Modern is a fascinating format. It amazes me how the metagame can change so fast and how the decks can go from unplayable to very good in a matter of weeks. I consider myself very deeply immersed in this format, I’ve been playing it since it was released and I’ve tried almost every possible strategy and even with that I am not locked in on any one deck or archetype. Recently I’ve been playing this version of the Taxes deck:

MAINDECK

4 Aether Vial
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Concealed Courtyard
3 Dark Confidant
4 Eldrazi Displacer
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Flickerwisp
4 Ghost Quarter
1 Godless Shrine
4 Leonin Arbiter
4 Path to Exile
2 Plains
2 Shambling Vent
1 Swamp
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Tidehollow Sculler
3 Wasteland Strangler

SIDEBOARD

1 Aven Mindcensor
2 Fatal Push
3 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
2 Orzhov Pontiff
2 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
2 Surgical Extraction

I had very good results with it online. I managed to win the MTGO Modern Challenge this weekend, finish 7-2 in the PTQ (losing a 75 cards mirror to a friend) and posted a few 5-0’s in leagues with it.

The idea of the deck is simple, try to disrupt our opponents hand and mana base and beat down with our creatures.

MANA BASE

Aether Vial is the best mana source of the deck, it allows us to do tricky plays with the Flickerwisp or to flash Tidehollow Sculler or Thought-Knot seer on our opponents draw step.

Ghost Quarter, there are a lot of useful lands in modern that we would like to destroy and also the synergy with the Leonin Arbiter effectively makes them become Strip Mines.

As many dual lands as we can! It is worth noting that the Caves of Koilos has extra value for being a triple land, and the Eldrazi Temples will give us crazy starts ramping the Eldrazi out as early as possible.

REMOVAL

Path to Exile, the most efficient removal in modern only gets better when you factor in the synergy with Leonin Arbiter.

Wasteland Strangler, it isn’t only a Skinrender for 3 mana, it is much more. The ability to put cards from our opponents exile in to their graveyard make the Tidehollow Scullers better and also allow us to Vindicate any permanent in combination with the Flickerwisp.

I won this game by flickering the Blood Moon and then processing it to the graveyard.

HAND DISRUPTION

Tidehollow Sculler on turn 2 and Thought-Knot Seer on 3-4 if we have the Temple makes the deck stronger when compares to other Taxes style decks. Having the option to disrupt all straegies, and also with the added utility of blinking them with the Flickerwisp or Eldrazi Displacer in the draw step can lock decks like ramp from drawing their win conditions.

LAND DISRUPTION

Leonin Arbiter is amazing in a world full of fetchlands and also in combination with the Ghost Quarters as I mentioned before.

Thalia, Guardian of Thraben in a deck with few non-creature spells means it has no real downside for us, meanwhile  it is slowing down our opponents. Furthermore if we have managed to stripe mine them they are unlikely to be able to resolve any significant spells. This card can also win by itself against decks like Storm or Ad Nauseam.

ADVANTAGE

Basically our source of  advantage are the Dark Confidants giving us more cards and the Flickerwisp/Eldrazi Displacers blinking creatures to rebuy triggers.

SIDEBOARD

Nothing new, playing white in modern means that you have access to Stony Silence and Rest in Peace which are very powerful cards after sideboard against certain strategies like Affinity or Grixis Death Shadow.

Gideon, Ally of Zendikar against control and slow midrange decks.

Surgical Extraction against Valakut mainly and combo decks. Alternatively these can be Thoughtseizes instead.

SIDEBOARD GUIDE

RG Valakut

-3 Wasteland Strangler +2 Surgical Extraction +1 Aven Mindcensor

Burn

-3 Dark Confidant +2 Fatal push +1 Aven Mindcensor

Grixis Death Shadow

-3 Wasteland Strangler -1 Thought-Knot Seer +2 Fatal push +2 Rest in peace

Eldrazi Tron

-4 Thalia +2 Stony Silence +2 Fatal Push

UR Gift Storm

-4 Flickerwisp -1 Eldrazi Displacer -1 Path to Exile -1 Wasteland Strangler +2 Rest in peace +1 Grafdigger’s Cage +2 Fatal Push +2 Orzhov Pontiff

Affinity

-4 Leonin Arbiter -1 Thalia -2 Thought-Knot Seer +2 Stony Silence +2 Fatal Push +2 Orzhov Pontiff +1 Aven Mindcensor

Uwx Control

-4 Path to Exile +3 Gideon +1 Aven Mindcensor

Bgx midrange

-2 Thalia – 2 Wasteland Strangler +2 Fatal Push +2 Gideon

Abzan CoCo

-4 Thalia -1 Thought-Knot Seer +2 Fatal Push +1 Grafdigger’s Cage +2 Orzhov Pontiff

Dredge

-4 Thought-Knot Seer -1 Wasteland Strangler +2 Rest in Peace +2 Surgical Extraction +1 Grafdigger’s Cage

Basic Tricks

If you are planning to play this deck here are a few tricks that you should have in mind:

• Use Flickerwisp on end steps so that the exiled permanent will remain out of the game for the next turn.
• Vial in discard creatures on your opponents draw step
• Use blink effects in response to a Tidehollow to exile 2 cards(one forever!)
• Be extra careful with the triggers!
• Stack triggers so that you can see what card Dark Confidant gives you before deciding to put a counter on your Aether Vial.
• Blink the Arbiter after your opponent had paid 2 before a fetch so it will be a new effect.
• Use the Wasteland Strangler targeting itself to counter suspended cards.

I hope you liked the article and feel free to ask any question on the comments, see you at Nationals in Derby.