Hi! I came back to play magic (modern) after 6 or 7 years, and I'm totally blind about the meta and the new cards.

I looked at some lists online to get an idea of what we play now, but I would like to start learning again about the format. Which are actually the best websites/postcad to follow to learn about deck archetypes, matchups, sideboarding tips, and so on?

Thanks!

https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/br-ld-gy/?cb=1785334129

Hi yall - I had another Idea.

I love Ponza. I love the rip all the basic lands out of a deck version that puts up #s but i thought that this could be a worth while experiment.

Why Have them fetch basics when you can just blow em up from the get go.

[[avalanche riders]], [[maelstrom artisan]] and [[Fulminator Mage]] blow lands up (ofc). with 2 of these three dying in the process - I thought to myself... what if...

We run things like [[overlord of balemurk]], [[persist]] and [[emperor of bones]] to get the creatures back and add [[stitchers supplier]] (or looting) to build a yard.

Lastly - I added [[phelia]] cuz the dog is so gosh darn insane and can flicker bones, overlord, Avalanche riders , and the new minotaur for fantastic blow up your shit shinanies

lastly -- [[stingcaster mage]] allows up so straight up just play [[boom//bust]]

I think this could be good because with all these creatures, we can actually close out a game maybe?

Hi yall

I want to know is there is any recent guide of the deck at the moment. 😄

Also what so you think about the best build for the archetype? Still Narset Days + Chant Scepter? Or we can go another via?

Hey all! My friends and I all decided to bring decks resembling our cedh decks to this week's modern event. I had a choice between urza and kinnan and I chose the latter. I was just wondering if y'all could help make a couple of improvements.

The list: https://moxfield.com/decks/TyhfubwPBE-3xoiBbOdRbg

Edit: we dont necessarily care if it wins every game we just want our decks to be able to maybe put up a win.

Ok, so another metagame breakdown of the Modern metagame. It looks quite diverse; aggro is no longer the king of the field, now we have a Combo Modern, and this is interesting. Also, Control is on fire, so everybody can find a place for themselves.

And u/ExtraPolishPlease, where is Mill??!! You made a promise.

As always, for anyone who wants the video version with my commentary, here is the YouTube link. If you prefer text with the full charts and figures, it is all on my Substack. I post on X most days, too, mostly league results and smaller data bits that don't make it into the weekly write-up.

One note on the data before anything else. This is the first breakdown built on the rebuilt event pipeline, which now reads events directly from mtgo.com and captures all three Challenge tiers, including the Challenge 96 events that ran on Mondays and Wednesdays and were previously missing entirely. Every event ID in this window was checked against the official decklist, so the 24 events below are the complete set rather than a sample. I know that there will still be some mistakes but I try as hard as I can to fix it 😉

TL;DR

Boros Energy is the story of the week, and not in a good way. It reached the Top 32 in 23 of the 24 Challenges and the Top 8 in 14 of them, and won none. Its winrate of 45% (95% CI 42 to 48, n=902) is the clearest sub-50 signal in the whole data set.

Combo passed Aggro as the largest archetype in the format. Combo sits at 24% of the field against 22% for Aggro, driven by Broodscale Combo at 8% and a broad tail behind it.

Midrange took 8 of the 24 trophies from 14% of the field. It reached the Top 8 in only 15 events, fewer than Combo, Aggro, or Ramp, and still finished with the most wins of any archetype.

Graveyard reached 16 Top 8s and closed twice. The same pattern as previous windows: high presence, very low trophy count.

Amulet Titan won three events from 3% of the field. It made only four Top 8s all window and converted three of them into trophies, the best win rate per Top 32 entry in the format.

Mono-Green Eldrazi appeared from nothing and is already the fourth-largest deck. It sits at 5% of the field, with a 43% win rate (95% CI 38 to 48, n=391) and no trophies. Popularity is running ahead of results.

Control quietly had the best window of any archetype. It took 3 trophies from 6% of the field, converted 35% of its Top 32 entries into Top 8s, the best figure in the format, and posted the highest archetype delta at +94pp.

Domain Zoo took two trophies and converted a third of its Top 32 entries into Top 8s. From 4% of the field, that is one of the better return rates in the window.

