Faithless Brewing MTG: Modern and Pioneer for the Spike Rogue

To Battle! March of the Machine in Modern and Pioneer (Set Review, Part 1)

Season 18, Episode 1: Brewer’s Guide to March of the Machine, Vol. 1
Magic has a brand new card type, and it is a brain bender. Battles (or Sieges … or Invasions…) attach spell effects to a new class of permanent. These permanents may then be attacked or damaged, similar to planeswalkers, to unlock a bonus card on the back side. Clearly each siege represents a large amount of value, but at the cost of time and efficiency. Your initial effect will be slightly below rate, and the reward for defeating the Battle may or may not be worth the progress you could have made on your opponent’s life total in the meantime.
But there’s far more to March of the Machine than just Battles. The Incubate mechanic shakes up the hierarch of Game Objects, and could be significantly more powerful than Clues if you build your deck wisely. Backup is a new twist on ETB triggers that creates some very dangerous attacking sequences, and Convoke returns with some of the strongest payoffs we have ever seen.
Today on Faithless Brewing we kick off our Modern and Pioneer Full Set Review with a close look at these new mechanics, as well as the most promising cards at the lower end of the mana curve. Will Wrenn and Realmbreaker become a multi format staple? Will there be a dedicated Battle deck? Will Knight-Errant of Eos make Morde’s value dreams come true? Find out in part 1 of our Brewer’s Guide to March of the Machine!
Read our mini-primer on Wrenn and Realmbreaker here.
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Decklists for this episode can be viewed at FaithlessBrewing.com
Timestamps
[3:02] Mechanic: Battles
[4:07] Invasion of Kaladesh — Aetherwing, Golden-Scale Flagship
[6:22] Invasion of Azgol — Ashen Reaper
[7:56] How to evaluate Battles
[14:33] Interacting with Battles
[16:03] Render Inert
[17:45] Mechanic: Convoke
[19:03] Knight-Errant of Eos
[25:27] Mechanic: Incubate
[26:17] Norn’s Inquisitor
[29:20] Mechanic: Backup
[29:34] Doomskar Warrior
[33:34] Elspeth’s Smite
[34:58] Referee Squad
[36:41] Invasion of Tarkir — Defiant Thundermaw
[42:35] Invasion of Ikoria — Zilortha, Apex of Ikoria
[44:49] Botanical Brawler
[48:03] Invasion of Ergamon — Truga Cliffcharger
[51:46] Bloodfeather Phoenix
[53:36] Wrenn and Realmbreaker

UNCTUS, GRAND METATECT: Into the Metaverse of Broken Combos

Season 17, Episode 17: Brew Session (Unctus, Grand Metatect)
Unctus, Grand Metatect does it all. It draws a million cards, assembles infinite combos, and provides tempo and aggression. It powers up Mox Amber and keeps your artifact density high. Interested in devotion pips? Life loss? Graveyard synergy? Unctus does that too.
In Modern, Unctus has shown great promise in the proven artifact shells, where Urza’s Saga, Riddlesmith, and Ovalchase Daredevil make great use of the graveyard. It also provides a brilliant combo with two copies of Fatestitcher. In Pioneer, the artifact shells are less established, but no less tantalizing. Unctus sets up combos with Paradox Engine, Kiora’s Follower, Chief Engineer, or The Locust God. It also backs up aggression from Patchwork Automaton, vehicles, artifact creature tokens, and much more.
Cavedan and David have been noodling on this card for a while, and today they plunge deep into the Metaverse of artifact combos. We’ve got six new decks to test and another half dozen still to discover. What will you do with Unctus in Modern and Pioneer?
 
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Decklists for this episode can be viewed at FaithlessBrewing.com
 
Timestamps
[2:25] Housekeeping
[4:48] Brew Session: Unctus, Grand Metatect
[6:36] Key questions
[9:50] Graveyard synergies
[14:32] Tapping creatures
[19:38] Aggro creatures
[23:33] More synergies
[25:55] Sketch 1: Izzet Thopters
[33:50] Sketch 2: UW Malcator Tokens
[41:04] Sketch 3: Sultai Tyvar Artifacts
[45:09] Sketch 4: Emry Paradox Combo
[48:21] More Unctus combos
[54:24] Sketch 5: Blue Shadow
[1:01:01] Sketch 6: Ninja Skies
[1:07:30] Unctus in Modern

