Competitive FLOCK

by kmk888 on 16 February 2014

Main Deck (60 cards)

Sideboard (15 cards)

Submit a list of cards below to bulk import them all into your sideboard. Post one card per line using a format like "4x Birds of Paradise" or "1 Blaze", you can even enter just the card name by itself like "Wrath of God" for single cards.


Deck Description

You like flying creatures? You like swarm decks? Well that's a cheap way to play Magic, you dirty bastard. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. It's also really fun and I love it too. And Bitterblossom just got added back to Modern! Rejoice!

The deck came about when I saw this deck:

http://www.mtgvault.com/vanguard487/decks/flock-2/

And when I was looking at the card choices I think I really saw Favorable Winds for the first time in my life. Like really looked at how good that is. When I thought about it some more, I couldn't resist trying to make it competitive and came up with a shell of this. I added Lingering Souls, then with the addition of black thought of one of my favorite modern decks I've seen on this site:

http://www.mtgvault.com/lucy93/decks/dirty-zur-if-you-dare-2/

And quickly added Zur. Once I remembered Bitterblossom just got added to modern, this deck kicked into overdrive. No seriously this deck is competitive playable.

How to Play

Basically any draw with Favorable winds and Lingering Souls/Bitterblossom/Squadron Hawks should let you fight a good fight. Just watch out for Thundermaw Hellkites.

Deck Tags

  • Modern
  • Flying
  • Swarm
  • Competitive

Deck at a Glance

Social Stats

22
Likes

This deck has been viewed 2,950 times.

Mana Curve

Mana Symbol Occurrence

20201200

Card Legality

  • Not Legal in Standard
  • Not Legal in Modern
  • Not Legal in Vintage
  • Not Legal in Legacy

Deck discussion for Competitive FLOCK

Reminds me of my no longer standard spirit tribal. I'd suggest avacyn and griselbrand but they would probably slow the deck down. Nice Deck.

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Posted 17 February 2014 at 00:22

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Yeah for whatever reason I never saw that deck in action, so I didn't ever really think about Favorable Winds. I am surprised that I've never seen Bitterblossom and Favorable Winds together.

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Posted 17 February 2014 at 00:33

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Well, yes this is competitive, and it makes really, really good use of favorable winds. The only problem I see with this is the price tag. For almost 800$, you could build a really nice valakut deck.
I definitely see what you did, and this would, no, will work very well. You definitely put more thought than me in this deck, I only put 40 mins into mine XD!

Get off to the hot page!

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Posted 17 February 2014 at 02:42

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Thanks man. Like I was definitely aware that it would be pricey. I never build my decks in real life that aim to be competitive, I just hope that maybe someone with more money will pick up the list and win a GP or something. My only goal as a deckbuilder is really recognition. But you know I never would have thought of this list if I hadn't seen yours. So thanks very much for that.

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Posted 17 February 2014 at 04:20

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ya, i have had quite a few 1,000 view + hits myself, check out my page for some ideas, i will do the same for you

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Posted 17 February 2014 at 05:13

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cool cool. Yeah I saw those theme decks you were making. The Alara shards with the Heralds? Those are sweet. I'm pretty psyched to see the Grixis one, not gonna lie. Just be sure to include Sedraxis Specter... I love that card.

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Posted 17 February 2014 at 05:22

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Oh! This looks awesome!
I don't think Beckon Apparition will do much for your. You should add more D. Sphere and something like Luminarch Ascension/Hoofprints of the Stag or even Skirsdag High Priest (Bigger flying creatures)
Suparcool! <3

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Posted 17 February 2014 at 04:46

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I like the Hoofprints of the Stag, but I think it might be too slow. At least with the current level of draw power. As answer for the Beckon Apparition, I find that it is always good to have a surprise creature, and it serves as a bit of graveyard hate if I can't find Zur and get the Rest in Peace. Unfortunately (actually very fortunately) there are no flying Scavenging Oozes.

