I’ve been interested in trying more Pioneer and Modern decks, but Rakdos and 5C Creativity have been performing too well. Fable of the Mirror-Breaker isn’t as broken as Uro and Oko, but it’s currently my pick for the strongest multi-format all star.
Today I’m going to cover my current lists and some of the metagame shifts to consider in each format.
I won my last local Modern event with this seventy-five and it felt great. While the maindeck doesn’t change much each week, there are a few upgrades to discuss.
2 Persist- Transmogrify is great against creature decks, but most players are winning with powerful spells in Modern and those are the matchups I want to address. Persist is a redundant effect outside Indomitable Creativity to put an Archon of Cruelty onto the battlefield that costs just two mana.
A second Persist changes the way I play the deck. With just a single Persist I would mulligan to six aggressively and immediately put Archon of Cruelty on the bottom of the deck, but there’s a greater consideration to reanimate.
I recently destroyed my Archon with Indomitable Creativity only to Persist it back onto the battlefield and get another trigger!
2 Bitter Reunion- I’ve been pleasantly surprised by Bitter Reunion as an additional way to filter through clunky draws. It plays very well with Wrenn and Six to rummage away excess lands. Teferi can bounce the enchantment to get a second rummage. Most importantly, Bitter Reunion discards Archon of Cruelty to fuel the two Persist. Don’t sleep on the activated ability to give Archons and creatures from Fable of the Mirror-Breaker haste.
Sideboarding is less clear cut now that you have an additional pseudo-combo in the deck. When you trim a Persist the Bitter Reunions lose utility.
1 Prismatic Ending- I cut a flex removal spell to make room for Bitter Reunion. A single Prismatic Ending frees up some strain on the manabase, but Ending has performed well.
1 Teferi, Time Raveler- Moving a Teferi to the sideboard was the other swap to make room for Bitter Reunion. There are many three-drops in the deck and Teferi shines in post board games as the opponent boards in stack-based hate cards. Remember that Teferi’s +1 enables an Indomitable Creativity at the end of the opponent’s turn to attack first against Orvar, too.
13 Fetch Lands- This is an absurd amount of fetch lands to play in a sixty-card deck, but they enable Dwarven Mine and find all five colors with ease. To make room for the extra fetch land I cut down to two Triomes. The third Triome typically plays better post board when you need a third blue or white source so it’s not free. I now aggressively fetch Ketria Triome and Savai Triome with the expectation to not cycle and recur with Wrenn and Six.
I tried cutting down to three Dwarven Mine to make room for a fourteenth fetch, but I wanted the extra 1/1 against slower decks. Twenty-five lands felt like one too many as the other alternative to fitting the fourteenth fetch.
1 Nature’s Claim- I wanted a third way, alongside two Wear/Tear, to destroy Urza’s Saga, Sigarda’s Aid, and Dryad of the Ilysian Grove.
Unless Boseiju is recurred multiple times with Wrenn and Six it’s significantly worse in Creativity as it’s not a Mountain. Boseiju is such a powerful Modern card because the option to be a land allows for flexibility. When the land option is bad in the deck we’re left with a weak spell.
Since the land option on Boseiju was weak I was also underwhelmed with boarding it in against Blood Moon decks as a hedge. In reality, it wasn’t a hedge and was even weaker than bringing in a Wear/Tear.
1 Flusterstorm- Since I’ve swapped Mana Leak for a third Spell Pierce there’s less room for situational counters. There’s only so much room for blue spells alongside Teferi against stack-based decks.
2 Veil of Summer- I was thinking it wasn’t reasonable to play fewer than three Veils, but there are plenty of matchups where two is preferred. Again, Spell Pierce and Flusterstorm are good in similar matchups and there’s only so much room for this type of interaction.
I tried Emrakul over a Fury as a hedge for Necromentia, but this plan falls short against Scam and Yawgmoth if they simply name Indomitable Creativity. Fury plays out better with the second Persist, too. Emrakul is strong against Mill, but that deck isn’t powerful and there are plenty of cheap spells to counter their key cards.
