@armlx Just started Modern; Cheat Sheet from Dec is priceless. Would you consider another? I'll go premium if you do!

— Jake Wolford (@Jkawfoord) June 7, 2013

Here we go. This is a breakdown of every relevant deck in Modern. Why you should consider playing it, what it is bad against, any thoughts I have about how to build it, and how it matters in the big picture of the format.

Midrange

Deathrite-Bob-Liliana-Goyf Decks (Jund, Junk, and In Between)

Jund

Eric Froehlich

3rd Place at Grand Prix on 03-17-2013

Modern

Creatures (14)

• 4 Dark Confidant
• 4 Tarmogoyf
• 2 Thundermaw Hellkite
• 4 Deathrite Shaman

Planeswalkers (7)

• 3 Ajani Vengeant
• 4 Liliana of the Veil

Lands (24)

• 1 Forest
• 1 Plains
• 1 Swamp
• 1 Overgrown Tomb
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Stomping Ground
• 1 Blood Crypt
• 1 Arid Mesa
• 4 Marsh Flats
• 4 Verdant Catacombs
• 2 Raging Ravine
• 2 Stirring Wildwood
• 4 Blackcleave Cliffs

Spells (15)

• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 3 Thoughtseize
• 2 Path to Exile
• 2 Inquisition of Kozilek
• 3 Lingering Souls
• 1 Abrupt Decay

Sideboard

• 2 Aven Mindcensor
• 4 Fulminator Mage
• 1 Batterskull
• 3 Timely Reinforcements
• 1 Olivia Voldaren
• 3 Stony Silence
• 1 Rakdos Charm

Incentives to Play This Deck

Did you read the cards I just listed off? These decks get to play all the good ones. The worst card in your deck is actually better than the second best card in many other decks. If your opponent’s deck is not deep in terms of card quality or capable of filtering a massive amount of cards, they will just lose to Thoughtseize. If their cards aren’t Tarmogoyf quality, they will just fold to that card. And if you play Deathrite Shaman into Liliana, pretty much everyone folds to your cards.

Weaknesses

If your opponent is playing combo and is prepared for Thoughtseize and Liliana of the Veil, you are behind. Sometimes your cards just beat them, but percentage-wise they will come out ahead. You can sometimes have the right sideboard cards to beat them, but the field of hard to interact with decks is wide enough that you will miss something. Or at least it was before banning Second Sunrise. All I know is that finding room for enough Fulminator Mages, Stony Silences, and Rakdos Charms to cover the whole range of weird combo in this format is a rough task.

Deckbuilding Notes

This maindeck is pretty close to perfect here. Thundermaw Hellkite is a beast, and I would gladly play two. The only card I would question is Abrupt Decay over Dismember, Maelstrom Pulse, or Terminate.

Only one Olivia in the sideboard seems incorrect given how powerful that card is, but I can’t imagine playing more than two. I’m also not happy with Timely Reinforcements as the sole life gain card. I would be inclined to play a mix of Obstinate Baloths and that card. I would also want room for one more Rakdos Charm, especially if Affinity and Living End are relevant.

The Takeaway

This is your currently dominant midrange deck. Finding an angle to attack it is difficult but not impossible. Powerful engines and Thoughtseize resilient combo are the two that are currently known.

Noble Hierarch–Loxodon Smiter decks (Brian Kibler Dimples)

Incentives to Play This Deck

Domri Rade is a very powerful Magic card. It’s possible that in this context it is nearly as powerful as Liliana of the Veil as an early play. Even if it isn’t, you have more turn two planeswalkers. You also get to play a lot of the really good Jund cards.

Weaknesses

So…what did we actually gain compared to Jund?

Domri Rade? Didn’t we just say that was worse than Liliana of the Veil?

We are sacrificing Liliana of the Veil, Inquisition of Kozilek, Thoughtseize, and Dark Confidant for Knight of the Reliquary and Domri Rade?

Is this a trade we actually want to make?

Deckbuilding Notes

This is a bit of a Kibler brew here. I don’t expect that these numbers are close to precise. There is a lot of room to work with, so if this is your kind of deck, don’t be afraid of taking the time to work on it. Notably, this is a pre Voice of Resurgence list. I can only assume that card belongs here and is amazing with Domri Rade.

