UR Splinter Twin Primer

With the upcoming Modern Thursdaddy (4/23 The Gaming Guild 7:00PM) on the horizon, and after just competing in the Modern SCG Indiana States tournament, I have decided to give you all the ins and outs of my Modern weapon of choice: UR Splinter Twin. It is probably the most versatile deck in the format. The mainboard is capable of a turn four combo kill, but it also doubles as a tempo-oriented, aggro-control deck. The sideboard is built in a way that allows the deck to become more of midrange/control deck, or enables you to force your combo against decks with access to less disruption and removal. No matter what your gameplan is, the true power of the deck lies in fear. Your opponent is in a constant state of disarray while you operate at instant speed, and are always threatening to flash a Deceiver Exarch in, untap, and enchant it with a Splinter Twin for the win.

The mainboard relies on counter spells, burn spells, evasive creatures, and the constant threat of comboing out to slowly chip away at your opponent’s life total because they are often too afraid of killing your creature without getting the value of catching a Splinter Twin as well. But sometimes they mess that plan up, or just display that they can do nothing to disrupt you, and you get to win with the combo. Everything in the mainboard is very self-explanatory to anyone familiar with Modern. There are three cards I would like to point out though. The Blood Moon, Pact of Negation and Desolate Lighthouse. Blood Moon is at its best when your opponent is not playing around it. It is more likely for that scenario to occur in game one, since it is traditionally a sideboard card. The card selection in the deck helps you make up for drawing it in games where it is not very effective. The Pact of Negation is my favorite card in the list. It sees very little play in Modern, therefore your opponents also tend to not play around it. It can be the nail in the coffin for resolving that Splinter Twin, it can allow you to tap out on your turn for expensive threats after sideboarding, or it can keep your opponent from “going off” with their Enduring Ideal combo deck out of nowhere. Lastly, the Desolate Lighthouse is here because of how many grindy decks there are in Modern right now. Often times you and your opponent find yourselves top decking for some action, and this card will always bring you out on top of those scenarios. Some people play Tectonic Edge over it, or in addition to it. They are both powerful in different ways, but I have had more success with the Lighthouse. Also, I do not believe the deck can support two colorless lands efficiently.

Sideboarding with a combo deck can be difficult. It is hard to find the perfect blend of answers, or threats, to bring in without diluting the combo too much. Herein lies the beauty of Twin. Your opponent does not know if you boarded out the whole combo or not, and you can win without it! All they know is you could combo kill them on turn four and they have to be ready to do something about it. I am not saying that you should always board out all of your copies of Splinter Twin, but in certain matchups it can be very rewarding. I will discuss the specifics of popular matchups below.

B/G/X Midrange:

The other boogey man of the format. This is that matchup where you cut all of those useless copies of Splinter Twin. Between their discard and 10-15 removal spells, it is just not happening. You can also trim Deceiver Exarchs as they do not block or attack very well in this matchup. Here I like the Blood Moon, Dismember, Jace, Batterskull, Keranos, and Mind Control. Against Abzan specifically, I bring in Izzet Staticaster to answer their Lingering Souls tokens. Value your counter magic, and do your best to keep their board clear.

Burn:

In game one, be as conservative as possible with fetch and shock lands. Your best bet is to stick the combo. They have to two-for-one their self to stop you if you are lucky enough to find an Exarch, and that is not altogether bad for you. I cut Remands, the Blood Moon, and one Cryptic Command here. Bring in Dispel, Spellskites, Anger of the Gods, and your Batterskull. Still focus on the combo, this sideboard plan helps to slow down their start.

Delver/Geist of St. Traft decks:

This is another very grindy match up. Another one where I trim the combo. They have removal and counter spells that are hard to work around. Become the control deck. Bring in your Dispel, Anger of the Gods, Staticaster, Jace, Keranos, and Batterskull. After you cut your copies of Twin, I would recommend shaving Remands as they are not effective against other counter spell decks early, but in the late game they can enable some very profitable blowouts. Also, cut the Blood Moon. Dismember and Mind Control can come in if they are splashing for Tarmogoyf or Tasigur.

Infect:

This is all about sequencing. They operate on fear like you do, but you have better disruption. Cast your removal in a way that makes them blow their pump spells on your turn or on their end step. Their man lands can be hard to deal with, but I still cut Blood Moon because conscious opponents can still play around it easily. Cut expensive counter spells and trim Remands here. Bring in Spellskites, Dismember, Staticaster, and Dispel and try to force your combo, but never let your guard down if you can help it.

Amulet Combo:

Blood Moon. Trim Bolts and cut your Electrolyzes, as they mainly go to the dome in game one, for the additional Moon, bring in your Ancient Grudges to be able to catch an Amulet of Vigor on a slow start, and Echoing Truth to bounce a Titan that they go all in on. Disrupt their start, and you should be able to combo off if you can find it. Also, Blood Moon.

The Mirror Match:

This is a sheer skill game. You do not need Rending Volley or Combust in the sideboard. Just be conservative and patient. What it really comes down to is who draws more creatures and burn spells as the games usually end with Pestermite beatdowns. Snapcaster Mage is your best card here. As for sideboarding, trim Remands again, cut the Blood Moon, go down to two Splinter Twins, Electrolyzes can go, and one Pestermite since it is pretty weak to all of their removal. Bring in Jace, Batterskull, Keranos, Echoing Truth, Spellskites, Dispel and Dismember and prepare for a grinder.

The last card in the 75 that I want to touch on is Echoing Truth. I only advocating bringing it in twice, but I would never leave home without it. Modern players go deep and you never know when you will be staring down a Ghostly Prison, an Elesh Norn that your opponent just reanimated, or 24 Empty the Warrens tokens. Echoing Truth is the perfect answer in a ton of scenarios.

Thanks for reading! GLHF!