MtG. Pro Tour Rivals of Ixalan and Modern Metagame in general.

Some pragmatic players might say that Modern is not a format, and there is no metagame there.
I tend to disagree and agree to a certain extent.

There is a metagame, but it is so wide and complex, that King of the Hill is a very unstable position.
The metagame shifts all the time within the field, depending what gets played most at a certain time.
And yes, in general, it is pointless to predict the field and matchups for your own deck,
because overall one can face both terrible and excellent matchups.
Hence, one cannot really tune or hedge against everything and has to compromise.
However, it is much easier to calculate your deck choice for an event like a Pro Tour.
I’m not saying it is easy, but easier. Historically people tend to play certain decks there, unless there is some sudden tycoon
(Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch and Eldrazi menace).

My aims here are to make you think and somehow ease the deck choice thinking process for you.
I do think that Pro Tour meta can be somewhat read, but any given Grand Prix meta, or rather top32,
that is very unlikely to accomplish for anyone, except for some really rough estimations.
I by no means pretend to know it all, and exactly mark my opinions,
and this is also why I tried to add as much statistics as I could within one article.

But now, let’s discuss what types of decks were typical for Pro Tours and what seem to be the guidelines in choosing the deck:

• The deck can challenge tier1 or the expected PT decks (Grixis Shadow, UW Control, Lantern Control, Tron and Valakut decks)
• Decks to Beat atm from my view - Jeskai/UW Control, Big Mana decks, Grixis Shadow, Humans, Affinity, Burn, Dredge, GW/Bant Company, Eldrazi Tron
• Has free wins, and also has decent amount of good matchups overall (Storm, Griselhoalbrand, Amulet Titan)
• No big pluses, no big minuses (Abzan, Jund)
• Best experience and a ton of practice plus comfort (Hatebears, Boggles)
• Solid aggro, punishing bad opposing draws (Affinity, Burn, Dredge)
• Resilience and flexibility, with chance for great impact (Vizier Company, 5C Humans)
• Is it worth playing fair game in the unfair format (Ponza, Devotion, GW Company),

• in other words this is about the thought process of where one wants to be in the field

SCG Dallas Open: Modern Classic side event - Top16 (in that order, from 1 to 16)

Burn, Affinity, Infect, GR Tron, Grixis Shadow, Jeskai Control, Affinity, U/R Gifts Storm, Jeskai Control, Burn, Humans, Jeskai Control, U/W Control, Burn.   

Nothing really crazy here, except for maybe Infect. Infect is a good meta deck. It suffers mainly from decks with discard spells and Chalices.
While the latter is only a real problem gain, and they have to have it fast, discard spells are much tougher to overcome.

All the decks here will be at the PT, but I just grew to hate playing Storm. It is such an emotional roller coaster.
You either leave them no chance, or get totally destroyed yourself.

SCG Classic - Columbus - Top16

Affinity, Green Tron, Blue Moon, Burn, UW Control, Affinity, Grixis Shadow, Jeskai Control, Burn,
Zoo (seriously quite old school Naya Zoo), Grixis Shadow, Lantern Control, Mardu, Merfolks, Affinity, Bant Company.  

This sort of speaks to me as Control and Anti-Control Top16. With Lantern being anti-control and Merfolks somewhere in the middle.  

StarCityGames.com Modern Open - Columbus - Top32

Jeskai Control, Jeskai Control, Storm, Grixis Shadow, GW Company, Blue Moon, Humans, Skred Red, Burn, Jeskai Tempo, Humans,
Jeskai Control, Grixis Shadow, Grixis Shadow, UW Control, Monogreen Devotion, Grixis Shadow, Humans, Bant Company, Jund, 5C Aggro,
BG Mid, Dredge, Blue Moon, Grixis Shadow, GW Company, Elves, Eldrazi Tron, UW Control.  

Same location, bigger event. More “rogue-ish” decks slicing in to the top on the back on a big diverse field,
but they all pretty much same traits as for the Classic event. There are same two camps more or less in terms of strategies, though this time aims are reversed.
That is aggro and anti-aggro is a bigger trait, than control and anti-control.  

