Modern Musings

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fluffybunnypants

11 April 2014

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Modern Musings

So, every time I have attempted to write up something regarding the Modern format the scope of what I have written has gotten way out of hand. Even when it comes to the core decks of the format, there are so many interactions with other decks that matter that the project quickly gets out of hand. Case and point, my “small” write up on Melira Pod wound up being something closer to a 20 page primer, okay, okay, Pod decks have a lot of moving parts, so I tried a write up on UWR Control variations and still wound up with 15 pages. This is not what I had initially set out to accomplish and it frustrated me a great deal. The goal of this article is to shed a little light on meta calls and the overall direction of the Modern meta game, as well as a few tips on how to succeed in the format. I’m not attempting to break ground here, I can get to that later if the demand is there, but for now, here’s a glimpse.

Why Modern?

Modern is a truly unique format. Its card pool is absolutely staggering in depth but it’s also closely controlled by Wizards of the Coast, (unlike Vintage and Legacy (True-Name Nemesis? Seriously?) so that it can develop a healthy meta. However, even though it’s a tightly controlled format, there are still plenty of interactions that border on being degenerate. Don’t think so? Prime examples off the top of my head are Affinity using Cranial Plating and Arcbound Ravager along with x number of 0 or 1 cmc artifacts and Raven's Crime with Life from the Loam. Affinity can swing for game turn 3 and the loam/crime combo will easily empty a control player’s hand in a turn. While a lot of these interactions are tremendously powerful, they are not format warping (for the most part), which is what makes the format enjoyable. Sure, you can swing with a 3/3 Nacatl on turn 2, but you won’t get smacked around by a turn 1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn or Griselbrand, although I’ve seen a deck pop one out on turn 2 and that deck is hilarious to play, but really lacks stability.

Personally, my favorite thing about Modern is that you can pilot a deck that is considered Tier 2 and still be successful as long as you know how to play your deck against the other decks in the meta and make the right calls. I’ve been playing two under the radar combo decks for a few months now and have found pretty damn good success with them. That’s the beauty of this format: if the deck is feasibly playable and you know it inside and out and know its matchups, there’s nothing saying that you can’t X-0 a tournament.

That seems so perfect, what’s the catch?

Well, every format has its boogeymen and Modern has three. Expect to see Melira Pod, Affinity and Twin a lot in the coming months.

So, where is Modern headed?

Before we get there, let’s take a look at where Modern currently is. Currently the format is 38% Affinity, Pod and Twin decks, each roughly accounting for 14-15 percent of the meta, at least according to the most recent tournaments.

Birthing Pod decks are hard to hate on and have a large toolbox when built correctly, glass canon versions, while flashy, lack stability. There are actually two types of Pod decks: Kiki-Pod is the first. Basically, you fish Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Zealous Conscripts or Restoration Angel out of your deck and insta-win. There are also some Kiki Pod decks that also run a singleton Deceiver Exarch to pair up with Kiki as well. The Pros of Kiki Pod are that it is quicker than its sister deck and has access to a large number of hate cards out of the sideboard due to its four color mana base.

Melira Pod is the second, more popular type, which ironically gets hammered by Kiki-Pod, but tends to have more favorable matchups against other decks due to its flexibility and Persist creatures. While Melira Pod can win using its namesake, Melira, Sylvok Outcast plus Kitchen Finks for infinite life or Murderous Redcap for infinite damage when sacrificed to a sac outlet (typically Viscera Seer), it will win most of its matchups by playing a really grindy midrange game. It should be noted that some Pod decks have been running Archangel of Thune and Spike Feeder for a nice wombo combo, but it normally only finds it’s home in glass canon builds and was initially played as a way to dodge Deathrite Shaman, which is now banned. Now, the deck tends to have a grindier game because there is now room for a comfortable four of Kitchen Finks.

These decks are really only susceptible to three things: Blood Moon, Grafdigger's Cage and removal.