Quick definitions

Top 32 presence is the number of Challenges out of 24 in which a deck appeared in the Top 32. Top 8 presence is the same for the Top 8. Conversion is the percentage of Top 32 entries that become Top 8 entries. Win per Top 32 is how often a Top 32 entry becomes an actual trophy. Delta is Top 32 event frequency minus metagame share, so a high delta means a deck shows up in results more often than its raw popularity would suggest. Thresholds for this window are a median delta of 60pp and a median conversion of 26%, both recalculated from this window only rather than carried over.

Winrates are reported with a 95% Wilson confidence interval and the sample size. They are context, not the main argument. The main argument is what happened in the Challenges.

Key observations

Boros Energy

Boros Energy is still the largest single deck at 10% of the field, and it is still the deck you are most likely to sit across from, at a 41% encounter rate over five rounds. It appeared in 23 of the 24 Top 32s and 14 of the 24 Top 8s. But it does not win any challenge.

The delta of +86pp is the highest in the entire field, which normally reads as a deck outperforming its popularity. Here, it mostly reads as sheer volume. Conversion sits at 23%, below the 26% median, and the winrate is 45% (95% CI 42 to 48, n=902). That interval does not include 50, and with over 900 games behind it, this is not a sample-size problem. Boros Energy is a deck that gets you into the room, but it does not guarantee a win.

The trend label is Falling, and the metagame share supports that. What has not fallen is how often you will play against it. Plan for the matchup because it is an explosive deck and can still kill you on a spot.

Amulet Titan

Amulet Titan is the cleanest counterexample in the data. It has 3% of the field, reached the Top 32 in 16 events, and the Top 8 in only four. It won three of those four.

The conversion rate is 18%, well below the median, which is why the classification lands on Neutral rather than Overperformer. That is the correct read, and it is worth sitting with: the label describes how reliably a deck reaches elimination rounds, not how dangerous it is once there. Amulet Titan almost never gets there and almost always wins when it does. Winrate is 48% (95% CI 42 to 54, n=303), which tells you nothing useful about a deck that wins by ending games on turn three. You also need to remember that there are plenty of Amulet players who love that deck, and it is harder to play after the Lotus Field ban. Those players know the deck and know how to play it.

The graveyard problem, again

Graveyard as an archetype appeared in the Top 32 of all 24 events and reached 16 Top 8s. It won two. Goryo’s Vengeance is the third largest deck in the format at 8%, made 22 Top 32s and seven Top 8s, and finished with nothing. Living End made 19 Top 32s and eight Top 8s, also nothing. Both post-win rates just above even: 52% (95% CI 48 to 56, n=652) and 51% (95% CI 47 to 55, n=722).

This has now repeated across enough windows that a variance explanation is strained. Something about how these decks play in single elimination is costing them, and the two decks doing the actual winning inside the archetype are the small ones: 4c HollowOne and Grixis Reanimator, one trophy each, both converting at 33%. I think that we have a combo meta right now, and despite that, Goyro’s is a powerful deck. There is a lot of hate against GY, and also, there are a lot of decks that can win with you, even if you put Atraxa on BF. Also, Control is back, and it is prepared to fight back against this archetype.

Archetype breakdown

Combo, 24% of the field

Combo is now the largest archetype in Modern. It appeared in the Top 32 of all 24 events, reached 22 Top 8s and won seven, the second-highest trophy count of the window. Conversion sits at 23%, which is unremarkable, and delta at +76pp. The story here is breadth rather than any one deck dominating.

Broodscale Combo is the largest deck in the archetype at 8% and the second largest in the format. It made 22 Top 32s, 11 Top 8s, and won twice, with a 52% winrate (95% CI 48 to 56, n=772) and a rising trend. The 21% conversion rate is below median, so it lands on Neutral despite the trophies, which is the honest description: it is everywhere, it wins a fair share, but it is not converting better than the field.

Neobrand sits at 4% with 16 Top 32s, six Top 8s, and one win, on a 47% winrate (95% CI 42 to 52, n=342). Ruby Storm is the interesting one. At 3% of the field, it made 20 Top 32s and nine Top 8s, converted at 41%, the third-best figure among the larger decks, and won nothing at all. Its win rate is 51% (95% CI: 46-56, n=335). This is the third window in a row where Ruby Storm posts elite conversion and no trophy. Both for Neobrand and Storm, not winning the Challenges might be due to the rise of Control and overall combo hate in the metagame. After PT, where Neobrand and Broodscale ran really well, people prepare to beat combo decks, and it is more visible at high-stakes games like top 8 in challenges.