Grand Prix Santa Clara 2018 - Team Trios - Top8

Dredge, UW Control, Mardu, BG Shadow, Lantern Control, Affinity, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity.

First of all it was Team Trios. That adds some limitations. Even though it was Standard-Modern-Legacy, and not just Modern-Modern-Modern.
The cards didn’t overlap really, yet team event structure means among things that not everything depends on one deck,
and some risks in terms of matchups are worth taking.
Regardless, deck selection process apart from personal preferences (well, team events often do tend to allure many not very active players),
I assume was like at the PT to some extent. I mean people likely thought of the “best” decks and gunned mainly against those.
I like Dredge, but it is in my view a metagame call, just like Lantern Control. I don’t particularly fancy both in a more diverse field.  

Meanwhile, the online picture (mtggoldfish.com):

I quite like all of these decks, with the exception of maybe GR Ponza.

Titan Shift could be a very good PT pick, if you happen to dodge most unfair decks.

Similar thing with Dredge. Very powerful deck, can still win through hate, but again, dicy in that regard.
In terms of risks, I think Affinity has minimal downside in that aspect. Probably best “busted” deck, when it comes to digging out of troubles.

Here we enter the zone of very sweet potent decks that are quite meta dependant.
If I would want to bring a spicy yet competitive deck to rock the house, I will select something from this pool, or from the next group below.
Basically this and next picture is full of decks that can perform either amazingly, or totally badly.
Or if you feel like you tend to be the “lucky strike” person, you can take Jund Griselhoalbrand (Reanimator), for instance.

WURG here is just Blue Zoo. With corresponding pluses and minuses. I.e. good store play or long-term deck, but never spectacular.
WUBRG is the Collected Company cousin of the Aether Vial Humans build, which is more popular right now, and better vs blue decks,
but CoCo variant is better versus midrange decks. WUB is Esper Living End. Kind of a middle ground between Jund and Monoblue builds.
Cannot say more here. But respect the strategy.  

W for Monowhite Death and Taxes. Easy deck for newcomers and not that pricy. Typical Weenie that can bring saltage.
BRG is essentially BR Hollow One with Vengevine, which are not meant to be cast.
I’d say I favor the addition. UBRG is apparently just another take on Dredge.

Yes, Boggles should be good right about now. More on that later in the article.

Difference between Gw and Gwb Elves is very small, but impactful.
Gw can go off with Devoted Druid plus Vizier of Remedies.
Gwb closes out with a full set of Shaman of the Pack.
I like both packages and myself would try to fit in bits of both.
I do like the deck right now a fair bit as a choice for premium events, since among other features it can protect from mass removals and has combos built-in.

URG refers to Temur Bring to Light Scapeshift Control with one Damnation.
The deck can still perform over long-run, but I think its time has passed. RG version is just better rounded up overall.

UW Spirits is just a cheap way to enter the format, especially if you happen to still have all the cards from the past Standard.

Merfolks have always been somehow a “secret” sleep-in in Modern.
Everybody knows about it, but tend to forget from time to time, and then get punished.
It’s like with Dredge in Legacy. Similar thing goes for Skred Red, but the deck itself is way less flexible and hunts more specific victims.  

From here on out we are looking at very niche decks with few exceptions.
And at a few distinct flavors of more common builds.

I actually quite like the non-Skred version of Monored Stompy.
I don’t see any appealing flaws on paper.

There are a few Grixis Control lists out there.
The deck is sort of dead right now, but can be just a sleeper. Bans do drop sometimes.
The lists look more like about pet cards or comfort zone, than anything real.  

And then we a bunch of various aggro decks, which are also partially about pet cards and comfort zone or wallet/collection zone.
I think that as long as you know the format, the staples, and have clear ideas, you can brew some playable concoctions.  

