Germinating Modern

By Sam Black

Sam Black is a Platinum Pro Player and longtime writer for StarCityGames.com. He is a respected deck builder and took over Daily Decks for the first half of 2013.

I played Melira Pod in Grand Prix Portland, and I was extremely impressed with Voice of Resurgence and Kitchen Finks, but not so thrilled with the card Birthing Pod. I've been wondering about other things a deck like that could do, and I've begun to wonder about Golgari Germination.

Golgari Germination is excellent with creatures with persist or undying because it has the potential to make two creatures for each of them, and it's great with Voice of Resurgence because it keeps the tokens huge. It's also outstanding with Blood Artist, which becomes something of the focus of this deck.

Golgari Germination also provides tokens to tap to convoke Chord of Calling, which allows us to keep some of the tutoring power from Birthing Pod. Melira still gains infinite life with Kitchen Finks, this deck has plenty of sac outlets to let that happen, and if you need to actually kill your opponent, a Golgari Germination will generate infinite tokens and a Blood Artist will make the opponent lose any amount of life.

Chord of Calling should generally either be setting up a Melira combo or finding Blood Artist, or, better yet, Reveillark to get Blood Artist(s). Another option is to find Varolz or Death's Shadow, to Scavenge for +13/+13 if you can get a creature through. Death's Shadow is an excellent bullet to find with Ranger of Eos or Chord of Calling if you're low on life, and Varolz is a good sac outlet, so having access to the combination of the two comes at a low cost.

There's a good chance that Thoughtseize should be in the starting sixty, but I really wanted to push the creatures. I included Birthing Pod in the sideboard to help grind out midrange opponents, but another option would be to have access to Zealous Persecution instead, as it can be extremely powerful with so many tokens.

Blood Germination

Decklist Stats Sample Hand

Creature (31)

1 Death's Shadow 2 Doomed Traveler 1 Sin Collector 4 Voice of Resurgence 1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast 1 Ranger of Eos 4 Blood Artist 4 Cartel Aristocrat 1 Viscera Seer 1 Varolz, the Scar-Striped 1 Reveillark 3 Deathrite Shaman 4 Kitchen Finks 1 Noble Hierarch 2 Young Wolf

Instant (3)

3 Chord of Calling

Enchantment (3)

3 Golgari Germination

Land (22)

2 Forest 1 Temple Garden 3 Misty Rainforest 1 Swamp 1 Gavony Township 1 Godless Shrine 2 Overgrown Tomb 4 Marsh Flats 4 Verdant Catacombs 1 Plains 2 Razorverge Thicket

59 Cards

Sideboard (15)

1 Sin Collector 1 Maelstrom Pulse 1 Orzhov Pontiff 1 Kataki, War's Wage 3 Birthing Pod 1 Obstinate Baloth 1 Qasali Pridemage 4 Thoughtseize 2 Murderous Redcap