Really unhappy that Dillon, on Jeskai Control, didn't crack that Strand earlier to anticipate Blood Moon. His opponent is on Griselbrand Breach; of course he's bringing in Moon in G2-G3! It's a great example of where a small misplay based on either matchup ignorance or carelessness guaranteed a loss.
Speaking of misplays, just watched a doozy at Richmond with an Emrakul trigger reshuffling the card Sears put on top of his deck with Ruins. I don't think it will matter (Eggs has it in the bag), but still; lots of interactions to track!
That Sao Paulo result is uber-weird. Modern sure can support a lot of strange decks.
Trials are also single-elimination, 4-round events, that can be repeated as many times as one likes. Most people grind them to get byes, and just about any deck can win one with enough tries and some good matchups.
Worm 9-0ing day at Birmingham is great news : I'm really looking forward seeing what's his list and hoping that he can make 4-2 at least on day 2 and cut i out to top 8. Furthermore, great to see an Ad Nauseam list winning the trials in Brazil. Even with DS being omnipresent, the deck is still great against the rest of the field (E-Tron and DS are unfavorable / losing matchups).
Interesting to see Grishoalbrand on the rise again with a 9-0 finish as well as a GP Trial win. Bastogne is a great player with this deck!
Being faster seems the way to go in Modern, so it goes up that route too!
Death's Shadow IIII (1 Esper 3 Grixis, mostly the same)
Titanshift III
CoCo III
Affinity II
Dredge II
Storm II
Eldrazi Tron II
Abzan Midrange II
Bant Eldrazi I
Ad Nauseam I
Living End I
Kiki-Chord I
Faeries I
And when combined with the T8 (total 1-32):
Death's Shadow IIIII (1 Esper 4 Grixis, mostly the same)
Titanshift IIII
CoCo IIII
Abzan Midrange III
Affinity II
Dredge II
Storm II
Eldrazi Tron II
Bant CoCo Knightfall I
Lantern Control I
Burn I
GB Midrange I
Bant Eldrazi I
Ad Nauseam I
Living End I
Kiki-Chord I
Faeries I
That is not exactly the image I draw up when I think of "healthy" or "diverse".
Death's Shadow IIIII (1 Esper 4 Grixis, mostly the same)
Titanshift IIII
CoCo IIII
Abzan Midrange III
Affinity II
Dredge II
Storm II
Eldrazi Tron II
Bant CoCo Knightfall I
Lantern Control I
Burn I
GB Midrange I
Bant Eldrazi I
Ad Nauseam I
Living End I
Kiki-Chord I
Faeries I
That is not exactly the image I draw up when I think of "healthy" or "diverse".
I only see one problem with this: the lack of control. Otherwise, there's a great mix of aggro, combo, midrange, ramp, interaction, and colors.
You're framing this like there's a huge problem with the metagame, or a series of huge problems. It's really just the one issue and honestly, it's not that bad. If Modern is firing on six out of seven cylinders, that's great. Basically every other format is firing on less than half of that. People have absurdly unrealistic expectations for Modern. They won't be happy until the format is a perfect 1:1:1:1:1:1 mix of everything (Except for the one thing they want, which they secretly desire to be better than everything else).
Jeskai Control
Jeskai Control
UR Storm
Titanshift
Elves
Affinity
Grixis DS
E-Tron
Super diverse and awesome T8. Excited to see T32 and look at Day 2 --> T32 conversion rates. Here are matchups and predictions:
Jeskai Control vs. UR Storm (Jeskai Control; so much removal and interaction)
Jeskai Control vs. Titanshift (Titanshift; too many dead cards, classic bad matchup)
Elves vs. Affinity (Elves; Merriam already won this matchup earlier and has a better mix of hate and threats)
GDS vs. E-Tron (E-Tron; really tight one but I think E-Tron is the current "best" deck in Modern)
I will be unsurprised if E-Tron wins the entire event.
And shrine burn wins Birmingham, so much for "no eidolon wtf?". Eidolon is a few points and a big down-size for the burn player. I'd guess a shrine does at least 4 every time it hits the board.