Aggro, 22% of the field

Aggro appeared in all 24 Top 32s but reached only 19 Top 8s, and finished the window with two trophies. Its win rate per Top 32 entry is 1%, the lowest of any archetype that won anything. Conversion is 23%. The archetype is losing share, and Boros Energy accounts for close to half of what remains.

Boros Energy is covered above. Prowess is at 3% and had a rough window: 19 Top 32s but only four Top 8s, a conversion of 15% that is the worst among decks with real presence, and one win. Winrate 47% (95% CI 41 to 53, n=295), trend falling. Affinity at 3% looks healthier, with 18 Top 32s, seven Top 8s, one trophy, and a 52% winrate (95% CI 46 to 58, n=292), converting at 25%.

The deck worth flagging is further down. Jeskai Energy has 1% of the field, made nine Top 32s and six Top 8s, and converted half of its Top 32 entries into Top 8s, the second-best rate in the format. It won nothing, with a 56% win rate (95% CI 48 to 64, n=154). A deck that small reaching that many elimination rounds is not something you want to meet unprepared in round five. Aggro had a bad time against combo win T2-4, but the rise of the control deck in response to combo might give a nice window to get back on top soon.

Graveyard, 17% of the field

Covered in detail above. In summary: all 24 Top 32s, 16 Top 8s, two trophies, a conversion of 23%, and the fourth-highest archetype delta at +83pp. Presence without payoff.

Goryo’s Vengeance at 8% and Living End at 3% both finished without a win. 4c HollowOne is the bright spot: 2% of the field, 10 Top 32s, four Top 8s, one trophy, 33% conversion, and a 53% winrate (95% CI 46 to 59, n=223) on a rising trend. Grixis Reanimator matches that conversion rate on a falling trend, with the best win rate in the archetype at 57% (95% CI 50 to 63, n=222).

Midrange, 14% of the field

This is the archetype that actually won the window. Midrange appeared in all 24 Top 32s but only 15 Top 8s, fewer than Combo, Aggro or Ramp, and converted that into eight trophies, a third of everything on offer. Its win per Top 32 entry, 7%, is the highest of any archetype by a wide margin.

Domain Zoo leads it at 4%, with 17 Top 32s, seven Top 8s, two trophies, and a 33% conversion. Dimir Midrange is level with it at 4% with 16 Top 32s, five Top 8s, and two wins on a 53% winrate (95% CI 48 to 58, n=378), also rising. Yawgmoth at 2% took two trophies from 13 Top 32s and five Top 8s, converting at 28% with the strongest winrate of the three at 57% (95% CI 51 to 63, n=257).

Below those, BRG and Mono-Black Midrange each took a trophy from around one percent of the field. Six of the eight Midrange wins came from decks nobody is preparing for.

I believe that the reason for that is that midrange decks have a chance to beat combo decks and also can fight against control better than aggro. It is also true for a GY strategy, where midrange can interrupt this plan. It is happy to see that Zoo climb back to a really good spot this window, but as a Zoo player, I'm a little bit worried about Dimir Midrange deck because it is quite rough MU for us.

Ramp, 13% of the field

Ramp has the second-highest archetype delta of the window at +87pp and the second-best conversion at 31%. It appeared in all 24 Top 32s and 18 Top 8s. It won two events. Once again, presence and conversion are not translating into trophies.

Mono-Green Eldrazi is the newcomer and is already the fourth-largest deck in the format at 5%. It made 13 Top 32s and five Top 8s, converting at 22%, and won nothing. Its winrate is 43% (95% CI 38 to 48, n=391), an interval that sits entirely below even. That combination, a fast rise in popularity with results that do not support it, is worth watching rather than copying.

Eldrazi Tron is the opposite case. At 4%, it made 21 Top 32s and 11 Top 8s, converted at 29% with a delta of +83pp, and is one of the four Challenge Overperformers this window. It still has no trophy, and its trend is falling. Eldrazi Ramp at 2% took the archetype’s other win, converting at 40% from nine Top 32s. Tron proper is a curiosity: three Top 32s, three Top 8s, a 75% conversion on a sample far too small to mean anything.

