Much Abrew: Gyruda Coffers (Modern)
Hello, everyone! Welcome to another episode of Much Abrew About Nothing. Now that Lurrus of the Dream-Den is banned, the race is on to figure out which companion is best in the Modern format. Today, we're taking a dark-horse contender out for a spin: Gyruda, Doom of Depths! While we've seen some Gyruda decks in the distant past, they mostly faded away after the companion nerf. But now, Gyruda is back with some spicy new backup plans, like using Cabal Coffers and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth to hard-cast our big finishers! How good is Gyruda, Doom of Depths in Modern in 2022? Let's get to the video and find out on this week's Much Abrew About Nothing!
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Much Abrew: Gyruda Coffers
Discussion
- Record-wise, we finished our league 3-2, although we had some strange matchups. Somehow, we played against Burn three times, so I jumped into a two-player match to try to find a different matchup and...we played against Burn again. So, while our matchups weren't the most diverse, we did post a pretty good record with the deck and clearly showed that we can beat up on burn decks.
- As far as the deck's goal, plan A is Gyruda, Doom of Depths. We're playing all even-mana-value cards so we can have Gyruda as our companion, which means we should have access to it every game. Once we resolve Gyruda, Doom of Depths, we get to make everyone mill four cards and get to play an even-mana-value creature from among them into play. One of the things I really like about this build of Gyruda is that we aren't trying to pull off a crazy combo by reanimating a chain of Spark Doubles and Clones. Instead, we hoping that Gyruda, Doom of Depths will put something like Archon of Cruelty or Grave Titan into play, either of which—when combined with Gyruda being a 6/6—should be enough to close out the game.
- Thanks to an even ramp package, including Sylvan Caryatid, Sakura-Tribe Elder, and Mwonvuli Acid-Moss, we can have the six mana we need to hard-cast Gyruda, Doom of Depths or Grave Titan as early as Turn 4!
- Since we're not trying to combo with Gyruda, Doom of Depths, we have room in the deck for not just one but two backup plans, both revolving around Satyr Wayfinder and Witherbloom Command. Our first backup plan is to use these cards to mill our big finishers, like Grave Titan and Archon of Cruelty, and then Persist them into play. The second back play is to use Satyr Wayfinder and Witherbloom Command to find Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Cabal Coffers and then use the massive amount of mana these two cards generate to hard-cast our finishers, Commander-style!
- Oh yeah, it's worth mentioning that Gyruda, Doom of Depths itself doesn't actually care about graveyard hate. While it seems like Gyruda is reanimating a creature, in reality, Gyruda, Doom of Depths just allows us to put a creature that it mills onto the battlefield—it doesn't actually matter where that creature ends up. This means that our opponent can play a Rest in Peace or Leyline of the Void, and we can still use Gyruda to cheat something into play from exile. This isn't to say that our opponents were wrong to bring in graveyard hate—it is good against our backup plans. But if you decide to play with or end up playing against Gyruda, keep in mind that exiling the graveyard doesn't stop the Demon Kraken from putting a creature onto the battlefield.
- Is Gyruda, Doom of Depths the new best companion in Modern? Probably not, although it did move up a tier or two thanks to its performance today. The big problem with Gyruda, Doom of Depths is that it only really works in one style of deck (reanimator), while companions like Yorion, Sky Nomad can support multiple archetypes. On the other hand, even with Lurrus being banned, companion is a busted mechanic, and there's still a huge incentive to start the game with an extra card, which I think means we'll be seeing much more of the lesser companions in Modern over the coming weeks and months, including Gyruda.
- So, should you play Gyruda Coffers in Modern? I think the answer is yes. While the deck isn't budget, it is pretty cheap for a Modern deck. (I know, I know, calling a $600 deck cheap is absurd, although such is the state of Modern in 2022.) The deck is really good at doing its thing (reanimating something big), and that thing is relatively good at winning games (although we did have some games where we were so far behind by the time Gyruda came down that we still lost, or we played Gyruda and ended up with a Sylvan Caryatid for our troubles, rather than a big finisher). If you like ramping, reanimating, and slamming huge threats on the table, Gyruda Coffers seems like a pretty solid option for current Modern!
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.
