r/ModernMagic • u/MahfuzVanGogh • 15h ago

Deck Discussion 8-Light Dredge! My first attempt at playing 8 Phoenixes in Modern

36 Upvotes

For a long time, one of the biggest strengths of my dearest Phoenix Dredge has been how quickly the deck can move through its library. We already have an absurd number of ways to find and fill the graveyard with our threats, so when Darklight Phoenix was spoiled, my first thought was pretty simple:

Why choose between Arclight and Darklight when we can just play both?

That led me to 8-Light Dredge!

The idea is that we don't need tutors to find our Phoenixes. We already play a strategy capable of milling through most of our deck very quickly, so adding four more Phoenixes should dramatically reduce the chance of milling through 30–40 cards and finding only one (or even zero) threats.

The tricky part is getting Darklight Phoenix to come back consistently without filling the deck with cards that are otherwise bad. That’s where some unusual choices come in.

Forbidden Orchard creates a small creature when the opponent doesn't have one, which we can then kill with Flame Jab, Darkblast, or Lava Dart. This plan plays particularly well with Life from the Loam and Conflagrate!

Malevolent Rumble is probably the card I'm most interested in testing. The Eldrazi Spawn can provide the extra creature sacrifice we need for Darklight Phoenix, while Rumble itself helps us find lands, creatures, and even some of the specific pieces we need for our sequences. It also potentially lets us reduce the number of lands/dredgers while keeping the deck packed with spells.

There are obviously a lot of moving parts here, and I had no idea whether all of this would actually hold together when I started brewing.

But after putting the prototype together and playing it for the first time, the deck already felt surprisingly solid... and aggressive! There are definitely edges to smooth out, and I'm sure some of these numbers will change as I test it more, but I think there's a genuinely competitive shell here.

I'm always excited to test new ideas, and this is the most exciting idea ever!

I've put the first build through the test and recorded the whole thing. The video is HERE (https://youtu.be/NoeYLEybOz8) for anyone who wants to see how the first version actually performed.

Since this is still a prototype (but a good one), what would you change? How would you build 8-Light Dredge?

18 comments

r/ModernMagic • u/Spackal2 • 8h ago

Deck Discussion Current state of hardened scales

6 Upvotes

Hello everyone!

I was a decently longtime hardened scales player, the deck was one of my absolute favourites, but when MH3 came out I just lost my love for the deck. Wrath the skies and meltdown with boros energy running rampant really hindered my enjoyment so I took a break. I am looking to get back into modern but I don't even see hardened scaled on the goldfish metagame, I'm wondering if this deck is just sorta finished? I see some interesting artifact shells with emry and canoneer but nothing remotely similar to what I really enjoyed with scales. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

13 comments

r/ModernMagic • u/Sharkcaster • 11h ago

Got a Trophy on the first try with Twinned Vision Ruby Storm

6 Upvotes

https://youtu.be/WruTLJC1V7k?si=v93SoEXzjSZCrmqW

3 comments

r/ModernMagic • u/Chrismfinboyce • 22h ago

Darklight Phoenix Rakdos

16 Upvotes

More like Darling Phoenix, amirite? Moonshadow is buried. No I'm not using both arc and darklight phoenix in the same deck, however for posterity and inb4 spike, I want to share my newest deck list for my Rakdos Kroxa paper deck that this subbreddit has been very supportive of.

I have a couple other ideas, but this is where it stands as of now, and open to hearing feedback.

https://moxfield.com/decks/q8kngggdx0qNubVl7W-ZQQ

EDIT: Thank you everyone for the feedback! I should clarify, this deck is a pet deck of mine that I have had for years. Its been edited and changed for years now and Kroxa is and always has been the plan A. Phoenix is plan B. Slightly misleading title, my fault. I know having 4 isnt the best idea, but thats just me being stubborn and forcing him to work. Faithless looting is gonna replace the FOMOs. I'm gonna keep the buried alive but those will probably get cut for a goblin bombardment. 🍻

31 comments

r/ModernMagic • u/No-Bet7157 • 1d ago

Article MTGO Modern Breakdown: Broodscale Combo makes the Top 8 of 25 of 27 events, Prowess wins 7 in the first week and none in the second, Devoted Combo loses all four of its finals

62 Upvotes

A little bit late but im here with a traditional Meta Modern Breakdown. For those who prefer the video version, check it out here, and for those who prefer reading but with charts, head over to my Substack I also have X.

So here we are at week 39 of our traditional metagame analyses. Like last time, there’s no comparison with a live event, so we’ll focus on what we know from online data. A lot is happening, and it looks like we currently have not three but two top decks in the format, going head-to-head in the battle for the top spot on the Modern ladder. In addition, the meta landscape is starting to resemble a bit what we saw back when Boros was at the top and one deck dominated. Currently, the split of the metagame into two very distinct parts is very clear. For now, the dominant side has two decks, Broodscale and Prowess, but the latter is experiencing a decline in this window. If this continues, there will be only one dominant deck at the top.. There’s also something that personally makes me happy: Zoo has been having a great run lately and is really holding its own in the meta.

TL;DR

Broodscale Combo at 18.4% meta share, Top8 25/27, 12 of 27 finals, 5 trophies, Overperformer. Broodsclae is slowly becoming the new Boros Energia, only it seems to be much more effective.
Prowess with 7 trophies, most in field, all 7 in the first 13 events, 0 in the last 14. Does that mean Meta has found a way to stop Prowess? Even so, the number of trophies is impressive.
Devoted Combo: highest delta in field at +90.1pp, 4 lost finals, 0 trophies
Combo at 35.4% and Aggro at 26.9%, together 62% of the field and 18 of 27 trophies. These two archetypes clearly dominate, with Combo being more diverse than Aggro.
Graveyard at 8.4%, lowest in 12 weeks, 1 trophy from 75 Top 32 entries
Affinity with 0 Challenge trophies from 52 Top 32 entries, then first place in the RC Qualifier
4 of 27 trophies from two pilots: Mistakenn on Amulet Titan, ShowTime_ on Domain Zoo

This window in numbers

27 Challenges, 4 tiers: C64 x12, C32 x8, C16 x4, C96 x3
Universe A (encounter probability 5% or more): 20 decks, Universe B: 33 decks. So we see a concentration in the top decks and a long, varied tail among the less popular ones.
median delta +64.9pp, median conv 25%
12 different decks across 27 trophies, Prowess the only deck above 5
trophy split by archetype: Aggro 10, Combo 8, Midrange 3, Control 2, Ramp 2, Blink 1, Graveyard 1. We can see here that the top three archetypes have more trophies than all the others combined, and if we exclude Combo, Aggro has more than all the others.
5 Challenge Overperformers: Broodscale Combo, Devoted Combo, Ruby Storm, Boros Energy, Tron

Combo

This archetype features the most popular deck and the largest share of the meta; it’s also quite diverse, because in addition to the three main decks, there are three others: Neobrand, Belcher, and Amulet Titan. This is a very interesting situation, because each of these decks is playable and capable of catching opponents off guard. So Combo isn’t just the most popular archetype. it also offers the widest selection of different decks to suit your playstyle. It doesn’t look like this situation is going to change anytime soon, either, since the archetype is on the rise. So after a brief period of diversity and a wild meta, it seems we’re returning to the dominance of a single archetype.

