Hi All, I went 4-1 in my last three consecutive MTGO competitive modern leagues with BW Tokens, for a total record of 12-3. I made one change since my Top 4 at SCG Syracuse last month. You can find my Syracuse decklist here: Decklist.
The change: I added one Kaya, Orzhov Usurper and took out 1 Thoughtseize maindeck. I haven’t been high on discard for some time and the nail in the coffin for me was Dominic Harvey still beating me in the Top 4 at Syracuse after I had removed ALL the win conditions from his Whir Prison hand. Since my version of BW Tokens is so slow, discard is not as good. Discard in this deck is theoretically used to slow the opponent down, but since my deck is slow as well, I can’t prevent a few top decks from spoiling my day. Adding Kaya makes the deck worse against its bad matchups, which I still win sometimes (I have a 5-4 record vs. Tron over nine total competitive Modern league games in 2019, which is insane), but makes the good matchups better.
If you’ve been reading my blog, you know where I stand on two different routes this deck can take. My version of BW Tokens (more controlling) plays Auriok Champion and Spectral Procession while another version (more aggro) runs 0 Auriok Champion and 4 History of Benalia instead of 4 Spectral. The idea with the aggro version is that it makes your bad matchups better (e.g., Tron, Amulet, Whir). To me, it makes sense to run more discard in this version, as you can close out games faster. However, it’s my belief that the aggro version of Tokens doesn’t significantly improve your bad matchups, and I’d much rather have Auriok and Spectral (and now Kaya) to make BW Tokens’ good matchups even better.
Round 1 – Esper Control – Loss 1-2
Game 3 I misevaluated what was better to jam into a Cryptic – Spectral or Kaya. I ran Spectral into certain death, but I should have saved the tokens for the next turn. Thief of Sanity stole that game.
Esper Control seems to be the next iteration of an answer to Izzet Phoenix, and so I expect to see more Esper moving forward.
In – 2 Duress, Lost Legacy, Fatal Push
Out – 4 Auriok
Round 2 – Storm – Win 2-1
I was stuck on 2 lands game 3, but I got there with a Kaya ultimate after my opponent made infinity goblins. Runed Halo (on grapeshot) and RIP also helped.
In – 2 Duress, 2 RIP, Lost Legacy, Push, Halo
Out – 4 Auriok, 2 Secure, 1BB
Round 3 – Mono-Red Phoenix – Win 2-0
This deck is your best matchup of all-time. You can lose to this deck, but I haven’t yet. I’m hopeful this deck can hang vs. Esper Control and continue to rise against Tron and Amulet.
In – 2 RIP, 2 Duress, 1 EE, 1 Burrenton, 1 Push, 1 Halo (play around blood moon)
Out – 2 Virtue, 1 Sorin, 2 Seize, 2 BB, 1 Zealous
Round 4 – Affinity – Win 2-0
People can really hate on Tokens, but it has some incredibly lopsided matchups against top decks. Affinity isn’t close to a bye, but you’d be very happy to face it every round of a tournament if you could.
In – 3 Stony, 2 Disenchant, Halo, Burr, EE, Push, Wrath
Out – 4 Auriok, 2 Seize, 2 IOK, 2 Secure
Round 5 – Humans – Win 2-1
Auriok is not good here, but it’s not bad and can put in some work. This matchup is probably slightly un-favored because they get bigger so much faster. If you can kill a few early creatures, you’re favored.
In – EE, Push, Wrath, Halo
Out – 2 Seize, 2 Auriok
Round 6 – Dredge – Win 1-0
After decimating my opponent game 1, my opponent concedes before game 2. This matchup is usually excellent, but a fast start from Dredge can sometimes turn into a grave experience.
In – Runed Halo, 2 RIP, Burrenton, Lost Legacy
Out – 2 Seize, 2 IOK, 1 BB
Round 7 – Whir of Invention – Loss 0-2
I was about to win game 2 after a million turns, but a turn before I drew Disenchant for the win, my opponent drew Chalice and set it on 2. This matchup is as bad as it seems. I haven’t beaten it yet and I’m confident it’s worse than Tron.
In – 3 Stony, 2 Disenchant, 2 RIP, 1 Runed Halo (on Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas with RIP out), 2 Duress, 1 Lost Legacy (on Whir of Invention)
Out – 3 Sorin, 4 Auriok, 4 Path
Round 8 – 8 Rack – Win 2-0
Kaya is the nuts in the matchup. Shrieking Affliction and the Rack are a joke when she comes down.
In – 2 Disenchant, 2 Duress, Runed Halo, EE
Out – 4 Path, 2 Zealous
Round 9 – Grixis Death’s Shadow – Win 2-1
If there’s ever a matchup to feel confident when you get blown out game 1, it’s this matchup. After a perfect sequence of cards game 1 not involving temur battle rage, Shadow’s best win condition, I somehow lose to anglers and snaps. Game 2 and 3 my opponent plays multiple Kozelik’s Return (negating Burrenton!) and tons of Stubborn Denials, but BW Tokens is likely their worst matchup and even with their reinforcements and best cards against me, I escape with a win.
In – Halo, Push, EE, 1 Burrenton, 1 Wrath (draw)
Out – 2 Zealous, 2 Sorin, 1 Seize
Round 10 – Affinity Frenzy – Win 2-1
In game 1, Zealous Persecution wrathing the board removed all doubt I need two of these maindeck and should not consider replacing one with Kaya. Aether Grid singlehandedly killed me game 2. You typically win games where they don’t have Grid, and lose games they do. Stony Silence did its thing game 3.
In – 3 Stony, 2 Disenchant, Halo, Burr, EE, Push, Wrath
Out – 4 Auriok, 2 Seize, 2 IOK, 2 Secure
Round 11 – Humans – Win 2-1
In – EE, Push, Wrath, Halo
Out – 2 Seize, 2 Auriok
This matchup always seems to be a sweat.
Round 12 – Boggles – Win 2-0
This match is favorable and is all about Rancor. You usually lose when they have Rancor. If they don’t have Rancor, Sorin destroys them with his ultimate.
In – Halo, 2 Duress, 2 Disenchant, EE, Push (for Kor Spiritdancer)
Out – 4 Auriok, 3 Path
Round 13 – Dredge – Loss 0-2
Kaya was too slow on the play game 2. My opponent had explosive starts both games.
In – Runed Halo (conflagrate), 2 RIP, Burrenton, Lost Legacy
Out – 2 Seize, 2 IOK, 1 BB
Round 14 – Naya Zoo Win 2-0
In – Burrenton, EE, Halo, Push, Wrath
Out – 2 Seize, 2 BB, 1 Zealous
Round 15 – Hollow One – Win 2-1
In – Halo, 2 RIP, Burrenton, Push, Wrath
Out – 2 Seize, 2 IOK, 2 Zealous
FINAL THOUGHTS
Some pretty good matchups here, and I dodged Tron and Amulet. Facing Whir once out of 15 games was about what I expected. No Izzet Phoenix was surprising.
Tokens will continue to be solid if Dredge, Shadow, and Affinity continue to be well-represented. Izzet Phoenix and Humans aren’t great matchups, but they aren’t bad, and hopefully Dredge and Grixis Death Shadow continue to rise in the meta to combat those decks.