I’m not one to play the “best deck.” Usually, that’s because I’m packing some form of control, tempted by the cruel mistress that is card advantage. Oftentimes, this obsession translates directly into uphill battles and short Saturdays, but that’s neither here nor there. Still, my time spent attacking the format from the outside has given […]

You sit down to fill out the last few slots of your generic three-color midrange brew. You’ve responsibly dedicated seven slots to removal; now what? You’ve heard Lightning Bolt is good, but is it really the best option in 2017? What’s a mage to do? Today, we’ll be using theory and analysis in combination to […]

To celebrate the impending release of Amonkhet, I thought it’d be fun to put our brewing caps on this week. I’ll get back to metagame/decklist analysis soon, I’m sure, but recently I’ve been taking a look through the Amonkhet spoiler in the hopes of finding something that tickles my interest. Overall, I haven’t been that enthused. […]

Every time spoiler season rolls around, I get retrospective. Normally, Magic-related retrospection occurs around New Year’s, when writers across the community produce their inevitable “Top 10 of 20xx” lists. I guess it makes sense, then, that while everyone else is looking forward to the new set, I’m looking back at what we’re leaving behind. Perhaps it’s because I enjoy […]

I’ve been playing a ton of MTGO recently (mostly with Esper Control) and have come across some…strange decks. Seeing a rogue list 5-0 a League event here and there can be a fun distraction from “business as usual,” but most of these lists tend to be “flash in the pan” rather than “harbinger of the […]

Since my article last week detailing why I think Esper Control is strongly positioned in Modern, I’ve been tweaking and tuning my list online. In the process I’ve learned a great deal about both the archetype and the current state of Modern. Today, we’ll be digging deeper into the archetype, discussing my current list, finer […]

If you want to play control in Modern this week, Grixis is not the answer. Corey Burkhart has an excellent list that he’s been using to great success, and if you’ve read my articles over the past couple weeks by now you’re familiar with my thoughts on the archetype. Unfortunately the word is out, and […]

No, this isn’t a finance article—I leave those to the geniuses over at Quiet Spec (and Jim Casale of course). What I want to talk about today are individual cards whose “gameplay stock” is trending up or down based on recent trends in the metagame: “what’s hot and what’s not,” if you will. We’ve done […]

As of this writing, a playset of Ancestral Vision will set you back 140 tickets on MTGO. Sure, some of that is finance garbage due to Snapcaster Mage and fetches being in MM3, but even before that the card was 25+ tickets. Corey Burkhart (and now Shaheen Soorani) have been in the spotlight in recent […]

Grixis Control has received a surprising amount of attention recently, due in large part to Corey Burkhart’s continued work on the archetype, and Shaheen Soorani’s recent adoption of the strategy. For those wondering about Richie Sledz’s 4th-place finish at the SCG Open in Indianapolis, look no further. His deck was almost a direct copy of […]

Fresh off the back of a Modern-packed weekend in the form of the SCG Regionals, Modern lovers worldwide have been blessed (or cursed) with another weekend jammed full of Modern data to analyze. Grand Prix Brisbane, Grand Prix Vancouver, the SCG Modern Classic in Baltimore—we’re getting to the point where there’s almost too much information […]

Buckle up. The Star City Games Regional event decklists are here, and all of a sudden we have a ton of Modern results to sift through. Today’s goal is to speculate as little as possible—instead, I plan on taking an analytical, systematic look at the data we have available, to provide a framework upon which […]

With so many new changes to Modern recently, every assumption we’ve previously held regarding the format as we know it is suspect to change. Mono-Green Stompy is back, Zur the Enchanter is finally poised to take the format by storm, so prepare yourself for Vexing Devil mirror matches every third round. Now that we’re all […]