Well you had to know it was coming. We played with Jace, the Mind Sculptor last week, so this week was a bit obvious. I just wanted to give Bloodbraid Elf her time in the sun too! Frankly, Bloodbraid Elf is doing plenty fine without me giving her attention. Jace is the one who seems […]

Since last Monday, it seems like Jace and Bloodbraid are everywhere. This should hardly be surprising. Exciting, powerful cards promote similarly excited brewing, and as the decklists reveal, players are actually following through. But this isn’t Eldrazi Winter, and the new decks aren’t obviously overpowered. There’s more going on. It will take a few months before […]

What an absolutely wild week for Modern. Playing with Bloodbraid Elf and Jace, the Mind Sculptor legal has been incredibly exciting and exhausting. With so many shells to try, and so many changes in deck-building philosophy (particularly for control decks) I feel like I’ll never have enough time to explore all the avenues! Today’s Blue […]

Wizards really dropped a bombshell on us Monday morning. Jace, the Mind Sculptor AND Bloodbraid Elf unbanned? Oof, didn’t see that one coming. I’d been outlining articles for the various cards that I could see getting banned or unbanned, but these two together were not on the list. Never even considered it. However, it happened. I’ll […]

David is out for the holidays until next week. In the meantime, please enjoy his article from earlier this year where he presented results from the Preordain ban test. These results were originally presented in two separate articles (here and here), but I’ve divided them into parts for the purpose of easier reading. Part 1: […]

This week, I’m doubling down. Modern is returning to the Pro Tour, and with that, banned list discussion is certain to resurface. I’ve chosen to get out ahead of it; my article last week speculated on a potential opportunity for Wizards of the Coast to “solve” the banning problem once and for all. Unsurprisingly, this […]

Welcome to 2017! Hopefully you’ve recovered enough to actually face the new year, because we have a new set and a banlist announcement on the way. It’s time once again for wild speculation and unrealistic expectations to flood the internet. Brace yourselves. We at Modern Nexus will do what we can to temper this and provide more grounded opinions […]

Since the rise of Dredge, Modern has undergone some frightening changes. Linear aggro-combo decks have experienced a renaissance to fight off the Grave-Troll menace. Toting Eldritch Moon sleeper Grim Flayer, Jund has secured additional metagame shares as it combats these strategies. And Tron, never a favorite against pump-based aggro, has experienced perhaps more shifts than any of Modern’s archetypes […]

As the year, for better or worse depending on your perspective, draws to a close, I find that I have unfinished business. Or rather, I have business I thought was finished but others disagree. Specifically, players just won’t accept that Bloodbraid Elf is not a serious consideration for unbanning. Despite addressing the issue several times, […]

My article about testing Stoneforge Mystic generated a lot of conversation, both here on Modern Nexus and elsewhere. Judging by the reaction, people really do want some actual data and scientific method brought into discussions of the Modern banned list. Which means that I’ve got a lot of work to do. But I also know […]

Every three months a new set is released and people get really excited for Standard. Moderners get excited too, but not for the same reasons—each set release brings the possibility of an update to the Banned and Restricted list. Most of the time the entire article amounts to “no changes,” but every once in a while […]

Few would disagree that the banned list in Modern is a net benefit to the format, facilitating its legendary diversity and ensuring games remain more or less interactive. There is, however, a certain curiosity that’s hard to shake off—just what would our beloved format look like completely freed from all its shackles? No-banned-list Modern tournaments […]

Between the Platinum fee changes, the ensuing #PayThePros fallout, and Wizards’ subsequent retraction, it’s no wonder most Magic and Modern players have lost sight of Aaron Forsythe’s seminal article, “Where Modern Goes from Here,” released that same week. Talk about getting overshadowed. I can only imagine how the poor documentarians behind Enter the Battlefield felt […]