Swans, a Deck Tech
Swans, a Deck Tech
The List
Lands Non-Creatures
20-Mountain 4-Seismic Assault
7-Island 4-Treasure Hunt
4-Temple of Epiphany 2-Anger of the Gods
4-Swiftwater Cliffs 1-Narset, Parter of Veils
4-Shivan Reef 1-Serum Visions
2-Wandering Fumarole 1-Lightning Bolt
1-Steam Vents 1-Day’s Undoing
Creatures
4-Swans of Bryn Argoll
The Deck
Swans is a budget modern deck that looks to combo off utilizing Seismic Assault and Swans of Bryn Argoll. Seismic Assault is an enchantment that costs {RRR} to cast. It reads, “Choose and discard a land card: Seismic Assault deals 2 damage to target creature or player.” Swans of Bryn Argoll is a 4/3 flying creature for {2 U/W U/W}. It reads, “If a source would deal damage to Swans of Bryn Argoll prevent that damage. The source’s controller draws cards equal to the damage prevented this way.” Treasure Hunt is kind of the third piece of the combo but with the number of lands in the deck you won’t always use it but in the meantime, it does help you find combo pieces or things to reset your combo. The combo in this deck is basically to keep discarding lands to Seismic Assault to shock the Swans to draw cards and repeat until you have enough lands in hand to discard them and direct lethal damage at your opponent. I’ll go into more detail later but that’s the basics of it.
The Mana Base
First off, you may notice the lack of good lands in fetches to help fix our mana, more shock lands, check lands, and a new land that came out of Modern Horizons, Fiery Islet. While yes, these would probably help the mana base overall there’s reasons for the lands that are included. Also this deck is a budget friendly modern deck for those without a ton of money to spend. The mountains are in such a high count because most of our spells are red, although some of these usually get cut when sideboarding. The deck could probably stand to use more islands but this number has been working fine for me. Temple of Epiphany is always a 4 of in this deck because there will be times where you need to find something specific, whether it’s more of a specific color, a specific spell, etc. Swiftwater Cliffs is in mostly because of burn and other similar decks. The life gain is fairly relevant in these matchups. Shivan Reef is just a budget dual land that taps for a colorless mana or pings you for 1 when you use it for blue or red mana. Wandering Fumarole was something that I debated on the number for. It’s a man land that is a decent back up if you need a blocker or you’re having a hard time pulling off your combo. The Steam Vents was also another one I kicked numbers around about. Both this and Fumarole both are worthy of being a 4 of in this deck. The problem with making them both 4 of is you’re losing lands that come in untapped as the heavy reliance on colors is very relevant when it comes to whether you keep or mulligan a hand. It also makes you more susceptible to Blood Moon effects. Steam Vents does come in untapped at the cost of 2 life but, with the state of modern right now, if you’re going to play this deck, the 2 life could mean the difference between pulling off your combo and winning or shocking yourself out of the game.
The Spells
Like I explained in the intro, you’re looking to combo off with Swans of Bryn Argoll and Seismic Assault in play by discarding lands to Seismic Assault, shocking the Swans and drawing cards until you can discard lands for lethal to your opponent. The rest of the pieces are pretty important for a variety of reasons. Treasure Hunt does two things in the deck, it helps you find your combo pieces or if you already have them, it finds more lands to pitch to your Swans or your opponents face. Anger of the Gods is good as a sweeper in the deck and can also draw you at least 3 cards in the right situations. Serum Visions is pretty self-explanatory. Some might argue that Opt is better here but the scry 2 is very nice. Lightning Bolt is either removal or a 1 mana draw 3, whichever you need it to be as you’re casting it. Narset, Parter of Veils is great in that it helps you find your non-creature spells and it keeps your opponent from drawing too many cards while you’re looking for your Seismic Assault. And finally, Day’s Undoing. This card is great if you find yourself running out of cards to draw from shocking your Swans or you’ve simply been discarding cards to hand size if you find yourself drawing dead as it shuffles your hand and graveyard back into your library. It works especially well with Narset in play as they’re only drawing one card and you’re getting a full blown Wheel of Fortune effect.
