Jason Schousboe | Quiet Speculation

December 2017 Metagame Update

Jason Schousboe — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 00:13:48 +0000

Welcome back for the December metagame update. This month saw two large-scale Grand Prix delineate an extremely diverse metagame. Perhaps it's just my own personal bias, but I believe Modern is in a great spot right now—healthy, diverse, with interactive games and relevant decisions in deckbuilding and sideboard construction. This is the "metagame to beat" as […]

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November Metagame & Announcements

Jason Schousboe — Thu, 07 Dec 2017 02:00:23 +0000

Well, it's been a long time since I've written the full metagame update, but you folks haven't gotten rid of me that easily. Know that our plans here at Nexus have always been to resume these and make them regular, but in a way that was sustainable moving forward. Rather than make speculative promises I […]

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Deck of the Week: Bogles

Jason Schousboe — Mon, 27 Nov 2017 19:43:31 +0000

Greetings, Nexites. For this week's Deck of the Week segment I'm taking over from Rob, but you can expect him back in full force next week. Last weekend was an interesting one for Modern, as we saw an old fringe deck put up not one, but three finishes in high-level MTGO tournaments. I'm talking, of […]

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Announcement: Server Change

Jason Schousboe — Tue, 04 Jul 2017 21:10:26 +0000

Hello, Nexites. No doubt you have noticed the repeated downtime issues we've been experiencing over the last few months. I'm happy to report that we've just finished switching to a new server, which should mean the end of them. As it turns out, we were breaching the terms of service of our old server with […]

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Deck of the Week: Eldrazi Stompy & Taxes

Jason Schousboe — Mon, 03 Apr 2017 18:07:46 +0000

Greetings, Nexites. We have some exciting things in the works this week, but today I merely get to bring you another Deck of the Week. Much as I wanted to highlight something novel from Grand Prix San Antonio, it seems an avalanche of Death's Shadow and Affinity decks were the going fare throughout much of […]

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Deck of the Week: Krark-Clan Trawler Eggs

Jason Schousboe — Mon, 27 Mar 2017 20:24:08 +0000

To my mind, few archetypes exemplify the spirit of Modern better than Eggs. For anyone not already familiar with the deck, just looking at a list is likely to induce head-scratching and incredulity. Just how, exactly, does this utterly insane pile of unplayable chaff win a game of Magic, our hypothetical newcomer to Modern may ask. […]

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Modern Metagame Breakdown: 2/6/17 – 3/12/17

Jason Schousboe — Mon, 20 Mar 2017 21:49:45 +0000

Welcome back for another metagame update. I'm calling today's the "February update," even though it encompasses a week-and-a-half of March data as well. As we had extended last month's data, it made sense to do so this month too in order to avoid a three-week metagame with scant data. The astute reader will notice that […]

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Deck of the Week: GW Eldrazi Evolution

Jason Schousboe — Tue, 14 Mar 2017 00:15:44 +0000

Greetings, Nexites. I'm deep in the middle of the late-February/early-March metagame update, which I will have for you by the end of the week. In the meantime, I'm highlighting an innovative take on the Eldrazi tribe that was taken to a 5-0 finish in an MTGO League. We've seen a large number of decks sporting Eldrazi creatures […]

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Deck of the Week: Hardened Scales Affinity

Jason Schousboe — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 20:06:03 +0000

When I think of the affinity mechanic, the first color that comes to mind is usually blue. I suppose that's mostly because of Thoughtcast's traditional role in the older versions of the archetype, but for me it also recalls days past of grinding Pauper Dailies with Myr Enforcer into Rush of Knowledge. Artifacts-matter cards are […]

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Modern Metagame Breakdown: 1/1/2017 – 2/5/2017

Jason Schousboe — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 07:13:06 +0000

On January 9th, Wizards of the Coast brought the heavy weight of the banhammer down upon Modern, attempting to target several linear decks that ranked among the best-performing archetypes during 2016. On the one hand we had the aggressive, explosive creature combos with a gotcha! element, headlined by Infect. On the other hand we had Dredge, taxing […]

