The start of every spoiler season brings the promise of a shakeup in Modern. Whether it’s Jund players speculating on Bloodbraid Elf (again), a new mechanic showing promise, or a single powerful-looking card, the Modern community always goes berserk trying to fit new cards into the format. And within a week of release most of that […]

Here it is. The actual data from my investigation into Stoneforge Mystic. After well over 600 matches with my Abzan test decks, I can finally give a decidedly data-driven answer to whether or not Stoneforge deserves its place on the banlist and how it would impact Modern. I tried to be as clinical and scientific […]

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 […]

I’ve always been more of a paper player than an online one, but that changed a few weeks ago when I bought myself an MTGO deck as an early birthday present. Can you guess my purchase? Hint: if you’ve seen “ktkenshinx” around the tournament practice tables, chances are you’ve been eating Lightning Storms with Pact […]

On Sunday afternoon, my darling Ad Nauseam won Grand Prix Charlotte. Hours later, David’s Merfolk won Grand Prix Los Angeles. Although neither of us could make it to those tournaments, it’s exciting to see our babies graduating to the Grand Prix spotlight they’ve long deserved, although at least David already got to enjoy it last […]

Can you believe it was only a month ago when we were picking through the scattered debris of our once beloved format? Or declaring one deck the first true Tier 0 overlord in Modern history? Following the April 4 banlist update, and the subsequent Modern events from April 8 until today, the horrors of Eldrazi […]

Ideas are incredibly insidious things. You have them all the time and mostly they just flit through the mind before disappearing forever, as ephemeral as Martin O’Malley’s presidential run. Sometimes though, they get stuck and won’t allow you to forget them. It’s like a bad itch that you can never scratch sufficiently, not even with […]

Good news, everyone! Shadows Over Innistrad spoiler season is in full swing. This means that you can get excited, and start speculating on cards! And, invariably, get it wrong! Except of course for That Guy. You know, That Guy. The one who always gets it right and makes out like a bandit. Why do we […]

Welcome to week three of the Eldrazi Apocalypse! On Monday, I tried to distract us with promises of greener April pastures, but even the most indefatigable Modern optimist struggled to forget the weekend’s horrors. StarCityGames’ Louisville Classic was one of the ugliest Modern events I’ve ever seen. I described it as a “twisted, tentically nightmare” […]

Brace yourself: the Modern Pro Tour is coming. Between the Oath of the Gatewatch exposition, StarCityGames’ Regional blowout, and Super Bowl Sunday, I’m going to be glued to a screen for every waking weekend hour. Will Affinity, Burn, and Grishoalbrand run riot in Atlanta? Can Von MIller’s defense stuff Cam Newton’s offense on the Levi’s […]

It hasn’t even been a full week since Twin got buried on the Modern banlist, and although Exarch is still mourning, it’s time for players to buck up and dive into the new metagame. If you play paper Modern, the controversial January 18th announcement went into effect last Friday the 22nd. MTGO folks had to […]

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 […]

It seems that the more things change, the more they stay the same and for Modern that means that Affinity is a tier 1 deck again. Affinity is one of the longest-standing decks in Modern and one of the biggest surprises about that statement is that Affinity has not gained much in the last two […]