Oh wow, I didn't even notice the price went up on Risk Factor. I bought it early because it was just good. Getting more cards in red strait up without a downside and having the ability to use the same card twice in a row is good. You basically want the opponent to take the hit to the face from it.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
. You basically want the opponent to take the hit to the face from it.
The Chronicles of No Core Set (click to show)
It takes some calculating, counting their mana, and thinking of a surprise arclight attack.. but usually I take the 4 hit or even 8 hit, as long as I would not die. Letting an aggressive deck ancestral recall is more dangerous than being near death from 8 damage. I'm adding a basilisk collar to the main of my Ponza if the Arclight players in our LGS increase.
I've yet to see a convincing build of Runaway Phoenix, I'm surprised it's that high in regionals. Is it actually good?
it's cute but I wouldn't say it's gonna be more than a flash in the pan tbh
so a couple of the modern diehards at the main lgs I play at were going on how they're "done with modern for now". Didn't get the whole conversation but a big part of their issue is with how linear it is right now
Modern has been the same amount of linear every since Deathrite Shaman was banned and Jund took a dive. The only difference is which decks are doing it.
Modern has been the same amount of linear every since Deathrite Shaman was banned and Jund took a dive. The only difference is which decks are doing it.
I've yet to see a convincing build of Runaway Phoenix, I'm surprised it's that high in regionals. Is it actually good?
it's cute but I wouldn't say it's gonna be more than a flash in the pan tbh
so a couple of the modern diehards at the main lgs I play at were going on how they're "done with modern for now". Didn't get the whole conversation but a big part of their issue is with how linear it is right now
Been hearing this kind of talk, and seeing this kind of post, for literally 3+ years. It does not appear to affect the wildly and consistently popular Modern format in any discernable way. That suggests to me the format isn't as linear as people claim, and/or people don't actually care if it's linear.
I think a much bigger peril for Modern popularity is the success of Arena and the strength of current Standard. Arena, in it's current build, is designed to exclude Modern, and it likely pulls people away from MTGO where they would be able to enjoy Modern. As for Standard, a strong, diverse, and engaging metagame will likely pull people away from Modern, especially backed by Arena. I expect all of this results in at least a temporary, perhaps permanent, dip in Modern popularity.
Modern has been the same amount of linear every since Deathrite Shaman was banned and Jund took a dive. The only difference is which decks are doing it.
Completely depends on what one calls linear.
If Twin and Pod are linear, then so is Jund.
I don't think modern is linear. There's a lot of glass cannon decks and matches can be kind of swingy sometimes, but that doesn't mean it's linear as a whole.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
No joke, I played Constructed events with my UR Drakes deck all day yesterday, since it's trivial to 'go infinite'. Assuming a non rotation Arena format becomes a thing, if nothing changes in Modern? Then they have certainly lost me and I'll just play Arena.
I can play without Snaps and Remand, I'll just cantrip and loot all day and send Drakes and Phoenix at people, I mean at this point it's just fetches and you have a perfect mana base.
I've yet to see a convincing build of Runaway Phoenix, I'm surprised it's that high in regionals. Is it actually good?
it's cute but I wouldn't say it's gonna be more than a flash in the pan tbh
so a couple of the modern diehards at the main lgs I play at were going on how they're "done with modern for now". Didn't get the whole conversation but a big part of their issue is with how linear it is right now
Been hearing this kind of talk, and seeing this kind of post, for literally 3+ years. It does not appear to affect the wildly and consistently popular Modern format in any discernable way. That suggests to me the format isn't as linear as people claim, and/or people don't actually care if it's linear.
I think a much bigger peril for Modern popularity is the success of Arena and the strength of current Standard. Arena, in it's current build, is designed to exclude Modern, and it likely pulls people away from MTGO where they would be able to enjoy Modern. As for Standard, a strong, diverse, and engaging metagame will likely pull people away from Modern, especially backed by Arena. I expect all of this results in at least a temporary, perhaps permanent, dip in Modern popularity.
I can't see them staying away for too long, they've gotten upset with the format before but calmed down. I feel that modern has always been the most popular format since I've been playing comp level magic, mostly because people can become attached to a deck and keep playing it. Then there was the dumpster fire that was standard when Kaladesh was legal, which scared more people away from standard. I think that people are more interested in standard now that it's playable for people more than grinders.
