Much Abrew About Nothing: UB Mill (Modern)
Hello, everyone! Welcome to the new and improved Much Abrew About Nothing. Last week, the most popular Instant Deck Tech was clearly the UB Mill deck for Modern, so today we'll be running the deck through its paces and seeing if it has what it takes to compete in the Modern format! Also, we've been streaming some of the runners-up of Instant Deck Tech on twitch.tv/mtggoldfish. We just started releasing 5–10 minute highlight videos for those without the patience to slog through a full three-hour league. You can check out the first one: Naya Superfriends.
We'll have some notes on UB Mill after the videos, but first a quick reminder. If you enjoy the Much Abrew About Nothing series and the other video content on MTGGoldfish, make sure to subscribe to the MTGGoldfish Youtube Channel to keep up on all the latest and greatest.
UB Mill: Instant Deck Tech
UB Mill vs. Four-Color Gifts
UB Mill vs. Infect
UB Mill vs. Titan Scapeshift
UB Mill vs. 8 Rack
UB Mill Wrap Up
Thoughts
- Overall, we ended up going 2–2 in matches, which is fine. However, the record alone doesn't really tell the whole story. In the two matches we won, it felt like we were massive favorites. On the other hand, in the matches we lost (against 8 Rack and Infect), we didn't have a chance.
- Having a bad matchup against 8 Rack is forgivable, since it's not a matchup we'd expect to run into very often. On the other hand, drawing dead to Infect is pretty scary, since it's currently listed as the most played Modern deck in the MTGGoldfish database.
- As for the matchups we didn't run into, Burn feels close to unwinnable, and I'm not really sure if we can beat Tron. On the other hand, our matchups against midrange decks, slower combo decks that rely on a few specific cards, and possibly creature-based aggro decks seem solid.
- One especially impressive card was Manic Scribe. Heading into the matches, I figured it would be somewhere between bad and barely playable, but it actually does a pretty good approximation of a Hedron Crab when we have Delirium, and it was easier to turn on than I thought thanks to Mesmeric Orb.
- On the other hand, I'm not sure about putting Ensnaring Bridge and Jace's Phantasm into the same deck, and I don't think we can reasonably get rid of Ensnaring Bridge, so I'm pretty sure Jace's Phantasm needs to go. In its place, I'd look to add some instant-speed removal like Dismember, potentially a wrath like Damnation, or possibly some discard like Inquisition of Kozilek or Thoughtseize.
- All in all, I have a hard time imagining UB Mill being able to win tournaments. While it looks great in its good matchups, it's amazingly bad against Infect and Burn, which are two of the top five most played decks in the format. The question is whether those matchups can be improved enough without hurting the good matchups, and while instant-speed removal would help, I'm not sure it will be enough.
Conclusion
Anyway, that's all for today. Make sure to vote for next week's deck by liking, subscribing to, and commenting on Instant Deck Tech videos! As always, leave your thoughts, ideas, opinions, and suggestions in the comments, and you can reach me on Twitter @SaffronOlive, or at SaffronOlive@MTGGoldfish.com.
