Welcome to this week’s edition of Deck of the Week. Modern will be receiving the focus this week, with many players turning their attention towards Grand Prix Lille. So what is the master-piece I have chosen this week, you may be asking, well it’s time Modern had an evolution, a Kiki-Evolution:

Kiki-Evolution – 69th Place SCG Tour #Syracuse

Jeff Hoogland

This list is the latest out of the deck factory that is Jeff Hoogland, arguably one of the better innovators in the Modern format. So let’s take a closer look at the elements that make up this deck:

The Creatures

There are less mana dorks in this list, compared to traditional Chord of Calling lists, with only 4 Birds and 1 Noble Hierarch. This is due to the lower amount of mana you need to seek out your combo pieces as Eldritch Evolution will normally only cost you 3 mana. These creatures can be ‘upgraded’ into Orzhov Pontiff, Anafenza or Eternal Witness which can, in turn, be converted into a Kiki-Jiki or a Reveillark (if additional value is needed!).

The ‘engine cards’ are Voice of Resurgence, an already excellent card in it’s own right, and Wall of Omens. Both of these cards can be sacrificed to Evolution to grab out one of the important 4 drop creatures in Pia and Kiran, Obstinate Baloth or Restoration Angel to start out grinding out the game or to finish off your opponent with your combo.

There are 10 ‘one-of’ creatures in this deck that can be tuned for the metagame that is expected, you can also choose to drop the black in favour of blue and add cards such as Glen Elendra, Archmage, Izzet Staticaster and Deceiver Exarch. This really is the definition of a creature toolbox deck.

The Spells

To be fair, there are not that many spells in this deck and you wouldn’t expect there to be with the deck revolving around the creatures. Chord of Calling and Eldritch Evolution are the combo seekers and underpin the strategy, as well as being the namesakes of the various deck archetypes. The introduction of Evolution has allowed the deck to move away from being an all-in ‘combo deck’ and allows it to play the value creature game better, and for longer, than most other decks.

Path to Exile is the catch-all removal spell, with the drawback of slightly ramping your opponent’s mana, it is arguable the most efficient removal spell in modern and therefore no surprise it is found in the value deck.

The Sideboard

Engineered Explosives is the sweeper of choice and allows you to spend your mana on one turn and have it waiting around for future use. The obvious downside is that it can be removed, if not used on the same turn it’s cast, a potential risk in a format where every little bit of mana needs to be accounted for.

An additional copy of Path, as well as 2 Lightning Helix, can also be found in the board giving your deck additional play against other ‘fair’ decks in the format. The life-gained from Helix can be invaluable against more aggressive strategies such as Burn or Zoo and may give you the extra turn you need to finish off your opponent.

The rest of the sideboard is made up of creatures that can be tutored for and allow you to customise your toolbox post-board to beat your opponent most efficiently. Again these creatures can be  customised to your expected metagame for example if there is a lot of burn in your area you may want a Kor Firewalker or some Kitchen Finks.

The Future

Whilst the flexibility of the deck means it will always be changing from week to week, metagame to metagame, I feel the future of the deck will lie with which combo works best with Eldritch Evolution and whether it is best to pair it with Chord of Calling or Collected Company.

I’ll be sure to sleeve this up for some PPTQ action over the weekend, and it is definitely a contender to be my GP deck in Lille, so I’m sure I’ll be back at some point in the near future with further analysis on this deck.

Do you have a deck that you want featured? Be sure to let me know in the comments below! I’ll be back next week with my Weekend Review and a brand new Deck of the Week.