I Perfected Crabvine and All I Got Was This Lousy Feature Match

Season 17, Episode 16: Weekly Roundup
David & Dan look at early previews from Lord of the Rings and March of the Machines, and ponder whether Thalia and The Gitrog Monster has the right stats for Pioneer. Dan shares his results from the Hunter Burton Memorial Open, where he played Crabvine in the Modern 15K & Neoform Atraxa in the Pioneer 5K. They also look at new technology from the event, including updates to Lawson Zandi’s Shining Shoal deck, a new take on Pioneer Dredgeless Dredge, and updates to 5c Humans.
Read Dan’s full tournament report from the HBMO Modern 15K here:
https://bit.ly/Crabvine-15K-Report-FaithlessBrewing
This article goes in depth on why Dan chose Crabvine, his updates to the decklist, round by round analysis and sideboarding guide, and a full review of a brutal camera match played at the end of Day 1.
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Decklists for this episode can be viewed at FaithlessBrewing.com
Timestamps
[3:27] Housekeeping
[6:55] Previews: Middle Earth + March of the Machine
[7:35] Reprieve
[12:32] Samwise, the Stouthearted
[18:40] Gollum, Patient Plotter
[22:24] The Shire
[25:44] Tom Bombadil
[30:15] Thalia and The Gitrog Monster
[37:40] Tournament Report: HBMO Modern 15K
[40:23] Dan’s Sultai Crabvine
[46:56] Round 8 feature match: Crabvine vs Murktide
[50:09] Lawson’s Boros Pitch Please
[52:15] Tournament Report: HBMO Pioneer 5K
[52:27] Dan’s Neoform Atraxa
[57:40] Sultai Dredgeless Dredge by James Adams
[1:02:07] 5c Humans by Cy Yarbrough

Capricious Hellraiser: Disappointment or Multi-Format Sleeper?

Season 17, Episode 15: Brew Session (Capricious Hellraiser) + Flashback (Malcator, Purity Overseer)
Capricious Hellraiser has been racking up 5-0s … as well as 0-5s. The card has the support of premier deckbuiliders like Aspiringspike, and yet few have been able to replicate his success. Is this a value play at RRR, similar to Bloodbraid Elf? If so, you need a big graveyard, and a tolerance for randomness in what the Hellraiser will cast. Or is this a giant 3RRR threat that can reanimate something more specific, in a smaller graveyard? The possibilities with Hellraiser are nearly limitless.
Cavedan and Morde review the best options for unlocking the synergies with Capricious Hellraiser, and discuss David’s ideas for new Pioneer brews as well as Spike’s ideas for Modern. They also check in on Project Malcator, where Cavedan has been spitting out 3/3 Golems at an impressive rate.
 
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Decklists for this episode can be viewed at FaithlessBrewing.com
 
Timestamps
[3:05] The One Ring
[6:24] Brew Session: Capricious Hellraiser
[8:24] Rules notes
[10:36] Key questions
[15:34] Key synergies
[21:19] Sketch 1: Capricious Form
[28:48] Sketch 2: Mardu Refurbish
[34:27] Capri Sun (Jeskai Lotus Field)
[43:41] Izzet Dragon Control
[48:12] Gruul Capricious Conscription
[54:22] Flashback: Malcator, Purity Overseer
[55:43] David’s Esper Tokens
[59:39] Dan’s UW Malcator Vehicles
[1:06:45] 4c Malcator Omnath by DJeffMTG

Shining Shoal for Advanced Modern Players (ft. Lawson Zandi)

Season 17, Episode 14: Brew Session (Shining Shoal) + Lord of the Rings First Look
Shining Shoal is well on its way to becoming a Modern staple. It provides massive swings in a red-heavy metagame and generally terrorizes the combat step against creature decks. It is also one of the trickier cards in the format, both in understanding its niche interactions and in finding the correct shell to harness its power.
Today on Faithless Brewing we welcome special guest Lawson Zandi (Zanman on MTGO) who has played some 50 leagues with Shining Shoal in various configurations, stacking up trophies in the process. Lawson explains the strengths and weaknesses of the original Shining Humans list with Chancellor of the Annex, the transition to Hatebears and Taxes strategies using Ondu Inversion, and the possibilities of Leyline Binding in a “5 color Mono White” manabase.
We also take a first look at The One Ring (which one co-host describes as “the most powerful planeswalker legal in Modern”) and track new developments with Atraxa, Grand Unifier.
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Decklists for this episode can be viewed at FaithlessBrewing.com
Timestamps
[2:45] Q&A with Lawson Zandi
[6:55] Housekeeping
[7:33] Lord of the Rings First Look
[9:48] Gandalf the Grey
[14:13] The One Ring
[20:47] The 2023 Hunter Burton Memorial Open
[24:22] Brew Session: Shining Shoal
[35:30] Shining Humans by Hank the Obese
[44:07] UW Shoal Hatebears by Zanman
[50:47] Mono White Ponza by Zanman
[59:18] 5c Mono White Stoneblade by Zanman
[1:09:00] The future of Shining Shoal
[1:12:34] Dan’s pick: Neoform Atraxa
[1:16:53] Lawson’s pick: Atraxa Goryo’s
More from Lawson: https://faithlessbrewing.podbean.com/e/wild-modern-with-lawson-zandi/

Blade Splicer 2049: Malcator, Purity Overseer in Pioneer & Modern

Season 17, Episode 13: Brew Session (Malcator, Purity Overseer) + Flashback (Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines)
The people have spoken, and they want Elephants! 1/1 Elephants to be exact. Malcator, Purity Overseer took first place in our last monthly vote, meaning it’s time to dust off the Golem tokens and see how Blade Splicer stacks up against the 2023 Modern and Pioneer metagame.
Of course, Malcator is more than just a Blade Splicer. The intriguing end-of-turn clause gives us something to strive for when simply blinking Malcator isn’t enough. Specific synergies, such as Saheeli Rai copying Malcator, or Urza’s Saga fetching Underworld Cookbook, make it much easier to generate 3 artifacts at once and generate Malcator’s bonus token. We examine five Pioneer decklists for the Phyrexian Elephant Wizard, and consider possible homes in Modern as well.
On the Flashback, Elesh Norn, March of the Machines continues her rampage in three of David’s lists. Doubling up your own triggers for profit will always be fun, but how did Elesh stack up as a hate piece against the rest of the format? Tune in to find out.
 
