Modern tiers
Modern forum
Posted on Nov. 24, 2013, 3:30 p.m. by theman2832
So I'm trying to get into the modern format. Does anyone have any suggestions/opinions/good articles to read on the "tier" decks of modern? So what are some tier 1 decks and tier 2 decks? Also, specifically, is the Living End deck competitive? I realize this is probably based on the local meta but I'm just want to get started!
The big wrench in tier-ing Modern decks is there is a whole slew of decks that you might consider tier 1.5 and they can easily clean up an event if they dodge the right decks and sideboard hate has diminished for them. Living End is a good example of this.
I think it's easier/better to look at what's been winning recently than to try to ascribe to some guide that might not even be up to date.
November 24, 2013 3:47 p.m.
Tradeylouish says... #4
I would consider the current Modern tier 1 to be (in a rough order of current popularity/strength): Jund, Affinity, Melira Pod, GR Tron and Splinter Twin. There are lots of tier 2 decks, but some examples are: UWR Control (Epochalyptik placed this at tier 1, but I don't think it's quite there at the moment), Soul Sisters, UR Storm, and Merfolk. This is changing constantly, and I can't really point you to any articles, but some useful websites are mtgGoldfish and MTGTop8.
Living End is a competitive deck, but its success varies depending on the meta. It matches up poorly against some combo decks, and it struggles against graveyard hate. However it often take people by surprise, and is strong in most creature-based matchups. It would be a perfectly good choice for local tournaments, and would have a solid chance of winning them. See if you can find out what others at your LGS are playing first though.
November 24, 2013 3:54 p.m.
Melira pod is very fun to play. Check out my Melira deck (i play casual so its not modern legal, Just replace Green Sun's Zenith with Chord of Calling and you are good to go).
November 24, 2013 4:01 p.m.
RegisteredDecksOffender says... #7
Check out this link also, you might find it useful.
http://www.mtggoldfish.com/metagame/modern
November 24, 2013 4:20 p.m.
fluffybunnypants says... #8
Jund, Rock, Melira Pod, Splinter Twin, Scapeshift and Living End are all really strong in the Modern meta right now. Other notables are GR Tron and UR Storm.
November 24, 2013 7:17 p.m.
I hate to nitpick, but UWR control won the world championship in modern and it's not tier 1? I'll admit to bias because this is the deck that I play, but come on it beats affinity and twin without breaking a sweat and you called those tier 1 decks. It also has about a 50/50 shot against pod and Jund. It has no bad matchups.
In my humble opinion, the tiers look something like this, in order of time tested power:
Tier 1: Jund, Melira Pod, UWR Control, Affinity, GR Tron, Splintertwin.
Tier 1.5: Bogled Enchantments, Merfok, Junk, Living End, Other Tron, URW Midrange, Scapeshift
Tier 2: Soul Sisters, Storm, Pump infect, Zoo, Hatebears, everything else.
I probably ranked Bogled Enchantments higher than it deserves, but it did get seconds place in the world championships and that has to count for something right?
December 1, 2013 5:20 a.m.
EvenDryke I think boogle and american benefited from being two decks that were ran by the players and having the best players pilot them, not necessarily how strong of a deck they are in general. Where most people in the WC played american control and reid duke piloted boogle in a multi format event. The choice for american control was a metagame choice by everyone, thinking they would surprise everyone and play it because it has answers for everything. There was no pod, twin, affinity, or tron or any of the other decks at the WC, there was jund, UWR control, one boogle, one gifts and one g/w hatebears. Subsequent events pod and twin have been winning, with neither UWR control or boogle near the top 8. The last modern gp in north america had jund and pod top 8. Antwerp had twin, pod, jund. no boogles or uwr control. It is tier 1.5 or 2 currently. So winning the WC isn't about the deck as much as it is about the players and the meta game choice.
FYI Boogles is a favorite of Reid Dukes, still not a reason for it being a 'strong deck', just enjoyable for him to play.
December 1, 2013 11:23 a.m.
Wizard of the Damned says... #11
What classifies a deck as tier 1, 1.5, or 2?
December 1, 2013 1:01 p.m.
