All I have to say after Pro Tour Aether Revolt is that I’m shocked.
Mardu Vehicles put up a historic performance and was one of the best-performing decks at a Pro Tour in history. However, that’s not going to be the topic of this article, as I’m sure it will be covered in depth by most other writers this week. Also, I wasn’t able to watch any of the #PTAER coverage this past weekend, so I’m not the most qualified to write about it, but I really enjoyed reading Ari Lax’s Premium piece on Monday, The Defining Aspects Of Aether Revolt Standard, and his evaluation of the format leading into #GPPitt this weekend is spot on.
My one piece of advice for Standard for those of you looking to play Jeskai Control: I recommend trying to fit a large number of Stasis Snares in your deck. Being able to exile Scrapheap Scrounger is very important, and Stasis Snare is the best option because it can also remove Heart of Kiran; Gideon, Ally of Zendikar; and any large creature from B/G aggro decks. I wouldn’t be comfortable registering less than two Stasis Snare this weekend, and would want to get that number closer to four.
But I digress, as Standard isn’t the focus of my article today. Instead I’m going to concentrate on Modern, as #SCGRegionals took place throughout the country this past weekend as well, and the beginning of the Aether Revolt Modern is starting to form. After the bannings of Gitaxian Probe and Golgari Grave-Troll and the printing of Fatal Push, many people were predicating Tron as the next “best deck” of Modern. Well, after two SCG Tour Modern Classics and ten SCG Regionals, we have 96 Top 8 Modern decks this month, so let’s take a look at what’s been doing well and if Tron is on top.
January 2017 Modern Classic and Regionals Top 8 Appearances:
|
Deck Name |
Number of Top 8 Appearances |
Number of First-Place Finishes |
|
Burn |
9 |
3 |
|
Affinity |
9 |
1 |
|
Jund |
9 |
|
|
Bant Eldrazi |
9 |
1 |
|
Abzan Company |
8 |
|
|
Grixis Delver |
6 |
1 |
|
Goryo’s Vengeance |
4 |
1 |
|
G/X Tron |
4 |
|
|
4 |
1 |
|
|
Elves |
4 |
|
|
3 |
1 |
|
|
W/R Prison |
3 |
1 |
|
Jeskai Control |
3 |
|
|
8-Rack |
2 |
|
|
Abzan |
2 |
|
|
2 |
||
|
Naya Landfall |
1 |
|
|
Abzan Evolution |
1 |
1 |
|
U/W Control |
1 |
|
|
1 |
||
|
Sultai Delver |
1 |
|
|
Amulet Titan |
1 |
|
|
Lantern Control |
1 |
|
|
Infect |
1 |
|
|
1 |
1 |
|
|
Soul Sisters |
1 |
|
|
U/R Gifts Storm |
1 |
|
|
B/R Pack Rat |
1 |
|
|
Merfolk |
1 |
|
|
Bant Company |
1 |
|
|
Naya Company |
1 |
*The Top 8 lists from the
These are the combined results from the #SCGCOL Modern Classic, #SCGRICH Modern Classic, and the ten #SCGRegionals throughout the country, and they are somewhat surprising, as Tron isn’t nearly as close to the top of the list as I expected. Although I believe Infect and Dredge to be still be solid choices after the bans, they have only had one combined Top 8 appearance so far, which indicates the optimal lists of those two decks post-banning are still being developed.
“The Classics”
There is no singular dominant deck so far, which is expected with Modern, but instead we have a close top five of Burn, Affinity, Jund, Bant Eldrazi, and Abzan Company. Burn also produced three of the twelve winning decklists, while no other deck earned more than one trophy.
