Much Abrew: Proteus Hunt (Modern)

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Last week during our Instant Deck Techs, we had a clear winners: everyone wanted to see the crazy Proteus Hunt deck that's build around Polymorphing with no creatures in the deck to stack our library, before winning with Treasure Hunt, a ton of lands and Lightning Storm. Playing Proteus Staff without any Emrakul, the Aeons Torn in the main deck feels really strange. Is it actually possible that using the artifact to stack our deck can work in a format as powerful as Modern? Are there really situations where the Treasure Hunt / Lightning Storm kill is better than just getting an Emrakul, the Aeons Torn for our Polymorph in troubles? Let's get to the video and find out!
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Match 1: 3:04
Match 2: 10:44
Match 3: 25:28
Match 4: 37:04
Match 5: 46:26
Wrap Up: 58:42

[@MTGGoldfish]

Read more about the deck here: www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/much-abrew-proteus-hunt-modern Match 1: 3:04 Match 2: 10:44 Match 3: 25:28 Match 4: 37:04 Match 5: 46:26 Wrap Up: 58:42

[@ErroneousClique]

Thanks for the spicy Much Abrew. This one was very fun to watch.

[@endermeap6488]

Especially at 29:13 lol

[@thatoneguy1991able]

"Do we Emrakul?" THERE IS NEVER A SITUATION WHERE YOU SAY NO

[@dsagent]

Opponent is holding a deflecting palm.

[@silentwatcher5134]

ouch

[@MTGGoldfish]

That happened to us once.

[@TheTommyboy876]

Opponent has Lilliana, smallpox, or some other edict effect... so yeah there’s definitely times when the answer is no. Emrakul isn’t banned because there are answers in modern.

[@ianmcabee8036]

after 9 hours of GP Seattle I come home to this no sleep allowed (I was the guy yawning in the coverage of the finals)

[@Vrun_35]

Facing the elves I was surprised you didn't lightning storm and discard lands in hand to kill their two power elves then go off next turn. Also when you sided in polymorph and not Emrakul I may have been yelling at my computer screen.

[@icantpronounce]

it made me cringe every time seth suggested going up polymorph without emrakul

[@lkaze123456789]

popky101 I thought I seen wrongly, apparently it a punt?

[@icantpronounce]

it would end up being sac a token to shuffle your library or a bad removal spell

[@MTGGoldfish]

We didn't do it though!

[@HTHfilms]

29:15

[@k98killer]

MTGGoldfish yeah, you definitely did bring in Polymorph without Emrakul -- you just didn't cast it, which is unfortunate because it would have been a great learning moment.

[@HeyYouWithTheThing]

WHO WOULD DARE DOUBT MY SUPER COOL DECK!!! 4-1 SETH!!! I'M SO PROUD!!!

[@dmany13]

Great deck dude

[@Dockvg]

great deck, but I'm thinking on doing the opposite, starting with the emrakul combo, then changing into lightning storm. The reason is simple: our opponent knows what is about to happen when we use polymorph/proteus staff, if we show the lightning storm combo in the 1st game, the surprise factor is pretty much gone and, if our opponent is smart, he'll probably predict that we're gonna switch the combo to emrakul. If we start with the emrakul combo, it's pretty unlikely that he predicts lightning storm in the 2nd game.

[@itze_]

I am surprised to see Seth playing it after everybody saying it would be painful to run it on MTGO. That's some dedication here, boys.

[@MTGGoldfish]

I didn't think it was actually all that bad to play on Magic Online (while you do have to click careful to not misstack your library, it's actually a lot quicker than most other combos).

[@TheTommyboy876]

Didn’t look that painful.

[@draccon136]

Great video! A couple of pros in favor of the Hunt/Storm kill instead of Emrakul MD: 1. Treasure Hunt and Lightning Storm are usable cards in a normal game of Magic (the first copies anyways), but Emrakuls are bricks. 2. Kills opponents at >15 life/with flying chumpers when Emrakul may not. However, with Hunt/Storm you can lose to a topdecked counterspell when Emrakul wouldn't. EDIT: Also, Leyline of Sanctity.

