I was checking the Tier 1 (Modern) forum, and I realized that currently we got in Tier 1:
2 Aggro decks (Affinity & Burn)
2 Midrange decks (Death's Shadow & Eldrazi Tron)
2 Combo decks (Storm & Scapeshift)
1 Control deck (UW Control)
I think this is the telling of a really nice and healthy meta.
IMO, the current Tier 1 decks are -
1. Grixis Death's Shadow
2. Eldrazi Tron
3. Titanshift
4. Affinity
and that's it. Nothing is really on the level of those 3 decks. You could possibly just say GDS and E Tron are Tier 1 and I could buy that. But, I don't think UW Control or Burn is in Tier 1 currently. UWR is probably better than UW right now. It's close to Tier 1.
You may think that it's healthy, but someone else may think this -
1. Interaction like crazy, finishes with 1 mana 6/6s or bigger.
2-4. All non interactive decks, E Tron or Titanshift being the most so with TKS/Dismember/Chalice or Bolt/Sweltering Suns/Valakut triggers.
Yeah, ever since we stopped getting any reliable tier data from MTGO, our organizational Tier structure here is just an arbitrary mess. UW Control has done nothing for quite a while. Jeskai Geist has been doing OK, but nothing close to the Shadow/ETron/Valakut/Affinity levels. Those decks are heads and shoulders above just about everything else in the format. I think our lack of data is exactly why we don't really see how things actually are (despite seeing MASSIVE day 2 numbers for those 4 decks), because we are blinded by variance-driven Top 8 placements in random paper events.
I don't know. I think we've seen enough UR Gifts Storm and Jeskai Control make top 8's to consider them Tier 1. They're doing about as good as GDS IMHO. If they aren't Tier 1, they're 1.5 then. They're better than any other Tier 2 deck right now.
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WoTC, thank you for finally announcing the Modern format, an eternal format where everyone can participate.
The problem isn't Temple, it's stuff like TKS, Reality Smasher, and all the other low-cost hyper-value Oath Eldrazi creatures being powered out several turns early with incredible reliability. They have been a cancer on the format for nearly two years, and will continue to be so as long as they (and Temple) are legal.
You are overstating how often people get double-temple hands. While I agree TKS into smasher is a powerful one-two punch, but usually that happens turn 3 and 4. If you're not setup by this time and play zero disruption (discard or counter), then I'm sorry to say your deck is not competitive.
(Now, I agree there is a lack of purely reactive deck, but the format does not have the cards necessary for it and people have expressed multiple times they don't want another FoW format. As long as that is true, there won't ever be a purely reactive deck in modern.)
Quote from gkourou »
Field of Ruin v2.0
Land
T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
1, T, Sacrifice Field of Ruin: Destroy target nonbasic land an opponent controls. Each player searches his or her library for a basic land card, puts it onto the battlefield, then shuffle his or her library.
[/quote]
Let me laugh a bit. A mana-producing, hardly counterable, 1 mana LD that fixes your colors and give you immediate untapped mana? I think this may well be better than wasteland. It does cost 1 to activate, but you immediately get paid back with mana. It would be wasteland 5-8 in legacy and be a 4-of in all modern decks. It would immediately kill tron and eldrazi.
Quote from -LeoTzu »
Tasigur/Tarmogofy don't protect themselves, which is the primary difference when it comes to comparing these threats.
Tasigur can cost 1 mana. I rarely cast it for more to keep mana open. Tarmo always costs only 2 and can rumble with TKS and Smasher. TKS is good, but so was vendillon clique. Smasher is good, but so was Thrun. TKS and Smasher are only playable because they can come down turn 3 and 4. Play them turn 4 and 5 in modern means the deck is dead.
Yeah, Tasigur comes down more consistently on turn 2, but it requires a second card to actively support it the same way that TKS/Smasher do for themselves. Tasigur also puts a real tax on the grave. Accelerated mana with Temple is repeatable and requires simply making your normal land drop. It DOES force you into a colorless matters theme in your deck, but since Oath, that's really not a constraint.
In the same sense that if you take away Temple, TKS sees little no play, Tasigur/Angler would see much less play without Thought Scour, it's primary enabler. Without that card, Tasigur is definitely not a "turn-2 with open mana and a Stubborn Denial for protection" threat.