How to Play the Deck
In your opening hand you ideally want a few lands for each color. It’s very rare that you’ll keep a hand with only red sources. It’s also rare you’ll get a hand with all blue sources only. You’ll also want at least a Treasure Hunt. I don’t really like keeping those hands where I only have Treasure Hunt and some dead card like Day’s Undoing to open the game but I will depending on if I’m on the play or draw and what kind of scry effects I have in hand. The perfect hand to open with is 3 duals, Seismic Assault, Swans, land x2. This hand will, depending on your other 2 random lands, allow you to set your combo in motion as early as turn 4 but typically turn 5. If you have just a Seismic Assault you can manage to hold off your opponent typically by just discarding lands to shock their creatures allowing you time to find your other pieces. If you have just Swans, go ahead and attack with it for the most part as it’s a flier so they probably can’t block it. Any amount of damage you can get in while you look for your combo will help. Cast things that will draw you cards the turn you draw them. You can’t afford to waste time holding on to things and doing things in response to what your opponent is doing typically. You need your cards now so in order to do that you need to cast your spells now. You can however, hold on to lands if you run out of gas which can happen, though not likely. Holding on to your lands is basically holding on to a shock so long as you have a Seismic Assault in play. Don’t worry about tapping out in most situations. Control decks are usually the only ones you have to worry about tapping out against because of things like Spell Pierce and Mana Leak. As a note, this deck isn’t really good or bad against any other deck. It just kind of is, if that makes sense. Draw cards, play spells, discard excess lands to draw more cards until you have enough lands to throw at your opponent is how the deck works. Very straightforward but given what it is, it’s a very glass-cannon type strategy. Game 1 you’re all in on your combo. Once you start sideboarding that’s a whole different world. Being both red and blue there’s various options you can choose from for your sideboard. Mine is pretty straight forward.
The Sideboard
3-Smash to Smithereens
2-Spell Pierce
1-Rift Bolt
1-Electrolyze
1-Spellskite
1-Laboratory Maniac
1-Rending Volley
1-Sphinx’s Tutelage
1-Tormod’s Crypt
1-Mana Leak
1-Lightning Bolt
1-Anger of the Gods
Like any sideboard, these cards don’t all come in against every deck. Smash to Smithereens is good against artifact decks. While cards like Abrade offer some diversity Smash always blows up an artifact and always deals 3 damage to its controller. I’d also bring this in against Aether Vial decks, as they’re looking to play a whole bunch of stuff each turn and just out pace and outsize you with their creatures. The less they can play the better usually. Spell Pierce and Mana Leak just add some control to the deck, especially if your opponent is trying to cheat on mana. Rift Bolt and Lightning Bolt serve similar purposes. They both have multiple uses. They can be removal, draw 3’s, or extra damage to your opponent. As this deck doesn’t have much interaction with planeswalkers aside from attacking them with the few creatures you have or sending a Lightning Bolt at them I’d bring them in against those decks. Electrolyze is a few different things in one as well. By itself it’s a 3 mana shock and draw 1. If you have a Swans in play it can be a 3 mana draw 3. It can also kill a couple 1 toughness creatures if you need it to. Bring this card in against creature decks looking to cheat on mana. If you see things like Noble Heirarch, Birds of Paradise, or Arbor Elf in game 1 consider bringing this in. Spellskite is another utility card that I like against bogles or infect. It can help swing things in your favor by changing the target of their spells. It also helps against burn because it doesn’t die to Bolt. It’s also just a good blocker on the ground. With 4 toughness, there’s not much that it dies to. It is susceptible to both artifact and creature removal however. Laboratory Maniac is an alternate win condition that could probably be in the main deck. I like it in the sideboard though because it usually catches people off guard when you resolve it and then draw a bunch of cards to mill yourself out. Rending Volley is good against humans and spirits as it deals well with both blue and white creatures. Humans creatures are primarily white with a few exceptions and spirits decks are either U/W or bant. In bant spirits the green isn’t really relevant to the strategy and there’s other cards in the deck to deal with those. Tormod’s Crypt against decks that look to utilize the graveyard. Control decks running Snapcaster Mage is a prime example and now that it’s making a big push in the format, jund is another one that likes the graveyard. Tarmogoyf relies on card types in there and Wrenn and Six gets back lands so anything to help mitigate the shenanigans there helps out. Sphinx’s Tutelage is a good way to try and mill your opponent out. It works well with casting you Lightning Bolts targeting Swans or Anger of the Gods with a Swans in play. I really like it against mono-colored decks but it works well against most fair strategies. Finally, one more copy of Anger of the Gods for creature decks. Keeping their creatures off the board when you’re not running many to defend yourself is usually pretty good.
