Tricky Terrain Precon Review - Modern Horizons 3

Too-Specific Top 10 - Singular Subtypes

<h6 style="text-align: right;">(<span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sunscorched Desert" href="#" target="_blank">Sunscorched Desert</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | Art by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/bumskee/">Min Yum</a>)</h6>
<h1>Introduction</h1>
<p>Your lips are cracked. Your legs throb. Despite your dehydration, your eyes water from the wind and from the stinging sand it carries. But you crest another dune. This one has somehow sent all its ice to the leeward side, as if it had been briefly deposited windward, then pushed over the apex by unrelenting, eroding winds. You take pause in your brief shelter, this softer side of a temporary mountain. Well, all mountains are temporary, this one just much more so.</p>
<p>Welcome to <em>Dual Shot</em>, the deckbuilding experiment wherein we brew two decks at the same time... in one deck. The list came before the write-up for this one, and so now I regret not doing a Deserts-matter theme inside of a Snow deck, to truly capture the strange biome of Colorado's <a href="https://www.nps.gov/grsa/index.htm">Great Sand Dunes National Park</a> in the winter - Blanca Peak, or <em>Sisnaajin<i>í</i></em>, the Sacred Mountain of the East, also called White Shell Mountain, or simply <em>The Dawn</em>, skirling snow from its great granite crown, creating the impossible phenomenon of snow-capped sand dunes.</p>
<p>I think the endless field of snow and sand and all the wet-dry winds should still be suitably embodied by a subtheme of <a href="https://edhrec.com/themes/counterspells">counterspells</a>, presented here supporting a four-color... Sand tribal deck?</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Dune-Brood Nephilim"></div></div>
<hr />
<h2>A Maze of Winds</h2>
<p>While there are regrettably no Desert shenanigans here, non-blue counterspells should prove dehydrating enough. Refer to <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/author/douglas-young/">DougY</a>'s <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/too-specific-top-10-counter-intuitive/">excellent article</a>, which expounds on many of the considerations in the generally far more limited pool of <a href="https://edhrec.com/commanders/brgw">Dune-colored</a> counters. For this list, we went with... well, all of them, nearly, and while some are terribly situational, we do employ a small coterie of cards for exchanging the less-ubiquitous parts of your hand.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Faithless Looting"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Tormenting Voice"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Cathartic Reunion"></div></div>
<p>Most of our counterspells are restricted by either color or type, which is dangerous. And unlike a counterspell-focused list in blue, we can't really run any payoffs like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Talrand, Sky Summoner" href="#" target="_blank">Talrand, Sky Summoner</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Glen Elendra Pranksters" href="#" target="_blank">Glen Elendra Pranksters</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, or <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Guile" href="#" target="_blank">Guile</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. Instead, here they're more meant to keep our primary theme alive and running: wide, combative tokens. With any luck, your commander will breathe a Desert into being, and your counterplay will keep the sands shifting.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__deck mtgh"><span class="edhrecp__deck-s" name="Pocket Sand" site="edhrec" archidekt_link="" cards="[Commander]
*1 Dune-Brood Nephilim
[/Commander]
[Creatures]
*1 Order of the Sacred Torch
*1 Stromgald Cabal
*1 Unyaro Griffin
*1 Thrull Wizard
*1 Vexing Shusher
*1 Vile Aggregate
*1 Emmara Tandris
*1 Veteran Explorer
*1 Arboreal Grazer
*1 Courser of Kruphix
*1 Suspicious Bookcase
*1 Dauthi Trapper
[/Creatures]
[Instants]
*1 Avoid Fate
*1 Autumn&#039;s Veil
*1 Guttural Response
*1 Illumination
*1 Lapse of Certainty
*1 Mana Tithe
*1 Dawn Charm
*1 Dash Hopes
*1 Withering Boon
*1 Burnout
*1 Mages&#039; Contest
*1 Molten Influence
*1 Red Elemental Blast
*1 Pyroblast
*1 Artifact Blast
*1 Warping Wail
*1 Atarka&#039;s Command
*1 Deathsprout
*1 Faithless Looting
*1 Tormenting Voice
[/Instants]
[Sorceries]
*1 Gruesome Slaughter
*1 Swarm Surge
*1 Kodama&#039;s Reach
*1 Cultivate
*1 Rampant Growth
*1 Nature&#039;s Lore
*1 Summer Bloom
*1 Three Visits
*1 Boundless Realms
*1 Scapeshift
*1 Reprocess
*1 Decimate
*1 Extinction Event
*1 Wreak Havoc
*1 Cathartic Reunion
[/Sorceries]
[Artifacts]
*1 Sphinx-Bone Wand
*1 Forsaken Monument
*1 Fellwar Stone
*1 Arcane Signet
*1 Akroma&#039;s Memorial
[/Artifacts]
[Enchantments]
*1 Lifeforce
*1 Deathgrip
*1 Anointed Procession
*1 Parallel Lives
*1 Intangible Virtue
*1 Cathars&#039; Crusade
*1 Glorious Anthem
*1 Gaea&#039;s Anthem
*1 Primal Rage
[/Enchantments]
[Lands]
*1 Rogue&#039;s Passage
*1 Cascading Cataracts
*1 City of Brass
*1 Survivors&#039; Encampment
*1 Krosan Verge
*1 Myriad Landscape
*1 Blighted Woodland
*1 Naya Panorama
*1 Savage Lands
*1 Nomad Outpost
*1 Ash Barrens
*1 Evolving Wilds
*1 Exotic Orchard
*1 Tarnished Citadel
*1 Spire of Industry
*1 Rupture Spire
*1 Command Tower
*5 Plains
*5 Swamp
*5 Mountain
*6 Forest
[/Lands]"></span></div>

