One of the biggest challenges we face in metagame analysis is understanding the importance of a Magic World Championship. These events see a mix of wild innovation and time-honored strategies, of Modern experts with years of practice, and format dabblers who are more at home in a draft or Standard. By a similar token (Thopter? Spirit? Elemental? […]

When you think of Modern powerhouse blocks, you probably think of Return to Ravnica, Khans of Tarkir, or Scars of Mirrodin. Theros block? I imagine more Modern players would be excited about going back to Homelands (Barons of Ulgrotha anyone?) than seeing more Theros. The Greek and Roman-themed set was not the strongest addition to our Modern […]

Since I opened the Nexus discussion on Modern archetypes a couple weeks ago, community members have congregated in the comments section to share their opinions. The biggest argument against the theories I’ve proposed comes in the form of varying definitions of “fair” and “unfair.” Today, I’ll address those concerns more closely. (This article is the […]

Going into Day 2 of Grand Prix Charlotte, I was 7-1-1, playing at the top of my game and in a solid position for a high finish. Five rounds later, I was checking the drop box after going 1-4 and wondering where it all went wrong. SCG Charlotte was in many ways a challenge of […]

Mike takes a look at the Modern metagame coming out of SCG Charlotte, where a large number of Origins cards made their impact felt.

Splinter Twin is a deck that needs very little introduction. One of the premier combo deck’s since the formats infancy, it has continued to put up results over the entire history of the format. Bannings and unbannings have occurred, but Splinter Twin always rears its ugly head as soon as you tap out on turn […]

You don’t need a Grand Prix to make it a Modern month. The SCG Charlotte Modern Open came to a close this weekend, with just over 500 players battling for the prize. Even though the Open was significantly smaller than the GPs we saw earlier in June (and smaller than the last SCG Modern Open […]

In my reprint article last week, I promised more reprint coverage if the article was popular and well-received. With almost twice as many comments as other articles on the site, thousands of views, and tons of positive press, the readers have spoken: Modern players love reprint articles. On the one hand, this could suggest an underlying dissatisfaction […]

From the response to last week’s article, it seems the Nexus readership shares my interest in discussing the parameters and strategic relevance of Modern archetypes. Our community raised some insightful points in the comments, so today I’ll address those and expand a little on my theory – especially delving into my thoughts on spectrums. “Theory” is the operative […]

This weekend, the SCG Open Series descends upon the beautiful city of Charlotte, North Carolina. In my unbiased opinion, Charlotte is an incredible city, full of beautiful architecture, delicious food, and generally acceptable people, as far as cities go. I may be a little biased, as I’ve been living near Charlotte for the past 10 […]

Merfolk is a relatively upstart archetype in the modern metagame. Relegated to tier 2 for almost its entire life in Modern, it only recently has had notable showings and started to command a respectable share of the field. So why should you play Merfolk in Modern? It’s not as fast as Affinity, consistent as Burn, […]

Editor’s note: John recently placed 14th at the SCG Premier IQ in Washington, D.C. with his White Weenie list. In this spotlight article for the Nexus, he discusses the deck itself, his tournament experience, and ways to improve White Weenie for the future.  White Weenie is at its best when it’s at its worst. For those […]

Everyone has a pet card (or three) they want reprinted in a Modern legal set. For me, that card is Goblin Bombardment. Combo power? Check: who didn’t love Enduring Renewal and Shield Sphere (except your opponent). Value power? Check again: Gravecrawler must have been a Goblin in a previous life, because he was made for […]