Final Thoughts
The deck is super fun to play. It can be very frustrating at times as you will draw a ton of lands when you don’t need them or can’t use them or you’ll be drawing a ton of irrelevant spells to get your combo going. You will whiff with Treasure Hunt. I’ve done it plenty of times. Obviously sideboard can be changed with your meta and the better lands can be added as mentioned but this was a budget friendly deck I ran across a couple years ago and have just kept it up with budget friendly upgrades like Narset. Jace, Wielder of Mysteries is one that might be considered as an upgrade to Laboratory Maniac as it helps you draw cards as well as mill them and has the same static effect. It’s also a little more difficult for opposing players to deal with as it is a planeswalker. There’s plenty of options with this deck for both main and side boards. Play around with it, find what works for you, and have fun. The deck can be built in paper for about $100. I’m not familiar with MTGO so I’m unsure as to how much it costs to build there, though I’m sure it’s fairly cheap online as well if you chose to play it online and tweak the deck to your liking before taking it to your local FNM.
The List
Lands Non-Creatures
20-Mountain 4-Seismic Assault
7-Island 4-Treasure Hunt
4-Temple of Epiphany 2-Anger of the Gods
4-Swiftwater Cliffs 1-Narset, Parter of Veils
4-Shivan Reef 1-Serum Visions
2-Wandering Fumarole 1-Lightning Bolt
1-Steam Vents 1-Day’s Undoing
4-Swans of Bryn Argoll
The Deck
Swans is a budget modern deck that looks to combo off utilizing Seismic Assault and Swans of Bryn Argoll. Seismic Assault is an enchantment that costs {RRR} to cast. It reads, “Choose and discard a land card: Seismic Assault deals 2 damage to target creature or player.” Swans of Bryn Argoll is a 4/3 flying creature for {2 U/W U/W}. It reads, “If a source would deal damage to Swans of Bryn Argoll prevent that damage. The source’s controller draws cards equal to the damage prevented this way.” Treasure Hunt is kind of the third piece of the combo but with the number of lands in the deck you won’t always use it but in the meantime, it does help you find combo pieces or things to reset your combo. The combo in this deck is basically to keep discarding lands to Seismic Assault to shock the Swans to draw cards and repeat until you have enough lands in hand to discard them and direct lethal damage at your opponent. I’ll go into more detail later but that’s the basics of it.
