I’m back with an RCQ victory to qualify for the Regional Championship in San Diego next year. The invite to Atlanta eluded me so it’s great to receive another “Blue Envelope.”
Living End has been my weapon of choice in Modern, but I wanted to try another deck with less complicated play patterns. Slamming Archon of Cruelty on the fourth turn is just what the doctor Ordered!
The goal of the deck is simple; cast Indomitable Creativity on treasures and creature tokens to flip at least one Archon of Cruelty onto the battlefield. Many opponents will be well aware of this deck so getting it to resolve is the interesting part.
Indomitable Creativity is similar to cascade decks in Modern where there’s a deck building restriction.
You should not play creatures, other than Archon of Cruelty, or artifacts, to ensure your Creativity is as strong as possible.
Dwarven Mine requires three other Mountains to create a token to target with Creativity and is a Mountain itself. This allows your fetch lands to create tokens as well. I was even able to ambush a couple Ragavan in the tournament. Dwarven Mine puts Dryad Arbor to shame. It’s also surprisingly powerful in draw-go situations where the opponent can’t blink for fear of you resolving a game-winning spell.
Leyline Binding pushes in the domain direction despite every land being a Mountain or fetch land. It’s surprisingly easy to cast as most games begin by fetching Raugrin Triome followed by Ziatora’s Proving Ground.
Creativity is ultimately a board control deck so it shines against permanents it can disrupt with. Lightning Bolt and Fir
Prismari Command is another removal spell that happens to create a Treasure token for Indomitable Creativity. Treasures are harder to fizzle compared to Dwarf tokens. Hammertime is also a popular deck so it doesn’t hurt to main deck three amazing spells for the matchup.
Prismari Command’s loot effect can target the opponent so it’s possible to deck Jeskai Breach after they mill their deck to win with Thassa’s Oracle.
Spell Pierce provides early interaction against the rest of the field. I was underwhelmed with three copies because opponents know this is the stock counter. The threat of Pierce was greater than the card itself so I would consider playing two in the future.
There are also two Flusterstorm in the board and I rarely want five soft counters in my deck.
Wrenn and Six is the card most likely to be banned in Modern and it plays out very well in Creativity. It disrupts early creatures and returns the many fetch lands from the graveyard. This is especially important because Dwarven Mines can be found more reliably. We’re also playing a haymaker in Archon of Cruelty that can be hard cast.
Persist was underwhelming for me, but shines in interactive matchups. Prismari Command and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker can cycle Archons which was already a valid play as they aren’t hard casted in the early game. Remember Persist doesn’t return Iona in the sideboard as it is Legendary.
An interesting caveat of Indomitable Creativity is the spell must destroy the creatures and artifacts to flip over the Archons. This means opposing Welding Jars can regenerate Treasure tokens to great success.
Blacksmith’s Skill can grant indestructible to your creatures or treasures from Hammertime’s removal. The fifth copy of Creativity is an objectively weaker card in Transmogrify, but happens to not have the drawback against Blacksmith’s Skill because the creature is instead exiled. I was impressed with Transmogrify because the base case to put an Archon on the battlefield is to use a Dwarf token. The redundancy was helpful.
Fable of the Mirror-Breaker plays out very well in Creativity. It creates a Goblin token as well as a flipped creature as Creativity fodder. The treasure tokens help hard cast Archon of Cruelty. Chapter two rummages away lands that can be recurred with Wrenn and Six or an Archon that can be reanimated with Persist.
Blood Moon can be problematic for Creativity because there aren’t many mono red cards and the only basic land is a Mountain. Treasure tokens from the goblin token can provide white mana to exile Blood Moon with Leyline Binding. Remember that Binding a Blood Moon is awkward because you can’t simply float a white to cast it as the card will cost four additional Mana.
Teferi, Time Raveler is surprisingly strong in a red deck, but the mana cost can be prohibitive. since every land is a Mountain and I need a white and blue source. The static effect is very powerful as I can safely cast Creativity without having to fear removal spells. Creativity can also be cast at instant-speed with Teferi’s +1 ability which can be relevant as a blocker or to discard during the opponent’s draw step.
Teferi does play out better in post board games alongside Veil of Summer as it’s typically a bomb in blue matchups. The green spell to pair with Teferi removes the color strain.
Iona, Shield of Emeria is to complicate the opponent’s plan to Necromentia Archon of Cruelty. Rakdos Scam typically plays Necromentia; name either red or black as Terminate is the main way to kill Iona. Name green against Yawgmoth as Grist and the tutor spells are the primary way to disrupt your big creature.
Sundering Titan is too cute in this metagame as the Necromentia decks don’t have many land types and Archon is the strongest creature in a vacuum.
Orvar, the All-Form is not a popular sideboard card at the moment so it would take a lot of convincing for me to warp my deck to respect it. I can simply hold a Creativity until I can make multiple Archons.
Leyline of the Void and Turn the Earth are the graveyard hate spells of choice. The artifact restriction means this archetype needs to attack graveyards more creatively.
Turn can gain life against Burn and shuffle back key spells against Mill on top of functioning as graveyard hate.
Veil of Summer is the primary way to force through a Creativity against blue decks. Opposing Archon triggers can be countered with Veil as it targets an opponent. It can also counter discard and Necromentia against black decks. Veil is the most influential card in Creativity’s Sideboard.
Flusterstorm is additional spell hate because there are plenty of removal spells to cut in non-creature matchups. Look for matchups where there aren’t key permanents to counter with Spell Pierce and Flusterstorm may be a slight upgrade.
Boseiju, Who Endures can be recurred with Wrenn and Six, but is not a Mountain for Dwarven Mine. I do want an additional green source against blue decks after sideboard because the Veils skew my color requirements. It’s also a great way to answer Blood Moon out of Murktide. Overall, it’s a fantastic sideboard card, but it plays out awkwardly in the first game.
Nature’s Claim is a cheap way to kill Urza’s Saga and other threats against artifact decks. The four life doesn’t matter because Creativity can play an effective control strategy in those Matchups.
Unmoored Ego is another bomb in matchups where the removal is lackluster. It can be protected with Veil of Summer, but it can also be fizzled by opposing Veils.
I was not disappointed with Creativity. The deck was not only quite fun, but the games don’t last long meaning I could spend time thinking about each play. If you like winning with game-ending spells, but don’t want to leave Modern staples in your binder then this is the deck for you. Thanks for reading!