[@relytnehpets154]

My absolute favorite is when saffron olive yells “boo”

[@slendermike3206]

that last match against elves was vicious

[@endermeap6488]

“Bring in polymorph, I don’t think we want to go on the Emrakul plan”

[@HinderYourGeneral]

This looks like the old Proteus Belcher deck from back in the day. So much fun

[@nhogan84]

42:23 "Do we think our 5 would be better than dragon fodder and 4 lands?" YES FOR THE LOVE OF GOD YES

[@rgya413]

I am skeptical, but eager to see how this plays out. Treasure Hunt is one of the coolest combo pieces in the game, so we'll see what it can do here.

[@wildwest8069]

19:25 *That's a lotta damage!* (Meme)

[@jonathansnow21]

Yes! So excited for this deck!

[@soonerj97]

The last turn of the last match made me soo happy.

[@jostme12]

18:30 "This also shuts down our relics" 18:45 "... bolt can't kill it, we could find a relic eventually"

[@advancekid]

Always excited for vids, but sad dubious challenge didn't get there :(

[@cassie7611]

I have a cool idea for a Much Abrew deck or Against the Odds deck. What if you combined Hive Mind + Pact of Negation? If your opponent isn't playing blue, they would lose the game when they have to pay. I don't know if there are any other Pacts that require you to pay colored Mana, but I feel would would be a really cool idea of it works.

[@gwheeler233]

Polymorph has a shuffle clause so it won't work with the Treasure/Storm combo, only the Emrakul plan. Proteus staff is the only way to stack the deck. Goblin Charbelcher also stacks the deck. I don't know why you would run it over Lightning Storm, but you could.

[@carter9449]

Charbelcher only stacks the deck if you have no lands in your deck

[@MTGGoldfish]

Yeah, zero creatures is an easier deck building restriction than zero lands.

[@gwheeler233]

Indeed. Using it in lieu of Lightning Storm would work though, albeit more expensively. There was a proteus-belcher combo as a low tier deck back in onslaught-mirrodin standard

[@tacotimmer8288]

no lands, no creatures... just run no cards in your deck!

[@dmany13]

Only thing I suggest for the deck is just in the sideboard throw in a random echoing truth or two

[@MTGGoldfish]

Yeah, this makes sense.

[@wfo121]

Polymorph + Thopter/Sword combo.....use blightsteel...lemme know if ya want the list 😂

[@patrickbuerke1390]

Will Opperman I do!

[@wfo121]

Patrick Buerke I’ll grad the list from my tappedout account tomorrow and post back here 👍🏼

[@sensei9767]

Why blightsteel?

[@wfo121]

Sensei mainly, I’m lazy and it tends to be an instant kill following turn. Cuz it’s in the thopter sword shell there almost always thopters to protect against Lilli -2 so unless opponent has path it’s normally a 1 shot kill next turn

[@sensei9767]

Emrakul is too expensive($), right?

[@willb5150]

I added 4X Simian Spirit Guides and go off the same turn as I hunt. Plus, it seems a lot more stable and I like having access to the extra red mana if needed.

[@blakridinghood]

noble hierarch & the manarocks is a sick bandname

[@koshi6505]

Seems like the opponents sideboard out remove against you, allowing the polymorphs to get through. Nice!

[@HeyYouWithTheThing]

It's been months and I still have nightmares of "Do we Emrakul?"

[@mattjones7589]

PRRRRRRRRROteus Hunt

[@jackpabich763]

Can we see a version of Titanshift, but without the scapeshift? Maybe an against the odds deck? Just a version to be more budget, revolved around landfall. Seems super fun

[@nooneatall5612]

2:48 "The beauty of Proteus Ant"

[@endermeap6488]

Vandalblast? Why not echoing truth or just shattering spree? (Echoing truth lets you beat leylines/stony silences/pithing needles etc with your main plan)

[@awesmeGuy-nn1td]

I love this deck! made a version that can drop emrakul turn 3!

