A New Cannon for Modern

By Jacob Van Lunen

Jacob Van Lunen began playing Magic in 1995. He has participated in organized play at every level of competition and was a member of the winning team at Pro Tour San Diego in 2007, thanks to an innovative draft strategy. As a writer, Van Lunen has had more than three hundred Magic strategy pieces published

We're just one day away from Pro Tour Born of the Gods. The best players in the world have gathered in Valencia, Spain, with dreams of hoisting a trophy above their heads on Sunday afternoon. The Constructed portion of Pro Tour Born of the Gods is Modern. Modern is a fast-paced format with a huge pool of available cards. We'll be watching combo strategies that deal millions of damage on the fourth turn, aggressive decks that are capable of fast victories while effectively disrupting any opponent, and control decks that have access to some of the most skill-intensive cards ever. Today, in preparation for Pro Tour Born of the Gods, we'll be taking a look at the new landscape of the Modern format in its current state.

Modern can be a confusing format to watch, especially if we haven't played much with the popular decks. Things will seem strange even for those of us who have been playing Modern in the last year or so. The banning of Deathrite Shaman and unbanning of Bitterblossom and Wild Nacatl heralded some big changes to the Modern format. Jund will likely fall out of favor while decks like Faeries and Zoo have new life breathed into them. A solid understanding of the major archetypes in the new Modern format will enhance our viewing experience by giving us the knowledge to have input on specific plays within a match. We've got a lot of decklists to cover in preparation for the Pro Tour; let's get to it!

Pyromancer Ascension Storm

umbrageous's Pyromancer Ascension Storm

Decklist Stats Sample Hand

Creature (4)

4 Goblin Electromancer

Sorcery (20)

2 Faithless Looting 4 Gitaxian Probe 3 Grapeshot 3 Past in Flames 4 Serum Visions 4 Sleight of Hand

Instant (16)

4 Desperate Ritual 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Manamorphose 4 Pyretic Ritual

Enchantment (4)

4 Pyromancer Ascension

Land (16)

3 Island 3 Misty Rainforest 1 Mountain 4 Scalding Tarn 4 Steam Vents 1 Sulfur Falls

60 Cards

Sideboard (15)

1 Grapeshot 2 Blood Moon 2 Defense Grid 3 Dragon's Claw 2 Echoing Truth 3 Empty the Warrens 2 Vandalblast

Deal Another Hand

We'll kick things off by taking a look at Pyromancer Ascension Storm. When playing Pyromancer Ascension strategies, we're aiming to get our namesake enchantment in play and use it to start doubling inexpensive spells while creating huge amounts of mana with copied Manamorphose and Rituals. Once we've sifted through enough of our library we can fire off some very large Grapeshots to finish the game. The banning of Deathrite Shaman has reintroduced this strategy as one of the better combo strategies in the Modern format.

RUG Scapeshift

tsuru's RUG Scapeshift

Decklist Stats Sample Hand

Creature (8)

4 Primeval Titan 4 Sakura-Tribe Elder

Sorcery (15)

3 Farseek 4 Pyroclasm 4 Scapeshift 4 Search for Tomorrow

Instant (8)

4 Izzet Charm 4 Remand

Enchantment (3)

3 Prismatic Omen

Land (26)

1 Breeding Pool 3 Forest 1 Halimar Depths 1 Island 4 Misty Rainforest 6 Mountain 1 Scalding Tarn 1 Steam Vents 4 Stomping Ground 4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

60 Cards

Sideboard (15)

2 Ancient Grudge 1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All 1 Cavern of Souls 2 Combust 2 Krosan Grip 2 Relic of Progenitus 2 Spellskite 3 Swan Song

Deal Another Hand

Scapeshift is the best one-card combo in Modern. When we have seven lands in play, we can cast Scapeshift and deal 18 points of damage, which will usually be enough to end the game in a format with so many shocklands and fetch lands. Things start to get crazy when there's a Prismatic Omen on the table, though. Scapeshift with six lands and Prismatic Omen and we can fire off 72 points of damage. This deck gets to play a reasonably interactive game and it has a lot of individually powerful cards. The resilience and lack of reliance on the graveyard make this a strong combo choice for Pro Tour Born of the Gods.

Melira Pod

quikidk's Melira Pod

Decklist Stats Sample Hand

Creature (28)

1 Archangel of Thune 4 Birds of Paradise 1 Eternal Witness 4 Kitchen Finks 1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence 1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast 2 Murderous Redcap 3 Noble Hierarch 1 Orzhov Pontiff 1 Qasali Pridemage 1 Ranger of Eos 1 Reveillark 1 Scavenging Ooze 1 Spellskite 1 Spike Feeder 2 Viscera Seer 2 Voice of Resurgence

Instant (5)

2 Abrupt Decay 3 Chord of Calling

Artifact (4)

4 Birthing Pod

Land (23)

3 Forest 2 Gavony Township 1 Godless Shrine 4 Marsh Flats 2 Overgrown Tomb 1 Plains 3 Razorverge Thicket 1 Swamp 1 Temple Garden 4 Verdant Catacombs 1 Woodland Cemetery

60 Cards

Sideboard (15)

1 Scavenging Ooze 2 Voice of Resurgence 1 Aven Mindcensor 2 Dismember 1 Harmonic Sliver 1 Kataki, War's Wage 1 Obstinate Baloth 1 Shriekmaw 1 Sin Collector 4 Thoughtseize

Deal Another Hand

Birthing Pod decks are essentially powerful midrange strategies that happen to have a number of infinite combos hidden within. Melira, Sylvok Outcast allows players to abuse the persist mechanic if they have access to a sacrifice outlet like Viscera Seer. We can use Murderous Redcap to deal infinite damage, or Kitchen Finks to gain infinite life. The deck's combo interactions don't stop there, though. Archangel of Thune in conjunction with Spike Feeder can make our team infinitely large while also gaining us infinite life. It's important for players to remain on the offensive against a deck like this; playing a reactionary game will be a futile endeavor for most non-Snapcaster Mage decks.

