In the ever-evolving Modern format of Magic: The Gathering trading card game, sideboard cards play a crucial role in adapting to a diverse meta. One card that has consistently proven its worth is Surgical Extraction. Known for its unique ability to exile key cards from an opponent’s deck, Surgical Extraction provides a versatile and efficient tool for disrupting various strategies in Modern.

What is Surgical Extraction?

Surgical Extraction is an instant card with a unique mechanic that allows players to exile a specific card from a graveyard and all copies of that card from an opponent’s hand, library, and graveyard. Here are its key details:

• Mana Cost: {B/P} (1 black Phyrexian mana, which can be paid with either one black mana or 2 life)
• Type: Instant
• Text: Choose target card in a graveyard other than a basic land card. Search its owner’s graveyard, hand, and library for any number of cards with the same name as that card and exile them. Then that player shuffles their library.

Efficiency in the Modern Format

Low Mana Cost and Versatility

One of the main reasons Surgical Extraction is so efficient is its incredibly low mana cost. The ability to cast it for free (by paying 2 life) makes it an accessible option at any point in the game. This flexibility is critical in a fast-paced format like Modern, where every mana counts.

Impact on Various Deck Archetypes

Surgical Extraction’s ability to remove key cards from an opponent’s strategy makes it a powerful tool against various decks. For example, against combo decks like Storm or Ad Nauseam, extracting a crucial combo piece can effectively shut down their win condition.

Example Matchups

• Against Dredge: Removing key dredgers or payoff cards like Prized Amalgam can cripple their game plan.
• Against Tron: Exiling a key land or Karn Liberated can delay or disrupt their progression to assembling Tron.
• Against Control: Extracting counterspells or removal can make it easier to resolve important threats.

Disruption and Strategy

Disrupting Combo Decks

Surgical Extraction excels in disrupting combo decks by removing critical pieces that are essential for the combo to function. By targeting cards like Grapeshot in Storm or Ad Nauseam in Ad Nauseam decks, it forces opponents to find alternative paths to victory, often slowing them down significantly.

Effectiveness Against Graveyard Strategies

Modern features numerous decks that rely heavily on the graveyard. Surgical Extraction’s ability to exile cards directly from the graveyard makes it a formidable answer to these strategies. Well-timed extractions can significantly hinder decks like Dredge, Living End, and Reanimator.

Use in Control and Midrange Decks

In control and midrange decks, Surgical Extraction serves as a tool for gaining information and disrupting opponents’ plans. By extracting a key card, players can strip opponents of future threats and gain insight into their deck’s composition, allowing for better strategic decisions.

Synergies with Other Cards

Common Combinations

• Thoughtseize / Inquisition of Kozilek: These cards allow players to see their opponent’s hand and choose a card to discard. Surgical Extraction can then be used to remove all copies of that discarded card from the game.
• Snapcaster Mage: Surgical Extraction can be cast again from the graveyard using Snapcaster Mage, increasing its utility and impact.
• Archive Trap: Against fetch land-heavy strategies, pairing Archive Trap with Surgical Extraction can lead to a devastating combination.

Synergies in Popular Modern Decks

Surgical Extraction finds a home in many popular Modern decks, including:

• Jund: Combining discard effects with Surgical Extraction can disrupt opponents’ plans while maintaining pressure.
• Grixis Control: The ability to reuse Surgical Extraction with Snapcaster Mage provides recurring disruption.
• Death’s Shadow: The low mana cost and life payment fit well with the deck’s strategy of reducing its life total for larger threats.

Conclusion

Surgical Extraction’s efficiency as a sideboard card in the Modern format is undeniable. Its low mana cost, versatility, and ability to disrupt a wide range of strategies make it a staple in many competitive decks. Whether targeting key combo pieces, graveyard-dependent cards, or providing valuable information, Surgical Extraction offers players a powerful tool to adapt and respond to the diverse threats present in Modern.

As the card spoilers for the upcoming special set Modern Horizons are revealed every day, it is funny and interesting to know which reprinted cards joining the format will have a major effect in the different top tier deck archetypes. We can have our deck theories for now and see its actual use once the set is out in the market and legal to play in major Modern tournaments.

While I slack off with regards to the updates on the card game, sites such as the MTG Reddit can provide the latest news and happenings and of course, the newest card previews from Modern Horizons. Some of the card previews bring back memories on how it was played back in its Standard days. For instance, we have Squirrel Nest, a card I combined with Opposition for the Blue Green prison tempo deck back in college.

The card itself provides a constant threat, but having the Opposition enchantment as a follow-up play, you can lock out opponents’ land resources while you grow yours. Here is a sample decklist:

Creature
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Flametongue Kavu
3 Llanowar Elves
4 Merfolk Looter
3 Phantom Centaur
4 Wild Mongrel

Spells
3 Deep Analysis
4 Circular Logic
3 Fire/Ice

Enchantment
4 Opposition
3 Squirrel Nest

Land
8 Forest
5 Island
3 Karplusan Forest
2 Shivan Reef
4 Yavimaya Coast

Sideboard
1 Flametongue Kavu
3 Gainsay
3 Quiet Speculation
2 Ray of Revelation
4 Roar of the Wurm
2 Simoon

My version was just purely Simic, having tech cards for certain matchups. It was just sad though that after I completed the deck, a friend borrowed it and somewhat lost it. Anyhow, with its card reprint in Modern Horizons, I am pretty sure the players can come up with new ways to utilize it to gain board advantage and later on to win the game.