[@dingding12321]

I REALLY feel like the deck wants more general counters. No board control beyond bolt and goblin trading and yet the deck runs negates? Seems sub-optimal. They're dead whenever I see them here.

[@tomjackal5708]

sb anger for negate

[@MTGGoldfish]

Should have the fourth negate for sure.

[@dingding12321]

assuming you mean Remand!

[@eepopgames2741]

Do a Bant Polymorph/Eldritch-Evolution value deck. Voice of Resurgence, Renegade Rallier, Finks, Thragtusk, 1 Elesh Norn etc. The trick is going to be finding non-creature 1 & 2 drops that are worth playing since Voice is probably one of the few two drops that has enough value to not be super-sad to hit off a polymorph.

[@lkaze123456789]

What a punt, the opponent should know about the bolt

[@musicjax]

PROTECC YOUR DECC

[@Anavrin9]

Dear god, why would the last opponent sac Chalice when they had already seen your hand?

[@cerulienceruleen6463]

What I really like about this deck : The combo wants you to reveal your whole library to the opponent, which is kinda bad for combo in game 1. But the deck's sideboard may trick the opponent into using the wrong hate cards. PS - a jankier version could use seismic assault instead of lightning storm.

[@icantpronounce]

there's actually a fair argument to using seismic assault it would be more useful before you combo off than lightning storm

[@cerulienceruleen6463]

True, but it must be cast at sorcery speed. I think the good choice would be one of each, so one needle is not enought. ;)

[@Doki1880]

YUSSSSSS

[@georglieber2158]

Is pact of negation just a bad card? I get how it protects the combo but considering how few counterspells are in the format it seems like more of a sideboard card..

[@cosmotect]

Hey guys, does anyone have a list of videos where Seth goes "AAAAAWWWWWWWWW!!!" to something extremely unlikely happening? I love those moments :D

[@אמנוןטל]

When Seth started singing at 34:25...

[@tgva8889]

Would this be better to swap and play this plan in the sideboard of a poly-emrakul deck?

[@MTGGoldfish]

Could do it that way. I don't think either win-con is strictly better or worse, although Emrakul is probably better in a wider range of situations.

[@BlaineTog]

I still don't get why you'd go through all this trouble when you could do pretty much the same thing and get an Emrakul out of the deal.

[@MrDrewwills]

Because this is against the odds?

[@daweisguy454]

Technically this is Much Abrew, but it can be difficult to tell sometimes.

[@javgamer722]

Zenith Wills Well technically this is much abrew but I agree with you point. Also it's simply something fun and different

[@AgaresOaks]

I was initially skeptical as well but the games revealed that it's a lot less bad than it looks. It's primary advantage is that it's a LOT more durable to Liliana of the Veil (which is a very real card), kills 100% unless they're soul sisters or Solemnity lock (we even saw a game where Emrakul was only good enough b/c opponent punted), and hunt being a semi-playable card on its own. Neutral factors include that it's just as fast (assuming you have enough mana) and being different so it confuses some opponents. Disadvantages include some fringe bad matchups where it's worse game 1, requires more sideboard slots so we can switch to the regular plan game 2, being less consistent than poly + staff which is the usual plan, being more mana intensive over several turns compared to the poly plan, and not giving you a blocker on the backswing. I think those changes give it a bit more breathing space and a bit of a niche with relation to the deck I almost always compare the poly deck to which is Through the Breach. Breach is basically not-bad poly. Additional thoughts: almost always correct to switch to poly plan after unless your opponent has no artifact interaction for some bizarre reason and I'm pretty sure seismic assault is the better finisher.

[@teejay5511]

Its much abrew and I think this idea is to take people by surprise.

[@KapteeniKlamydia]

Isn't this a bit risky with all the Field of Ruins being used currently? You didn't run into any this time, but Proteus Staff doesn't really work then :)

[@MTGGoldfish]

Yes, that is one of the biggest concerns I have for the deck.