As for Standard, a strong, diverse, and engaging metagame will likely pull people away from Modern
No matter how diverse... I will never play Standard again. Rotating format is just sending my money into a black hole.
EDIT: And no offense to those who play Standard.
As ID said, you can play Standard for free in Arena, grinding a top-tier deck in relatively little time. This gives Standard, the default Arena format, a decisive edge on Modern. A non-rotating Arena format would be a virtual death sentence for Modern.
As for Standard, a strong, diverse, and engaging metagame will likely pull people away from Modern
No matter how diverse... I will never play Standard again. Rotating format is just sending my money into a black hole.
EDIT: And no offense to those who play Standard.
As ID said, you can play Standard for free in Arena, grinding a top-tier deck in relatively little time. This gives Standard, the default Arena format, a decisive edge on Modern. A non-rotating Arena format would be a virtual death sentence for Modern.
well we already know its a thing, so is modern dead?
itd be a pretty bold stance to believe the most popular constructed paper format in both viewership and attendance would just keel over. more plausible the longer down the road you look, but even still it would be relegating somewhere between 5 to 10 years worth of cards to limbo in regards to playability. modern will stick around merely because there is no other outlet for so many cards other than legacy.
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Modern: UWGSnow-Bant Control BURGrixis Death's Shadow GWBCoCo Elves WCDeath and Taxes (sold)
It will not drop dead, inertia will keep it going 'forever' I mean people play paper Legacy, and it's about as unsupportable as it gets due to reserve list.
However, we live in a digital age. Arena on a long enough timeline could easily replace Modern as a viewing draw, and if Wizards threw in support for 'Arena Eternal' at the paper competitive level to tie on with a free platform?
Minus some of the feelbads people have complained about for years?
Well I can just say it's pulled me away from the only format I've played competitively, since Theros.
in all honestly though, even if modern is a s"linear" as people have been complaining that it is, I've still been enjoying it a lot past few months
oh yeah for sure. its just a consequence of forums. a lot of rhetoric is used, which doesnt always portray the most accurate picture of the format; or at least how games play out.
'oh god natty tron 200% of games! the linear garbage is piling so high its suffocating the format! twin save us!'
you know. the usual.
edit: forgot one of my favorites: 'ancient stirrings is basically demonic tutor for green deck!'
As for Standard, a strong, diverse, and engaging metagame will likely pull people away from Modern
No matter how diverse... I will never play Standard again. Rotating format is just sending my money into a black hole.
EDIT: And no offense to those who play Standard.
As ID said, you can play Standard for free in Arena, grinding a top-tier deck in relatively little time. This gives Standard, the default Arena format, a decisive edge on Modern. A non-rotating Arena format would be a virtual death sentence for Modern.
well we already know its a thing, so is modern dead?
itd be a pretty bold stance to believe the most popular constructed paper format in both viewership and attendance would just keel over. more plausible the longer down the road you look, but even still it would be relegating somewhere between 5 to 10 years worth of cards to limbo in regards to playability. modern will stick around merely because there is no other outlet for so many cards other than legacy.
Well, it's not fully a thing yet. We just know some kind of non-rotating Arena format is eventually happening, but that this hasn't yet happened and there's no timeline, name, cardpool, etc. It's just something that is going to happen down the road and will affect Modern at that time. Arena is a huge game changer; it's really going to change how lots of people play this game, and will have significant influences on how Wizards organizes events and design. Modern, Vintage, and Legacy will likely suffer most as a result of these changes. None will die but they will lose players and views, Modern more than the rest.
Modern has been the same amount of linear every since Deathrite Shaman was banned and Jund took a dive. The only difference is which decks are doing it.
Not completely right.
Modern was rather "stale" till the release of "Khans of Takir", which basically opened the floodgates for every set.
