Deck and Sideboard Guide 1/5/2024

Hello hello hello everyone, and welcome back to Modern, the home of Amulet and Yawgmoth *insert vomit emoji*. The bad news is that Amulet and Yawgmoth are 2 of the top decks. The good news is that we are also seeing Rhinos, Tron, Rakdos Scam, and Murktide have a resurgence.

I will say that I am still quite happy with the Yawgmoth matchup right now. Between 3 Totems, 4 Solitude, and 4 Surge post-board, it means we have what I feel to be a favorable matchup at this point. I went deep into the lab the last couple weeks to figure out the best way to approach the Titan matchup.

Also, as a note I’ve gone ahead and updated the order of the columns in the SB guide to reflect the popularity of the matchup.

***Echoing last month’s disclaimer, make sure to adjust your mid-match decisions based on the specifics of any list you face and use this as a guideline, rather than a hard and fast rule! Sometimes vibes > guide.***

• January Configuration
• Sideboard Guide

Current Deck Configuration Notes:

-3 Thopter - Similarly to last month, I experimented with a 4th thopter to slightly increase the average speed of the deck and increase the potential of turn 2/turn 3 kills. I tried cutting the 2nd Forge Anew, 2nd Giver,  moving Needle/Surge/Solitude to the SB, or even cutting a Springleaf drum to make room. None of those felt quite good enough, and I’m happy with where we landed.

-Giver of Runes - Giver has always been solid, but I like the card even more now that we can’t get Fury’ed out of the game by throwing down giver + other threats.

-Esper Sentinel - Card has gotten notably better with less fury running around, and it continues to choke the mana of decks like Rhinos, Murktide, Scam, and any other control shell.

-Nettlecyst - If our challenging matchups are Yawg and Titan, Cyst is the last place I want to be.

-Strict Proctor - Trust me, I *tried* to cut this card. It is a bit more limited in its effect on the format, but the stupid flying teacher continues to be our best piece of hate for Amulet Titan. With how popular that deck has become, I am hard-pressed to play fewer than 3 copies.

-Cursed Totem - Yawgmoth has adopted usually 1 Reclamation Sage, and sometimes 1 Crime//Punishment to try and fight the totems that people are now playing to hard target it. That said, we have surge to protect the totem, and it is incredibly difficult for them to reliably kill totem more than once in any given game. As long as Yawg stays as popular as it is, I like having 3+ totems, and am more likely to run 4 than I am to run 2.
**Note that when you board in Totem: Giver, Gingerbrute, SFM activation, Paradise Mantle, and double Inkmoth activations are largely shut off (which is why you will see some more wonky sb’ing than usual). Additionally, if you are not expecting much Yawg/Scales, I would certainly play 1-2 of Totem max.

-Pithing Needle(s) - While drawing needle game 1 in a matchup you don’t like to see it is terrible, having the effective five copies (urza’s sagas are copies 2-5) against decks like Yawgmoth, Hardened Scales, and Titan is really worth a lot of equity in those game 1 situations. As such, I find the access to it game 1 is worth the risk of drawing it in a bad spot.

-3 Drannith - The more I tested the Rhinos matchup, the less I liked having 4 Dranniths. Unlike Living End, where Drannith + protection is typically lights out, Rhinos can fight through a Drannith, and even flash in Tidebinders/Subtlety to block them. As Living End is seeing a decline again, I am comfortable going down to 3 Dranniths.

-2/2 Solitude//Surge split - With Yawg, Titan, Scam, and Murktide all having a continual upswing, access to Solitude game 1 has proven to be more and more valuable.

-2 Mana Tithe - There are a LOT of decks tapping out for their spells every turn, most notably of which are Rhinos and Scam. Limit when you are bringing in the card, as it has a very specific use, and try to ensure that you don’t overly rely on it. Generally I like firing off Tithe on the first thing it can hit and just getting value. That said, against Scam it also has the upside of being a white card for Solitude.