Category Archives: Article & Video

The power rankings will look a little different this week, due to the Pro Tour being a split format event we were unable to use conventional to X for points since that would include point earned in limited. Instead we used the match points of all decks that were 8-2 or better. Determining which decks truly stood out from the pack.

5-Angel Chord 27 
A midrange-combo deck built in the proud tradition of Melira Pod and Abzan Company this deck aims to value you out with mana acceleration, Lingering Souls, and Gavony Township. Or combo to gain infinite life with the interaction between Archangel of Thune and Spike Feeder. Matthew Rogers put up an extremely impressive 9-1 with the deck. This is an archetype similar to those many are predicting will be able to hold off the Eldrazi menace that drowned this pro tour.

Angel Chord by Matthew Rogers 
4 Archangel of Thune
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Courser of Kruphix
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Scavenging Ooze
2 Spellskite
3 Spike Feeder
4 Wall of Roots
4 Lingering Souls
4 Chord of Calling
3 Path to Exile
2 Forest
4 Gavony Township
1 Godless Shrine
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Marsh Flats
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
2 Razorverge Thicket
1 Swamp
1 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
SB: 1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
SB: 1 Ethersworn Canonist
SB: 1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
SB: 1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
SB: 3 Painful Truths
SB: 3 Stony Silence
SB: 3 Thoughtseize
SB: 2 Worship

4-Zoo 48
It seems almost unfair to classify several very different decks under the umbrella of Zoo. But that’s what Wild Nacatl does, it unifies people. In a truer sense the definition of a Zoo deck is a fairly encompassing concept. The easiest way to explain it is; playing the most mana efficient threats and removal, almost no card advantage or “value” creatures, it’s all about the beat downs, and keeping your opponent’s creatures out of the way of yours. 2 players played this archetype to an 8-2 record. A deck capable of going under or around many major strategies. I would recommend this deck to anyone that likes the white knuckle thrill of a good aggressive deck, and likes to attack hard and often this is not a deck that will tolerate you playing scared.

Zoo by Michael Majors 
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
1 Dryad Arbor
4 Experiment One
4 Goblin Guide
4 Kird Ape
4 Reckless Bushwhacker
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Wild Nacatl
1 Devastating Summons
1 Forked Bolt
3 Atarka’s Command
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Path to Exile
4 Arid Mesa
1 Forest
1 Mountain
2 Sacred Foundry
2 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
SB: 1 Path to Exile
SB: 2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
SB: 2 Ancient Grudge
SB: 2 Deflecting Palm
SB: 1 Kozilek’s Return
SB: 2 Molten Rain
SB: 2 Phyrexian Unlife
SB: 3 Stony Silence

3-Affinity 79
The last child of old Modern lasted all the way to the semi finals in the hands of Patrick Dickman and several other players made it deep into the tournament with this archetype. A deck that is capable of turn 3 kills or grinding out with an Etched Champion, but will likely need to go through a revamp due to the fact that the champ doesn’t actually have protection from much in the Eldrazi decks. I talked about this deck a great deal last week so I won’t repeat myself. However, I think if a build of this deck that does a good job of attacking through Eldrazi could be extremely well positioned going forward as many players (Fools!) will be more relaxed than ever in their affinity hate.

Affinity by Patrick Dickman
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Master of Etherium
3 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Signal Pest
2 Spellskite
4 Steel Overseer
4 Vault Skirge
2 Thoughtcast
4 Cranial Plating
4 Mox Opal
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Glimmervoid
4 Inkmoth Nexus
1 Island
SB: 2 Etched Champion
SB: 3 Ancient Grudge
SB: 1 Chalice of the Void
SB: 1 Dismember
SB: 2 Ghirapur AEther Grid
SB: 1 Grafdigger’s Cage
SB: 1 Gut Shot
SB: 1 Stubborn Denial
SB: 2 Thoughtseize
SB: 1 Whipflare