The Takeaway

I don’t expect this deck to be extremely prevalent. This is more of a "be aware this exists." People can and will try to do a bunch of completely fair things to you in this format, and this is just one of them. If you try to play control, their more Standard range of threats can easily take advantage of your tailored suite of answers.

U/W Midrange (DoNothing.dec)

Incentives to Play This Deck

Snapcaster Mage, Cryptic Command, Restoration Angel, Mana Leak, etc. Yet another "all my cards are very good" deck. It just so happens that instant speed creatures combo with counterspells, Restoration Angel combos with anything of the type "creature," and Snapcaster Mage combos with anything of the types "instant" and "sorcery."

Cool. I guess we also have synergy.

Weaknesses

That’s a lot of conditional one-for-ones. Your opponent’s deck is good vs. 3/4s and 3/3s? What about removal? Well, good thing we have these ten relevant cards they are probably prepared to play against anyway. Oh, they are Tron? Well, I guess you maybe have four cards that kind of matter?

Better have the right sideboard. Oh wait, how many decks are there again? The same issue that "Jund" has pops up again. Beating some of the things all of the time is easy, but beating all of the things most of the time is very hard. If you don’t have Geist of Saint Traft in your list as a source of free wins, this issue is magnified.

Deckbuilding Notes

This can also be a Geist of Saint Traft deck. That card is A) good and B) combos with Restoration Angel, Cryptic Command, counterspells, cheap removal.

The Takeaway

If you plan on playing a dedicated combo deck, you need to have a plan here. This deck is known to run over things like Storm, Twin, and Infect. Note: accepting defeat is also a plan.

U/W/R Geist (Swasey Shuffle)

Incentives

This deck is significantly different from U/W Midrange. This one attacks; the other one does…things.

This deck is significantly better than U/W against Birthing Pod and other small creatures (Dark Confidant and Affinity come to mind).

Weaknesses

Your opponent kills your Geist of Saint Traft or Vendilion Clique. How are we counting to twenty?

You have Celestial Colonnade and Thundermaw Hellkite, but those are both quite expensive. You have Snapcaster Mage, but Coral Merfolk is only going to get so far.

This has been the weakness of the U/W/R aggro-control deck as long as it has been a top tier strategy in Modern. You are relatively threat light in a format that allows for the existence of removal heavy decks. Even something supporting Pyroclasm can make your job difficult.

Deckbuilding Notes

I know Larry experimented with Lingering Souls later in the season to fill in this threat gap. I’m sure there are ways to try to make up the difference, but the question is whether there is a way to do so that fits into your "normal" game plan.

Aven Mindcensor in the main is considerable right now. The last Grand Prix finals was a match between two decks that you want that card against.

The Takeaway

This deck was the reason Pod started going away towards the end of the season. If you play that deck or any other deck reliant on small creatures, be aware that you will have to win games where your opponent kills all of them.

Melira Pod (Pardee Time)

Incentives to Play This Deck

This deck does everything. Combo? Check, we have Melira-Kitchen Finks–Viscera Seer. Weird Stax-esque lock ability against combo decks? Check, as you can Pod up a wide variety of hate bears. Grindy midrange? Check between Birthing Pod and all of the assorted value guys like Ranger of Eos and Reveillark. Beatdown? Now that you have the combo of Voice of Resurgence with your various sacrifice outlets, that can be done.

Weaknesses

It can do anything, but it isn’t especially good at doing everything. Melira is a three-card combo. Your hate bears are fine but narrow as opposed to something like Glen Elendra Archmage. You can try to grind with the midrange decks, but your creatures are all still smaller than Tarmogoyf. And as for aggro, if you don’t draw a Voice, the beatdowns you deliver are really mediocre.

Deckbuilding Notes

I would try to find space for some mirror hate. Aven Mindcensor is the more versatile option, while Linvala, Keeper of Silence is the more powerful one.

Ethersworn Canonist may deserve a slot in the sideboard. Storm is not as dead as was previously thought, and a little more Living End hate doesn’t hurt even though you should crush that deck.

The Takeaway

People will be playing this deck. It won the last Grand Prix. Be prepared for what it is doing.