Before you had a very stable and pillar centric format, BGx , UWR, Twin, Pod, Affinity and (starting with Born of the Gods) Burn (Note: Tron rotated in and out, depending on how much Twin, Pod and Affinity there was). And with Khans, basically everything changed:
- TC and DTT pushed Delver/hyper Aggro and Scapeshift back into relevance (as some other different combo decks), combined with the big boon Pod gained (Angle Pod) UWR and also BGx took a nose dive, since they simply couldn't keep up (even with DTT for UWR)
- Than Pod, TC and DTT got banned, Fate Reforged got released, UWR never recovered since the meta shift was to fundamental. Infect started to rise as the premier aggro/combo deck (combined with early showings of Bloom) thanks to Become Immense, Grixis started to emerge due to the printing of the Delve creatures. Suicide Zoo made the first few steps due to the printing of Become Immense and Battle Rage. The meta was still in a turmoil, cause the old rules were broken (of the 5-6 pillar decks in modern). Tron made got a boost due to the printing of Ugin, Spirit Dragon and cause of the huge metagame share of Abzan (although again, very short lived) Metagame update 2-3.2015
- Than Dragons of Takir happened, which granted us with Collected Company but more important: Atarkas Command. Burn rose to be one of THE Tier 1 decks and not leaving with burn hate in your SB was basically a death sentence. Furthermore, Grixis established itself as the Tier 1 value/control deck due to K-Command (although for a relatively short period of time). Amulet Bloom finally established itself and also showed insane MTGO win rates. Metagame update 4-5.2015
- Magic Origins was a more "calm" set, since it only added baby Jace (very short stint), Aethergrid (still sees play in Lantern and co) and Hangerback Walker (different decks). Thus this was the first real time period since Journey into Nyx where the metagame had time to breath. Jund also finally recovered while Abzan got demoted (hard). Also, Meerfolk saw more play due to the printing of Harbinger of the Tides. metagame update 6-7.2015
- While in Battle of Zendrika the omen was already foreseeable what might happen with the Eldrazi creatures (pritning of Ulamog pushed again Tron), it was not yet quite clear what will exactly happen. Hence, the metagame had overall 6 months a rather chill time period, which can be seen here: 10-11.2015. Oh btw. Bloom was finally a permanent Tier 1 deck
Also, before we go the the real breaking phase, I just want to point out which decks where Tier 1 at that point in time (in the correct order given the metagame share):
- Affinity 9,3%
- Jund 8,7%
- Burn 7,8%
- RG Tron 5,5%
- Merfolk 5,3%
- Infect 5,3%
- UR Twin 4,5%
- Grixis Twin 4,2%
- Amulet Bloom 4,1%
Hence, within only a year the metagame shifted so drastically, from a clear 5-6 pillar format towards a very broad format where the more "unfair" (aka doing actually things which required an answer from the opponent in some way or another or you will lose) decks became the majority of the Tier 1. That Amulet Bloom got a lot of flag and rose even harder as the premier combo deck in the format, was quite interesting to observe.
- Oath of the Gatewatch happened. TKS and Smasher say hi and Eldrazi "Winter" happened. HEven after their respective bans the set still offered a lot of goodies for Modern: Reckless Bushwhacker, Reflector Mage, Kalitas, World Breaker and Kozeliks Return have or had a major influence in the metagame at one point or the other. Here is the ugly breakdown: 5-6.2016. And why did it never recover and went back to status quo (or something similar)? Summer Bloom and Splinter Twin got banned when Oath got released. Suddenly another pillar bit the dust (after UWR)
- At that point in time Modern was broken and would never truly recover from that. The unbanning of Sword and AV, while having an initial hype, did nothing for the format. Keep in mind that Suicide Zoo became rolling in that time period, it slowly saw more and more play, but it was still more a niche deck than anything else. This can be seen here: 4-5.2016. Only Jund and Affinity were left from the "old guard", while Tron established itself as one since then.
- With Shadows over Inistrad nothing really "important" happened, but that Prized Amalgam and Neonate got printed (yeah yeah, I know, there were lots of good cards in that set: Traverse, Thraben Inspector, Titi, Tracker, Thalia's Lieutenant, Pieces of the Puzzel, Duskwatch Recruiter, Nahiri (OMG UWR IS BACK?!?!? ), Rattlechains and some other goodies). This started the Dredge hype. Looking at the metagame, 6-7.2016, there are three things to be aware of:
1) Return of Jeskai cause of Nahiri only to die down 2-3 months later
2) Dredge as a Tier 1 deck
3) Death's Shadow Zoo (aka Suizide Zoo) finally being a Tier 1 deck (and gaining a lot of ban talk)
Jund was king, Affinity on his side, Tron was gone (again), UWR returned, 3 ancient pillars in the Tier 1, while one will crumble soon (UWR). Also, the metagame looks vastly different than what it used to, mostly due to new tech (e.g. the whole shell of Suizide Zoo was legal since Fate Reforged, so more than a year ago) and especially new printings. Oh btw, RG Titanshift so a rise of popularity (not yet tier 1) but steadily climbing since Eldrazi Winter.
