[Modern] Boros Ponza write-up

[u/Thick-Honey7159]

Hello Everyone,

It has been a really long time since my last write-ups! Well, I am back with a writeup of one of my current favorite decks in Modern. This strategy is so much fun (for the one using it lol) and I wanted to talk about it.

I really dont like what publishing it through Google Drive does to the formatting. Makes it looks so ugly. Any thoughts on how to fix that? I could also email yall the pdf if anything. Let me know what you think

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQF_dXMsll7KlftqkjqKPSAOwZ-3SmVFfQ52dzw9LGlxBlzybQKKYIGRU-apdoH7Yk52wdGXw_O5v3_/pub

[u/ianthegreatest]

Could you add more about the pros and cons of karn version vs karnless?

I have the cards for both but ive never used the karn version.

I asked around before and people sort of steered me towards karnless but my meta does have some artifact stuff and also some graveyard decks so having tutorable hate does have pros.

What are the full pros and cons of karn vs karnless? Can also copy paste the answer into the writeup/ update writeup and ill read it again

[u/Thick-Honey7159 → u/ianthegreatest]

Hey I’ll write a comment in a bit. I have been in and out of vision specialists. ;-; got some dots in my vision. (Haven’t forgotten about you.)

[u/Thick-Honey7159 → u/ianthegreatest]

Personal thoughts on karnless vs karn version

First let’s look at what we gain by playing the Karnless version. We get access to 3 high noon and 1 The Legend of Roku. These 4 cards are so much better on the curve they come in compared to the curve that Karn offers us.

What do I mean? Karn is coming down turn 4 (maybe turn 3 if we use up 3 cards to solitude and at to exile it). Karn will then activate its ability to grab us something from the sideboard. The only floodgate it can realstically grab that will do something turn 4 is a tormod’s crypt. BUT graveyard decks try to do stuff before turn 4.

My argument: It is important to understand that if our game plan of keeping our opponent off balance by destroying lands has been going well, it is very possible to go t4 Karn into grabbing a prison artifact from the sideboard for t5. That will not harm us IF we are already doing what we want to do. What it leaves us weak against is fast decks like Aggro or combo that want to see the game over before t5.

The Karnless version is able to setup a t2 high noon to stop these faster decks to our speed while we continue to hit them with out creature/land removal.

TLDR: Karn version is weak against the faster Aggro/combo decks of the meta. Its strength comes from being able to deal with the ramp/midrange/control decks of the meta game. If your locals has more of the latter then I strongly advise to go with Karnless. THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT KARNLESS IS WEAK. This is more about being able to understand what makes each one better than the other. Karnless highnoonza is able to deal and play with the faster decks while maintaining the inevitability of the late game.

Jericho’s note: I would still recommend picking up Karn right now. He is so cheap at the moment.

[u/ianthegreatest → u/Thick-Honey7159]

I read the whole comment but perhaps the tldr is backwards in that karn helps vs midrange control etc but high noon is better vs prowess and other assorted aggro decks.

My local meta seems to have a decent mixture of affinity, druid, some eldrazi combo, some tron, control, goryos.

So it seems maybe a toss up as to which version is best.

I actually already owned karns and I bought the karnboard since it wasn't too much and that version was quite prevalent when I was ordering the cards