Magic Fest Los Angeles hosts a Modern Grand Prix this weekend, and SCG Regionals will feature Modern in a couple weeks as well. That means it is time to prepare for “The People’s Format,” which will take over Magic players’ minds in the next few weeks.
The SCG Tour has only offered one solo Modern event this season so far, which was SCG Worcester back in January. This tournament resulted in a win for Amulet Titan, but has the Modern format changed at all in the past two months? What should you be practicing for Regionals? I’m going to review a handful of good deck choices for Modern over the next few weeks.
Dredge
Dredge, by Rhianne
| Creatures (18) 4 Bloodghast 4 Narcomoeba 4 Prized Amalgam 4 Stinkweed Imp 2 Golgari Thug Spells (23) 4 Faithless Looting 4 Life from the Loam 4 Creeping Chill 4 Shriekhorn 4 Cathartic Reunion 2 Conflagrate 1 Darkblast | Lands (19) 4 Copperline Gorge 1 Gemstone Mine 1 City of Brass 3 Arid Mesa 2 Bloodstained Mire 2 Wooded Foothills 2 Blood Crypt 2 Stomping Ground 2 Mountain Sideboard (15) 4 Nature’s Claim 1 Darkblast 1 Engineered Explosives 1 Abrupt Decay 3 Ancient Grudge 1 Leyline of the Void 3 Lightning Axe 1 Vengeful Pharaoh |
If you are someone who likes to pick up “The Best Deck” for any given tournament, I recommend Dredge or Izzet Phoenix. Both of these decks have been putting up consistent results for the past couple of months, and Dredge has been consistently dominating IQs and and Magic Online events in the past two weeks. Graveyard strategies offer explosive gameplay, and they currently are not being held back by significant countermeasures. The most relevant graveyard hate in the format is Leyline of the Void, but Dredge often has access to easy and efficient enchantment removal like Nature’s Claim.
Strengths
Dredge is an aggressive and resilient combo deck. The sideboards offers various cards that answer graveyard hate effectively.
Weaknesses
Without having an answer, Dredge can fold to graveyard hate plus pressure from the opponent. Dredge also has a hard time dealing with Anger of the Gods and Settle the Wreckage.
Izzet Phoenix
Izzet Phoenix, by ConorM426
| Creatures (13) 4 Thing in the Ice 4 Arclight Phoenix 3 Snapcaster Mage 2 Crackling Drake Spells (29) 4 Opt 4 Thought Scour 4 Faithless Looting 4 Serum Visions 4 Manamorphose 4 Lightning Bolt 2 Surgical Extraction 1 Lightning Axe 1 Gut Shot 1 Flame Slash | Lands (18) 4 Spirebluff Canal 4 Scalding Tarn 1 Flooded Strand 1 Polluted Delta 2 Steam Vents 1 Breeding Pool 1 Sulfur Falls 3 Island 1 Mountain Sideboard (15) 1 Beacon Bolt 1 Anger of the Gods 2 Abrade 2 Spell Pierce 1 Dispel 1 Surgical Extraction 3 Life Goes On 2 Blood Moon 1 Leyline of the Void 1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance |
The other “Best Deck” in Modern right now is Izzet Phoenix. Like Dredge, it uses the graveyard to enable explosive starts, but the deck is more difficult to answer. Graveyard hate can be irrelevant at times against Izzet Phoenix, or easy to play around. The effective cards against Izzet Phoenix are ones like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben; but with a downtick in Spirits and Humans, Izzet Phoenix doesn’t have to face Thalia too often these days.
Because of the immense amount of cantrips that make up the core of the deck, you are often able to find exactly what you need in any given situation. That said, the deck can be difficult to pilot, as you need to decide when it is worth spending your cantrips to bring Arclight Phoenixes into play from the graveyard. Sometimes you can miss on the third spell, and then you used all your spells without bringing back any phoenixes.
Strengths
Izzet Phoenix is resilient to hate cards and puts an immense amount of pressure on the opponent. The deck can attack with multiple Arclight Phoenixes as quickly as turn two.
Weaknesses
The deck can struggle against hyper aggressive decks and decks that don’t care about transforming Thing in the Ice. Additionally, it can be hard to beat a Chalice of the Void on one if you aren’t prepared.
Grixis Death’s Shadow
Grixis Death's Shadow, by Pascal3000
Grixis Death’s Shadow was a popular deck around a year ago and then died off when Humans took center stage. With the decline of Humans in Modern, Grixis Death’s Shadow has returned to a Tier One Modern deck.
