Steal What You Can Get

After a few more games, I think I'm set with This Bad Check Is Gonna Stick. Not because I'm bored, or because I dislike the deck. This kind of deck forces me to think differently about play patterns because it really is all about extending the game long enough to do the big floop. 

That is both interesting and difficult. 

However, one of two things need to happen from here. First, I need to play nothing but this deck for a month or so. While I will certainly continue to play this deck, I don't see myself focusing on just this. There are other things to write about, and lots of other decks to get to. 

But it's the only way I can see getting really good at this deck. 

The other thing is that new cards will have to come out. Now, new cards are always coming out but let's not get bogged down in the perpetual hype. The range of cards that fit into this deck is a small one, because of the need to ensure the Cascade trigger. So we're talking about a niche selection. 

Because I don't think I'm going to get a better top end then what I have-unless I wanted to go full Eldrazi- so this means the focus is on something that I can play before turn three that generates permanents. I believe that's been done as well as it can be, at least for now. 

On top of all that, I get to play Whirlpool Warrior. Just to mess with people! 

Still, because This Bad Check... is such a binary one-either it floops a bunch of stuff into play or it doesn't- I don't think there's any improvements I can make to the deck. I can only make improvements to may play. Which means it's a good time to wrap this one up. 

Final decklist:

3 Goblin Dark-Dwellers

2 Foundation Breaker

4 Shardless Agent

3 Wavesifter

2 End-Raze Forerunners

2 Fury

4 Tireless Provisioner

3 Scampering Scorcher

1 Whirlpool Warrior

2 Omnath, Locus of Rage

3 Abundant Growth

4 Violent Outburst

7 Forest

3 Island

7 Mountain

2 Khalni Garden

2 Tendo Ice Bridge

2 Aether Hub

4 Glimpse of Tomorrow

 Sideboard

 3 Zendikar's Roil

The Fruit Is Ripe Now

Sometimes, Magic decks are absurd. This Bad Check... is one of those decks.

I believe that part of this stems from the fact that this deck doesn't have the volume of decision points that most Storm-based decks do. Those decks want to sculpt a hand as quickly as possible using cheap cantrips. 

This Bad Check... wants to try and land permanents every turn, multiple permanents if possible, and then on turn three or four, have a cascade spell in hand. 

But I need to do that without the cheap cantrips. The logical conclusion is that the payoff needs to be worth it. Of course, as this deck is somewhat established already, clearly the payoff is worth it. 

Goldfishing taught me something else though: This Bad Check is Gonna Stick also wants to chain things together, not unlike a Storm deck might, using Goblin Dark-Dwellers. To that end, I think running four copies instead of three is best. If nothing else, you get a 4/4 that's difficult to block but in this deck, I believe that maximizing the opportunity to reuse a Violent Outburst (if necessary) or a Glimpse of Tomorrow (hopefully) and build off my chain is critical. 

So far, against non-counterspell decks, I've been doing alright! I've been able to generate a remarkable amount of pressure off Glimpse floops because many decks are not ready to handle such a shift in the board state. Usually this means 3-4 lands and 2 creatures with 4 tokens to anything from four hasted 5/5s, to four hasted 3/3s with vigilance and trample along with a 7/7. 

I hesitate to think about what happens when Noah is able to sit on a Force of Will in his hand, for example, but here's where I think savvy play will matter. Between the Wavesifter and Tireless Provisioner's tokens, knowing when to utilize them will probably be very important. I view the lifegain from Food tokens to basically be equal to one card, but sometimes I'll have an End-Raze Forerunners in hand and after a couple flips and mana generation, I can outright cast it. That's pretty cool, too.

So far, so good! Or at least, it's interesting which is also good.

This Bad Check Is Gonna Stick

This is the pivot from Golden Blunders. It's largely based off the Modern deck using Glimpse of Tomorrow, but I trimmed a color for consistency's sake and so I wouldn't have to bother with the Omnath, Locus of Creation nonsense. 

Instead, it's an Omnath, Locus of Rage nonsense deck that I'm going to call This Bad Check Is Gonna Stick. 

For those who do not know the combo: Play permanents and generate token artifacts, then launch off a Cascade spell. Play Glimpse of Tomorrow for free, shuffle all your permanents and then floop as many awesome things into play as you can. 

Another restriction I had to deal with was that my Chancellor of the Forges are in my giants deck. I won't lie to you; that one hurts. The opportunity to have something out on turn one is relevant and the alternative win condition of hasty goblins is a way to pull wins from losses-that I now don't have. Finally, Seasoned Pyromancer is a $40 card and I just wasn't going to do that to myself. 

But could I interest you in a Whirlpool Warrior? 

That's right: the only card that really breaks this deck out of Modern legality is Whirlpool Warrior but when was the last time you saw that card in any deck? I almost need to keep it out of spite. 

My solution to not having a Chancellor of the Forge was to lean into the Elemental aspect, and my delight at finding Scampering Scorcher meant that this deck miiiiiight just have legs! Most of my creatures are Elementals, and OLoR makes elemental tokens. Plus, the Scorcher makes tokens of its own, which means if I can play Glimpse again, I have more permanents to floop.

Finally, there's the possibility that I'll get an End-Raze Forerunners and hit for 7+. That's cool too.

Now the nice thing about this deck is that all the work I did to get the mana base to function for Golden Blunders means that This Bad Check Is Gonna Stick will (mostly) function. It also means there's a non-bo with Abundant Growth and the Cascade spells. In goldfishing, this interaction has been mitigated by Abundant Growth's cantrip effect and being a permanent that most decks don't have interaction with. More permanents for the floop!

So here we go:

3 Goblin Dark-Dwellers
2 Foundation Breaker
4 Shardless Agent
3 Wavesifter
2 End-Raze Forerunners
2 Fury
4 Tireless Provisioner
3 Scampering Scorcher
1 Whirlpool Warrior
2 Omnath, Locus of Rage

3 Abundant Growth

4 Violent Outburst

7 Forest
3 Island
7 Mountain
2 Khalni Garden
2 Tendo Ice Bridge
2 Aether Hub

4 Glimpse of Tomorrow

Sideboard
3 Zendikar's Roil

The reason I'm calling this deck This Bad Check... is because it's clearly a hail mary glass cannon deck. A counterspell at the right time makes things pretty bad and the combo isn't accelerated, so the soonest something can happen is turn three. If someone gets rid of an early Tireless Provisioner, that puts a spanner in the works and as with many creature-centric decks, cards like Humility or Torpor Orb can shut the whole deck down. 

When it goes off, though, it's pretty funny.