Once upon a time, I was a big fan of Modern, even before it was an actual format. I played in Gaven Verhey's (before he was a Wizards employee) fan-created "Overextended" format, the precursor to Modern and fell in love with the card pool, and was ready day one, when Modern was announced, to dive in to the format. 2011-2016 was the golden age of Modern, and I think that golden age ended with the banning of Birthing Pod (which still languishes on the banned list) and, everyone's favorite boogeyman, Splinter Twin.

Splinter Twin's history is steeped in legend. It was printed in Rise of the Eldrazi, but didn't really see much play until Deceiver Exarch was printed in New Phyrexia a year later (giving Twin only 3-4 months in Standard). Wizards later admitted that it was a, "mistake," that they missed the combo in the Future Future League, something that happens from time to time. Once it was discovered, it became dominant, and became one of the defining strategies in the early years of Modern.

I think there's a chance Wizards is repeating history. I think they may have mistakenly printed another Splinter Twin combo into Standard.

Standard Twin | Standard | Travis Hall

• Creatures (4)
• 4 Railway Brawler

• Instants (13)
• 1 Snakeskin Veil
• 2 Three Steps Ahead
• 3 An Offer You Can't Refuse
• 3 Consult the Star Charts
• 4 Into the Flood Maw

• Sorceries (15)
• 3 Stock Up
• 4 Devastating Onslaught
• 4 Esper Origins
• 4 Ill-Timed Explosion

• Enchantments (3)
• 3 Roaring Furnace

• Lands (25)
• 1 Forest
• 1 Island
• 1 Mountain
• 2 Riverpyre Verge
• 4 Breeding Pool
• 4 Starting Town
• 4 Stomping Ground
• 4 Thornspire Verge
• 4 Willowrush Verge

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I'm not the first to discover this interaction. You can follow Fireshoe's message here for a history of the interaction. I think a Temur version of the deck, that runs like a combo-control deck (ala the traditional Twin deck) is a way to take the combo.

When I dub this deck Splinter Twin 2.0, it's not because it does the traditional Twin thing of creating an infinite amount of creatures. But, come on, creating infinite creatures is overrated.

Instead, it creates the ideal, "Splinter Twin scenario," where your opponent's only means of interacting with the combo is via a narrow set of instant speed removal spells. It may not create an infinite number of creatures, but creating two 20/20 hasted, trampling creatures is going to win you the game 99% of the time.

How the combo works: You Plot Railway Brawler, ideally on turn 4. You could run Llanowar Elves and go for this on turn 3, but I don't think that's ideal if you're not running additional ways to benefit from the elf.

Plotting this on turn 4 means that your opponent has no way to interact with Railway Brawler on their turn. Like Thanos, it becomes inevitable, barring instant speed interaction.

On turn 5, you drop the Railway Brawler and have access to all of your mana. Ideally, your opponent has tapped out and you can just cast Devastating Onslaught for 2, creating two 20/20 copies of Railway Brawler with haste to attack and destroy your opponent.

But, like the Twin deck, once your opponent knows what you are playing, especially once they see Railway Brawler plotted, they could let THE FEAR of the combo take over. Knowing that you can lose the game on the next turn, and that there is very little you can do about it, can force bad plays.

The worst thing about playing against Splinter Twin in Modern was dealing with THE FEAR. Can I tap out? Can I play my game optimally or do I have to hold up mana at all times to stop the combo? In many cases you can pull out a win just because the combo will warp the way your opponent plays their deck, because they get taken by THE FEAR.

While the deck has seen success as a Gruul deck, I think building this as Temur allows us to fill out the rest of the deck with ways to find and protect the combo. Cards like Stock Up and Consult the Star Charts dig deep and ensure we hit both pieces. Cards like Snakeskin Veil and An Offer You Can't Refuse exist to protect Railway Brawler once it is in play, if your opponent is holding up one of the few removal spells that can take it out.

Ill-Timed Explosion serves double duty, drawing cards for the combo and acting as a pseudo board wipe to make sure we have time to set the combo up if needed. Esper Origins helps you find the combo via Surveil, gives you a bit of a life buffer, and serves as an extra, "creature" for the deck.

This is just a first pass of the deck, but I think the interaction is strong enough that it warrants refining. I've played a few games with the deck and the combo is the real deal. We might have a true Splinter Twin combo back in Standard.

You can find more of my Magic musings on Twitter/X @travishall456 and on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/anakinsdad.bsky.social