It is quite sad to see such decks like some DnT flavor, Infect, Bant Eldrazi and Grixis Delver this low.
I have a feeling they might grab a bigger cut at some other periods.
Those four are some of the most underestimated decks in the format in my mind.
For instance, Grixis Delver can win some games and matches, which its Shadow counterpart might really struggle with,
but Shadow builds are just much more powerful overall.

Ironworks is a sweet deck, but it never pretended to rise to any prominent level.  

Comparing last big paper events and online metagame:

Let’s start easy. By simply accumulating Top8-Top32 frequences on paper,
and see how it compares to the most popular decks online.

Paper: Top32 appearances in the events mentioned (4 events)

Humans plus other Company decks (GW and Bant) - 8

Affinity - 7

Grixis Shadow - 7

Burn - 6

Jeskai Control - 5

UW Control - 5

Blue Moon - 3

Dredge -3

Green Tron - 2

Eldrazi Tron - 2

Storm - 2

Mardu - 2

Online: Top10 most common decks

Jeskai Control, Affinity, Grixis Shadow, Humans, Burn, Green Tron, Eldrazi Tron, UW Control, Mardu, Storm.

Together:

Actually very close. With little exceptions. And with factors like matchups and pairings and pilots we get a very near picture.
I.e. paper forecasts can be to a certain degree be based on current online situation.  

We are soft of reaching a wheel here. Company decks, Affinity and Burn lose to fast combos more often than not, but kick blue decks.
Blue decks keep combos in check. Midrange keeps blue decks. Big Mana decks (Tron, Valakut) keep midranges and some blue decks sometimes.

Part of me wants to say that decks like Abzan Vizier or Elves Company should be good in a vacuum,
because there are essentially combo decks, that can just beatdown and can often try to grind.

But then, the realization of the cycle kicks in. Before the events we covered, we saw a cycle of Big Mana decks on top.
Now our statistics show resurgence of Blue Control decks as an answer to that.
At the same time, we see more aggressive Company decks, Humans, Affinity and Burn which aim to go underneath all of that.
Thus, we are somewhere at the end of that cycle.  

I think Pro Tour might end up being full of the last three decks and the like.
For example, BR Hollow One, which is not as risky or dicy like Dredge or Living End.
In which case, Abzan Midrange with a solid amount of hate in the sideboard, should be a fine safe compromise.
Lifegain (Prinos, Timely, Scooze), disruption, grindy, grave hate, solid beatsticks, white sideboard cards.           

Top5 Modern Trends (not necessarily in this order)

1. Pro Tour metagame will not be that diverse and will feature a lot of safe decks
2. It is still worth it to play decks that give free wins (Storm, Griselhoalbrand)
3. Grand Prix meta is way more diverse and can feature pretty much anything
4. It is impossible to prepare for everything and have The best deck
5. Breaking the wheel, timely positioning or Rogue mastering (e.g. GW Boggles Auras at this period)

Here I would like to take a moment to specify. There are decks that were good, are good, or will be good, depending on the cycle of the wheel.
There are Pro Tour decks, Grand Prix decks, decks that should be on top according to the data, and decks that I will pick for myself.  

My pick for Pro Tour - Abzan Midrange, UW Control or Mardu Pyromancer Midrange.

Decks I play in Modern - Eldrazi Tron, UR Storm, UG Infect, Vizier Company, UW Spirits.

Decks I like most among my own - Infect, UR Storm.

Decks I have played in Modern - every side of the spectrum, including decks that are nearly extinct now. Nearly half of the format.

Decks I would want to play - Elves, Amulet Combo, BR Hollow One, Dredge, Monoblue Living End, Monoblue Turns, Monogreen Devotion.

That’s it, folks!

Hope you enjoyed this overview and made some decisions more clear for yourself!

- Aarne Pyulze

Until the next cruise!

Stay reasonable and listen to your guts!

