| Modern is in an interesting place right now. With the removal of the Eldrazi menace, and the unbanning of both Ancestral Vision and Thopter Foundry, there's a lot of space to explore in the format. Last weekend we got to see a wide variety of both experimental and tried and true strategies in action at the Milwaukee Open. Abzan Company took the lion's share of the wins in Milwaukee, and the trophy to boot. That said, there was a lot of diversity in the field, and plenty of different archetypes seeing success. These are my picks for the ten best cards in Modern given the results from Milwaukee. #10 Death's Shadow  Death's Shadow is a card that almost broke out at Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch, though by the Sunday of that event it was clear that Modern was going to be all about the Eldrazi. With the Eye of Ugin banning, it's not surprising to see Death's Shadow Aggro back in the limelight. What is surprising, is that the only player who made day two with Death's Shadow in Milwaukee cracked the Top 8 of the event. Death's Shadow offers incentive to play Gitaxian Probe in your aggressive deck, which enables you to sequence with near-perfect information. The other advantage Death's Shadow offers is the "combo" finish of Temur Battle Rage. The ability to deal 20-plus damage in a single turn forces your opponent to think twice about ever tapping out. #9 Become Immense  On the topic of combo finishes, Become Immense continues to showcase the power of delve in Modern by being featured in both Death's Shadow Aggro and Infect. Both of these decks put one copy in the Top 8, and Infect also accounted for the ninth-place finish on breakers. There are a good number of playable pump spells in Modern, though none match the efficiency of Become Immense. Vines of Vastwood, Might of Old Krosa, and Groundswell all require some specific cost beyond just paying one green mana to give a creature four additional power, where Become Immense will easily be +6/+6 for G in most games. This raw efficiency is great for Infect, and is also the sole card that makes the Temur Battle Rage combo viable. #8 Wild Nacatl  It's still silly to me to think that Wild Nacatl was once banned in Modern, though the card's power level in the format is undeniable. Wild Nacatl is the ideal start for aggressive Naya decks in Modern, and now that the format isn't riddled with turn two 4/4s the cat has come back. #7 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet  While Kalitas is more of a Standard card, his Modern applications are very real. Jund and Grixis decks have adopted Kalitas as the new top of their curves, with Michael Majors playing three copies in his 16th-place Grixis list. Kalitas's lifelink goes a long way in combatting aggressive decks, and the exiling ability disrupts Melira/Anafenza combo all while generating 2/2 zombies to speed up your own clock. #6 Scavenging Ooze  Scavenging Ooze is another card that disrupts interactions involving cards entering graveyards, though Ooze's applications are slightly wider. Whether it's a combo that involves the graveyard, Snapcaster Mage, or Tarmogoyf, there are plenty of cards that Scavenging Ooze disrupts. Control decks featuring green mana and the Chord of Calling green decks all feature Scavenging Ooze in some capacity. #5 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger  Joe Lossett piloted Tron all the way to a second-place finish in Milwaukee, and Ulamog played a big part in this. Previously, when opponents gained infinite life with Kitchen Finks the only way for Tron to win was to restart the game with Karn Liberated. Ulamog enables the Tron player to just attack a couple of times and to exile the entirety of the opponent's library. Not to mention that Ulamog's cast trigger can have a crippling effect on your opponent's ability to play Magic in the first place. #4 Kitchen Finks  Kitchen Finks is a messed up Magic card. Not only is it part of an infinite life combo, but it also just comes at an absurd rate in fair games of Magic. Finks is a four-of in Abzan Company, and is a totally reasonable card to just play in decks like Jund or any deck that can cast it to have as a sideboard card against aggressive red decks. #3 Lightning Bolt  Lightning Bolt all but disappeared during Eldrazi Winter, and now has returned in force. It remains one of the best removal spells ever printed, and it slots itself into nearly every deck that can produce red mana. Joe Lossett even played a couple copies in his Tron sideboard this weekend as an efficient tool to help him keep pace with the format's creature-heavy decks. #2 Noble Hierarch  Infect had a solid weekend in Milwaukee, and Abzan Company had a great one. Both decks utilize Noble Hierarch as both a means to accelerate their mana and to generate exalted triggers to make better attacks. This ability to get ahead on mana is not to be understated in a format as efficient as Modern, and the added bonus of making combat easier makes Noble Hierarch a deceptively powerful card. #1 Collected Company  And then we come to the new Birthing Pod. Collected Company doesn't allow the consistency nor the inevitability that Birthing Pod did, though in many situations their power level is comparable. Collected Company gives Abzan Company a ton of play against sweepers, which would usually be very powerful against such a creature-heavy deck. Melira/Anafenza combo is technically possible without Collected Company in the format, though it is the singular card that pushes the deck over the top. When the SCG Tour makes its stop in Indianapolis in two weeks, I expect to see all of these cards putting up results once again. Whether you choose to beat them or join them, these are the cards that should be on your radar for #SCGINDY. — Ryan Overturf, @RyanOverdrive | 
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