Kiki Pod (You Play Magic, I Play VS System)

Incentives to Play This Deck

All of the raw power that Melira Pod lacks is found here. Your combo not only is a two-card combo but often acts as a virtual one-card combo with Birthing Pod and all the various chains you can assemble. Your Stax lock is much more of a hard lock thanks to Glen Elendra Archmage and the ability to "skip" into it by Podding through a Deceiver Exarch. You have fliers to go over the top of the random midrange bodies as well as the ability to just Kiki-Jiki the "fair" way. Your beatdown plan isn’t as good, but you make up for it with the aforementioned faster combo and soft locks.

Weaknesses

Your deck can easily end up with a lot of clunky draws. Not only are you pushing further up the curve than Melira Pod, but you are stretching your mana further. You are especially vulnerable to decks that have lots of cheap burn and threats as they can apply pressure to cut off the Phyrexian mana on Birthing Pod while also Stone Raining your mana creatures. There might be a combination of two- and three-drops that successfully circumvents this issue, but finding the room for all of those cards while still maintaining the rest of your powerful interactions is quite difficult.

Deckbuilding Notes

Considering I built this deck specifically for an article under a month ago and haven’t played a game with it since, there isn’t much I would change. If you want to advance it, work a lot on the two- and three-drop slots.

The Takeaway

This is a more powerful Pod deck, but you lose some of the fair game Melira has. I know what side of the tradeoff I like, but each person’s decision will vary.

Grixis Delver (I Made These Cards So I Could Beat You With Them)

Incentives to Play This Deck

See Jund and the various U/W decks. Your cards are just all good. You have the awesome Lightning Bolt plus Snapcaster Mage duo, the Jund trio of Deathrite Shaman + Dark Confidant + discard spells, and all of the cool blue cards.

Weaknesses

See U/W/R Geist. You are quite threat light, and you are sacrificing even more staying power than U/W/R by cutting Celestial Colonnade and Restoration Angel for more threats that die to Lightning Bolt. You are also very bad against Lingering Souls, which is why this deck fell off the map almost as soon as it popped up. When the format is soft to Dark Confidant and Deathrite Shaman this deck is good, but at the same time the other deck featuring those cards (Jund/Junk) has the same advantages and the massive edge in the mirror.

Deckbuilding Notes

I feel like zero Liliana of the Veil is probably wrong. You also want at two Pillar of Flames in the main and three in the entire 75 due to Voice of Resurgence.

The Takeaway

See the Naya deck. This is more of a fringe player that you should just be aware of. Unlike Naya, I expect this deck’s stock is falling as opposed to rising, but the lack of Jund in the Top 8 of Grand Prix Portland is a sign that might not be the case.

Tokens (aka the Real Deck Version of Martyr)

Strengths

Tokens is a very powerful strategy against a lot of the one-for-one removal that pops up in the format. Lightning Bolt is the most generically powerful card in the format, and this deck almost completely blanks it.

You also have access to all of the awesome hate cards in the format. Look at this sideboard: we have the best Storm, Affinity, and Tron hate cards. You also can play Aven Mindcensor, one of the best Pod and Scapeshift hate cards, and back all of this with discard.

Weaknesses

Pyroclasm is one of the common answers out of combo to creatures, and Echoing Truth is one of the generic answers to permanents. The Pod decks are leaning on Izzet Staticaster and Orzhov Pontiff for mirrors. Jund commonly features Thundermaw Hellkite and Maelstrom Pulse. Your cards still get tapped by Cryptic Command.

A lot of decks have incidental answers to what you are doing. You can blank all of their Path to Exiles game 1, but post-board they’ll have a bunch of playables.

Deckbuilding Notes

A point I keep harping on with respect to this deck is that it is one of the few decks that can play maindeck Relic of Progenitus.

Tidehollow Sculler is a bit awkward if you don’t expect a lot of combo but do expect a lot of Lightning Bolts. I think things are still on the side of wanting to boost the matchup against combo more than the matchup against Jund, but that may not remain the same forever.

Don’t play the Martyr cards in this deck. They are not actually good. Notice that Serra’s Ascendant and Ajani’s Pridemate die to Lightning Bolt, the exact card you are trying to blank with this deck.

