Two weeks ago, I considered As Foretold’s applications in Modern control decks. My starting points were Pillow Fort and UB Control, but by the end of the article (and, incidentally, the time I prepared to publish it), I’d turned my attention to integrating the Amonkhet highlight into Modern’s longest-standing control deck: Jeskai. Over the past two […]
Jordan Boisvert
Jordan is Assistant Director of Content at Quiet Speculation and a longtime contributor to Modern Nexus. Best known for his innovations in Temur Delver and Colorless Eldrazi, Jordan favors highly reversible aggro-control decks and is always striving to embrace his biases when playing or brewing.
As of this morning, Amonkhet is fully spoiled! I’ve already written at length on As Foretold and Gideon of the Trials, which jump out to me as the two best cards in the set (with As Foretold leading by a substantial margin). For more on those two, check out my article from last week. Today’s focuses on the slightly-less-exciting Amonkhet cards […]
Amonkhet spoilers have been in effect for a couple weeks now, but nothing’s stood out to me as Modern-playable until recently. Cut // Ribbons seems like a solid include in BRx attrition decks like Grixis, while Cast Out could make a decent addition to reactive draw-go shells like UW Control. But the card that has […]
It’s a crazy time to be a disruption-plus-clock player in Modern. The options seem limitless, even if they also seem to point back at Death’s Shadow. Messing around with Shadow in a Temur Delver deck for the last couple weeks has made me a slobbery wet one, nostalgic for the glory days of 4/4 tramplers and […]
Last week, I introduced a new build of Temur Delver that runs black for Death’s Shadow, the Avatar’s partner-in-crime Thoughtseize, and Modern’s shiny new removal spell, Fatal Push. With another week of experience testing under my belt, I have plenty more insights on the deck. This new experience has inspired a few changes to Temur Shadow, and even a new […]
Goyf, Smasher, you name itâefficient beaters are really my thing. It shouldn’t surprise that I’ve put in a lot of reps with Death’s Shadow Jund, and the deck’s namesake Avatar definitely rules. Since even before the Probe ban, I’ve wondered about Shadow’s potential in fair blue shells, and my thoughts always come back to Delver. A threat […]
Death’s Shadow Jund’s metagame shares seem to have decreased a little since last week, indicating that Modern has the tools it needs to combat the new boogeyman. This reassuring development has been met with universal praise from the pro community and relief from the playerbase. The deck’s presence in Modern still changes its landscape, though, […]
The verdict’s all but in: new kid on the block Death’s Shadow Jund is Modern’s new deck to beat. Death’s Shadow’s ascent to boogeyman status carries metagame-wide implications and emphasizes some of Modern’s quirks. Today, we’ll explore why Death’s Shadow Jund is so good, what the deck means for the format, and whether other decks should recruit the massive Avatar for their own purposes. […]
After finishing 4th in an SCG Regionals tournament with Eldrazi Stompy, I’ve been excited to take the deck to more competitive events. I had that opportunity last weekend, and cracked Top 8 at a monthly TJ Collectibles Modern tournament. My only loss of the day was to the dreaded Bant Spirits, which landed turn-three Geist of Saint Traft into […]
Modern has kept me busy lately. Fatal Push generated a metric ton of buzz, Dredge and Infect terrorized Modern and were subsequently nerfed, and most recently, I’ve had my heart set on building entire decks around the improvise mechanic or Smuggler’s Copter. All these developments have prevented me from writing about how Aether Revolt’s less obvious cards have worked their way into […]
A couple months ago, I took Counter-Cat to an RPTQ and had my ass handed to me on a silver Shriekhorn. The lesson I learned: bring only a deck you’re intimately familiar with to an event you want to do well in. While I’ve put in plenty of games with Counter-Cat during my Modern career, I […]
Forbidden fruit tastes the sweetest. No Ban List Modern and even Vintage have a certain allure to many players, myself included, as they promise the opportunity to play with the best cards ever. In Yu-gi-Oh, I spend most of my time playing Traditional Format, the unpopular Vintage analog wherein banned cards are restricted. And even today, I […]
It’s been an exciting week for Modern. Fatal Push was sanctioned last Friday, and the SCG Columbus Classic gave players a highly anticipated datapoint for the new metagame. A linear combo deck won that event, and a purely reactive control deck just missed the Top 8. Combo and control are famously underpowered archetypes in Modern, giving us […]
