Back when Wizards made a major ban announcement in December 2024, there was a ton of hype surrounding the return of Splinter Twin. Unfortunately, for the most part, Splinter Twin has been outshined by the other unbanned cards, especially Mox Opal.
Times have changed since the days where traditional Izzet Twin decks ruled the world of MTG. Instead, most players that have had success with the combo have had to think outside the box.
Speaking of which, recently, an unusual archetype mashing Splinter Twin and Living End strategies together has been surging in Modern out of nowhere. This is quite the combination, but it’s hard to argue with the deck’s recent success. If you’re a fan of Cascade and combo shells, look no further.
Living End Package
- Mana Value: 1R
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 3/1
- Card Type: Creature- Human Berserker
- MTG Sets: Modern Horizons 2
- Card Text: Bloodbraid Marauder can’t block. Delirium– This spell has cascade as long as there are four or more card types among cards in your graveyard. (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 of your library in a random order.)
The Living End portion of the deck revolves around one specific card: Bloodbraid Marauder. While most Living End shells opt to make use of three-drops like Shardless Agent as their Cascade cards of choice, this deck focuses on the more efficient option.
In either case, the goal is the same. You’re looking to fuel your graveyard by cycling away big threats, then cast your Cascade card. Because there are no spells with mana value zero or one besides Living End, Bloodbraid Marauder is guaranteed to hit Living End when the Cascade ability resolves. From there, you can bring back all of your beefy bodies to attack with.
Oliphaunt and Generous Ent are unique one-mana cyclers because they help ensure you hit your first few land drops. Their presence also allows you to run less lands than you normally would and play a higher density of cyclers, further maximizing Living End’s potential.
Beyond these landcyclers and Waker of Waves, the remaining burly beaters all have two card types. Architects of Will is an artifact creature, while Colossal Skyturtle is an enchantment creature. Running these threats makes enabling Delirium for Bloodbraid Marauder trivial.
Incubation//Incongruity further supports the cause. Incubation is a one-mana play that counts for two card types in your graveyard, doesn’t mess with your Cascade shenanigans, and digs for Bloodbraid Marauder all at once. This card really is the glue that holds the deck together, especially when you factor in the Splinter Twin portion of the deck.
In it to Twin it
- Mana Value: 2RR
- Rarity: Rare
- Card 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.”
Beyond simply using Living End as a win condition, this deck is also capable of going infinite with Splinter Twin. Both Deceiver Exarch and Bounding Krasis make an appearance, giving you an alternate route to victory.
This may seem like a very weird collection of cards to include in an otherwise dedicated Living End deck, but there is some appeal. First of all, the existence of the Twin combo makes this deck much harder to gameplan for.
Traditionally, Living End decks suffer in the face of dedicated hate cards. This includes graveyard hate pieces, such as Soul-Guide Lantern, as well as hate cards for the Cascade mechanic, like Drannith Magistrate. This forces Living End players to run a ton of answers in their sideboard, ranging from Foundation Breaker to niche cards like Brazen Borrower.
The Splinter Twin strategy allows you to completely sidestep these problematic permanents and win the game out of nowhere. Even if your opponent manages to use Surgical Extraction to get rid of all your Bloodbraid Marauders or Living Ends, they still have another combo to worry about.
It is true that you are only playing six creatures that combo with Twin and four copies of Twin, but between Incubation and all the cyclers, it’s easy to churn through your deck and find your missing pieces.
You’ll still find artifact hate in the sideboard, especially because of how prevalent Grinding Breach combo is in Modern. You even get to make use of Collector Ouphe as a nice tool by sticking with Bloodbraid Marauder (Collector Ouphe doesn’t mess with your ability to Cascade into Living End with Bloodbraid Marauder, but it would if you were playing Shardless Agent instead.) Nonetheless, you aren’t as reliant on drawing these answers in a timely manner to win.
Downsides
- 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.)
All that being said, adding the Splinter Twin package does come with some downsides. By making your deck less streamlined, you run the risk of drawing Splinter Twin and Deceiver Exarch at inopportune spots. You also don’t have as much room anymore to maindeck cards like Endurance and Subtlety that work well in conjunction with Living End.
Plus, your Living End gameplan is naturally less consistent with only four copies of Bloodbraid Marauder in the deck, rather than copies of both Shardless Agent and Ardent Plea. In the face of Soul-Guide Lantern and other similar effect, even if you can get the piece off the table, you now have to work towards getting Delirium all over again before you can Cascade into Living End.
This variant of Living End surely got a lot of mileage out of opponents not being prepared for the surprise Splinter Twin combo. It’s possible that as more players start to catch on, this unique archetype loses some of its luster.
Regardless, the fact that traditional removal spells that can be strong against Splinter Twin, like Fatal Push, are poorly positioned against the Living End side of the deck is a huge advantage. This shell already has two Magic Online Modern Challenge top 8s under its belt, so make sure to keep it on your radar moving forward.
