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By: Kumagoro42, Gianluca Aicardi
Dec 04 2019 1:00pm
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 Hello and welcome back to the State of Modern, our monthly rendez-vous with all things Modern, including big tournament reports, the decklists and prices for the archetypes that are currently the most successful in the meta, and an up-to-date ban list. If you never tried your hand at Modern, this is the right place to know everything you need to know in order to begin; and if you're already into it, it can still be a good way to make sure you know everything that's happening in the format.

 The series archive is here.
 Let's start a new ride!


 THE BIG EVENTS

 Here's the latest Modern events with at least 200 players, ordered chronologically. Find the archetypes below.

 November 15: StarCityGames Invitational: Roanoke
 Players: 489
 Winner: Christopher Barone with Humans
 Top 8: Humans, UrzaTron, Amulet Titan, Death's Shadow, Death's Shadow, Dredge, EldraTron, Urza Food

 November 18: MTGO Modern PTQ
 Players: 207
 Winner: 3HDgamers with UrzaTron
 Top 8: UrzaTron, Death's Shadow, Death's Shadow, Humans, EldraTron, EldraTron, Infect, UW Control

 November 23: Cardmarket Series: Prague
 Players: 378
 Winner: Tomas Hanousek with EldraTron
 Top 8: EldraTron, Urza Food, Bant Control, Jund, Creaturex Toolbox, Dredge, Jund, Valakut

 November 26: Grand Prix Columbus 2019
 Players: 657
 Winner: Brian Coval with Urza Food
 Top 8: Urza Food, UrzaTron, Humans, Urza Food, Burn, Burn, Humans, UrzaTron


 THE MODERN META

 Already covered: Ad NauseamAffinity, Allosaurus ComboBogleBlue MoonBloomless Titan (aka Amulet Titan), Bridgevine (banned, update: Crabvine), BurnCollected Chord (aka Creatures Toolbox), Death's Shadow, Dredge (update), Eldrazi Aggro, Eldrazi & TaxesEldraTron, Elves, Equipment StormFaeriesGifts Control, GoblinsGrixis Control, Hardened ModularHatebears, Hogaak DredgeHollow OneHumans, Infect, Instant Reanimator, Izzet Aggro (aka Izzet Delver), Izzet Phoenix (update), Izzet PyromancerJeskai MiraclesJund (also feat. Wrenn and Six), Junk, KCI (banned), Lantern Control, LanternlessLiving EndMadcap Gruul, Mardu Pyromancer, Martyr LifeMerfolk, Nahiri Control, Naya BurnPhoenix Deck Wins, Phoenix Wrenn and SixPonza (update), Pyro Prison, Rakdos MidrangeRDW, Saheeli EvolutionSelesnya Value, Skred Red, Spirit Aggro, StonebladeStorm, TezzeratorThe Rock, Titan BreachTokensTwinless Exarch, Urza FoodUrza Foundry (aka Whirza), Urza OutcomeUrzaTronUW ControlValakut (aka TitanShift), Valakut Control, Vannifar PodWalks.

 Update: Oko, Thief of Crowns has been banned! ...in Standard. The Food Prince is still very much active in Modern, and the Whirza variant list that runs a full playset of the Elkinator remains one of the most successful decks in the meta. Urza and Oko, past and present, coming together to kick butts.

 

 For the rest, the meta actually seems to be contracting. Usual suspects UrzaTron and EldraTron are winning many big events, while UW Control, once a major force in the Modern scene, is now in steep decline, possibly because many control players are jumping on the Oko bandwagon. Look for instance at this Bant Control list, which is basically UW Control with a splash of green just for Oko, Ice-Fang Coatl, and a couple sideboard cards (key among which is Veil of Summer).

 

 While we're waiting for the next explosive development, we can't help but Ponder if the rise of Pioneer won't mark the beginning of the end for Modern: the new, sexy, unencumbered-by-tons-of-broken-interactions newcomer that ends up overshadowing the aging, not-so-fresh-anymore, almost-a-decade-old format, which was once the next hot thing, and is now destined to become... Legacy junior. 


 THE MODERN BAN LIST

 Last revised: August 26, 2019 (banned: Faithless Looting, Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis; unbanned: Stoneforge Mystic)
 Next announcement: December 16, 2019

 Total banned cards: 36

 By Color: 

  • White: 1
  • Blue: 6
  • Black: 4 (of which 2 Golgari)
  • Red: 6
  • Green: 8 (of which 2 Golgari)
  • Colorless: 13
  • Multicolored: 1 (of which 1 Golgari)

 By Type: 

  • Creature: 3
  • Land: 8
  • Artifact: 6
  • Enchantment: 2
  • Planeswalker: 0
  • Instant: 7
  • Sorcery: 10

 By Set:

  • Core Sets: 2 (of which 1 from 9th Edition, originally from Visions, and 1 from Magic 2011)
  • Modern Horizons: 1
  • Mirrodin block: 11 (of which 9 from Mirrodin, 1 from Darksteel, 1 from Fifth Dawn)
  • Kamigawa block: 4 (of which 2 from Champions of Kamigawa, 2 from Betrayers of Kamigawa)
  • Ravnica block: 1 (from Ravnica)
  • Ice Age block: 2 (both from Coldsnap)
  • Time Spiral block: 3 (of which 2 from Time Spiral, 1 from Future Sight)
  • Lorwyn block: 1 (from Lorwyn)
  • Alara block: 0
  • Zendikar block: 3 (of which 1 from Zendikar, 1 from Worldwake, 1 from Rise of the Eldrazi)
  • Scars of Mirrodin block: 4 (of which 1 from Mirrodin Besieged, 3 from New Phyrexia)
  • Innistrad block: 1 (of which 1 from Dark Ascension)
  • Return to Ravnica block: 1 (from Return to Ravnica)
  • Theros block: 0
  • Khans of Tarkir block: 2 (both from Khans of Tarkir)
  • Battle for Zendikar block: 0
  • Shadows over Innistrad block: 0
  • Kaladesh block: 0
  • Amonkhet block: 0
  • Ixalan block: 0
  • Three-and-One Sets: 0

 See you next month, when we'll keep exploring the Modern meta. In the meantime, don't be ancient, play Modern!

2 Comments

The thought occurs that by AJ_Impy at Thu, 12/05/2019 - 04:26
AJ_Impy's picture
5

The thought occurs that Modern is no longer the smallest nonrotating set.

Yeah, that should change. :) by Kumagoro42 at Thu, 12/05/2019 - 08:02
Kumagoro42's picture

Yeah, that should change. :)
It was actually always wrong to call it an Eternal format, by the way.