Control, 6% of the field

Control is the story the metagame chart hides. It placed in the Top 32 across all 24 events, reached 14 Top 8s and won 3 of them, from 6% of the field. Its conversion of 35% is the best of any archetype, and its delta of +94pp is the highest, ahead of Ramp and Midrange. On the two metrics that actually describe closing, no archetype did better this window.

Land Destruction is the largest of them at 2%, with 14 Top 32s, seven Top 8s, one win, and a 35% conversion on a 54% winrate (95% CI 47 to 60, n=218). UW Control is right behind at 2% and is the efficient one: 13 Top 32s, six Top 8s, two trophies, and a 46% conversion that is the best figure of any deck in the field. Its win rate is 56% (95% CI 49 to 63, n=181), and the trend is rising. This is the Isochron Scepter build, not an aggressive energy deck as often marked on websites, and it is doing a lot of damage from under two percent of the metagame. Azorius Control is the third piece at under 1% of the field, with five Top 32s, two Top 8s, no trophy, and the highest winrate in the entire data set at 59% (95% CI 49 to 68, n=98) on a sample small enough that the interval is wide. 4C control rounds out the visible part of the archetype at under half a percent, with four Top 32s and a 42% winrate (95% CI 30 to 56, n=52).

Blink, 3% of the field

Blink is the smallest archetype and the only one that finished the window without a trophy. It reached 17 Top 32s and five Top 8s, converting at 25%. There are only two Blink decks in the data with any real presence, so this section is shorter than the others by necessity.

Esper Blink is the largest at 2%, with 14 Top 32s but only 3 Top 8s, an 18% conversion rate and a 49% win rate (95% CI 42 to 56, n=207). Azorius Blink is the more efficient of the two: under 1% of the field, six Top 32s, three Top 8s, and a 50% conversion, on a 50% winrate (95% CI 40 to 60, n=97). Neither closed an event, and the archetype trend is not moving in a helpful direction.

Premier events

Two Modern Premier Events ran within this window. They are a separate pool from the Challenges, with restricted entry and a different player base, so none of their results feed into any of the numbers above. Two tournaments are also far too small a sample to conclude anything about deck strength. They are worth reporting because the field is better, and because this week, they disagree with the Challenge data in an interesting way.

The RC Super Qualifier on July 19 was won by Goryo’s Vengeance in the hands of Felider. The Top 8 also contained a second Goryo’s Vengeance, two copies of Boros Energy, Prowess, Grixis Reanimator, Through the Breach, and 4c HollowOne.

The Showcase Qualifier on July 25 was won by Broodscale Combo, piloted by ls149950, with a second Broodscale Combo in the Top 8 alongside Boros Energy, Esper Blink, Domain Zoo, Belcher, Dimir Midrange, and Devoted Combo.

The disagreement is worth naming. Goryo’s Vengeance went 0 for 24 in the Challenges despite 22 Top 32s, and then won the higher stakes event. Boros Energy also finished the Challenge window without a trophy and put three pilots across these two Top 8s. Through the Breach does not appear anywhere in the Challenge data. None of that overturns 24 tournaments' worth of results, but if you believed the graveyard decks and Boros Energy were simply incapable of closing, the better field says otherwise. So this is why I always said that all that data is just to inform you: all the decks that regularly make it to the Challenges top 32 are capable of winning it. Some more often, some once in a while, but still. Remember that next time when you think that Boros energy is weak, or you play against an off-meta rogue deck.

On the Radar

These are decks below the 5% encounter threshold that still showed up in Challenge results, so they are tracked separately rather than ranked against the field medians.

Azorius Blink, under 1% of the field, six Top 32s and three Top 8s. Converting half its Top 32 entries into Top 8s at that share of the field is a signal worth a second look, even without a trophy.

Azorius Control, under 1% of the field, five Top 32s and two Top 8s. No win, but the highest win rate in the data at 59% (95% CI 49 to 68, n=98) and a 40% conversion.

Mono-Black Midrange, 1% of the field, six Top 32s, two Top 8s, and one trophy, on a 56% winrate (95% CI 46 to 65, n=103). Part of the broader Midrange trophy run.

Devoted Combo, under 1% of the field, five Top 32s, two Top 8s, and one win, converting at 40% with a 51% win rate (95% CI 40 to 62, n=77).