The Takeaway

There are more Lingering Souls decks than just Jund. Losing to that card is a big issue, and if your deck has problems with it, you need a plan to change that.

Control

Gifts Rites (Good for 8th…9th Place)

Incentives to Play this Deck

Gifts Ungiven is an extremely powerful card that opens up a number of "one-card" combos. You have the standard of Unburial Rites plus fatty. You also have Life from the Loam, Raven’s Crime, and two good lands if you plan on grinding through counterspells.

If you don’t want to do that, it’s also a tutor. Find four removal spells. Find a Lingering Souls plus some other things. Often you can just find three good things and another Gifts Ungiven, forcing them to either lose to what they know you can get or lose to the incremental card advantage.

On top of being a solid control deck, this list also has a ton of the just normally good cards in the format. Deathrite Shaman, Lingering Souls, Path to Exile, Liliana of the Veil, and Thoughtseize are all cards you can just overpower people with.

Weaknesses

This deck is not known for closing fast. Previous lists have had more win conditions, but this list is quite light on them. Watching the clock is one issue, but another is that you don’t have a lot of free wins. If they are cold to an Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, you have them, but beyond that you are all fair cards.

Deckbuilding Notes

There are a lot of other options for fatties you can play alongside Elesh Norn. Iona, Shield of Emeria; Griselbrand; Sphinx of the Steel Wind; Empyrial Archangel; and Sundering Titan are some of the ones I’ve considered in past versions of this deck. If you want a little more power, take a look at these cards.

You don’t have to be a control deck to play Gifts Ungiven–Unburial Rites. Any deck with blue and white mana can support it. To give you an idea of the range of this combo, the U/W/R Delver decks before Pro Tour Return to Ravnica were using it as a transformational sideboard, and the original list featuring it was a Knight of the Reliquary deck.

The Takeaway

Gifts Ungiven is a powerful card that is very underutilized in the current format.

U/W/R Control (DoEvenMoreNothing.dec)

Incentives to Play This Deck

A deck only a Wafo-Tapa could love.

It’s hard to say anything compelling about playing this deck in my mind, but it’s just not the kind of thing I would play. It has a lot of answers and those answers are pretty good cards, but that’s honestly all I have in the tank here.

Weaknesses

You are a lot of "narrow" answers in a broad format. Narrow is in quotes as the issue is that you are creature removal. Even if all your removal kills everything, some people just don’t play those cards. If they are playing Tron, Scapeshift, or something just straight up bizarre, you are a pile of blanks and Think Twices.

Deckbuilding Notes

Don’t ask me here. I would immediately add Geist of Saint Traft, but that’s an entirely different universe.

The Takeaway

This deck is probably much better than I give it credit for, but the route I would take to playing it is a long one. If nothing ends up beating this deck, then I would play it. The list of things to cover before I hit this point is way too long in this format for me to assume I would end up here.

Blue Tron (2007 Called, They Want Their Deck Back)

Incentives to Play This Deck

Shoktroopa has been grinding this archetype for months now, and this is the latest list. People other than him are starting to also have success with the deck to the point where I’ve seen several blue Tron decks through the Daily Event lists I’ve been scouring.

As for why you would play this, you are a controlling deck with a huge edge in mirror matches. Tron is also a way to convincingly overpower midrange, something the U/W/R deck lacks.

Weaknesses

You have to cut a lot of the removal and other cheap interaction to support Tron. Not only do you need to play the cards that make Tron good like Expedition Map, but you lose the ability to stretch your mana to play things like Lightning Helix that you need to not die to early combo or aggro threats.

Deckbuilding Notes

Gerry Thompson had a list of Tron splashing white for Gifts Ungiven that he played at Grand Prix San Diego. Jarvis Yu won a PTQ with a red list splashing for Through the Breach. There are a lot of directions to take the same Tron plus Condescend and Thirst for Knowledge shell. It’s hard to really talk about all of them here, but they are definitely worth exploring.

The Takeaway

A lot of decks that were once awesome have fallen off the map as really broken things like Eggs were discovered. We are multiple bans past that, and the power level of the format has a lower cap. It might be time for previously awesome things to come back.

Combo

Splinter Twin (Stop Making This Difficult)

Incentives to Play This Deck

This deck makes Magic look really simple. Spell one, spell two, did it. Spell one, draw a card, spell two, draw a card, spell three, spell four. Did it.

