Pojo's Magic The Gathering news, tips, strategies and more!

Pojo's MTG
MTG Home
Message Board
News & Archives
Deck Garage
BMoor Dolf BeJoSe

Columnists
Paul's Perspective
Jeff Zandi
DeQuan Watson
Jordon Kronick
IQ
Aburame Shino
Rare Hunter
Tim Stoltzfus
WiCkEd
Judge Bill's Corner


Trading Card
Game

Card of the Day
Guide for Newbies
Decks to Beat
Featured Articles
Peasant Magic
Fan Tips
Tourney Reports


Other
Color Chart
Book Reviews
Online Play
MTG Links
Staff



 



BMoor's Magic The Gathering Deck Garage
Eric's Arcbound deck
September 10, 2007

Last time a Sunburst deck, today a Modular deck.  I do so love those quirky one-set mechanics that spawn decklists of their own.  And I loved Mirrodin block, which might explain my unnatural fondness for Scry...
i have been working on this arcbound deck for years... like seriously at
least 3 years and lots of money has already gone into this deck. it's really
good but my friends who have only been playing for like two years still
manage to beat me on a fairly regular basis. i like to check your website
for good deck ideas but couldn't find an arcbound deck that rivaled mine. it
mainly relies on the arcbound crushers getting extremely strong... but i'm
sure you wil notice some other underlying strategies... maybe you can give
me some advice (money is NOT an issue)... here it is as it stands:

(19 creatures)
4 Arcbound Crusher
3 Arcbound Slith
3 Arcbound Stonger
3 Arcbound Worker
2 Arcbound Reclaimer
2 Arcbound Ravager
1 Mycosynth Golem
1 Duplicant

(6 sorceries)
2 Fabricate
4 Thoughtcast

(4 instants)
4 Counterspell

(6 artifacts)
2 Sensei's Divining Top
3 Energy Chamber
1 Crystal Shard

(6 equipments)
2 Loxodon Warhammer
2 Skullclamp
2 Cranial Plating

(20 lands)
4 Seat of Synod
16 Islands


i don't know how everyone manages to beat me all the time... in fact i just
did an overhaul shopping spree to make it better... but i still get beat on
a regular basis... so please help me out...

thank you,
eric warren
Ahh, the Modular archetype.  You're in luck, Eric, because I used to have a Modular deck of my own that worked quite similarly to this one.  The Silver Bullet, I used to call it...
 
But that's me, and it's your deck we're here to talk about.  To begin with, the key to a Modular deck is using the best Arcbound creatures.  Crusher is definitely up there due to its Quirion Dryad-like ability.  Stinger and Worker are also good choices because you want to always be adding creatures to the board, and so you'll need some cheap ones.  Reclaimer is a valuable add, and of course Ravager is the one that put Modular on the map.  Slith... is passable, I guess, since it can add more counters to itself, but without some sort of evasion, it may have trouble getting through.  I would, however, recommend replacing Mycosynth Golem with Arcbound Overseer for more +1/+1 counter action, and Duplicant with Arcbound Fiend for more evasion and counter manipulation.
 
Speaking of counter manipulation, I'd like to see some more of that in your noncreature spells.  Energy Chamber is a good start, but add to that some Power Conduits.  They can replace Loxodon Warhammer, which is just a bit expensive for what it does.  Speaking of expensive, I'd prefer you to drop Thoughtcast.  Yes, it has affinity for artifacts, but that could backfire, and you've already got all the card drawing you need from Skullclamp and Sensei's Divining Top.  Drop the Thoughtcast, and replace it with two more Fabricate and two more lands.  Twenty lands just isn't enough, and I suspect that may be the reason this deck isn't performing up to speed.
 
Finally, as fun as Crystal Shard looks, it isn't as effective as we'd like it to be.  That little "unless its controller pays 1" phrase seriously nerfs it.  I'd replace that with an extra Divining Top, Energy Chamber, or the fourth Arcbound Stinger.  More Modular creatures = good.
 
Finally, for extra sneakiness, replace four Islands with four Vault of Whispers, the black artifact land.  This will hardly phase your mana base, since so many of your cards are artifacts and can take any color of mana.  It will also let you use Cranial Plating's instant-attach ability for some troublesome combat phases.  Once you've got that online, I expect the game to be over in two turns.
 
Good luck!
 
~BMoor


 

Copyright© 1998-2007 pojo.com
This site is not sponsored, endorsed, or otherwise affiliated with any of the companies or products featured on this site. This is not an Official Site.