Ichormoon Gauntlet Spoiler in Modern: Erayo SuperFriends Combo Deck

There's a new spoiler: Ichormoon Gauntlet.

This artifact gives 2 abilities to planeswalkers, and besides that has a "mini proliferate" effect every time a noncreature spell is cast, in which a permanent will get an extra counter on it. This card screams Superfriends, that is, decks with many planeswalkers and that create a lot of value with them.

But it has a problem in Modern: it is too slow, and the format would simply mow down a traditional SuperFriends deck.

So, what did that remind me of? I remembered a long time ago in Modern we could see a deck once in a while performing decently: Erayo Combo. The combo consisted in playing Erayo, Soratami Ascendant, then right afterward Mox Amber + Repeal on Mox Amber, making Mox come back to the hand and later on playing Mox Amber again. With that, you would play 4 spells in that turn, tapping Erayo, Soratami Ascendant, and getting an absurd advantage at turn 2, with mana available still.

The problem of this old deck is that the combo wouldn't necessarily win you the game. It also needed numerous pieces, and in case you didn't have Erayo, Soratami Ascendant, the other cards were dead in your hand.

This deck stuck to my head because Ichormoon Gauntlet wants precisely numerous spells in 1 turn. In case we play 3 or more spells, we can ult a planeswalker at the moment it goes on board!

With a planeswalker + Mox Amber + Repeal + Ichormoon Gauntlet you can virtually grant 3 counters in the same turn and ult most planeswalkers in the game. Did it start to get interesting? This new addition ends up making the deck still full of combos while we add planeswalkers, and other cards which have value on their own to it!

Decklist - Erayo Moon Combo

This deck has the traditional Modern structure, which can eventually have an aggressive turn 1 with Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer or Inquisition of Kozilek, or even reactive with plenty of creature-destroying spells with Unholy Heat or Lightning Bolt. By the way, with Mox Amber, you can have both, if you think it's necessary.

Turn 2 can have a threat such as Jace, Vryn's Prodigy or simply combo with Erayo, Soratami Ascendant.

This deck's turn 3 is the slowest one, as we intend to play Ichormoon Gauntlet. In case you want to flip Jace, Vryn's Prodigy with Ichormoon on board, wonderful, but the trend is to have a slow turn 3, preparing for future turns. But, in case the match demands it, you can save and play spells to control the board, such as Liliana of the Veil or Liliana, the Last Hope.

Turn 4 starts being an interesting turn in which you can virtually, with Ichormoon Gauntlet + Mox Amber + other spells, ult with Liliana of the veil or even ult with Sorin the Mirthless or Chandra, Torch of Defiance, placing you very ahead in the game!

All planeswalkers are good in Midrange decks, so, the traditional playstyle with this deck is trying to win the game through value and eventually combo and win when it's least expected. Dealing 13 damage with Sorin, for instance, in Modern's current environment with a lot of Fetch damage, will be devastating.

At the same time, it doesn't run out of breath as it has 8 cards that ramp, such as Mox Amber and Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer. So, you'll be able to play planeswalkers with extra mana up in their turns.

The deck has some weaknesses. It doesn't create as much value as an Omnath deck and if your opponent answers it, you can end up losing a turn trying to "combo", and simply everything can go wrong. Despite that, the deck itself fights its weaknesses, with cards such as Inquisition of Kozilek or Drown in the Loch to protect its combo. The value created by other decks can also be minimized at the moment you ult a planeswalker.

Its biggest weakness is in using cards such as Mox Amber which might eventually not tap for mana, and Repeal which is not a good card on its own. Besides that, I like Repeal in a meta full of Hammer combos, as it can return the opponent's enchantment and prevent the Hammer from being equipped.

The deck introduced was Grixis, because I believe it is necessary to have Red in the current Modern metagame. But we can try other colors, such as, for instance, Sultai, or 4 colored.

Wrenn and Six is what I'd say is the most important addition, as even its ult would do some damage and you could, indeed, force its ult as early as turn 3.

Besides that, you can test other cards in the deck that allow you to combo as they have 0 CMC, such as Mishra's Bauble. Urza's Saga can get a copy of Mox Amber as well, not needing to worry so much with how to combo and having less copies in the deck.

I hope you liked the article, and you are now inspired to play with this very fun deck. Any questions, I'm available in the comment section.

That's all! See you next time!