Experienced Magic players stress the importance of testing matchups sideboarded—after all, more than half of all games in a given tournament are played sideboarded. So too must I stress the importance of mastering the main phases, of which there are two per turn! Just a Phase focuses on the nuances of priority and phase manipulation […]
featured
I’ve been doing a lot of theoretical work over the past few months. With Dominaria’s release there was plenty of need—and opportunity—to explore and brew. During this process I was constantly underwhelmed by Modern’s ostensible top deck, Humans. It was a fine deck, but it didn’t really shine. As I explained last week, this left me perplexed about […]
Modern has at times been described as a format hostile to Spike, the player demographic in search of winning at any cost. Indeed, “spiking” tournaments as players do in other constructed formats—by playing the best deck and understanding the mirror—isn’t a reliable path to success in Modern. Rather, this format rewards players for picking a […]
Last time we battled with Mardu Pyromancer, one of the decks I would consider placing among the top three in the format. This time we’re going to mix it up with something a little spicier. The deck caught my eye after quietly sneaking in to the Top 8 of the SCG Baltimore Team Open. Star […]
Humans is currently the best deck in Modern. The data is very clear about this: Humans is on top everywhere and has been for most of the year. This is causing a kind of dynamic stability to take over the format. The top decks have remained relatively the same for some time while the rest […]
I wasn’t kidding last week when I revealed needing to halve my tech article. Modern’s been a brewer’s paradise ever since the Jace and Bloodbraid unbans, and the last couple weeks of 5-0s have proven especially fruitful. This past week adds another smattering of interesting candidates to the fray. A Whole New Jund(s) First, let’s […]
As the metagame continues to incorporate cards from the past few expansions, we don’t only see them slotting into existing decks; sometimes, their printing enables all-new archetypes to surge into the metagame. Modern is the non-rotating format in which this happens most readily, as recently demonstrated by the likes of Humans and Hollow One. However, […]
Merfolk has always been my workhorse Modern deck, but I haven’t written about it in months. The metagame has shifted to a place I don’t like with Merfolk, and so I’ve been playing other decks; as such, I had nothing much to say. However, I’m finding the deck’s potential new includes from Dominaria promising enough to get […]
While I’ve been durdling around writing theory pieces on phases, Modern has been chugging right along… with a vengeance. The last week alone has showcased so much piping-hot technology I had to split this article down the middle while writing it. Today, we’ll take a look at six of the most exciting decks to emerge […]
The current Modern climate discourages players from playing fair more than any other Modern climate in recent memory. Ever since the unbanning of our old pals Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Bloodbraid Elf, the format has gotten faster and more linear with each passing day. People trying to beat the established archetypes have flocked to […]
Dominaria has many solid Modern candidates (and some questionable ones) but none have generated quite as much buzz as Damping Sphere. The hysteria may have died down, but many players are still high on the card. Given the context of the card, this is hardly surprising. However, I am not convinced. There are a number […]
Combat is one of Magic’s densest and most misunderstood areas. After all, the combat phase alone contains five separate steps! While much of what makes players “bad” at combat has to do with role analysis, game state awareness, board management, and simple arithmetic, understanding how combat functions on a technical level is also critical to […]
As Magic tournaments are held and results gathered, certain decks establish themselves as the top contenders, and attract attention from anyone seeking an edge. The format then shifts to combat these best decks as players “metagame” against them. This phenomenon occurs in competitive gaming scenes ranging from small-scale FNMs to Grand Prix and Pro Tours. Correctly […]