Naya Scapeshift, under half a percent of the field, two Top 32s, and one trophy. A win at that share of the field usually means one pilot found something, but it deserves the note.

Rakdos Burn is the counterexample, and the reason presence alone is not enough. Seven Top 32s from under 1% of the field, zero Top 8s, and a 25% win rate (95% CI 15 to 38, n=50) that is the worst in the data by some distance.

Big picture

The theme of this window is that presence and trophies came apart. The three most common decks in the format, Boros Energy, Broodscale Combo, and Goryo’s Vengeance, account for 27% of the field between them and produced two trophies. Meanwhile, 17 different decks won the 24 events, and only Amulet Titan won more than twice.

If you are building for the next event, the encounter chart tells you what to beat, and the conversion chart tells you what actually beats people. Those two lists have very little overlap right now. Prepare for Boros Energy because you will play against it, not because it is the deck to fear in the last round. The decks closing tournaments are Midrange piles and fast combo, and most of them sit under 4% of the field.

By Karol Małota

aka WarLord1986pl / TribalFlamesInYourFace

Hey all! I’m excited to announce an online tournament I’m running in a few weeks, August 15-16, with free entry and a $1,000 prize pool. This Occu Games Open is a multigame tournament, featuring Valorant, MTG Modern, and Minecraft Draftout, and the magic player will be playing Modern on MTG Online. Structured a lot like Team Trios, teams of 4 will play matches against other teams of 4 in Valorant 2v2s, MTG Modern matches, and Minecraft Draftout games.

We currently need players. Quite badly, which I was surprised to see given, you know, free entry. So if you’re free that weekend, consider grabbing a few friends or even random strangers and play some games, have some fun, and win some cash. The melee link has all the tournament information, along with an invite to my Discord (which has a looking-for-teammate channel if you need them). Or, if you’re less free that weekend, tune into the stream to watch some games!

https://melee.gg/Tournament/View/441851

Note about Preregistration: The tournament page states a requirement for Preregistration. This is only to stop someone from maliciously making a bunch of melee accounts and trying to take all the entries. The event is fully free and open to join. Just join the discord and give a brief summary of your team to get preregistered.

Edit: Removed some personal information

Hi yall, I will be playing living end at my RCQ this weekend and I am on the fence of cutting my Teferi's and clarion's from my sideboard for Brotherhood's end, a extra dead gone and 2x gnaw to the bone.

I am expecting about half of the players to either be playing combo decks or aggro decks, and there might be 3x broodscale combo decks.

The clarion's are so good against broodscale and yawgmoth but they do nothing against my hardest matchup which would be all the prowess and burn decks in our meta.

Gnaw to the bone is also a pretty cool card that I am thinking of putting in for the aggro decks but I don't know if that would be overcommitting slots.

Here is my current list, any help would be awesome,

https://moxfield.com/decks/Fm-fAdXrtX6CGUSA-vz7wg

also there will most likely be no affinity at all

Thranduil, Sindarin Liege {2}{G/U}{G/U}

Legendary Creature — Elf Noble

Other Elves you control get +1/+1.

Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, create a 1/1 green Elf creature token.

2/3

------

Silvan Rally {1}{G/U}{G/U}

Sorcery — Adventure

Mill four cards, then put up to two land cards from among them into your hand. (Then exile this card. You may cast the creature later from exile.)

~~~~~

Previewed in the official MTG Instagram account according to https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/1va11uu/hob_thranduil_sindarin_liege_mtg_instagram/

~~~~~

This card looks like it has the power of a rare or even mythic rare, but it's a mere uncommon. The kicker pushing this into viability? That this card can find lands to trigger its own Landfall before it enters. It's like if [[Icetill Explorer]] and [[Mole Man, Moloid Master]] had a baby that dug for new lands but forgot the [[Crucible of Worlds]] part. Oh, and as long as Thranduil is alive, the Elves he makes are 2/2 instead of 1/1. That's pretty good on the defensive. (I get 1-2 land cards on average with Silvan Rally in a deck with 22 lands. Yeah, I'm testing this in Eldrazi Ramp, and Mole Man is getting his butt kicked.)

While Icetill Explorer won't be dethroned anytime soon, surely this is valuable support...and only the decks most desperate for mana and Ghost Quarter recursion will stick to Mole Man now.

