I’ve been cycling through the top Modern decks to find my new favorite archetype. At the moment I’ve landed on Living End as the emphasis on graveyard hate has taken a back seat. I’m returning to Living End as I played it in early 2022 when it was the deck to beat.
I came back to Living End because the deck is surprisingly interesting. There are plenty of tactical decisions each game given the large amount of pitch spells and random draws from cycling.
Game one presents a focused game plan of cycling creatures during the first couple of turns and then cascading into the namesake card, Living End. This is one of the stronger effects in Modern and should be good enough to win most games. The interaction against Living End is also strong enough to end a game quickly which makes things fun.
Like all cascade decks the core takes most of the slots:
Eight cascaders is default, but don’t be shy to board out a couple Shardless Agents when the opponent’s deck is filled with graveyard hate and counters.
Living End can be pitched to Grief if naturally drawn. Some games require more than one Living End cascade when the opponent plays counters or the first is for a small number of creatures.
About a third of the deck are creatures with cycling. My list plays nineteen, but a flex slot can be the twentieth. The drawback of the last cycling creature is they don’t interact with the opponent.
After sideboard you need fewer cyclers in the graveyard as the opponent’s deck is more muddled with hate cards and less powerful.
Striped Riverwinder is the optimal creature to cycle first because it’s the most formidable to return to with Living End. Curator of Mysteries can be hard cast so it can wait in hand longer. A tension is leaving a blue card in your hand for Force of Negation and digging further into the deck.
Street Wraith can be cycled early when you aren’t sure which land to play. If I have a shock land without a cycler I gain extra information about how it should enter the battlefield.
Izzet spell-based decks have similar play patterns to Living End because early turns are spent on cantrips. The difference between the two strategies is that cycling requires fewer decisions with random outcomes. Cycling draws a card while cantrips ask you to make a decision between a couple cards.
The eight pitch spells are the highlight of Living End. Grief and Force of Negation allow you to not only force through your combo, but interact on the same turn when the opponent can foil the plan.
I like to cycle on my main phase in the early turns if I’m able to potentially assemble Grief and a black card. Some matchups it’s better to wait on Grief until the opponent can have a card you want to discard; this is the case against decks with Counterspell to ensure Living End resolves or ahead of the opponent casting Teferi, Time Raveler.
Force of Negation creates the play pattern of casting Violent Outburst on your opponent’s upkeep to pitch and cast the counter if needed.
Colossal Skyturtle can bounce creatures or recur a cycler. It’s a large creature to return with Living End capable of winning the game by itself. A green card to pitch to Endurance and Force of Vigor after sideboard.
The turtle doesn’t bounce Teferi, Time Raveler or Chalice of the Void so there’s a cost to swapping out Brazen Borrower. The base case of Petty Theft on a creature on the second turn makes your third turn Living End much weaker.
Waker of Waves is my final cycling creature. Similar to Skyturtle the whale is large enough to win the game by itself which can be crucial in the mirror. I have both basic Forest and Boseiju that can be used for the colorless mana requirement on the activated ability.
Two Subtlety can act as additional insulation against your mortal enemy, Teferi, Time Raveler. Subtlety becomes even stronger after sideboard as it can put opposing Endurance on the top of the opponent’s deck when you’re about to resolve Living End.
Basic Island and Forest can save you two life with a fetch land or play around Blood Moon.
The remaining fetchable lands, two Steam Vents and two Breeding Pool, can be found with four Misty Rainforest. Misty is the best fetch as it finds both Forest and Island. Scalding Tarn and Wooded Foothills miss one of the basics so I play a split.
Four fast lands, two Botanical Sanctum and two Spirebluff Canal, enable your second and third colors while cycling the blue creatures on the first turn. Post board games are more likely to be decided by hard casting big monsters so I was unimpressed with the fifth fast land.
Two Otawara look strange, but the blue mana enables cycling while the channel can bounce Teferi, Chalice, and Leyline of the Void. I’ve played one copy in some versions of Living End, but I miss the second when I do.
Boseiju, Who Endures is the other way to deal with hate pieces along with splash damage against Tron and Urza’s Saga. Green mana doesn’t cycle early so you can’t keep one-land hands with Boseiju or Forest. The extra green mana is to accommodate the four Endurance in the sideboard.
Sunken Ruins has been solid for me, but I want the last land to help cast Endurance from the sideboard. Local grinder, Ethan Dunn, advocates for Leyline of the Void in the sideboard which could help make room for Sunken Ruins. In a small sample size I’ve hard casted three creatures and suspended a Living End. It’s functionally a utility land, but has the same drawback as Boseiju of not cycling on the first turn.
The fourth Architects of Will could replace the last Waker of Waves. It’s a weak creature to add to the graveyard in comparison, but is another black card for Grief.
The fourth Living End appears in maindecks and sideboards. Another black card to pitch to Grief and enables you to fire off Living Ends more aggressively in the face of counters.
The fourth Architects of Will, Living End, and single Sunken Ruins exclusions are a result of me boarding out Grief aggressively. Grief is a great piece of interaction game one as it doesn’t discriminate and the opponent likely only has one piece of hate at a time. After sideboard the opponent has access to graveyard hate, permanents, and counters to stop Living End. It’s not worth the card disadvantage.
A maindeck Endurance is viable in graveyard-centric metagames. We’re not there as Living End is still under the radar despite it doing well in recent Magic Online Modern Challenges.
Four Endurance are primarily for graveyard and mill strategies.
They also enable a flash game plan against Izzet Murktide and Azorius Control. The opponent has a hard time deciding to stop a flash ¾ from blocking down their attacker as you can threaten a Living End on the following turn.
Two Brazen Borrower can bounce Teferi, Chalice, and Leyline of the Void while also providing a flash clock. The opponent is encouraged to leave up mana to stop Living End while you are playing a completely different game.
Three Mystical Dispute counter Teferi and opposing interaction out of blue decks. I tried two and felt it wasn’t enough.
Two Subtlety round out the play set. They become stronger after sideboard as they can counter opposing Endurance. Once Grief comes out this is a replacement form of pitch interaction. It’s easy to hard cast and threaten the opponent when you turn the corner.
Two Force of Vigor is for Urza’s Saga matchups. There aren’t enough green cards to justify additional copies. The single Foundation Breaker is the third way to deal with artifacts and enchantments. These three pieces of interaction are supplemented by the Boseiju, Otawaras, and Brazen Borrowers.
Leyline of Sanctity is a popular option to fight hate cards such as Endurance.
It also has applications against Burn and some mill spells. This is close to stock in Living End sideboards, but there’s too much volatility with Leylines for my liking. Once you draw a white Leyline it can’t be cast or pitched to any spells. Subtlety is my preferred solution to Endurance.
Leyline of the Void is a more realistic option as the black card can be pitched to Grief. It can be hard cast with Sunken Ruins in the deck, too. A pile of Endurances are better suited to beat the Living End mirror in my experience.
The Modern metagame continues to evolve. There are plenty of powerful decks that rise to the top only to catch too much hate and be replaced by another forgotten strategy. The time for Living End is now!