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Posted 17 February 2014 at 05:40

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I really like the synergy zur has with the deck. Might look into adding some sort of card draw. If you are considering planeswalkers, sorin loi and Elspeth KE might be useful. Made a Semi-Budget azorius version of this. http://www.mtgvault.com/shadowdusk13/decks/airplane-mode/

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Posted 17 February 2014 at 04:57

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I really have been looking to add card draw to it. Right now what I have in that department is just the Dark Tutelage in the sideboard. I might move it to the main. Luckily (since I've made this into a really tryhard deck) all of the cards have a lot of value just by themselves, so the idea is I never actually need to reload on cards, but all the same I'd like to have access to draw power.

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Posted 17 February 2014 at 05:11

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Sphinx's Revolation and Underworld Connections are the main draw power in standard right now. Maybe they'll work here.

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Posted 17 February 2014 at 05:23

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Well Underworld Connections older brother Phyrexian Arena might. The only thing that may stay my hand is I want to be able to cast it if I find it in my hand, and one black mana is easier than two. It's probably worth it though.

And I enjoy a fat Revelation as much as the next guy, but I don't think that I'm going to get into a long enough game for it to be the ideal draw engine. I'll test with it though

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Posted 17 February 2014 at 05:55

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This deck is really cool! I imagine the pressure it creates is just evil. Also, I absolutely love Judge's Familiar. A 1/1 flyer for one in 2 colors with a potentially irritating ability? Yes, please.

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Posted 17 February 2014 at 08:25

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Right? In the same deck as Favorable Winds, Steel of the Godhead, and a bunch of things that make me want to counter boardwipes? It's super powerful. And I'm glad you enjoy the deck!

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Posted 18 February 2014 at 00:10

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How about spellstutter sprites in sb ?

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Posted 17 February 2014 at 08:28

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I don't think I'll go that route unless I get more devoted to the faerie subtheme. As it is I don't feel comfortable with a sometimes counterspell, and I already have Spell Pierces/Judge's Familiar. But thank you for your thoughts!

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Posted 18 February 2014 at 00:07

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Gravitational shift?

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Posted 17 February 2014 at 13:40

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I still haven't eliminated that as a possibility. It's just so bomby in this deck it's unreal. But Zur can't fetch it and for 5 cmc I can wreck other creature decks even better with Godhead of Awe. And if the opponent doesn't have creatures I don't know if I can count on casting something that late in the game without it getting countered. And I also don't know what I would take out for it. Any ideas?

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Posted 18 February 2014 at 00:02

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needs totem armor or protection from a color type aura for Zur.

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Posted 17 February 2014 at 20:18

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I am considering putting in Felidar Umbra to make up some life, but I don't know if it's worth it with Steel of the Godhead in the same deck. And I don't think the other Umbras are good enough in this deck. What did you have in mind with the "protection from a color type"?

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Posted 18 February 2014 at 00:05

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Pentarch Ward would be ideal, spirit mantle is also good since it allows you to block with ease if needed, although spirit mantle does not protect from removal.

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Posted 18 February 2014 at 00:29

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really cool deck! i agree with sora119 though, if your running zur, you better be running some form of protection he can fetch for himself. i personally would run 3 and not 4 zur, because though they are a cornerstone of the deck, once you land one and give it protection it's going to stick on the field, making the other zur's dead in your hand due to legendary status.
as for the rest of the deck, you definitely need some sort of draw engine. arena is fetchable off of zur, but you are already running bitter blossoms, and so the life loss may well become a liability. so the man i suggest for the job is jace beleren. lets think about him in comparison to arena. in a fast-paced deck like this, arena will probably draw you 3 to 4 cards before the game is over. if all you do is -1 jace until he dies, he will give you 3 cards. this is less than four, but notice that unlike arena, he gives you the first card IMMEDIATELY, which in my experience is well worth the possibility of one less draw in a deck like this . yes, by being a planeswalker, jace is vulnerable. but this deck's strength is it's ability to pour on pressure, and if the opponent burns a card or combat phase to take out jace (who's -1 has already replaced himself), they will be loosing even more tempo, and quite honestly i dont see them coming back from that.
my only other observation on the deck is the land count, i feel that a deck curving out at 4 needs 23 lands at most, probably more like 22.
so all in all, i would -1 midnight haunting, -1 land, -1 zur, +3 baby jace, and then i'm not really sure where to put the protection.
feel free to take as little or as much of my advice as you like. great deck, and happy building!

