Jason Schousboe | Quiet Speculation

December 2017 Metagame Update

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

Thu, 07 Dec 2017 02:00:23 +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 […]

The post Deck of the Week: Bogles first appeared on Quiet Speculation.

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Announcement: Server Change

Tue, 04 Jul 2017 21:10:26 +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

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

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

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

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

Tue, 14 Feb 2017 07:13:06 +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. […]

The post Deck of the Week: Skred Red first appeared on Quiet Speculation.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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