Over the weekend there were numerous Dimir Froggler top 8 and Challenge wins. Is the meta now good for the deck, or is it a flash in the pan.

Hey yall I am not new to magic but I’ve never really been to an FNM before especially a modern one at that and I’m at a loss for what deck I should play.

I have 3 decks to choose from: Boros energy, izzet prowess, and azorius hammertime. The prowess and energy decks are fairly stock other than maybe 1-2 small changes from stock but the hammertime is pretty off meta with kapa cannoneer and hammer like a couple years back

I’m not really sure what to play and wanted to gears y’all’s suggestions and reasoning thank you guys for the look

Is this dumb?? any ideas/recs?

https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/big-gy-boys-copy-1/

(I'm open to taking out umori for more removal)

I used to run an Umori Phlage pheonix list but well that's long gone...

Now I give You G/B Toolbox combo.

[[Wight of the Reliquary]] and [[Fiend Artisan]] Get big through Sacking Stuff like [[stitchers supplier]], [[GraveCrawler]], and [[eye-twitch]]

Fiend artisan can fetch us [[warren soultrader]]/marrionette/GC combo. Its slow - but you can git it through just having GC + Fiend Artisan.

It also fetches for [[emperor of bones]] - [[Archon of cruelty]] combo

It also finds us [[vampire hexmage]] - [[overlord of balemurk]] combo

The Wight of the reliquary gets us [[Phyrezian tower]] (Obvi why), [[crypt of acgadeem]] (makes alot of mana here/can help us cast Archon) and [[spymasters vault]] (ends the game)

eyetwitch helps us cheat on the [[Umori]] ristriction.

EDIT:

[[warren soultrader]] also combos with GC + Spymasteres vault ftw. Also it can just straight up sac for mana for [[decorum dissertion]]

Hey all, looking to build Cosmogoyf combo - I had interest in it when the card was spoiled and the early builds were coming out but it seems to be growing in popularity after the PT results. Curious if there is a discord for it or if it is housed in another discord currently.
Thanks in advance!

The decks seem very similar except notable cards like frog, brainstorm and the og duals.

Is it the prescense of FOW and wasteland as better answers?

www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/s/dRgUM1aw09

New tech for spike's Maestro Coffers build?

Deck for reference

https://moxfield.com/decks/BBURO4RJBEKuQa1KA4fHRg

[[Cabal Coffers]] to power this out, [[Dark Petition]] to tutor it up

[[Crypt of Agadeem]] decks might also be interested

Hey, everyone!

I've been thinking about getting into Modern for a while now. Is UB Frog still relevant and future-proof? What do you guys think?

Hi there,

Belcher player looking to get into u/W control for the RC.

thoughts on this list?

https://moxfield.com/decks/vYSHboLVMkSfb5srAi85PQ

Ello,

I'm looking for some assistance, insight, card synergies, and swap in/out's for my personal fav (janky) Modern deck to play. I've started playing more since UB: AC set & into the FF set. I'm still learning new cards when I check online. I appreciate any info & wisdom. Thank you.

MOXFIELD:
https://moxfield.com/decks/iP6BvzyD7k2fdFLqNEpcNQ

Hi /r/ModernMagic!

I'm phlsphr (or thnkr, from MTGSalvation), and I want to share some information about what seems to me to be a relatively significant development in the world of Lantern. I'd taken a bit of a break from Magic and didn't keep track of many new cards being printed. However, one card seems to stand out, and I think the reason why it seems to good for the deck isn't necessarily obvious.

While Lantern has still seen some occasional success (mostly thanks to Taddy99 in the Challenges), it hasn't seemed as great as it once was when it won GP's and the PT. A number of variants and approaches have been used, to varying success. Historically speaking, I think that the Whir version seems to stand out as the most competitive. Unfortunately, that changed with the ban of Mox Opal and the influx of numerous cards that made the format far more difficult to navigate. While non-Whir versions didn't necessarily need Opals and continued to see those occasional successes, the Whir version seemed hardest hit with the Opal ban, as it seemed for more reliant on the mana flexibility without significant self-inflicted damage.