And shrine burn wins Birmingham, so much for "no eidolon wtf?". Eidolon is a few points and a big down-size for the burn player. I'd guess a shrine does at least 4 every time it hits the board.
Eh, it's metagame dependent. I'm pretty sure we won't see every Burn list switch to Shrine; the Eidolon "drawback" isn't real in Burn lists. I think le Briand played Shrine because he likes when Burn goes a little later. All his on-camera matchups showed his willingness to drag out games, and Shrine is significantly better in that playstyle. Also, he (correctly) predicted people would pack more removal to be prepared for stuff like Affinity, whereas catchalls like Decay and Pulse are at a low. Just a great example of a small but significant innovation in an established list.
EDIT: T4 up. Predictions didn't go so hot!
UR Storm vs. Jeskai Control (Going with Jeskai again; Nikolich has more interaction than Rossum had)
Elves vs. Grixis DS (Elves; DS has no Bolts main and no sweepers in the board)
EDIT2: GP Sao Paolo won by Bant Knightfall. T8 still pending.
Prediction disaster at Richmond.
UR Storm vs. Grixis DS in finals (Grixis DS; disruption plus clock = bad times for Storm)
Trial Winners
Merfolk 1
Elves 11
BW Tokens 1
Titanshift 11
Affinity 11
Grixis DS 1111
Bant Eldrazi 11
Mono-W D&T 1
Burn 1
Dredge 1
Living End 1
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
EDIT:
Link to SCG Tour: https://www.twitch.tv/scgtour
Birmingham Twitch Channel: https://www.twitch.tv/magic
Speaking of misplays, just watched a doozy at Richmond with an Emrakul trigger reshuffling the card Sears put on top of his deck with Ruins. I don't think it will matter (Eggs has it in the bag), but still; lots of interactions to track!
2 Worm 27 Ad Nauseam
3 Bastogne 27 Grishoalbrand
4 Arlow 27 Abzan
5 De Castro Sanchez 27 Bant Human Knightfall
6 Christensen 27 Abzan Company
7 Anghelescu 24 Living End
8 Boussaud 24 Abzan
9 Glogowski 24 (T32ed Copenhagen with Lantern Control)
10 Darras 24 UW Control
14 Dillon 24 Jeskai Control (may be Queller)
23 Kowalski 24 Affinity
24 Riley 24 Grixis DS?
26 Moral 24 Grixis DS
28 Longoria 24 DS Zoo
30 Garcia Ballestier 24 (T32ed Copenhagen with Titanshift)
34 Canonico 24 Abzan
35 Floch 24 Eldrazi Tron
44 Edmondson 24 Lantern Control
46 Perbet 24 (T16ed Copenhagen with Dredge)
57 Sanchez 21 Grixis DS
60 Larsen 21 Abzan Company
61 Rizzi 21 UW Control
64 Velikov 21 Burn
70 Thormaehlen 21 Affinity
73 Ortiz Ros 21 (T8ed Copenhagen with Living End)
76 Henry 21 Grixis DS
78 Barclay 21 Jeskai Control
83 Raudus 21 (T32ed Copenhagen with Jund)
89 Murphy 21 (T16ed Copenhagen with Grixis DS)
95 Watson 21 GW Value Town
98 Juza 21
101 Hofmann 21 Infect
111 Grueber 21 Affinity
119 Dominguez 21 Jund DS
136 Simm 21 Merfolk
188 Miles 21 Eldrazi & Taxes
Titan Breach 1
Eldrazi Tron 111
Amulet 11
Storm 11
Ad Nauseam 1
Grishoalbrand 1
Living End 1
Abzan Company 11
GW Company (with Ramunap Excavator, no Vizier) 1
Bant Company (no Retreat) 1
GW D&T (with Ramunap Excavator) 1
Mono-W D&T 1
Affinity 11111
Burn 1
UW Control 1
Jeskai Queller 1
Grixis DS 1
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
Trials are also single-elimination, 4-round events, that can be repeated as many times as one likes. Most people grind them to get byes, and just about any deck can win one with enough tries and some good matchups.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Interesting to see Grishoalbrand on the rise again with a 9-0 finish as well as a GP Trial win. Bastogne is a great player with this deck!
