At Grand Prix Atlanta this past weekend, the Top 8 was stacked with linear,
non-interactive decks. Unless you stretch the definition of “interactive”
to include the only mostly linear Hollow One and Hardened Scales, there was
exactly one fair deck in the Top 8. Only one player hoped to fairly trade
cards with the opponent and get involved in some creature combat to win,
that being the winner, Peiyuan Zheng, with the relatively new format
policeman, Bant Spirits.
If one looks deeper into the Top 32, the trend is just as obvious.
- Hardened Scales
- Dredge
- Burn
- Storm
- TitanShift
- Mono-Green Tron
- Ironworks
The only fair decks to do well were a few copies of Bant Spirits, with a
single Humans, single Faeries, and single Mardu Pyromancer deck cracking
the Top 32 barrier. We’ve achieved something like an 80% penetration rate
for linear decks in the winner’s circle of the metagame, which is
astonishing in a contemporary format.
Jeskai Control? Azorius Control? Jund? Golgari Midrange? Nowhere to be
found. The unfair decks are just too punishing, too diverse, too powerful,
and too consistent to properly fight.
There are only two courses of action to take here, when Modern becomes
somewhat slanted in favor of speed and away from interaction: complain
about the format being unplayable and unfun (which is a valid strategy) or
try to exploit this trend.
I’d like to exploit it for some free win equity, if possible. What can we
play?
Creatures (13)
Lands (20)
Spells (27)
This is the new best choice in Modern. If your goal is to bash other linear
decks, there’s nothing like a turn 1 Glistener Elf to embarrass people on
Karn Liberated, Scapeshift, or Scrap Trawler. Dredge’s new Creeping Chills
don’t do quite as much work against Infect, either, as the lifegain is
irrelevant against the count up to ten poison counters.
I’ll be the first to say that Infect is not quite as advantaged in today’s
mostly-linear format as it has been in past linear-tilted Modern formats,
as the loss of Gitaxian Probe and the gains of other decks in terms of
interaction does even out the playing field. Think Ironworks with
Engineered Explosives and Pyrite Spellbomb, or Hardened Scales playing
Walking Ballista. The matchups aren’t quite as overwhelming for Infect, but
there’s a certain strategic edge that comes from being the glassiest cannon
of them all.
-
Ironworks – Favorable. You goldfish a half-turn faster and pack
sideboard disruption. -
Dredge – Favorable. If you draw a Blighted Agent or a Distortion
Strike, you will generally win. There’s also sideboard disruption. -
Tron – Highly Favorable. You goldfish faster and can just beat
their nut draw. -
Hardened Scales – Even. Watch out for Walking Ballista, but without
that card you’re similarly positioned to Dredge (looking for an
Agent or a Distortion Strike to push through a kill). -
Humans – Even. Watch out for Izzet Staticaster, and the disruption
is relatively meaningful against you, but you still are playing
against a deck with no real removal. Draw a way to push through the
blockers and you should be good unless they have disruption to slow
you down and a lot of Reflector Mages. -
Bant Spirits – Favorable. There’s some disruption, but you can
generally get on the battlefield and push through your creatures
one way or another. -
TitanShift – Highly Favorable. You’ve got a faster clock, you’ve
got disruption, you just own them on all fronts. -
Storm – Favorable. You’ve got a marginally faster clock and a tiny
bit of disruption between the maindeck and sideboard, so get ready
to race. -
Burn – Unfavorable. Pack some Kitchen Finks if you want to salvage
the matchup!
As decks like Jeskai Control fall off the radar, Infect picks up the slack
and gets better and better. But it’s not the only choice out there and
there are some other options that see a bit less play for the true metagame
aficionado.
Creatures (14)
Lands (27)
Spells (19)
Will Pulliam wrote an impressive, in-depth look at Amulet Titan
last week
that is well worth a read, and I’m amazed that more folks aren’t clambering
to try to learn the deck for upcoming Modern events. I, personally, intend
to try it as well as Ironworks to learn some of the most intricate and
powerful combo decks in the format. Amulet Titan offers a potential turn-2
kill, a significantly more frequent turn-3 or 4 kill, and unparalleled
resilience in the face of traditional disruption. It will overpower Jund,
Jeskai Control, and other fair midrange decks. It demolishes Dredge with
incidental maindeck hate, and (best of all) most people have no idea how to
play against it.
It’s truly stunning that people have forgotten about Amulet Titan after
Summer Bloom was banned because the deck is still incredible when it gets
going.
Edgar Magalhaes has been the leading voice on Amulet Titan for over a year
now, and I’m finally at the point where I’m ready to sit down and ask him
to teach me his secrets. As he puts it, the deck doesn’t lose to decks, just the card Blood Moon. It’s even beatable with maindeck
Reclamation Sage, three basic Forests, and the Summoner’s Pacts to go find
it. With so much tutoring available, the deck is about as customizable as
any big mana deck ever was. There’s so much to learn, and so much win
equity to pick up!
