Thoughtseize is a good card again! I woke up the other day and people told me that Jund won the MTGO Modern MCQ. I frantically checked my phone to see if I had somehow warped back to 2014, but sure enough it was still June 2019. In the midst of Hogaak madness, the black midrange decks of Modern became a defensible choice again.
Finally, back to a time where I don’t have to embarrassingly explain why I registered a fair Thoughtseize deck! Last week I wrote about how the modern metagame is more favorable to midrange decks than it has been in some time. Today I want to talk more specifically about the above average performance of the black midrange decks.
Over the last two weeks: Jund has won a MTGO MCQ, Mardu Death’s Shadow won SCG Pittsburgh, Esper Mentor finished second in a MTGO Challenge, and Mardu Pyromancer finished in the top 8 of a MTGO Challenge. Let’s take a look at these decks!
Jund, by bladede
| Creatures (13) 4 Tarmogoyf 3 Dark Confidant 2 Scavenging Ooze 2 Seasoned Pyromancer 2 Bloodbraid Elf Planeswalkers (6) 3 Liliana of the Veil 1 Liliana, the Last Hope 2 Wrenn and Six Spells (18) 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Inquisition of Kozilek 2 Thoughtseize 2 Fatal Push 2 Assassin’s Trophy 1 Unearth 1 Abrupt Decay 1 Kolaghan’s Command 1 Nihil Spellbomb | Lands (23) 3 Bloodstained Mire 3 Verdant Catacomb 2 Wooded Foothills 4 Blackcleave Cliffs 2 Raging Ravine 2 Overgrown Tomb 1 Blood Crypt 1 Stomping Ground 1 Nuturing Peatland 2 Swamp 1 Forest 1 Mountain Sideboard (15) 4 Leyline of the Void 2 Collector Ouphe 3 Fulminator Mage 2 Plague Engineer 1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance 1 Anger of the Gods 1 Ancient Grudge 1 Weather the Storm |
Mardu Death's Shadow, by Jeremy Bertarioni
| Creatures (16) 4 Death’s Shadow 4 Ranger-Captain of Eos 4 Street Wraith 3 Dreadhorde Arcanist 1 Giver of Runes Spells (25) 4 Thoughtseize 3 Inquisition of Kozilek 4 Path to Exile 2 Faithless Looting 2 Fatal Push 2 Unearth 2 Surgical Extraction 4 Mishra’s Bauble 2 Nihil Spellbomb | Lands (19) 4 Marsh Flats 3 Bloodstained Mire 2 Arid Mesa 4 Silent Clearing 2 Godless Shrine 1 Blood Crypt 1 Sacred Foundry 1 Swamp 1 Plains Sideboard (15) 4 Lingering Souls 4 Yixlid Jailer 1 Grim Lavamancer 1 Shenanigans 1 Celestial Purge 3 Plague Engineer 1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar |
Mardu Pyromancer, by milikin
| Creatures (10) 4 Young Pyromancer 4 Seasoned Pyromancer 2 Yawgmoth, Thran Physician Spells (29) 4 Faithless Looting 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Inquisition of Kozilek 3 Thoughtseize 4 Smiting Helix 4 Lingering Souls 3 Unearth 3 Collective Brutality | Lands (21) 4 Bloodstained Mire 4 Marsh Flats 4 Blackcleave Cliffs 2 Blood Crypt 2 Sacred Foundry 1 Godless Shrine 2 Swamp 1 Mountain 1 Plains Sideboard (15) 3 Ravenous Trap 2 Blood Moon 2 Wear // Tear 2 Dreadbore 2 Plague Engineer 2 Kambal, Consul of Allocution 1 Kolaghan’s Command 1 Kaya’s Guile |
Why are the black decks good again?
The answer to that question is simple: versatility and adaptability. These decks can be built to target nearly any metagame. The smaller the pool of good decks becomes, the better these black decks are against the field. Hogaak and Izzet Phoenix have basically pushed all but a few decks out of serious playability.
I think the decks that have real tournament legs are: Humans, Hogaak, Izzet and Mono Red Phoenix, Black Midrange decks (BGx, Mardu Death’s Shadow, Mardu Pyromancer, and Mardu Pyromancer), Azorius Control, and Infect. For ease we can classify these decks into graveyard decks, creature decks, and interactive decks.
When Hogaak and Izzet Phoenix are the best two decks in the format, graveyard interaction is required to have a chance of winning the match. The black midrange decks get to play cards like Surgical Extraction, Nihil Spellbomb, and Scavenging Ooze at little cost to their plan. Gaining an edge on the format by being able to effectively pre-board against the most popular decks bodes well for the strength of midrange in the current metagame. I wouldn’t call Hogaak a good matchup, but building your deck with it in mind can get the matchup to respectable place.
Creature decks—whether disruptive like Humans, aggressive like Mono Red Phoenix, or combo like Infect—all depend on getting into the red zone to win. The black midrange decks all have one piece in common: Fatal Push. The removal doesn’t stop there, with Assassin’s Trophy, Path to Exile, or Lightning Bolt helping these decks to stock up on ways to remove creatures. Inquisition of Kozilek is an excellent way to break up the curve or strip decks like Infect of their various combo pieces. These creature decks are often quite disadvantaged against black interactive decks.
Depending on your midrange deck of choice, your experiences may vary against the other midrange decks and Azorius Control. While BGx tends to be better against the open field because of catch-all cards like Assassin’s Trophy and Maelstrom Pulse. Tarmogoyf provides a solid creature that plays offense and defense rather well. Where BGx falters is in the Azorius Control matchup, and it can also be ground out by decks like Mardu Pyromancer.
Mardu Pyromancer boasts the best matchup against creature decks and the other interactive decks, but suffers against combo decks and matchups where you need to win quickly, such as Tron. Mardu Death’s Shadow excels at killing opponents quickly, and can play a grindy game, unless your opponent is trying to grind, in which case things start getting rough.
All in all I believe the Thoughtseize decks are positioned well, and much better than they have been in recent memory. They have all the tools to compete with the format at large, and can target whatever section of the metagame you want to beat. As always happy grinding and may your opponent always Mulligan in the face of a Thoughtseize.
Michael Rapp is a Boston-area grinder who started playing competitively in 2014. Loves Modern but plays everything. His favorite card is Thoughtseize has a soft spot for Tarmogoyf. GP Toronto 2019 Champion. Always happy to answer questions or just chat on Twitter or Facebook.