Vendillion Clique is also a poor comparison to TKS. Your opponent trades his most dangerous card, for another random card from his library. TKS makes it incredibly hard to regain the card lost due to it's ETB trigger. That card is gone, unless you have 2 removal spells in hand.
Again, I don't want to imply that TKS/Smasher in conjunction with Eldrazi Temple is too strong for Modern (because I don't believe it is), but I just think the comparisons people try to make with the Eldrazi/Land interaction to other decks aren't really good ones. I'd much rather be playing a TKS than a Tasigur in most situations or a Smasher instead of an Angler, so this idea that Tasigur, Clique or Angler are a similar type of "bogeyman" is a little silly.
Yea, I think I'd wait and watch field of ruin before wanting something better.
It's pretty close to tec edge for non-basics without the 4 land rider the way it works, which is only 1 mana worse than wasteland from an activation perspective if you have enough basics and they don't.
I'm really surprised they gave us a card worth considering.
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Re: Eldrazi temple
I have some serious issues with the way Eldrazi function, ranging from painlands functioning essentially as tri-lands to the way Thought-Knot seer removes a lot of the vulnerability traditional go-big midrange has vs. combo decks, and the "combo" with all is dust and ugin.
But I think we need to be realistic that we aren't going to see much action from Wizards - a probe-style general metagame improvement ban - for years. I do think it's likely eldrazi eventually prove too good for the format long term but it's not going to be by much.
I do laugh a bit when players who want to unban twin complain about Grixis Shadow. There's something humorous about an infinite combo being spoken of as "more fair."
I'm curious to see how much stronger Shadow is with Opt. I think ditching Serum Visions for a card that can be played EOT, allowing the deck to play significantly more at instant speed for noncreature spells could boost it against some of these linear decks by allowing them more opportunities to hold back terminate/stubborn denial. Here's my take: Shadow is the defacto midrange deck of the format now. If it gets better against the current crop of tier 1 decks, their shares get pushed down, which breathes some new life into older decks that were being pushed out. My thought is, rather than claim that big mana decks need to be banned out, maybe the close matchup that is Shadow needs only a slight boost to be favored over them. Its easier to run Abzan midrange when you only have to worry about 1-2 big mana matchups than 3-4 in a given tournament.
Opt may end up being an overlooked card with much greater impact than expected. Hell maybe it helps enable other combos, and as combo rises and wins against big mana midrange makes a comback. Its weird, but I've said before that linear spell combos have a place in the meta. I'm curious to see how modern looks in about six weeks.
With the exception of abzan, pretty much every tier 1 and tier 2 deck in the metagame has some form of game against eldrazi tron. I think its pretty clear that eldrazi temple is the best card in the metagame. Storm, affinity, burn, valakut, lantern, counters company all look pretty solid against eldrazi decks. Many of these decks were also played in eldrazi winter.
If we include eldrazi and taxes and bant eldrazi the meta game percentage of eldrazi temple creeps a little higher. Even U/W control is running spreading seas and supreme verdicts to deal with eldrazi. Modern's cardpool and variety is probably big enough where the deck doesnt completely take over though. I personally don't like the eldrazi decks though, so I could be over analyzing.
I do laugh a bit when players who want to unban twin complain about Grixis Shadow. There's something humorous about an infinite combo being spoken of as "more fair."
Not quite sure who this is directed at, but for me, I think Grixis Shadow is great for the format. It packs lots of interaction and only really wins with simple beats from vanilla ground creatures. I'd say the only thing I dislike about it is how it makes chipshot damage decks worse, and encourages winning against it in one or two big, overwhelming turns. I also think that both of those decks could coexist beautifully, especially if GDS goes back to 8 maindeck discard spells.
Going to be interesting to see what happens when Pro Points are on the line. I expect a flood of Eldrazi decks.
Good time to play Titanshift and Affinity then.
Exactly this.
This is just my personal opinion here, so feel free to disregard this. But here goes. I'm not sure why Pro Players would stick to an Eldrazi Tron deck that seems to be pretty inconsistent. Not finding Eldrazi Temple (or finding it, but not the TKS/Smasher) makes this deck feel incredibly fair, outside of a Chalice of the Void. There are decks that don't fold to Chalice of the Void. I personally feel that Titanshift is a very consistent deck. It certainly is a solid choice, although I can see some players giving in to some of the slightly poor matchups (like Burn and Affinity) or not wanting to board enough for tough matchups like Storm or GDS. Stomps Midrange and CoCo decks though. I think it will be VERY interesting because I feel like there is a real, solid ROCK/SCISSORS/PAPER meta going on. The decks and games themselves may not be fun to play, but there really is NO decks that stomps all and the matchups are pretty varied among the top decks and beyond.