- Eldricht Moon aka Eldricht Hug saw overall 4 important cards printed: Collective Brutality, Bedlam Reveler, Spell Queller and Liliana the Last Hope. This resulted into again, lots of brewing and hyping of different decks, but in the end, everything stayed the same: Aug 2016. Also, something I forgot to mention: Midrange Elrazies (be it Bant or RG) still were considered quite good.
- The Release of Kaladesh meant one thing: Printing of Cathartic Reunion (aka Hugs) which pushed Dredge a notch up which also resulted into a huge uptick of Infect, cause Infect was just darn good in that time and especially in that metagame. This can be seen here: Dec 2016. Only two decks Infect had really problems with in the Tier 1: Jund and Burn. The rest was either a race or a rather easy match-up.
- Aether Revolt granted us with Fatal Push, Walking Balista and Baral. It also meant, that GGT and Probe got axed. Probe due to Suizide Zoo and Infect (mainly) GGT cause of the sideboard problematic (see B&R update for more infos). Feb 2017. Classic Jund ceased to exist, Shadow Jund was born and this meant, only one of the classic pillars, Affinity survived till now. However, overall the metagame was quite nice (see link), lots of fair "unfair" decks running around compared to previous times.
- The remaining two years can be summarised quite easy (since then there are hardly metagame data out there, due to the change of Wizards policy in this regard):
1) Death Shadow (be it Jund or Grixis) stayed relevant for more than a year, before dropping out of favour
2) Jund never came back, which has mainly to do with a broadening of the metagame and being rather inflexible to adapt
3) Storm rose to be a Tier 1 or at least Tier 1 contender for the majority of the time (due to the printing of Baral and the adoption from the Ritual Gifts version to include Gifts Ungiven)
4) Humans happened
5) Spirits emerged as a great deck (this year)
6) BBE and Jace got unbanned, both having close to zero impact for the longest time
7) True Control only revived due to the printing of Opt, Teferi and the adaptation of removing AV and including Terminus.
8) Hollow One got "discovered"
9) Affinity dropped down in favour of Hardening Scales
So, shor trip down memory-lane, but why do this recap over the last 4 years?
Basically, since the release of Khans of Takir, the old pillars (all of them) are gone. Only Tron and Burn (which were in the crowd back than but not pillars) have survived. And this alone made the metagame so much more wide, where the question is now: "Who can do the most "unfair" thing at the time" (again, "unfair" in: If you cannot deal with it you will have a serious problem). So if you played since the beginning (as did I), there is a reason why we feel, that the metagame became more "linear" to say it this way, cause as it shows, it became so BUT some very specific time frames (Midrange Shadow time period and the one pre Kaladesh). Before that, you could always bang on the big 5-6 pillars (aka police decks) to keep the metagame check. Since those are now long gone, the metagame overall became more volatile (as can be seen at the recent GPs, which are usually extreme in one case or another).
Greetings,
Kathal
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What I play or have:
Modern/Legacy
either funpolice (Delver, Deathcloud, UW Control) or the fun decks (especially those ft. Griselbrand)
Yeah, lately I kinda play Jund and midrange/Shadow flavor decks for fun. It feels a little obligating to main Mono G Tron at the moment.
I do hope midrange becomes more than a 45% type of deck again.
Midrange ruled for about a year before Humans so I can't really *****, metas ebb and flow. Right now we're in a very linear meta where GY, Tribal aggro is king. I do think at the moment these aggro decks have received so many tools that spot removal isn't so fantastic anymore---Hence, why I'm just going Tron right now. I was feeling decent about me playing Grixis Shadow until Humans and Spirits just crapped all over me. I also didn't realize there isn't really enough combo to prey on, as I think Humans kinda deterred people outside of KCI and Storm.
Maybe next year the meta will be more interactive, right now it's super linear.
I'm not that happy about it, since there are several things missing in there which I would have liked to add to it. However, I was writing on it for over an hour already and I had to leave, so that is why the end is a little bit rushed (combined with the fact, that there is a simple lack of metagame data).