Red-White-Blue Control

Crash_CZ's Red-White-Blue Control

Decklist Stats Sample Hand

Planeswalker (2)

1 Ajani Vengeant 1 Gideon Jura

Creature (3)

3 Snapcaster Mage

Sorcery (3)

2 Supreme Verdict 1 Wrath of God

Instant (26)

4 Cryptic Command 4 Electrolyze 3 Lightning Bolt 2 Lightning Helix 3 Mana Leak 2 Path to Exile 1 Shadow of Doubt 3 Spell Snare 2 Sphinx's Revelation 2 Think Twice

Land (26)

3 Arid Mesa 4 Celestial Colonnade 1 Glacial Fortress 2 Hallowed Fountain 3 Island 1 Mountain 1 Plains 1 Sacred Foundry 3 Scalding Tarn 1 Steam Vents 3 Sulfur Falls 3 Tectonic Edge

60 Cards

Sideboard (15)

1 Celestial Purge 1 Combust 2 Counterflux 1 Detention Sphere 1 Dispel 2 Grafdigger's Cage 2 Sowing Salt 2 Stony Silence 2 Timely Reinforcements 1 Wear // Tear

Deal Another Hand

Red-White-Blue Control is the most successful dedicated control strategy in the current Modern format. The deck plays a lot of interactive removal and countermagic and eventually takes over the game with a big spell. The deck will enjoy the amount of Zoo it will get to prey on after Wild Nacatl's unbanning, but Bitterblossom packs a longevity that's hard for a deck like this to deal with. Time will tell if this deck continues to do well with the new banned list, but it's looking like a very strong contender for the deck to beat going into Valencia.

Tribal Zoo

Androod's Blue-Red Delver

Decklist Stats Sample Hand

Creature (38)

4 Geist of Saint Traft 4 Ghor-Clan Rampager 4 Kird Ape 4 Loam Lion 4 Tarmogoyf 4 Wild Nacatl 4 Delver of Secrets 4 Snapcaster Mage 4 Spellstutter Sprite 2 Vendilion Clique

Sorcery (6)

4 Tribal Flames 2 Pillar of Flame

Instant (29)

4 Lightning Bolt 4 Lightning Helix 4 Path to Exile 2 Burst Lightning 2 Electrolyze 4 Mana Leak 4 Remand 2 Spell Pierce 3 Spell Snare

Artifact (2)

2 Sword of Light and Shadow

Land (33)

4 Arid Mesa 1 Blood Crypt 1 Forest 1 Hallowed Fountain 4 Misty Rainforest 1 Plains 1 Sacred Foundry 4 Scalding Tarn 3 Steam Vents 1 Stomping Ground 1 Temple Garden 5 Island 1 Mountain 4 Mutavault 1 Sulfur Falls

Other (4)

1 [/edcklist] 1 Tribal Zoo is sure to be a factor at the upcoming Pro Tour. The deck gets to play with the most powerful burn spells ever printed, alongside Kird Ape, Loam Lion, Wild Nacatl, Tarmogoyf, Geist of Saint Traft, and Ghor-Clan Rampager. It's very difficult for us to ask for more. This is a very strong archetype, but the deck may be overly hated out of the format because everyone has their crosshairs lined up to take it down. 1 Blue-Red Delver 1 [decklist]

112 Cards

Sideboard (30)

3 Ancient Grudge 2 Domri Rade 3 Grafdigger's Cage 2 Ranger of Eos 2 Rest in Peace 3 Stony Silence 1 Sword of Light and Shadow 2 Dismember 2 Engineered Explosives 3 Magma Spray 2 Negate 2 Spellskite 2 Spreading Seas 1 Turn // Burn

Deal Another Hand

Blue-Red Delver seems like it's well-positioned for Pro Tour Born of the Gods. The deck aims to get on the table quickly with Delver of Secrets and apply pressure with strong spot removal, disruption, and creatures with flash that assure the deck is always using all of its mana efficiently. This deck seems like a great way to beat dedicated combo and Faeries, but it seems like it might have trouble with the Zoo decks with a lot of 3 toughness for one mana.

Faeries

osmanozguney's Faeries

Decklist Stats Sample Hand

Creature (12)

4 Mistbind Clique 4 Scion of Oona 4 Spellstutter Sprite

Sorcery (4)

2 Inquisition of Kozilek 2 Thoughtseize

Instant (14)

2 Agony Warp 4 Cryptic Command 1 Doom Blade 3 Mana Leak 1 Smother 3 Spell Snare