Modern back at the forefront in Syracuse!

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Newsletter
Thursday, August 3rd

With Ramunap Red dominating the Pro Tour but failing to put a copy into the Magic Online PTQ Top 8 running the same weekend, it's safe to say it'll be a few weeks before we figure this Standard out. For now, it's time for a much earned break and a return to Modern at #SCGNY! Ross Merriam isn't going to let anyone forget how dangerous Death's Shadow is, and Todd Stevens is positive his new signature deck has a good match up against it! If you're set on sticking with Standard at the Classic on Sunday, then you can't do much better than checking out Chris Lansdell's analysis of the kinds of strategies that will and won't fly against red! As fun as it's been to watch Standard not be solved in seconds, I'm looking forward to Modern's big return! Join us on Twitch this weekend as we cover all the action in Syracuse!

— Danny West, Content Coordinator

The Problem With Death's Shadow
By Ross Merriam  

So, in the absence of a significant influx of cards from Hour of Devastation, we would expect the Modern metagame to remain with Grixis Death's Shadow at the top by a significant margin, but instead it looks as though its standing in the format has waned. It's still one of the best-performing decks, but recently it looks to simply be one great deck among many rather than a clear first.

Has Death's Shadow's reign on the format ended?

Short answer: No.

Long answer: The format has adapted to the presence of Death's Shadow. But as we've seen with dominant decks in the past, that adaptation has had to be so extreme so as to warp the entire metagame around Grixis Death's Shadow, which, while bad for the deck, demonstrates it to be an entity too powerful to hate out, as it continues to thrive in even the harshest conditions.

August 12-13
Modern

September 1-3
Standard

September 16-17
Modern

Brewing To Beat Ramunap Red
By Chris Lansdell  

Simply put, we win by not losing for as long as possible. Unlike many red decks, Ramunap Red lacks a way to prevent you from gaining life. Although it is more resilient and more able to deal damage consistently than historical red decks that were heavy on burn spells, it is still going to struggle against a strategy that consistently gains life, even in small increments. White and green have our best options for lifegain, but also for gaining life with other effects included.

Although we can't rely on blocking to keep us alive, lifelink creatures are still immensely valuable. We have to think about how we want to use them, though, and against a deck with as many as sixteen "no blocking for you" effects, you have to use them to race. Black and white are going to offer us the best (okay, the only) options for lifelink.

Slowing down their haste creatures is also crucial. There are a couple of cards that do that in Standard right now, both of which are white.

The Ultimate Guide To G/W Company
By Todd Stevens  

A much easier deck to sideboard against than Affinity. I've built the maindeck of G/W Company to be able to beat Grixis Death's Shadow by having the full playset of Voice of Resurgence as well as multiple Kitchen Finks. Azusa, Lost but Seeking doesn't do anything in combat and isn't a necessity for this matchup, and it's the first card out in midrange attrition battles. After that, for the third card out, I usually take out Tireless Tracker because it's also small for combat and it's hard to have time to crack the clues, but I don't mind shaving a Ramunap Excavator or a Birds of Paradise either.

The reason why I don't shave a Birds of Paradise personally is because I'm bringing in two five-drops from the sideboard. Whisperwood Elemental is a pretty obvious inclusion, but Sigarda, Host of Herons is actually a really tough card for Grixis Death's Shadow to deal with and usually ends the game in one or two turns because of their low life total and inability to block flyers.