Another event-filled weekend, another data dump, another chance for Modern to adapt and contain the arisen menace. It may not be likely, but as someone locked into making the trip to GP Las Vegas, I feel the need to hope. Barring a sudden abandonment of Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis in Birmingham, I was also hoping against […]

With another GP in the books, it’s time once again to dig into the data. When I last did so right after the big MC weekend, the picture was muddied by contradictory results. Half indicated that Hogaak was a dominant force in the metagame. The other half indicated that it was just another deck. Its […]

In terms of data, it seems Modern is at a crossroads. This is the problem I found myself with last week. Half the data said that Hogaak was a busted, dominate deck. The other said that it was successful, but only as a function of its popularity. The narrative coming out of last weekend is that […]

For the first time in quite a while, I have a massive data dump to analyze! The past weekend contained a Modern GP, an SCG Open, and the Mythic Championship. With all the shocks finally wearing off, we can start to get a handle on the new metagame. But not without first noting that this […]

This is an odd feeling for me. For all its flaws, the PPTQ system meant that grinders like me always had competitive level events to grind and keep our skills sharp. The MCQ system is functionally the same as the old PTQ system, which means very few events and very spread out. Since I’m a […]

With Core 2020 and the London mulligan finally legal, the metagame can begin to take shape. Begin being the key word there. So much has changed in Modern over the past month that it is impossible to predict what exactly is changing. At the end of this week, GP Denver looms. I’m not playing the main […]

I had planned to spend today’s article discussing Hogaakvine: what it does, how it does it, how to play against it, and how I’d build decks given Hogaak’s rise. However, that article was mooted this morning by Wizards. Instead, let’s examine what’s happened and where it leaves Modern. Also, once again, nothing got unbanned. This […]

With all of Core 2020 spoiled and the prerelease looming, it’s time to wrap up spoiler talk. After the flood of clear playables in Modern Horizons, 2020 is back to being mostly about roleplayers and brewing opportunities. This is typical of a non-Modern-specific release, and much like a typical set, 2020 has plenty of interesting cards that need a […]

This is a bit sudden: Modern Horizons has only been out for two weeks, but here we are starting Core 2020 spoilers. The summer release schedule has ensured that Modern is utterly saturated with new cards, and it is struggling to absorb them all. There hasn’t been much time to determine the effects that War of the Spark  […]

New metagames can be hard to pin down, as fresh cards lead to new brews and new tech, forcing established decks to adapt. This forces the new decks to adapt to the new pressure, and their success or failure creates ripples through the metagame. With War of the Spark and Modern Horizons released in quick succession, Modern […]

With Modern Horizons fully spoiled, brewing can get into full swing. So far, my experience has been guardedly positive. There are a lot of very interesting cards and restrained designs that should reinvigorate fringe Modern decks without upending the format. Still, other cards show frightening promise. Brewing in the Snow I’ll kick things off with […]

With Modern Horizons now fully spoiled, it’s time to wrap up this series of spoiler articles. Last week, I said that the set was a bit underwhelming. At the time it looked like a Standard set with some added complexity. Immediately afterward, the most potentially powerful cards in the set were revealed, causing me to […]

It’s been less than a month since War of the Spark dropped, but since the extra product this year is Modern Horizons, we have more sets than normal to review. And then, about a month until Magic 2020 spoilers begin. 2019 is fast becoming Year of the Brewer. Today, I will be looking at some of the […]