Weaknesses

There are a lot of angles that you can interact with this deck on because it is creature based. All of the following cards make comboing difficult: Path to Exile; Liliana of the Veil; Thoughtseize; Mana Leak; Linvala, Keeper of Silence; and Spellskite. Notice not only how broad the list of effects is but how broad those effects are. The cards that are good against Twin are almost all good against many other decks.

Deckbuilding Notes

I’ve already voiced my opinion many times on this, but you can build this deck the all-in degenerate way with a bunch of each combo piece or you can try to play the Snapcaster Mage–Grim Lavamancer package and win games the normal way. Personally, I think the latter just makes the deck bad at doing two things, but the online numbers disagree.

You can also splash black for discard and Dark Confidant. This hasn’t been as popular lately, but I vaguely remember Samuele Estratti being on this list for the last Modern Grand Prix he played in. Considering he has the Pro Tour trophy with the deck, his opinion matters a lot.

There is also the U/W/R list that Caleb Durward and Joe Bernal played towards the end of the last PTQ season. If you want to play a fair-unfair mixed deck, that seems much better than the pure U/R lists trying to do the same thing.

The Takeaway

Not much to say here. This is a deck people will play, but it’s not popular enough to make sweeping generalizations about playing other decks. It definitely runs over a lot of other decks, but if your deck is fundamentally bad against Twin, it takes a lot to fix that.

Storm (Four Bans Later…)

Incentive to Play This Deck

Storm is a powerful mechanic. Not only does this deck have random turn 3 kills, but you ignore a lot of things that people consider interaction in this format. Creature kill can matter but rarely does, Past in Flames ignores discard, and often you can go long enough to go over the top of countermagic or just sneak in a Pyromancer Ascension early enough to ignore it.

Weaknesses

You have no interaction yourself, so faster combo typically beats you. You also have issues with permanent-based hate. If they just have one thing it’s not terrible, but if they back that with a second piece of hate or disruption, you usually can’t do much.

Deckbuilding Notes

Play Finkel’s list.

The Takeaway

There are still reasons to play Ethersworn Canonist, Rule of Law, and/or Rest in Peace in this format.

Scapeshift (There’s an Extra Letter in This Name and I’ll Let You Figure Out the Rest)

Incentives to Play This Deck

For a combo deck, the combo is relatively generic to assemble (any seven lands plus Scapeshift) and you have a ton of interaction. You also have a solid plan B in Primeval Titan.

Weaknesses

You need eight cards to combo out: seven lands and a Scapeshift. If your opponent is using attrition as interaction, this can be hard to assemble.

Seven lands and a Scapeshift is eighteen damage. If your opponent is at 20, it often takes at least an extra turn to get there. If they are at twenty because they are bashing your brains in and don’t need to pay life for dual lands, it gets really awkward.

Deckbuilding Notes

There are non-Titan lists, but I can’t support playing them. The difference between six and seven mana is actually shockingly big, as is the difference between eight- and four-game winners. Losing Cryptic Command is a small price to pay.

You can also try hybrid midrange-combo lists like Jund Shift or aggro-combo lists like Zoo Shift (both from Extended seasons long passed), but I found myself winning more with the non-combo aspects if I cut the combo cards.

The Takeaway

Playing against this deck is often quite tricky. You have to make decisions about your life total. You have to decide how to best play around their answers. You have to figure out their clock and decide how long you think you have before you die. Try to put them on Primeval Titan or Cryptic Command and play accordingly.

Goryo’s Vengeance (Why Is This Legal?)

Incentives to Play This Deck

Have you seen these cards? Why are they legal?

You kill on turn 3 a little too often for comfort. You kill on turn 2 way more than anyone should in this format.

Weaknesses

Your life total is a resource, and if your opponent doesn’t die to a single Emrakul, the Aeons Torn hit and is attacking you, that can be awkward. See: Burn and R/G Aggro.

You can fold to a critical mass of interaction or interaction plus a good enough clock. See: Delver decks, Splinter Twin.

Deckbuilding Notes

There are "fair" lists that don’t play Fury of the Horde. I wouldn’t play them.