2-U/R Eldrazi 81 & 1-Colorless Eldrazi 130
Not enough can be said for how impressive the performance of our last 2 decks were at this pro tour. In total there were 6 Eldrazi decks in the top 8 of this tournament, a feat not often replicated. The U/R version played by Team East West Bowl ultimately took down the tournament despite being the far less represented of the 2 major flavors of Eldrazi with only 4 players in the tournament playing it. And the colorless version played by team Channel Fireball and Face to Face Games, was the more popular version at the top tables, and was more played overall on the teams that played it with 17/20 members playing it. What we know are that 32 players registered decks that would be classified as Eldrazi and 18 of those would finish Saturday with at least 6 wins in constructed, and had many more doing considerably better than that. This is a ferocious deck with many creatures that are already costed aggressively but have additional abilities. Which is a trait exacerbated by the ability of the deck to cheat on mana with Eye of Ugin and Eldrazi Temple. The main question coming out of this tournament is whether the rest of modern can adapt to beat this archetype. I have included both decks together due to the many similarities, the caveat being that it is currently widely believed that the U/R decks are favored in the mirror.

U/R Eldrazzi by Jiachen Tao
4 Drowner of Hope
4 Eldrazi Mimic
3 Eldrazi Obligator
4 Eldrazi Skyspawner
4 Endless One
4 Reality Smasher
2 Ruination Guide
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Vile Aggregate
3 Dismember
3 Cavern of Souls
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Eye of Ugin
1 Gemstone Caverns
2 Island
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Shivan Reef
2 Steam Vents
SB: 1 Spellskite
SB: 2 Chalice of the Void
SB: 2 Gut Shot
SB: 3 Hurkyl’s Recall
SB: 1 Ratchet Bomb
SB: 2 Relic of Progenitus
SB: 3 Stubborn Denial
SB: 1 Tomb of the Spirit Dragon

Colorless Eldrazi by Ivan Floch
4 Eldrazi Mimic
4 Endless One
4 Matter Reshaper
4 Reality Smasher
4 Simian Spirit Guide
2 Spellskite
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Dismember
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Ratchet Bomb
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Eye of Ugin
4 Ghost Quarter
3 Mutavault
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Wastes
SB: 1 Spellskite
SB: 1 Ratchet Bomb
SB: 3 Oblivion Sower
SB: 3 Gut Shot
SB: 2 Pithing Needle
SB: 4 Relic of Progenitus
SB: 1 Warping Wail

This week we took a look at the last 2 weeks of modern standings to get you the cutting edge of the metagame to the new  modern format. We have some old faces as well as some unexpected guests. Decks are being given 1-6 points depending on finish. 6 for a win, 5 for 2nd place, 4 for top 4, 3 for top 8, 2 for top 16, and 1 for top 32. I then compile all of the points and figure out which decks are on top. 

5- Zoo 8 points

Zoo was one of the most popular decks of the first modern tournaments, leading to the eventual banning of Wild Nacatl. The cat-warrior was eventually let out of it’s cage to much fanfare and little results. However since the banning of Splinter Twin the deck has seen a large surge in popularity. Whether this signals a return to prominence or a temporary escape remains to be seen.

Zoo by Zan Syed
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Experiment One
2 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Goblin Guide
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Kird Ape
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Wild Nacatl
2 Dryad Arbor
1 Forest
1 Mountain
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Sacred Foundry
3 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Atarka’s Command
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path to Exile
SB: 2 Kitchen Finks
SB: 2 Scavenging Ooze
SB: 1 Blood Moon
SB: 1 Worship
SB: 2 Ancient Grudge
SB: 2 Destructive Revelry
SB: 3 Molten Rain
SB: 2 Pyroclasm

5- Infect 8 points
Do you like money, power, fame, and occasional turn 2 kills? Because 1 out of 4 ain’t bad, and that is what infect can bring you. One of the most blistering fast decks in modern capable of killing in a single attack usually before turn 4. This is a deck that wins with a combination of cheap infect creatures with massive pump spells, a bit of a combination deck if you will. By playing a lot of redundancy in your spells and giving your opponent little time to answer this deck can be very hard to interact with in a meaningful way. However there are certain removal heavy decks that can combine with cheap blockers like lingering souls to give you a test. Also this deck does not have the advantage of other players dealing a great deal of damage to themselves in modern. so you are leaving a few points on the field by playing this over other fast decks.

