I'm sure it comes as a surprise to exactly 0 of you guys but I was pretty psyched up about the modern season PTQs coming around and have been testing quite a bit. I can say with absolute certainty that modern is as of right now my favorite format.
I am not a believer in
Force of Will 
as a "metagame check". What I mean by this is both legacy and vintage pretty much require a player to either be a combo deck capable of winning very quickly, be a deck that can stop the combo decks from winning quickly, or be a deck that beats decks that beat combo decks. The key cog in scenario #2 is ussually sited as
Force of Will . Pretty much the idea being that since you can force anything if it is too broken you always have the option to counter it, particularly since most of the broken stuff requires a decent amount of set up to break with 1 or two lynchpin spells to string everything together.
Well the problem with that becomes pretty obvious in that there is really only combo decks and then metagame decks that try to beat the combo decks and then meta^2 decks that try to beat those decks. Then arround and arround the drain you spin but I don't particularly like the idea. I can distinctly remember when Force rotated out of standard the first time and even though the counterspells were still outrageously overpowered compared to now, it felt like the game was finally fair. Nothing was quite so frustrating as forcing your opponent to finally tap out to wrath the board or lay a big threat and then having them force your response spell. I'm not arguing that Force of will doesn't take skill, it most certainly does. I think that a properly leveraged force just makes the game less fun.
Anyhow I am way off topic. So I have been testing an abundance of modern decks lately, and love quite a few of them honestly. Here is my little metagame overview
ComboStorm
Splinter Twin 
Melira Birthing Pod
AggroBoros
Red Deck Wins
Zoo
Affinity
Delver
ControlFaeries
Aggro-Loam
Jund
Birds with Swords
If you are reading this then you no doubt know that I feal like goblins is an untapped resource and that dredge is still very real. I'm also starting to contemplate a 5 color infect zoo deck.
Well I couldn't help myself. I went to battle with the dredge deck. I figure I've played that deck more than any other and probably more than anybody else. Why not see if it has what it takes to be a big player. So here is the list that I used.
4
Birds of Paradise 
4
Enclave Cryptologist 
4
Merfolk Looter 
4
Golgari Thug 
4
Boneyard Wurm 
4
Stinkweed Imp 
2
Skaab Ruinator 
3
Splinterfright 
4
Vengevine 
4
Faithless Looting 
1
Life From the Loam 
2
Gnaw to the Bone 
4
City of Brass 
2
Gemstone Mine 
4
Misty Rainforest 
1
Verdant Catacombs 
2
Breeding Pool 
1
Watery Grave 
1
Steam Vents 
1
Overgrown Tomb 
1
Stomping Ground 
2
Island 
1
Forest 
sideboard3
Ancient Grudge 
2
Nature's Claim 
1
Ray of Revelation 
3
Mindbreak Trap 
3
Torpor Orb 
1
Gnaw to the Bone 1
Jund Charm 
I tried endlessly to get Tjaden to talk me out of playing this monstrosity but he just wasn't up to the task. So it was game on!
Round 1 vs Seamus playing StormHe won the die roll and plays a
Gitaxian Probe 
off a shock. I then play a
Faithless Looting discarding a
Golgari Thug and a land. He does nothing and passes back. On my turn I dredge the thug getting a
Vengevine and a
Stinkweed Imp !! WOW! So I play a
Bird of Paradise 
and an
Enclave Cryptologist get a vine back and beat in. He misses another land drop so then I dredge the imp revealing another
Vengevine . I play my land and go
Boneyard Wurm into
Golgari Thug to pop #2 into play! Isn't it nice when a plan all comes together?
Game 2 I didn't get nearly as aggressive a start with the only creatures being 2 and 3 costing and only having 3 lands but he was stuck on one land again so 2 attacks from a
Splinterfright finished him off.
Round 2 vs Jeff Zandi playing JundGame 1 I got a reasonably quick hand and made him play defensive. Then eventually milled all 4 vines into my yard and stomped him in a blaze of glory (actually using the ruinator as one of the triggers too).
