Unique MTG Archetype Dominates Regional Championship with 15-Land Sideboard!

Day one of this weekend’s Regional Championships in Canada and the United States is in the books, and there’s a lot to take away from the data. Unsurprisingly, many well-established archetypes like Temur Crashing Footfalls Crashing Footfalls Suspend 4—{G} (Rather than cast this card from your hand, pay {G} and exile it with four time counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter. When the last is removed, you may cast it without paying its mana cost.)
Create two 4/4 green Rhino creature tokens with trample. and Golgari Yawgmoth, Thran Physician Yawgmoth, Thran Physician Protection from Humans
Pay 1 life, Sacrifice another creature: Put a -1/-1 counter on up to one target creature and draw a card.
{B}{B}, Discard a card: Proliferate. (Choose any number of permanents and/or players, then give each another counter of each kind already there.) shells had solid showings at both events. However, there were also some new or otherwise unexpected strategies that thrived.

As far as new Karlov Manor cards are concerned, it appears as though Leyline of the Guildpact Leyline of the Guildpact If this card is in your opening hand, you may begin the game with it on the battlefield.
Each nonland permanent you control is all colors.
Lands you control are every basic land type in addition to their other types. is the breakout card of the week. We’ve already discussed its impact in Modern Domain Zoo decks given its incredible synergy with Scion of Draco Scion of Draco Domain — This spell costs {2} less to cast for each basic land type among lands you control.
Flying
Each creature you control has vigilance if it's white, hexproof if it's blue, lifelink if it's black, first strike if it's red, and trample if it's green. . This combination of cards, though, is also beginning to show up in Crashing Footfalls decks. In fact, one of two undefeated players in the U.S. Regional Championship after day one is playing this unique Domain Rhinos archetype.

While this Domain Rhinos deck is certainly the new hotness, it isn’t the only intriguing deck to have a dominant win rate this weekend. Today, we are going to focus on a deck that started 7-0 at the Regional Championship in Canada with 15 Lands in the sideboard! Interestingly, only one player in the whole tournament played the deck. Even more strange, this deck features no new Karlov Manor cards. Is this the breakout performance the archetype needed to finally get the recognition it deserves or is it still just a flash in the pan? Let’s take a closer look.

Winning the Game

This strategy is entirely built around one card and one card only: Calibrated Blast Calibrated Blast Reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a nonland card. Put the revealed cards on the bottom of your library in a random order. When you reveal a nonland card this way, Calibrated Blast deals damage equal to that card's mana value to any target.
Flashback {3}{R}{R} (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.) . Calibrated Blast is a three-mana Instant that lets you reveal cards from the top of your library until you hit a non-Land card. From there, you get to deal damage equal to the mana value of the revealed card to any target. The way this deck is configured, this will more often than not result in your opponent taking a whopping 15 damage.

See, the only cards in the deck with low mana values are Calibrated Blast and Throes of Chaos Throes of Chaos 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.)
Retrace (You may cast this card from your graveyard by discarding a land card in addition to paying its other costs.) , which essentially acts as additional copies of Calibrated Blast since you are guaranteed to Cascade into the powerful Instant. Other than that, the deck is made up of massive threats that aren’t intended to be cast. Cards like Emrakul, the Aeons Torn Emrakul, the Aeons Torn This spell can't be countered.
When you cast this spell, take an extra turn after this one.
Flying, protection from spells that are one or more colors, annihilator 6
When Emrakul is put into a graveyard from anywhere, its owner shuffles their graveyard into their library. and Autochthon Wurm Autochthon Wurm Convoke (Your creatures can help cast this spell. Each creature you tap while casting this spell pays for {1} or one mana of that creature's color.)
Trample are simply in the deck as cards to reveal with Blast.

Shadow of Mortality Shadow of Mortality If your life total is less than your starting life total, this spell costs {X} less to cast, where X is the difference. will occasionally get cast, but even this is an oddity. Scion of Draco Scion of Draco Domain — This spell costs {2} less to cast for each basic land type among lands you control.
Flying
Each creature you control has vigilance if it's white, hexproof if it's blue, lifelink if it's black, first strike if it's red, and trample if it's green. is nice as it helps fill both roles as a threat on its own and a high mana value threat to reveal to Blast. Obviously, sometimes you will end up revealing another copy of Blast to the one you cast and miss out on a ton of damage. Luckily, the card has Flashback, so you can get another crack at it. This helps let you play through counter magic from the opponent.

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Lands Galore

The most interesting aspect of this deck is that it plays an absurd number of Lands that all have vital roles in helping your main gameplan. The most important of these Lands is an addition from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan. This card is Hidden Volcano Hidden Volcano This land enters tapped.
{T}: Add {R}.
{4}{R}, {T}, Sacrifice this land: Discover 4. Activate only as a sorcery. (Exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card with mana value 4 or less. Cast it without paying its mana cost or put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom in a random order.) . Hidden Volcano isn’t super efficient to activate, but much like Throes of Chaos, it will allow you to cast Calibrated Blast reliably when you sacrifice it.