Creatures (12)
Lands (20)
Spells (28)
Unfairly labeled by many as a beginner deck, Burn is currently a highly underrated choice in Modern in my opinion because it has a favorable matchup against many of the other popular decks. I’m as big of a fan of having a decklist filled with four-ofs down the line as much as the next person, and Roman Fusco didn’t disappoint with their clean version of R/W Burn. I’ve long thought Deflecting Palm is one of Burn’s most underrated sideboard options, and I love how Roman has access to three copies. Kataki, War’s Wage is some nice tech to help win the Affinity matchup, which is traditionally slightly unfavorable. Overall Burn is a one of best choices right now in Modern.
Creatures (14)
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (24)
Spells (18)
To the surprise of no one, Jund is still one of the most popular and successful decks, also putting nine pilots into the elimination rounds, but with only one finals appearance from Jason Blackmor. A fellow teacher, Jason is a friend of mine that knocked me out of the tournament when we faced off in a win-and-in Round 8 of #SCGRegionals in Plano, TX and ended up getting second. I was of course playing the Bant Eldrazi list that I wrote about last week, but let’s get back to Jason’s Jund list.
Jason is using just one copy of the revered instant from Aether Revolt, which isn’t an overwhelming amount by any means, and I can understand why. Many people thought Fatal Push would instantly replace cards like Terminate and Maelstrom Pulse in Jund, but the latter two have necessary applications that make them hard to take out. Even though Fatal Push is quite good on rate, meaning that it will often trade up in mana, destroying a creature isn’t exactly the most sought-after effect for Jund, and therefore it makes sense to only have one copy in the deck.
Creatures (29)
- 3 Birds of Paradise
- 2 Eternal Witness
- 2 Wall of Roots
- 1 Saffi Eriksdotter
- 3 Kitchen Finks
- 4 Noble Hierarch
- 2 Viscera Seer
- 2 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
- 1 Scavenging Ooze
- 3 Voice of Resurgence
- 2 Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
- 1 Tireless Tracker
- 3 Renegade Rallier
Lands (23)
Spells (8)
Abzan Company is back. Maybe the most popular Modern deck right after Eye of Ugin was banned, Abzan Company forced players to up the graveyard hate in their sideboard, which was only compounded with the resurgence of Dredge latter in the year. With Golgari Grave-Troll banned, though, some players are probably reducing the amount of graveyard hate in their sideboard, which has only helped Abzan Company, along with this new toy.
I’ve been playing a ton with Renegade Rallier the past week, and in my opinion it’s the best card for Modern from Aether Revolt, not Fatal Push, and this is the perfect deck for Renegade Rallier. It would take me way too long to list all of the synergies and value you can get from Renegade Rallier, but the biggest combo in Abzan Company is that Rallier plus Saffi Eriksdotter plus Viscera Seer allows you to have arbitrarily large scry triggers. My personal favorite things to do though with Rallier, though, are to get back a Qasali Pridemage you sacrificed against Affinity or a Burrenton Forge-Tender that was sacrificed to stop the damage from an Eidolon of the Great Revel. Renegade Rallier is an incredibly good card, and I expect it to become a cornerstone of G/W decks everywhere in Modern shortly.
The “I Didn’t Come Here to Interact with You” Group
I’ll admit that Grixis Delver is out of place here with its six Top 8 appearances, but I’m focusing on Goryo’s Vengeance, G/X Tron, R/G Through the Breach, and Elves that each had four. Talk about a scary group! Besides Grixis Delver, the rest are the types of decks that I usually don’t like to see when playing one of my typical clunky midrange strategies. Take this “fun and interactive” deck, for example:
Creatures (14)
Lands (19)
Spells (27)
Okay, I have to admit, Goryo’s Vengeance was the second Modern deck I owned after Burn, and I used to play it a decent amount in the fall of 2015. The deck hasn’t changed much since then, but Cathartic Reunion is such a huge upgrade over Tormenting Voice that I’m surprised it’s taken this long for the deck with the fastest goldfish in Modern to come back from the shadows. With Abzan Company and Goryo’s Vengeance picking up steam this quickly, people need to put more graveyard hate back in their sideboards.