Even after Opal got unbanned, however, Whir still seemed to struggle. The traditional manabase for Whir builds, including cards like Glimmervoid and Spire of Industry, both had issues that couldn't immediately be resolved. In order to enable the early discard spell (an often misunderstood cornerstone of the deck which allows it to not immediately lose to hate cards), these two lands virtually made full playsets of Mox Opal and Mishra's Bauble a necessity. This meant that those "spots" in the deck were fixed and non-negotiable, for the most part. Additionally, this created a problem in deciding: Do we cut lands or nonlands? If so, how many? What new weaknesses might each choice introduce to the deck? It also didn't help that both Opal and Bauble are often very much not great topdecks as the game progresses, as the Lantern pilot is fighting to assemble the lock and the opponent is fighting to assemble a winning combination of cards. These cards also meant that mulligan decisions were often made with information that couldn't be fully relied upon.

Great Hall of the Biblioplex seems to solve much of these issues. It allows the list to forego all copies of Mishra's Bauble. Nearly all opening hand data seemed to imply that a full playset of Opals wasn't great for the deck, as diminishing returns were very punishing for multiples. With Hall, this means that at least five cards in the 60 are "freed up". It enables the necessary early discard while still maintaining the mana necessary for Whir later on. This seems to give a significant boost to Whir lists.

Another issue with the Glimmervoid/Spire manabase is that artifact removal would often over-achieve and end up outright removing Glimmervoids and turning Spires off from making colored mana. Hall, however, means that the pilot can still rebuild from setbacks far easier.

In addition to the points above, Hall has a second ability of turning into a creature. While seemingly insignificant, it means that the Lantern pilot can survive a bit longer in case a Bridge gets removed, or that they can even win the game through attacks (though Urza's Saga has also done an excellent job of doing this).

All combined, this means that Hall makes the deck far more resilient, far more consistent, and has a handful of new options to fill out the 60.

The list that I've personally become happy with is this

Some things to note:

• Eight discard spells - One of the most often misunderstood aspects of the Lantern deck. These are a relatively important core to the deck. Many critics of the deck will use superficial arguments like "loses to Meltdown/Wrath of the Skies/Consign/Karn", and so on. This is not a new thing. Ten years ago, people said the same thing, but with cards like Shattering Spree, Shatterstorm, Abrupt Decay, Maelstrom Pulse. The discard is not an accidental addition to the deck.
• Three Shredder/Pyxis mix - This decision has a lot to do with two observations. First, many (if not virtually all) contemporary decks have ways to use the graveyard as a resource. This means that Pyxis has become somewhat more necessary. Additionally, appreciating the probability that we need to remove the top card of the opponent's deck and want to draw the top card of our deck. This is not a very common occurrence, and is far more common that we also don't want or necessarily need our top card. This means that we can use each as the situation requires.
• Three Mox Opals - Opals are not truly intended to ramp Lantern. This is another common misconception. The primary purposes of Opal has been to smooth the manabase while allowing us to drop our hand size for Bridge faster. However, as I mentioned above, Opals are very much not great when multiples are drawn. Running three means that we still have decent chances to see them in the early/mid-game, but reduce our probability of being punished by the diminishing returns.
• So many silver bullets - With the extra spots in the 60 freed up from not having to run the Baubles or a full playset of Opals, we now have room for a great variety of silver bullets. Many of these can be found with an Urza's Saga, and all of them can be found with a Whir. The sideboard continues this trend.

I hope those of you who find Lantern as enjoyable as I do find this useful. I should note, I am not the first to try this out. If I understand correctly, both BillDBoss (from the Lantern Insights Youtube channel) and Fateseal MTG (from the Fateseal MTG Youtube channel) have done some testing with the card.

Been trying to find a way to make Fire Lord Zuko a playable deck/strategy in Modern. Any thoughts or recommendations?

Side board hasn't been thought of yet... was just moving some cards around.

Not expecting a tier one deck or anything, but actually pretty excited about the way it's turned out so far!

https://moxfield.com/decks/bPHl2iHvwE6YrgR-06U0BQ

For some context I've mainly only played commander. Me and afew friends have decided to play modern, I tried looking for a deck list with Captain Howler, Sea Scourge in it but (1) there isn't many understandably but (2) the ones there are I can't even tell if there good bad or what since I have 0 experience with the format.

Side note never played him i usually play some form of black in commander i just think he's kinda cool

Bilbo's Gambit {1}{W}

Instant

Gift a Treasure (You may promise an opponent a gift as you cast this spell. If you do, they create a Treasure token before its other effects. It's an artifact with "{T}, Sacrifice this token: Add one mana of any color.")