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Posted 18 February 2014 at 06:05

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After review, I'm going to respectfully disagree with your thoughts on Jace. See most the time when I play this deck, I need to be putting out powerful flying creature on turn 3 far more than I need a card advantage engine. Basically the cards in this deck are individually powerful enough that if I've completely run out of cards and haven't won, the game has seriously gone awry and I don't think Jace would fix it. That being said, of course I want to draw cards. I'm a competitive magic player. The two types of card drawing I would be most interested in are 2 cmc instant speed draw, or an enchantment Zur can grab for me. So the things I've considered for this job are a single copy of Phyrexian Arena/Dark Tutelage and maybe a couple copies of Azorius Charm. I like these cards, but they both have problems. One problem with the enchantment is that it costs 3 and if I ever take the time to hard cast it I lose a lot of tempo. So I would only use one copy, to reduce the odds of me drawing it. But the bigger problem is that I don't know why I would fetch it with Zur. He comes down a little late, and most the time if they let me swing with him I want to grab a Favorable Winds or a Steel of the Godhead. They cause the most immediate impact. And for long term card advantage I already have Bitterblossom... So that idea doesn't actually make sense. Azorius Charm is the better option, and it has popped in and out several times. I like it because it also can help make up some life loss from Bitterblossom by giving everything lifelink. But it only cycles, and I don't know that it's worth a slot.

At this point I am not running anything that lets me draw a lot of cards. But I'm not sure I need them. I have increased the number of cantrips and I have two home run card advantage engines already in Bitterblossom and Zur. So unless I've overlooked something big I don't think I'll put anything like that in.

As for protection for Zur, enough people have posted support for that for me to feel obligated to respond. My feelings on protection in Modern are that there is literally no way to keep anything safe with the diversity of removal in the format. The best deck in modern for keeping things alive is G/W hexproof and when you play that you're basically gambling that the meta is not playing enough boardwipes and Lilianas. Plus they have an entire turn to kill him... So for me to dedicate a slot to protect a guy that will gain me a lot of value in the long game (this deck shouldn't go for the long game) is pretty useless if I draw it, and forms a flimsy form of protection at best just seems like a mistake to me. Instead I use him aggressively, proactively. If they do remove him it's like good job, you used your removal, now deal with the rest of the flock. If they don't I'm about to ride him to victory. So that's why I don't bother.


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Posted 19 February 2014 at 02:30

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good, solid points. i appreciate the full explanations. question, what are the surveilling sprites for in sideboard?

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Posted 19 February 2014 at 03:10

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I was kinda considering putting them in the main when I was looking for stuff to fill slots. They're two cmc flying cantrips. They kind of discourage boardwipes. That's it. I'll probably replace them.

(I would sell my soul for Baleful Strix in Modern)

Also there are up to 4 slots I am comfortable changing in the main. Those are the two Pride of the Clouds, and the Gitaxian Probes. Both good cards, but I feel they could probably be better. I also don't think the sideboard is fully fleshed out. So if you think of something really sweet, absolutely let me know.

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Posted 19 February 2014 at 03:17

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honestly i'd build the deck quite differently, so suggestions i have for the main would require some substantial re-engeneering of the core. but for the side, i think a spirit of the labyrinth to grab with zur would be sweet. zealous prosecution would also be incredible in this deck, but the 4 favorable winds may be enough crowd pump as is. if you dont mind, i may try building my version of this deck at some point.

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Posted 19 February 2014 at 03:30

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No problem at all. And good catch with the Spirit of the Labyrinth. It doesn't have flying, but whatever. Sometimes you just really need a hate card.

