Modern Neoform Combo Guide
It’s been two weeks since Modern Horizons made its debut on Magic Online, and to say the least, the results are quite alarming. Hogaak Bridgevine is attacking the Modern format in a way that is reminiscent of “Eldrazi Winter”, and shows no signs of slowing down. MTGGoldfish informs us that Bridgevine is roughly 4% of the Modern metagame, but this is a flawed statistic. MTGO only posts decklists that are multiple cards different from each other in order to avoid redundancy. Therefore it is nearly impossible to gauge the metagame without examining premier events.
When we look to the three Modern challenges that have occurred since the release of Modern Horizons, we see the reality. Between the combined 24 slots in the three events, 10 copies of Bridgevine took a spot within a top eight. For those that haven’t done the math after reading that sentence, Bridgevine is 41.67% of the Modern Premier top eight metagame. For reference this is more copies than the next three most popular decks (UW Control, Esper Shadow, Mono Red Phoenix) combined.
Despite what the masses seemed to believe about the metagame adapting to first week dominance, it is clear Bridgevine is a problem. While in my opinion it’s obvious this deck should not make it past the July 8th ban announcement without substantial losses, Wizard’s is notorious for hitting us the “No Changes” even within toxic formats such as this one.
That being said, with a Modern Mythic Championship fast approaching, now seems like the best time to prepare for the worst. Let’s present the hero Modern definitely doesn’t need, but probably deserves:
This list is almost identical to Finalnub’s 6-1 configuration within the week one Modern challenge. I’ve made a few small changes which I will highlight later, but overall the deck and numbers seem fairly tight. Last week I exhausted almost all my free time learning and studying Neoform. I read every article that I could find (unfortunately there aren’t many), I played roughly ten leagues and a Super IQ alongside fellow MC Barcelona invitee, Brent Bentely, and I was able to message fabled Neoform expert Jonathan Zhang (Finalnub) for his input on the deck going forward. From that I came to four conclusions on why I believe Neoform will be a tier one option at the time of the Mythic Championship:
1.) The London Mulligan
I won’t go into extreme detail here as I wrote an entire article surrounding the topic last week, but if I wasn’t clear before, this is the single biggest reason to be playing Neoform. The deck has a tendency to be inconsistent while utilizing the Vancouver (Scry) mulligan rule, and this will soon be an issue of the past. In order to execute our combo we need to have access to a certain set of cards, and having the extra percentage points of finding them adds up incredibly fast. Over time, I foresee Neoform highlighting some of the most powerful ways to abuse the London mulligan.
2.) Ban List Protection
Neoform is currently off almost every radar. Countless times during competitive matches I would see my opponents lost and perplexed by what I was doing. This is largely due to the lack of finishes the deck has posted since the initial London mulligan trial on MTGO. While its results in that period were rather dominant, there will be nowhere near enough data to make a ban on the basis of weakening the archetype. In addition, the deck suffers no splash damage from any potential Bridgevine ban.
3.) Favorable Bridgevine Match-up
While we are much more susceptible to hate than the deck that often kills two turns after losing its entire graveyard, in a pure racing situation, it’s almost impossible to beat Neoform. I would describe this matchup as a competition in which we are almost a full turn faster, and our sideboard options are more impactful. While I wouldn't say under current or future situations we are “Better” than Bridgevine, having a favorable match-up versus the format boogeyman bodes well for Neoform.
4.) Veil of Summer
I’m not thrilled with many of my sideboard options and plans at the moment, but Core Set 2020 seems to have thrown a diamond in the rough. I have tried Autumn’s Veil to little success, but Veil of Summer is miles better than that. Calling this card a Dismiss for one G isn’t far off in the match-ups that it would be boarded in for. Being able to effectively “Cryptic Command” a Thoughtseize, Counterspell, or even a Liliana -2 is unheard of for one green mana. In addition, it can cycle as long as they have played any blue or black spell within the turn, and can serve as a green card to exile to Allosaurus Rider. How many of this card I plan to play is unknown to me at the moment, but I can almost guarantee it will be in every Neoform sideboard.
Card Function and the Combo:
I don’t plan to go into detail of each card’s function within the deck, but I want to briefly explain the combo and highlight some of the more interesting choices within the main and sideboard.
The general idea is to get an Allosaurus Rider into play either by drawing it or acquiring it with Summoner’s Pact, casting Neoform or Eldritch Evolution to cheat out Griselbrand, and then proceeding to use the combination of Nourishing Shoal and large green creatures to draw our deck.
From there we can exile our Simian Spirit Guides for mana and use Manamorphose or Wild Cantor to filter for blue to cast Laboratory Maniac and win the game. Some decks choose to include the additional win condition of Lightning Storm, but I've found this to be unnecessary especially when we have the Noxious Revival plus Edge of Autumn combo to recur the Maniac if it’s discarded. Life Goes On has also been a great main deck inclusion as the Lab Man only requires three spirit guides, and this lets us burn the fourth to essentially gain a fifth shoal in our deck.
The sideboard is fairly stock within the majority of Neoform builds:
Leyline of Sanctity protects us from any kind of targeted discard or opposing win conditions that require a player target.
Oxidize kills the main pieces of the opponents hate: Grafdigger's Cage, Chalice of the Void on zero, Pithing Needle, Damping Sphere, Ethersworn Canonist, and many others. As enchantments are mostly irrelevant to us, there is also the added bonus of dealing with these artifacts through a Welding Jar.
Pact of Negation and Slaughter Pact are frequent players within the majority of all-in combo decks. Whether it be a counterspell such as Force of Negation or Cryptic Command, or a creature like Meddling Mage or Eidolon of Rhetoric, our pacts help force our important spells through.