[@johnnyandthepnuemoni]

I like the idea of the deck however it has some suspect cards in the main. With a deck like this it seems like you want to go all in on the combo and remove the worse blue moon "control" package. The decks main problem is it's a turn slow and it has no answers to common hate cards i.e. stony and leyline. Would it hurt to have instant speed interaction outside of counter magic like Echoing Truth maybe?

[@MTGGoldfish]

Having some answer in the sideboard is probably worth it, most of the hate cards are pretty unlikely in the main deck though.

[@la.zanmal.]

Could you build this so that it sides into Storm instead?

[@xavierdunkle2372]

I run a mono red version of this with indomitable creativity

[@xavierdunkle2372]

essentially i only have the emrakul plan though

[@melissagrenier2200]

How did you find out the opponent in game 1 was on ponza? You seemed convinced it was titanshift.

[@MTGGoldfish]

I think it was Titan Shift, but the overlay didn't get the message :)

[@elijahkleinman1332]

You can also stack your deck with Recross the Paths and no lands

[@virgilmacmanus7568]

12:32 Me: Did you just say "somewhat crispy recipe"?

[@MTGGoldfish]

You know I didn't.

[@BBBr0ny]

Games at 3:05

[@koshi6505]

You could argue game starts at 5:18. ;)

[@BBBr0ny]

Brandon Pack True. XD

[@trysephiroth007]

Siding in Poly without Emrakul seems troll.

[@thomas-bx8wm]

erm the opponents play with sacing chalice when they had seen some of the cards in your hand really made no sense right They had seen at least 1 bolt in hand from TKS right? so they knew that was just lethal to sac the chalice on 1, surely they needed to sac end bringer and just hope for the top deck karn. or a i missing something

[@MTGGoldfish]

I don't remember if they had seen the Lightning Bolt or not, but they still should probably have kept the Chalice on one.

[@k98killer]

"Can't really tell what the opponent is playing, so let me just change the way my deck functions in case I guess correctly. ... Oh, I sideboarded poorly, but it isn't really my fault since I couldn't tell what they were playing." It actually is your fault when you sideboard poorly since the alternative is always to just not. When in doubt, don't.

[@kennethacuna9996]

Krenko's Command, best command 52:50

[@Dan1loBC]

28:20 why scoop? didn't he have the kill set?

[@MTGGoldfish]

All the opponent has to do is attack (and we don't have any sweepers or removal, so we don't even have anything to draw into).

[@Dan1loBC]

Oooohhh I had misread Lightning Storm. And you'd need 1 turn after setting up the combo, so the oponent could even attack with just a bunch of 1/1s.

[@lion4j738]

I just realized that Seth says “dragon” like Joey Wheeler does from Yu-Gi-Oh

[@drakeconsumerofsoulsandche5761]

Leo Seidman muh feels

[@patrickh5490]

Seth, I think you got hacked, you bottom decked Blood Moon

[@wlzy]

Elves, losing to sweepers since 1995.

[@sluggaboyzWC3]

when dominaria comes out you should try to make a tolarian scholar deck work. call it community college.

[@petersmythe6484]

(15:05) I hope this wasn't the "unknowingly/mistakenly stacked incorrectly" moment. [Guess I will find out soon.] (15:46) Whew...

[@Rooreeloo]

g1 in the last round vs eldrazi tron Seth could have played an inkmoth to chump the tks and win on the next turn.

[@argenmendon2661]

polymorf shuffles the library, it does NOT let you stack your library, like staff does. If i would allow stacking you would probabel already run them main for redundancy. so bringing in only polymorf and not Emrakul does not work

[@MTGGoldfish]

Ah, good call.

[@mattfranz3638]

missed opportunity to call it punt. ya know p-roteus h-unt= punt?