I want to thank especially @ktkenshinx who did all those metagame reports (and more) over the past few years, without him we would lack a good history of the Modern metagame and thus I could have never made the point I waned to make (due to the lack of facts):
Since 2014 Modern shifted from a Standard like playstyle (so more "grinding out advanages") towards a more unfair one (unfair in: "Either you deal with it or you are in trouble"), which historically speaking always happened to big formats (be it Vintage, Legacy, super Extended (8 year Extended), Modern and even Pauper). It is no problem to play traditional "fair" decks, but your deck needs to do something good and not sitting around and waiting to die. This is not limited to combo decks but it can also mean slamming a huge Death Shadow early, having synergistic grow effects on your creatures (humans) or, get value chains going (Counter-Company and Spirits), having some high impact cards loaming around (Teferi), but do not sit just ideal there and threaten nothing.
Also, clever deck building became more and more important over time, things like Suicide Zoo would have never came into existent without some brewers. Do you need to go so far to get a deck viable? Nah, if it has already a good gameplan.
Counter Cat (Delver + Nacatl + tempo shell) is a prime example for this:
- If the meta gets faster, I will also get tiny bit faster (including more burn, Helixes, cutting on the 2CMC counters,...)
- If there is combo running around, I might switch up my counter suit (more 1 CMC counters, maybe include Disruption Shoal again)
- If it gets slower, add more value chains (Snapcaster, Huntmaster, Hazeret, Chart a Course, Faithless Looting,...)
Tuning your deck is nowadays even more important, cause you cannot say: "The following 6-7 decks make up 50+% of the metagame". That is the beauty and struggle from Modern, when your MD is basically your SB already
Greetings,
Kathal
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What I play or have:
Modern/Legacy
either funpolice (Delver, Deathcloud, UW Control) or the fun decks (especially those ft. Griselbrand)
Modern has been the same amount of linear every since Deathrite Shaman was banned and Jund took a dive. The only difference is which decks are doing it.
It's nice to see some new URx decks emerging thanks to Crackling Drake and Arclight Phoenix. I have the feeling that Wizards won't risk invalidating strategies like this (and by effect reducing card equity) by unbanning Splinter Twin.
It's nice to see some new URx decks emerging thanks to Crackling Drake and Arclight Phoenix. I have the feeling that Wizards won't risk invalidating strategies like this (and by effect reducing card equity) by unbanning Splinter Twin.
The deck is already adopting Black as it becomes more proactive. If it works out Twin would just take one more deck running discard and recursive threats to fight through.
Fear of Twin invalidating Tier 2 strategies, is odd when we already have gatekeeper decks laughing at Tier 2 and 3.
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UW Spirits
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
It takes some calculating, counting their mana, and thinking of a surprise arclight attack.. but usually I take the 4 hit or even 8 hit, as long as I would not die. Letting an aggressive deck ancestral recall is more dangerous than being near death from 8 damage. I'm adding a basilisk collar to the main of my Ponza if the Arclight players in our LGS increase.
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Please come visit us at the Emeria Titan control thread
it's cute but I wouldn't say it's gonna be more than a flash in the pan tbh
so a couple of the modern diehards at the main lgs I play at were going on how they're "done with modern for now". Didn't get the whole conversation but a big part of their issue is with how linear it is right now
Completely depends on what one calls linear.
If Twin and Pod are linear, then so is Jund.
Spirits
Been hearing this kind of talk, and seeing this kind of post, for literally 3+ years. It does not appear to affect the wildly and consistently popular Modern format in any discernable way. That suggests to me the format isn't as linear as people claim, and/or people don't actually care if it's linear.
I think a much bigger peril for Modern popularity is the success of Arena and the strength of current Standard. Arena, in it's current build, is designed to exclude Modern, and it likely pulls people away from MTGO where they would be able to enjoy Modern. As for Standard, a strong, diverse, and engaging metagame will likely pull people away from Modern, especially backed by Arena. I expect all of this results in at least a temporary, perhaps permanent, dip in Modern popularity.
I don't think modern is linear. There's a lot of glass cannon decks and matches can be kind of swingy sometimes, but that doesn't mean it's linear as a whole.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I can play without Snaps and Remand, I'll just cantrip and loot all day and send Drakes and Phoenix at people, I mean at this point it's just fetches and you have a perfect mana base.
Print Bolt in Standard? I'm done with Modern.
Spirits
I can't see them staying away for too long, they've gotten upset with the format before but calmed down. I feel that modern has always been the most popular format since I've been playing comp level magic, mostly because people can become attached to a deck and keep playing it. Then there was the dumpster fire that was standard when Kaladesh was legal, which scared more people away from standard. I think that people are more interested in standard now that it's playable for people more than grinders.
