Modern back in the spotlight for #SCGKY!

Thompson and Merriam inspect Ixalan, Handy sorts out Modern Storm!

Newsletter Thursday, September 14th

The last SCG Tour stop before Ixalan's debut is this weekend in Derby City at #SCGKY! Ixalan preview season has been one of the most exciting in recent memory and with any luck, Vraska, her Pirate pals, and those disastrous Dinosaurs will shake Magic up in a big way! This week, Ross Merriam is hellbent on pitting old cards versus new to see which will most likely make it in the beginnings of Ixalan Standard! Emma Handy has all her focus on dominating the #SCGKY Modern main event by mastering her current archetype of choice. And is Ripjaw Raptor really the best card in Ixalan? Pro Tour Amonkhet champion, Gerry Thompson, makes a strong case! — Danny West, Content Coordinator   What's The Better Card?   By Ross Merriam   Unfortunately, being in the Gruul colors means that Regisaur Alpha is competing with two of the premier threats from the other two blocks: Glorybringer and Verdurous Gearhulk. These are all incredibly efficient threats that provide immediate value, so what will ultimately separate them? The first thing that stands out to me is that while they all provide immediate value, only Glorybringer's value can be halted with an instant-speed removal spell. Should they have a Harnessed Lightning or Vraska's Contempt, your five-drop leaves nothing behind, whereas the others provide their value upon entering the battlefield. Keep a keen eye on the removal being played to see whether you need your value as quickly as possible. However, if the removal in the metagame is sweeper-heavy, Glorybringer is going to be the better option. Both Regisaur Alpha and Verdurous Gearhulk build a significant battlefield, but all that work is undone by a well-timed Fumigate or Hour of Devastation. Glorybringer can at least get four damage in before leaving the battlefield, which in a red deck is typically significant.

September 23-24     Sep 30 - Oct 1     October 14-15     Mastering U/R Gifts Storm In Modern   By Emma Handy     A number of Storm pilots waffle between seven and eight "Discount Bears" in the deck, and I've arrived at eight based on a couple of theories I have on deckbuilding with combo decks. The first is that it is generally correct to max out on the most powerful enablers in the deck. Drawing too many is generally a statistical outlier, but increasing the odds of drawing two or three is going to be better. This leads to a higher number of games being won on the back of having one on the battlefield in spite of the opponent having a Lightning Bolt or two. On top of the resiliency to removal that comes with redundancy, maxing out on the creatures makes it easier to win through copious amounts of hand destruction. There have been multiple games that I've won on the back of having a handful of Electromancers on the battlefield while my opponent shredded my hand. A single Gifts Ungiven or Past in Flames off the top of the library for a single mana is generally enough to win off a single card. Having draws with multiple creatures transform these rare scenarios into games won rather than lost.

Ripjaw Raptor And The Dinosaur Decks   By Gerry Thompson   Ripjaw Raptor is going to draw you a card or two per game on average, but most of the work is going to be done by yourself. If you're facing down an opposing Ripjaw Raptor, you're going to do everything in your power to not trigger the enrage ability. I did a cursory search for additional things that pinged creatures, but mostly came up short. Dynavolt Tower was the closest thing to reasonable, but even that seems sketchy. Having a 4/5 body is huge too. There are many popular cards that deal four damage, and having it naturally ignore some of the most commonly played removal is a wonderful trait. Not only that, but four power tends to kill people very quickly. Is your opponent going to want to chump block this thing? I'm guessing not, but neither option is appealing. It's also worth noting that Ripjaw Raptor doesn't need any sort of combo to be powerful. The text on the card does that by itself. However, if you find yourself in a late-game situation with a Walking Ballista, I guarantee you won't be disappointed. If you wanted to, you could even try to cycle your own damage-based removal spells on it. Let's look at some decklists.

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