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Deck of the Week: Death’s Shadow Jund

Jason Schousboe — Mon, 06 Feb 2017 19:07:04 +0000

I had initially intended to bring you the January metagame update today, but looking over the data and consulting with Sheridan, we decided to wait a week in order to incorporate more post-banning data, including Star City Games Regionals. Instead, we'll be covering one of the early changes that has resulted from Wizards' recent format shake-up. The […]

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Modern Metagame Breakdown: 12/1/2016 – 12/31/2016

Jason Schousboe — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 07:04:11 +0000

Today finally brings an update to the metagame breakdown, with data from December. I know many of our readers have been very disappointed to see these fall by the wayside—I want to explain briefly why I've been lagging on them, and reassure you that they will be back in full force for 2017. I recently began […]

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Deck of the Week: Skred Red

Jason Schousboe — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 17:00:57 +0000

Well, I realize it's been a long hiatus since our last Deck of the Week, but we're back nonetheless. I spent much of the weekend tuned into coverage of Grand Prix Dallas, and if most of the on-camera archetypes were boring mainstays and known quantities, the deck that took it down most certainly was not. […]

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Modern Metagame Breakdown: 9/1/16 – 9/30/16

Jason Schousboe — Fri, 14 Oct 2016 20:27:55 +0000

Last month we saw three major Modern Grand Prix around the world post a metagame breakdown that mirrored almost exactly the one established in July. Paradoxically, September had both far fewer high-profile events and much more significant shifts in share percentage. I believe these were the result of careful and systematic re-positioning by Modern players, with the intent […]

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Modern Metagame Breakdown: 8/1/16 – 8/31/16

Jason Schousboe — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 14:00:32 +0000

Well, it may be painfully late, but it's here: the August Metagame Breakdown. This month we saw a rash of major events culminating in the triple Grand Prix weekend confirm what the metagame had tentatively established in July. There were no changes in the Tier 1 lineup from July to August, and we actually saw some […]

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Deck of the Week: Grim Flayer Abzan

Jason Schousboe — Mon, 12 Sep 2016 16:15:24 +0000

I know, I know. How could I get any more boring than boring old Abzan, scourge of Modern and Standard alike (seriously, I can't have been the only one to heave a colossal sigh of relief when Siege Rhino rotated). Abzan has certainly been a mainstay in Modern for some time, presenting the pointed contrast of Path to […]

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Deck of the Week: Pyromancer Thing

Jason Schousboe — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 18:00:00 +0000

Last week we checked in on Kentaro Yamamoto's finish with Goryo's Vengeance in GP Guangzhou. Today I have another less established deck from the same Top 8 for you. This is a deck I've been meaning to feature here at Deck of the Week since I first ran across it while going through the MTGO […]

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Deck of the Week: Grixis Goryo’s Vengeance

Jason Schousboe — Mon, 29 Aug 2016 18:00:25 +0000

Goryo's Vengeance combo has something of a checkered history in Modern. On the one hand it's a long-time mainstay with the requisite die-hard enthusiasts (and occasional irrational price spikes). On the other hand it struggles to put up consistent results, despite access to a two-mana Yawgmoth's Bargain and its potential for turn two kills. The archetype's […]

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Deck of the Week: Elves

Jason Schousboe — Mon, 22 Aug 2016 18:00:02 +0000

If you tuned into the Star City Games Invitational in New Jersey this weekend, you had the pleasure of seeing somewhat fringe contender Elves take down the Top 8. Elves is certainly not an unknown quantity, but it also doesn't exactly make the list of decks Moderners expect to face at every tournament. Going into this weekend […]

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Deck of the Week: RG Valakut

Jason Schousboe — Mon, 15 Aug 2016 18:00:19 +0000

Here at Deck of the Week we've focused, mostly by design, on the no-tier dregs and the brewers' oddities. Today I wanted to highlight a deck that, having fallen from its Tier 2 showing in May, has nonetheless still been making the rounds in competitive play. The deck I'm calling RG Valakut looks to have some real chops in Modern. Over the last four […]

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