The banned list is one of the hot Modern topics whenever a new set is released. Everyone is speculating about what, if anything, will get the ax or be unleashed upon the world. Speculation this time is focused on Infect and/or Dredge taking a hit and Bloodbraid Elf coming off the list. I’m not here […]

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 […]

So, you want to play Modern? I’ve been hearing a lot of that lately. Standard players have been flocking into the format since the start of Eldrazi Winter. A good number also flocked out when that anomaly was corrected, but quite a few have stuck around and by my observations seem a bit lost. Modern […]

Welcome to the second week of the new Modern era! If the chatter in discussion threads and the various articles from the past week are any indication, everyone is happily brewing away with the new toys from Wizards. Control mages are eagerly waiting for Ancestral Vision to tick down and aggro players are happily ruining it by […]

So. Eldrazi is everywhere. The metagame is warping around the colorless menace, driving out interaction. Linear aggressive decks sit comfortably atop the field. This is unhealthy and probably won’t last, either because answers will be found and the warp will disappear, or because Wizards will mollify Reddit and take action April 4th. However, that doesn’t […]

And they said Wasteland wasn’t Modern legal! Ghost Quarter has been a poor man’s Wasteland replacement for years, but with the recent rise of RG Tron, Bx Eldrazi, and other big-mana strategies, the Dissension uncommon is quickly emerging as a major police card in a format notoriously lacking the generic hate of Legacy. Nowhere was this more […]

This metagame update almost didn’t happen. With a banlist announcement coming up in just two weeks and a new midrange deck redefining the online metagame, it felt silly to analyze a format that is sure to be radically different before January even ends. I changed my mind after sitting down and going through the numbers. […]

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! The holiday season? Nope. Oath of the Gatewatch spoiler hype and rage? Try again, but you’re getting warmer on the “hype” and “rage” business. With 2015 wrapping up and January 2016 right around the corner, ’tis the season of endless debate, discussion, and delirium about arguably the […]

I have always loved the GBx archetype since it uses discard, removal, and efficient creatures to battle the entire format. Through tuning and experience nearly any matchup is winnable, a rarity in the rock-paper-scissors style of Modern. Within GBx, there are two popular variations that attack from different angles: Jund and Abzan. Abzan tends to […]

It’s impossible to prepare for every matchup in Modern; there are just too many viable decks and too many fringe strategies out there. And for the most part, it’s okay not to worry about having a positive win chance against every deck in the format. You’ll dodge some, get lucky against others, and lose one […]