Much Abrew: Awaken the Woods (Modern)

Hello, everyone! Welcome to another episode of Much Abrew About Nothing. This week, we're heading to Modern to see how many Dryad Arbor #273s it takes to compete in the format by trying to cast the biggest Awaken the Woods #170 Foil ever! Our deck's goal is simple: ramp a bunch, cast massive Awaken the Woods #170 Foil, and finish our opponent off, either with Dryad Arbor #273 beats or with the help of the biggest, baddest Dino in Magic: Zacama, Primal Calamity #296! Can Awaken the Woods #170 Foil work in Modern? Let's get to the video and find out on today's Much Abrew About Nothing!

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Much Abrew: Awaken the Woods

Discussion

• Record-wise, we ended up going 3-2 in a Modern league with Awaken the Woods #170 Foil. On one hand, posting a winning record with a super-strange rogue deck is solid. On the other, it was a bit disappointing considering that we started off our league 3-0 before dropping our last two matches. Still, all things considered, Awaken the Woods #170 Foil was better than I had expected.
• As far as the deck's plan, it's all about Awaken the Woods #170 Foil. Of course, for Awaken the Woods #170 Foil to be good, we need to do some ramping before we cast it. At four mana, Awaken the Woods #170 Foil is medium; at five or six, it becomes decent; and at seven plus, it becomes exciting. Thankfully, we have a couple of unique Modern ramp packages to help us make as many Dryad Arbor #273s as possible with Awaken the Woods #170 Foil. First, we have Cleansing Wildfire #137 with Flagstones of Trokair #278. If we manage to blow up our own Flagstones with Cleansing Wildfire #137, we essentially get an upgraded Rampant Growth #199 that also draws us a card since we'll get one land from Cleansing Wildfire #137 and another from Flagstones of Trokair #278. Our second ramp plan is Blood Sun #92 with Lotus Field #249. If we can play Blood Sun #92 first, we won't have to sacrifice lands when Lotus Field #249 enters the battlefield, which makes Lotus Field #249 one of the most busted lands in Magic by tapping to add three mana of any color!
• So, let's assume we do some ramping and start making Dryad Arbor #273s with Awaken the Woods #170 Foil. How do we actually use them to win the game? Well, our plan A is to use Eternal Witness #227 and Timeless Witness #274 to get Awaken the Woods #170 Foil back from our graveyard to cast it two or three times. While the first Awaken the Woods #170 Foil is good, the second one is usually devastating since we can use the mana from all the Dryad Arbor #273s the first copy made to cast the second with a massive X, in theory making enough 1/1s to win the game with Dryad Arbor #273 beats. If that doesn't work, we can also win with Zacama, Primal Calamity #296 or by using Titania's Command #194 to put two +1/+1 counters on all of our Dryad Arbor #273 tokens, turning them into solid 3/3 threats.
• Speaking of Titania's Command #194, it's actually really solid in the deck because, along with being graveyard hate and a finisher, it can grab two copies of Lotus Field #249 with the help of Awaken the Woods #170 Foil, which, assuming we have a Blood Sun #92 on the battlefield, will make a massive six mana!
• Overall, I really like the idea of the deck, and considering we posted a winning record, it is solid enough in its current format. But I think a couple of things about it can be improved. First, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar #29 felt really bad. I'm not sure it's really Modern playable anymore, and doubly so in a deck like this that doesn't exactly flood the board early in the game with creatures. The other issue with the deck is somewhat related: it can get off to super-slow starts. We have zero one-drops and only a handful of two-drops (with one being Cleansing Wildfire #137, which doesn't really do anything unless we also have Flagstones of Trokair #278). Often, we don't really do anything impactful until Turn 4, which is just super slow against aggro. I think the easy way to solve this problem is by cutting Gideon for some early-game removal like Prismatic Ending #384 Retro.
• One other possible improvement is adding Emeria's Call #12 to the mana base. The deck felt a bit light on white cards to support Solitude #32. The white MDFC seems like a good way to up our white card count, and considering how good we are at ramping, there's a reasonable chance we'll actually hard-cast it sometimes. The same is true of Shatterskull Smashing #161. While these cards are good in general and work well with the pitch Elementals, they are even better in our deck than in most because if we have Blood Sun #92 on the battlefield, we can play them untapped without taking three damage.
• So, should you play Awaken the Woods #170 Foil in Modern? I think the answer is mostly yes. While the deck feels like a work in progress and definitely can be improved, it was more competitive than I expected, and killing a Modern opponent with 20 or more Dryad Arbor #273s is hilarious!

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.