You can check the Modern Horizons card previews at the official website, or at Reddit MagicTCG thread and on MTG Salvation.

That is a wrap. Until the next blog post.

There is a scheduled Pro Tour Ravnica Allegiance PPTQ this weekend in two of the local game stores in Bacolod. The two qualifying events will be hosted by G5 and Final Turn Hobby Shop. The Team had already planned the trip for the two days with 3 to 4 members going but unfortunately for me, I will be going there on Sunday as I still need to attend my Saturday class on Urban Planning. Also, I needed to get back to Iloilo city in the evening.

I have already decided to pilot 5-Color Humans for this tournament, though I don’t think we have not yet come up with the final sideboard. Raoul has been proposing a somewhat different list than mine. I would be expecting U/W Control in the metagame there, prioritizing Sin Collectors, though I would not disregard the other archetypes like KCI Combo, Bridgevine, Hardened Scales Affinity and other decks that made a significant showing in the recent Modern Grand Prix and Pro Tour.

That said, I will meetup with the team tonight for the final preparations and decide on the final sideboard list. I think Raoul will be piloting the deck on Saturday so he might give me tips with regards to their meta game and the matchups he played.

For now, reading articles discussing the Humans deck is my best resort.

I always tend to feature decks in the Standard format for the most reason that it is the one I am basically familiar with. This time, however, as I prepare for the Modern Grand Prix in Hong Kong on September, I should be more wary of the Moderns deck archetypes and one, in particular, is their decklists. So, I will start with the deck Hardened Scales Affinity.

Here below is one I found at the MTG Top 8 website, played by Lee Livingston in a PPTQ event.

20 LANDS
2 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Darksteel Citadel
7 Forest
4 Inkmoth Nexus
2 Pendelhaven
1 Ruins of Oran-Rief

22 CREATURES
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Arcbound Worker
4 Hangarback Walker
2 Sparring Construct
4 Steel Overseer
4 Walking Ballista

4 INSTANTS and SORC.
4 Ancient Stirrings

14 OTHER SPELLS
1 Evolutionary Leap
4 Hardened Scales
4 Mox Opal
3 Throne of Geth
2 Welding Jar

SIDEBOARD
2 Damping Sphere
2 Dismember
1 Evolutionary Leap
2 Gut Shot
4 Nature’s Claim
1 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Surgical Extraction

Here are the decklist for the Unified Modern format of the champion team from last weekend’s World Magic Cup 2016, Greece. Their three deck archetypes were Dredge, Abzan and Infect. They have defeated the top seeded Team Belgium in the Finals. I was able to watch the match via Twitch live stream and saw the winning move of Greece’s Team Captain Bill Chronopoulos as he Flashbacked a massive Conflagrate.

Below are the decklists:

GREECE, SEAT A – BILL CHRONOPOULOS, DREDGE
2016 WORLD MAGIC CUP

Creature (25)
4 Narcomoeba
4 Bloodghast
4 Stinkweed Imp
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Prized Amalgam
4 Insolent Neonate
1 Scourge Devil

Sorcery (15)
3 Life from the Loam
4 Faithless Looting
4 Cathartic Reunion
2 Conflagrate
2 Burning Inquiry

Land (20)
2 Blood Crypt
2 Stomping Ground
1 Steam Vents
2 Mountain
4 Arid Mesa
3 Bloodstained Mire
4 Copperline Gorge
2 Dakmor Salvage

Sideboard (15)
2 Darkblast
2 Lightning Axe
2 Duress
2 Natural State
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Gnaw to the Bone
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Vengeful Pharaoh
2 Destructive Revelry

GREECE, SEAT B – PETROS TZIOTIS, ABZAN
2016 WORLD MAGIC CUP

Planeswalker (4)
3 Liliana of the Veil
1 Liliana, the Last Hope

Creature (14)
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Scavenging Ooze
3 Siege Rhino
4 Dark Confidant

Sorcery (11)
3 Thoughtseize
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Lingering Souls

Instant (7)
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Path to Exile

Land (24)
1 Godless Shrine
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Temple Garden
1 Forest
1 Plains
2 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Marsh Flats
2 Blooming Marsh
1 Gavony Township
2 Twilight Mire
3 Shambling Vent

Sideboard (15)
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Zealous Persecution
1 Damnation
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Lost Legacy
2 Stony Silence
1 Seal of Primordium
2 Collective Brutality
1 Ravenous Trap
1 Maelstrom Pulse

GREECE, SEAT C – PANAGIOTIS PAPADOPOULOS, INFECT
2016 WORLD MAGIC CUP

Creature (13)
1 Dryad Arbor
4 Glistener Elf
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Blighted Agent

Sorcery (6)
4 Gitaxian Probe
2 Distortion Strike

Instant (22)
4 Mutagenic Growth
4 Become Immense
4 Might of Old Krosa
4 Vines of Vastwood
1 Dismember
1 Apostle’s Blessing
2 Twisted Image
2 Blossoming Defense

Land (19)
2 Pendelhaven
4 Inkmoth Nexus
3 Wooded Foothills
2 Windswept Heath
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Breeding Pool
2 Forest

Sideboard (15)
2 Dismember
4 Spell Pierce
2 Grafdigger’s Cage
2 Spellskite
3 Nature’s Claim
1 Wild Defiance
1 Viridian Corrupter