Welcome to my 57,923th attempt at making an Eldritch Evolution deck for competitive Modern play. Enjoy!
This deck shares a similar play style to that of Birthing Pod/Melira Pod. We're essentially a toolbox deck looking to capitalize on some early value creatures, whilst setting up for a big turn three/four. Despite not being able to combo off like some other Modern decks, we have the ability to tutor for a variety of creatures, thus forcing our opponent to backpedal on their strategy and deal with our threats when they hit the board.
To make this deck really competitive, I recommend adding a third color (white). This gives us access to some great combo pieces like Archangel of Thune/Spike Feeder, Reveilark, Restoration Angel, and well as some big beaters like Sun Titan and Siege Rhino.
The only reason why I'm running this as a two-color deck, besides budgetary restrictions, is because this deck was built for TotalMTG's "All About The Brew" series. You can check out his channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTDUGsZDe7_UuLdyxQI_E0w
*UPDATE* - Most of my playtesting was conducted before the banning/s of Gitaxian Probe and Golgari Grave Troll (mainly against Abzan Mid, Jund and Tron). Now that Dredge, and Death Shadow Aggro are no longer as competitive, the format has become much more conducive to this type of deck. The only decks we can't compete against are Infect (too fast), Affinity with a nut draw, Merfolk (too many lords), and any deck looking to go wide with Collected Company. I may revise this deck in Abzan colors some time soon. Hopefully that will give us a little more consistency against those decks.
Matchups:
Jund - 65% win rate
They have some big threats, but we have enough removal to deal with their threats.
Junk/Abzan - 60% win rate
Similar to Jund, but can be a little difficult to deal with if they go wide.
Tron - 30% pre-board, 50% post-board
We're too slow to kill off Tron in game 1. Our sideboard helps deal with some of their bigger threats. It really comes down to how well you, and your opponent draw.
Merfolk - 30% win rate.
We don't have enough answers for their go-wide strategy. We could a board wipe like Damnation, but a one-of just isn't enough. Our only chance at winning comes from a turn 3 big creature like Desecration Demon or Phyrexian Obliterator.
Infect - sigh....
Affinity- 25% win rate
Not many decks can beat a turn 2 wombo combo.
U/W Control - 50% win rate
Just be smart and avoid any obvious counter spells. If they leave up mana, chances are they have something that will stop you. They're looking to stall out long enough to win with Colonade or Elspeth. While our creatures don't match up well against this deck, we can usually beat them down.
Burn 45% pre-board, 55% post-board
Our deck can deal with creature-based aggro decks, but suffers against spell-heavy archetypes. All we need to do is stall out their creatures with chump blockers till we resolve a big threat.
Early Game Value Cards:
Birds of Paradise - Great early game mana dork. Allows us to play the majority of our big threats on turn three if we can't find an Eldritch Evolution.
Elvish Visionary - Excellent early game draw. For two mana, we get a solid chump blocker that replaces itself, and serves as fodder for Eldritch Evolution. One of our primary sack outlets.
Strangleroot Geist - Our primary sack outlet. A great agro card that can easily become a 3/2.
Kitchen Finks - A modern staple. Our life total can be a bit problematic, but this card solves that problem. I can easily gain us 4 life, and enable Eldritch Evolution for any 5-drops you decide to run.
Eternal Witness - Another solid sack outlet. The ability to retrieve any card from our graveyard can be exceptionally powerful in this deck (especially since we can't activate Eldritch Evolution more than once like Birthing Pod).
Win Conditions:
Ashling, the Extinguisher - I love this card! A 4/4 beater that dodges some removal, and occasionally forces our opponent to sac a creature is great value, especially with a Kalitas on the field.
Desecration Demon - A 4-mana 6/6 flyer on turn 3 is scary. Most of the opponents I played against never activated his ability, which means he always swung in unchecked.
Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet - Another great value card. Combos well with our other creatures and removal spells.
Obstinate Baloth - You could substitute this card for pretty much anything. I chose it because it's another 4/4 that gains us life.
Phyrexian Obliterator - It does exactly that. It obliterates...
Vorapede - A nice budget creature. It's the only 5-drop we're running, but you could easily run more if you wanted to. I chose this because it's a 5/4 with three incredibly powerful abilities.
Instants/Sorceries:
Eldritch Evolution - The name sake card. Tutors up all of our relevant threats.
Inquisition of Kozilek/Thoughtseize - This wouldn't be a black deck without these two cards. They're too good to pass up.
Abrupt Decay - One of the most efficient removal spells in Modern. If you have it, play it.
Altar's Reap - A non-essential card to the deck, but interesting nonetheless. Card advantage is always a plus in Magic. This could be swapped out for more removal.
Noxious Revival - An easy way for use to recur any creatures that die. Another non-essential card to this deck, but it's always nice to have.
Sideboard:
Fulminator Mage - Stops most of the greedy land decks, especially Tron and Valakut.
Acidic Slime - A nice catch-all card that can deal with a variety of threats. Can be swapped for Reclamation Sage.
Scavenging Ooze - A great 2-drop that takes advantage of our disposed creatures.
Thrun, the Last Troll - This thing may not seem that powerful, but he's almost impossible to kill.
Collective Brutality - Solid versatile spell that can slow down aggro and control decks.
Maelstrom Pulse - Our main way of dealing with planeswalkers, and other big threats (especially if there's multiple copies on the board).
Fatal Push - The newest, and most obvious inclusion. This card is too powerful, and relevant not to play. A 1-drop that instantly kills the majority of threats in Modern.
Nature's Claim - Standard anti-Affinity hate from green.
Surgical Extraction - Another staple of black control. Virtually destroys any combo deck in the format.
Pithing Needle - Our primary answer to Karn, Ugin, and Liliana.