Being faster seems the way to go in Modern, so it goes up that route too!
Aggro: Naya Burn RWG
Combo: Scapeshift RG
Control: Jeskai Control UWR
Legacy
Control: Miracles UW
Aggro: Burn R
2 Rosum 24 Jeskai Geist
3 Adlman 24 Titanshift
5 Donegan 24 Grixis DS
7 Elias 24 Eldrazi Tron
10 Merriam 24 Elves
11 Nance 21 GW Company
12 Ross 21 Infect
13 Jessup 21 Grixis DS
16 Davis 21 BG Tron
18 Scherer 21 Storm
19 Musser 21 Eldrazi Tron
23 Mullins 21 Grixis DS
26 Taliaferro 21 UW Control
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
Props to the man for carrying the fire.
Hope he wins. That would be so awesome. Go Martyr of Sands!
edit: T8
Glogowski: Lantern Control
De Castro Sanchez: Bant Knightfall Humans
Channing: Grixis DS
Christensen: Counters Company
Nielsen: Titanshift
Galicia: Abzan
Le Briand: Burn
Hatto: BG
filling in the rest
9 Perbet: Dredge (lost a win-and-in at Copenhagen too )
10 Carvalho: Storm
12 Worm: Ad Nauseam
13 Marti: Dredge
14 Canonico: Abzan
15 Boussaud: Abzan
16 Moral: Grixis DS
17 Ramis Pascual: Counters Company
18 Calligaro: Titanshift
23 Dosimont: Kiki Chord
26 Henry: Grixis DS
31 Bonde: Titanshift
32 Murphy: Grixis DS?
33 Vojta: Storm
36 Sibast: Storm
39 Juza: Bant Eldrazi
42 Stuart-Winward: Mill
45 Notting: Esper Faeries
47 Anghelescu: Living End
48 Bastogne: Grishoalbrand
49 Ballestier Garcia: Titanshift
50 berteaux: BW Zombies
52 Thormaehlen: Affinity
53 Parker: Jeskai Geist
54 Kowalski: Affinity
55 Barclay: Jeskai Control
57 Tang: Grixis Twin
58 Habert: Eldrazi Tron
61 Ortiz Ros: Living End
65 Floch: Eldrazi Tron
67 Rielves: Ad Nauseam
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
Legacy: UWR Miracles [https://deckstats.net/decks/44442/1092831-uwr-miracles-2]
ft. Bant Knightfall Humans, Shrine of Burning Rage Burn (over Eidolon - wtf???), Roast Titanshift, and two BG decks with maindeck Go for the Throat
The Abzan deck is playing Dismember over Path to Exile lol
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
Birmingham T32
Bant Knightfall Humans 1
Grixis DS 4
Counters Company 3
Titanshift 4
Abzan 3
Burn 1
BG 1
Dredge 2
Storm 2
Eldrazi Tron 2
Ad Nauseam 1
Living End 1
Affinity 2
Esper DS 1
Kiki Chord 1
UB Faeries 1
Bant Eldrazi 1
Burn with Shrine of Burning Rage
Titanshift with maindeck Roasts, no Hour of Promise (in fact all of them shared this configuration). 3 with Spitebellows SB, 2 with Witchbane Orb SB
BG Rock, with Scavenger Grounds
Dredge with Driven // Despair and Leyline of Sanctity SB (yes Sanctity, not Void)
Ad Nauseam with Leyline main, Pact of Negation side, Bontu's Last Reckoning SB
Grixis DS with Deprive
Kiki Chord, with 4 maindeck Fiery Justice, Blood Moon and 1 Magus of the Moon
UB Faeries, with Perilous Research and no Pendelhaven
Affinity with Glint-Nest Crane
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
So the 9-32 looks like this:
Death's Shadow IIII (1 Esper 3 Grixis, mostly the same)
Titanshift III
CoCo III
Affinity II
Dredge II
Storm II
Eldrazi Tron II
Abzan Midrange II
Bant Eldrazi I
Ad Nauseam I
Living End I
Kiki-Chord I
Faeries I
And when combined with the T8 (total 1-32):
Death's Shadow IIIII (1 Esper 4 Grixis, mostly the same)
Titanshift IIII
CoCo IIII
Abzan Midrange III
Affinity II
Dredge II
Storm II
Eldrazi Tron II
Bant CoCo Knightfall I
Lantern Control I
Burn I
GB Midrange I
Bant Eldrazi I
Ad Nauseam I
Living End I
Kiki-Chord I
Faeries I
That is not exactly the image I draw up when I think of "healthy" or "diverse".