OthalaBor in Hearthstone, EternalTCG and Faeria

Ekvilor or BoatBrew at other game accounts

@BoatBrew on channels and media

website-cupboard: boatbrew.com

MtG. How to Cure netdecking. General Theory

There are times when one comes down with the netdecking disease without even trying to alter their deck list for their needs and/or local metagame. You would simply acquire the same entire 75 and move on straight into the fray. Still this is a bilateral process. If a format/archetype/metagame is not quite familiar to you yet, you should start with picking those original 75, put it through the local scene, and only then get down with any alterations. Fanaticism would be of no good here. If you feel inclined or empowered with time and resources, please do something in order to keep things changing and adapting. Competitive play might witness drastic shifts every week. FNMs might be visited by different people this week and another.

What is the cure for netdecking? The answer is obvious – play more against different decks and probe them for wider cardpool options available for the solutions of real situations within a format. Research statistics in the internet, compare various builds of the same archetype, read articles, as well. It would be wise of you to both respect the cool pros’ lists and mind your mind. A critical point is to understand properly why you need both the former and the latter.
And now let’s proceed to the examples and their explanations.

Modern

Oklahoma and Madrid. Infect and Eldrazi Tron
Grand Prix Oklahoma City 2017
Format: Modern | Number of Players: 1419 | Date: 10/12/2017
Gabriel Joglar playing Infect
Position: 24
Deck Name: Infect
Creatures [15]
1 Dryad Arbor
2 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
4 Blighted Agent
4 Glistener Elf
4 Noble Hierarch
Instants [24]
1 Apostle's Blessing
1 Echoing Truth
2 Spell Pierce
3 Become Immense
3 Blossoming Defense
3 Groundswell
3 Mutagenic Growth
4 Might of Old Krosa
4 Vines of Vastwood
Sorceries [2]
2 Distortion Strike
Lands [19]
1 Windswept Heath
2 Breeding Pool
2 Forest
2 Pendelhaven
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Wooded Foothills
Sideboard
1 Echoing Truth
1 Spell Pierce
1 Dispel
2 Grafdigger's Cage
4 Kitchen Finks
3 Nature's Claim
2 Spellskite
1 Viridian Corrupter

I got to a similar list purely out of practice. The same experience is telling me though that the sideboard, or at least half of it, is outright awful. But that’s not final, maybe I’m wrong.
Tools to bounce permanents help avoid playing such narrow cards as Dismember, and save from those very Lingering Souls. Jaces appeared to be quite useful. They either distract the opponent, claiming their precious removals, or with some luck of survival bring tons of value. Topdeck management, assembling jigsaw pieces in hand, flashbacking buffs for the setup of a one-turn lethal. Some people don’t accept him at all, tastes differ. I would not play him in a more tempo meta, but if a game pursues grinding, he helps out very much. The maindeck Blessing and two Strikes assist in a more accurate evasion of opponent's blockers. Again, this depends on the field, but they will come in hand more often than it seems.

The sideboard is not that bad, but it was calibrated for a more familiar and homogenous field. In case of blind scouting one should diversify their tactics a bit. Shaper’s Sanctuary is smoother against Kolaghan’s Commands, and on the whole against Grixis and Jeskai decks. Spellskite is more useful against Burn and in situations when you are going to need more blockers yourself (it’s hard to confirm without tests that it’s worth siding against Five-Color Humans, still chances are pretty high). And one more thing, i.e. Nature’s Claims. Better against Burn and Affinity, but I prefer the one with cycling, our local players like running diverse decks from time to time. The primary reason though is Eldrazi Tron with its Chalices. With a single charge counter a Chalice kills your play. Moreover, an Eldrazi pilot might always keep an aggressive hand and take you over within few turns.

Grand Prix Oklahoma City 2017
Format: Modern | Number of Players: 1419 | Date: 10/12/2017
Gilbert Davila playing Eldrazi Tron
Position: 13
Deck Name: Eldrazi Tron
Creatures [20]
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
1 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Endbringer
4 Matter Reshaper
4 Reality Smasher
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Walking Ballista
Instants [2]
2 Dismember
Sorceries [2]
2 All Is Dust
Planeswalkers [2]
2 Karn Liberated
Artifacts [10]
2 Mind Stone
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Expedition Map
Lands [24]
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Field of Ruin
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Sanctum of Ugin
1 Sea Gate Wreckage
3 Wastes
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Tower
Sideboard
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Crucible of Worlds
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Hangarback Walker
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
2 Warping Wail

After all these Grand Prix events this Eldrazi Tron list looks like a logical outcome in face of a more variable meta. But we need to understand the development of such logic. Relics left the main deck due to the Shadows decline. An additional couple of big guys entered maindeck as the answer to mirrors and midranges.