Game 2 I got stomped as all the milling in the world couldn't reveal anything helpful at all. (0 Vines, 0 Gnaws)
Game 3 was pretty interesting and I think it was my first play mistake of the day. It came to a point where I had a
Skaab Ruinator in play with 4 lands, while he had a
Bloodbraid Elf 
and 2
Dark Confidant 
s also with 4 lands (it was my turn 5). The life totals were 13-11 in my favor. I chose to attack, which I believe is right, he has 2x confidant so I don't want to play defensive. Now in my graveyard I had a
Faithless Looting , a
Gnaw to the Bone , and exactly 1 creature (
Vengevine ). I had 2
Stinkweed Imp s and a
Golgari Thug in my hand. The line of play that I took was flashing back the looting discarding both imps and not drawing anything I could play. I figured that this line made it irrelevant if he killed ruinator or not since I would dredge an imp and flashback gnaw for enough life that confidants would kill him first. Well he revealed a two cc spell and a land (life is 13-4 now) then used a fecth to get a shock going to 1. Cast a 2nd elf which revealed nothing of consequence (maybe thoughtseize?) and attacked for 10. Then lightning bolted me. FTW.
In retrospect I was thinking I should have just held mana up for the Gnaw, which I think would have won me the game, but I now think the correct play was to just play an Imp, that way he cannot use the bolt to kill the imp and attack with everyone and still kill me. And if the imp dies I can dredge it for big bonuses on the gnaw. Oh well, I've been telling everyone that this was the hardest deck to play out of the lot of them and I'll offer this as further proof. Just so damn many decision trees.
Round 3 vs Korey playing MeliraGame 1 he mulls to 6 and keeps a hand that goes
Birds of Paradise into
Kitchen Finks 
but I had flipped into double vines, so he didn't have the time to set up his double birthing pods to combo me out.
Game 2 he went
Melira, Sylvok Outcast 
into
Kitchen Finks but then stalled just a bit and I was able to kill melira. When the scores were 10-18 and he played a
Mikaeous, the Unhallowed 
. At which point I brought 4
Vengevine s crashing in on him to put it to 10-12. Unfortunately he had the
Chord of Calling 
for a
Viscera Seer 
that let him gain infinite life here. It was kind of funny/awkward when he called Eric Jones over to ask about how the interaction worked and kept saying that Persist and Undying countered each other and Eric would coyly say, "That's not how it works." But then he would say, "I can't tell you how to play your deck." In response to, "Well how does it work?" Good times.
So game 3 we have a pretty cool situation. I am at 15 with a vengevine, a bird, and a
splinterfright 
(7/7) in play. He is at 16 with a
Birthing Pod 
,
Melira, Sylvok Outcast ,
Kitchen Finks , and
Murderous Redcap 
in play. I have an
Ancient Grudge , 3
Faithless Looting , and 2
Vengevine in my yard. So I basically figure out that I have to beat him this turn lest he have a chord of calling or another pod in his hand. I could either try to pull the vines back or go all in on my
Splinterfright I figure that I can double flashback faithless with 2
Stinkweed Imp s in my yard so I can effectively mill myself for 25 cards this turn. He had 6 toughness in play and could block the vine so effectively 8 toughness so I needed 16+8 = 24 points of damage so the 'fright had to grow by 13 out of 25 cards. I'll take those odds any day. Well the splinterfright ended up as a 23/23 and got there!
I find it kinda funny how that game went down since I think my very best shot at winning there was
Splinterfright and I boarded that card out more than any other at the tournament but it had it's blaze of glory right there for sure.
Round 4 vs Jason playing RDWThe basic tenants of playing this deck against red is "Stall to Gnaw". So in game 1 I start doing my thing as he starts burning me down. I get a
Vengevine into play to trade with his
Keldon Marauders 
and then recur it to get in the way of his
Goblin Guide 
until I am at 6 life when I flip a
Gnaw to the Bone into the yard and gain 10. After that Vines made quick work of him.
