In case you haven’t noticed, Magic can be weird. I’m not just talking about cards or mechanics, though mutate, Goblin Game, and Raging River are certainly out there. I’m talking about how counter-intuitive the game can be. Again, not in the Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth still works under Blood Sun sense (though that absolutely qualifies). I […]

I’m a firm believer in playing what you love in Modern, and in Magic. For me, that often means Tarmogoyf, although I do occasionally try other flavors. Among my Goyf-related pet projects is Rogues, a longstanding deckbuilding challenge with a simple rule: run 4 copies each of Thieves’ Fortune and Tarmogoyf. Creating and holding to […]

Last week I unveiled Delirium Delver, my latest pile featuring Tarmogoyf and Serum Visions. It was Stormwing Delver that got me brewing again, and apparently I wasn’t alone. Today, we’ll explore Modern’s latest spell-attack renaissance by looking at what the tempo heads are slinging online. Clearly, there’s no shortage of options! Flipping the Table That’s […]

A trend I’m seeing in the published results from July is a marked uptick in spell-based aggro-control strategies. Most of those are of the UR Prowess variety, but plenty of Delver of Secrets decks are making the rounds, too. We’ll cover those more academically next week. Today, I’d like to unveil the build I’m currently […]

Well, I’ve dutifully done my snooping, and am proud to present some of Modern’s new directions in a Snow-less world! Chomping at the bit for more? Ready the sails… if you dare! Nuthin’ But a “G” Thang “One, two, three and to the four / Boggart Harbinger and Conspicuous Snoop is at the door.” In […]

Earlier this week, David dissected RG Ponza, the format’s sleeper centralizer that may well overtake other Modern decks in the numbers soon. The deck exploits a peculiar vulnerability of Modern manabases: their softness to turn two Blood Moon. Of course, reliably powering out Moon effects isn’t something any old deck can do with great consistency. […]

Earlier this month, we saw the early effects of the companion nerf, especially as they affected Yorion decks. Players have since transitioned away from companions for the most part, with some exceptions, as we’ll get to. Today, we’ll look at ten more spicy strategies to emerge from Modern’s rebuilding. Deck-to-Table Grassroots as brewing can be, […]

M21 spoilers have wrapped up, and as David predicted, most of the Modern goodies were revealed early on. But there is one particular card that caught my eye from the outset, and that I’ve been working on implementing into Delver shells ever since. Stormwing Entity, at best, is a flying Tarmogoyf that resists Fatal Push. […]

Spoiler season is rolling on. However, my prediction at the end of last week’s article has been holding: Core 2021 spoiled the obviously Modern-playable cards early. Sure, there have been plenty of interesting cards, but they’re all role-players or interesting build-arounds rather than massive shake-ups. And that’s rather welcome, considering how often Modern’s been churned up […]

“Comp-letely Nuts,” or the apparent consensus surrounding Ikoria’s flagship mechanic. Two weeks back, we looked at the interesting new decks popping up using companion, because why wouldn’t they? Today, we’ll explore the rest of May’s entrants in a final goodbye to companion in Modern as we know it. Mo’ Mana, Mo’ Problems You of anyone […]

Okay, so companions are everywhere. But looking past that acknowledged reality, I see a Modern bursting with possibilities, and even applying the different companions in brilliant, unpredictable ways. Let’s take a look at what May’s first half has had to offer us in terms of Modern ingenuity! One Tribe… Or Two One unexpected (at least, […]

Days before the impact of companion on Modern was impressed upon me, I came across an article over at Good Grief Games by Kenan Diab on his RG Prowess deck. The idea was simple: take the persistently successful Mono-Red Prowess deck and cover for some of its glaring weaknesses by accommodating green creatures, in this […]

Things have certainly changed since the last brew report, which reflected April’s decklists pre-companion. Post-, it would appear that Lurrus of the Dream Den is Modern’s new poster-boy, and alongside it Mishra’s Bauble, which is seeing widespread play in everything from Delver to Rock to UW Control. Today, we’ll look at some of the wild […]