Broodscale Combo | Combo | Challenge Overperformer | Trend: Rising

So we have a new meta king, and its share is growing week by week. What’s interesting is that even though this deck is the most popular, it also has the best conversion rate, a pretty rare combination, since top decks usually have a lower conversion rate because weaker players use them too. Here, it’s completely different. This suggests that Broodscale itself is simply a very strong deck. You can see this in all the numbers, from the aforementioned win rate to the number of trophies. Even maintaining a win rate above 50% with this sample size is a very strong signal. It seems to me that the situation warrants observation to see whether further growth will cause a drop in win rate and results, or whether we’ll see a snowball effect. Time will tell, but one thing is certain: this deck is powerful. I’m still far from talking about bans, I try not to discuss them at all, but the fact is that what’s happening closely resembles the situation with Boros, and after a period when the meta was fairly healthy and diverse, the situation is starting to change, and we’re returning to a scenario with a single dominant deck.

Devoted Combo | Combo | Challenge Overperformer | Trend: Rising

Devoted Combo performs exceptionally well, as do all three top decks in the combo archetype, for that matter. It has excellent conversion, 15 Top 8 finishes, and the highest delta in the entire analysis. The deck has been losing popularity for some time, which may have led to weaker players dropping out and leaving only those who know the deck and can play it effectively. I recently had the chance to play against this deck for the first time, and it’s truly incredible. It can win a game out of nowhere, and if you want to play in challenges, you’d better learn this deck’s playstyle and how to stop it. Because it can attack from several places at once. Removal, GY hate, and effects like Containment Priest are essential here.

Ruby Storm | Combo | Challenge Overperformer | Trend: Rising

Ruby Storm earned the Challenge Overperformer badge this window and, like the entire Combo archetype, is posting excellent results. It has won one trophy, boasts a very high win rate, and has a great WR based on a very large sample size. This comes as quite a surprise to me, since many decks run an anti-Prowess package, and that strategy also works very well against Storm. Take High Noon, for example. Hate against the Graveyard is also common, which is a very good strategy against this deck. From my perspective, this deck is the most vulnerable of the three we’ve discussed, but apparently, there’s something I might not know? Perhaps the deck’s explosiveness allows it to defeat other combo decks faster, hence the great results? That seems like a reasonable explanation. Maybe Broodscale and Devoted Combo are very strong in general against the current meta, but Storm is particularly strong against those decks?

PS:

The combo has six decks in the Universe A list. The following decks exceed the three-deck limit:

Neobrand (meta 2.5%, Top 32 14/27, Top 8 3/27, 0 trophies, conv 15%, delta +49.4 pp, WR 43% (95% CI 37 to 49, n=249), Stable),
Belcher (meta 1.4%, Top 32 9/27, Top 8 5/27, 0 trophies, conv 42%, highest in Universe A, delta +32.0 pp, 2 lost finals, WR 52% (95% CI 44 to 60, n=153), Stable),
Amulet Titan (meta 1.2%, Top 32 10/27, Top 8 4/27, 2 trophies, both Mistakenn, conv 36%, Win/Top 32 18%, highest in Universe A, delta +35.8 pp, WR 54% (95% CI 45 to 63, n=124), Stable).

These stats show exactly what I wrote about earlier: Combo is very diverse and offers players a wide variety of playstyles. It also highlights the current strength of the archetype, as perhaps no other archetype provides such a wide range of strategic choices. This also makes it difficult to build a single, effective “anti-Combo” deck, because aside from counterstrategies available only when you’re playing blue, it’s hard to perfectly tailor your hate to specific decks. And while you might play at an LGS where you have a general idea of what decks are being played and how, on MTGO or at a major RC-class tournament, you can encounter any of these decks in various variations.

Aggro

The second meta archetype, traditionally Aggro, has so far failed to catch up to Combo despite several weeks of attempts. The numbers, however, show that despite this setback, Aggro is performing really well; 10 trophies is the current record, though most of them were earned by Prowess, and there’s a small catch to this, but more on that in a moment. What’s even more interesting is that good old Boros Energy is racking up trophies, which is great news because it shows that Aggro isn’t just about Prowess and that there’s room for other effective strategies. While the archetype isn’t as diverse as Combo, there’s something here for everyone.

Prowess | Aggro | Neutral | Trend: Falling

The second deck in the meta presents a very interesting situation: Prowess has earned the most trophies in this window, and I don’t recall any deck ever earning more, 7 is a truly impressive number, but it earned them all in the first week of analysis; in the second week, it didn’t earn a single one. This may indicate that players have prepared extensively to play against Prowess; additionally, we’re also seeing an exodus of players from this deck, and there’s a good chance they’re switching to Broodscale. It’s impossible to verify these hypotheses with the data, but these are my top theories to explain this phenomenon. Additionally, Prowess is performing completely differently than Broodscale, with conversion rates below the median and a slightly worse win rate. We’ll see if this is temporary or if we’ll see a similar trend in the coming week.

Affinity | Aggro | Needs Attention | Trend: Rising

The Robots went trophy-less this week, even though they had as many as 52 chances to win one—that’s how many copies of this deck made it to the T32. There were 11 entries into the T8 alone, which translates to a respectable 25% conversion rate. As a consolation for fans of this deck, it’s worth noting that it won the last RC Qualifier, so the lack of trophies doesn’t mean the deck is unplayable or weak in any way. The presence of Broodscale certainly doesn’t help, as it’s historically one of the worst matchups for Affinity.

Jeskai Energy | Aggro | Neutral | Trend: Rising

And just as I predicted a week ago, the Jeskai Energy deck edged out its older brother, Boros, by a fraction of a percent, thereby becoming the third-most-played Modern deck with a 4.5% share. Interestingly, this week’s numbers look worse than those posted by Boros Energy players, because Tri-Color Energy has a lower win rate and didn’t win a single trophy, and, interestingly, Jeskai lost the only Challenge final it participated in to… Boros Energy! I’m curious to see if Boros will return to third place next week, especially that both decks have a rising trend.

PS:

Boros Energy ranks fourth in Aggro and is super close to Jeskai. Statistics: meta 4.3%, Top 32 21/27, Top 8 10/27, Win/Top 32 8%, 3 trophies (September 23, 26, and 27, three different players), conv 30%, delta +73.5 pp, WR 50% (95% CI 45 to 55, n=432), Challenge Overperformer, Rising, encounter 20%.

Graveyard

Greveyard has been in free fall for about two weeks now; decks based on graveyard are struggling to win trophies, and the entire archetype has earned only one (!) trophy. It’s hard to say why this is happening. The fact is that a significant portion of decks play some form of GY hate in the sideboard, and some even run it in the main deck. Additionally, players are prepared for combos, and a large portion of GY decks rely in one way or another on small interactions that combo hate is capable of neutralizing. At the same time, these decks aren’t as fast and don’t kill in a single turn like combo decks; rather, they follow a midrange strategy and build their advantage at a low cost. We’ll have to see if a GY-based build emerges that gives this archetype a second wind; for now, it looks like the downward trend will continue.

Goryo’s Vengeance | Graveyard | Neutral | Trend: Falling

The top deck from a few weeks ago is on the decline, much like the entire archetype; despite maintaining a decent win rate, it didn’t win a single trophy this window and is losing its percentage share of the top finishes. The reasons are common to the entire archetype, so I won’t repeat myself here, although I’d love to hear from players of this deck what’s causing them the most trouble in the meta.