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
I've only got my experiences watching pro tour games and having attended a few opens to go on regarding the 'big picture' meta, but I play FNM every chance I get. While I agree that watching games between something like Valakut and E-Tron can be boring as hell, games involving GDS and/or Affinity are very appealing to me. I used to pilot affinity years ago, so I might be a bit biased there, lol. In my local meta, there's only one Robots pilot, a few Tron players, and GDS all over the place. FNM is a ton of fun for Modern right now, at least from where I sit; I brought a Faeries deck tonight and shocked the hell out of everyone. Only loss was to Abzan Shadow, but I'm pretty positive half the guys are gonna bring burn next week to fry my deck. The whole point of all this is just to iterate that while there might be some problems on the large scale of Modern, I feel that at the local level, Modern is doing just fine, and is still the most fun format I play, although Ixalan standard looks pretty sweet.
Fatal Push and 5-toughness creatures definitely is shaping the format and in particular pushed out lightning bolt. I think a different bolt could shake up the meta. This is what I have i mind:
Fatal Push and 5-toughness creatures definitely is shaping the format and in particular pushed out lightning bolt. I think a different bolt could shake up the meta. This is what I have i mind:
Updated 2017 meta: combined GPs and SCG's Opens; data starts from GP Copenhagen/ GP Kobe (around the time when Jund DS was supplanted by Grixis, and bant eldrazi by eldrazi tron) --> i consider this cut-off to be more representative of the actual meta.
In my opinion Grixis DS and Eldrazi tron are one step above the rest of the field, thought the data sample is really limited and the fact that groups of 2 GPs are compressed in the same days clearly doesn't help in having a picture of a better developed metagame (Grixis DS numbers, for example, are affected by its spike around the Charlotte Open).
Due to the difficulties in the eldrazi tron classification, i've made two graphics of the meta suddivision in archetypes, in the first graph eldrazi tron is put togrther with midrange decks, in the second one together with ramp, obviously this change depict two very different metas.
that's interesting. I would argue for a death shadow and temple ban.
Even before I seen this data, I've felt these 2 cards would need to leave together.
Format would be more healthy Imo. Of course this is all speculation. But interesting nonetheless.
Fatal Push and 5-toughness creatures definitely is shaping the format and in particular pushed out lightning bolt. I think a different bolt could shake up the meta. This is what I have i mind:
That card would be broken in Standard. Everyone would be looking to play 4 of those. This is not happening through Standard, end of.
If that's broken in Standard now, who'd want to play that format? Anyway, I agree with all those who say Fatal Push has warped Modern. Now we are seeing the results. More combo, more control, and more big mana. There's been a mass reduction in Midrange and Aggro outside of Affinity since it's super fast.
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WoTC, thank you for finally announcing the Modern format, an eternal format where everyone can participate.
The health of modern isn't what people play at the pro tour the health of modern is what people are playing in the tournaments they can actually go to SCG opens, FNM, MODO. The protour and world championships are a whole separate thing.
What basically the 300 best Magic players in the world choose to play at the most important tournament after practicing for weeks is not the health of Modern. The health of Modern is what people are playing in FNM. Alright. I guess not the FNMs in Grand Rapids, or Kuala Lumpur, or Moscow specifically, no. The health of Modern is what people play in FNMs in general!
Yeah I know you also said Opens and Mtgo, but it's the same thing.
If there was a 300 person tourmament this weekend the results wouldn't mean anything statistically. That the tournament has good players doesn't change things particularly since they are planning on a specific metagame.
Updated 2017 meta: combined GPs and SCG's Opens; data starts from GP Copenhagen/ GP Kobe (around the time when Jund DS was supplanted by Grixis, and bant eldrazi by eldrazi tron) --> i consider this cut-off to be more representative of the actual meta.
