M19 Deck Lists: Martyr of Sands/Serra Ascendant vs. Vengevine/Stitcher's Supplier

It’s Magic Monday at NATGT once again, and this week we’re going Modern! While M19 has no doubt had a huge effect on the Standard format, we’re going to be looking at how M19 will shake up some existing decks and where it fits in the massive Modern card pool!
As always, the experts at Pat’s Games have outdone themselves once again, with Aryeh once again building some fantastic decks for us! This week, Aren will be bringing a White Martyr of Sands/Serra Ascendant deck, and Saralyn will be showing us a Jund Vengevine/Stitcher’s Supplier deck.

Aren: (White) Martyr of Sands/Serra Ascendant 

Aren’s deck is centered around the famous Serra Ascendant, a card legendary for being the centerpiece of many decks…despite being a 1/1 for 1. The catch is, if the player has more than 30 life, Serra Ascendant gets +5/+5 and gains “flying.” So, if Aren is able to boost his life fast enough, he can quickly swarm the field with 4 nearly unstoppable 6/6 Ascendants. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the Ascendants also have Lifelink, ensuring that Aren’s life will only increase as he gets more ascendants on the field.
The only obstacle standing in Aren’s way is the initial climb to 30 life. Or…it would be, if not for Martyr of Sands. Martyr of Sands is a 1-cost creature that can be sacrificed to reveal white cards from one’s hand, and gain 3X life for each card revealed. Given that literally all of Aren’s cards are white, he can nearly always reach 30 life on the first turn if he has Martyr of Sands in his hand (provided he doesn’t excessively Mulligan, of course.) From there, it’s only a matter of time before the 6/6 Serra Ascendants begin tearing through Saralyn’s life.
Finally, on the off chance that Aren’s land gets destroyed, he is also bringing the M19 reprint of Crucible of Worlds, meaning that he can also play land cards from his graveyard. With the low cost of his two best cards, even a small land pool could be enough to completely overwhelm Saralyn!

Aren’s full deck list includes:

Saralyn: (Jund) Vengevine/Stitcher’s Supplier

Saralyn’s deck is all about the graveyard. With cards such as Bloodghast, Gravecrawler, and Vengevine all able to find ways back to the battlefield from the graveyard, it is easy to flood the field with dangerous creatures…IF they can make it to the graveyard first.
While this may be a problem for other decks, the addition of the new M19 Card Stitcher’s Supplier gives Saralyn a low-cost way to move cards from her library to her graveyard. In addition, any cards she needs to move can also be used as fuel for Greater Gargadon, allowing the massive mammoth to storm onto the field far faster than its suspension would suggest!
If Aren’s not careful, he’ll find himself being attacked by the formidable 4/3 Vengevine clawing its way up to the graveyard, to say nothing of the terrifying might of the 9/7 Gargadon. It’s true his deck is great at generating life, but he’ll likely need every scrap of it that he can get to stay ahead of Saralyn’s onslaught!

If these beasts weren’t terrifying enough, Saralyn’s full deck list includes:

Sideboard (15):

• 2 Bitterblossom
  
• 3 Ingot Chewer
  
• 4 Leyline of the Void
  
• 3 Lightning Axe
  
• 3 Thoughtseize

To see which one of these epic decks comes out on top when they go head-to-head, watch the video below!