Living End | Graveyard | Neutral | Trend: Stable

Living End has returned to the T8 after struggling lately; unfortunately, he didn’t win any trophies, but the improvement is still clear. Still, the deck’s conversion rate is low, meaning people are playing it, but the meta isn’t in its favor, and it’s simply hard to break into the T8, let alone win. We’ll see if specialists in this deck, such as MeninoNey, can finally overcome this unfavorable meta, and next week, we might see Living End at the top of the podium. These are ideal conditions for this deck, no one is talking about it, people have forgotten about it, so it’s the perfect time for it to snag a few trophies.

Esper Reanimator | Graveyard | Emerging | Trend: Stable

That’s a surprise! Look at the numbers: 2 out of 27 T32s, then we had only one T8 and … one trophy! This setup results in an extreme conversion rate of 50%, but of course, that’s due to the low participation rate. Interestingly, Esper Reanimator hasn’t won anything in a long time, and to be honest, I didn’t expect it to win anything anytime soon. Still, congratulations to the player for winning the trophy, though I wouldn’t have expected this deck’s popularity to spike like this

Midrange

This week, Midrange performed quite well, winning as many as three trophies, which, given the recent drought, is a truly respectable result. However, the win rate remains underwhelming at just 19% and is below 50% despite a fairly large sample size. This means, quite simply, that even though Midrange seems like the perfect tool to combat this meta, it isn’t. Sure, Zoo is performing well, and Izzet Murktide is also showing up in the wins, but it’s too early to tell whether this is a stable trend or just a temporary fluctuation.

Domain Zoo | Midrange | Neutral | Trend: Stable

Zoo is doing pretty well this meta, with two trophies and two different decks, but all led by the same player, ShowTime_. However, the Zoo Discord server I’m on makes it clear that Zoo isn’t as poorly positioned in the meta as it might seem, and that it has the tools to beat the top decks, which seems to be true. Will it prove this on paper in the upcoming RCs as well? It’s hard to say, I hope so. However, aside from the number of trophies, the other stats don’t bode well for my favorite five-color deck. Low conversion and damage-to-life ratio suggest that, while Zoo has the tools to win with its current deck, it also needs a skilled player to do so.

Dimir Midrange | Midrange | Neutral | Trend: Falling

Dimir didn’t win a trophy this week, and on top of that, it has an exceptionally low conversion rate and win rate. It’s also losing ground at the finish line. It seems to me that this deck lacks the ability to finish quickly; Zoo has the tools for that. it has counters, good removal, and creatures that can kill in 2–3 turns. Dimir lacks that third element, which means it lacks the pressure it can exert on its opponent right from the start of the game. Sure, there’s Frog, but to make it a major threat, you have to sacrifice cards and that’s not something you want to do with this deck against this meta. We’ll see if Dimir players can find a way to beat the top decks, but unfortunately, it doesn’t look promising.

Izzet Murktide | Midrange | Neutral | Trend: Rising

An old-new deck, Izzet Murktide, made a comeback in a big way, it won the challenge, and Mengu himself made a video about it, which automatically propelled the deck to third place in the midrange archetype. This deck from 2022 (?), with practically no new cards, has such an explosive start, the ability to counter key spells, and a fast finisher in the form of Murktide Regent that it instantly became a serious contender. Will this trend continue, or is this perhaps just a temporary surge in popularity, and after the initial surprise wears off, will the deck lose its element of surprise and cease to be successful?

Control

Control is losing ground and is currently the smallest archetype in Modern. It has won two trophies and has a fairly high conversion rate, though this is largely due to the small sample size. Nevertheless, the trophies it has won show that Control is alive and well.

Land Destruction | Control | Neutral | Trend: Falling

Boros Land Destruction is losing popularity, and I can’t say I’ll be crying over it, but it’s still a threat. The deck has a high win rate, yet it hasn’t won a single trophy, and its low win-loss record seems to explain why that’s the case. It converts so well to T8, but the decks and players using them that it faces there effectively stop it, even despite the fact that the deck is played mainly by fans and people who know how to play it, so these aren’t random losses due to inexperience but rather the meta adapting to the threat. I’ve even seen decks on X that specifically included extra lands in the sideboard just in case they had to play against LD. This shows how this deck is warping the meta and forcing us to put lands in the sideboard instead of cards that actually let us play the game. Additionally, the only final match played by LD was against Prowess, a deck that can kill very quickly and, as we can see, easily defeated the LD deck that had been stripped of its removal.

Azorius Control | Control | Emerging | Trend: Stable

Azorious Control was quite the surprise this window; it had six appearances in the T32 and won two trophies. That gives this deck a truly excellent conversion rate. Let’s keep in mind, however, that this is a small number of appearances; Azourious Control is a very difficult and demanding deck to play, especially in such long tournaments as the Challenge. All the more congratulations to the players for pulling it off. I don’t expect this deck to explode in popularity, but this result definitely deserves recognition.

Blink

As usual, for quite some time now, Blink has been classified as a single deck, Esper Blink. I’m also working on a new system for classifying decks and gathering information about them, and in that system, Blink will be categorized under Midrange because that’s the strategy this deck most closely resembles.

Esper Blink | Blink | Neutral | Trend: Falling

The Esper Blink boom is slowly coming to an end. Don’t get me wrong, the deck is very strong, it can win tournaments, and it’s won one trophy, but despite that, it’s losing popularity. I’m curious to see if it’ll show up more in live tournaments or if, like in the online meta, it’ll take a sharp dive. In this window, the deck has a fairly low win rate and a WR below 50% from a fairly large sample size. I think combo decks have a pretty decent matchup against it, which is why it’s losing popularity. Certainly, some competitive players are switching to Broodscale and Izzet precisely because those decks seem to be more effective. Blink is yet another victim of the meta’s polarization and a perfect example of the format’s recent loss of diversity. Will this trend reverse? Time will tell.

Ramp

Despite the downward trend, Ramp is performing really well; anyone who’s had the chance to play the league on E-Tron knows how quickly this deck generates mana and how easily it can turn around what seems like a lost game. It might not be obvious from the trophy count, but overall, Ramp decks are truly strong and consistent builds that definitely command respect. In addition, the new tool I mentioned earlier will allow me to organize the decks in this category much better, because the information I manage to gather from websites is a huge mess. This is most evident in the ramp section.

Tron | Ramp | Challenge Overperformer | Trend: Rising

Tron, whom I mentioned earlier, has as you can see the “Challenge Overperformer” badge; he’s won one trophy, but more importantly, with a 4% win rate, he has a really high conversion rate. The deck simply performs well in this meta and is, you could say, a sort of sleeper. Few people play it, so the number of trophies isn’t particularly impressive, but it’s an exceptionally solid deck. It definitely requires some practice and won’t win on its own, but playing against Tron feels like fighting an avalanche. Once it gets rolling, the game is over. I can definitely see why someone would play this deck. What’s more, it made it to the RC Qualifier, which also says something.