1 Strike It Rich has continued to impress despite never drawing it with Blood Moon on the battlefield. When creature removal is weak in the matchup, the extra mana is very useful. Abundant Growth is another hedge against Blood Moon, but it’s weak in other situations. I didn’t like aggressively fetching the Stomping Ground early as it messes with Triomes entering tapped in the mid game.
This is the list I used to take down the RIW Hobbies Store Championship. I also split the finals of two RCQs in the last month with similar lists. Since I’m not going to Dallas I make the finals and take more store credit in exchange for giving away the invite.
Despite Rakdos having plenty of bad matchups on paper the one deck I truly don’t want to face is Enigmatic Incarnation.
2 Reckoner Bankbuster- I’ve seen many players with a third Bankbuster in the maindeck, but I prefer the third Graveyard Trespasser instead. Even in the mirror there are diminishing returns on Bankbuster as the opponent can take the aggressive role and you don’t have enough time to cash in all of the activations.
0 Mutavault- I prefer the MisplacedGinger Rakdos shell over Shota Yasooka. Liliana of the Veil and Kroxa are similar cards, but the Titan has more synergies in the deck. There are enough three-drops in the deck already. Mutavault isn’t fast enough to matter in the matchups where you try to win on the fifth turn. The twenty-sixth land also felt like one too many. I’m chalking up the success of the deck to Shota being a master.
3 Power Word Kill and 2 Dreadbore- You can play a fourth Power Word Kill over the second Dreadbore, but I want to respect the Mono Green matchup. It also hinders the Angels matchup, but I don’t think that’s a very powerful deck.
I don’t want to maindeck Abrade because it doesn’t kill Sheoldred in the mirror. Abrade is good in the sideboard for the mirror because you aren’t cutting any of the nine ways to kill Sheoldred.
It’s a consideration to play the fourth Power Word Kill because the more linear version of Abzan Greasefang, piloted by David Inglis and company, is a cut above the prior iterations.
1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire- Most Rakdos decks moved away from Takenuma with the addition of Castle Locthwain, but I’m also playing the three requisite Swamps. I cut the Mountain for Takenuma because you don’t need many red sources and the extra mana sink is good in the mirror.
1 Noxious Grasp- This is a close call between Grasp and Ray of Enfeeblement. I wanted another way to kill Kiora and big green monsters against Gruul Vehicles. Grasp and Enfeeblement also offer more protection against Humans and Greasefang.
1 Pithing Needle- I’m less high on Pithing Needle at the moment. The post-Pro Tour version of Abzan Greasefang is full of Witherbloom Command and it was already medium in the matchup as you were faced with naming one of their three vehicles.
Needle is also susceptible to two Boseiju and a sideboarded Haywire Mite when you name Karn, the Great Creator against Mono Green Devotion.
I want a needle against Rakdos Sacrifice for Witch’s Oven and Lotus Field to name Thespian’s Stage.
2 Go Blank- I’ve been more impressed with Go Blank recently due to the power of the new Greasefang list. In addition, the Mind Rot effect is stronger with three Duress against combo decks.
2 Extinction Event- These come in against Mono Green Devotion, Selesnya Angels, and Mono White Humans. It’s primarily for exiling Old-Growth Troll and Cavalier of Thorns. I didn’t like the sweeper against Gruul Vehicles as they are much better at rebuilding than Rakdos.
2 Witch’s Vengeance- The preferred sweeper against Humans and Spirits. I don’t want too many four-mana sweepers in the Humans matchup as Thalia can be a blowout. There aren’t many good creature decks in the format so I’m more targeted with my sweepers. Vengeance doesn’t come in against Angels because of their high toughness.
That’s all I have for today. Fable of the Mirror-Breaker hasn’t steered me wrong yet and I encourage you to try these two decks at your next event.