Creatures (7)
Planeswalkers (6)
Lands (19)
Spells (28)
Heading out to the West Coast, we find three of the four G/X Tron decks to make Top 8 come from the San Diego #SCGRegionals, with one copy each splashing white, red, and black. Dylan Hibbetts finished the best of the four decks with a second-place result with G/W Tron, which is my preferred color combination, but that is admittedly from without playing the different versions much and from just looking at results. Some thought that Fatal Push would, for a lack of a better term, “push” G/B into the best color combination for Tron decks, but that’s yet to be seen.
The “Fun Is for Only My Side of the Table” Group
The next group of decks features Ad Nauseam, W/R Prison, and Jeskai Control with three copies each, and Scapeshift, 8-Rack, and Abzan with two copies. W/R Prison, Jeskai Control, and 8-Rack all try to keep their opponent from playing their spells, whether it’s by using counterspells, discard, or prison elements.
Creatures (5)
Planeswalkers (11)
- 1 Ajani Vengeant
- 2 Gideon Jura
- 2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
- 4 Nahiri, the Harbinger
- 2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Lands (25)
Spells (20)
Now this is my kind of deck! Eleven planeswalkers, including two Elspeth, Sun’s Champion? Now that’s how you win a tournament, which is exactly what Kristopher McNeil did at the Raleigh, NC #SCGRegionals. I’ve been an advocate of W/R Prison in Modern for a while now, and this deck shows off the power of Simian Spirit Guide, Chalice of the Void, and Blood Moon. There are a few weird inclusions in this list, such as Boil and Spellskite in the sideboard, which I’m not a fan of, but it’s hard to critique a first-place finish.
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (24)
Spells (32)
After twelve January Modern tournaments, 8-Rack has put up more Top 8 finishes than Infect and Dredge combined. Let that sink in for a minute.
It hasn’t been a minute yet.
Unlike Jund, an efficient removal spell is exactly what 8-Rack is in the market for, and we see Stanislaw has access to a full four copies post-sideboard to go with the four copies of Dismember. I can also get down with the two copies of Ensnaring Bridge in the sideboard, as it has the opportunity to put up some free wins against some decks but isn’t necessarily a card you want to overload on. Besides the Fatal Push, there isn’t much else new, but that card is a good addition to 8-Rack and makes the deck stronger.
The “Miscellaneous” Group
There were fifteen different decks that made one Top 8 appearance each, with Living End and Abzan Evolution capitalizing on that opportunity with first-place finishes. There are some strange decks in this group to take a look at, starting with the aforementioned Abzan Evolution.
Creatures (26)
- 2 Birds of Paradise
- 1 Eternal Witness
- 1 Orzhov Pontiff
- 4 Noble Hierarch
- 1 Qasali Pridemage
- 1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
- 2 Wall of Omens
- 1 Scavenging Ooze
- 1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
- 1 Thragtusk
- 1 Sin Collector
- 4 Voice of Resurgence
- 1 Anafenza, the Foremost
- 3 Siege Rhino
- 2 Renegade Rallier
Lands (23)
Spells (11)
Sideboard
I’m not exactly sure what to make of this deck, but I have a feeling it’s a lot better than we think when looking at it. These are the types of decks that I feel are difficult to play and really reward you for knowing all the ins-and-outs of your decklist. The first thing that jumps out to me with this list is having zero Collected Company or Chord of Calling, and only three Eldritch Evolution, which feels a little strange. Instead we oddly have two copies of Lingering Souls and Collective Brutality, which work well together but seem strange with the rest of the deck.
Renegade Rallier feels right at home with this deck, and I’m honestly surprised to only see two copies. Voice of Resurgence is not only a perfect target to sacrifice to Eldritch Evolution but also a perfect choice to get back from your graveyard with Renegade Rallier. The only four-drops in the deck to get maximum value from an evolutioned Voice of Resurgence are three copies of Siege Rhino and one Linvala, Keeper of Silence, which shows Nicolas is more interested in ending the game than having more value-centric cards. I can respect that. I think this deck has a lot of promise, and with the addition of Renegade Rallier, I’m more interested in building around Eldritch Evolution than ever.