Engineered Explosives has been a bit of a flex spot for me. Finalnub admitted he had a similar experience, but the upside seems to be what we’re looking for. Being able to deal with multiple pieces of hate with one card, even if it is slow, is critical in a deck where we need to amass cards to combo.
Sideboard Guide:
Vs UW Control
+3 Pact of Negation
-1 Edge of Autumn
-1 Noxious Revival
-1 Life Goes On
The scariest cards in this match-up are: Force of Negation, Dovin’s Veto, and Narset, Parter of Veils. Navigating it is a very fine line as jamming early can result in a catastrophic failure, but waiting too long can give them an opportunity to resolve a Narset. In my current list I have no answer to Dovin’s Veto so I advocate always jamming against UW unless you are almost certain they have it. Also be careful of Surgical Extraction both pre and post board.
Vs Humans
+2 Slaughter Pact
+2 Engineered Explosives
+1 Oxidize
-1 Pact of Negation
-4 Serum Visions
This match-up is all about speed. They have far too many hatebears for us to consider playing any kind of drawn out game, and sometimes they’re even packing Cage or Damping Sphere. Combo quickly and draw your answers. Winning the die roll helps too.
Vs UR Phoenix
+3 Pact of Negation
-1 Noxious Revival
-1 Edge of Autumn
-1 Life Goes On
Game one this match-up is very good as they only really have a few Spell Pierce to interact with us.. Game two they slow down a bit, but get access to more counter magic including Force of Negation, as well as annoying cards like Narset and Surgical Extraction. They also have the option to consider Blood Moon. That being said, if you cast your spells and draw averagely, you’ll usually win.
Vs Bridgevine
+4 Leyline of Sanctity
+1 Engineered Explosives
-1 Pact of Negation
-4 Serum Visions
As I mentioned prior, this is ultimately a race which we win the majority of the time. Leyline of Sanctity protects us from their combo kill with Altar of Dementia as well as from the Thoughtseize they bring in from the board. I choose to include one EE as a hedge against a quick zombie army.
Vs Tron Variants
+4 Oxidize
+2 Engineered Explosives
-1 Pact of Negation
-1 Life Goes On
-1 Edge of Autumn
-1 Noxious Revival
-2 Serum Visions (-4 if Eldrazi Tron with Chalice)
If they get to Karn, the Great Creator and are able to fetch a Cage and cast it, we will lose. Game two they get to bring in more redundant hate that dies to Oxidize, and sometimes they have Surgical or Warping Wail. Aside, the match-up is very good.
Vs Mono Red Phoenix
+4 Leyline of Sanctity
-1 Pact of Negation
-3 Serum Visions
Another Race. If you can put Griselbrand into play and not die to burn, you’ll win. Their only interaction for you generally is Surgical Extraction.
VS Burn
+4 Leyline of Sanctity
+2 Slaughter Pact
+1 Engineered Explosives
+1 Oxidize
-1 Pact of Negation
-4 Serum Visions
-1 Manamorphose
-1 Noxious Revival
-1 Edge of Autumn
This one is a bit tougher than the Mono-Red Phoenix match-up, albeit still very good. The statement about Griselbrand and burn protection is still true, but Eidolon of the Great Revel and a mizers Grafdigger’s Cage can present problems. Kill them quickly, but be prepared for some resistance.
VS Infect
+2 Engineered Explosives
+3 Oxidize
+2 Pact of Negation
-4 Serum Visions
-1 Life Goes On
-1 Noxious Revival
-1 Edge of Autumn
Race, Race, Race, if you’re not getting the theme of the Modern format at this point. Game one they have a few Spell Pierce with more permission as well as Grafdigger’s Cage after board. Answer their hate, slow them down, and blast off as quickly as possible when the coast is clear.
Vs Esper Shadow
+4 Leyline of Sanctity
+1 Pact of Negation
-1 Edge of Autumn
-1 Noxious Revival
-1 Life Goes On
-1 Wild Cantor
-1 Manamorphose
This one is a bit more of a grind. They have plenty of discard as well as Stubborn Denial, Force of Negation, and Ranger-Captain of Eos to slow us down game one. and The board also provides them with Disdainful Stroke and Surgical Extraction. I’m not going to lie to you, this matchup is very hard. We’re encouraged to jam early to not die to their clock or get Teferi or Ranger locked out of the game, but also don’t want to run into Force or Denial. The discard is also crippling and makes almost every hand that isn’t a turn one or doesn’t contain a leyline, a mulligan.
VS Idiot you kill on Turn One on the Play
+2 Oxidize
-2 Serum Visions
On a lighter note, sometimes you’re going to get lucky. May as well not forfeit game two to a pesky artifact.
Tips and Tricks
-If you are required to combo that turn, casting Summoner’s Pact during the upkeep to thin the deck is beneficial.
-Sacrificing Allosaurus Rider removes opposing Bridge from Below.
-If your opponent has no answer to a Griselbrand, drawing seven and passing is completely reasonable and sometimes correct.
-Always keep track of your deck contents and size. We need to go through many steps in order to get the win. Making a minor mistake that will cost you the game can be easily avoided by taking the extra second to think about these things.
-Avoid Exiling Autochthon Wurm, Summoner’s Pact, and Nourishing Shoal for Rider if you are able to. These are the most important cards for drawing our deck.
-Make sure you have enough life to activate Griselbrand again in case they have a removal spell for Laboratory Maniac.
-Dinosaur beats will win you games too.
Modern is in a very precarious spot at the moment, and I believe regardless of what happens on July 8th, Barcelona will be filled with unfair degeneracy. Wizards may be unaware, but the London Mulligan came at a price—him.
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