Standard is about to get a major shuffle thanks to Eldritch Moon, which means there will be plenty of new goodies to work with soon.
But brewing is always in season when it comes to Modern, so let’s take a ride aboard the Modern brew train before the Eldritch Moon hype rocket reaches orbit.
I’m in the Modern brewing business, and business is a-boomin’.
So how is Modern actually holding up since the discontinuation of the Modern Pro Tour, and what is the shape of the metagame looking like?
The Modern Format
The Modern scene is thriving.
Thanks to the upcoming World Magic Cup Qualifiers, Invitationals, SCG Tour® Opens, Classics, and Grand Prix, there’s always a Modern tournament just around the corner. It’s nice to have a Constructed format to fall back to if you need a break from Standard or if Legacy isn’t happening in your part of the world.
Just this weekend there was a Modern Open and format looked nice and diverse. The only duplicate archetype in the Top 8 was Jeskai Control, which is certainly a metagame I can get behind.
The Magic Online metagame looks a little different. Fast all-in decks like Infect, Death’s Shadow, and Dredge make up a large chunk of the metagame, and all these decks are no joke.
Which makes brewing a competitive fun new deck difficult. The decks you need to outrace or neutralize have reached Terminator levels of cold calculated consistent killing. The benchmarks of the format do what they do quickly and efficiently, and you need to fend off many different types of attacks.
Standard right now would compare to a boxing match, a slower slugfest that rewards small edges, consistent solid play, and familiarity of the format.
Modern is more like a duel to the death with pistols. You stand with your back to your opponent, walk three paces, turn, fire, and hope you’re still standing.
Diverse. Fast. Volatile. Brutal. These are the words that describe Modern.
Do I wish the games were a little more interactive and less matchup-dependant in general? Yes. But I also think Modern is in a good spot right now. For every game without any interaction or lopsided matchup, there’s also one with interesting decisions to make and plenty of game to be played.
Modern is great fun if you just allow it to be what it is and strap yourself in for a wild ride. It’s just not exactly what everyone wants it to be.
Now then, let’s dive into a few Modern brews!
The Good
Creatures (5)
Planeswalkers (8)
Lands (24)
Spells (23)
Jund and Abzan have been Tier 1 decks in Modern for a long time. They are the go-to decks if you don’t know what else to play and want to be approximately 50/50 against the rest of the format.
Mardu hasn’t had that same success, but Nahiri, the Harbinger might be the card that Mardu needs to put itself on the Modern map. The Nahiri, the Harbinger plus Emrakul, the Aeons Torn package continues to show up, and why not? It fits practically anywhere that can support it.
This version is somewhat similar to my
There are plenty of nice little synergies here.
Liliana of the Veil and Nahiri, the Harbinger both make it so you can discard your useless Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. They also play nicely in a similar way with Lingering Souls.
Casting discard and then resolving a planeswalker can be a great way to dictate the terms of battle and Lingering Souls and Wall of Omens help to defend your planeswalkers.
The deck doesn’t run any “real” creatures, so it’s mostly immune to removal.
Lightning Helix and Shambling Vent can help regain any life lost from Thoughtseize and Night’s Whisper.
There are also a few anti-synergies in the deck.
Lightning Helix is often difficult and painful to cast on turn 2, especially if you want to cast a turn 1 Inquisition of Kozilek or Thoughtseize.
Blackcleave Cliffs is an awkward topdeck if you’re looking for a fourth land for Nahiri, the Harbinger.
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn potentially shuffles away Lingering Souls.
The deck is not proactive and is mostly focused on disrupting what your opponent is doing. It can be susceptible to topdecks from an opponent. It’s also fairly reliant on Nahiri, the Harbinger to close out the game.
Viability = Promising, but might take some more work.
The Bad
Creatures (14)
Lands (21)
Spells (25)
Not every deck can be a winner. Not every deck needs to be a winner; sometimes it’s enough just to be fun to play.
This deck was inspired by a similar Abzan version I played against online featuring Auratog.
The dream scenario for the deck is to get out Eidolon of Blossoms or Ajani’s Chosen alongside Enchanted Evening and then go completely nuts.
Enchanted Evening combos with Ajani’s Chosen by making infinite Cat tokens. Since every permanent is an enchantment, every permanent makes a Cat, which makes another Cat, which makes another Cat… Me-Wow! Ajani’s Chosen even triggers off itself entering the battlefield with Enchanted Evening out.
On Magic Online it looks like this:
The issue is Ajani’s Chosen subscribes to the Shia LaBeouf school of “Just Do It” and therefore doesn’t say you may put a 2/2 white Cat creature token onto the battlefield, emphasis on may. Ajani’s Chosen just completely ignores Bob Barker’s advice to have your pets spayed or neutered and makes infinite Cats. An unstoppable loop like this would normally, in real life Magic, result in a draw.
I thought, when I assembled the combo online, there would a limit to the number of tokens allowed on Magic Online, and I’d be left with more Cats than a crazy old cat lady.
Turns out Magic Online can apparently detect the loop and declare the game as a draw, but it also declares the game a win for the cat maker.
Schrodinger’s Cat Combo.
The game is simultaneously both a draw and a win.
Similar to how the Magic Online client is simultaneously both functional and about to crash and you won’t know for sure until you start a draft.
Turns out, making infinite Cats actually counts as a win to the Magic Online client, even though it most certainly shouldn’t and is surely a glitch.
Anyone surprised? No? Okay, let’s move on.
Before you can trigger infinite times and get a bunch of Cats, you need to make sure no one else can stop you.
The decks really functions by creating a safe space with enchantments.
Ghostly Prison and Sphere of Safety are going to stop attackers. Suppression Field and Leyline of Sanctity will further protect you. Once you’ve got everything in place, you can finally relax, safe from those who want to tear down your safe space.
Viability = Tier 1, the best deck in Modern. If you do not like my deck, you are not allowed in my safe space.
The Ugly
Creatures (10)
Lands (17)
Spells (33)
Finally we have the ugly deckling of the group. But even an ugly ducklist can have hidden within itself a beautiful Swan Song.
This is my take on a deck originally brewed by Raphael Levy. The original version focuses more on the artifact theme with Memnites and four copies of Blinkmoth Nexus.
One of the really neat things about Thraben Inspector is that it comes with an artifact. This allows it to serve a similar role to Memnite, powering Mox Opal for cheap and being part of the combo while still being able to draw you a card when you need it. It is also a good target to bounce with Retraction Helix if you need to draw another card in a pinch. The same type of logic applies to Wall of Omens.
An important part of the deck is being able to cast your Jeskai Ascendancy, and colored mana is also more important with Thraben Inspector in the deck, so I focused the manabase more on being able to do so.
Nahiri, the Harbinger coming out of the sideboard is a powerful option against hate cards and attacks in a different way from what opponents will be expecting. You also have plenty of ways to accelerate it out on turn 3 or even turn 2.
Viability = Has potential. Will likely take more work.
Modern Times
There you have it! Three Modern decks of varying deliciousness ready to be used and abused.
I’m ready for Standard to get shaken up, but in the meantime I don’t mind playing some Modern.
What do you think of the decks? Do any of these lists have unseen potential or cards to add that would push them over the top? Don’t hesitate to ask any questions or share your thoughts.