<hr />
<h2>Erosion</h2>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dune-Brood Nephilim" href="#" target="_blank">Dune-Brood Nephilim</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> isn't exactly legendary. More on that later. For now, our primary strategy is connecting with our commander, making lots of coarse, rough, irritating stuff, and getting it everywhere. To that end, we want lots of lands out. That means we're prioritizing land-grabbing sorceries over mana rocks. This also means that bounce lands are out. Instead, we'll run lands that function in quite the opposite fashion.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Blighted Woodland"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Myriad Landscape"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Krosan Verge"></div></div>
<p>Once you're generating some quartz, it's up to <a href="https://edhrec.com/themes/anthems">anthem</a> effects to make your sand worth reckoning. To that end, we're including <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Gaea&#039;s Anthem" href="#" target="_blank">Gaea&#039;s Anthem</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Glorious Anthem" href="#" target="_blank">Glorious Anthem</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Cathars&#039; Crusade" href="#" target="_blank">Cathars&#039; Crusade</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Forsaken Monument" href="#" target="_blank">Forsaken Monument</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Intangible Virtue" href="#" target="_blank">Intangible Virtue</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. For additional width, this list enjoys the company of <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Parallel Lives" href="#" target="_blank">Parallel Lives</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Anointed Procession" href="#" target="_blank">Anointed Procession</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, but since those two cards together cost as much as a PlayStation 4 wireless controller in the default jet black, consider replacing the pair with tools for added height instead - things like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Akroma&#039;s Will" href="#" target="_blank">Akroma&#039;s Will</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Collective Blessing" href="#" target="_blank">Collective Blessing</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, or <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Glory of Warfare" href="#" target="_blank">Glory of Warfare</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. Speaking of costly replacements, an anthem like one of the former, or even a lord (and multitool) like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Trostani Discordant" href="#" target="_blank">Trostani Discordant</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, will make an easy substitution for <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Akroma&#039;s Memorial" href="#" target="_blank">Akroma&#039;s Memorial</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, which on its own costs as much as Animal Crossing: New Leaf for the Nintendo 3DS.</p>
<p>The fact is that there are a few dehydrating cards in this list, as far as one's wallet's water levels are concerned. Since we used basically every counterspell we had access to, fleshing out the token strategy seems most immediately obvious when considering substitutions - but also try advancing looting, rummaging, and wheeling techniques as a means of cycling through the color- or type-specific counters that might be dead in your hand in a given game or situation.</p>
<p>Now that the body of the brew is sufficiently smoothed by the sands of time, it's time to crack open the commander and color identity with a bit of freezing water.</p>
<p>Not every playgroup is going to let you run a Nephilim. And that's alright, because only a slight change in management is required to facilitate some rule-following. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Tana, the Bloodsower" href="#" target="_blank">Tana, the Bloodsower</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> does a superb impression of Ravnica's resident sand-monster. Saprolings are green, however, so that would mean swapping out things like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Vile Aggregate" href="#" target="_blank">Vile Aggregate</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Swarm Surge" href="#" target="_blank">Swarm Surge</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Forsaken Monument" href="#" target="_blank">Forsaken Monument</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. Perhaps for <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Tendershoot Dryad" href="#" target="_blank">Tendershoot Dryad</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Thelonite Hermit" href="#" target="_blank">Thelonite Hermit</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Rith, the Awakener" href="#" target="_blank">Rith, the Awakener</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>?</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Vile Aggregate"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Swarm Surge"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Forsaken Monument"></div></div>
<p>As for the Orzhov partner, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ravos, Soultender" href="#" target="_blank">Ravos, Soultender</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> acts as a decent lord, but his graveyard recursion falls somewhat flat in this creature-light list. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Tymna the Weaver" href="#" target="_blank">Tymna the Weaver</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> plays nicely with an army of Saprolings, and card draw means you're more likely to have a relevant counterspell in hand. One more thing to keep in mind, should we decide to button up our shirts and run actual legendary creatures as commanders, is that Tana's token-generation is not land-dependent, but rather damage-dependent, so the land ramp package that was prepared for Dune-Brood is less synergistic in this new context. But beyond that, scarcely any tinkering should be required. There should be plenty of anthem effects in the brew to skirt the need for a Voltron strategy in support of Tana, although a pair of boots couldn't hurt.</p>
<hr />
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>Given enough time, even mountains are ground to dust. It's strange that the mounds of memory that are left behind do a decent impression of the stone they were hewn from. And like memory, the sands pile up, shift, and change, pushing their gradients into the neighboring peaks and dusty valleys. It's those surreal moments, often caught up in the landscape, that make us question the veracity of our experiences and our expectations. Sand and snow. Uh, tokens and counterspells. Hmm, really gotta try that Snow/Desert idea out.</p>
<p>That's all for this edition! When have you brewed with commanders that aren't quite commanders? How do you feel about the Nephilim? What are your opinions on sand? Let us know in the comments below! Till next time.</p>


desert

Tricky Terrain Precon Review - Modern Horizons 3

Too-Specific Top 10 - Singular Subtypes

Dual Shot - The Great Sands