Sunday, August 31, 2014

[Modern] What new decks will be viable thanks to the allied colored Fetchlands from Onslaught?

First, our glossary of terms:

Onslaught fetch lands

Flooded Strand (White/Blue)
Polluted Delta (Blue/Black)
Bloodstained Mire (Black/Red)
Wooded Foothills (Red/Green)
Windswept Heath (Green/White)

Shards from these fetch lands

Bant (White/Green/Blue)
Esper (Blue/White/Black)
Grixis (Black/Blue/Red)
Jund (Red/Black/Green)
Naya (Green/Red/White)

If we start with the decks in Legacy that currently use the allied Fetchlands, using http://www.mtggoldfish.com (awesome site, go check it out, free plug, I use it ALL the time):

Flooded Strand (White/Blue)


Polluted Delta (Blue/Black)


Bloodstained Mire (Black/Red)


Wooded Foothills (Red/Green)


Windswept Heath (Green/White)


And here are the Modern builds that I think are worth considering:

1. UWR Miracles (Flooded Strand) {this is why I love Avacyn Restored}
2. BUG and Shardless BUG (Polluted Delta)
3. ANT <Ad Nauseam Tendrils> (Bloodstained Mire and Wooded Foothills)
4. [Naya-like] Elves (Wooded Foothills and Windswept Heath)

But UWR is already a deck in Modern, and so is BUG. ANT has cards banned in Modern. We are left with Naya Elves.

How are we covering the shards other than Naya so far?

Esper: is in Esper Stoneblade, but the key cards are banned in Modern.
Bant, Grixis and Jund are MIA (missing in action) as leading decks in legacy. Affinity could be considered Grixis, but not really. Jund is already a thing in Modern, and can only be helped by the allied Fetchlands

Bottom line: build Modern decks for each of the Shards of Alara awaiting the allied fetchlands, with the exception of Jund, which is already "a thing" and I don't have a playset of Liliana of the Veil laying around.