Meme or Dream? Grist Insect Combo (Modern)
Hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of Meme or Dream?. Normally, Meme or Dream? features decks from Magic Arena, but today, we're heading to Modern for a deck that someone apparently used to 5-0 a Modern league because the deck is so ridiculous that it's a perfect fit for the series: Grist Insect Combo! The plan is hilarious, with our goal being to use Recross the Paths to stack Grist, the Hunger Tide and a ton of Insects on the top of our deck, draw and play the Grist, and use its +1 to mill all the Insects, which will make a massive board of 1/1 tokens and give Grist, the Hunger Tide more than enough loyalty to ultimate and (hopefully) burn the opponent out of the game the following turn! Can the plan actually work? Are Modern Insects a Meme or Dream? Let's get to the video and find out!
Meme or Dream? Grist Insect Combo
The Deck
Grist Insect Combo is hilarious. The main goal is to abuse the hidden mode of Recross the Paths. While the sorcery looks like a bad ramp spell, if you are willing to play an all-MDFC mana base so there are no "real" lands in your deck, what it actually does is allow you to stack your deck for just three mana since the revealed cards are put on the bottom of our library in any order.
When we cast Recross the Paths, we'll stack Grist, the Hunger Tide on the top of our deck. The planeswalker is technically an Insect, but more importantly, it has a +1 that makes a 1/1 Insect token and mills a card, and we get to repeat the process if that card is an Insect.
We've got 16 total Insects in our deck: four Grists, four Haywire Mites, four Molt Tenders, and four Huskburster Swarms. So, when we Recross the Paths, we stack Grist, the Hunger Tide on the top of our deck and up to 15 more Insects beneath. On the next turn, we'll draw Grist and +1, which will mill (up to) 15 Insects. This will make 15 Insect tokens, add 15 loyalty to Grist, and fill our graveyard. On the next turn, we simply attack with all of our Insect tokens for a bunch of damage, ultimate Grist, the Hunger Tide to burn our opponent equal to the number of creatures in the graveyard, and hopefully win the game on the spot! With our best draws, thanks to extra mana from Delighted Halfling and Molt Tender, we can Recross the Paths on Turn 2, Grist on Turn 3, and win on Turn 4.
Of course, since we're already playing the all-MDFC mana base, Goblin Charbelcher is too good to pass up as a backup win condition. Since our deck technically has no lands, if we can play and activate Goblin Charbelcher, we'll deal damage equal to the number of nonlands in our deck, which should deal about 40 damage and win us the game on the spot.
Wrap-Up
Did the deck work? Is Grist Insect Combo a Meme or Dream? That's a tough question to answer. We finished 3-2 with the deck, which would technically make the deck a dream, although my overall impression of the deck was that it's incredibly powerful but also incredibly inconsistent. Playing a two-color all-MDFC mana base is rough. We had several games where we had to mulligan because we didn't have the right colors of mana to cast our spells, which makes sense considering we have 12 mono-green lands and eight mono-black lands, and that's it. I could easily see someone 5-0'ing a league with the deck if they run well, but a 0-5 seems just as possible if you run poorly.
If you do decide to give the deck a try, mulligan aggressively. We technically have two one-card combo kills (assuming we can actually get the mana to cast them) in Recross the Paths and Goblin Charbelcher. We really want at least one in our opening hand and are willing to mulligan at least down to five to find one (although some Grist, the Hunger Tide hands can also work). We also have Serum Powders in our deck for extra free mulligans, which helps quite a bit. Just keep in mind that the deck needs to mulligan super aggressively for it to work.
All in all, Grist Insect Combo was one of the funniest Modern decks I've played in a while. We played a gauntlet of the best decks in the format, and while there were peaks and valleys along the way, we ended up posting a winning record, which is pretty impressive. If you are a fan of Insects or just like wacky combos, keep the deck in mind. While I don't think it's consistent enough to be tier, it is super unique and can pick up a surprising number of wins, even against the top tier of the meta!
Conclusion
Anyway, that's all for today. As always, leave your thoughts, ideas, opinions, and suggestions in the comments, and you can reach me on Twitter @SaffronOlive or at SaffronOlive@MTGGoldfish.com.
