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MAGIC THE GATHERING DECK TECH: MODERN ALLIES


Para-DX

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Want to try Modern format but unsure what to play? Don't wish to spend 100 bucks on just one card? Ain't liking the metagame in the format? Fret not, i have one deck just for casual players that you can play during FNMs at your local game store - and that's the Modern Allies deck.

 

Decklist: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/633558#paper

 

What is Allies? It is a creature tribal first introduced in the original Zendikar block, then got reinforced in Battle for Zendikar block (although i would say the support cards in BFZ are subpar compared to its original block set). Allies varies from different colors on the planes of Zendikar, fighting the invaders, Eldrazis, who sworn to obliterate the planes. But we won't be going towards that story. Maybe sometime later?

 

Okay, back to topic, so what does this Allies deck i proposed today does? Simple, it is an all-in combination which focuses of dumping all your Allies creatures to the field while milling your opponent's deck. You didn't heard it wrong - it is a mill deck (i am sure some lurking MTG players would love this deck for sure.)

 

How do we mill our opponent then? By using this card:

 

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Halimar Excavator is a 2-mana 1/3 blue Human Wizard Ally creature that says "Whenever himself or another Ally creature enters the battlefield under your control, target player put X cards from the top of his/her library to the graveyard, where X is the amount of Allies you control."

 

So the plan is, we get this creature down by turn 2, and pray for the best that we can outdo our opponent and eventually close the game with the milling plan. However, you must be thinking, what if Halimar Excavator dies and the plan might be foiled? Rest assured, because the next 2 cards imma show you, will ensure even if the plans got disrupted, we can still recover from it and steal the win.

 

"Photocopiers":

 

 

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Jwari Shapeshifter is a 2-mana 0/0 blue Shapeshifter Ally creature that allow itself to copy any Ally creature you control, meaning you can cast this creature and copy Halimar Excavator, triggering its ability and start milling your opponent's deck. Phantasmal Image, on the other side, does the same job like the Shapeshifter Ally but with it comes with an additional upside: you can copy literally anything on the field, as long as that creature have an Enter-The-Battlefield ability. However, it is advised that you should only copy your opponent's creature out of dire situation (example if you didn't have Halimar Excavator on the field).

 

So what if your milling plan fails because your opponent could exile Halimar Excavator before you can start the milling trigger? That is where a backup plan pop up.

 

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Kalastria Healer is a 2-mana 1/2 black Vampire Cleric Ally creature that says "whenever Kalastria Healer or another Ally creature enters the battlefield under your control, each opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life".

 

Don't belittle this card because when i first started Magic in Standard, i was defeated by this card badly. The lifedrain is no joke as if you can't have an answer to it, you are gonna lose to this common card. Kalastria Healer also acts as our backup Ally for the whole deck, if our Halimar Excavator got removed from.the game somehow. And note this, Kalastria Healer says "each opponent", so spells like Leyline of Sancity or Runed Halo can't prevent the trigger as it doesn't target our opponent ONLY.

 

Okay, i covered about the whole plan. What if your opponent drops a boardwipe like Damnation or Wrath of God, will you lose? My answer is no, because these 2 cards below, would make the deck resilient to boardwipe or wrath spells.

 

 

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Rally the Ancestors is a white Instant that cost 2 white mana and X mana, which X represent the amount of mana you would paid to cast this spell as an additional cost. What does it do? It returns to play each creature in your graveyard that costs X converted mana cost or less. Meaning? By paying 4 mana, you get to return all 2-mana costed creatures from your graveyard to play, and that includes the copiers as well, allowing you to redo all the milling and lifedraining over and over again.

 

Return to the Ranks is a slightly worse Rally, but it does have something better: Convoke, meaning you can use your creatures as the mana source to cast this spell. However, since it is a sorcery speed spell, you might wanna play this when your opponent tapped out of all his/her mana, otherwise, it would get fizzled quite hard, compared to Rally.

 

Supporting Allies:

 

 

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Hada Freeblade is a 1-mana 0/2 white Human Soldier Ally that gets bigger each time you drop himself or another Ally onto the battlefield; Ondu Cleric is a 2-mana 1/1 Kor Cleric Ally that nets you massive lifegain; and finally, Mirror Entity is our beatstick and being a Changeling meaning it is a Ally creature the moment it enters the battlefield, pumping up either Hada Freeblade, or simply, triggering either Halimar Excavator or Kalastria Healer, getting the main priority done. Mirror Entity could also buff up our creatures if needed, aggressively.

 

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Path to Exile is our only removal in maindeck, to deal with pesky creatures like Death's Shadow, Tarmogoyf and other potential threatening creatures in Modern that would fold the deck's plans. Of course, we are running only 3 copies because not alot of times, you will run into aggressive, creature-heavy decks in Modern (examples are Scapeshift, Titan Breach and other combo decks which doesn't focus on using alot of creatures).

 

Manabase:

 

 

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Unless Standard, where you can skimp on the manabase if you don't feel like spending 100 bucks just on the lands, it is not advisable to do the same in Modern, as the format is faster than Standard. Tapped lands would only get you the disadvantage and might even miss the combo if you don't have the right mana for the spells you want to cast.

 

As for sideboard, i had them linked in the full decklist posted above. One thing to pay attention in the sideboard is the card named Echoing Truth, a 2-mana blue instant that reads "return target nonland permanent and other nonland permanent that shares the same name back to its owner's hand". That instant speed evasion could provide protection for your combo pieces if needed and allowing you to recast them later.

 

Overall, i would say this deck could lose to major tier 1 decks in Modern, but overall, it is a fun deck and who knows? It could even end up in the Top 8 of any upcoming Modern sanctioned tournaments, if someone dares to bring it to the tournaments and steal some spotlights.

 

That's all, folks. Do you have any deck ideas would you want me to make next? Leave a comment below and let me know what do you think of this Modern deck.

 

Sent from my GT-I9506 using OneHallyu mobile app

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