The sideboard underwent changes, as well. The Spyglass now substitutes for the Needle in order to keep one’s own Chalices going and be more flexible. The rest remains the same. I would rather run 2 Extractions or 3-4 Relics instead of Ugin and Crucible, which are not so critical. The fact is that Dredge and Storm still get really high within the format, and Relics can play too slow against some rogue Reanimator.

Grand Prix Santa Clara 2018 - Team Trios - Modern
Format: Modern | Number of Players: 1479 | Date: 07/01/2018
Sam Pardee playing Eldrazi Tron
Position: 7
Deck Name: Eldrazi Tron
Creatures [20]
4 Endbringer
4 Matter Reshaper
4 Reality Smasher
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Walking Ballista
Instants [4]
2 Dismember
2 Warping Wail
Sorceries [2]
2 All Is Dust
Artifacts [10]
2 Mind Stone
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Expedition Map
Lands [24]
1 Sea Gate Wreckage
2 Cavern of Souls
2 Wastes
3 Ghost Quarter
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Tower
Sideboard
1 Warping Wail
1 Basilisk Collar
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Gut Shot
2 Hangarback Walker
2 Pithing Needle
2 Ratchet Bomb
3 Relic of Progenitus

A fresher list, a more acclaimed pilot, a different view. Let’s get closer and analyze it. Humans must have made Karn unnecessary, Affinities and Dredges have struck back. Additional Bringers were added as a more convenient way to top-end. The sideboard features Needles instead of Spyglasses. The intention seems to be in needling whenever it might get called for, or it means Chalices leave in key match-ups. I wouldn’t say Needles are better for Modern. This is one of those instances when you got to keep an eye on up-to-date top lists and what exactly wins the tournaments. Gut Shots came almost as no surprise to me. I dare presume they are expected to solve Humans and Thalia-like pests.

Grand Prix Madrid 2017 - Team Unified
Format: Modern | Number of Players: 1875 | Date: 10/12/2017
Adrian Ramiro Cano playing GWx Vizier
Position: 1
Deck Name: Collected Company
Creatures [30]
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Selfless Spirit
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Walking Ballista
2 Noble Hierarch
2 Viscera Seer
3 Duskwatch Recruiter
3 Eternal Witness
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Devoted Druid
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Vizier of Remedies
Instants [8]
4 Chord of Calling
4 Collected Company
Lands [22]
1 Godless Shrine
1 Plains
2 Forest
2 Gavony Township
2 Horizon Canopy
2 Overgrown Tomb
2 Razorverge Thicket
2 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
Sideboard
1 Qasali Pridemage
3 Path to Exile
2 Abrupt Decay
3 Tidehollow Sculler
1 Sin Collector
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Loaming Shaman

An excellent list. I tell you as a long-term pilot of Abzan Company and Abzan Pod. Everything has its purpose and function. No luxuries, still not without idiosyncrasies. Vizier decks and their ancestors have always been famous for powerful singletons in the main deck and sideboard due to the tutors and digging tools. The maindeck features only the cards that can always do something. The side has only those of singletons that bring on a guarantee of ruination for the principle opponents active within the current format.

Standard

Keep it in mind: know your enemy, meta, decklists and tendencies. Not only Tier1. The same is true for all the other formats. Unfortunately, this works poorly at the World Cups, Pro Tours, etc. Sometimes a new or refreshed format gets hit hard by a totally off-the-radar nonsense.

National Championship, Finland, September, prior to Ixalan release, Top4, the match to enter the country’s team. UR Control against a teammate with 4c Perspectives. The UR pilot gets all-tapped on their sixth turn. Then… New Perspectives, the first Approach, Traverse for the Sphinx of the Final Word, and the Second Sun was secured.