In my opinion Grixis DS and Eldrazi tron are one step above the rest of the field, thought the data sample is really limited and the fact that groups of 2 GPs are compressed in the same days clearly doesn't help in having a picture of a better developed metagame (Grixis DS numbers, for example, are affected by its spike around the Charlotte Open).
Due to the difficulties in the eldrazi tron classification, i've made two graphics of the meta suddivision in archetypes, in the first graph eldrazi tron is put togrther with midrange decks, in the second one together with ramp, obviously this change depict two very different metas.
that's interesting. I would argue for a death shadow and temple ban.
Even before I seen this data, I've felt these 2 cards would need to leave together.
Format would be more healthy Imo. Of course this is all speculation. But interesting nonetheless.
If Death's Shadow leaves the format, get ready for a more linear metagame. Twin, Infect were all bad hits if what you are looking for is skillgaming decisions and long games. Are you having lopsided matchups and matchup lotteries where skill does not matter so much in modern atm? Prepare for that happgning twice more after this ban.
but what if thats not true?
we see in this data that eldrazi tron cannibalizes other midrange deck shares, being played more than twice as much as the next option: abzan. theres is also an argument to be made that eldrazi tron is toxic to other midrange decks and it shows here very much, either that or its just more than twice as powerful as other mid decks, either way this is not healthy.
The same could be said about Grixis death shadow, where it doubles or even triples most other aggro strategies in meta percentages.
im sorry but these stats point to eldrazi tron and grixis death shadow being tier .5, leaps and bounds above everything else.... and if this is actually true, than we should expect temple and death shadow to be banned within a year or sooner.
which is a good thing because there are decks that will rise in their place,like what has always happened.
it wont be the end of the world if these bans happen, nor the end of modern.
Updated 2017 meta: combined GPs and SCG's Opens; data starts from GP Copenhagen/ GP Kobe (around the time when Jund DS was supplanted by Grixis, and bant eldrazi by eldrazi tron) --> i consider this cut-off to be more representative of the actual meta.
In my opinion Grixis DS and Eldrazi tron are one step above the rest of the field, thought the data sample is really limited and the fact that groups of 2 GPs are compressed in the same days clearly doesn't help in having a picture of a better developed metagame (Grixis DS numbers, for example, are affected by its spike around the Charlotte Open).
Due to the difficulties in the eldrazi tron classification, i've made two graphics of the meta suddivision in archetypes, in the first graph eldrazi tron is put togrther with midrange decks, in the second one together with ramp, obviously this change depict two very different metas.
that's interesting. I would argue for a death shadow and temple ban.
Even before I seen this data, I've felt these 2 cards would need to leave together.
Format would be more healthy Imo. Of course this is all speculation. But interesting nonetheless.
Unfortunately Wizards generally scheduls more than one GP in the same weekend making it really hard to figure out if a deck's numbers are due to a spike or to a consistent performance through a longer period of time. Adding the fact that mtgo's datas are currently unreliably makes figuring out this trends even harder.
but if these stats are true....we are in for bans, before or after the pt, I can tell you that.
Grixis shadow is one of the best things that could happen to Modern at the moment. Reasons:
1) super beatable deck(thus increasing variance)
2) gives the more linear deck a hard time
3) creates interesting, skill based decision games
4) packs lots of interaction
5) and only really wins with simple beats from vanilla ground creatures(cfusion mention).
6) The decks that keep DS in check are super interactable decks, like UW Control, Death and Taxes decks, Abzan Midrange and promote good magic, skill based games, where the best player can create an advantage over the weaker player.
It's a check for everything and a win-win deck to have in the format. We need more decks like this. We need a kind of Infect or Twin deck back, so that it keeps Eldra Tron in check.
On the other hand, Eldra Tron is a deck that:
1) Creates lopsides matchups and is eliminating the skill based games. In other words, if an Eldra Tron player is playing vs an X player, let me see their initial keep. I can predict with an at least 70% point of certainty which is going to win. This is what we want to avoid in the format and Eldra Tron (thus Modern) is promoting atm. It's a net negative force that makes the whole format worse overall.
2) gives the fair players a reason to not play fair, because they just fold to it and instead go linear
3) Plays little interaction and one of their best ways to handle several decks is a prison card(Chalice Of The Void-which is super game over vs certain decks, like Grixis Shadow and generally shuts down a lot of interaction pieces)
4) is winning with creatures that create a snowball effect(TKS, RS) where if you dont answer them instantly, they take over the game in a heartbeat.
