FREE Modern MTG Deck Guide Update – Izzet Murktide is Still Busted!

Modern Izzet Murktide by Andrea Mengucci

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I like to play four Ledger Shredders and three Dragon’s Rage Channelers. I found my deck improved drastically ever since going up to four Shredders, as it helps smooth your draws, gives you consistency and is an excellent card in the mirror and against cascade decks. Ledger Shredder helps you a lot post-sideboard when opponents bring Endurance and Leyline of the Void in against you, letting you keep grinding with Ledger Shredder and discarding Murktide Regent to it. You have to try to maximizing it by slow-rolling a Mishra’s Bauble, which gets better and better in this deck, but we know playing Murktide is an art, so it shouldn’t be a rule of thumb and you need to read your hand before committing to a slower plan.

Recently, there’s a lot of hype around Underworld Breach, which not only gets played in Jeskai Breach (the second best deck in Modern according my Modern Power Rankings), but I tried it in Izzet Murktide in my latest veedeo as well. At the LMS Trieste, I played one copy of Underworld Breach over the third Murktide Regent and I regret it. I only played one mirror match and instead got paired against plenty of aggressive decks like Hammer and Rhinos where a turn three Murktide Regent is way more important than a turn five Underworld Breach, especially since Dragon’s Rage Channeler often dies against Temur Rhinos and gets boarded out very often against graveyard hate such as Endurance or Sanctifier en-Vec.

I played one copy of Spell Snare over the fourth Lightning Bolt as interaction for a while now and I’ve been more and more impressed with it. I was happy to see that Mattia Rizzi, who Top 8’d LMS Trieste, had two in his main deck. Spell Snare is really good in the mirror as it counters a turn two Ledger Shredder on the draw as well as being good against Hammer Time and its many high-impact two drops. While it’s bad versus Four-Color Rhinos, it’s solid against the Temur Rhinos version since it counters a Petty Theft (from Brazen Borrower) bouncing your Murktide Regent.

While it’s true that Hammer Time sideboards in Pithing Needle for your Explosives, you’re likely able to play around their Saga on chapter three as well as being able to answer the Pithing Needle with Abrade, Brazen Borrower or Otawara, Soaring City. Because of Engineered Explosives, you’re able to play very aggressively against Rhinos and safely tap out to resolve a Ledger Shredder or a Blood Moon without worrying too much that your opponent will untap and resolve a Crashing Footfalls. I’m happy to play three copies and won’t cut them anytime soon.

I really like Subtlety in the mirror match and against Elementals and in general. Every time I sideboard out Dragon’s Rage Channeler, it gives the deck more threat density that can play around graveyard hate. In the mirror match, Subtlety can be a mirror breaker on a Murktide Regent, especially since the game goes long and you’re always able to hardcast it. I also like it against Hammer Time on the draw because of its ability to trade tempo for an extra card that you get back by being on the draw.

Finally, I decided to add a Relic of Progenitus over Unlicensed Hearse after the event, since I was not impressed by the Hearse against Underworld Breach and wanted an effect that could eat the entire graveyard to efficiently answer them. I like Relic over Tormod’s Crypt or Soul-Guide Lantern because it can be brought in against the mirror since it’s not card disadvantage that hurts your opponent’s graveyard in the same way Unlicensed Hearse does.

That’s enough for my monthly update on Izzet Murktide. Next month, I’ll be writing a Deep Dive for CFB Pro, where I’ll go in-depth with play sequences of Expressive Iterations and Mishra’s Bauble as well as writing how the most popular matchups play out. For now, I’ll leave you with my sideboard guide, which often takes in the play/draw difference into consideration as well as which specific version of deck your opponent is playing.

Izzet Murktide

Hammer Time

Temur Rhinos

Four-Color Rhinos

Indomitable Creativity

Jeskai Breach

Living End

Yawgmoth

Rakdos Scam

Four-Color Elementals

Azorius Control

Merfolk

Mono-Green Tron

Burn

Izzet Prowess

Five-Color Domain Zoo

Amulet Titan

Dimir Mill