MKM Series Frankfurt 2018 - Standard Main Event
Format: Standard [Kld_Akh_Xln] | Number of Players: 126 | Date: 07/01/2018
Philipp Krieger playing Selesnya
Position: 4
Deck Name: G/w Aggro
Creatures [25]
1 Narnam Renegade
2 Kinjalli's Sunwing
2 Oketra the True
4 Adanto Vanguard
4 Adorned Pouncer
4 Merfolk Branchwalker
4 Resilient Khenra
4 Sacred Cat
Instants [4]
4 Blossoming Defense
Sorceries [6]
2 Legion's Landing
4 Appeal // Authority
Artifacts [2]
2 Aethersphere Harvester
Lands [23]
1 Scattered Groves
3 Hashep Oasis
3 Shefet Dunes
4 Sunpetal Grove
5 Forest
7 Plains
Sideboard
3 Ixalan's Binding
2 Gideon's Intervention
2 Fumigate
1 Settle the Wreckage
2 Sunscourge Champion
1 Gideon of the Trials
1 Ajani Unyielding
3 Heroic Intervention

Not by monowhite alone, and even after RIX has come to pass, don’t limit yourselves by vampires alone. The deck is still quite poignant and has some particular tricks to ambush one’s opponents, for there are tools without anything at W or WB’s disposal to substitute them in it.

Grand Prix Santa Clara 2018 - Team Trios - Standard
Format: Standard [Kld_Akh_Xln] | Number of Players: 1479 | Date: 07/01/2018
Josh Carter playing UW Control
Position: 8
Deck Name: White-Blue Cycling
Creatures [2]
2 Curator of Mysteries
Instants [19]
3 Settle the Wreckage
4 Censor
4 Countervailing Winds
4 Hieroglyphic Illumination
4 Renewed Faith
Sorceries [3]
3 Fumigate
Enchantments [10]
2 Search for Azcanta
4 Cast Out
4 Drake Haven
Artifacts [2]
2 Abandoned Sarcophagus
Lands [24]
1 Shefet Dunes
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Irrigated Farmland
7 Island
8 Plains
Sideboard
1 Settle the Wreckage
1 Spell Pierce
2 Negate
1 Ixalan's Binding
4 Authority of the Consuls
2 Torrential Gearhulk
1 Jace's Defeat
3 Regal Caracal

My teammate’s feedback about their thorough experience of running this deck has it that Sphinxes and the Cycling lifegain are far from being essential in this archetype, and mostly carry out the filling function. The sideboard seems nearly untouched, but each card of it has very serious reasons to be there. We need to gain life, counterspells and additional/alternative win conditions. So these are the best possible cards for the job within the format right now. Nothing really seems to help from RIX.
With RIX at hand both variations of WU decks are enjoying the access to cheaper removal spells, which makes Pushes and Esper builds less attractive, the sideboard Scarab is still a strong argument though.

PPTQ - Waaagh Taverne
Format: Standard [Kld_Akh_Xln] | Number of Players: 43 | Date: 07/01/2018
Jean-baptiste Munoz playing Dimir
Position: 8
Deck Name: Ub Control
Creatures [6]
2 The Scarab God
4 Torrential Gearhulk
Instants [25]
1 Pull from Tomorrow
1 Supreme Will
2 Essence Extraction
2 Hieroglyphic Illumination
3 Vraska's Contempt
4 Censor
4 Disallow
4 Essence Scatter
4 Fatal Push
Sorceries [2]
1 Bontu's Last Reckoning
1 Entrancing Melody
Enchantments [2]
2 Search for Azcanta
Lands [25]
2 Field of Ruin
3 Fetid Pools
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Evolving Wilds
6 Island
6 Swamp
Sideboard
1 Arguel's Blood Fast
1 Battle at the Bridge
1 Bontu's Last Reckoning
3 Contraband Kingpin
3 Duress
3 Negate
2 River's Rebuke
1 Vraska's Contempt

This list is rather known, but it was not created all of a sudden. With the time, everybody understood that not a single deck would ever need more than 2 Azcantas. In case you are extremely card-greedy, you may boost this pack with a few black enchantments. The same is true for the removals, to be precise their proportion to card-drawing tools. Ambitions now mean much less than practical outcome, but the basic structure remains stable. The sideboard felt different, but not to the same extent. The toolkit is almost the same, as are the functions and match-ups, very much alike to compare with WU Controls. And it was extended with a gear of a brand new black tutor. So, you know, be prepared for slow black decklists coming soon.