U/G Infect by Dan Jessup
1 Spellskite
4 Blighted Agent
4 Glistener Elf
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Viridian Corrupter
2 Forest
3 Breeding Pool
4 Inkmoth Nexus
1 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Pendelhaven
1 Wild Defiance
2 Apostle’s Blessing
3 Become Immense
1 Groundswell
4 Might of Old Krosa
4 Mutagenic Growth
1 Twisted Image
4 Vines of Vastwood|
4 Gitaxian Probe
2 Slip Through Space
SB: 1 Spellskite
SB: 1 Wild Defiance
SB: 2 Dismember
SB: 2 Dispel
SB: 4 Nature’s Claim
SB: 2 Spell Pierce
SB: 2 Twisted Image
SB: 1 Dryad Arbor

5- Temur Delver 8 points
A relative newcomer to the format, this deck has been seen occasionally on magic online and at the SCG circuit but has never been a popular archetype. This deck relies on a variety of undercosted threats and powerful disruption to nullify your opponent’s deck. Those familiar with this archetype from legacy should feel comfortable behind the wheel of this classic. All though you are losing some power level, the deck does have plenty of cheap disruption to keep your opponent reeling while you beat down with an all star cast of creatures. This is a great deck for attacking an open metagame.  

Temur Delver by Todd Anderson
4 Delver of Secrets
2 Hooting Mandrills
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Tarmogoyf
1 Young Pyromancer
1 Forest
2 Island
1 Mountain
2 Breeding Pool
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
3 Wooded Foothills
1 Dismember
1 Izzet Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Mutagenic Growth
4 Remand
3 Spell Pierce
1 Thought Scour
3 Vapor Snag
3 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
SB: 2 Grim Lavamancer
SB: 3 Spreading Seas
SB: 2 Threads of Disloyalty
SB: 3 Ancient Grudge
SB: 1 Dispel
SB: 2 Gut Shot
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction

4- G/R Tron 9 points
My editor says I can’t openly criticize people for playing this deck. So I will need to thinly veil my criticisms. This deck is a long standing powerhouse in Modern, and picked up the ball dropped by the banning of cloudpost as a big mana deck. That will nearly always win when it is allowed to play one of it’s haymakers on an empty board. The deck assembles its power by bringing together the 3 Urza lands to generate 7 mana with only 3 lands. Allowing this deck to play Karn Liberated by turn 3 and Ugin the Spirit Dragon or Ulamog, the skipped breakfast and is basically starving by turn 4. The downside to the deck is it is not capable of doing much without its land combo in play and can be light on interactive spells mostly relying on Pyroclasm and Oblivion Stone for interaction. This deck can be truly punishing to a midrange and control meta while being very poor against a fast meta. This deck is a good one to have in the chamber for when the metagame is ready for it but if you pick the wrong time you can be in for a very long day.

G/R Tron by Louie Falcigno
2 Spellskite
3 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
4 Karn Liberated
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
2 Forest
2 Ghost Quarter
3 Karplusan Forest
4 Urza’s Mine
4 Urza’s Power Plant
4 Urza’s Tower
1 Eye of Ugin
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
4 Expedition Map
4 Oblivion Stone
1 Warping Wail
4 Ancient Stirrings
3 Pyroclasm
4 Sylvan Scrying
SB: 2 Pithing Needle
SB: 3 Relic of Progenitus
SB: 1 Spellskite
SB: 2 Thragtusk
SB: 3 Nature’s Claim
SB: 1 Rending Volley
SB: 1 Warping Wail
SB: 1 Crumble to Dust
SB: 1 Firespout

3- Affinity 11 points
Have you ever seen the movie the Terminator? It’s about a dystopian future where robots have nearly annihilated mankind, and travel through time to finish the job. This is a lot what playing against Affinity feels like. A deck that is capable of blazing fast kills with arcbound ravager and cranial plating or wiping out all hope with the slow burn of Etched Champion. The exact composition of each Affinity deck can be different depending on wanting to be as fast as possible or to be resilient. Choosing to play Galvanic Blasts or Thoughtcasts depending on the deck builder’s intentions and it can be an extremely difficult deck to play with and against due to the subtle intricacies. This is a deck that can be hated out with powerful sideboard cards like Stony Silence or Shatterstorm but is almost impossible to get rid of completely.

