The time after a set release or a major ban is always exciting. The format is in flux, the metagame undefined, and everything seems playable. This is even more true right now, thanks to the ban taking away a metagame pillar. This has in turn renewed interest in Modern, bringing an influx of players and […]
death’s shadow jund
I am always amazed at how often people make relatively simple tasks hard for themselves. There just seems to be something in all of us that gets suspicious whenever anything is unexpectedly easy. We are ready for conflict. We prepare for projects, lessons, and assignments to be hard. When they’re not, we don’t know what […]
Modern’s detractors have long cast the format as a writhing mess of linear decks, all ignoring each other or skillfully opening sideboard hosers all the way to each hyper-aggressive Top 8. But until recently, Modern’s pound-for-pound fairest deck—Jund—has commanded more metagame shares than almost anything else. That deck’s resignation as king gave way to a variety […]
Rest in Peace wasn’t always a Modern staple. For a long time, its status was similar to Blood Moon’s: the card was relegated to the sideboards of decks fringe and unreliable for the reason that they themselves lacked powerful graveyard synergies, and kept down by synergy-shredding strategies like Jund Rock. But Modern has changed, and […]
Hey, everybody! I’m back again with some more video content with Modern Nexus! There have been many Modern events of late, and as such I’ve been testing with a lot of decks that I intend to play in those events, tuning them to the best of my ability. Considering the meta at the moment, that […]
Tilt is quite a mighty thing. Re-reading my fevered scrawlings from last week proved deeply concerning. I knew I was unwell, but I didn’t know how unwell. While I’m better now, I may need to refocus before things get worse. Therefore, it’s time to torture myself by beginning another Banlist Test. In Moby Dick, Ishmael goes to sea […]
The line between genius and madness is indistinct. The line between epiphany and world-class tilting-off is blurry. I’m in something of a fugue, and uncertain of where I stand anymore. While I am personally certain of the veracity of my forthcoming statement describing the Modern metagame, my ability to perceive normal reality is compromised. I’ll […]
April 24th came and went, and besides some misguided grumbling about Death’s Shadow, most Modern players were content. Without one deck consistently surpassing 10% of the metagame, a “no changes” banlist announcement was easy to predict. But Wizards went the extra mile with this particular announcement, including a blurb about Modern despite choosing not to shake it up. […]
Sideboarding is without a doubt one of the most essential and difficult-to-master skills in Magic: The Gathering. In tournament Magic, you play more sideboard games than pre-sideboard games by a wide margin, and the difference between sideboarding well and sideboarding poorly will frequently be a deciding factor in your eventual match result. In a format as wide […]
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 […]
Goyf, Smasher, you name itâefficient beaters are really my thing. It shouldn’t surprise that I’ve put in a lot of reps with Death’s Shadow Jund, and the deck’s namesake Avatar definitely rules. Since even before the Probe ban, I’ve wondered about Shadow’s potential in fair blue shells, and my thoughts always come back to Delver. A threat […]
Death’s Shadow Jund’s metagame shares seem to have decreased a little since last week, indicating that Modern has the tools it needs to combat the new boogeyman. This reassuring development has been met with universal praise from the pro community and relief from the playerbase. The deck’s presence in Modern still changes its landscape, though, […]
The verdict’s all but in: new kid on the block Death’s Shadow Jund is Modern’s new deck to beat. Death’s Shadow’s ascent to boogeyman status carries metagame-wide implications and emphasizes some of Modern’s quirks. Today, we’ll explore why Death’s Shadow Jund is so good, what the deck means for the format, and whether other decks should recruit the massive Avatar for their own purposes. […]
