Steam-Kins Run Amok in Modern
Since the release of Guilds of Ravnica, one deck in particular has really taken off, becoming a surprisingly potent force. Runaway Red, using such iconic cards as Fiery Temper and the first good Browbeat effect...pretty much ever, with Risk Factor. Runaway Steam-Kin and Arclight Phoenix have made the deck possible in this past month, putting up a handful of results online and even in paper. Although unorthodox, this weird mix of burn and storm has proven it has legs despite its sometimes strange card choices. A lot of the work in the community on the deck was inspired by Daniela Diaz on her stream (twitch.com/h0lydiva ).
Being honest, the deck looks like a bit of a pile, but it’s actually a very smooth and relatively consistent deck. Runaway Steam-Kin is one of the main draws to this deck. As a two mana 4/4 than also acts as a repeatable ritual, the card can hit hard and help us chain spells together.
Arclight Phoenix is the big payoff for chaining these spells together in the first place, giving us a resilient hasty 3/2 flier. Bedlam Reveler is a card that has always been fantastic in the right builds, and this deck is no different. Paying two mana for a 3/4 prowess is fantastic, and getting to draw three cards off of it, even at the cost of discarding your hand, is a great deal.
In the spells department, we have the iconic Lightning Bolt up front, with the “red Brainstorm” Faithless Looting digging through our deck at light speed. Lava Spike acts as four extra Bolts, and Manamorphose is a “free” spell in that it draws a card, pays for itself, and adds to our spell count for Phoenix. Desperate Ritual is great card, helping to enable big turns and even allowing us to power out our higher-cost cards. Tormenting Voice is more fantastic card selection, and like Looting plays nice with our discard-loving cards. Fiery Temper, one of the last cards anyone ever would’ve expected to be Modern-playable, is a fantastic bolt variant in this deck, being discard easily for that sweet one-mana cost. Finally, Risk Factor is the best Browbeat variant ever printed, losing a single damage on the original, but gaining Jump-Start, GRN’s flashback-lite that lets us cast it from our graveyard by discarding a card.
Our sideboard also looks a bit odd, but does borrow from the sideboards of other decks like burn. Tormod’s Crypt is a cheap way to deal with opposing graveyard decks without spending our precious mana. Dragon’s Claw is great against other aggro decks, helping us gain life off of our own spells and pulling even more wait in the mirror or against burn. Shrine of Burning Rage is yet another odd include. It’s seen play in burn sideboards before, and almost undeniably fits in a million times better here. The constant chaining together of spells allows us to get a very big shrine to hit our opponents with, and in a pinch we can turn it against a big Death’s Shadow or delve threat. Abrade is a fantastic flexible answer to just about anything the opponent could throw at us, and Blood Moon works especially well in this deck since it has the ability to slow down the opponent’s big mana gameplan, and immediately follow it up with a ton of aggression. Anger of the Gods is another great card, dealing with graveyard decks while keeping our Steam-Kins alive and well (assuming they have three counters on them).
Tips:
- Desperate Ritual is great for powering out a turn two Blood Moon, which can make for easy wins against some decks.
- Remember your cards in your graveyard. The deck has a lot of little synergies and weird things to remember, so don’t forget about your Phoenixes, or the cards like Faithless Looting and Risk Factor that you can use to trigger the birds from your graveyard.
- Make sure you keep discard synergies in mind. If you can, try to pitch your Phoenixes, Lootings, Tempers, and Risk Factors, since those all generate value in some way when discarded. For instance, discarding a Temper when Jump-Starting Risk Factor nets you a bolt you otherwise wouldn’t have gotten on top of the four damage you would normally get from this card.
- This is more of a tip for playing against this deck that piloting it, but in 99% of scenarios, you want to take the four damage off of Risk Factor. There are combinations of four cards the deck could draw that would be worse than four damage, but it isn’t likely for the pilot to draw those combinations. Most of the time, the cards they draw will represent more damage than four.
It’s hard to say if this is here to stay or just a flash in the pan, but either way it’s a ton of fun to play, and gives you lots of synergies to play with. Sequencing is just as important as with any other deck, and thanks to Phoenix and discard synergies, there are a bunch of other choices to be made with regards to how to squeeze out every last point of damage. Give the deck in chance, and I think you’ll find the deck’s a ton of fun to play.
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