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Decklists for this episode can be viewed at FaithlessBrewing.com
 
Timestamps
[3:26] Housekeeping
[5:31] Brew Session: Malcator, Purity Overseer
[7:06] Rules notes
[8:26] Key synergies
[16:44] Sketch 1: Sram’s Esper-tise
[29:22] Sketch 2: UW Tezzerator
[35:39] Sketch 3: Jeskai Saheeli Combo
[43:26] Sketch 4: 4c Saheeli Omnath
[48:23] Sketch 5: Bant Malcator Circle
[52:15] Malcator in Modern
[55:19] Flashback: Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines
[56:23] David’s GW Elesh Evolution
[1:03:24] David’s GW Elesh Ramp
[1:07:44] David’s Lotus Kiora Hellraiser 2.0
[1:19:00] Closing thoughts

We’re Gonna Have Tryouts: Modern RCQ Prep with Crabvine, Eldrazi, Shining Shoal & More

Season 17, Episode 12: Weekly Roundup
With several Modern tournaments on the horizon, Dan went deep into the weeds testing his favorite brews and tweaking out the numbers. Did any of them have what it takes to keep up with the 2023 Tier 1 Modern meta? Here’s what we tested:
Sultai Crabvine, the old standby, is the quickest graveyard deck in the format and has numerous flex slots and sideboard options. Baithook Angler and other graveyard synergy pieces overperformed in testing, but the meta is still quite hostile.
Temur HollowVine is an old strategy that got a burst of life thanks to the efforts of dackfayden_07, who cut the Asmo+Cookbook package for a more aggressive stance with Urborg Lhurgoyfs and Flameblade Adepts. The new configuration can rack up some impressive trophies, but consistency is elusive and graveyard hate is still a problem.
Eldrazi Stompy was left for dead after the Simian Spirit Guide ban, but with a little TLC Dan has achieved a solid 64% win rate with TKS and friends. This deck isn’t a meta breaker but it has some great matchups and attacks from a unique angle.
In this episode, the crew reviews Dan’s findings and identifies some other promising spice. Is Ghost Quarter the secret sauce in today’s meta? Is Shining Shoal poised to break things wide open? We discuss all this and more on today’s Faithless Brewing.
Like our content? Support us on Patreon and join our brewing community!
Decklists for this episode can be viewed at FaithlessBrewing.com
Timestamps
[2:49] Housekeeping
[3:49] Voting results
[10:06] B&R Update
[17:12] Modern Tryouts: Sultai Crabvine
[34:23] Modern Tryouts: Temur Hollow Vine
[43:41] Modern Tryouts: Eldrazi Stompy
[52:18] David’s pick: Tyvar Bastion of Remembrance Sacrifice
[58:14] Dan’s pick: Mono White Ponza by Lawson Zandi
 

ELESH NORN: Oil-Slick Brews to Challenge the Machine Orthodoxy

Season 17, Episode 11: Brew Session (Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines) + Flashback (Mindsplice Apparatus & Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler)
Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines has quickly become a Modern and Pioneer staple. She is hard to kill, interferes with opponents and supercharges all of your ETB triggers. Sure, we could throw Elesh into our 4c Omnath decks and call it a day. But why settle for just being an Elesh Normie? We’ve got oil-slick brews that will challenge the machine orthodoxy, and we are looking to put them to the test.
On the Flashback, we tested Mindsplice Apparatus in Pioneer to unlock the power of massive cost reduction. The card still needs work and the decklists are fragile, but the power is undeniable once it gets going. We also check in on Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler, which is finally finding its groove in both Modern and Pioneer after a rocky but encouraging start.
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Decklists for this episode can be viewed at FaithlessBrewing.com
Timestamps
[3:34] Housekeeping
[3:58] Brew Session: Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines
[10:50] French Obosh (Jeskai Blink)
[14:13] Heartless Summoning Elesh Norn
[18:15] 4c Omnath Elesh-mentals
[21:06] Eldritch Evolution Elesh Norn
[23:05] Omnath to Light
[23:44] David’s GW Kiora Elesh Ramp
[28:37] David’s Elesh Norn Lotus Field
[34:09] Flashback: Mindsplice Apparatus + Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler
[35:41] Temur Mindsplice Explosion
[40:11] UW Mindsplice Approach
[46:15] BG Tyvar Company
[49:00] David’s Tyvar Sidisi
[52:05] Jund Asmo Fiend Artisan
[54:16] More Tyvar decks