18, Jan, 25

Unusual MTG Cascade Shell Features Lethal Combo Kill

As the Modern format has continued to evolve since the major ban/unban announcement in mid-December, it’s become clear that not all the unbanned cards are equal in impact. Mox Opal is a clear frontrunner with Grinding Breach already in ban discussion territory.

Meanwhile Green Sun’s Zenith is not too far behind, playing a major role in Golgari Yawgmoth and Amulet Titan shells. Even Faithless Looting, which fell a bit short of expectations, is a staple in Jund Creativity and Delirium aggro decks.

This leaves Splinter Twin at the bottom of the barrel. The card still pops up, but the hype has quickly died down due to a lack of elite performances.

Well, perhaps the solution is to think a bit outside the box. Recently, an off-the-wall Splinter Twin decklist put up a solid result in a Magic Online Modern Challenge. This deck takes elements from traditional Izzet Twin and Temur Cascade lists and fuses them together. Could this concoction be the next step in reviving Splinter Twin? Let’s dig deeper.

Splinter Twin Action

Splinter Twin
  • Mana Value: 2RR
  • Rarity: Rare
  • Type: Enchantment – Aura
  • MTG Sets: Rise of the Eldrazi, Modern Masters 2015
  • Card Text: Enchant creature. Enchanted creature has “Tap: Create a token that’s a copy of this creature, except it has Haste. Exile that token at the beginning of the next end step.”

The Splinter Twin package is rather simple here. You just need two cards and you’re able to combo kill your opponent. The first, of course, is Splinter Twin. The second is either Deceiver Exarch or Pestermite, and this deck plays both.

The goal is to first cast one of your three-drops on your opponent’s end step, tapping down one of your opponent’s permanents (typically a land to make it harder for them to disrupt your combo). From there, you can untap and jam Splinter Twin onto your threat.

Once you tap your Exarch or Pestermite to make a copy of it, the copy will enter and let you untap the original. Now you can tap the original and repeat this process to produce infinite tokens to attack with.

This combo is nothing new, but it’s a bit weird to see it in a deck without cantrips or lots of protection for the combo. You do at least have some flexibility on turns where you leave up mana, since your opponent also has to play around Force of Negation and Subtlety. However, these cards don’t actively bolster the Splinter Twin gameplan.

Cascade Action

Shardless Agent
  • Mana Value: 1GU
  • Rarity: Rare
  • Stats: 2/2
  • Card Type: Artifact Creature- Human Rogue
  • MTG Sets: Planechase 2012, Eternal Masters, Planechase Anthology, Modern horizons 2
  • Card Text: Cascade (When you cast this spell, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card that costs less. You may cast it without paying its mana cost. Put the exiled cards on the bottom in a random order.)

Instead of filling the deck with common support cards, the rest of the list features typical Temur Cascade cards. With playsets of Shardless Agent and Crashing Footfalls, you have the luxury of winning games by beating down with 4/4 Rhinos when you’re not winning via the Splinter Twin combo.

The reason these gameplans work together is that none of the Splinter Twin combo cards cost less than two mana. So, casting Shardless Agent still guarantees that you’ll Cascade into Crashing Footfalls.

Of course, you do still need plays to make on the first couple turns of the game in a format as fast as Modern. Fortunately, there are a few split cards that you can cast for two or less mana that don’t interfere with your Cascade efforts.

The primary options here are Dead/Gone and Fire/Ice. Both of these cards are particularly good at staving off Boros Energy long enough to get to your win conditions. Fire/Ice is quite versatile, too, since you can always choose to cast Ice targeting an opponent’s land in their upkeep to mess with their plans. Couple that with the land-tapping ability of Exarch and Pestermite, and you’re in business.

An Unusual Combination

Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd
  • Mana Value: 1W
  • Rarity: Rare
  • Stats: 2/2
  • Card Type: Legendary Creature- Dog
  • MTG Sets: Modern Horizons 3
  • Card Text: Flash. Whenever Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd attacks, exile up to one other target nonland permanent. At the beginning of the next end step, return that card to the battlefield under its owner’s control. If it enters under your control, put a +1/+1 counter on Phelia.

Overall, the idea of pairing Crashing Footfalls with Splinter Twin is a bit strange. After all, the gameplans are a bit disjointed. None of the pieces of the Splinter Twin combo actively help your Cascade objective, and vice versa. Even still, having access to both avenues to victory can help when it comes to beating some of Modern’s top archetypes.

For example, the traditional Cascade gameplan isn’t exactly the best against Boros Energy or Orzhov blink. Both decks are capable of creating an overwhelming battlefield force that a couple 4/4s won’t be able to overcome. Phelia lines up especially well here, as it can blink out one of your Rhino tokens upon attacking.

Luckily, the Splinter Twin package makes it possible to steal games you could otherwise never win. While the opponent is focused on dealing with your Rhinos, you can set up a spot to assemble the infinite combo, which doesn’t care how big your opponent’s board is.

On the flip side, when facing decks like Belcher that don’t apply a ton of pressure on the board, a quick Rhinos start backed up by Force of Negation can go a long way. The Cascade portion of the deck is also helpful when it comes to beating hate cards. Crashing Footfalls lines up better against Solitude and enchantment removal.

In games where you’re relying more on your Cascade cards or you don’t draw Splinter Twin, you don’t have to worry about Exarch and Pestermite being dead cards. You’re free to pitch Exarch or Pestermite to Force of Negation, Subtlety, and sometimes Gemstone Caverns and get use out of them just fine. Of course, when you’re all in on Twin, pitching Shardless Agent to Force or Subtlety can work in a pinch.

So, despite the fact that this archetype isn’t the most streamlined deck in the world, you at least have some ways to get usage out of your potentially dead cards. At the end of the day, this deck feels a bit more experimental than anything and is unlikely to break out in a super meaningful way.

At minimum, though, it gives hope to Splinter Twin enthusiasts, showcasing that there’s still plenty of room to explore different shells for the combo. With Grinding Breach and Boros Energy as popular as they are, seeing this build perform well was a breath of fresh air.

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