By Nicholas Wolfram

Nicholas Wolfram fell promptly in love with tabletop and video games when he was only two years old, and he has been writing about them since he figured out how words worked. Now he puts together words about Magic, which he started playing way back in 2000.

The Daily Magic Update is a roundup of everything Magic you should know on January 31, 2017. Today's Update is brought to you by a thousand Felidar Guardian clones. Because you can never have too many kitties.

Today's Must

Building Mana Bases | Constructed Criticism | Spencer Howland and Casey Bloodworth

Building an ideal mana base requires delicate balancing and often a little number crunching. It's easy to blame your shuffle if you ignore this aspect of deck building, but Spencer and Casey are here to help make sure you don't get to that point.

After That, Read, Watch, or Listen to These

Drafting Red-White Vehicles in Aether Revolt | TCG Player | Seth Manfield

Magic's 2015 World Champion takes viewers on a ride through drafting one of the favorite new archetypes to emerge since the release of Kaladesh.

Late-Game Control | StarCityGames.com | Jadine Klomparens

Playing against control is stressful. There's no way around it. Each step you take seems just a little bit riskier, and you never know when the board may suddenly swing to your opponent's favor. Luckily, Jadine has some advice on how to mitigate your risks and hopefully relieve some stress after you enter the dreaded late game against a control deck.

A New Modern with Aether Revolt | ChannelFireball | Caleb Durward

Caleb takes a hard look at Aether Revolt and all the cards that may end up seeing play in Modern. And no, this isn't just an article about Fatal Push.

My Opinion on the Bans and Cards on My Watchlist | MTG Mint Card | Patrick Dickmann

After carefully considering his stance on the issue, Patrick weighs in on the recent bans of Gitaxian Probe and Golgari Grave-Troll and how they will affect the Modern metagame moving forward. As part of his analysis, he also offers some insight on what the next most likely targets for banning might be.

How to Beat Jeskai with Golgari | ChannelFireball | Brian DeMars

The Top 8 at the StarCityGames.com Richmond Open last weekend was dominated by Jeskai and Golgari. Brian takes a firm stand on the side of Golgari and offers some advice on how to take Jeskai down (whether or not they brought Saheeli and her pet Cat).

What People Are Talking About

Is Shock, one of Magic's most well-known (and surprisingly divisive) spells, actually viable in Standard?

The short answer: Yes. Of course it is.

Deck of the Day

Jeffrey Ashkin's Four-Color Saheeli

Four out of the top six decks ran the Copycat combo at SCG Open Richmond last weekend, but Jeffrey was the only one bold enough to go beyond Jeskai into four colors (with the addition of green). This splash let him add Servant of the Conduit, Rogue Refiner, and Ajani Unyielding for early game acceleration and late game control, landing him in 2nd place overall.

Jeffrey Ashkin's Four-Color Saheeli

Decklist Stats Sample Hand

Planeswalker (7)

1 Ajani Unyielding 2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance 4 Saheeli Rai

Creature (14)

4 Felidar Guardian 2 Cloudblazer 4 Rogue Refiner 4 Servant of the Conduit

Instant (3)

3 Harnessed Lightning

Artifact (6)

2 Implement of Combustion 1 Panharmonicon 3 Prophetic Prism

Enchantment (6)

1 Oath of Jace 4 Oath of Nissa 1 Quarantine Field

Land (24)

4 Aether Hub 3 Botanical Sanctum 4 Evolving Wilds 3 Forest 2 Inspiring Vantage 1 Island 1 Mountain 2 Needle Spires 1 Plains 2 Prairie Stream 1 Spirebluff Canal

60 Cards