New Year Win A Case @ Meta Breakers
Format: Standard [Kld_Akh_Xln] | Number of Players: 45 | Date: 01/01/2018
Derrick Locke playing Jund
Position: 3
Deck Name: Jund Control
Creatures [15]
1 Carnage Tyrant
2 Deathgorge Scavenger
2 Gifted Aetherborn
2 Glorybringer
2 Ripjaw Raptor
2 Walking Ballista
4 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
Instants [11]
2 Abrade
2 Vraska's Contempt
3 Fatal Push
4 Harnessed Lightning
Sorceries [4]
4 Attune with Aether
Planeswalkers [5]
1 Nissa, Vital Force
1 Vraska, Relic Seeker
3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Lands [25]
2 Dragonskull Summit
2 Mountain
2 Rootbound Crag
2 Swamp
3 Canyon Slough
3 Forest
3 Sheltered Thicket
4 Aether Hub
4 Blooming Marsh
Sideboard
1 Abrade
2 Appetite for the Unnatural
2 Chandra's Defeat
2 Deathgorge Scavenger
1 Doomfall
4 Duress
2 Trespasser's Curse
1 Vraska, Relic Seeker

Well, yes, Attunes, khmm, but the archtype is not super-duper dependant on them. I include this archetype and the decklist as an instruction to win at your local events with something off-the-radar but with valuable cards in an unusual shell. Jund has been the paragon of stability and flexibility both in Modern and Standard for many years already. Quality and durability. It lacks catastrophic match-ups, but lacks triumphant ones, as well. Protein and sweat. And a good illustration of what to smash faces with and not to get busted too much. Americano, but with sugar. Concrete in a formal suit. Any card you look at is ...well, ...nice. This is what people keep on playing anyway, for it has a weapon for each fundamental threat.

And a little Legacy case for dessert. Are you sick of the Stompy decks and alike? And you are a Grixis Delver pilot. Then, you might use your courage, use two green duals in the deck, remember you got Shamans and put a Trygon Predator into your sideboard. But if you are heading for a Grand Prix, have a coffee and simply take old good Ancient Grudges.

Everything’s good at its time and place. Anyone of us makes mistakes. Some things are good for only a few chosen pilots. If you don’t know what to do about a sideboard – this sideboard is not for you. If a deck is Tier1 – it doesn’t mean it is good for you personally. Don’t sink low but don’t overestimate yourselves either. If you feel absolutely confident with a Tier2 deck, you can achieve everything. If you are an expert at a format and the one with your cards, a tournament can be owned through your own designs.

I hope, this material will help you get used to analyzing data, test the options, and ask decklists’ authors and yourself more constructive questions.

- Aarne Pyulze

Until the next cruise!

Stay reasonable and listen to your guts!

- OthalaBor in Hearthstone, EternalTCG and Faeria

- Ekvilor or BoatBrew at other game accounts

@BoatBrew on channels and media

- website-cupboard: boatbrew.com

Power and Consistency. Rivals of Ixalan Limited.

(Valentin Soloviev, Team BoatBrew, One Pro Tour. Several money Grand Prix finishes.

Born in St.-Pertersburg, grew up and lives in Finland)

This was the first Prerelease I played after returning to MtG after a break and I noticed one interesting thing, and it intrigued me so much that I just wanted to put my thoughts on paper. More experienced players tend to do this on instinct, while it's one of the bigger things that beginners struggle with. In fact it might be said that doing this on an instinctual level is one of the hallmarks of graduating from "beginner" status as a limited player.

