Rhinos and Creativity in Modern
I’m back today with an update for Five Color Creativity and Temur Rhinos. These are two decks I would strongly recommend registering in your next Modern event because it takes advantage of my favorite card- Fable of the Mirror-Breaker.
Rhinos and Creativity are both tier one decks and relatively straightforward to play. I prefer to not have to work as hard for my wins because tournaments are grueling enough. If each turn has fewer decisions I can spend more time thinking about my opponent’s responses.
I was a strong advocate of Temur Rhinos when it was a new strategy. It feels good to return to a familiar archetype.
While Rhinos is a linear deck with many slots dedicated to the core cascade game plan we do have some room for a subtheme.
Fable of the Mirror-Breaker has been the most impressive sub theme as the Goblin Shaman token generates extra mana to hard cast Fury or act as the red card to evoke. The powerful enchantment also acts as card filtering which is at times desperately needed when Rhinos floods out. The cascade mechanic doesn’t provide many options for card filtering.
Blood Moon is very popular in the metagame so it’s nice to play a deck that functions with it on the battlefield.
Fury is not only able to be cast easier with Fable, but is a serious threat to copy with Kiki-Jiki. The Rhino token is the other scary creature to copy. It can be difficult for the opponent to decide what creatures to kill as Footfalls and Fable create multiple threats.
Murktide Regent has been impressive, but Fable was the top threat. I tried three Regents, but there were many times where there weren’t a meaningful amount of instants and sorceries in the graveyard. The first Delve spell is high impact, but has diminishing returns.
One awkward situation with Murktide is that it costs two blue mana post board in Blood Moon matchups. I need both Islands, but also need to prioritize the Forest for Violent Outburst. It’s not reasonable to cut Murktide in those matchups as Dea
Creativity will have a place in my heart as long as it’s winning. I came back into the Rhinos fold because playing around the fear of Blood Moon is not where I want to be. There’s also an increased amount of Orvars in the sideboard.
Despite the large amount of hate present for Creativity it’s still a force to be reckoned with because there’s a proactive game plan backed by Teferi, Wrenn, and Leyline Binding.
I borrowed a page from the book of Joe Bernal and gave Remand a try. It’s a solid fourth counter as I was unimpressed with a fourth Spell Pierce. While I love my Russian Remands from Ravnica Reprieve will be a huge upgrade in the coming months. Creativity has a choke point with blue mana against spell-based decks which is why Hallowed Moonlight has gained traction in the sideboard.
Persist is on the chopping block as I had multiple games where it was rotting in my hand. I don’t want two Transmogrify, but the first copy continues to prove its worth. I’m willing to mulligan aggressively with Creativity; without a Persist I can bottom Archons guilt free.
The twenty-fifth land was good in theory, but flooded out a significant amount of games. I wasn’t fetching the third Triome often enough to justify it as I was going for Jetmir’s Garden and Xander’s Lounge most of the time. In the past I wasn’t certain on the correct Triome split, but I want to fetch Jetmir’s Garden the most to enable Wrenn and Six without Stomping Ground and Leyline Binding. I can fetch a Steam Vents for Spell Pierce the following turn if needed.
The fourth Dwarven Mine and fourth Archon of Cruelty are essential with Transmogrify. I’ve seen three Archon builds, but I don’t want to be unfocused in game one.
I tried Serra’s Emissary in the sideboard over a Fury, but it did not impress. The theory was that you can name creatures if your Archon gets copied by Orvar from a Creativity for at least two. It’s seven mana instead of eight to hard cast and diversifies threat names for Necromentia. In practice there aren’t many matchups that I would prefer Emissary to Archon where Necromentia is a concern.
Atraxa was another threat that was good in theory, but some games whiffing on a guaranteed amount of Archons can swing a game. Fury is better in Necromentia matchups as they are primarily Scam and Yawgmoth.
Hallowed Moonlight prevents a surprisingly large number of creatures from entering the battlefield. Crashing Footfalls, Living End, and Indomitable Creativity are the flagship interactions, but consider Fable as well. Moonlight is nearly powerful enough to maindeck. You can also Creativity your opponent’s creatures as well as your own to play around opposing Moonlights. It’s also possible to exile the Orvar copy token after your Archons entered the battlefield with Hallowed Moonlight.
Strike it Rich is still my Blood Moon hate of choice, but I’m also leaning toward adding a Plains to the sideboard that can be fetched with Arid Mesa. A four mana Leyline Binding isn’t pretty, but it can deal with Blood Moon.
That’s all I have today. Fable can be the engine to multiple tier one decks in Modern with a proactive game plan. That’s a good place to be.