Game 2 he plays a turn 1
Relic of Progenitus 
and proceeds to bolt me with impunity. On the key turn he has just played a
Grim Lavamancer 
and I have a level 1
Enclave Cryptologist , I have a
Golgari Thug , a
Vengevine , and 4 other creatures in the graveyard but am at 4 life. I need to make him use the relic since he had played with a land open the whole game. So I play
Gnaw to the Bone in my upkeep which he responds to by popping the relic so after that resolves I tap the cryptologist to discard a vengevine to at least get two life out of the deal. I was hoping that I could get back going but on his next turn he slaps down a
Leyline of Punishment 
and makes it jsut a matter of time until I get burned out.
Game 3 he starts with a turn 0 leyline so at least I know the stakes this time. I fill my yard up pretty full and when I am at 9 life I draw a
Nature's Claim to kill his leyline and then cast gnaw for 32 with another one in the yard. GG.
Round 5 vs Ryan playing Boros.I am on the play and get a turn one looting off while he hits turn one
Goblin Guide . He gets to attack me down to 13 before I can stick a vine in front of his guide and wait for a bit. Then I gain 34 life off a
Gnaw to the Bone and his attack back for 9 wasn't enough as 4 vines came out the next turn.
Game 2 I have an early vine fighting against his turn 1
Steppe Lynx 
. Once again I am on the trade, trade, trade, gnaw plan. He attacks me down to 4 with most of his board dead and goes for it with
Lightning Bolt 
+
Lightning Helix 
. I cast the
Gnaw to the Bone (for 6) that I had been sandbagging and on my turn flash it back so I end up at 8 life. A turn later I flip Gnaw number 2 and go up 24 more.
Round 6 vs Sam playing AggroLoamGame 1 he has a turn 1
Thoughtseize 
to steal my
Faithless Looting but I land a big
Boneyard Wurm that trumps his
Countryside Crusher 
then flip a vine into the yard ftw!
Game 2 I flip 2 vines into the yard on turn 3 and then bring them back while he plays
bojuka bog 
to steal my graveyard. Then he
Ghost Quarter 
s his own bog to play
Life from the Loam 
to get it back /sick tech. I draw a third vine and attack him to 4 as he blocks one with a 6/6 crusher. He goes down to 1 to fetch the lands to play an
Obstinate Baloth 
that moves him back up to 5 then I still have a turn to draw a one drop to get the vine back from the yard before he bogs it but pretty soon thereafter he plays a
Seismic Assault 
to go with his infinite
Bojuka Bog 
s and takes the game.
Game 3 I keep a pretty awesome hand of fetch, mine, looter, thug, imp, vine, ruinator and he mulls to 6. On turn 2 I draw a faithless looting and pop that boy down discarding the thug and imp. On his turn 2 I am met with epic sadness as he plays a
Bojuka Bog . My world comes crashing down and I'm pretty confident that i have just been whipped. I played out the rest of the round in ghost fashion. I ask him afterwards how many bogs he's playing he says one. One bog was the only thing stopping the turn 3 ruinator... (he also had 2
Jund Charm s as his only other hate) And thus are the days of our lives. Next he has
Pyroclasm 
for my looter. Anyways he crushed me with 2 crushers from there.
Round 7 vs Zack playing RDWGame one I never flip a Gnaw or a vine and he crushes me
Game two he knocks me to 12 before the gnaw (16) and conceedes with two more in the yard.
Game 3 I am at 8 when I gnaw for over 40.
ConclusionsFinish in 12th place. but I hate the world because of a turn 2 bog, could have played around it but thought the turn 3 ruinator would beat him. I'm pretty sure his only out for it is
Seismic Assault + 3x lands but I probably shouldn't have stacked my eggs quite so close to the fall. Once again infinity decisions wins me some and loses me some. But I feel like I played pretty well all in all but now I have something to look forward to being better at next time.
