Modern Variations: Black-White Eldrazi and Taxes

About

Tidehollow Sculler acts as a mini Thought-Knot Seer, being able to take any nonland card on a 2/2 body for the prices of two mana. Unlike Thought-Knot Seer, however, Tidehollow Sculler will return the card after it leaves the battlefield, rather than drawing a new one for the opponent.

How to Abuse Tidehollow Sculler's Trigge

Tidehollow Sculler's trigger is worded in the older format- meaning that if the Tidehollow Sculler is removed from play before taking a nonland card, it will not return the card to the opponent. Because of this, Flickerwisp and Eldrazi Displacer can be used to abuse Tidehollow Sculler's enter the battlefield trigger by blinking it before the trigger resolves to steal a card permanently. Using a removal spell on Tidehollow Sculler also works, but is unideal as it is ultimately card disadvantage. Not a terrible plan though when the removal spell is Path to Exile, as the land can help fix colors or simply give more mana for more Eldrazi Displacer triggers.

About

Eldrazi Displacer gives the deck more staying power and long game strength, all thanks to its powerful activated ability. Eldrazi Displacer early on is not very threatening, as a 3/3 for three is nothing special, but its activated ability can be utilized in many scenarios, from tapping down opposing blockers to push through damage to giving the deck the engine needed to grind out the win.

Eldrazi Displacer's Ability

One part of the cost to activate Eldrazi Displacer that is noteworthy is that one colorless mana is required to activate its ability. Therefore, there are times where using a Ghost Quarter or Tectonic Edge to destroy the opponent’s land is incorrect, especially when lacking any other colorless land. In addition, since Eldrazi Temple can produce two mana for activated abilities of Eldrazi, multiple activations a turn with Eldrazi Displacer is not uncommon for the deck. However, in the scenario that the only lands in play are four lands that do not produce colorless mana and an Eldrazi Temple, Eldrazi Displacer’s ability must be activated in the same phase in order to use it twice. Eldrazi Displacer's activated ability, as mentioned above, gives the deck a solid late game plan. Blinking value creatures such as Wall of Omens or Blade Splicer can generate a card advantage engine that, if unanswered, will take over the game. Eldrazi Displacer can be used to save creatures from targeted removal. However, since Eldrazi Displacer’s ability returns the creature to the battlefield immediately, it does not protect against board wipes (unless a Flickerwisp is in play). The threat of activating Eldrazi Displacer is also noteworthy, as it can cause the opponent to play less optimally to try dodging the blowout. Eldrazi Displacer can also be used in conjunction with Thought-Knot Seer to take a new card from the opponent’s hand. However, since Thought-Knot Seer will draw the opponent a card when it leaves the battlefield, this method does not grant card advantage. Still, against combo decks that require a specific spell to win, blinking Thought-Knot Seer on the draw step is a solid option. The most powerful usage of Eldrazi Displacer’s activated ability is targeting Flickerwisp. Blinking Flickerwisp can help dodge board wipes, temporarily remove lands, artifacts, enchantments, and planeswalkers, along with protecting the Eldrazi Displacer from removal spells. The versatility offered with repeatedly using Flickerwisp’s enter the battlefield effect is huge, as it can lock down troublesome permanents like planeswalkers or Krark-Clan Ironworks barring no removal from the opponent. Eldrazi Displacer's ability can also be used on opponent's creatures. Blinking attacking creatures helps alleviate the damage of aggro decks while tapping down blockers can secure a lethal attack. Eldrazi Displacer’s ability can also kill opposing tokens, similar to Flickerwisp. Overall, the versatility and potential offered with this card make it one of the strongest incentives to run Eldrazi in Death and Taxes.

About

Overall, Thought-Knot Seer is a consistently powerful spell in Eldrazi and Taxes. While it does cost four mana, Thought-Knot Seer provides a 4/4 body (dodging Lightning Bolt) that removes a nonland card from the opponent’s hand forever, as upon death it draws them a new card. Thought-Knot Seer can come down as early as turn two thanks to Eldrazi Temple. In conjunction with blink creatures like Restoration Angel and Eldrazi Displacer, Thought-Knot Seer can take additional cards from the opponent’s hand. While the opponent will draw a card for each time Thought-Knot Seer leaves the battlefield, taking the best card in their hand is very powerful, especially against combo decks. Thought-Knot Seer is great against every deck in Modern, and thus will not be boarded out often.

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Wasteland Strangler is arguably Eldrazi and Taxes’s strongest card against smaller creature decks, as it gives you a powerful two for one (sometimes even three for one) on a cheap, fair-stated creature. Killing a creature and being left with a 3/2 for the cost of three mana is no small play. Even when the opponent lacks small creatures (or cards in their exile zone), Wasteland Strangler is still a fine, aggressive creature, especially when powered out with Eldrazi Temple.

Specifics: the Exiled Card

Wasteland Strangler's cost of moving a card from your opponent's exile zone into their graveyard may seem like a drawback, but often it can be abused to the point of making this three mana spell a three for one. Eldrazi and Taxes has many ways to exile cards from the opponent- from Path to Exile to Thought-Knot Seer. Sometimes the opponent’s only exiled spell is one that has use in the graveyard, such as a Cryptic Command for a Snapcaster Mage or a Vengevine. However, often enough this downside is mitigated by the upsides that sometimes come up from returning an exiled card to the opponent’s graveyard. Essentially, two cards in Eldrazi and Taxes only temporarily exile a card from the opponent and can thus be abused by Wasteland Strangler. The most common of these cards, Tidehollow Sculler, only keeps the card exiled while the creature is in play. Wasteland Strangler can then put the exiled card into the opponent's graveyard, which would make Tidehollow Sculler's leave trigger bring back no cards. The stronger, but less common, synergy is to use Flickerwisp to temporarily exile a permanent owned by the opponent, then use Wasteland Strangler to put that exiled card into their graveyard. As the card is no longer in exile, Flickerwisp will not return it to the battlefield, essentially turning it into a Vindicate on a 3/1 flier.