Modern back in focus for Charlotte!

Posted On 3:10 PM // Leave a Comment

Newsletter
Thursday, October 12th

Ixalan is fun and Standard is cool. All that's well and good, but could the world use a little Modern this weekend?! #SCGCHAR starts on Saturday (and #SCGCIN is on its way for next weekend), so who do we look for to get us back on the right Modern track? Todd Stevens, naturally. He's got six decks he's up in the air on. Meanwhile, Pete Ingram is facing the same "too many good decks" dilemma himself. Shaun McLaren is faring much better, as he's got all of his focus on breaking the already impressive Standard standout, Search for Azcanta! Deck diversity, an open field of players, and the best coverage you could ask for. Next stop: Modern in Charlotte!

— Danny West, Content Coordinator

The 6 Decks
I Want To Play In Modern
By Todd Stevens  

The reason why we get to be so greedy and play five colors is the introduction of Unclaimed Territory from Ixalan. We now have eight lands that can add mana of any color for our creatures, and realistically, if we draw one, our mana should be fine.

I truly think Xathrid Necromancer is good enough to be the only black card in the maindeck, and it's one that I don't see many other Humans decks playing, but I wouldn't register a Humans deck without it. Mantis Rider, on the other hand, has joined the party because of how good our manabase is. I always wanted to have Izzet Staticaster in my sideboard in Humans decks I've played in the past, and if I'm going through the trouble to have red and blue in my deck, then I might as well have Mantis Rider as well.

October 21-22
Modern

October 28-29
Legacy

November 4
Modern

Help Me Choose
My SCG Charlotte Deck!
By Peter Ingram  

I like Opt quite a bit in this deck and I think this list looks really solid. Gifts Storm is one of the top-tier strategies in Modern currently. As I said previously, the strategies that exist to beat it are on the decline and the deck is super-consistent. Grixis Death's Shadow is a pretty bad matchup for this deck, but it has been seeing less play over time. There is a reasonable chance that I end up playing this at #SCGCHAR. The biggest issue I have is I don't know if I can get the reps with the deck in time. That comes along with proper sideboarding technique, as I definitely feel I would be a bit lost.

Another possibility for this upcoming weekend if I want to play Islands is Jeskai Midrange. Harlan Firer took down the Louisville Open with a deck that is pretty much Jeskai Control minus Nahiri, the Harbinger.

Searching For
Azcanta In Modern
By Shaun McLaren  

While Cryptic Command is great, Sphinx's Revelation is probably the most exciting card to pair with Search for Azcanta. Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin lets you Revelation for one more or helps you dig for your one copy when you're ready to end the game. It's kind of like the ultimate Desolate Lighthouse.

So what's the downside? Well, Search for Azcanta is not the fastest card in the world, which means we are packing the rest of our deck with ways to survive the early-game, including a bunch of cheap counters and removal in the form of Lightning Helix, Lightning Bolt, and Path to Exile. This will help you thwart anyone trying to disrupt your Azcanta dreams until you can start burning your opponent's face off while getting to Impulse for free every turn.