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We're cross-posting this piece from www.empeopled.com through a partnership with the site.
In one fell swoop, Wizards of the Coast has completely destroyed the format formerly known as Modern.
To some of us, that may not be such a bad thing. While I loved seeing Merfolk get its first Top 8 last week, I've also been on record for a few months now saying that the Delve cards had fundamentally altered Modern in such a way that I expected them to go. While doing that evaluation it also became painfully obvious that Birthing Pod, while technically "more fair" than Ancestral Recalls, was every bit as oppressive.
So it didn't come as a huge shock to see them all go. And while it understandably sucks for players who enjoyed those decks, there's no denying that the current reality is also exciting in its own way:
We have a brand new format.
You can read the full post here.
Nice article. Agree with most points but i cant see past jund/junk being the best deck now. Discard plus early threats (ie. Tarmogoyf) really will be hard to beat especially with the value from siege rhino. This is what annoys me about wizards. The banning is great for the format but really screws pod players from getting into another deck. Tarmogoyfs, lilianas and bobs cost so much its a barrier to entry. With the upcoming MM2015 costing $10 a pack (realistically $15 -$20) changing decks is just unaffordable for many people.
All the articles i used to read on the format were preaching about taking one deck and learn it inside out to be successful but how is that viable now when they ban pillars of the format.
You could try value Pod without Pod. Cut the bullets, beef up some of the numbers. Scavenging Ooze fights Goyf reasonably well. Knight of the Reliquary (still very cheap) looks to be quite good with additional fetches and no Delve. Voice and Finks match up well against Liliana and you also have access to discard and Abrupt Decay. White gives you powerful board options against other matchups and you’re essentially a Junk deck pre-boarded for the mirror. Might not work, but it’s certainly worth testing. Pod was very good at playing a value game even without Pod in play, seems like testing it as Junk Midrange is worthwhile before assuming the GBx variant is automatically better/correct.