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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Well, you know what they say: the more things change, the more they stay the same. The month of July saw some metagame shifts portended the month before take concrete form, as the paper shares adjusted to more closely resemble MTGO results. Death’s Shadow Zoo, Dredge, and Eldrazi ascended to Tier 1, replacing Abzan Company and […]

Soul Sisters has long been one of those established, lower-tier decks in Modern that attracts its share of fans and die-hard pilots who take it to battle regardless of the metagame prognosis. The fact that a deck built around lifegain exists in Modern should remove any doubts you had about the format’s capacity to support the bizarre and discarded […]

Few would disagree that the banned list in Modern is a net benefit to the format, facilitating its legendary diversity and ensuring games remain more or less interactive. There is, however, a certain curiosity that’s hard to shake off—just what would our beloved format look like completely freed from all its shackles? No-banned-list Modern tournaments […]

Today’s deck can perhaps most accurately be described as a motley pile of stuff. If you were paying attention last week, you may have seen this bizarre little deck pop up in the Top 8 of the Star City Games Columbus Classic in the hands of Jack Rumpf. Michael Kinney certainly took notice—he decided to run a list […]

It’s finally here, folks! I know everyone has been waiting patiently for the June metagame report, and I’m extremely happy to bring it to you today. I’ve undergone something of a crash course over these last few weeks familiarizing myself with Sheridan’s methods (and mammoth Google Docs spreadsheet) that allow us to operationalize the tiers in […]

This week’s Deck of the Week hails from the SCG Classic in Worcester from two weeks ago. Eli Kassis is a name some of you might recognize as one of the principle deckbuilders who has worked to put Retreat to Coralhelm combo on the map. He helped Bant Knightfall break out to much fanfare at the Invitational in […]