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ROGUE PLAY Modern Talking

by Nafiz Erman

Hello dear readers and welcome back to Rogue Play. The newest format of Magic is finally and officially "official". Last week I started looking at the format, talking about the format and building decks for the format. But the recent announcement that came from WotC changed everything. If you aren't aware of that announcement by the way, please do check this link to Tom LaPille's article from last Friday.

What WotC did is simple actually: They created a "kill now, ask questions later" kind of a banlist just because Modern is now officially a PT format. And as stated in Mr. LaPille's article, the format of the next PT in Philadelphia will be Modern. WotC doesn't want this very first tournament of Modern to be "ruined" by the some specific cards and deck types, so just to be safe they put the most important components of those decks in the banlist.

Now first take at the current banlist and then we will talk about it a bit. 

 

I said "a list that doesn't make sense" because... uhm, really, it doesn't make any sense! I'm sure most of those cards will be unbanned in the future but for now, this is what we have. So in this first part of the article, I want to go over this list and tell you what I think about it.

1- The artifact lands: They were in the banlist for the Community Cup and they remain staying there. And I can understand that. I'm playing only Modern these days and one of the decks that people test heavily in the Tournament Practice Room is Affinity. And they do win a lot! Without the artifact lands, I must add. So this banning didn't kill Affinity as a deck type but it only prevented it from getting out of control. And I don't expect them to be unbanned in the future. 

2- Chrome Mox: At first this banning made a lot of sense. Hypergenesis was killing on turn two constantly so why give it a tool to kill on turn one, right? But now there is no Hypergenesis so this one might be unbanned in the future. Speaking of Hypergenesis... 3- Hypergenesis: I have nothing to add. It even had to be in the very first banlist. It was just too powerful for the format. 4- Ancestral Vision: Okay, what am I missing here? Which part of this card is broken? It's just an extremely fair card drawing spell. So this dear readers, was one of the reasons why I said "a list that doesn't make any sense". I can't believe that they banned this. I can't even imagine myself considering this card as a candidate for the banlist. There's nothing wrong with it. 5- Mental Misstep: Another card that should be unbanned immediately after the PT. Banning this one simply means that WotC wants us to play Kird Apes and Wild Nacatls in calm. But why? Why kill Control? It just doesn't make any sense!

Truly broken... I suppose.

6- Sword of the Meek + Skullclamp: Now these two make sense. We all know what they are capable of, so Modern without these two will be a better format.

7- Umezawa's Jitte: While I understand why they banned it, I seriously believe that they should give this one a chance. Jitte is strong, that's for sure, but it isn't broken now as it used to be back in the day. I think Umezawa's Jitte deserves a chance.

8- Stoneforge Mystic: I still can't believe that WotC actually printed this card. They have all the knowledge and experience of the past and still can slip through this kind of cards. Did no one realized what they were doing? It's not just the swords, this card is nuts with everything! I mean, did no one there said "Hey, I just played Stoneforge and tutored for Argentum Armor and cheated it into play. Is this not wrong?" Apparently no one said that. So yes, Stoneforge Mystic should be banned and stay banned. 9- Jace, the Mind Sculptor: WotC is making a huge mistake here. What led Jace to be banned in Standard was not himself but it was Stoneforge Mystic. Jace was in Standard before Scars of Mirrodin and while he was good, he was nowhere near being broken. Jund decks with Bloodbraid Elf was cutting him in half and I see no reason why the same should not happen in Modern.

I believe that Jace will be unbanned in time. He is good, he is powerful and he's the best planeswalker. But this format needs powerful cards too. Broken ones, such as the artifact lands and Stoneforge Mystic, should stay out. But Jace can stay. I'm sure we would see him very often if he were allowed, but I don't think he would break anything in half. Not without his partner in crime (that being Stoneforge Mystic of course).