[@drakeconsumerofsoulsandche5761]

Matt Franz no

[@HeyYouWithTheThing]

Real talk, when I played this deck in the event I went to, I got wrecked by this super hanky Architect deck game 3 because of stony silence, so yea cards p good against us

[@MultiTaz333]

You need an equalizer on your videos so I won't wake up the rest of the house

[@dino-wer-kuh3498]

nice video! the terrible egyptian art an some cards really threw me off, though. allthough i have to admit they look way better on MODO than in paper, they still suck ^^ i'd love me some old framed moons on MODO

[@teejay5511]

Why aren't "moon" cards a cycle? How is it that only red has this? What about "Harvest" moon=W, "Tide" moon=U, "New" moon=B, "Hunters" moon=G. Thoughts? I feel like every color should have these "wash" cards.... why not?

[@starmorpheus]

Tee Jay That would make modern relatively unplayable for most decks in the format, and a bit redundant. This would mean every deck in modern can run a "Hate Moon" because it shuts off a number of decks.

[@teejay5511]

Ok. Why did only red get this?

[@iampepheb]

Because design feels (or at least felt when first printing Blood Moon) that turning nonbasic lands into basics/mountains fits into red's part of the color pie, but not the other colors'.

[@qtheplatypus]

Tee Jay because land destruction is primary in red and blood moon is LD light.

[@teejay5511]

None of these arguments answers my question... "this is how they felt" doesn't cut the mustard. The dark expansion did NOT care about the modern format...

[@heathermorrison5186]

SETH Please put in a facecam i have been watching you for so long and i don't know what your face looks like :(

[@usmnt4423]

This deck actually just looks awful

[@WesTheGiant]

Apparently looks can be deceiving.

[@luliby2309]

Well this comment looks silly now.

[@Janshevik]

it's not awful, it plays Blood moons :)

[@tomjackal5708]

4-1

[@jpankhurst82]

Wrecked by Stony Silence. sure you can board in Polymorph but then it's arguably not the same deck.

[@jpl54111]

its basicly titan sift, shift

[@Gabrielmariz1998]

Suck that, greedy tron! Sorry... I dont like tron lol Keep up with the great content Seth! :D

[@HTHfilms]

Siding in Polymorph without Emrakrul is next level empty headedness. I just don't understand Seth's brain sometimes, how the hell do you think to side in Polymorph and just cut off half the part of your brain that tells you the entire reason its in the sideboard.

[@cosmotect]

Blood moon is such a dumm, axe to the face kind of a card...

[@baileyrose6459]

1. blood moon is an amazing card. 2. *dumb has a 'b', not two 'm's

[@cosmotect]

Bailey Rose thanks for the correction. But I still can't comprehend how blood moon is amazing... It shuts off everybody but red, costs pennies, and has no drawback. Its just a bland "you can't play now." It really needs to be banned, or they need to print blue moon and all the other colors

[@baileyrose6459]

No, none of the other colors need this effect because one is enough. Red is about explosiveness - Blood Moon matches that feel. There is a color pie and Blood Moon fits perfectly in it.

[@baileyrose6459]

Secondly, Blood Moon is amazing because it IS punishing. If you play Modern a little, you will quickly see that Modern mana bases run very few Basics. Blood Moon takes advantage of that weakness and punishes them. I can imagine the dislike of this card because of the non-games it creates. However, you must understand that that is how Modern functions. There are fair matchups and there are unfair matchups that can seem like non-games. For example, I play Affinity - a deck that runs 51 non-artifact cards. That means that cards like Stony Silence can just win against me; the game practically ends when it hits the board. However, if cards like that didn't exist, my deck would be hard to stop. Players found a synergy, built a deck around it, and now it is tier. My point is, cards like Blood Moon keep the format in balance and punish degenerate decks.

[@cosmotect]

Bailey Rose yes, but why give the advantage to red? Why isn't there a flood card then, that makes all the non basics blue? Also blood moon seems to hose so many more decks than stony silence. Eh, I don't know, maybe I am overreacting

[@iaccessmyemail]

Sick Boo-urns ref :)