The Takeaway

This is a thing. People can do this. Not many will, but again we have another reason to run graveyard hate.

Green Tron (Karn Is Not Impressed)

Incentives to Play This Deck

Calling this deck combo is a bit of a misnomer. It has a really powerful long game against midrange while also sporting the old turn 3 Karn Liberated. The deck just does a lot of powerful things people are not typically ready to play against.

Weaknesses

You are very soft to combo. People are also very aware that Tron is a thing and come stacked with hate cards. You can beat them, but it takes work if they show up with Stony Silence and Fulminator Mage.

Deckbuilding Notes

Play Cedric’s list.

The Takeaway

If you are playing any of the midrange decks, you need a plan for this matchup. If you are playing an aggro deck, you want to have a plan for Pyroclasm.

Infect (How to Play Giant Growth in an Eternal Format)

Incentives to Play This Deck

This deck is incredibly fast and incredibly redundant. You have sixteen guys, eight protection spells, and a million pump spells.

Weaknesses

You are soft to large amounts of cheap removal, especially if your opponent just casts it and doesn’t let you pump spell over a Lightning Bolt.

You are also soft to Melira, Sylvok Outcast.

You are soft to Lingering Souls.

Deckbuilding Notes

You probably can’t play more than three of either, but Thoughtseize and Abrupt Decay are both reasonable choices to maindeck. Apostle’s Blessing is also somewhere between a two- and four-of. AJ’s list is quite low on pump spells, and you likely want a couple more copies of Rancor or Giant Growth.

Eli Kassis won a PTQ with a basically mono-green version of the deck. I have no clue if that is actually better or even viable.

The Takeaway

This deck is poorly positioned now. Lingering Souls, cheap removal, and Melira are all commonly played. If you do play against this deck, understand that you can’t afford to let them use Giant Growth to beat Lightning Bolt at a point where it does damage to you. Kill things on your turn if you can.

Living End (Played By Shirtless Streamers Across the Nation)

Incentives to Play This Deck

This deck is also very redundant. Eight cascade effects and a bunch of cyclers—doesn’t get much simpler than that.

You have a weak non-combo of just playing bad creatures. Shockingly, this is often enough if they are too focused on not getting cascaded.

You have a very strong pre-combo plan of just Stone Raining them a ton. Often decks like U/W Midrange will be able to answer both your guys and combo but can’t do so when constrained on mana.

Weaknesses

You aren’t a for sure kill combo. Affinity and Melira Pod can sacrifice their team in response to a Living End and get everything back, and Burn or combo decks can just win after the fact.

If your opponent has enough interaction, you are often committed to the creature plan once you start down that road. Often both graveyards start filling in fair games, turning Living End into a less one-sided affair.

Deckbuilding Notes

Play Travis Woo list.

The Takeaway

Even more reasons to pack some form of graveyard hate. Also, Ethersworn Canonist is the worst Storm hate because of Lightning Bolt out of Storm and Ingot Chewer out of this deck.

Aggro

Burn (You Know This Guy)

Incentives to Play This Deck

This deck just doesn’t interact with people. Many decks are trying to do something powerful that this deck kind of shrugs and ignores.

This deck also takes advantage of the common shock-fetch mana base of the format. Every time they fetch, that’s a free fraction of a card. Every shockland is almost a full card. Free cards each game is a good thing.

Weaknesses

It is very possible to just attrition Burn out. Gaining life is just them forcing you to play more cards to win, and often you are stuck dying without having the ability to draw enough cards to win.

This deck also mulligans poorly and is subject to flood/screw variance. If you are just counting cards until victory, drawing too many blanks or just being down cards is a real issue.

Deckbuilding Notes

Spike Jester was not a card when this list was built and is worth considering. It’s more vulnerable than Ash Zealot but has more raw power.

The Takeaway

This deck is very popular because of how cheap it is. You need a plan if you play against it.

R/G Aggro (This Frogmite Is Good!)

Incentives to Play This Deck

This deck is as fast as most of the combo decks in the format. As a deck that interacts along a more normal axis, it tends to be more resilient than they are.

This deck is also shockingly good against Pyroclasm. About half of your creatures have three toughness, and the ones that do die are free or have haste.