10- Dark Depths + Glimpse of Nature: These I understand and I'm happy that they're gone. 11- Bitterblossom: This I don't understand and will NEVER understand. Dear readers, I'm playing Modern since weeks. And by experience I know that Faeries are good but they are nowhere near being that good, if you know what I mean. Because this isn't Standard we're talking about. This isn't Extended (RIP by the way). This is Modern and we have tons of options here and Faeries are just one of them. So I hope that WotC also sees this and unbans Bitterblossom. And hey; I want my  tokens deck back!!! 12- Sensei's Divining Top: I know why it's banned but that doesn't mean I can't feel bad about it. 13- Golgari Grave-Troll + Dread Return: I seriously can't believe that they banned these two and kept Bridge from Below in the format. Banning these two cards makes me believe that WotC knows very little (if nothing at all) about this deck type. Dredge as we know it, is so vicious because of Bridge from Below. So I expect those two cards to be unbanned after the PT.

14- Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle: Another banning that doesn't make any sense. Scapeshift decks are strong without doubt, but they are slow and it takes time to set up the whole game plan. And there are ways to deal with it. I'm also sure (or rather want to be sure) that WotC will unban Valakut after the PT.

So... these are what I think about the banlist. If I were the one making it, this would have been my personal list:

 

As you can see, I added Restore Balance to the list. I said above a couple of times that I'm spending all my time in the Tournament Practice Room playing Modern. And after the recent bannings, I'm seeing (and experiencing as well) a lot of turn three "Cascade into Restore Balance" kills. And by a lot, I mean A LOT!

So yes, it should be banned immediately. I don't think WotC should even wait for the PT for it. I understand that a turn three (or two even) Hypergenesis into a Chancellor of the Annex and Terastodon is too broken and Restore Balance is a bit fairer than that. But trust me, losing all your creatures and lands and enchantments on turn three is not something you can overcome easily.

So which brings us actually to the same point as before: All decks must pack Ethersworn Canonist or Chalice of the Void or Spell Pierce to deal with Cascade. Basically the same as before. So in my opinion nothing has changed. My sideboard is still the same; be it Hypergenesis or Restore Balance. I still pack both Spell Pierce and Chalice of the Void in my Control decks and Ethersworn Canonist in my Aggro decks.

So WotC should get this straight: They should either unban Hypergenesis (oh please don't!!) or ban Restore Balance too.

 

DECK TO PLAY

So enough ranting. What's banned is banned and now we have our card pool to build decks from. We can talk about that list after the PT and after we see what the professional players choose to play. So let's look at what we can play.

Here are the best decks I'm seeing very frequently in the TP Room at the moment:

OPTION #1 - ZOO

Zoo is probably the best option in the format now. The mana base is excellent and the creature list is almost the same as in Legacy; meaning very powerful. The only problem is that there is no Sylvan Library in the format nor Chain Lightning. But Modern still has tons of great options to support its creatures. Char, Lightning Bolt, Rift Bolt, Lightning Helix are all legal, and I'm sure the Zoo player won't have any problems to finish his opponent.

OPTION #2 - RED DECK WINS Why complicate things when winning can be this easy? Goblin Guides, Hellspark Elementals and burn spells... you know the drill. This deck exists and it is being played, so you better keep that in mind when building your deck.

OPTION #3 - MERFOLK Neither the first banning nor the recent one "touched" this deck so it's quite possible to win whole events with the "folk of the sea". It's not as strong as in Legacy but I do play against it very often (meaning, it is there and is being played).

OPTION #4 - TWELVE POSTS

Last week I showed you the mono Green version of this deck. There is also the mono Blue version. And the  one. People also play Red and Blue in this deck. My recent personal testing shows that Twelve Posts is one of the most widely played decks in the format together with Zoo and Restore Balance decks. If you want to compete in the format, you must have a plan against this deck.

OPTION #5 - AFFINITY & ERAYO AFFINITY The artifact lands may be banned but that won't stop Affinity. Both the beatdown version and the Erayo version do exist and they are very deadly. I lost a lot of matches to Affinity even by now, so I know what I'm saying.

