Thanks!

Currently, yes, but remember that these are monthly tierings and not necessarily overall Modern tierings throughout a longer timespan. On that longer scale, BW Tokens is still probably Tier 3.

I’m not sure we do have that kind of “Get Into Modern” article. Good topic for another day! I’d start with a Tier 1 or Tier 2 deck that fits your play style. This ensures you have something that stays relevant from month-to-month, and there’s a good budget spread among those strategies.

Which is why I am trading out of standard and into modern. The only question left is which deck to go to first. I’m sure you guys already have a beginners article or two I really should look for those.

Many Tier 1 decks are indeed expensive, but Tier 2 is much more reasonable. I’ll also add that many of those Tier 1 decks aren’t significantly more expensive than some Tier 1 Standard decks right now, courtesy of Mr. Jace. That said, it’s all but inevitable there’s a price gap between Tier 1 Modern and Tier 1 Standard, but as long as Tier 2 decks remain more reasonable and viable, this is okay. Decks also last longer in Modern (especially, we hope, without the PT inducing bans)!

It’s your only out to Abzan Company if they combo on turn 3-4, and you only have a turn to win if they get the life because they’ll scry Redcap to the top. Or two turns if you can Pact the Redcap and then Grace on next upkeep to win that turn. Either way, you’ll need 5 mana for Ad Nauseam, 3 for Maniac, 1 for the draw spell, and maybe 1 more for Grace. This should be doable as long as you didn’t exile too many SSGs early: Bloom (3 mana), four lands (4 mana), and 3-4 SSG (3-4 mana) gets you to 10-11 which is right where you need to be to win off Maniac.

Some Ad Nauseam players say they win just fine without Maniac and that the Company player isn’t comboing. I’d guess they combo on turns 3-4 in about 15%-20% of games, so if you want to roll with those odds game one, you don’t need Maniac.

Stock Esper version is probably better. It certainly has more results, but that might just be a function of popularity and profile, not of actually being better. One reason to believe Esper’s results are performance-related is the slight gameplan change in both decks: Esper Ad Nauseam is more focused around the combo, and I generally want to be focused and linear on a combo deck. With the Wish build, you can get these awkward hands where you really want to just execute the combo but you have a toolbox Wish in hand and not Peers or Spoils.

I think a big factor is lack of confidence in the archetype, even though it may have the tools to succeed. People just don’t know how to build the list yet because we’re just one month into the new metagame. If the deck is viable, which it might not be, then we’ll see something more coherent and consistent emerge at the Grand Prix. New cards down the road might help, as might unbans like JTMS, but the strategies still need a big finish in order to make it in the format.

Interesting. MTGO results aren’t being weighed too heavily right now (n is relatively small), but that’s a good datapoint to know.

Still, as an economist at heart I applaud the work being put into this!

A lot of players don’t like playing what they know to be a suboptimal version of a deck because of outside factors like a card being bugged online. I know if I lent my Goyfs to someone, for instance, I would not want to play Temur Delver with a set of Skinshifters. I’d just play something else.

You are better off with the stock version with spoils the vault

Huh. Guess I picked a good time to try out other decks. A little surprised that online Merfolk isn’t using Monastery Siege in the meantime (I know it’s worse, but everyone used to be really high on the card).

What he said.

From my perspective, as a long time player of unfun spike decks(multiple decades), in the long run it might be best for grindy blue-based control decks if the archetype continue to exist as it does in the format; gaining occasional successes to prove its potential. The reason is for new cards to be printed to reinvigorate the archetype to better address the constraints imposed by power creep of creatures in new sets, etc, etc. A functional 2cc vanilla counter wouldn’t even do it probably. 1cc discard is really, really good and so are a lot of explosive aggro strategies.