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
I only see one problem with this: the lack of control. Otherwise, there's a great mix of aggro, combo, midrange, ramp, interaction, and colors.
You're framing this like there's a huge problem with the metagame, or a series of huge problems. It's really just the one issue and honestly, it's not that bad. If Modern is firing on six out of seven cylinders, that's great. Basically every other format is firing on less than half of that. People have absurdly unrealistic expectations for Modern. They won't be happy until the format is a perfect 1:1:1:1:1:1 mix of everything (Except for the one thing they want, which they secretly desire to be better than everything else).
edit: up now, not fixed
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
Jeskai Control
Jeskai Control
UR Storm
Titanshift
Elves
Affinity
Grixis DS
E-Tron
Super diverse and awesome T8. Excited to see T32 and look at Day 2 --> T32 conversion rates. Here are matchups and predictions:
Jeskai Control vs. UR Storm (Jeskai Control; so much removal and interaction)
Jeskai Control vs. Titanshift (Titanshift; too many dead cards, classic bad matchup)
Elves vs. Affinity (Elves; Merriam already won this matchup earlier and has a better mix of hate and threats)
GDS vs. E-Tron (E-Tron; really tight one but I think E-Tron is the current "best" deck in Modern)
I will be unsurprised if E-Tron wins the entire event.
UWRUWR Delver/Lynx TempoUWR-------UWRUWR Midrange GeistUWR-------UWRUWR Nahiri ControlUWR-------UWRUWR SaheeliUWR
BGRJund / Jund ShadowBGR-------BGWAbzan / Abzan ShadowBGW
Commander (Leviathan/MTGO): UWGeist of Saint TraftUW
Eh, it's metagame dependent. I'm pretty sure we won't see every Burn list switch to Shrine; the Eidolon "drawback" isn't real in Burn lists. I think le Briand played Shrine because he likes when Burn goes a little later. All his on-camera matchups showed his willingness to drag out games, and Shrine is significantly better in that playstyle. Also, he (correctly) predicted people would pack more removal to be prepared for stuff like Affinity, whereas catchalls like Decay and Pulse are at a low. Just a great example of a small but significant innovation in an established list.
EDIT: T4 up. Predictions didn't go so hot!
UR Storm vs. Jeskai Control (Going with Jeskai again; Nikolich has more interaction than Rossum had)
Elves vs. Grixis DS (Elves; DS has no Bolts main and no sweepers in the board)
EDIT2: GP Sao Paolo won by Bant Knightfall. T8 still pending.
Prediction disaster at Richmond.
UR Storm vs. Grixis DS in finals (Grixis DS; disruption plus clock = bad times for Storm)
2 Grixis Shadow
Knightfall
TitanShift (3 Hour of Promise maindeck)
Abzan Midrange
Counters Company
BG Tron
Jeskai Control (2 Geist, 1 Thundermaw, 4 Spell Queller Maindeck)
WGUBR 5c Humans
GWR Naya Zoo
Legacy:
GW GW Maverick
R Goblins
WGUBR 5c Humans
GWR Naya Zoo
Legacy:
GW GW Maverick
R Goblins