OPTION #6 - ELVES

Oh yes, the boring Elves. The good news is that Glimpse of Nature is banned. The bad news is that this doesn't mean much. Elves are still Elves and there are still tons of nasty things you can do with them. I see lots of Elfball decks around but I do also see some decks with Red for some Bloodbraid Elf and Punishing Fire action. Oh and keep in mind that they play a full set of Boil in their sideboard as well (how cruel is that?!).

OPTION #7 - RESTORE BALANCE

This is currently the deck to beat; at least in the TP Room. They play those Alara Reborn mana artifacts, suspend their Greater Gargadon and then cascade into Restore Balance on turn three. If you can somehow overcome that, they do it again. And again. And the final blow either comes from March of the Machines turning their mana artifacts into creatures, or from their Greater Gargadon.

OPTION #8- WHITE/BLUE CONTROL

The recent additions to the banlist surely made Aggro stronger but thankfully WotC didn't add Wrath of God to it. Which means that  Control still is strong a possibility. White has lots of very nice spot removal spells and Blue offers counterspells and card drawing. Alternatively people also play Caw Blade with Squadron Hawks and swords. It isn't the same as with Stoneforge Mystic but it is still a powerful choice nonetheless.

OPTION #9 - WHITE/BLUE/x CONTROL

The traditional  Control can always splash a third color for more options. Red gives Lightning Bolt, Lightning Helix and Ajani Vengeant. Green gives mana ramping. Black gives more removal and discard. And please do not forget that between the Ravnica lands and the Lorwyn hybrid lands, casting Ajani Vengeant after one Cryptic Command is absolutely not a problem at all.

OPTION #10 - ASCENSION COMBO I'm seeing this deck a lot in the TP Room. I don't know how it deals with Restore Balance decks but it is still a good deck and I must say that their Blood Moon is pretty effective against unprepared Twelve Posts players.

OPTION #11 - DRAGONSTORM

This is another deck I'm seeing a lot in the TP Room. The main list of it hasn't changed much since the time it was in Standard. So it's again Lotus Bloom into those Red mana ramp spells such as Pyretic Ritual and then a Dragonstorm with a storm count of four mostly. And those four copies reveal four Bogardan Hellkites. And if they are not enough, one of those Dragonstorms bring in a hasty Hellkite Charger and finish the opponent.

OPTION #12 - JUND Many people play this deck but I don't think that it's the same powerful Jund we know anymore. Twelve Posts and Restore Balance are almost auto losses for Jund. This deck should immediately evolve or otherwise it will die.

So yes, these are the main decks I'm seeing a lot in the Tournament Practice Room. But are these all? Of course not. The format has tons of other possibilities. Such as the knows Swans deck (with Seismic Assault). Or such as Rock midrange. Or Living End, Soul Sisters, Pickles or Exarch Twin decks. There are tons of other options out there but currently the players trying this format mainly play the decks I mentioned above.

So currently the meta in the TP Room is like this:

1- Zoo
2- Various Twelve Posts decks
3- Restore Balance
4- Various Affinity decks
5- Merfolk

As I said, I see lots of other decks too but these are the ones you should watch out and you should expect to play against.

 

WRAP UP

Okay dear readers, that's all for this week. I'm sure you have lots of things to say about the banned list and I'm sure that you don't agree with most of the things I said. So let's talk about those things in the comments section. As I said above, this banned list is absolutely not the final one because it simply doesn't make any sense. Restore Balance should be in there and many other cards should be unbanned. But I guess all those things will happen after the PT in Philadelphia.

 

NEXT WEEK ON ROGUE PLAY
Modernization, Part II

Tom LaPille's article last Friday killed my actual Modernization, Part II article because it was about  tokens and that deck was using four copies of Bitterblossom. But it's okay, I always find stuff to talk about! So next week I will be back with more Modern information. I will play Modern the whole week in the TP Room and next week I will give you a more detailed report about what people play, what I personally play and so on.

So we'll see us next week.

Thanks for reading.

See you online
Nafiz Erman, aka Lord Erman