Today finally brings an update to the metagame breakdown, with data from December. I know many of our readers have been very disappointed to see these fall by the wayside—I want to explain briefly why I’ve been lagging on them, and reassure you that they will be back in full force for 2017. I recently began […]
Dredge
Three of the sixteen players at the Star City Games Players’ Championship piloted Grixis Delver for the Modern portion of the tournament. Kevin Jones was basically a lock to play it, but it’s telling that he was able to get teammate Jim Davis onto the deck, and that the two were able to rope Brad […]
There’s a lot to love about Modern, including its incredible deck diversity, large card pool, and plethora of powerful interactions. An often-understated quality of the format is its dynamism. Modern metagames shift subtly at a much faster rate than sites like Modern Nexus can document—a rise in Infect leads to a rise in Jund, which […]
When you talk to players about their Modern decks, most of them can tell you why they like their deck. Perhaps the play patterns fit their style or they have good things to say about the deck’s relative power level. This is good information to have—but identifying a deck’s weaknesses is more important when it […]
I’ve come up with a new idea on how to present some information about decks when the amount of actionable information for the finance side of Modern Magic is low. Once in a while I’m planning to write, what I’m going to call, a “Financial Deck Tech.” In these articles I’ll discuss the costs of buying […]
Last weekend I played in my first RPTQ. What a tournament! I’d never played in a room full of players on or above my level before, and to say I was underprepared is a huge understatement. My car full of Boston grinders left after the third round, all of us beaten to shreds by the competition. […]
I just remembered something: the RPTQ I qualified for is next week. For some of you, it’s this weekend but for me, that’s GP Denver. As a result, Standard has unfortunately taken up almost all of my Magic time recently. I know many people think that Modern is broken and unhealthy, but I assure you: […]
Last weekend, top players from nations worldwide gathered in Rotterdam to wage war for their respective countries. The battlefield? Team Unified Modern, with a little Limited thrown in. With so many players from every corner of the world turning their eyes to Modern, the results of this tournament were anticipated to have a larger effect […]
The year is winding down. Players are looking forward to presents in the coming year. For many, that seems to include new bannings in Modern. Banlist mania always heats up as a new set release nears, but traditionally it’s been worst at the end of the year. Previously this was because the Modern Pro Tour […]
Recently, there’s been a lot going on in the world “non Magic-wise.” The Cubs finally overcame the hundred-year curse, South Korea got really weird, and America proved that polling actually is absolutely worthless. If you’ve been too busy staring at supermoons and lamenting the end of society as we know it, fret no more. Everything […]
When they unbanned Golgari Grave-Troll in Modern, we all knew it was only a matter of time. For about a year we heard little from the Zombie hoard, until the release of Shadows over Innistrad brought us Prized Amalgam and Insolent Neonate. From there it didn’t take long for Grave-Troll decks to start popping up […]
Modern’s claim to fame is its diversity. I’m not alone in feeling like a notable portion of the format’s card pool is playable, and Wizards themselves push this narrative heavy-handedly. For many players, though, Modern is less about openness than it is about linearity. There are indeed plenty of options—so long as you’re not set on […]
We’re less than a fortnight away from Grand Prix Dallas, the first big-stage Modern event in what seems like forever. I’m pumped, even though I won’t be playing, as I recently returned from Dallas, Texas on an architectural field study and that place is freakin’ awesome. Why that matters to you I can’t imagine, but […]