12 Rack (Modern) [Revision 6]

The deck wants to make the opponent discard in various ways. The best way to achieve that is by enchanting and equipping our Needle Specter to give it a high power, resulting in the opponent discarding four or more cards in one successfull attack. Just the opponent being in topdeck mode most of the time is already a good payoff but with Shrieking Affliction and Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage it turns it into a win condition.

Of course we need to play a full playset of Needle Specter to get it frequently. We also play two Grim Tutor for additional consistency.

The most efficient win condition is Shrieking Affliction, bolting the enemy each turn, but we also play three copies of Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage, only shocking the opponent each turn but also supporting the game plan with his -1.

To pump the Needle Specter we have a three copies of Dark Favor, providing the most additional power for the least mana.

For more discarding we play a full playset of Thoughtseize, which is not budget at all, but the deck is so cheap otherwise it really doesn't make it out of range for (at least) my budget. Wrench Mind is a weaker Hymn to Tourach, but still pretty good if the opponent doesn't play too many artifacts. Inscription of Ruin works just like Mind Rot, but also works as removal if we are desperate for some.

For real removal we play seven pieces with three of Go for the Throat and four Fatal Push.

For card draw we play four copies of Sign in Blood.

We play 23 lands, which might seem like much for our average mana cost, but we really need at least three lands a game for Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage and Needle Specter. For card draw we play two copies of Castle Locthwain. To protect our Needle Specter we run Malakir Rebirth.

The deck is pretty budget, costing around 90€ on cardmarket.