No matter how diverse... I will never play Standard again. Rotating format is just sending my money into a black hole.
EDIT: And no offense to those who play Standard.
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Please come visit us at the Emeria Titan control thread
That's where Arena (free) and a possible new Non Rotational format comes in.
Spirits
As ID said, you can play Standard for free in Arena, grinding a top-tier deck in relatively little time. This gives Standard, the default Arena format, a decisive edge on Modern. A non-rotating Arena format would be a virtual death sentence for Modern.
well we already know its a thing, so is modern dead?
itd be a pretty bold stance to believe the most popular constructed paper format in both viewership and attendance would just keel over. more plausible the longer down the road you look, but even still it would be relegating somewhere between 5 to 10 years worth of cards to limbo in regards to playability. modern will stick around merely because there is no other outlet for so many cards other than legacy.
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)However, we live in a digital age. Arena on a long enough timeline could easily replace Modern as a viewing draw, and if Wizards threw in support for 'Arena Eternal' at the paper competitive level to tie on with a free platform?
Minus some of the feelbads people have complained about for years?
Well I can just say it's pulled me away from the only format I've played competitively, since Theros.
Spirits
oh yeah for sure. its just a consequence of forums. a lot of rhetoric is used, which doesnt always portray the most accurate picture of the format; or at least how games play out.
'oh god natty tron 200% of games! the linear garbage is piling so high its suffocating the format! twin save us!'
you know. the usual.
edit: forgot one of my favorites: 'ancient stirrings is basically demonic tutor for green deck!'
what?
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)Well, it's not fully a thing yet. We just know some kind of non-rotating Arena format is eventually happening, but that this hasn't yet happened and there's no timeline, name, cardpool, etc. It's just something that is going to happen down the road and will affect Modern at that time. Arena is a huge game changer; it's really going to change how lots of people play this game, and will have significant influences on how Wizards organizes events and design. Modern, Vintage, and Legacy will likely suffer most as a result of these changes. None will die but they will lose players and views, Modern more than the rest.
Modern was rather "stale" till the release of "Khans of Takir", which basically opened the floodgates for every set.
Before you had a very stable and pillar centric format, BGx , UWR, Twin, Pod, Affinity and (starting with Born of the Gods) Burn (Note: Tron rotated in and out, depending on how much Twin, Pod and Affinity there was). And with Khans, basically everything changed:
- TC and DTT pushed Delver/hyper Aggro and Scapeshift back into relevance (as some other different combo decks), combined with the big boon Pod gained (Angle Pod) UWR and also BGx took a nose dive, since they simply couldn't keep up (even with DTT for UWR)
- Than Pod, TC and DTT got banned, Fate Reforged got released, UWR never recovered since the meta shift was to fundamental. Infect started to rise as the premier aggro/combo deck (combined with early showings of Bloom) thanks to Become Immense, Grixis started to emerge due to the printing of the Delve creatures. Suicide Zoo made the first few steps due to the printing of Become Immense and Battle Rage. The meta was still in a turmoil, cause the old rules were broken (of the 5-6 pillar decks in modern). Tron made got a boost due to the printing of Ugin, Spirit Dragon and cause of the huge metagame share of Abzan (although again, very short lived) Metagame update 2-3.2015
- Than Dragons of Takir happened, which granted us with Collected Company but more important: Atarkas Command. Burn rose to be one of THE Tier 1 decks and not leaving with burn hate in your SB was basically a death sentence. Furthermore, Grixis established itself as the Tier 1 value/control deck due to K-Command (although for a relatively short period of time). Amulet Bloom finally established itself and also showed insane MTGO win rates. Metagame update 4-5.2015
- Magic Origins was a more "calm" set, since it only added baby Jace (very short stint), Aethergrid (still sees play in Lantern and co) and Hangerback Walker (different decks). Thus this was the first real time period since Journey into Nyx where the metagame had time to breath. Jund also finally recovered while Abzan got demoted (hard). Also, Meerfolk saw more play due to the printing of Harbinger of the Tides. metagame update 6-7.2015
- While in Battle of Zendrika the omen was already foreseeable what might happen with the Eldrazi creatures (pritning of Ulamog pushed again Tron), it was not yet quite clear what will exactly happen. Hence, the metagame had overall 6 months a rather chill time period, which can be seen here: 10-11.2015. Oh btw. Bloom was finally a permanent Tier 1 deck
Also, before we go the the real breaking phase, I just want to point out which decks where Tier 1 at that point in time (in the correct order given the metagame share):
- Affinity 9,3%
- Jund 8,7%
- Burn 7,8%
- RG Tron 5,5%
- Merfolk 5,3%
- Infect 5,3%
- UR Twin 4,5%
- Grixis Twin 4,2%
- Amulet Bloom 4,1%
Hence, within only a year the metagame shifted so drastically, from a clear 5-6 pillar format towards a very broad format where the more "unfair" (aka doing actually things which required an answer from the opponent in some way or another or you will lose) decks became the majority of the Tier 1. That Amulet Bloom got a lot of flag and rose even harder as the premier combo deck in the format, was quite interesting to observe.