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Posted 19 February 2014 at 04:57

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I would run misty rainforest over arid mesa. Your deck is deeper in blue sources than the other colors. You can still fetch hallowed fountains but it also means you will definitely have blue for things like clique.

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Posted 19 February 2014 at 04:45

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It was more white focused when it started. I'll update it.

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Posted 19 February 2014 at 05:00

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Oh on a side note you definitely want to add hand disruption in this deck either sideboard or mainboard. Inquisition or thoughtseize. As it is you just flatout lose to most combo decks. Your only spells that interact are remand and pierce and they won't stop it nearly as well. You do have paths for splinter twin but they also run spellskite.

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Posted 19 February 2014 at 04:49

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Yeah I have run into this, but the Vendilion Cliques help. I do need to make some room though. 3 cards is not disruption enough to take on combo decks.

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Posted 19 February 2014 at 04:59

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Drop 2 probles for hand disruption. You get perfect information either way. So that's 2 slots for sure. I would drop pierces alltogeher as well. Pierce is more of a sideboard card and you aren't really a control deck to be running spell pierce. I could probably make an argument for remand too. I think you could ditch probes, remand, pierce, and add hand disruption and possible some more kill spells. Maybe dark confidant for draw since your curve is low. He wouldn't do so badly here since if they do waste a kill spell. Other options could be using maybe a sword or a batterskull in here. Just ideas. This is more of a midrange token deck so running control is pointless. You aren't a U/B faerie. You are esper tokens. Spectral Possesion would also be fantastic.

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Posted 19 February 2014 at 05:08

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Actually
-2 pride
-2 probe
-2 remand
-3 pierce
-3 clique

+4 inquisition
+3 thoughtseize
+4 spectral Possesion

+1 of something. Honestly your deck is pretty sweet and I can see it being altered completely. I kinda want confidant in here but at the same time I wouldn't like so much life drain without a way to gain life back.

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Posted 19 February 2014 at 05:12

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I've modified the deck some. I haven't entirely changed the way it plays like you wanted, but I did add Thoughtseize and I've made it more consistent. Although Spectral Procession gets a lot of tokens, I'll rarely be able to cast it for 3 cmc. I don't really have the faith in that card that you do and don't want to slant it that far white when I already have a solid Esper core. Also, since I haven't added all the 1 cmc hand disruption that you suggested, I'm both need and love Vendilion Clique and don't want to replace it with Spectral. As far as my modifications go, I don't know why I was lying to myself before, but Spell Pierce is not a hard counter. I just really wanted to counter boardwipes with only 1 mana, but I now believe it will be least useful in the matchups where I need it the most (America Control, GR Tron, and Splinter Twin). I still prefer the reactive, more counterspell oriented play though, and have replaced them with a playset of Remand (which is very useful, they're pure tempo). The Thoughtseizes that I put in should have been there the whole time. They give me more to do turn 1 and the confidence to play what I need to turn 2. But after testing, the Gitaxian Probes have also been overperforming, so they may stay in. They're really good because they let me check if the way is clear to resolve something like Zur or let me know when I should save mana for a counterspell. They're also obviously very good to help decide whether I should Clique myself or the opponent, and the best part is that they only cost me a paltry 2 life.

All in all I think this is the most competitive build yet. It is not budget friendly, but I really believe this brew could carry you through a tournament.

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Posted 19 February 2014 at 16:09

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It does look much better. I have been trying to make a W/B tokens deck but so far I just have a skeleton. I have about 50 cards in for the deck but not sure what to add for the last 10. If lifegain is a problem you could try auriok champion. She's a card I am considering because with thoughtseize and bitterblossom and fetches + shocks it hurts a ton.

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Posted 20 February 2014 at 02:50

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If you are interested here is what I made for mine. Sadly I think I have just too much life drain in the deck and I might have to take out the confidants as much as I love Bob. Anyway I probably need another set of eyes to tell me what to do. I would love your feedback as a fellow modern token deck player.

http://www.mtgvault.com/chronoexe/decks/bw-tokens-modern/

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Posted 20 February 2014 at 03:41

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