Well, I realize it’s been a long hiatus since our last Deck of the Week, but we’re back nonetheless. I spent much of the weekend tuned into coverage of Grand Prix Dallas, and if most of the on-camera archetypes were boring mainstays and known quantities, the deck that took it down most certainly was not. […]

In an article last month, I looked at a couple of my unsuccessful concoctions to see what went wrong. One deck I dissected was a Jeskai Aggro deck that used Honor of the Pure to get around Mantis Rider’s measly 3 toughness. My conclusion was that the deck would be better off with Mutagenic Growth and a […]

I’m qualified to play in the next RPTQ for Pro Tour Aether Revolt in Dublin, and I’ve been wracking my brain trying to figure out how to win it all. I know this is going to sound like a cop-out, but I’m really not interested in buying the Dredge or Infect deck, even if one of […]

It’s crunch time. You’ve known this was coming. You had weeks to prepare. You had plans to put on pants, go to FNM, run the Modern gauntlet, and test for Grand Prix Dallas. Instead, you sat on your couch, binge-watched Friends and eating Cheetos off your own bare chest. Now you’re scrambling, wondering what to […]

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 […]

Happy All Hallows’ Day, Nexites! Hopefully your diabetic coma isn’t too severe. Otherwise you might miss out on the second part of my discussion of playing with and against Modern’s aggressive decks. Last week we dealt with the classic aggressive decks, linear aggro. Today we’ll be dealing with the less fair versions. That’s not to say […]

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 […]

I’m sure plenty of Modern players are unconcerned with the new Standard rotation, assuming that it will have little effect on them. Regarding card prices, though, it matters to everyone. Increasing the length of time that sets will stay in Standard will have a pretty big effect on the price of cards, and you need to know about […]

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 […]

Kaladesh shook up Standard in a big way, and with the results of the Star City Games Milwaukee Open in the books it looks to be making its mark on Modern as well. Early on in the tournament we saw Jeff Hoogland crush Bant Eldrazi with a build of the new Jeskai Aggro deck, though […]

As promised, welcome back to the Beginner’s Guide. Back in August I explained the general types of Modern decks to explain why Modern is so proactive and diverse. Today we will start to unpack that riddle by examining how to approach playing and playing against Modern’s aggro decks. As I said last time, aggressive decks […]

Every time spoiler season rolls around, I eagerly pore over the commons, searching for Modern-playable… Rogues. Everyone has their guilty pleasures, their sick addictions. When it comes to Modern, mine is the interaction between tribal spells and Tarmogoyf. And my favorite tribal spell? A one-mana Impulse called Thieves’ Fortune. Just as Ancient Stirrings, powerful as it […]

Last week I introduced my new submission for Grixis Control, Fall 2016 style. My reasons for revisiting the archetype were simple: Modern is polarizing, Grixis hasn’t been putting up results lately, and the deck is freakin’ awesome. If you missed last week, be sure to catch up to speed first. That article framed most of the discussion […]