That was quite a weekend, wasn’t it? Two Modern Grand Prix and neither was won by a Tier 1 deck. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: Modern is wide open! You can play anything and win. The key to success isn’t positioning and metagaming, although both can help, but rather practice and mastery of […]

Delver of Secrets catches a lot of flak in Modern. I’m no stranger to being teased for my deck choice, so when I was preparing for the Indianapolis Open the stigma of potentially scrubbing out with a fringe deck didn’t bother me too much. Throughout the various eras of Modern, it’s hard to say which of […]

When I introduced Counter-Cat to Modern Nexus last week, a number of readers voiced understandable concerns about the deck. Didn’t it auto-lose to Burn? Why not just play Monkey Grow? Or… Domain Zoo?! I promised answers, and this week I have them—sort of. I haven’t had the time to play much Magic this past week, but […]

Two weeks ago I called Abzan Company one of the top decks of the format. Last weekend, in Indianapolis, Abzan Company failed to even crack the Top 32. Instead, the top tables were overrun with copies of Infect and R/G (Tron and Valakut), while Jeskai Control took home the trophy. Today, we’ll analyze the results of […]

So. Much. Modern. I can barely update the Top Decks spreadsheet fast enough to keep pace! Since May 1st, we’ve had two Star City Games Opens, over 55 events from the SCG States and Provincial Championships, another batch of 50+ events from TCGplayer’s State circuit, and dozens of online and paper tournaments in between. The […]

These days I’m somewhat schizophrenic in my long-distance tournament planning. Usually I make the entirely adult decision to stay home from any GPs or Star City Games Opens requiring a day’s drive or flight. Some quantity of these good decisions are inevitably reneged on when a friend convinces me through last-minute pleading and/or reminders of […]

Testing. It is the soul of tournament play. Honing and crafting your deck and play, optimizing them to dominate the competition. The eternal quest for the glory of victory on the back of your own creation! It is this siren’s call that keeps us playing and the dream that drives us forward. Of course, anyone who […]

Play mistakes often amount to a lack of experience. Barring an FNM the day before, SCG States marked my first event with Temur Delver since Oath of the Gatewatch, which had me gleefully—and, soon enough, disinterestedly—casting two-mana, Thoughtseizeing Tarmogoyfs. I’m not unexperienced with Temur Delver; I’ve been playing it in various forms since 2012, and with […]

Sometimes I marinate for minutes (no, tens of minutes) on clever article titles, but today’s came naturally. After months of turning Eldrazi Temple sideways, I’ve returned to my beloved Temur Delver, and fetching out basic Island has never felt more right. I guess you don’t know how dirty some things are until you stop doing them. To […]

Another week and I’m happy to report that Modern has returned to normal, and in many ways has never looked healthier. Everywhere you look there is diversity, brewing, and innovation in old lists. And no Tron! It’s always a good day when there is no Tron! I’d like to say that I was tested and prepared […]

Time to put your metagame and Modern knowledge through the ringer! This Sunday, Star City Games’ Championships Weekend concludes with a full day of Modern. With events for every state in America and province in Canada, the Championship showdown is a no-holds-barred Modern blowout where players from across North America will try their hand in the […]

Welcome to the third week of the new Modern. For many of us this is probably the most significant week simply because now is when the new IQ season really kicks off. Yes, there were a few IQ’s last week concurrent with the Baltimore Open, but this is the week that stores nationally really started to host tournaments, allowing Modern […]

Congratulations to Jeff Case for being the first Volunteer Contributor on Modern Nexus! If you’d like to submit your own work, just head over to the Contribute Articles page to get started. This weekend was sunny, warm, and, here in the Northeast, the first real weekend of spring. The weather seemed to be an indicator […]