| Control is dead! Long live control! Heading into #PTKLD, it appeared as though Kaladesh Standard was going to be a very aggressive format. And with how dominant W/R Vehicles was in the hands of Team Cardhoarder and eventual champion Chris VanMeter at #SCGINDY, who could argue otherwise? Cards like Smuggler's Copter, Toolcraft Exemplar, Inventor's Apprentice, and Verdurous Gearhulk make aggressive strategies look unbeatable. So, if control could be good at #PTKLD, it would take someone really skilled at building control decks to have success in such an aggressive field, right? Turns out, Shouta Yasooka is really good at building control decks. Yasooka has always been one of my favorite players in the game of Magic. For years, he has always opted to play control decks, no matter what the cards in the format are. But more importantly, he has always found success with his control strategies. For #PTKLD, it took some innovative deckbuilding from Yasooka to find success—maindeck copies of Negate, Ceremonious Rejection, and Radiant Flames—but the hard work certainly paid off to the tune of $50,000 and his second Pro Tour title. It will be interesting to see how things develop for Yasooka's Grixis Control deck, Carlos Romão's take on Jeskai Control, and some of the other unique strategies that came out of #PTKLD over the next few weeks. But for now, the SCG Tour and #SCGMKE turn their attention toward Modern! Magic's most volatile format is back and I can't wait to watch all the action unfold. Matthias Hunt, Ryan Overturf, Nick Miller, and the rest of the @SCGLive crew will be bringing you all the Modern action you can handle as we continue to make our way through Season Three of the SCG Tour. If you can't make it out to The Brew City, be sure to catch all the action over at twitch.tv/scglive! — Cedric Phillips, Media Manager @CedricAPhillips | |  | Let's Go Back-To-Back! The last time we saw Chris VanMeter, he was busy winning his fifth Open at #SCGINDY. With #SCGMKE a few days away, CVM is looking to do his best Tom Ross impersonation by going back-to-back. But #SCGMKE is Modern and CVM isn't sure what to play. If you've got some tips, CVM is all ears. |  | Explaining Pro Tour Kaladesh Standard The last time Ari Lax made a trip to the Honolulu Convention Center, he left as the Pro Tour Khans of Tarkir champion. This time, he wasn't as fortunate. This week, Ari does what he does best—take a long hard look at his preparation for #PTKLD and figure out where Standard is headed. | | | The Commander VS Crew is ready to get random! See who comes out on top when the players get dealt random decks of their peers' creation. |  | | Modern is a format where control has bordered on extinction since the beginning. There are glimmers of hope here and there that end up being mirages when investigated further. WOTC gave us Nahiri, the Harbinger, which feels like the savior of control in Modern. I bought into the hype right off the bat and saw victories by the Metagame Gurus on the SCG Tour with a very similar version to the one I threw together. The fact of the matter is the deck itself, whichever variation you craft, is an underdog to nearly every deck in current Modern. It loses to explosive aggressive decks consistently, gets pummeled by combo, and folds to Eldrazi Midrange half the time. I thought it was my play for the first few tournaments, but I reached out to the Jeskai Control experts who confirmed the deck's weaknesses to the rest of the Modern world. Jeskai Control is a combo deck, however it is the slowest and easiest to disrupt. Control decks not being able to finish the game in a timely manner is a real death knell to the archetype and it leaves us stranded in a world of aggressive decks with a smattering of combo. I hope by December, when the final Invitational of the year is here, I'll have a well-tested and optimized control deck for myself and all of you as well. For #SCGMKE I'll battle with a deck that goes against my very nature. | | I had a long talk with Mr. Bradley Nelson and he gave me some Modern wisdom. Until we break the format with one of the control archetypes I mentioned, we might as well join the enemy and be proactive.  
The namesake card is the real draw of this deck, but all the creatures in this deck are the best at what they do. One-mana, efficient beaters with great synergy with the Become Immense/Temur Battle Rage combo allow us to pick up wins even when we have draws without Death's Shadow.  
The other draw to this deck is that it gets to play the most free spells of any deck in Modern. Gitaxian Probe, Mutagenic Growth, Street Wraith, and Mishra's Bauble allow the deck to be lean while also giving us a ton of information to play around our opponent's interaction. With so many free spells, it allows us to facilitate a one-mana Become Immense, combining free spells with a discounted +6/+6.  
This card gives us the earliest wins possible, even allowing us to break through chump blockers. Temur Battle Rage goes over the top with Death's Shadow, a couple Mutagenic Growths, Become Immense, and sometimes just a Monastery Swiftspear with a few free spells. We aren't looking to play a long game, so feel the rage.  
Thoughtseize plays well with Gitaxian Probe and Mishra's Bauble, allowing us to make a game plan and snipe a problem card from our opponent. Our other piece of interaction is Lightning Bolt, which lets us be flexible by killing a blocker, going upstairs, or even hitting our own life total when Death's Shadow needs that extra push. So what now for control? I honestly don't have the answer to that question. I am going to start working with control decks that are centered around Thoughtseize for starters. The only control decks that have a shot in this format are the proactive ones that take the fight to their opponent each turn. Modern is a solitaire format, so for #SCGMKE I'd sleeve up the most explosive linear deck around, Death's Shadow Aggro. Good luck in Milwaukee! — Shaheen Soorani, @Shaheenmtg | | Jeff Hoogland will carry his one-point lead over Tom Ross in the StarCityGames.com Player of the Year race into #SCGMKE after both players made the Top 16 of their respective Regional Championship. Hoogland made the Top 16 in the Chicago Regional Championship, while Ross did so at the Raleigh Regional Championship, where Todd Anderson joined him in the Top 16. While neither Hoogland or Ross made any ground this past weekend, Caleb Scherer, Brad Carpenter, and Jacob Baugh all secured decent finishes in their own events to remain in the yearly race for the final three at-large qualifications for the Players' Championship. Scherer took second-place at the Kansas City Regional Championship, getting 15 SCG Points, and jumping into sixth place in the POY race, moving ahead of Todd Stevens, who made Top 16 in the Dallas Regional Championship. Carpenter continued his hot streak in Season Three with a Top 32 finish in the Orlando Regional Championship, boosting him into fifth place in the POY race while improving his lead in the Season Three race over Ted Felicetti by another point. |  | | Felicetti, another player killing it in Season Three, made Top 64 in the Worcester Regional Championship, getting three SCG Points to grow his lead over Michael Majors in the Season Three race. Baugh also had a Top 32 finish in Kansas City, keeping him at No. 13 in the POY race and within striking distance of an at-large qualification to the Players' Championship. The SCG Tour is heading into a busy slate with four events in five weeks, starting with a Modern Milwaukee Open. Will Hoogland hold onto his lead in the Player of the Year race this weekend in his favorite format, or will Ross manage to take the top spot for the first time this year? Stay tuned to twitch.tv/SCGLive for all the action this weekend! |  |   If you would like to unsubscribe and stop receiving these emails please click here. |
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