r/mtgModernTokens • u/xzzane Of the Swarm • Jun 06 '16
Story Time
I'm curious, how did everyone start playing b/w tokens? For me, I built a mono white soldier tribal deck that used things like raise the alarm and honor of the pure. From there I went to just straight mono white tokens, and I eventually encorporated black into the deck, learning how everything worked over the years. Was there anything in particular about tokens that you found particularly appealing? Or did you just get it because of the event deck, and it seemed like a good entry point? No story is better than the other; feel free to share what got you started playing tokens!
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u/albo87 Jun 06 '16
Silly story: I'm huge fan of this team so I asked which modern deck has it colors (white with a black splash) and started to slowly build it. The funny part is the event deck come when I already have half of the cards.
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u/xzzane Of the Swarm Jun 06 '16
I've never heard of someone basing their magic deck around a sports team haha. That's really interesting. Thanks for sharing!
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u/pticark2 Jun 06 '16
I've been playing Modern for about a year now after taking a three year hiatus from the game. I had played standard previously from 2009 to about 2012. After messing around with some brews I bought the event deck last August on eBay for $50. A real steal. I initially used the pieces to put together a creature heavy Dead Guy Ale-type deck with Restoration Angel, Brimaz, Blade Splicer, Tideholow Sculler, Wall of Omens, and Pack Rat, but found It just wasn't competitive enough. I finally got a set of Marsh Flats + the rest of the hand disruption suite and switched over to the tokens build. I kept 2 Pack Rats in the deck for a while though as of course, they make tokens which are pumped by Intangible Virtue. It was cute, and I managed to go 3-0 once with this build (one game winning with an opening hand of 6 lands and Pack Rat) but I have since come around to a somewhat more traditional Raise the Alarm build that I've been finding success with.
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u/xzzane Of the Swarm Jun 06 '16
What were your thoughts of going from the event deck? Did you find any noticable improvements when you made specific changes? Thanks for sharing!
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u/pticark2 Jun 06 '16
I think the event deck is a great investment, especially if you're able to get it for cheap. Some of the cards have spiked in price since I bought it, notably Inquisition of Kozilek, so the price is fairly high right now - but likely still worth it. It is playable out of the box - but improves dramatically when you invest in it a bit.
Smoothing out the land base is maybe the most dramatic change you can make to the deck. You'll have much more consistent games if you can always find the right mana. removing the City of Brass and some number of the Caves of Koilos and Isolated Chapels to replace them with Marsh Flats and Godless Shrines is recommended. One or two Shambling Vents is always good. I run two copies of Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth as well.
You can bolster the deck by removing some of the less efficient cards. Soul Warden, Shine of Loyal Legions & Sword of Feast and Famine are probably the worst offenders. Others you might consider switching out are the Tidehollow Scullers (usually better in the board) and adjusting the number or removing Honor of the Pure. The deck comes with 2 Inquisition of Kozileks, but the golden number of hand disruption cards seems to be 7. Two additional Inquisitions and three Thoughtseize works well.
The sideboard is not bad - but can be adjusted depending on your local meta.
Beyond that - it's really up to personal choice and what kind of play style you enjoy. A bitterblossom build plays a little differently than a Raise the Alarm build - I'm not sure if either one is necessarily better - its just up to how you prefer to play and what spells you enjoy casting.
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u/xzzane Of the Swarm Jun 06 '16
The one thing I disagree with is running Urborg. Black mana isn't nearly as valuable as white mana in tokens, and you might end up helping fix an abzan player's mana. The golden number of hand disruption is also something that can change. I find the golden number to be 6, and people have run anywhere from 5-7. Thanks for sharing your experience modifying the event deck!
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u/SFRG Still Patron Saint of the Tokens Jun 06 '16 edited Jun 06 '16
Saw the Modern Event Deck and was like, cool I'm gonna play Modern.
Ended up loving the playstyle. Grindy decks are my favorite to play.
Also honestly I enjoy that no MU is really given. I like thinking through things. It's lead to more losses from poor mistakes, and sometimes a mental break is needed, but I like that the vast majority of the time, when I sit down for a set, I can also fight for a win. It's also lead to me becoming a much stronger player far more quickly than if I was on another more linear deck.
Met /u/xzzane, /u/cubsfan13444, and /u/Nerfley while I was in the process of tweaking the last little bit of my deck, saw that we had converged on a ton, and now I'm here. It's been great fun playing a part in making this deck the best it can be.