- Oath of the Gatewatch happened. TKS and Smasher say hi and Eldrazi "Winter" happened. HEven after their respective bans the set still offered a lot of goodies for Modern: Reckless Bushwhacker, Reflector Mage, Kalitas, World Breaker and Kozeliks Return have or had a major influence in the metagame at one point or the other. Here is the ugly breakdown: 5-6.2016. And why did it never recover and went back to status quo (or something similar)? Summer Bloom and Splinter Twin got banned when Oath got released. Suddenly another pillar bit the dust (after UWR)
- At that point in time Modern was broken and would never truly recover from that. The unbanning of Sword and AV, while having an initial hype, did nothing for the format. Keep in mind that Suicide Zoo became rolling in that time period, it slowly saw more and more play, but it was still more a niche deck than anything else. This can be seen here: 4-5.2016. Only Jund and Affinity were left from the "old guard", while Tron established itself as one since then.
- With Shadows over Inistrad nothing really "important" happened, but that Prized Amalgam and Neonate got printed (yeah yeah, I know, there were lots of good cards in that set: Traverse, Thraben Inspector, Titi, Tracker, Thalia's Lieutenant, Pieces of the Puzzel, Duskwatch Recruiter, Nahiri (OMG UWR IS BACK?!?!? ), Rattlechains and some other goodies). This started the Dredge hype. Looking at the metagame, 6-7.2016, there are three things to be aware of:
1) Return of Jeskai cause of Nahiri only to die down 2-3 months later
2) Dredge as a Tier 1 deck
3) Death's Shadow Zoo (aka Suizide Zoo) finally being a Tier 1 deck (and gaining a lot of ban talk)
Jund was king, Affinity on his side, Tron was gone (again), UWR returned, 3 ancient pillars in the Tier 1, while one will crumble soon (UWR). Also, the metagame looks vastly different than what it used to, mostly due to new tech (e.g. the whole shell of Suizide Zoo was legal since Fate Reforged, so more than a year ago) and especially new printings. Oh btw, RG Titanshift so a rise of popularity (not yet tier 1) but steadily climbing since Eldrazi Winter.
- Eldricht Moon aka Eldricht Hug saw overall 4 important cards printed: Collective Brutality, Bedlam Reveler, Spell Queller and Liliana the Last Hope. This resulted into again, lots of brewing and hyping of different decks, but in the end, everything stayed the same: Aug 2016. Also, something I forgot to mention: Midrange Elrazies (be it Bant or RG) still were considered quite good.
- The Release of Kaladesh meant one thing: Printing of Cathartic Reunion (aka Hugs) which pushed Dredge a notch up which also resulted into a huge uptick of Infect, cause Infect was just darn good in that time and especially in that metagame. This can be seen here: Dec 2016. Only two decks Infect had really problems with in the Tier 1: Jund and Burn. The rest was either a race or a rather easy match-up.
- Aether Revolt granted us with Fatal Push, Walking Balista and Baral. It also meant, that GGT and Probe got axed. Probe due to Suizide Zoo and Infect (mainly) GGT cause of the sideboard problematic (see B&R update for more infos). Feb 2017. Classic Jund ceased to exist, Shadow Jund was born and this meant, only one of the classic pillars, Affinity survived till now. However, overall the metagame was quite nice (see link), lots of fair "unfair" decks running around compared to previous times.
