Much Abrew About Nothing: Forcemage Green (Modern)
Hello, everyone! Welcome to the new and improved Much Abrew About Nothing. Last week, during our Instant Deck Tech voting, Forcemage Green in Modern was by far the most popular choice. As a result, this week, we are heading to Modern to play a deck that's looking to win with a plethora of weird haste creatures like Uktabi Drake, Groundbreaker, and Timbermare, with some help from Primal Forcemage. Is this a legitimate way to build mono-green in Modern? We're about to figure it out!
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Forcemage Green: Instant Deck Tech
Forcemage Green vs. UW Humans
Forcemage Green vs. Soul Sisters
Forcemage Green vs. Infect
Forcemage Green vs. Mono-Black Tron
Forcemage Green vs. Titan Scapeshift
Forcemage Green Wrap Up
Thoughts
- All in all, we went a disappointing 2-3 with Forcemage Green, although we came extremely close to beating Mono-Black Tron before losing the top-deck war, when our opponent drew two Platinum Angels in a row.
- Looking back at the matches, I think part of the problem might be that I was (and still am, to some extent) confused over how the deck is supposed to play. It's clear that we are trying to be the aggressor in pretty much every matchup, but are we a creature-based aggro deck like Zoo, or more of a really odd combo deck? I'm still not 100% sure.
- The good news about the deck is that it can deal a ton of damage out of nowhere on Turn 4 or 5 by tutoring up Timbermare to tap down opposing blockers, followed by some number of Uktabi Drakes or a Strangleroot Geist. When things go well and we get in a bit of early damage, this one big explosion of damage can be enough to steal the game.
- The bad news is two-fold. First, our deck really doesn't function without Primal Forcemage. While we can theoretically cobble together enough damage to win without all of our haste creatures coming with a Lava Spike kicker, it's really difficult to get the opponent to zero, especially when you consider we don't really have that many real threats. Second, our deck is amazingly bad at blocking, which often leaves us in a position where we just have to attack and hope out opponent can't kill us.
- While it might make sense from a budget standpoint to play all Forests, sideboarding in Path to Exile is extremely problematic, thanks to the mana base. There were several times when I wanted to take out some number of Birds of Paradise to make room for the Path to Exiles. The problem is we don't have any lands that make white mana, so if we take out Birds of Paradise, we can't reliably cast our Path to Exiles. If I play the deck again, the first thing I'll do is add some number of of G/W duals, ideally fetches and Temple Gardens, but even Razorverge Thicket or Sunpetal Grove would help.
- I think the final verdict is that, while Forcemage Green is really unique and synergistic, it's not really all that good. In all honesty, Forcemage Green ended up feeling like a fairly competitive Against the Odds deck, rather than something I'd take to a competitive tournament. That said, apart from improving the mana base so we can cast our sideboard cards (and maybe even splash some more white cards in the sideboard, since things like Stony Silence and Rest in Peace would be free once we add some duals), I'm not sure there's much to do to improve the deck. It's a fun example of a Primal Forcemage deck, but Primal Forcemage really isn't where you want to be if you're playing Modern competitively. I'd definitely take it to an FNM for fun, but I wouldn't want to play it in a more competitive event.
Conclusion
Anyway, that's all for today! We'll be checking out sweet new Eldritch Moon decks all this week on our Instant Deck Techs, so don't forget to vote for next week's deck! 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.