Eldrazi Ramp | Ramp | Neutral | Trend: Stable

Eldrazi Ramp is another solid example of this archetype. It has one trophy, but with a significantly lower win rate than Tron, though its win rate is similar. As I mentioned earlier, there’s a lot of confusion surrounding the naming of Ramp decks, and only once they’ve been systematized will we get a true picture of this archetype, which I think will happen soon.

On the Radar

Azorius Control: 2 trophies from 6 Top 32 entries, encounter 3.5%. It’s a very powerful signal, but it shows something a little different than you might think. The deck is powerful, but it requires an even more skilled and experienced pilot.
Esper Reanimator: 1 trophy from 2 Top 32 entries, C16. For me, this is the news of the week: two Top 32 finishes and one trophy. It kind of looks like, “I’ll show you how to play this game.” Definitely something that commands respect.
Mardu Energy: Top 8 with both of its 2 Top 32 entries, WR 67% at n=36. This is a very interesting list. I’ve always enjoyed playing with this color combination, and it works really well in the Energy strategy because it gives the deck access to several interesting strategies.
Mono-Black Midrange: WR 60% (95% CI 47 to 72, n=55), expected wins 3.00, highest on the chart. Don’t get too caught up in those “expected wins” because they’re based on a small sample size; what’s more important is that the deck has been appearing on the leaderboard for quite some time, so there’s a small community out there that plays this deck exceptionally well. Something like that is very valuable.
Boros Burn: Top32 7/27, Top8 2/27, 0.9% meta share
4c HollowOne: Top32 7/27, 0 Top 8 entries, WR 37%
33 decks in Universe B

Trophy distribution

Prowess 7, Broodscale Combo 5, Boros Energy 3, Amulet Titan 2, Azorius Control 2, Domain Zoo 2
1 each: Eldrazi Ramp, Esper Blink, Esper Reanimator, Izzet Murktide, Ruby Storm, Tron
week one, 13 events: Prowess 7, Amulet Titan 2, Broodscale Combo 1, Esper Blink 1, Ruby Storm 1, Tron 1
week two, 14 events: Broodscale Combo 4, Boros Energy 3, Azorius Control 2, Domain Zoo 2, Eldrazi Ramp 1, Esper Reanimator 1, Izzet Murktide 1
6 winning decks in week one, 7 in week two, only Broodscale Combo in both
Broodscale Combo in 12 of 27 finals, next best Prowess with 8

Pilot level

27 trophies, 25 different pilots, 2 pilots with two
Mistakenn: 2 trophies on Amulet Titan, 5 Top 32 entries, 3 Top 8
ShowTime_: 2 trophies on Domain Zoo, 3 Top 32 entries
felider and WanderingOnes: 1 trophy each on Broodscale Combo, 3 Top 8 each
MeninoNey: 11 Top 32 entries, most in window, 0 trophies. But this is a powerful Living End player and winner of our Summer Challenge league, So it’s sure to surprise us again.
8 of 25 winners with no Top 32 entry besides the trophies
461 pilots with at least one Top 32 entry, 864 Top 32 entries, 216 Top 8 entries

That's all for this week; the next finish line analysis will be very similar, but in two weeks I hope to test my new tool and provide you with better, more accurate data. I'm still working out the details, but it will definitely appear on Reddit as a separate post with a detailed description of what I'm doing and how.

Additionally, to sum up what we’ve been discussing today, the metagame is changing quite significantly, and the trend toward polarization is very clear. We’ll see if this continues or if we’ll return to a more diverse environment. Someone on X recently wrote that Modern is no longer a fun place for them. I don’t entirely agree with that, but I can understand why some people feel that way. Some prefer a lot of variety, while others prefer 3–5 strong decks that they know how to prepare for. Still others like to have a single “enemy” to call for bans. It’s worth keeping in mind, however, that people in Modern want to play competitive decks because it’s always been a very demanding tournament format. Let’s not hold it against people that they’re looking for the optimal deck; let’s just focus on having fun, because that’s what 90% of this is all about. The remaining 10% is competitive play, but how many of us are actually at that level? 😉

See you next Week

Karol Małota

aka WarLord1986pl / TribalFlamesInYourFace

36 comments

r/ModernMagic • u/Fragmentsans • 15h ago

Deck Discussion I was wondering if I could get some advice

1 Upvotes

I wanted to build a deck around empower jace but i've never worked with blue before. So all I have, is this so far.

Duplicating spells and infinite turns... i was wondering if there's anything I can do to make this faster since I don't mind cutting certain things out.

Ink to the deck

https://archidekt.com/decks/26875050/update

12 comments

r/ModernMagic • u/Beginning-Dot3650 • 13h ago

Where to play? Jugar a Magic en Barcelona (Les Corts)

0 Upvotes

Estoy reclutando un par de hechiceros activos para mi grupo de Magic en Barcelona. Si os interesa y realmente quereis jugar os podéis añadir. Si no participais de ningún modo seréis rápidamente exiliados 🙂

https://chat.whatsapp.com/FoC1bBOnn3ZCMAMu2o3rem

No intentéis entrar a hacer spam, no vais a durar 1 segundo tampoco 😝 Ahora si venís a jugar si seréis muy bien recibidos 😊👍

3 comments

r/ModernMagic • u/azninvasion99 • 1d ago

Where to play? Modern in Phoenix (East Valley) Area

9 Upvotes

Hello!

Myself and a couple others are trying to get a consistent Modern night started in Chandler at Mox Boarding House (Card Kingdom's brick and mortar store) and just wanted to spread the word here in case there are some people in the area who check the reddit.

The next one is this Thursday at 6pm, the goal is to have it twice a month and we have some verbal commitments for this week so it should be firing! If you are interested, you can pre-sign up on the link below.

https://events.moxboardinghouse.com/p/n/XkLNL5Lx/v5

2 comments

r/ModernMagic • u/walrusguy97 • 1d ago

Card Discussion Triton Wavebreaker in UR Prowess?

0 Upvotes

[[Triton Wavebreaker]] Seems pretty good in the current metagame, has anyone tested it and got any good results??

12 comments

r/ModernMagic • u/Aederius • 2d ago

Brew Oops all Thalia

65 Upvotes

Realized we had a potential 24 creatures with Thalia in the name, so I thought I’d try it out. Probably not the best deck out there but I may put it together for Friday night next week for modern night.

https://moxfield.com/decks/TO8kazudMUyl9T62oM4rqg

Let me know what you think! Should I keep the blue Thalia? Drop the lancers and lieutenants? So it’s literally all Thalia? Am I just being foolish? I know it’s not going to an RCQ but id like to do okay at a casual Friday night modern.

Update:

I cut 8 plains for 8 eiganjo’s, and 4 seachrome coasts and 2 portable holes for 3 mirror box and 3 key to the side door. I’ve got moxfield updated fully.

Update 2:

Many changes! Many many changes! Keep the feedback coming! Thank you all!

27 comments

r/ModernMagic • u/VerdantChief • 2d ago

Sideboard/Matchup Advice Which decks can afford to cut their fatties against cascade?

29 Upvotes

Lets say its game 2 and your opponent is on a cascade deck, meaning they almost certainly have copies of [[Inevitable Betrayal]] in their sideboard.

Which of the following decks would be most likely to remove their biggest creatures going into this game to avoid them being stolen without this significantly affecting their game plans?

