At a recent Grand Prix, Matt Nass sleeved up this list containing two notable GW Token all-stars from Standard (Nissa, Voice of Zendikar and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar) to a Top 16 finish:
G/W TokensModern Format Creatures:10 Instants:10 Sorceries:8 Planeswalkers: 7 |
Lands: 25 3 Windbrisk Heights 4 Gavony Township 4 Windswept Heath 4 Verdant Catacombs 1 Godless Shrine 1 Overgrown Tomb 2 Temple Garden 2 Forest 2 Plains 2 Horizon CanopySideboard: 2 Burrenton Forge-Tender 2 Creeping Corrosion 2 Grafdigger’s Cage 2 Gut Shot 2 Rule of Law 3 Stony Silence 2 Timely Reinforcements |
Being able to jam a bunch of your Standard format cards into a Modern deck is always fun. It somewhat justifies playing both formats (for example, if you played Voice of Resurgence a few Standard formats ago, you’re probably happy you still have those handy). Of course, it doesn’t always happen that way (see: Siege Rhino).
Aside from the usual Modern staples that you may have from other Modern decks, the deck is not very pricey to construct with the exception of Horizon Canopy, but that can be replaced. You’ll often get a Turn 2 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar which roadblocks many many decks by simply pumping out a plant token every turn. Of course, it’s more important role here is that it buffs your token team by giving them some +1/+1 counters every so often. Who needs Honor of the Pure and co. when you have a planeswalker that gives you that little bit of extra versatility.
Gideon offers another angle of attack against decks that are not equipped to take him down (decks with no Path to Exile / Dismember). Although, with the rise of Nahiri, the Harbinger in Modern Jeskai decks, Dreadbore is now a thing.
The 1-2 Zendikar token punch!
The rest of the deck is very unsurprising really, it’s most of what we’re already used to seeing in Black/White Tokens. The only reason the black splash exists is for the Lingering Souls flashback option which comes up a lot. Like, a lot a lot! Windbrisk Heights is a little less exciting as we can’t cast a Zealous Persecution out from under it in mid-attack to change combat math and potentially wipe out some of our opponent’s board. It’s still fine value, since it gives us a free card and if that card happens to be Gavony Township then we can insta-pump our attackers as well in an uncounterable way.
Sequencing your spells for maximum damage/efficiency is very important in this deck. However, unlike most aggressive decks, it actually does very very well defensively. Don’t expect to be favored against a lot of combo decks in Game 1 though as it’s mostly a race and the deck doesn’t pack many answers to those. It’s definitely a nice deck to have in your Modern gauntlet and to try out at some of your local gaming store’s Modern events.
Brother Of Runes 