tier zero, but it didn't sweep the events. Instead, a new tier one emerged, starring Izzet Phoenix and UW Control. But don't blink, because the London Mulligan is already here to shake up the format, and a B&R announcement is right around the corner. Plus: a tournament report with BG Rock. Good old rock, nothing beats rock.

Grim Flayer Rock: 2-3 SCG IQ, some things do in fact beat Rock

Flashback: Force of Virtue

While Tom Ross was cruising to a top 8 finish with Hogaak Bridgevine, we were working hard trying to squeeze playable decks out of his pet design Force of Virtue. The card proved surprisingly good, and the combo with Squadron Hawk should not be underestimated. The most competitive shell also proved to be the most delightful: Goat Devotion, harnessing the power of Nykthos, Ranger-Captain of Eos, and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite.

Mardu PyroHawk : 4-6 leagues, felt much better than its record, Seasoned Pyromancer is the truth

Goat Devotion: 8-7 leagues, surprisingly good, but weak to decks that don't care about combat

Turbo Elesh Norn: 4-1 league, Elesh Norn is very well positioned

Esper Skies: 3-2 league, needs more disruption, less Pride of the Clouds

Brew Session: Lotus Field

Naya Value Town (Sketch)

Blood Sun Eldrazi (Sketch)

One-Punch Land (Sketch)

Twiddle Storm (Sketch)

Contact Us

Twitter: @FaithlessMTG

Email: faithless.brewing@gmail.com

Homepage: faithlessbrewing.podbean.com