Creatures (27)
- 4 Tarmogoyf
- 4 Wild Nacatl
- 2 Knight of the Reliquary
- 4 Plated Geopede
- 4 Steppe Lynx
- 3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
- 4 Renegade Rallier
- 2 Narnam Renegade
Lands (24)
Spells (9)
Speaking of Renegade Rallier, Naya Landfall looks to break the ability to return a fetchland from your graveyard to the battlefield. I haven’t seen this deck in action yet, but just like Abzan Evolution, it’s one that I want to try out soon, as I think it has some potential. I could see having 24 lands in your aggro deck making “flooding out” problematic, but the deck is filled with some of the hardest-hitting one- and two-drops in the format, which means you don’t need many threats to win. Having Chalice of the Void and Rule of Law in the sideboard is pretty odd, but I’m guessing that Jesse didn’t want to lose to Puresteel Paladin, which surprisingly still hasn’t had a Top 8 appearance with Sram, Senior Edificer.
Speaking of Puresteel Paladin, Seth Zullnski had a third-place finish with U/R Gifts Storm.
Creatures (8)
Lands (17)
Spells (35)
I said “speaking of Puresteel Paladin” because this is another deck that uses Grapeshot as a win condition, and I honestly may believe that this is a better deck. I think the addition of Baral, Chief of Compliance is enough for Storm to become a regular part of the metagame again, even without Gitaxian Probe. I’ve played against this deck a couple of times online now, and I haven’t had a win against it yet.
You probably know by now how important Sram, Senior Edificer is to the Puresteel Paladin deck, and Baral, Chief of Compliance is just as important to Storm. Untapping with Baral or Goblin Electromancer on the battlefield makes each instant and sorcery you cast much more powerful and oftentimes allows you to win on the spot. Desperate Ritual and Pyretic Ritual turn into Dark Ritual. Manamorphose adds mana and draws a card. Gifts Ungiven costing three mana is broken.
U/R Gifts Storm is probably still under most people’s radars, unlike Puresteel Paladin, but it’s a dangerous deck.
Creatures (12)
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (23)
Spells (24)
The last deck I’d like to touch on is Logan Pressely’s B/R Pack Rat, and I have to say this is a fun one. I don’t even know where to start here. Blood Moon, Dark Confidant, Kolaghan’s Command, Goblin Rabblemaster. There’s enough sweetness here to make a grown man swoon.
Sure, the deck is called B/R Pack Rat, but Goblin Rabblemaster is the really exciting card here. It was a favorite of mine when legal in Standard, and I’ve been dying to dust off the ol’ Rabblemasters again. We also see a full playset of Fatal Push, Lightning Bolt, and Terminate in the maindeck, meaning those Rabblemasters will have a clear battlefield in front of them.
Takeaways
- Zero copies of Puresteel Paladin in any Top 8 so far means the deck is probably overhyped right now, and I’m not convinced it’s the real deal. I saw multiple people playing it in Plano, so I know it was around, but I’m not sure the deck has the consistency needed to win round after round in a big tournament yet.
- Renegade Rallier is popping up in plenty of G/W Decks, most notably Abzan Company, whose resurgence may be attributed to a decline in graveyard hate.
- Similarly, Goryo’s Vengeance is putting up better results that it has in a long time, most likely due to the addition of Cathartic Reunion and a drop in graveyard hate.
- Burn is well-positioned across the board right now, but the uptick in Abzan Company is worrisome.
- Most people have likely abandoned Infect and Dredge for the time being until the decks start to prove themselves again. Only one copy on Infect and zero of Dredge Top 8ing was surprising.
Modern is still a great format with a countless number of decks that can take down any given tournament, and #SCGRegionals displayed plenty of new innovations across the board. This is going to be a big month for Modern with #GPVAN, #SCGBALT, and #SCGINDY all showcasing the popular format.
Keep innovating.