Faithless Brewing, Episode 84: Heartless Summoning
Heartless Summoning holds a special fascination for Modern brewers. So much of the card screams “broken”: it’s low cost, splashable, and provides massive cost reduction. The drawback of shrinking your creatures can be a combo enabler in itself. Effects like this are very rare, and very dangerous.
And yet, after 10 years, the ugly truth is that Heartless Summoning has yet to find any tournament success. Many have tried, and many have failed. Just four 5-0s are recorded in the last three years. Most brewers have cut their losses and given up the quest. For a few, the card has become an obsession, such as this modern day Captain Ahab who has uploaded 106(!) Heartless lists to MTGGoldfish in the past six months alone.
So what does the future hold for Heartless Summoning? Modern has changed drastically in the last two years, and new tools are always being added. Is it possible that a broken Heartless deck is just waiting to be discovered? Or are we also doomed to failure as we chase Modern’s white whale? We’ve got five new decklists and a half-dozen more bizarre ideas, so let’s find out!
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Decklists for Episode 84
Roundup: Picks of the Week
New article: “When Should You Play One-Ofs in Your Modern Deck” by Soren Wellman
Damon’s Pick: Jeskai Blood Sun by Aspiringspike
David’s Pick: Goblins by kaktusowysmok
Cavedan’s Pick: Hysterical Emrakul by misterfisher
Flashback: Sea Gate Stormcaller
Pioneer
Sea Gate Undoing: 2-3 league
Grixis Rites 1.0: 4-1 league
Grixis Rites 1.1: 3-2 league
Modern
Grixis Arcanist 1.0: 3-2 league
Grixist Arcanist 1.1: 4-1 league
Naban Wizards: 2-3 league
Izzet Drake Whack: 3-2 league
Brew Session: Heartless Summoning
Sketch 1: 4c Heartless Retriever Combo
Sketch 2: Grixis Turbo Retriever Combo
Sketch 3: Heartless Architect Ramp
Sketch 4: BG Gitrog’s Presence
Sketch 5: Orzhov Ballista Combo
Reference lists
Heartless Gitrog Titan by amane0201 (2020)
Heartless Gyruda by ElbowSoap (2020)
BG Heartless Gitrog Value Town by Tenshi (2020)
Heartless Eldrazi Stompy by Tenshi (2018)
Heartless Architect by Yamamoto Takahiro (2017)
Bubble Hulk by Zac Elsik (2015)