The appeal to this deck is that you have a lot of decisions and micro-decisions to make that can completely alter the outcome of any given game. It doesn’t particularly have any good or bad matchups, but you have a fighting chance against everything. Because this deck has so many game-altering decisions, it is one of the harder decks to play in the format. The skill level of the Grixis Death’s Shadow player is often relevant in most matches.
Strengths
If you can play the deck well, it rewards your mastery. You have a chance against every deck with the tools to win almost every match if you play optimally. A lot of people like puzzles and thinking through complex lines and decisions. If that’s you, spend some time learning to play Grixis Death’s Shadow.
Weaknesses
It’s a difficult deck to just pick up and play without any real testing. Additionally, a small decision that you made on turn one or two could end up costing you the whole game.
Burn
Burn, by sandydogmtg
| Creatures (13) 4 Goblin Guide 4 Monastery Swiftspear 4 Eidolon of the Great Revel 1 Grim Lavamancer Spells (28) 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Lava Spike 4 Skewer the Critics 4 Searing Blaze 4 Rift Bolt 4 Boros Charm 2 Lightning Helix 2 Skullcrack | Lands (19) 4 Inspiring Vantage 4 Scalding Tarn 3 Bloodstained Mire 3 Wooded Foothills 2 Sacred Foundry 3 Mountain Sideboard (15) 3 Path to Exile 3 Smash to Smithereens 2 Skullcrack 3 Searing Blood 4 Rest in Peace |
Burn has become a great deck choice since the printing of Skewer the Critics. Unsurprisingly, it’s an aggressive deck that utilizes cheap creatures and burn spells to win quickly. More copies of Lightning Bolt has made Burn a top deck again, and it matches up well against Izzet Phoenix. Because of the popularity of Dredge, I would likely tailor my sideboard around beating it. Burn is a great deck to pick up and learn the tricks and intricacies by running it through a couple leagues online.
Strengths
The deck is proactive, aggressive, has a good Izzet Phoenix matchup, and can be hard to hate out. Burn also has tools like Eidolon of the Great Revel to combat decks like Storm, even though Burn is relatively uninteractive.
Weaknesses
Since the printing of Creeping Chill, Burn has struggled with the Dredge matchup. This would likely be an issue if you expect a lot of Dredge in your tournament. Some people also struggle playing decks like Burn that have one focused gameplan.
Ad Nauseam
Ad Nauseam, by Steve Stillman
| Creatures (5) 4 Simian Spirit Guide 1 Laboratory Maniac Spells (35) 4 Lotus Bloom 4 Pentad Prism 4 Ad Nauseam 4 Phyrexian Unlife 4 Angel’s Grace 3 Spoils of the Vault 4 Serum Visions 4 Sleight of Hand 3 Pact of Negation 1 Lightning Storm | Lands (20) 3 Seachrome Coast 3 Darkslick Shores 2 City of Brass 3 Gemstone Mine 4 Temple of Deceit 2 Temple of Enlightenment 1 Island 2 Plains Sideboard (15) 4 Leyline of Sanctity 1 Pact of Negation 1 Slaughter Pact 3 Thouhtseize 2 Path to Exile 1 Echoing Truth 2 Vendilion Clique 1 Supreme Verdict |
I never thought I would be making a recommendation for Ad Nauseam, but here we are. The basic idea is to use Ad Nauseam to draw your entire deck while protected from death by Angel’s Grace or Phyrexian Unlife. Then you win with either Laboratory Maniac or Lightning Storm.
If you want to beat three out of the four previously mentioned decks, this might be the deck for you. Combo strategies are poised to exploit the metagame full of non-interactive decks. I like where Ad Nauseam is placed, especially for the next couple of weeks. Interactive decks like Grixis Death’s Shadow will be harder to navigate through, but you do have various sideboard options, like Leyline of Sanctity.
Strengths
Ad Nauseam is very well positioned against Burn and Izzet Phoenix, which are a major part of the metagame. Modern has little interaction currently, and Humans is not very popular, which makes a combo deck like Ad Nauseam a good choice.
Weaknesses
It can be hard to beat more interactive strategies like Grixis Death’s Shadow. The deck demands skill and experience to navigate.
Ally Warfield is a Magic grinder and personality. She is an up-and-coming grinder with an impressive range in terms of archetype selection. You can find her on Twitter @ArcticMeebo.