After this analysis(maybe you find it wrong, maybe right) everyone can pick their desired solution for the format.
It is because of Grixis Shadow that Eldrazi Tron is so powerful in this format, because the format has this quick Xerox style strategy that can only be outclassed by a ramp deck. Seems about right, this has happened and been true in every format.
Why do you get to ick someone else's yum? Because you want every deck to be multicolored and rocking removal? Welp, some people don't like playing those strategies.
Strix is probably the only card on this list you proposed that would have any chance of coming into the format and even then, to prevent UBx Shadow from being teir 0 (as they would have a better Tron matchup) it would def get hit with a ban somewhere.
Anyways, I'm just kinda blown away by how many people all want Modern to look like Legacy Lite with most of the top decks being attrition based or multi colored midrange piles. If anything I would rather advocate the opposite and promote fewer bullets that shut down entire swaths of decks or archetypes just because they naturally have a lopsided matchup.
Eldratron has a hard time with elves and affinity if they don't get chalice on 1. Heck if I want to ban anything, I'll ban Chalice of the Void. That one card is the only reason EldraTron has a chance against multitude of decks.
But that said, if that does get banned, tons of cheap 1 CMC decks spring back out all over the place. So I rather just keep it around, and keep playing until someone solves the puzzle.
Eldratron has a hard time with elves and affinity if they don't get chalice on 1. Heck if I want to ban anything, I'll ban Chalice of the Void. That one card is the only reason EldraTron has a chance against multitude of decks.
But that said, if that does get banned, tons of cheap 1 CMC decks spring back out all over the place. So I rather just keep it around, and keep playing until someone solves the puzzle.
and yet with chalice in etron we still have alot of top tier decks who run a ton of 1cmc cards. I don't see your point.
Grixis shadow is one of the best things that could happen to Modern at the moment. Reasons:
1) super beatable deck(thus increasing variance)
2) gives the more linear deck a hard time
3) creates interesting, skill based decision games
4) packs lots of interaction
5) and only really wins with simple beats from vanilla ground creatures(cfusion mention).
6) The decks that keep DS in check are super interactable decks, like UW Control, Death and Taxes decks, Abzan Midrange and promote good magic, skill based games, where the best player can create an advantage over the weaker player.
It's a check for everything and a win-win deck to have in the format. We need more decks like this. We need a kind of Infect or Twin deck back, so that it keeps Eldra Tron in check.
On the other hand, Eldra Tron is a deck that:
1) Creates lopsides matchups and is eliminating the skill based games. In other words, if an Eldra Tron player is playing vs an X player, let me see their initial keep. I can predict with an at least 70% point of certainty which is going to win. This is what we want to avoid in the format and Eldra Tron (thus Modern) is promoting atm. It's a net negative force that makes the whole format worse overall.
2) gives the fair players a reason to not play fair, because they just fold to it and instead go linear
3) Plays little interaction and one of their best ways to handle several decks is a prison card(Chalice Of The Void-which is super game over vs certain decks, like Grixis Shadow and generally shuts down a lot of interaction pieces)
4) is winning with creatures that create a snowball effect(TKS, RS) where if you dont answer them instantly, they take over the game in a heartbeat.
After this analysis(maybe you find it wrong, maybe right) everyone can pick their desired solution for the format.
It is because of Grixis Shadow that Eldrazi Tron is so powerful in this format, because the format has this quick Xerox style strategy that can only be outclassed by a ramp deck. Seems about right, this has happened and been true in every format.
Why do you get to ick someone else's yum? Because you want every deck to be multicolored and rocking removal? Welp, some people don't like playing those strategies.
Strix is probably the only card on this list you proposed that would have any chance of coming into the format and even then, to prevent UBx Shadow from being teir 0 (as they would have a better Tron matchup) it would def get hit with a ban somewhere.
Anyways, I'm just kinda blown away by how many people all want Modern to look like Legacy Lite with most of the top decks being attrition based or multi colored midrange piles. If anything I would rather advocate the opposite and promote fewer bullets that shut down entire swaths of decks or archetypes just because they naturally have a lopsided matchup.
but it's ok to have almost the entire top tier of the game be linear,
and unbalanced powerlevel wise.