So what is that mystical "this" that I am talking about? It's a decision of when to sacrifice power for consistency and vice versa. When I build limited decks and discuss strategies, it kinda comes off naturally. When you have played for a few years it becomes easy to see "this pool is bad, so my only option is to splash additional colour for more power" or "I have colour fixing and I have bombs, but if I cut the third colour, the deck will be much smoother". This applies more to sealed than to draft, but similar considerations will apply in draft as well (although not as noticeably). Yet, I have rarely seen this topic covered.

When I was playing on last Prerelease and discussing the decks after the round (also helping them improve theirs), I was quite often surprised and frustrated. The frustration was caused that after 2-0 all people I played against had much better pools than me. The surprise on the other hand was due to apparent greed of their decks.

Now, of course there is always the issue that evaluating cards in Limited is a tricky process and there are always sleeper hits and there are some cards that seem good but are actually bad, so I am not going to talk about that. What I want to talk about is that after you have evaluated your pool, you will have a few ways to build your deck. No matter the format or the deck, you will always have the choice: consistency vs. power. Sometimes this choice is as simple as "9th removal spell instead of a creature" or "running 16 lands over 17". Other times it might be "splashing additional colour" or even "playing another combination of colours altogether".

The choice is always there, and it is an important thing to realize it's existence and ramifications. For example - in the last Prerelease I played against a friend who opened a red-white-green elder dinosaur in their pool and enough mana fixing to reliably play a 3 coloured deck (had other good cards as well). The obvious instinct of "play all the bombs you can get your hands on" kicked in, and he built a good 3 colour dino-deck. Good pool - good deck, we have a happy ending, right? Wrong... Well okay, it might not be wrong in all formats. But in this particular case it was wrong. The reason is that when you splash a colour, you are automatically making your deck slower. Even most "free" splashes actually mean you have that one extra off-colour land or need to spend 2 mana for a colour you now need. While this does not necessarily make your deck less consistent in casting your cards, it does make your deck slower in doing so.

This is where the devil lies - if you have strong bombs and good deck, the only way for you to lose is either getting aggroed, or if your opponent has better bombs. And since you have a good pool, you can assume that getting out-aggroed out is more likely to happen than being out-bombed.

Let's return to the example with 3 bombs. My friend had enough fixing and good deck, but the issue was that to get all 3 colours he had to be playing all that fixing, so he wasn't playing threats. It also meant that his early game suffered, as he couldn't be as sure to get correct colour on turn 2. After tinkering with the deck, it turned out that the only reason to play 3rd colour was to play one bomb and one removal... While I would be glad to do that with my pool of mediocre creatures (if I had fixing that is...), he did not have shortage of decent early game, removal and bombs. After he cut the 3rd colour, suddenly he had 5 decent 2-drops that he could play reliably on turn 2. Not only did it allow his deck to defend better (not that you want to do so in Rivals Sealed), it also allowed him to put more pressure in the early game. This helped to mitigate both potential weaknesses of his deck.

The opposite case happens much more often and is much less fun. When you simply don't open a good pool, there are only 2 things you can do - either try building super-aggressive deck to go under the decks with bombs or splash multiple colours and hope to not get mana-screwed. If you get mediocre pool, it is kinda pointless trying to build a consistent deck. Consistent deck with mediocre pool will lose most of the time against consistent decks from good pools. The only way to win in that case is to take the risk and play all the good stuff you can scrap together in an inconsistent deck.

In the end, the idea I was trying to preach with all this rant is following: "If your deck is weak, then you will have better odds of winning if you sacrifice some consistency for more power. Conversely - if you have a powerful deck, then make sure it is as consistent as possible and consider sacrificing power if that makes your deck deal better with things that might kill you."

I will finish this up with a famous quote - “Know your enemy and know yourself and you will always be victorious”. Or if translated into Magicese - “Know how strong your deck is and take your risks appropriately”.

P.S. Magic is a game of chance, so the the meanings of the word “always” is constant as many would like it to be.