These are the only formats you need to know in order to compete at any event that puts pro tour points on the line. I didn't include Extended, as if we assume Modern is real then it will almost assuredly be phasing out Extended.
So, you have Limited, and then four Constructed formats. That's really not so insane. Obviously there are even more casual variants, but there are home-brewed variants to almost every single game I've ever heard of--that's just the nature of games.
If there were a tournament for this format tomorrow, this is 100% likely to be the 60 that I register.
I really want to be playing a non-zero amount of Cryptic Command, but I don't want the curve to get too high. That said, CC will definitely be working its way into my build over time.
The land base can definitely be improved upon. I merely copied and pasted it, replacing 4 Tendo Ice Bridge with 4 City of Brass.
Jin-G is just another creature that the opponent absolutely, positively must answer, now. Plop him, Blightsteel Colossus, and Chancellor of the Tangle onto the field on turn two, and the opponent is going to have to choose between killing BSC or Jin-G. Either way, you're going to win if they can only answer one, and that's the point.
Unless my memory fails me, I could've sworn Supreme Blue was a Bant-colored Counterbalance deck. Regardless, I'm familiar with the RUG good-stuff builds from last season.
No BBE? I understand you're playing counterspells, and Repeal, but I'm a much bigger fan of the tap-out, tempo-oriented RUG builds more than the slightly controlling ones. Plus, cascading into Ancestral Visions feels soooo good. I'd also probably run another playset of some cheap sorcery, likely preordain or ponder, to pump Goyfs more consistently. Grove of the Burnwillows/Punishing Fire combination is also something worth looking into here, in either version of the deck.
Blightsteel Colossus's absence was simply a memory lapse, but Akroma's Memorial is something I haven't even thought about playing. It seems interesting, though. The only potential problem I see is that it isn't a threat itself, meaning drawing multiples could be very awkward. I like the idea of dropping Memorial into play alongside an Emrakul or BSC, though. I like that that idea a lot...
Extended has too many stigmas attached to it to really ever attract enough players to keep it healthy. Because of that, I'm pretty sure Modern is WOTC testing the waters to see if players are interested in a new format acting as a rebooted version of Extended, without having to call it Extended (a smart move).
This is a pretty direct port of the old Extended combo deck, as seen in the top eight of Pro Tour Austin in 2009. I basically just swapped in some new fatties I'd like to try in the deck. This creature configuration is currently untested.
The link in the first post of the thread clearly states which sets are legal. "Modern Frames Format" is just a cute mental short-cut to help remember what's legal.
Asking if Mishra's Factory is legal is like asking if Counterspell is legal in Standard because it was in Jace vs Chandra. It's obviously not.
EDH allowed SOFI's scarcity to slowly increase in secret, and then eventually everybody realized it. That, along with it starting to see a bit more Legacy play in SFM decks is what finally caused the jump.
If people run Memoricide in the main, I will laugh at them and accept my free match wins. This isn't Kamigawa Block Constructed, and that card isn't good.
It's entirely possible to side out the entire Shape Anew combo and bring in a new strategy. In a UB Shape Anew deck, for example, you could:
-4 Shape Anew, -1 Blightsteel
+4 Grave Titan, + other cards
If you build your deck with a control base -- counters, discard, draw, etc. -- you now function like a regular UB control deck against an opponent bringing in anti-artifact hate cards.
Sealed
Draft
Constructed:
Legacy
Modern
Standard
Block
These are the only formats you need to know in order to compete at any event that puts pro tour points on the line. I didn't include Extended, as if we assume Modern is real then it will almost assuredly be phasing out Extended.
So, you have Limited, and then four Constructed formats. That's really not so insane. Obviously there are even more casual variants, but there are home-brewed variants to almost every single game I've ever heard of--that's just the nature of games.
4 Time Warp
3 Call to Mind
4 Preordain
4 Ponder
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Punishing Fire
4 Manamorphose
4 Mana Leak
3 Into the Roil
4 Steam Vents
7 Snow-Covered Island
1 Snow-Covered Mountain
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
2 Halimar Depths
If there were a tournament for this format tomorrow, this is 100% likely to be the 60 that I register.
I really want to be playing a non-zero amount of Cryptic Command, but I don't want the curve to get too high. That said, CC will definitely be working its way into my build over time.
Other cards I want to try:
Noxious Revival, Sleight of Hand, Remand, Gigadrowse, Scapeshift
Jin-G is just another creature that the opponent absolutely, positively must answer, now. Plop him, Blightsteel Colossus, and Chancellor of the Tangle onto the field on turn two, and the opponent is going to have to choose between killing BSC or Jin-G. Either way, you're going to win if they can only answer one, and that's the point.
Chancellor of the Annex is interesting, and probably best in a build with other mana disruption, like AoD, Terastodon, and Sundering Titan.
No BBE? I understand you're playing counterspells, and Repeal, but I'm a much bigger fan of the tap-out, tempo-oriented RUG builds more than the slightly controlling ones. Plus, cascading into Ancestral Visions feels soooo good. I'd also probably run another playset of some cheap sorcery, likely preordain or ponder, to pump Goyfs more consistently. Grove of the Burnwillows/Punishing Fire combination is also something worth looking into here, in either version of the deck.
It's not my style, but I've seen some lists with Bogardan Hellkite, Sakashima the Impostor / Phyrexian Metamorph, and Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund to try and get the one-hit KO, even at sorcery speed.
Cast one of your ten cascade spells (as early as turn one), cascade into Hypergenesis (the only target), and put some baddies into play.
4 Violent Outburst
4 Demonic Dread
3 Hypergenesis
4 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
3 Angel of Despair
4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
3 Progenitus
4 Chancellor of the Tangle
4 Simian Spirit Guide
3 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Calciform Pools
3 Fungal Reaches
1 Gemstone Caverns
4 Forbidden Orchard
4 Gemstone Mine
4 Reflecting Pool
4 City of Brass
This is a pretty direct port of the old Extended combo deck, as seen in the top eight of Pro Tour Austin in 2009. I basically just swapped in some new fatties I'd like to try in the deck. This creature configuration is currently untested.
Asking if Mishra's Factory is legal is like asking if Counterspell is legal in Standard because it was in Jace vs Chandra. It's obviously not.
Sideboards exist, and using them is "tech".
It's entirely possible to side out the entire Shape Anew combo and bring in a new strategy. In a UB Shape Anew deck, for example, you could:
-4 Shape Anew, -1 Blightsteel
+4 Grave Titan, + other cards
If you build your deck with a control base -- counters, discard, draw, etc. -- you now function like a regular UB control deck against an opponent bringing in anti-artifact hate cards.