With MORE archtype diversity we could have without those decks in our format.
Ok
Modern would still be modern without ds and etron. Nothing close to legacy lite.
I don't know. I think we've seen enough UR Gifts Storm and Jeskai Control make top 8's to consider them Tier 1. They're doing about as good as GDS IMHO. If they aren't Tier 1, they're 1.5 then. They're better than any other Tier 2 deck right now.
You are overstating how often people get double-temple hands. While I agree TKS into smasher is a powerful one-two punch, but usually that happens turn 3 and 4. If you're not setup by this time and play zero disruption (discard or counter), then I'm sorry to say your deck is not competitive.
(Now, I agree there is a lack of purely reactive deck, but the format does not have the cards necessary for it and people have expressed multiple times they don't want another FoW format. As long as that is true, there won't ever be a purely reactive deck in modern.)
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Let me laugh a bit. A mana-producing, hardly counterable, 1 mana LD that fixes your colors and give you immediate untapped mana? I think this may well be better than wasteland. It does cost 1 to activate, but you immediately get paid back with mana. It would be wasteland 5-8 in legacy and be a 4-of in all modern decks. It would immediately kill tron and eldrazi.
Tasigur can cost 1 mana. I rarely cast it for more to keep mana open. Tarmo always costs only 2 and can rumble with TKS and Smasher. TKS is good, but so was vendillon clique. Smasher is good, but so was Thrun. TKS and Smasher are only playable because they can come down turn 3 and 4. Play them turn 4 and 5 in modern means the deck is dead.
In the same sense that if you take away Temple, TKS sees little no play, Tasigur/Angler would see much less play without Thought Scour, it's primary enabler. Without that card, Tasigur is definitely not a "turn-2 with open mana and a Stubborn Denial for protection" threat.
Vendillion Clique is also a poor comparison to TKS. Your opponent trades his most dangerous card, for another random card from his library. TKS makes it incredibly hard to regain the card lost due to it's ETB trigger. That card is gone, unless you have 2 removal spells in hand.
Again, I don't want to imply that TKS/Smasher in conjunction with Eldrazi Temple is too strong for Modern (because I don't believe it is), but I just think the comparisons people try to make with the Eldrazi/Land interaction to other decks aren't really good ones. I'd much rather be playing a TKS than a Tasigur in most situations or a Smasher instead of an Angler, so this idea that Tasigur, Clique or Angler are a similar type of "bogeyman" is a little silly.
It's pretty close to tec edge for non-basics without the 4 land rider the way it works, which is only 1 mana worse than wasteland from an activation perspective if you have enough basics and they don't.
I'm really surprised they gave us a card worth considering.
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Re: Eldrazi temple
I have some serious issues with the way Eldrazi function, ranging from painlands functioning essentially as tri-lands to the way Thought-Knot seer removes a lot of the vulnerability traditional go-big midrange has vs. combo decks, and the "combo" with all is dust and ugin.
But I think we need to be realistic that we aren't going to see much action from Wizards - a probe-style general metagame improvement ban - for years. I do think it's likely eldrazi eventually prove too good for the format long term but it's not going to be by much.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
Spirits
Good time to play Titanshift and Affinity then.
I'm curious to see how much stronger Shadow is with Opt. I think ditching Serum Visions for a card that can be played EOT, allowing the deck to play significantly more at instant speed for noncreature spells could boost it against some of these linear decks by allowing them more opportunities to hold back terminate/stubborn denial. Here's my take: Shadow is the defacto midrange deck of the format now. If it gets better against the current crop of tier 1 decks, their shares get pushed down, which breathes some new life into older decks that were being pushed out. My thought is, rather than claim that big mana decks need to be banned out, maybe the close matchup that is Shadow needs only a slight boost to be favored over them. Its easier to run Abzan midrange when you only have to worry about 1-2 big mana matchups than 3-4 in a given tournament.
Opt may end up being an overlooked card with much greater impact than expected. Hell maybe it helps enable other combos, and as combo rises and wins against big mana midrange makes a comback. Its weird, but I've said before that linear spell combos have a place in the meta. I'm curious to see how modern looks in about six weeks.
If we include eldrazi and taxes and bant eldrazi the meta game percentage of eldrazi temple creeps a little higher. Even U/W control is running spreading seas and supreme verdicts to deal with eldrazi. Modern's cardpool and variety is probably big enough where the deck doesnt completely take over though. I personally don't like the eldrazi decks though, so I could be over analyzing.
