While Eldrazi are obviously powerful in the Modern metagame, it’s tough to know what the best variant of the deck is. A bunch of different shells are being tested, and multiple Eldrazi decks have entered and faded from the fray.
Through the Breach decks made a temporary appearance after the unban of Mox Opal before Underworld Breach took over. Now that the Breach is banned, the archetype seems to have made a roaring reappearance in a new shell. This time, Through the Breach appears to be here to stay.
Izzet Through the Breach
Through the Breach’s combo is so iconic that Emrakul, the Aeons Torn now makes an appearance on the card’s art. Through the Breach essentially lets you cheat an Emrakul into play for just five mana. Emrakul won’t stick around, but one hit from this Eldrazi Titan is usually enough to end the game anyway. If 15 damage doesn’t do it on top of some Fetch Land damage, Annihilator 6 will send your opponent back to the Stone Age.
Using this iconic combo, an Izzet shell won two back-to-back Modern Challenges on MTGO in the capable hands of ScreenwriterNY. After this, it began showing up in Modern League 5-0’s as well.
This Through the Breach list takes a bunch of concepts we’ve recently seen from different decks and mashes them all together. For example, Portent of Calamity makes an appearance here, but it’s not the sole focus of the deck. Instead, it’s just a card advantage spell that has the chance of hitting big.
Similar to every Eldrazi deck we’ve seen, the Nulldrifter boardwipe combo also makes a return. Kozilek’s Return only deals 2 damage to each creature if cast from hand, but you get to deal another five damage when casting a colorless spell with mana value seven or greater if Kozilek’s Return is in your graveyard. That lets an Evoked Nulldrifter, essentially, clear a board for three mana.
This new Through the Breach list also takes advantage of the most powerful colorless cards in Modern. Kozilek’s Command is an auto-include in any deck that can reliably cast it. Ugin’s Labyrinth, Eldrazi Temple, and Devourer of Destiny round out the Eldrazi package, increasing consistency and ramping towards key spells.
If anything, this is the least dedicated Eldrazi list that has seen play lately. Instead, this list includes a lot of counterspells and value elements – something that looks scarily reminiscent of Legacy Show and Tell.
Constructed Like a Legacy Deck
Stock Up was the best thing to ever happen to Show and Tell decks. For three mana, you can find parts of your combo or a free counterspell. Speeding this up with Ancient Tomb lets you sculpt your hand as early as turn two, if you don’t just combo outright.
Stock Up does a very similar thing in Modern Through the Breach. You can cast this on turn two thanks to Ugin’s Labyrinth. It can find parts of your combo and free counterspells in the form of Force of Negation. Ugin’s Labyrinth is a bit more difficult to get going out of the gate than Ancient Tomb, but Devourer of Destiny ups the consistency of this happening.
Looking like a Legacy deck is certainly promising, but if that’s the case, why did it take so long for a deck like this to rise to the top of the metagame? The answer has to do with the recent metagame shifts that positioned a deck like this extraordinarily well.
What Actually Happened Here?
The top end of this deck cannot be beat, because you simply win the game. This gives the Eldrazi deck an even better Energy matchup than it already had, which is, by far, the best deck in the current metagame. It also improves the matchups against other popular decks.
You have the advantage against opposing Eldrazi decks. The opponent might be better at ramping than you are, but it doesn’t matter if your Through the Breach combo is a turn later than their big drop. They generally need to resolve Emrakul, the Promised End to have a chance, and you resolve your game-winning spell much quicker.
All of your combo matchups improve as well, which is incredibly important considering that both Ruby Storm and Belcher are meta players. Force of Negation is very good against both of these decks.
This deck also gets to run three maindeck Spell Snare, which is excellent in the meta. This lines up incredibly well against Ruby Storm and UR Prowess, countering all of their important spells. The card is also well-positioned against Dimir Murktide, which might be this deck’s toughest meta matchup. That said, Stock Up goes a long way in the matchup, making it a lot more difficult to tempo the deck out of the game.
Perhaps the most impactful thing about Izzet Through the Breach, however, is that it’s much stronger against Consign to Memory than the other Eldrazi decks. Consign to Memory is generally an unconditional counterspell for one mana against Eldrazi, but Consign to Memory actually can’t counter as much here. Besides Nulldrifter, Kozilek’s Command, some mana rocks, and Devourer of Destiny, Consign to Memory will miss the mark. It’s still strong, but not being able to counter Through the Breach, Portent of Calamity, or Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is a big deal.
This Izzet Through the Breach list has promise. It keeps up with the current metagame and abuses a bunch of powerful cards. It’s rare for a deck like this to have such a strong performance on its debut. This will likely become a pillar of the Modern metagame for the months to come.