There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
There are dozens of decks that are respectable choices and the metagame is wide open. Death’s Shadow decks have been considered the best decks for the last year, but the last 2-3 months proved that wrong. With a lot of pros getting their hands on the format and trying out new things, we see that the format is a lot deeper than it seemed and many other decks can compete with the one mana 10/10 strategy.
Based on mtggoldfish.com, the Top 5 most played decks amongst tournament results are Grixis Shadow, Storm, Jeskai, Tron and Affinity.
You’ll be surprised to see that my take on the Top 5 best decks only includes one of these decks.
1. Lantern Control
Sideboard:
2 Abrupt Decay 1 Grafdigger's Cage 1 Pithing Needle 1 Seal of Primordium 1 Collective Brutality 1 Pyroclasm 1 Porphyry Nodes 2 Welding Jar 2 Leyline of Sanctity 1 Search for Azcanta 2 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas Lantern Control reminds me of the Amulet Bloom decks. They existed for a long time, but they were not figured out, not well piloted and criminally underplayed. Until there was a Modern Pro Tour and Justin Cohen showed the world how good it could be. It escalated extremely quickly and under a year it become too good that we called for Summer Bloom to be banned.
Lantern feels the same, it existed for a long time, then a few years back, Zac Elsik got a few good results with it. It popped up and started getting good results, great players such as Sam Black picked it up and it gave it more credibility. We’ve seen it do well at tournaments since then, yet, not as much as it should.
The last few months and the addition of Whir of Invention clearly cemented the deck as one of Modern’s best strategy. I’m going bold by saying it is THE best deck to play right now.
It is unbelievably frustrating to play against, specifically now with Whir of Invention because of how consistent it is. It always does what its supposed to be doing, locking you out of the game and it does it remarkably quickly. Beating it is possible, but it requires masterful plays, clutch mulligans and a really good understanding of the matchup. I hope that I’m wrong otherwise the Pro Tour might be a little puzzling to watch.
2. Eldrazi Tron
Sideboard: 1 Warping Wail 1 Basilisk Collar 1 Grafdigger's Cage 2 Gut Shot 2 Hangarback Walker 2 Pithing Needle 2 Ratchet Bomb 3 Relic of Progenitus 1 Wurmcoil Engine
I used to be a big Eldrazi Tron fan, then I moved away from it. I am now back to saying it’s just a very good deck.
How good it is correlates with how potent Chalice of the Void is in the metagame and my conclusion is that it’s rarely bad. The ‘’nut’’ draws happen much more frequently than anyone originally thought. Assembling Tron, drawing an Eldrazi Temple or having a turn two Chalice single handedly wins you tons of games.
Then your fair game isn't even that bad either since casting Eldrazi creatures is always a powerful thing to do.
Lantern Control being one of the deck’s worst matchup is the reason why I have to rank it 2nd here. 3. Grixis Shadow
2 Ceremonious Rejection 2 Collective Brutality 1 Engineered Explosives 2 Izzet Staticaster 2 Kolaghan's Command 2 Liliana of the Veil 2 Nihil Spellbomb 2 Young Pyromancer Wait didn't you just talk about it being overestimated? Yeah, but that doesn't mean it’s not still one of the best decks, in fact, it is still pretty good. I just wanted to point out that Modern is not in a bad place right now where you absolutely have to play a Death’s Shadow strategy or you handicap yourself. Grixis Shadow is an extremely consistent deck and it punishes decks that are clunky and/or badly built. For those reasons, it’ll always remain one of the best choices. It is not my first choice these days as people have found ways to beat it, they’ve understood the deck.
For those who just love the deck, you can always adapt. Oliver_Hart on Magic Online, better known as Andrew Jessup in real life, is an avid Grixis Shadow player and as you can see in the decklist, he made changes to the deck if you compare to the usual lists we kept seeing in the last year. Opt over Serum Visions is a nice way to play better at instant speed. I’m a little skeptical that you wouldn't want Serum Visions at all since my personal experience has been to flood a lot with all these cantrips that don’t control the top of your deck well like Serum Visions. I would try cutting a land, maybe two. I don’t expect Grixis Shadow to do well at the Pro Tour only because I doubt people will play badly constructed decks like they do on Magic Online or some live tournaments. I also doubt anyone will register decks that are awful against it. Yet, there are people who try it out new stuff like Mono Blue Living End, try to have a good time and then face Grixis Shadow and see their dreams go down the toilet.
4. UR Breach
https://www.massdrop.com/talk/2844/blue-moon-breach-control
If you were a Twin player back in the days, you should love this one. At first I thought I was just blinded by my love of Twin when I first picked up UR Breach, but as it turns out, it’s a real deck and it wins. Disruption and a combo easy to assemble is a formula that works against many decks.
There are a few weaknesses to Through the Breach and Emrakul in comparison with Deceiver Exarch and Splinter Twin. It does not automatically kill them. Very often putting them down to 5 life and dealing with their board will essentially be game over. A small percentage of the time, they’re left with 2 big creatures and you can’t do anything about it and die. What can we do though? Splinter Twin is banned for a reason.
Enters Blood Moon. Being a turn slower to combo than our ancestor can sometimes make a big difference, so having a card like Blood Moon that slows down and sometimes completely wrecks our opponent coming down on turn three is a nice direction that the has taken.
It gets the 4th spot for me since some of its bad matchups are amongst the top played decks. Specifically Grixis Shadow, Affinity and Lantern Control.
5. Humans
Sideboard: 2 Dark Confidant 2 Hostage Taker 2 Izzet Staticaster 1 Mirran Crusader 1 Reflector Mage 1 Riders of Gavony 2 Vithian Renegades 2 Xathrid Necromancer 2 Dismember I played this deck quite a bit before Unclaimed Territory and Kitesail Freebooter were printed. I thought it was a decent deck, but not quite there yet. The printing of those two cards really pushed the deck to Tier 1.
I have a friend who’s been doing very well with all sorts of version of it. Having Collected Company in his deck over Aether Vial, Path to Exile sometimes, Avacyn’s Pilgrim sometimes, different manabases, etc. I personally have a hard time imagining myself playing this strategy without Collected Company as it was overperforming in my older versions. I can understand however that the mana becomes an issue.
The reason I have it as my 5th choice is simply because I’m unsure the best way to build it has been found.
PREVIOUS ARTICLES
· A Commoner's View in Pauper: http://dro.ps/mark-pauper
· *2nd* at Pro Tour Ixalan: http://dro.ps/ixalan
· Unclaimed Creature Types: http://dro.ps/ari-creatures
· Why I Never Drop From Tournaments: http://dro.ps/eric-nevergiveup
· The Art of Sideboard Construction - Sultai Energy: http://dro.ps/jon-sideboard
· Blue Moon Beach Control: http://dro.ps/scott-bluemoon