Not quite sure who this is directed at, but for me, I think Grixis Shadow is great for the format. It packs lots of interaction and only really wins with simple beats from vanilla ground creatures. I'd say the only thing I dislike about it is how it makes chipshot damage decks worse, and encourages winning against it in one or two big, overwhelming turns. I also think that both of those decks could coexist beautifully, especially if GDS goes back to 8 maindeck discard spells.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Exactly this.
This is just my personal opinion here, so feel free to disregard this. But here goes. I'm not sure why Pro Players would stick to an Eldrazi Tron deck that seems to be pretty inconsistent. Not finding Eldrazi Temple (or finding it, but not the TKS/Smasher) makes this deck feel incredibly fair, outside of a Chalice of the Void. There are decks that don't fold to Chalice of the Void. I personally feel that Titanshift is a very consistent deck. It certainly is a solid choice, although I can see some players giving in to some of the slightly poor matchups (like Burn and Affinity) or not wanting to board enough for tough matchups like Storm or GDS. Stomps Midrange and CoCo decks though. I think it will be VERY interesting because I feel like there is a real, solid ROCK/SCISSORS/PAPER meta going on. The decks and games themselves may not be fun to play, but there really is NO decks that stomps all and the matchups are pretty varied among the top decks and beyond.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)Ragged Bolt R
Sorcery
Choose one:
A strict upgrade to Flame Slash? Doubtful
Even before I seen this data, I've felt these 2 cards would need to leave together.
Format would be more healthy Imo. Of course this is all speculation. But interesting nonetheless.
decks playing:
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If that's broken in Standard now, who'd want to play that format? Anyway, I agree with all those who say Fatal Push has warped Modern. Now we are seeing the results. More combo, more control, and more big mana. There's been a mass reduction in Midrange and Aggro outside of Affinity since it's super fast.
If there was a 300 person tourmament this weekend the results wouldn't mean anything statistically. That the tournament has good players doesn't change things particularly since they are planning on a specific metagame.
but what if thats not true?
we see in this data that eldrazi tron cannibalizes other midrange deck shares, being played more than twice as much as the next option: abzan. theres is also an argument to be made that eldrazi tron is toxic to other midrange decks and it shows here very much, either that or its just more than twice as powerful as other mid decks, either way this is not healthy.
The same could be said about Grixis death shadow, where it doubles or even triples most other aggro strategies in meta percentages.
im sorry but these stats point to eldrazi tron and grixis death shadow being tier .5, leaps and bounds above everything else.... and if this is actually true, than we should expect temple and death shadow to be banned within a year or sooner.
which is a good thing because there are decks that will rise in their place,like what has always happened.
it wont be the end of the world if these bans happen, nor the end of modern.
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It is because of Grixis Shadow that Eldrazi Tron is so powerful in this format, because the format has this quick Xerox style strategy that can only be outclassed by a ramp deck. Seems about right, this has happened and been true in every format.
Why do you get to ick someone else's yum? Because you want every deck to be multicolored and rocking removal? Welp, some people don't like playing those strategies.
Strix is probably the only card on this list you proposed that would have any chance of coming into the format and even then, to prevent UBx Shadow from being teir 0 (as they would have a better Tron matchup) it would def get hit with a ban somewhere.
Anyways, I'm just kinda blown away by how many people all want Modern to look like Legacy Lite with most of the top decks being attrition based or multi colored midrange piles. If anything I would rather advocate the opposite and promote fewer bullets that shut down entire swaths of decks or archetypes just because they naturally have a lopsided matchup.
RG BBE Ponza
UX Eldrazi Tron
UR Jace Breach
But that said, if that does get banned, tons of cheap 1 CMC decks spring back out all over the place. So I rather just keep it around, and keep playing until someone solves the puzzle.
Modern Tallowisp Spirits - A Modern Tallowisp Deck UW
Eldrazi Ninjas - Summoning Octopus Jutsu YYYYAAAHHHH!
STANDARD
Naban Wizards
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and unbalanced powerlevel wise.
With MORE archtype diversity we could have without those decks in our format.
Ok
Modern would still be modern without ds and etron. Nothing close to legacy lite.
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