It’s finally time for another banlist testing report. Back in May, readers chose Green Sun’s Zenith as the next banned card to test, which I’ll just call GSZ from here on out. I’ve spent the intervening months grinding games and recording results to test its effect on Modern. This week, I’ll explain my test procedure, […]
I’ve been doing a lot of theoretical work over the past few months. With Dominaria’s release there was plenty of need—and opportunity—to explore and brew. During this process I was constantly underwhelmed by Modern’s ostensible top deck, Humans. It was a fine deck, but it didn’t really shine. As I explained last week, this left me perplexed about […]
Humans is currently the best deck in Modern. The data is very clear about this: Humans is on top everywhere and has been for most of the year. This is causing a kind of dynamic stability to take over the format. The top decks have remained relatively the same for some time while the rest […]
In the weeks since Bloodbraid Elf and Jace, the Mind Sculptor became legal in Modern, Wizards has posted some novel and interesting decklists from Magic: Online. As a lover of attacks, blocks, and interaction, the Wild Nacatl decks intrigued me. I’ve never been a fan of the disruption-light Revolt Zoo variants, nor the activated-ability-centric Knight […]
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 […]
Last weekend’s unbans were met with mixed reactions from the Magic community. I found myself a little conflicted, as well; I generally like shake-ups and “fresh meat,” but the back-to-back Pro Tour and GP weekends, which featured incredibly diverse metagames, had just proven Modern to be a format smack in the middle of its golden […]
Thanks to Wizards’ bombshell unban announcement, Modern is on the cusp of a great age of experimentation. Established and rogue archetypes alike will be examining their 75s in efforts to either combat or incorporate the format’s latest newcomers, and I fully expect some new archetypes to appear in the wake of these powerful additions to […]
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 […]
This is the big one. It’s time to answer the question I’ve been dancing around all month: Is Bloodbraid Elf safe for Modern? Ought Wizards to rescind its banishment, to the delight of many? Or should Elf remain locked away, to the delight of many others? There have been a number of narratives running through this […]
Everybody fantasizes about what they would do if given the reigns of power. In fact, most discussion around banned and restricted announcements perennially involves players pontificating pointlessly about their banned wishlist. I’m not immune. So that’s exactly what I’m going to do today. I do understand how weird this article is, coming from me. I’m […]
So, here it is, the big update. After today, we will definitely have enough data to make actual conclusions about the metagame. I won’t go as far to say that it is the definitive metagame—it’s not that big. However, this will show what you can expect going into Grand Prix Oklahoma City. The online metagame has […]
It begins, gentle seekers of glory. Today is a day of great opportunity and gangrenous rot. The pallid sun meekly illuminates the great ravenous hordes as they linger, eager and anxious, waiting for their moment, when they shall be unleashed upon the world to slack their unending hunger for inadequately-proportioned sugary confections. For those whose […]
Kyle breaks down how Play Points have impacted the MTGO economy. Hint: drafting has become a lot more expensive….