Creatures (5)
Lands (18)
Spells (37)
- 4 Krark-Clan Ironworks
- 1 Pyrite Spellbomb
- 3 Chromatic Sphere
- 4 Mind Stone
- 3 Engineered Explosives
- 4 Terrarion
- 1 Mishra's Bauble
- 4 Chromatic Star
- 4 Ancient Stirrings
- 4 Mox Opal
- 1 Spine of Ish Sah
- 4 Ichor Wellspring
Sideboard
Ironworks has shown that it’s no mere flash-in-the-pan. Despite massive
amounts of graveyard hate, the deck just has what it takes to keep going.
The innovation of Spine of Ish Sah as a tutorable maindeck answer to
problematic permanents like Stony Silence, Rest in Peace, or Leyline of the
Void is very impressive, and the deck just continues to demonstrate its
staying power in metagames that stop focusing on it for even a single
moment.
The combination of Mox Opal for speed, Ancient Stirrings for consistency,
and Myr Retriever + Scrap Trawler for resilience is just amazing. If it
weren’t for a slightly soft Bant Spirits matchup, this deck would be
unquestionably the best one in the format.
Fortunately, there was one deck from the Top 32 that impressed me as a
potential secret weapon in the goldfish bowl that the Modern metagame has
become.
Creatures (26)
- 4 Birds of Paradise
- 4 Devoted Druid
- 1 Kitchen Finks
- 4 Noble Hierarch
- 1 Viscera Seer
- 1 Scavenging Ooze
- 4 Duskwatch Recruiter
- 1 Walking Ballista
- 4 Vizier of Remedies
- 2 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
Lands (20)
Spells (14)
It isn’t playing Hall of the Bandit Lord, but this deck has some pretty
sweet combo potential anyway. Our own esteemed editor here at
StarCityGames.com, Cedric Phillips, has played similar all-in Devoted Druid
decks to blow off steam, and he can attest to the enjoyment inherent in
dropping a quick infinite-mana engine the turn before your opponent expects
it. Postmortem Lunge is a truly impressive way to take an opponent by
surprise and get a hasty Devoted Druid out when their defenses are down.
There’s a ton of work to be done in this macro-archetype (creature-based
combo decks: Counters Company, Knightfall, Necrotic Ooze Combo, Devoted
Druid Combo), and I fully expect someone to break this shell in the not too
distant future. The potential is just too great.
Creatures (30)
- 4 Noble Hierarch
- 3 Phantasmal Image
- 1 Geist of Saint Traft
- 4 Drogskol Captain
- 3 Reflector Mage
- 1 Rattlechains
- 4 Spell Queller
- 2 Selfless Spirit
- 4 Mausoleum Wanderer
- 4 Supreme Phantom
Lands (18)
Spells (12)
Of course, there’s the big fun police deck du jour, Bant Spirits, which is
a fairly respectable Fish deck to keep opposing combo decks honest in a
format as combo-dominated as this one. It’s unsurprising then, that Bant
Spirits ended up taking the top spot at the tournament, as it’s got
maindeck countermagic in Mausoleum Wanderer and Spell Queller as well as
sideboard hate cards like Rest in Peace and Stony Silence. The intersection
of a clock, countermagic, and hateful permanents puts most combo decks in a
real bind, and it would be irresponsible of me not to recommend Bant
Spirits as a stellar choice moving forward.
Humans, similarly, is a solid deck with a bit more power than Bant Spirits,
just with the drawback of having all its disruption come on the same axis
(and at the same converted mana cost, for unfortunate vulnerability to
Engineered Explosives). There’s no reason to stop playing Humans if you’re
highly familiar with the deck and its play patterns at this point, but for
someone solely focused on maximizing metagame edge (at least as much
metagame edge can be gained in a format as diverse as Modern), I’d give
Bant the edge for now.
But those aren’t the only disruptive aggro decks available to attack this
metagame.
Yes, for the Grixis Death’s Shadow fans out there, of course there’s reason
for hope. Despite a healthy amount of graveyard disruption going around the
format as of late, there’s reason to believe that the time is close for
Shadow to regain a seat at the top of the metagame. Should Infect,
Ironworks, Amulet Titan, Storm, and Tron be the top linear strategies of
the format, with Bant Spirits supplanting Humans as the Noble Hierarch deck
of choice, it might provide an opportunity for Grixis Death’s Shadow to
come roaring back. Hardened Scales is a potential problem matchup, for
sure, but with the right mix of disruption it should be salvageable.
Here’s the list I’d run given what I’d predict at my next Open:
Creatures (16)
Lands (16)
Spells (28)
The Nihil Spellbomb/Leyline of the Void/Rakdos Charm slot is contentious,
but Nihil Spellbomb is generally the most consistent, lowest-variance
solution. Izzet Staticaster, of course, is an amazing inclusion against
Bant Spirits and Dredge, and I’m excited to have it back in the deck. There
might be a need for more cheap removal, as the average converted mana cost
of the sideboard is incredibly high, but the deck in this form does punish
certain linear decks very, very well.
Cards to consider: Anger of the Gods, the third Temur Battle Rage, Kira,
Great Glass-Spinner, Ceremonious Rejection, Engineered Explosives.
Of course, if the metagame does settle down to a predictable set of five or
six potent linear strategies, it might be time to pick up Jeskai or Azorius
Control and start figuring out how to target them. Surgical Extraction +
Snapcaster Mage is looking awfully tempting right now…
But let’s be honest. The Modern metagame never converges for too long,
right?