MATT NASS' MODERN CORETAPPER
Karn, the Great Creator is one of the most powerful cards in Modern, but he isn’t easy to find a shell for since most Modern decks don’t produce that much mana. This deck uses Urzatron to produce mana as well as the combination of Coretapper and charge counter based mana rocks. Coretapper’s tap ability may seem slow, but its sacrifice ability certainly is not. In Sam Pardee’s first game with the deck he had the option to do the following on turn 1:
• Land
• Mox Opal
• Astral Cornucopia for 0
• Chalice for 0
• Coretapper
• Sac Coretapper to put counters on Astral Cornucopia
• Use Cornucopia to play Chalice for 1
In addition to the mana artifacts, Coretapper can also be used to manipulate Chalice of the Void. It can’t, unfortunately, put counters on a Blast Zone, barring a Mycosynth Lattice or Liquimetal Coating to artifact it up.
Besides Karn, this deck has one other great way to use a ton of mana. Mystic Forge allows you to fly through your deck, as you can cast a whopping 22 cards for 0 mana. In addition to the card advantage gained this way, you can often stack a Karn or Ballista on top to finish the game the next turn. The high density of 0-cost cards also makes this deck incredibly good at emptying its hand for Ensnaring Bridge.
There isn’t a lot of wiggle room in this deck, but I would look to work in some Welding Jars. Decks like Hogaak will board in some artifact removal, and it’s important to protect your Bridges. Dismember also seems worth consideration as a colorless removal spell.