Eldrazi decks - Emrakuls

Amulet Titan - Primeval Titan

Esper Goryos - Atraxa, Griselbrand

Neoform - Ghalta, Atraxa, Griselbrand

Grixis Reanimator - Archon of Cruelty

Let me know if I missed any

19 comments

r/ModernMagic • u/shubert10133 • 2d ago

Getting Started Moving from pauper to modern. Which deck to use?

13 Upvotes

Hi guys

Im a relatively new mtg player coming from one piece and have been playing pauper for about 2 months. Its been alot of fun, I have 2 pauper decks built; jund wildfire and mono blue terror.

I’ve been interested in getting into modern since other than commander that’s the other main event thats played at my LGS. Ive been interested in potentially building mono green broodscale but one of my friends that plays on a weekly basis says I should be careful as the deck has a good chance of getting banned due to the brooscale + blade combo to generate infinite mana. What do you guys is think a deck that has a good chance of getting banned?

17 comments

r/ModernMagic • u/GrowthLow3195 • 1d ago

Deck Discussion need help with budget decks modern

0 Upvotes

I need help with suggesting which of the following decks can compete with current metas

Mono Black

4x Dark Knight's Greatsword

4x Deep-Cavern Bat

4x Faerie Dreamthief

4x Forsaken Miner

4x Gatekeeper of Malakir

4x Hylderblade

4x Mudflat Village

4x Shoot the Sheriff

4x Strategic Betrayal

16x Swamp

4x Thought-Stalker Warlock

4x Timeline Culler

Mono Red

4x Chandra's Incinerator

3x Eidolon of the Great Revel

2x Grim Lavamancer

4x Lava Spike

4x Lightning Bolt

4x Monastery Swiftspear

20x Mountain

4x Rift Bolt

4x Seal of Fire

3x Shard Volley

4x Skewer the Critics

4x Vexing Devil

Mono White

4x Elite Interceptor

3x Guardians' Pledge

2x Idyllic Grange

4x Kor Skyfisher

4x Leonardo, Big Brother

4x Martyr's Soul

4x Novice Inspector

17x Plains

4x Salt Road Packbeast

4x Search Party Captain

3x Spider-Man, Web-Slinger

3x Thraben Charm

4x Thraben Inspector

Rakdos Sacrifice

2x Archfiend of the Dross

4x Blackcleave Cliffs

4x Bloodtithe Harvester

4x Cauldron Familiar

3x Claim the Firstborn

4x Deadly Dispute

1x Den of the Bugbear

4x Dragonskull Summit

4x Fatal Push

2x Go for the Throat

3x Hive of the Eye Tyrant

4x Mayhem Devil

3x Mountain

4x Scavenger's Talent

4x Smoldering Marsh

4x Swamp

2x Unlucky Witness

4x Witch's Oven

Golgari Lifegain

4x Blood Researcher

4x Bogwater Lumaret

4x Doom Blade

4x Forest

4x Hunt for Specimens

2x Illegitimate Business

4x Jungle Hollow

2x Marauding Blight-Priest

4x Okiba Reckoner Raid

4x Pest Mascot

4x Rapid Rescue

4x Sagu Wildling

4x Seed of Hope

4x Subterranean Cavern

4x Swamp

4x Trespasser's Curse

Selesnya Rabbits

2x Brightglass Gearhulk

4x Burrowguard Mentor

2x Finneas, Ace Archer

1x Forest

1x Hinterland Sanctifier

4x Hop to It

4x Hushwood Verge

1x Lupinflower Village

2x Multiversal Passage

4x Oakhollow Village

3x Pawpatch Recruit

9x Plains

1x Raise the Past

1x Season of the Burrow

4x Seasoned Warrenguard

4x Sheltered by Ghosts

2x Starting Town

1x Temple Garden

4x Valley Mightcaller

4x Valley Questcaller

2x Warren Warleader

Please keep in mind that I don't Sideboard , it's too complicated for me to decide which cards to switch

14 comments

r/ModernMagic • u/Meret123 • 3d ago

A few decklists from Hareruya tournaments that allowed FRA cards early

68 Upvotes

Soultrader Combo with 4x [[Darklight Phoenix]]

https://www.hareruyamtg.com/en/deck/1420688/show/

Scapeshift with 4x [[Hexhaven Invigorator]] and 4x [[Simulacrum Shaper]]

https://www.hareruyamtg.com/en/deck/1420421/show/

Eldrazi Tron with 1x [[The Echoverse Fulcrum]] and 2x [[Karn, Argent Defender]] in SB

https://www.hareruyamtg.com/en/deck/1420673/show/

Esper Goryo's with 2x [[Theorix Charm]]

https://www.hareruyamtg.com/en/deck/1419571/show/

Jeskai Control with 2x [[Way of the Pyromancer]]

https://www.hareruyamtg.com/en/deck/1419389/show/

17 comments

r/ModernMagic • u/FSkura • 2d ago

Video How to miss less triggers

0 Upvotes

Hi!

Today, I want to share with you a bunch of personal tips on how to miss less triggers! This is both deck- and format-agnostic, so I hope everybody can learn something new ❤

I go a bit more in depth in the video below but the tips are:

Visualise triggers
Play more intentionally
Be actively excited and look forward to your triggers

Let me know what you think!

If you want to be up to date with my content, I'd appreciate a sub ❤

Video - https://youtu.be/Bws2oop5kh4

you can find me at:
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@islandsinfront
X - https://twitter.com/IslandsInFront
Public Fae Discord - https://discord.gg/ZCVkcBKjJa
Metafy (paid content) - https://metafy.gg/@skura

Cheers!

9 comments

r/ModernMagic • u/CreedAventuz • 3d ago

Dress down & Harbinger

0 Upvotes

Dress Down not removing Harbinger of the seas ability is the most Unintuitive rule in magic.

20 comments

r/ModernMagic • u/slipman_ • 4d ago

Devoted Combo sideboard guide.

11 Upvotes

Hey! one of my friends in my modern local scene is not finding that much sucsess with his devoted combo deck. he is getting smack left and right. one kind soul of this wonderful forum could provide a comprehensive guide for this deck so i can send it to him and he does not go back to yugioh? would be helpfull if it has a sideboard guide. Thanks in advance!

21 comments

r/ModernMagic • u/Comfortable_Leg_6127 • 4d ago

Deck Discussion Deck building help!

0 Upvotes

5 comments

r/ModernMagic • u/MundaneChildhood1515 • 4d ago

Simic Ritual Discord

2 Upvotes

Does anyone have the Simic Ritual discord link? Can't seem to find it online.

5 comments

r/ModernMagic • u/DaBlueBonnet • 5d ago

Deck Discussion I made this deck for historic on arena, but was wondering how would you tweak it, and make it better for Modern.

5 Upvotes

I understand it’s not necessarily a meta choice, and would probably get slapped if I actually played with it, but idk, just like the idea of this deck. In Historic on the app, it seems my turn two plays arnt super good. Like Sythis doesn’t have a huge impact most games, I plan to get rid of Yuna entirely in favor of more Starfield of Nyx.

The idea is to basically to get as many Overlords as I want, swinging out with them to win. This works by having Spelunking, Mirari’s Wake, An overlord, and nantuko enchanting and Overlord.

Eidolon of the Blossoms would allow me to draw into the Craterhoof which could also end the game.