Affinity by Lance Bullock
4 Arcbound Ravager
1 Etched Champion
2 Hangarback Walker
2 Master of Etherium
2 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Signal Pest
1 Spellskite
3 Steel Overseer
4 Vault Skirge
4 Darksteel Citadel
1 Mountain
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Glimmervoid
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Cranial Plating
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Galvanic Blast
4 Mox Opal
SB: 2 Etched Champion
SB: 1 Ethersworn Canonist
SB: 1 Spellskite
SB: 2 Blood Moon
SB: 1 Ghirapur Aether Grid
SB: 2 Ancient Grudge
SB: 1 Ray of Revelation
SB: 1 Spell Pierce
SB: 2 Thoughtseize
SB: 2 Whipflare

2- Merfolk 13 points  
This is the deck I was most surprised to see on this list and not for the reasons you would expect. The deck has always been powerful providing a very unique variety of disruption in the form of Spreading Seas and Cursecatcher. It can easily lock your opponent into not being able to cast meaningful spells until it is too late, and they are already about to sleep with the fishes. The semi recent addition of Harbinger of the Tides also adds a unique element in that it makes the deck very hard to race. The real power of the deck comes from it’s 8+ lord effects giving your merfolk creatures +1/+1 and usually island walk which combines powerfully with Spreading Seas to make blocking no longer an option against the deck.  I was not expecting it because it didn’t have a particularly bad Splinter Twin match up to begin with. And is at it’s best preying on the decks that beat Splinter Twin. However enough chose to take the plunge with this classic archetype, and have found some success to show for it.

Merfolk by Kevin Rogers
4 Cursecatcher
4 Harbinger of the Tides
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Master of Waves
3 Merrow Reejerey
2 Phantasmal Image
4 Silvergill Adept
2 Tidebinder Mage
10 Island
1 Cavern of Souls
4 Mutavault
2 Wanderwine Hub
1 Minamo, School at Water’s Edge
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
4 AEther Vial
4 Spreading Seas
2 Spell Pierce
SB: 2 Relic of Progenitus
SB: 2 Dismember
SB: 2 Dispel
SB: 2 Echoing Truth
SB: 3 Negate
SB: 4 Tectonic Edge

1- Burn 16 points

A deck that has gone through many permutations with the evolving metagame of modern, Burn is a deck that shows up to do two things. Cast red spells and kill you, the creatures in the deck are very small but they add up fast and due to the fact that most Modern players deal themselves 3-5 damage per game at least you don’t need to do much to finish the job. Typically in a burn deck you want each card to represent about 3 damage, this means 7 spells should kill your opponent. In Modern with life totals usually starting at 18 or less it is like drawing extra spells just by your opponent playing their lands. Eidolon of the Great Revel also adds some extra punch by punishing your opponents for even playing magic. It is no surprise to me seeing this deck ranked highly as it’s worst matchups have just been laid to rest by the recent bannings. Luckily there are powerful hate cards against burn like Kor Firewalker and Dragon Claw.  Whether that will be enough to save us from the red menace remains to be seen.

Burn by Michael Arrowsmith
4 Goblin Guide
1 Grim Lavamancer
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
2 Mountain
3 Arid Mesa
2 Copperline Gorge
3 Sacred Foundry
2 Scalding Tarn
4 Stomping Ground
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Atarka’s Command
2 Become Immense
4 Boros Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Searing Blaze
3 Lava Spike
3 Rift Bolt
SB: 2 Rest in Peace
SB: 2 Ancient Grudge
SB: 1 Deflecting Palm
SB: 2 Destructive Revelry
SB: 3 Lightning Helix
SB: 3 Path to Exile
SB: 2 Sudden Shock