That's a good point. I still think that UWR Control deserves to be at least a high tier 1.5 or a low tier 1 if only for the fact that it has answers to everything like you said, in my experience it has almost no bad matchups, and a handful of tier 1 decks are very good matchups (especially affinity).
And Wizard it's all subjective. Most people look at the decks that get the most wins and call those the tier 1 decks, and everything else falls under tier 1.5 or 2 depending on who you ask.
December 1, 2013 6:11 p.m.
Wizard of the Damned Tiering is a general sense of their power level and consistency. All things being equal, Jund should preform better than Storm at a tournament. However, not all things are equal and often the power level of the tier 1.5 and 2 decks are mostly curtailed by sideboard hate, but if everyone hasn't seen Storm in a while they'll want to cut their sideboard cards for other match-ups and you can see those decks do well.
World Championship is a good example of this. Bogle, GW Hexproof, is a powerful enough deck, but it has some consistency issues since it needs lands, auras and a creature to function. However, it has a really great match-up against UWR, a deck of mostly spot removal, and happened to be the popular choice among the pros playing. So that deck is unusually well there.
EvenDryke I agree with gufymike, and I run bogles too. I wouldn't put a huge amount of stock into the performances of decks at WC. Pros tend to gravitate towards decks with a lot of decisions and have pretty good match-ups overall, hence why so many where on Jund and UWR. Reid Duke made a successful meta call by playing a deck that has a backbreaking UWR matchup and is pretty good against Jund, especially after sideboard. Most folks were probably not expecting Bogle, so all the enchantment hate got left behind to shore up against other decks.
December 1, 2013 6:15 p.m.
You should not build a deck just because it is a top teir deck. You should build a deck that you like, with the colors and cards you enjoy playing. You can sculpt the deck to do better against the so called "top tier' decks but by no means does making a "top tier' deck mean you are going to win. Make a deck you will enjoy playing. Modern is so great but is too crowded with people who just want to make decks that will win and decks that have won in the past. Be original. Be yourself.
December 2, 2013 7:29 p.m.
i play modern merfolk which id agree is like a 1.5, the deck isnt as consistant as some, although certain draws are undeniably powerful, others can seem strong but one or too good opposing answers and its top deck magic for the merfolk player
uwr control is something im looking to expand into post rotation of my standard uwr deck and the cards are freed up enough to justify me trading for the rest of what i need
December 2, 2013 10:43 p.m.
@iVampire: We're talking about tiers because the OP is probably trying to figure out what to expect. Being original is great, except when you build a deck that gets steamrolled by your meta.
I think the only thing I haven't seen talked about already is Death and Taxes. It really preys upon some of the better decks of the format, namely Tron, Pod, and Scapeshift.
December 3, 2013 3:44 a.m.
It saddens me that tokens don't see much play anymore.
December 3, 2013 4:56 p.m.
I wanted to build a W/B Token deck, but it just gets blown out by Pyroclasm , All Is Dust , Supreme Verdict , etc. etc. :(
December 3, 2013 6:02 p.m.
Blizzicane says... #19
@ sylvannos And its worse nightmare Ratchet Bomb because any color can use it and its only a mere two mana boardwipe against tokens.
December 3, 2013 6:10 p.m.
I know, I run a b/w token deck as my competitive deck. I usually just have to keep some extra means of playing tokens in my hand and hope they don't draw into it. Or sideboard Stony Silence . Tokens do have a lot of weaknesses though...
December 3, 2013 6:45 p.m.
Blizzicane says... #21
Actually there was one token deck that won something competitive recently Here
December 3, 2013 7:02 p.m.
Glad to see tokens are still seeing some play at least then.
December 3, 2013 7:29 p.m.
Tokens are amazing in the right meta against decks that play singleton spot removal because of the value you get from making multiple bodies off a few cards. Sometimes it's like "I'm at four life and you have four spirits from a Lingering Souls . Sigh...I guess I'll Abrupt Decay one of them or -2 Liliana of the Veil to stay alive."
December 3, 2013 11:49 p.m.
Haha yeah, that is one of the things I love so much about tokens. They're beautiful.
Epochalyptik says... #2
Jund, America control, and Pod are all tier 1.
November 24, 2013 3:37 p.m.