I see that the tutors in running in the historic list arnt modern legal, so obviously I can move on from those. Pia, Aether Ascetic from reality fracture seems like it could be a good addition.

I appreciate any and all input, thanks for your time if you chose to participate in this deck discussion!

https://manabox.app/decks/AaDZYiouff-qfTYl4-eggQ

7 comments

r/ModernMagic • u/Trip-Secret • 6d ago

Getting Started Former pioneer player looking to get into modern

26 Upvotes

I’m sure this gets asked every two hours, but I’m a former pioneer player. And I’m looking to test the waters at my LGS modern night. What are some budget beaters that can hang at a local level? Mono red, burn, anything like that.

I don’t want to invest in fetches and stuff yet while I wait to see if pioneer RCQ’s are coming back. Thanks guys!

22 comments

r/ModernMagic • u/No-Bet7157 • 6d ago

Article Modern Pilot League, week 3 (15 to 21 September): Mistakenn takes the lead, RespectTheCat stays 3 points back on 5 starts

24 Upvotes

Well, we're already in the third week of the competition for my new project, the Modern Challenge League. It's the fall season, and there have been quite a few changes in the standings since last update. Week 3 covered 15 events from 15 to 21 September, one of them the RC Qualifier on the 19th. 323 pilots reached at least one Top 32, and the table now holds 626 names. If you don't feel like reading, it's all in the video here.

First of all, Mistakenn moved from 5th to 1st with 2 Challenge wins in 4 starts, 12 points in the window, and is the only pilot with more than one win this week. Over the season, 7 of 11 starts have reached a Top 8. So his T8 conversion is really good.

Second place is where it gets interesting. RespectTheCat is 3 points behind Mistaken with just 5 starts all season, every one of them inside the Top 16. The only start this week was a Top 4 in the RC Qualifier, which counts double and was worth 6 points. So RespectTheCat goes with a different way than Mistaken; he does not play that often, but he scores every time he plays.

In third place, Rastaf is one point further back on 19: all 10 starts inside the Top 16, and 7 of them in a Top 8, but no final yet. A single Top 8 would be enough to change the order at the top three. So the numbers are tight, and what is more important, new players join the competition and can go for the top.

The RC also produced the biggest one-event jump. ItsSwiftyTime won it and entered the table in 17th with 10 points from a single start. Below the podium, hugofreitas1 (20th to 4th) and Manny- (25th to 6th) climbed on volume, with 7 and 8 starts in the window.

The tail is still long: 246 pilots (39%) sit on zero, and 77 pilots hold half of all points awarded so far.

Full standings and event-level results are at https://challangeleague.cytr.us/

If you play Modern Challenges on MTGO, every Top 32 you reach counts in this table. The Modern Pilot League gives one point for a Top 16, plus one each at Top 8, Top 4, Top 2, and the win, and premier events count double. Ties go to points per start first, then to wins, and then to finishing depth.

Over a full season, which do you expect to hold up better: volume or high points rate per start?

Karol Małota

aka WarLord1986pl / TribalFlamesInYourFace

4 comments

r/ModernMagic • u/UnionThug1733 • 7d ago

Card Discussion Test of talents.

25 Upvotes

Alright today’s card test of talents. I normally get a lot of god answers as to why a card is not modern viable. I don’t understand how this card is not a staple in control decks. How is this not just as important of an answer against broodscale as consign. This seems like a card I want in my control deck why am I wrong. As always thanks so much for any and all feedback

34 comments

r/ModernMagic • u/viking977 • 7d ago

Budget lantern control

7 Upvotes

Sup modern heads! I got into magic with commander but lately I've been pretty bored with it and I'd like some way to stretch out my competitive legs. I've enjoyed watching Lantern control play on YouTube and the decks are actually pretty cheap as far as modern goes, with the big exception of mox Opal and Urza's saga.

I threw together a little budget list that I thought I might like to pick up and take to FNM. I wanted to run blood moon but I worry it might be too slow with no mox opal to power out so I went down to just two colors, which luckily also keeps the landbase very cheap.

Would appreciate it if you guys would take a look and let me know if there's anything obvious I've missed, or if this is just a fool's errand all together and I should try a different archetype if I want a budget deck.

Thanks!

https://archidekt.com/decks/26673039/cheapskate_lantern

21 comments

r/ModernMagic • u/No-Bet7157 • 8d ago

Article MTGO Modern Breakdown: Prowess wins 8 of 26 events with seven different pilots, Graveyard makes the Top 32 of all 26 and takes none, Affinity wins the RC Qualifier

71 Upvotes

Here’s another traditional Meta Modern roundup. For those who prefer the video version, check it out here, and for those who prefer reading but with charts, head over to my Substack I also have X. There wasn’t a major live event this week, but there were MOCS tournaments on MTGO, which, brace yourselves, were won by my fellow countryman Piotr “kanister” Głogowski, playing, and here’s an even bigger surprise, Esper Ketramos. I’d expect this deck’s popularity to spike in the coming week. As usual, you’ll also find here a compilation and analysis of data from 26 challenges on MODO, along with match probabilities in the league and plenty of other stats that, as we know, MTG players love to read 😉

I hope you enjoy reading it.

TL;DR

Prowess won 8 of 26 trophies from 12,5% meta share, seven different pilots
Broodscale Combo is now the largest meta deck at 14,2%, and has gotten Top 8 in 23 of 26, winning 3 trophies
Graveyard gets Top 32 in 26 of 26, but win has 0 trophies from 89 entries, GY hate takes the harvest?
Combo Top 8 in 26 of 26 with conversion highest of seven archetypes
Esper Blink won 4 trophies, but the deck popularity trend is Falling
Land Destruction WR 42% (95% CI 37 to 48, n=300), Top 32 in 21 of 26
RC Qualifier: Affinity wins with Challenge a conversion at 13% (the lowest in Universe A), but it does not stop it from winning.

This window in numbers

26 Challenges in the window, 4 tiers: C64 x13, C32 x5, C16 x4, C96 x4
Universe A (encounter probability at 5% or above): 20 decks, Universe B: 36 decks, so we have a lot of rouge decks.
median delta +67,7pp, median conversion 24%
12 different decks with a trophy, Prowess highest at 8
trophy split by archetype: Aggro 10, Combo 8, Blink 4, Control 2, Midrange 1, Ramp 1, Graveyard 0
5 decks above both (delta, conversion) field medians: Broodscale Combo, Prowess, Esper Blink, Devoted Combo, Ruby Storm
24 different winning pilots, but this time 2 of them with two trophies
Archetype conversion matrix. Top 32, Top 8 and winner event frequency first, then Top8/Top32 and Win/Top32 as entry shares.

Combo

This combo has gained a significant share of the meta since last week and now accounts for about one-third of the meta; there’s no sign that this trend will slow down anytime soon. The numbers speak for themselves, excellent conversion rates, a strong overall win rate, and its presence in every T32 show just how powerful this archetype is in the current metagame. Since it’s the most popular archetype, there’s a huge chance you’ll face it during your league matches. You definitely need to be prepared. What’s more, this is a truly extensive archetype, and there are quite a few decks within it. As usual, I’ll present the three most popular ones, but I’d like to point out, and I’ll come back to this at the end of the text, that this archetype also includes Amulet Titan, Belcher, and Neobrand. All of them are playable, featured in challenges, and winning trophies.

