Modern Monday - Thunder and Lightning Feature Article from Frank Lepore Frank Lepore 6/29/2015 11:01:00 AM (Modern)

The idea of someone playing cards like Ball Lightning in Modern is pretty out there. The idea of someone also playing cards like Groundbreaker, which is nothing but the green Ball Lightning, is also pretty out there. The idea of someone playing both of these cards, along with cards like Hell's Thunder and Collected Company...it's out there, but now we're talking about something here!

I initially called this deck Collected Lightning, which reminded me a lot of “Bottled Lightning.” But then I felt like it would be a huge misplay to not refer to this deck as Thunder and Lightning, what with Hell's Thunder and Ball Lightning in it. All in all that might not even make any sense without actually seeing the deck, so take a look...
The deck definitely has some flaws, but let's not kid ourselves: we aren't playing it because it's the picture of perfection. We're playing it because it looks like an absolute blast and it lets us relive our Magical youth with cards like Ball Lightning!

One card I wasn't actually thrilled about in the deck was the Eternal Witness. I imagine it's there to get back cards like Groundbreaker and Ball Lightning after they've gone to the graveyard, but it always felt very slow. Maybe it was simply the decks I faced (pretty fast ones) or the fact that I never drew the Witness at an ideal time, but I never felt like I wanted to waste a turn playing the 2/1 when I could instead be dealing them four to seven damage depending on cards available and the number of Noble Hierarchs in play.

I guess the one thing Eternal Witness has going for it is that it can be hit off of Collected Company and then return the Collected Company, which is big game, but I'm not sure how often that is going to come up. There were too many times where I had to choose between just casting an Eternal Witness and not putting any pressure on the opponent, or playing a creature and attacking for six or more to put them within lethal next turn. I would almost always go for the latter.

One card I was not only surprised by but impressed with was Primal Forcemage. (For some reason I kept confusing this card with Force of Savagery. Not the same at all.) Primal Forcemage is actually incredible. I initially thought he gave himself the bonus when another creature came into play, then I realized he gave it to other creatures, but I thought his bonus was +2/+2. His value went through the roof when I actually figured out what he did and my Ball Lightnings ended up attacking for nine. Nevertheless, aside from Eternal Witness, he ended up being my first cut when I needed to bring in things like Magus of the Moon or Kitchen Finks. He was basically the Wild Defiance of the deck where his effect was great, but he didn't do a lot on his own.