Weaknesses

Tarmogoyf plus removal is a big issue for this deck, especially if your opponent plays around Ghor-Clan Rampager. Lightning Helix is another big problem.

Deckbuilding Notes

Most of the current lists have Mutagenic Growth and a couple Colossal Mights. I think Dismember is better than the second one, and I’m not experienced enough with the deck to determine if +2/+2 matters.

You can also Blood Moon people. If your opponents aren’t thinking about being Mooned, they can easily lose to it.

The Takeaway

There is a reason you can’t just build a super inbred deck that beats up on midrange and combo. Well, aside from the fact that is borderline impossible to begin with.

Boggles (Fun and Interactive Magic!)

Incentives to Play This Deck

Similar to Burn, this deck just doesn’t interact with people. Path to Exile? Nice card. Lightning Bolt? Great job!

Weaknesses

You are slower than most of the combo decks.

Spellskite is a card. You often die to it if they play it on turn 2.

There is a decent amount of incidental interaction for your deck out of Jund. Liliana of the Veil, Abrupt Decay, Thoughtseize, and Maelstrom Pulse all do enough to let them sometimes win regardless of your creature’s text.

Deckbuilding Notes

I’ve seen lists playing Silhana Ledgewalker over a couple Kor Spiritdancers, which is something I actually like. Eight just doesn’t feel like enough hexproof guys.

The Takeaway

Not a lot of people will be playing this deck. It is a thing that exists, but it’s more of a "be aware of this" than anything else.

Tribal Zoo (Patrick Sullivan Sometimes Plays Island and Plains Too!)

Incentives to Play this Deck

This is the good card aggro deck. If you want to attack people but also have individual card power, this is the place to be.

Weaknesses

You are fairly threat light. Notice this trend with every single Geist of Saint Traft deck.

You start every game at fifteen life. If your opponent is aggressive as well, this can make things complicated.

Deckbuilding Notes

There are a lot of good cards across all five colors. You can play all of them. That said, this list made Top 8 of Grand Prix San Diego and was first built by Ken Yukuhiro. That’s a good enough reason to start here for me.

The Takeaway

You can play good cards and attack. This makes me think that the U/W/R Geist deck is just a worse version of multiple other decks (U/W Geist and this deck) because it does what they are both doing but is worse at each half than either of them.

Affinity (Now With Significantly Less Blanks!)

Incentives to Play This Deck

Cranial Plating is a very overpowered Magic card. Etched Champion is impossible for many decks to beat. You also get to play eight manlands and out-card a lot of decks with only four draw twos for real card draw.

You get to Blood Moon people too.

Weaknesses

Ancient Grudge, Shatterstorm, Stony Silence.

Lingering Souls can also be obnoxious, but Steel Overseer and Etched Champion help solve that issue in their own ways.

Pyroclasm is an issue as well, but it can be played around or through.

Deckbuilding Notes

I want to bring Shrapnel Blast back, but I always say that.

The Takeaway

There’s a decent amount of splash hate for this deck from Tron, but it still will be popular and still will do well.

Fringe Players

Merfolk

People have been trying to make this a thing since M13 introduced Master of the Pearl Trident. It isn’t good, but you might play it on day 1 of a Grand Prix. I’ve beat it in enough two-man queues to know not to ignore it.

Dredge

This deck is really about 80 cards, and it’s a matter of finding the right 60. It’s about one card off of being good, and I’m not sure if that card already exists or not.

Elves

Beck // Call was legal at Grand Prix Portland, but whether the deck is bad or just underdeveloped is hard to tell. It likely is a Cloudstone Curio deck and the loss of Wirewood Symbiote hurts it a lot, but almost this exact deck won a Grand Prix against Dark Depths once.

Death’s Shadow–Varolz, the Scar-Striped:

This is another new interaction that has shown up in Legacy but has seen little airtime in Modern. I’m unsure exactly what the rest of the deck looks like, but black and green aren’t colors lacking in playables in this format.

This review is fairly exhaustive, but I still probably missed something important.

The Minor Takeaway: If you are going to test against a small number of decks in this format, play against Jund, U/W/R Geist, Melira Pod, U/W/R Control, Scapeshift, Affinity, and R/G Aggro.

The Big Takeaway: Modern is a huge, diverse format. Come prepared to win against anything and everything.