Faithless Brewing MTG: Modern and Pioneer for the Spike Rogue
Leisure:Hobbies
Season 18, Episode 23: Brew Session (Archfiend of the Dross) + Flashback (Invasion of Gobakhan)
Archfiend of the Dross burst onto the scene at DreamHack Dallas, where cftsoc unleashed a devastating combo with Metamorphic Alteration that took the tournament by storm. Turning an opponent’s creature into a copy of Archfiend, without access to Oil counters, means instant death on their upkeep. The one two punch of a 6/6 flier for 2BB, paired with a blue two drop, harkens back to the days of Dimir Inverter, when the unique combo-control strategy menaced the Pioneer format while racking up an impressive 47% win rate.
Excitement for the Archfiend combo has abated in recent weeks. Despite the heavy scrutiny among dedicated Pioneer players, there is still no stock build of the combo that has delivered consistent results. While cftsoc splashed blue into a mostly Rakdos shell, others like laa11 and DJeffMTG have pushed for a dedicated Dimir build. Then there are weirder options like Golgari Fight Rigging, or even Jund with Harmless Offering — all decks predicated on the promising observation that Archfiend of the Dross is a powerful standalone card. This is a combo that should work, and it’s a great mystery why the new Inverter has so far failed to live up to its billing.
Today on Faithless Brewing, David and Cavedan put on their sleuthing caps to get to the bottom of the mysterious missing demon. We look at eight different Pioneer builds with Archfiend, some featuring Metamorphic Alteration, and others not. We also review our testing results with Invasion of Gobakhan, which snagged David a nifty 5-0 trophy with a unique aggro brew.
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Decklists for this episode can be viewed at FaithlessBrewing.com
Decklists
David’s Sultai Fiend Rigging
Sultai Fight Rigging by biz1 (5-0)
David’s Jund Harmless Offering
Dimir Archfiend Combo by DJeffMTG
Dimir Alteration (Yorion) by laa11 (5-0)
Dimir JVP Alteration by OafMcNamara (T16 Pioneer Challenge)
David’s Atraxa Rise to Glory
Drossed to Kill by KilgoreTrout503
David’s RW Shatterskull Invasion (5-0)
Dan’s BW Demonic Processors
In Search of Greatness, At Any Cost
What's Winning After the B&R + Strixhaven First Look
Gettin’ Jiggy with Righteous Valkyrie (ft. Arun Singh)
Nuke It from Space: Fallout from the Biggest B&R in History (ft. Arun Singh)
Fetch Me a Horn of Bounty, and Pour One for Yourself: Brewing Up a Storm with Birgi
We Broke Modern and All We Got Was This Lousy Secret Lair Announcement
The Truth about Tibalt's Trickery
Diamond Hands: Treasure Cruisin' with Magda, Brazen Outlaw
The Raven's Eye: Does Alrund Have a Home in Pioneer?
Kaldheim Top 5s: Bold Predictions and Called Shots
Lie to Me, Valki: Turn One Tibalt and Other Tall Tales
Brewer's Guide to Kaldheim, Part 2: The Best of the Rest
Brewer's Guide to Kaldheim, Part 1: Of Gods and Men
Valakut Awakenings: The Hidden Gems of Zendikar
The Best and Worst of 2020
Naughty or Spice? Gerry Thompson Reviews Your Brews
40 Cards We'd Like to See in Modern Horizons 2
Heartless Summoning, The White Whale of Modern
When Snapcasters Go Bad: The Case for Sea Gate Stormcaller
Brewers' Choice 2020 Voting Guide
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