The Mana Base
First off, you may notice the lack of good lands in fetches to help fix our mana, more shock lands, check lands, and a new land that came out of Modern Horizons, Fiery Islet. While yes, these would probably help the mana base overall there’s reasons for the lands that are included. Also this deck is a budget friendly modern deck for those without a ton of money to spend. The mountains are in such a high count because most of our spells are red, although some of these usually get cut when sideboarding. The deck could probably stand to use more islands but this number has been working fine for me. Temple of Epiphany is always a 4 of in this deck because there will be times where you need to find something specific, whether it’s more of a specific color, a specific spell, etc. Swiftwater Cliffs is in mostly because of burn and other similar decks. The life gain is fairly relevant in these matchups. Shivan Reef is just a budget dual land that taps for a colorless mana or pings you for 1 when you use it for blue or red mana. Wandering Fumarole was something that I debated on the number for. It’s a man land that is a decent back up if you need a blocker or you’re having a hard time pulling off your combo. The Steam Vents was also another one I kicked numbers around about. Both this and Fumarole both are worthy of being a 4 of in this deck. The problem with making them both 4 of is you’re losing lands that come in untapped as the heavy reliance on colors is very relevant when it comes to whether you keep or mulligan a hand. It also makes you more susceptible to Blood Moon effects. Steam Vents does come in untapped at the cost of 2 life but, with the state of modern right now, if you’re going to play this deck, the 2 life could mean the difference between pulling off your combo and winning or shocking yourself out of the game.
The Spells
Like I explained in the intro, you’re looking to combo off with Swans of Bryn Argoll and Seismic Assault in play by discarding lands to Seismic Assault, shocking the Swans and drawing cards until you can discard lands for lethal to your opponent. The rest of the pieces are pretty important for a variety of reasons. Treasure Hunt does two things in the deck, it helps you find your combo pieces or if you already have them, it finds more lands to pitch to your Swans or your opponents face. Anger of the Gods is good as a sweeper in the deck and can also draw you at least 3 cards in the right situations. Serum Visions is pretty self-explanatory. Some might argue that Opt is better here but the scry 2 is very nice. Lightning Bolt is either removal or a 1 mana draw 3, whichever you need it to be as you’re casting it. Narset, Parter of Veils is great in that it helps you find your non-creature spells and it keeps your opponent from drawing too many cards while you’re looking for your Seismic Assault. And finally, Day’s Undoing. This card is great if you find yourself running out of cards to draw from shocking your Swans or you’ve simply been discarding cards to hand size if you find yourself drawing dead as it shuffles your hand and graveyard back into your library. It works especially well with Narset in play as they’re only drawing one card and you’re getting a full blown Wheel of Fortune effect.
How to Play the Deck
In your opening hand you ideally want a few lands for each color. It’s very rare that you’ll keep a hand with only red sources. It’s also rare you’ll get a hand with all blue sources only. You’ll also want at least a Treasure Hunt. I don’t really like keeping those hands where I only have Treasure Hunt and some dead card like Day’s Undoing to open the game but I will depending on if I’m on the play or draw and what kind of scry effects I have in hand. The perfect hand to open with is 3 duals, Seismic Assault, Swans, land x2. This hand will, depending on your other 2 random lands, allow you to set your combo in motion as early as turn 4 but typically turn 5. If you have just a Seismic Assault you can manage to hold off your opponent typically by just discarding lands to shock their creatures allowing you time to find your other pieces. If you have just Swans, go ahead and attack with it for the most part as it’s a flier so they probably can’t block it. Any amount of damage you can get in while you look for your combo will help. Cast things that will draw you cards the turn you draw them. You can’t afford to waste time holding on to things and doing things in response to what your opponent is doing typically. You need your cards now so in order to do that you need to cast your spells now. You can however, hold on to lands if you run out of gas which can happen, though not likely. Holding on to your lands is basically holding on to a shock so long as you have a Seismic Assault in play. Don’t worry about tapping out in most situations. Control decks are usually the only ones you have to worry about tapping out against because of things like Spell Pierce and Mana Leak. As a note, this deck isn’t really good or bad against any other deck. It just kind of is, if that makes sense. Draw cards, play spells, discard excess lands to draw more cards until you have enough lands to throw at your opponent is how the deck works. Very straightforward but given what it is, it’s a very glass-cannon type strategy. Game 1 you’re all in on your combo. Once you start sideboarding that’s a whole different world. Being both red and blue there’s various options you can choose from for your sideboard. Mine is pretty straight forward.
