The printing of Kaladesh offered a handful of Modern playable goodies, though Cathartic Reunion and Blossoming Defense have proven to be the two most impactful additions to the format. Dredge and Infect have improved significantly with these additions, and the increase in the power level of these two decks has been at the forefront of recent metagame shifts. We've seen a good amount of diversity in recent results, and these are what I believe to be the best Modern decks going into the Season Three Invitational. #10 Dredge Matt Ayers took second place at the Columbus Open with a Dredge list featuring Simian Spirit Guide, and his 75 looks very powerful. Dredge is favored in the majority of its Game 1s due to the fact that very few decks maindeck graveyard hate, and using Simian Spirit Guide to cast Cathartic Reunion on the first turn helps Ayers' build kill faster than the decks that threaten to race. Dredge has a huge target on its head, and as such I don't expect anybody to sweep the Swiss with the deck, but it's consistent and resilient enough to convincingly put up some winning records. #9 Sun and Moon Another Simian Spirit Guide deck, Todd Stevens' Classic win in Knoxville demonstrated that Sun and Moon has what it takes to crush in Modern. An early Blood Moon or Chalice of the Void will stop many decks from ever getting off the ground, which is what allows this deck to compete despite the relative speed of the format. This deck doesn't really present a ton of decisions to its pilot, which is why I don't rank it higher. If you're in the market for free wins though, Simian Spirit Guide into Chalice of the Void will provide plenty of those. #8 Bant Eldrazi Bant Eldrazi was arguably the deck to beat before Kaladesh launched, though the format's general increase in speed has pushed the deck out some. Even still, Bant Eldrazi is great at beating up midrange decks and has enough interaction to take some wins from Infect and Dredge. Path to Exile is powerful against both decks, and the Eldrazi have demonstrated time and again that they have game everywhere. The consistency offered by Ancient Stirrings enables the deck to execute its plan better than most decks, and it was no accident that two copies cracked the Top 8 of the Columbus Open. #7 Burn Burn is almost never bad in Modern, and Ben Wienburg's fifth-place finish in Columbus demonstrated that the deck is a great choice in the current environment. Burn will often be able to kill on pace with Dredge, and the deck offers enough interaction to take down Infect, especially with the four Path to Exiles in Wienburg's sideboard. A lot of the format is focused on interacting with creatures, and Burn offers ways to win the game outside of combat in addition to plenty of interaction to play the control role against creature-heavy decks. #6 Jund Fifty percent of the time, Jund works every time. I'm not really a Jund guy, but neither is Todd Anderson and he made Top 8 in Columbus with the deck. You've probably heard everything that you'll ever need to hear about Jund in Modern already, and discard plus removal and Tarmogoyf is going to be a reasonable plan for the foreseeable future. #5 Skred Red This one might be a little controversial, but I believe that Kevin Mackie's winning list from GP Dallas is a phenomenal metagame deck. Playing both Lightning Bolt and Skred gives you access to plenty of efficient interaction against Infect, and both Anger of the Gods and Relic of Progenitus in the maindeck should make Dredge an easy enough matchup. Pia and Kiran Nalaar apply a lot of pressure, and Eternal Scourge is actually great at grinding out the midrange and control decks of the format. Meanwhile, three copies of Blood Moon will allow you some easy wins against much of the format. I believe this deck is underrated as of now, and I was happy to see Chance Brown Top 4 the Classic in Knoxville with an updated build of the deck. #4 G/W Tron One of the selling points of Jund in Columbus was that Tron was really off the radar going into that tournament. Then Tom Ross won with a new G/W build of the dreaded big mana deck. Maindeck Path to Exile and sideboard Blessed Alliance enable the deck to compete with decks like Infect, and Tron is actually reasonable against Dredge just by virtue of casting Wurmcoil Engines and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon. A couple sideboard Rest in Peace help there, too. Tron is known for demolishing interactive decks, and the G/W build has the requisite tools to keep pace with the fast non-interactive decks. #3 Scapeshift
I say Scapeshift, but what I mean is Through the Breach. Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle is generally great against fair decks, though it can leave something to be desired against the faster Modern decks. That's where enabling a turn-three Through the Breach into Primeval Titan comes into play. This sequence allows the deck to find two Valakuts and a bunch of Mountains to close games at a blistering pace. Given how fast the format is, Clayton Vogelgesang utilized Simian Spirit Guide to facilitate a higher rate of turn-three Through the Breach all the way to a second-place finish in the Knoxville Classic. There's very little in the way of hate for this deck, and even Blood Moon can be overcome by just attacking for six a few times with a Titan. The ability to turn three means you're live in basically all of your games, and Valakut is a difficult-to-disrupt way to go long if you have to. #2 Infect I know, I know. I made a point of discussing the way in which all of these other decks can beat Infect. It so happens though, that when the conversation is all about beating one deck it usually means that said deck has a way of winning anyway. Danny Jessup made Top 8 in the Knoxville Classic with Infect, and I fully expect him to do well in the Modern leg of the Invitational with the same deck. The deck is fast, powerful, resilient, and continues to put up results in the hands of great players despite it having a huge target on its head. #1 Grixis Delver What do you mean my list exhibits bias? Is it bias that put Kevin Jones on the US World Magic Cup team? Is it bias that got him to fourth place in Columbus? Counterspells are phenomenal against fast degenerate decks, Grixis Delver offers removal for large creatures that sneak under your counters, and the deck offers a well above average clock for a controlling strategy in racing situations. The deck has a lot of game against Infect with its suite of efficient interaction, though Jones' sideboard Surgical Extractions are necessary for the Dredge menace. The biggest selling point is that Lingering Souls, far and away the worst card for a Grixis Delver player to see on the other side of the table, is nowhere to be seen in the format currently. Grixis is great and I hope Kevin keeps reminding everybody of this fact. Modern has had surprising and exciting results in recent months, and while I expect all of these decks to be good choices for #SCGINVI in Atlanta, I'm hoping to see some brews as well. This is the last chance for players to qualify for the Players' Championship, and I can't wait to see how the competition shakes out! — Ryan Overturf, @RyanOverdrive |
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