To help make Hidden Volcano a little less mana intensive to activate, this deck makes use of a playset of Sunken Citadel Sunken Citadel This land enters tapped. As it enters, choose a color.
{T}: Add one mana of the chosen color.
{T}: Add two mana of the chosen color. Spend this mana only to activate abilities of land sources. . Sunken Citadel can also help pay for activations of Ramunap Ruins Ramunap Ruins {T}: Add {C}.
{T}, Pay 1 life: Add {R}.
{2}{R}{R}, {T}, Sacrifice a Desert: This land deals 2 damage to each opponent. or Mount Doom Mount Doom {T}, Pay 1 life: Add {B} or {R}.
{1}{B}{R}, {T}: Mount Doom deals 1 damage to each opponent.
{5}{B}{R}, {T}, Sacrifice Mount Doom and a legendary artifact: Choose up to two creatures, then destroy the rest. Activate only as a sorcery. , which are in the deck to help deal the last points of damage when necessary, after a big Calibrated Blast. Gemstone Caverns Gemstone Caverns If this card is in your opening hand and you're not the starting player, you may begin the game with Gemstone Caverns on the battlefield with a luck counter on it. If you do, exile a card from your hand.
{T}: Add {C}. If Gemstone Caverns has a luck counter on it, instead add one mana of any color. is another great card at helping you stay ahead of schedule, letting you eliminate some of the tempo loss you would naturally have by being on the draw.

If it weren’t clear how impactful the wide range of utility Lands available are for the archetype, this deck’s 15-Land sideboard does a great job showcasing their importance. Both Boseiju, Who Endures and Otawara, Soaring City Otawara, Soaring City {T}: Add {U}.
Channel — {3}{U}, Discard this card: Return target artifact, creature, enchantment, or planeswalker to its owner's hand. This ability costs {1} less to activate for each legendary creature you control. allow you to interact with your opponent to buy time. Boseiju, Who Shelters All Boseiju, Who Shelters All Boseiju enters tapped.
{T}, Pay 2 life: Add {C}. If that mana is spent on an instant or sorcery spell, that spell can't be countered. helps you resolve Blast through counter magic from the opponent, while Nephalia Academy Nephalia Academy If a spell or ability an opponent controls causes you to discard a card, you may reveal that card and put it on top of your library instead of putting it anywhere else.
{T}: Add {C}. helps make sure you can fight through discard spells like Thoughtseize Thoughtseize Target player reveals their hand. You choose a nonland card from it. That player discards that card. You lose 2 life. and Grief Grief Menace
When this creature enters, target opponent reveals their hand. You choose a nonland card from it. That player discards that card.
Evoke—Exile a black card from your hand. .

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Strengths and Weaknesses

Even though this deck might look like a bit of a glass cannon at first, it does have some nice things going for it in the current metagame. There are plenty of top tier decks, such as Amulet Titan or Hardened Scales Hardened Scales If one or more +1/+1 counters would be put on a creature you control, that many plus one +1/+1 counters are put on it instead. , that simply can’t interact with Blast in a favorable manner. Meanwhile, even though decks like Azorius control can interact with Blast, they don’t put much pressure on you at all. This lets you develop your mana, which includes Boseiju, Who Shelters All, and play a longer game.

The biggest weakness this deck has is consistency. Given that you are reliant on Blast to win the game, you will need to mulligan a fair bit to find your win conditions. That being said, the presence of Hidden Volcano is a game-changer in this regard.

As far as matchup weaknesses are concerned, decks that put up a good mix of pressure and early disruption can be problematic. Izzet Murktide can easily start chipping away with Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer Whenever Ragavan deals combat damage to a player, create a Treasure token and exile the top card of that player's library. Until end of turn, you may cast that card.
Dash {1}{R} (You may cast this spell for its dash cost. If you do, it gains haste, and it's returned from the battlefield to its owner's hand at the beginning of the next end step.) , then use the extra mana to develop their board further and still hold up Counterspell Counterspell Counter target spell. when applicable. Rakdos Scam can also be a bit tough, since Grief Grief Menace
When this creature enters, target opponent reveals their hand. You choose a nonland card from it. That player discards that card.
Evoke—Exile a black card from your hand. in conjunction with Not Dead After All Not Dead After All Until end of turn, target creature you control gains "When this creature dies, return it to the battlefield tapped under its owner's control, then create a Wicked Role token attached to it." (Enchanted creature gets +1/+1. When this token is put into a graveyard, each opponent loses 1 life.) may provide a fast enough clock to win before you rebuild.

Even there, though, Nephalia Academy can bail you out. Additionally, Grief and Thoughtseize can’t take Hidden Volcano, further highlighting its value in the deck. Even though this archetype isn’t too popular, there’s no denying its massive success early on this weekend in a field of juggernauts. At minimum, this should draw attention to the deck, which can punish you if you aren’t prepared. Make sure to keep this deck under your radar if you plan to play Modern in the coming weeks.

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