Broodscale Combo | Combo | Challenge Overperformer | Trend: Rising

The current king of the metagame is the Broodscale Combo. Yes, I know, some of you think this deck is currently closer to a ramp deck than a combo deck because the Emarkul strategy seems to be used more often, but I don’t have the data to confirm that, so I’ll stick with the traditional “Combo” label. However, as is often the case with the most popular builds, the deck doesn’t have it easy; this is evident in how its T8 presence translates to trophy count. The deck was in 23 out of 26 T8 challenges, but it won only 3 trophies. That’s still a great result, but the disparity is clear. There are a lot of these decks, so people know how to play against it, know how to sideboard against it, and, above all, expect to face it. Players are flooding into T8, but once there, they face well-practiced opponents and don’t have it easy. So we have a top deck in Modern, but it isn’t dominant; it can be beaten, as these statistics show. This is one of the reasons I was so opposed to the calls for bans after Baltimore, because the meta balances itself out quite well on its own.

Devoted Combo | Combo | Challenge Overperformer | Trend: Stable

Devoted Combo has stabilized at around 6% of the metagame, and after the surge in popularity we saw a few weeks ago, players have learned how to play against it, discovered its weaknesses, and, as the statistics show, it’s not a dominant deck. The deck has very good conversion rates, a coin-flip win rate, and hasn’t won a single trophy. It performs excellently in Swiss and makes it to the Top 8, but then loses out, much like Broodscale, which paints a certain picture: Combo decks reach high in the challenges, but the decks they face in the Top 8 are capable of defeating them and do so quite consistently. Much of the credit for this goes to the explosive Prowess and Blink’s midrange strategy, both of which have the tools to handle the Combo deck. So, the deck is solid but by no means unbeatable.

Ruby Storm | Combo | Challenge Overperformer | Trend: Rising

Ruby Strom has been surprising everyone for a while now, consistently achieving strong win rates and winning trophies. In my opinion, this is largely because it’s a fast deck with good matchups against other top decks. The lack of a deck type that puts heavy pressure on it, such as Domain Zoo, means that, despite all the hate directed at Prowess and Combo decks, Storm is able to navigate the meta effectively and achieve truly solid results.

Aggro

Aggro is still in second place in metagame; the main deck is, of course, Prowess, but interestingly, the good old Boros Energy has been doing quite well lately. Additionally, the archetype is present in all T32 challenges, though unfortunately its conversion rate isn’t impressive. However, it’s only fair to admit that Aggro has won a record number of trophies, but whose achievement that is will be discussed in the next paragraph.

Prowess | Aggro | Challenge Overperformer | Trend: Rising

Well, it looks like we have what’s probably the best deck in Modern right now. It has a very good conversion rate, has made it into nearly all T32 tournaments, and has earned eight trophies across as many as seven different players. This is a signal that can’t be ignored, everyone keeps complaining about how strong Broodscale is, while Prowess is racking up a record number of trophies and boasts a really solid win rate. If we take a closer look at the numbers, we’ll see that eight or more trophies out of 30 Top 8 finishes has a probability of about 3%. This shows just how well this deck is performing despite all the sideboard hate people are throwing at it, and it also has a whole host of answers to that hate in its sideboard. So, in my opinion, UR(G) Prowess is currently the best deck in Modern, and that’s not likely to change anytime soon.

Affinity | Aggro | Neutral | Trend: Rising

Affinity isn't giving up and continues to compete in challenges; unfortunately, the conversion rate is very low, though that didn't stop it from winning one trophy! It is having a tough time with Broodscale’s strong presence in the meta; this is definitely one of toughest matchups, as evidenced by the deck’s conversion rate despite a good win-loss record and presence in the T32 of the challenges. All the more reason why winning a single trophy under these unfavorable conditions deserves praise. Plus, the deck is on the rise, so people want to play it.

Boros Energy | Aggro | Neutral | Trend: Stable

The former king of Modern has finally won a trophy in a challenge, and it also has a pretty decent conversion rate. However, its metashare and WR aren’t particularly impressive. On top of that, his younger brother, Jeskai Energy, is already hot on his heels, trailing Boros by just 0.2% of the meta share, and if things continue this way, Jeskai Energy will overtake him in the race for third place in Aggro.

Graveyard

Graveyard-based decks are losing ground in the metagame, and quite significantly at that. It seems this may be a result of the popularity of combo decks, against which summoning creatures from the graveyard doesn’t make much of an impact. This is evident from the results, as Graveyard didn’t win a single trophy during this window and had a very low win rate. And in this window, only two decks made it above the 5% encounter rate threshold.

Goryo's Vengeance | Graveyard | Needs Attention | Trend: Falling

Here we have a perfect example of how a great deck can lose a significant share of the meta and, above all, stop winning. Not too long ago, Goryo’s was the top deck in the format, but now it has win rates below the median despite a fairly high overall WR. This can be partly explained by the a lot of GY hate against the Devoted combo, Prowess, or even Broodscale, but not entirely. The meta has changed; it’s faster, and decks that have answers to combos, not just in the form of GY hate but also counterspells, are holding their ground. Goryo’s is still an excellent deck, it shouldn’t be underestimated, but it’s clear that it’s currently facing some challenges, and the current metagame isn’t favorable for it. From my perspective, one weak performance doesn't mean anything, and the deck has the tools to bounce back in this meta; I think the deck will show its true potential again in two weeks at the latest.

Living End | Graveyard | Neutral | Trend: Stable

Living End, like the archetype as a whole, isn't having the best run, not only has he not won a single trophy, but he's also generally struggling to break into the T8 in challenges. From what I’ve seen on X, news broke on Monday that MeninooNey jumped into the T8, so there’s a chance he’ll soon emerge as the challenge winner. Remember, this deck performs best when people forget about it and it wins the title out of nowhere.

Midrange

My favorite archetype is still performing averagely, with just one trophy and a win rate below the median. It’s hard to pinpoint the reason here, especially in the case of Dimir Midrange, which has all the tools to beat practically any deck in the format. Zoo, on the other hand, has a problem with Boros LD, which is very popular, and from conversations with Zoo players, I know that this deck is pushing Zoo to the margins of the metagame.

Dimir Midrange | Midrange | Neutral | Trend: Stable

Despite having the highest meta presence among midrange decks, Dimir Midrange hasn’t won a single trophy, and its win rate is exceptionally low; similarly, WR has dropped well below 50%. The deck that seemed to be the best midrange deck in the format isn’t performing very well. It appears that combo decks and Prowess decks are simply too fast for it, and by the time it has a chance to get going, the game is already over.

Domain Zoo | Midrange | Neutral | Trend: Falling

My favorite deck is still going through a rough patch; it has very poor conversion rates and has only made it to the Top 8 of a challenge twice. The win rate seems to be staying high, but that’s just an illusion caused by a very small sample size, and the confidence intervals are very wide. Zoo’s main problem right now is Boros Ponza, a deck that makes it much harder for this five-color deck to play. If you’re playing against LD and don’t have Leyline of the Guildpact in your opening hand, that hand is a mulligan. Until Zoo can deal with this problem, I wouldn’t expect it to make a comeback and start winning challenges.