The Sideboard
3-Smash to Smithereens
2-Spell Pierce
1-Rift Bolt
1-Electrolyze
1-Spellskite
1-Laboratory Maniac
1-Rending Volley
1-Sphinx’s Tutelage
1-Tormod’s Crypt
1-Mana Leak
1-Lightning Bolt
1-Anger of the Gods
Like any sideboard, these cards don’t all come in against every deck. Smash to Smithereens is good against artifact decks. While cards like Abrade offer some diversity Smash always blows up an artifact and always deals 3 damage to its controller. I’d also bring this in against Aether Vial decks, as they’re looking to play a whole bunch of stuff each turn and just out pace and outsize you with their creatures. The less they can play the better usually. Spell Pierce and Mana Leak just add some control to the deck, especially if your opponent is trying to cheat on mana. Rift Bolt and Lightning Bolt serve similar purposes. They both have multiple uses. They can be removal, draw 3’s, or extra damage to your opponent. As this deck doesn’t have much interaction with planeswalkers aside from attacking them with the few creatures you have or sending a Lightning Bolt at them I’d bring them in against those decks. Electrolyze is a few different things in one as well. By itself it’s a 3 mana shock and draw 1. If you have a Swans in play it can be a 3 mana draw 3. It can also kill a couple 1 toughness creatures if you need it to. Bring this card in against creature decks looking to cheat on mana. If you see things like Noble Heirarch, Birds of Paradise, or Arbor Elf in game 1 consider bringing this in. Spellskite is another utility card that I like against bogles or infect. It can help swing things in your favor by changing the target of their spells. It also helps against burn because it doesn’t die to Bolt. It’s also just a good blocker on the ground. With 4 toughness, there’s not much that it dies to. It is susceptible to both artifact and creature removal however. Laboratory Maniac is an alternate win condition that could probably be in the main deck. I like it in the sideboard though because it usually catches people off guard when you resolve it and then draw a bunch of cards to mill yourself out. Rending Volley is good against humans and spirits as it deals well with both blue and white creatures. Humans creatures are primarily white with a few exceptions and spirits decks are either U/W or bant. In bant spirits the green isn’t really relevant to the strategy and there’s other cards in the deck to deal with those. Tormod’s Crypt against decks that look to utilize the graveyard. Control decks running Snapcaster Mage is a prime example and now that it’s making a big push in the format, jund is another one that likes the graveyard. Tarmogoyf relies on card types in there and Wrenn and Six gets back lands so anything to help mitigate the shenanigans there helps out. Sphinx’s Tutelage is a good way to try and mill your opponent out. It works well with casting you Lightning Bolts targeting Swans or Anger of the Gods with a Swans in play. I really like it against mono-colored decks but it works well against most fair strategies. Finally, one more copy of Anger of the Gods for creature decks. Keeping their creatures off the board when you’re not running many to defend yourself is usually pretty good.
Final Thoughts
The deck is super fun to play. It can be very frustrating at times as you will draw a ton of lands when you don’t need them or can’t use them or you’ll be drawing a ton of irrelevant spells to get your combo going. You will whiff with Treasure Hunt. I’ve done it plenty of times. Obviously sideboard can be changed with your meta and the better lands can be added as mentioned but this was a budget friendly deck I ran across a couple years ago and have just kept it up with budget friendly upgrades like Narset. Jace, Wielder of Mysteries is one that might be considered as an upgrade to Laboratory Maniac as it helps you draw cards as well as mill them and has the same static effect. It’s also a little more difficult for opposing players to deal with as it is a planeswalker. There’s plenty of options with this deck for both main and side boards. Play around with it, find what works for you, and have fun. The deck can be built in paper for about $100. I’m not familiar with MTGO so I’m unsure as to how much it costs to build there, though I’m sure it’s fairly cheap online as well if you chose to play it online and tweak the deck to your liking before taking it to your local FNM.
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