Twin decks have four flavors: All-in Twin, Tempo Twin, Tarmo Twin and American Twin. All Twin decks have one thing in common, they can win by pairing Splinter Twin with either Deceiver Exarch or Pestermite. All-in Twin decks will usually include an alternate win with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, while Tempo Twin decks often drop the Kiki and a few of the mites or exarchs for x number of Snapcaster Mages and Vendilion Clique to play a tempo game. Tarmo Twin is where this gets weird. Tarmo Twin is basically RUG Twin with Tarmogoyfs and Scavenging Oozes. It was built this way because its creator, Patrick Dickmann, decided he didn’t want to lose to Wild Nacatl at Pro Tour Born of the Gods, and who can blame him? It, however, seems to have taken on a life of its own since then, though I often wonder, since killing them with Goyf seems like plan A, why not just drop the combo that you side out 85% of the time anyway, throw in Delvers and make Modern RUG Delver? One last version of this Modern staple is American Twin. It is a grindy as hell Twin deck. No Pestermites, just Deceiver Exarchs, a singleton Kiki, a set of Splinter Twins, a set of Restoration Angels, a set of wall of omens (I know, right?) and 4 celestial colonnades combine with a quasi American control Instants package.

How to beat this deck? You know that trick for getting rid of Rancor, yeah, same idea, use all the removal at the opportune moment. As for American Twin, I really just recommend going over it if you can, or it could possibly be a very, very long game.

Affinity should probably be renamed to Cranial Plating. The basic idea is pump out a bunch of low cost artifacts (read free), equip Cranial Plating and swing for game. There’s also the alternative of using the Modular effect with Arcbound Ravager for an alpha strike, but removal is a funny thing like that. Here’s the hilarious part from my point of view: the thing about Affinity’s recent success is that it was basically reintroduced because of the push away from Jund at PTBNG towards combo decks. The new non-interactive face of the Modern meta game that was introduced at PTBNG was just screaming for some hot robot action at GP Richmond, and Affinity certainly delivered with two top eight finishes.

Ways to get around this deck? Artifact hate, plain and simple. If you watched GP Richmond, you saw a singleton Shatterstorm in Brian Liu’s Kiki Pod deck absolutely wreck the opposing Affinity player’s board and basically win the game. While a powerful deck, the hate against Affinity is arguably some of the strongest in the game.

So, the question was “where is Modern headed?” The answer is anywhere it damn well pleases. There are plenty of decks out there that can do well in the current meta. I mean, come on, we all saw one of the most awkward Scapeshift decks I ever bore witness to X-0 the swiss at GP Richmond. It’s also worth noting that there was one U/B Faeries deck that finished just outside of Top 8. I guess people haven’t completely figured out how to use Bitterblossom yet. American Control is currently only about 5% of the overall meta, which seems criminally underrated to me considering it won PTBNG. Herein lies the point: Tiers mean next to nothing in Modern, just viability. Just because it’s not Affinity, Twin or Pod doesn’t mean it can’t win.

So, how do you win?

Honestly, aside from making an amazing meta call (G/W Auras at Worlds, Affinity at GP Richmond), Modern is a format that highly rewards experience with your deck. Having a lot of experience with a valid deck in the format is something that will win you a lot of games. This means knowing what to side in and out against various matchups as well as being able to trudge through your rough matchups by understanding how to win in those situations. Remember that all decks have a different learning curve, some will punish your mistakes more than others (I’m looking at you, 4 Color Gifts) but none will win by themselves in spite of their pilot.

If there are any decks you would like me to expound upon, let me know, but for now here’s a few interesting tidbits:

Most Criminally Underplayed Deck: UWR Control. Wins PTBNG, still only 5% of the meta.

Next Big Thing:

It feels like it’s a good time to run G/W Hatebears and U/R Delver. They dodge Blood Moon hate and have a good number of ways to interact with the most played decks in the format currently.