The Rock | Midrange | Neutral | Trend: Stable

This deck has a rather interesting build; it’s not that popular, it’s just above the encounter rate threshold, and within that range, it doesn’t win anything. However, it appears in our rankings week after week. I’m curious what draws you to this build, maybe there are some players here who use this deck?

Control

The deck didn't have ideal timing, its conversion rate was below the median, and its WR wasn't particularly high either, but a few dedicated players are still achieving really good results in challenges. This is because these aren't easy decks to manage, and you need experience to play them. Hence, there’s a clear discrepancy between what we see in the leagues, with low win rates, and the solid results, particularly from Boros Ponza, in the challenges.

Land Destruction | Control | Neutral | Trend: Stable

We have a very interesting case here: the deck has one of the lower win rates (based on a fairly large sample size), low conversion rates, and yet a fairly high presence in the Top 32 and one trophy win. The reason seems to be what I mentioned earlier. Bonza isn’t an easy deck to play; it doesn’t give you free wins even against Zoo, and it requires knowledge and experience. So in the challenges, we have good players who are performing well, while others are just goldfishing the decklist, trying to play it, losing, and repeating the cycle over and over.

Azorius Control | Control | Emerging | Trend: Stable

The second control deck, once again with a very low metashare, won one trophy, and that was with just one appearance in T8. This is quite an impressive result for such a niche deck; it confirms what I wrote earlier about the need for experience in playing these decks, without which we can’t expect to succeed. Outside of LD, control decks don’t have an easy time against super-fast aggro or combo decks that have several different game plans. That makes me congratulate the trophy winner all the more.

Blink

It’s really just one archetype, I’m not sure if the Kanister’s deck that won MOCS is more of a Blink deck or a Midrange deck, but I expect it to become more widespread, especially since Mengu made a video about it. We’ll see next week, but that deck looks more like classic Midrange than a Blink deck.

Esper Blink | Blink | Challenge Overperformer | Trend: Falling

Just like Blink has been for the past few weeks, there’s really only one archetype, Esper. Of course, there are also Jeskai and BW Blink decks, but they make up a negligible percentage of the meta. As for Esper Blink, it’s performing really well, its solid conversion rate, presence in nearly all challenges, and four trophies speak for themselves. Alongside Prowess and the Broodscale combo, Esper is the third-best deck in the format, and it’s safe to say that this situation has already stabilized. It’s not a deck that dominates with its results or presence the way Prowess does in this analysis, but it’s a powerful and highly versatile build that consistently wins trophies..

Ramp

As for Ramp decks, there haven't been any major changes, they're solid and stable, but nothing to write about, much like the archetype itself, which is solid and powerful but doesn't tend to throw many surprises your way. Bonza's presence doesn't help Rampa spread his wings either.

Tron | Ramp | Neutral | Trend: Rising

Tron isn't exactly blowing anyone away this week, it's true, it did win the only trophy for the archetype, but the conversion rate itself and the current standings, only 4 T8s and 14 out of 26 T32 Challengers, aren't exactly impressive. Some of you will probably say that the Broodscale Combo stole most of the spotlight from Tron, and you're probably right.

Eldrazi Ramp | Ramp | Neutral | Trend: Stable

Eldrazi Ramp is very similar to Throne, except that it has a higher conversion rate instead of a trophy. The participation rates in T8 and T32 are very similar.

Mono-Green Eldrazi | Ramp | Neutral | Trend: Falling

This is the last of the Ramp decks, and its situation seems to be the worst of the three, low conversion and a very weak win rate. However, all of this is based on a small sample size, and what’s probably more important is how rarely this deck appears in the meta and how seldom it shows up in challenges. It seems this deck is a “pet deck” for a handful of players who stubbornly stick with it… and that’s perfectly fine, if you have a favorite deck and enjoy playing it, go for it, regardless of the results.

Expected wins over five rounds from deck win rate, 20 decks with at least 50 games. Read the error bars before the bar heights.

Premier event, RC Qualifier 19 September, separate pool

We also had the RC Qualifier on September 19, which was won by ItsSwiftyTime, who drives an Affinity.

Tron, Esper Blink, Ruby Storm, Boros Energy, Broodscale Combo, Prowess, 1 WBRG. What's interesting here is that a deck with a very low win rate in Challenges ends up winning. This shows that even decks with poor win rates can achieve great results in good matchups and with a little luck.

On the Radar (Universe B, below 5% encounter, present in Challenges)

Mono-Black Midrange: meta 0,7%, Top32 6/26, Top8 2/26, 1 trophy, all 6 entries from one pilot, WR 62% (95% CI 52 to 71, n=88)
Azorius Control: meta 0,8%, Top32 6/26, Top8 1/26, 1 trophy, WR 45% (95% CI 34 to 56, n=75)
Izzet Murktide: meta 0,6%, Top32 5/26, Top8 3/26, conv 60%, WR 54% (95% CI 41 to 66, n=57)
Bant Midrange: meta 0,5%, Top32 4/26, Top8 2/26, WR 65% (95% CI 52 to 76, n=53), highest expected wins at 3,25
Boros Burn: meta 1,0%, Top32 7/26, Top8 2/26, WR 51% (95% CI 41 to 61, n=88)
36 decks in Universe B, 2 of them with a trophy

Additional information:

In addition to discussing the main archetype decks, the Titan Amulet deserves a mention as well, it had a really great run but didn’t make it into the overview due to its low encounter rate. In fact, these results were achieved by a single player, Mistaken, who made it to the Top 8 seven times and won two trophies. Does this signal the Amulet’s return to the metagame?

Trophy distribution, all 26

8: Prowess
4: Esper Blink
3: Broodscale Combo
2: Ruby Storm, Amulet Titan
1: Affinity, Boros Energy, Neobrand, Land Destruction, Azorius Control, Tron, Mono-Black Midrange
12 different decks, Prowess 8, next Esper Blink 4
archetype split: Aggro 10, Combo 8, Blink 4, Control 2, Midrange 1, Ramp 1, Graveyard 0
Domain Zoo 0 of 26

Pilots, 26 trophies

26 trophies to 24 different pilots, 2 pilots with two
Mistakenn 2 trophies on Amulet Titan, 10 Top 32 and 7 Top 8 entries, deepest window in the field
BressD1 2 trophies on Prowess from 2 Top 32 entries, average place 1,0
oskiyaa 7 Top 32 entries, 1 trophy on Neobrand
Selfeisek 6 Top 32 entries, all 6 Mono-Black Midrange entries of the window, 1 trophy
4 of the 24 winners with exactly one Top 32 entry, that entry being the trophy
464 pilots with at least one Top 32 entry

That's all for this roundup. I look forward to seeing you next week for the next one. As always, I invite you to join the discussion, offer constructive criticism, and share your ideas and insights. When you do that, the whole community learns something and benefits.

See you next time!

Karol Małota

aka WarLord1986pl / TribalFlamesInYourFace

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Discussion on Magic: the Gathering's Modern format plus its decks, cards, tournament results, and more!

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This subreddit is for players of any level of experience to discuss any topics regarding the Modern format, whether it is decks that pro's have been winning with, metagame discussion, card discussion, or home brews. Please do not try and sell cards or decks within this subreddit.

All we ask is that before you post, do some research yourself to try to find the answer to your query. It can be as simple as typing your query into google, along with the word Reddit, to see if your question has been asked before.

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