- The remaining two years can be summarised quite easy (since then there are hardly metagame data out there, due to the change of Wizards policy in this regard):
1) Death Shadow (be it Jund or Grixis) stayed relevant for more than a year, before dropping out of favour
2) Jund never came back, which has mainly to do with a broadening of the metagame and being rather inflexible to adapt
3) Storm rose to be a Tier 1 or at least Tier 1 contender for the majority of the time (due to the printing of Baral and the adoption from the Ritual Gifts version to include Gifts Ungiven)
4) Humans happened
5) Spirits emerged as a great deck (this year)
6) BBE and Jace got unbanned, both having close to zero impact for the longest time
7) True Control only revived due to the printing of Opt, Teferi and the adaptation of removing AV and including Terminus.
8) Hollow One got "discovered"
9) Affinity dropped down in favour of Hardening Scales
So, shor trip down memory-lane, but why do this recap over the last 4 years?
Basically, since the release of Khans of Takir, the old pillars (all of them) are gone. Only Tron and Burn (which were in the crowd back than but not pillars) have survived. And this alone made the metagame so much more wide, where the question is now: "Who can do the most "unfair" thing at the time" (again, "unfair" in: If you cannot deal with it you will have a serious problem). So if you played since the beginning (as did I), there is a reason why we feel, that the metagame became more "linear" to say it this way, cause as it shows, it became so BUT some very specific time frames (Midrange Shadow time period and the one pre Kaladesh). Before that, you could always bang on the big 5-6 pillars (aka police decks) to keep the metagame check. Since those are now long gone, the metagame overall became more volatile (as can be seen at the recent GPs, which are usually extreme in one case or another).
Greetings,
Kathal
Modern/Legacy
either funpolice (Delver, Deathcloud, UW Control) or the fun decks (especially those ft. Griselbrand)
I do hope midrange becomes more than a 45% type of deck again.
Midrange ruled for about a year before Humans so I can't really *****, metas ebb and flow. Right now we're in a very linear meta where GY, Tribal aggro is king. I do think at the moment these aggro decks have received so many tools that spot removal isn't so fantastic anymore---Hence, why I'm just going Tron right now. I was feeling decent about me playing Grixis Shadow until Humans and Spirits just crapped all over me. I also didn't realize there isn't really enough combo to prey on, as I think Humans kinda deterred people outside of KCI and Storm.
Maybe next year the meta will be more interactive, right now it's super linear.
Spirits
I want to thank especially @ktkenshinx who did all those metagame reports (and more) over the past few years, without him we would lack a good history of the Modern metagame and thus I could have never made the point I waned to make (due to the lack of facts):
Since 2014 Modern shifted from a Standard like playstyle (so more "grinding out advanages") towards a more unfair one (unfair in: "Either you deal with it or you are in trouble"), which historically speaking always happened to big formats (be it Vintage, Legacy, super Extended (8 year Extended), Modern and even Pauper). It is no problem to play traditional "fair" decks, but your deck needs to do something good and not sitting around and waiting to die. This is not limited to combo decks but it can also mean slamming a huge Death Shadow early, having synergistic grow effects on your creatures (humans) or, get value chains going (Counter-Company and Spirits), having some high impact cards loaming around (Teferi), but do not sit just ideal there and threaten nothing.
Also, clever deck building became more and more important over time, things like Suicide Zoo would have never came into existent without some brewers. Do you need to go so far to get a deck viable? Nah, if it has already a good gameplan.
Counter Cat (Delver + Nacatl + tempo shell) is a prime example for this:
- If the meta gets faster, I will also get tiny bit faster (including more burn, Helixes, cutting on the 2CMC counters,...)
- If there is combo running around, I might switch up my counter suit (more 1 CMC counters, maybe include Disruption Shoal again)
- If it gets slower, add more value chains (Snapcaster, Huntmaster, Hazeret, Chart a Course, Faithless Looting,...)
Tuning your deck is nowadays even more important, cause you cannot say: "The following 6-7 decks make up 50+% of the metagame". That is the beauty and struggle from Modern, when your MD is basically your SB already
Greetings,
Kathal
Modern/Legacy
either funpolice (Delver, Deathcloud, UW Control) or the fun decks (especially those ft. Griselbrand)
History of Modern. Good post.
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Want to play a UW control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?
Please come visit us at the Emeria Titan control thread
The deck is already adopting Black as it becomes more proactive. If it works out Twin would just take one more deck running discard and recursive threats to fight through.
Fear of Twin invalidating Tier 2 strategies, is odd when we already have gatekeeper decks laughing at Tier 2 and 3.
Spirits