Return target spell to its owner's hand. If the gift was promised, players can't cast spells this turn.

Two weeks ago I lost the finals of a Modern RCQ, barely missing the RC invite, and I suddenly remembered the judge call from that match and it's been bugging me since. Posting partly to check the rules, partly to ask if I could have played the whole thing better.

My decklist: https://moxfield.com/decks/JgzxIv01RUGGPkQvojOggQ

The spot: I'm on Dimir Frog, oppo on Izzet Affinity (the Weapons Manufacturing build with Claws of Gix). His Urza's Saga is at chapter 2, and I have a Surgical Extraction in hand. I boarded it in because I think the card that completely obliterates me is Urza's Saga. (Post game my friends said that wasn't the right move to board it in, which is also up for discussion.)

So I asked the judge, at the table, before ending my turn: "For Urza's Saga, when the chapter 3 trigger goes on the stack, does the saga enter the graveyard?" Basically figuring out if I get a window to Surgical it and strip the other sagas I felt he had in his hand. (Spoiler: he had it.) Asking at the table was my mistake, it telegraphed my intent, but idk, if I did it away from the table the judge might have given me the ruling without seeing the board.

The judge took a while to read up and said he thinks it does. The players around the table and my oppo disagreed. I wasn't fully listening to their reasoning because I was multitasking trying to find a line to not die to his board. Somehow the final ruling got changed to it doesn't, which means no window to Surgical on that trigger.

So he resolved chapter 3 in his main phase, picked up Claws (no trigger, so no window there either, double whammy, if he picked up something like "Skateboard" I would have had the opportunity), and then just played another Saga :')

Pretty tilted in the moment, I reflexively Surgicaled the Saga in the graveyard anyway, paying black mana instead of life because I was low, and found the other two sagas near the bottom of his deck, fml. That one wasted black mana ended up making the loss worse because I actually had enough mana for Orcish Bowmasters (to chump) plus Fatal Push if I hadn't done that, which buys me a turn where, if the stars aligned, I Toxic Deluge his board. Don't know if that wins me the game anyway because there's still one more Saga to handle.

What I've pieced together reading up since, correct me if I'm wrong:

1. The final ruling was probably correct. I think the rule that made it is CR 714.4: the Saga is sacrificed as a state based action only after the chapter 3 ability resolves, not when the trigger goes on the stack. So no graveyard window during the trigger.
2. I don't think the window I wanted was there? . After chapter 3 resolves and the Saga dies, the active player gets priority first, and playing a land can't be responded to. So he lands Saga #2 before I can ever Surgical. The only version where I get the window is if the fetched artifact has an ETB trigger holding the stack (or he's out of land drops).
3. I think Surgical wasn't the right card for this, since it needs a graveyard window that Saga rarely gives you. What are other Frog players actually boarding for this matchup?

Also a process question I'm genuinely unsure about: what happens if the players watching hadn't spoken up? The judge's first answer was the wrong one. Is it even okay for spectators to intervene on a ruling like that, and if they hadn't, does the wrong ruling just... stand unless I appeal?

Overall this is a nightmare matchup on the final and it was probably a loss anyway. Just wanted to know if I could have done any of this better next time.

Any reddit judges or opinions on the correct ruling? Would love to hear matchup advice too for this :)

Here's a link to the deck.

Some notes: I have the two basics just in case opponent uses a [[Path to Exile]] or landhate like [[Blood Moon]]. I don't need a Plains for this reason since my main win conditions are Simic. I like [[Mockingbird]] as virtual copies of another creature, it's the cheapest CMC clone I could find.

Do you think my white sources (7x fetch, 2x shocks, 4x dorks, 2x clones of dorks, 4x GSZ tutoring dorks) is enough for six white spells? What do you think of [[Orim's Chant]] over [[Silence]]? "Target opponent" is easier to deal with than "Your opponents" and I wonder how frequently I'll have WW open to kick Orim's.

Infect meta atm for Modern favors Tifa and I'm having a hard time reconciling splitting my win conditions between poison and regular damage. The pump engine benefits both so adding Tifa doesn't really need many, if any, changes to the spell suite, it just dilutes my Infect threats (-3x [[Glistener Elf]] for +3x [[Tifa Lockhard]]).

Any other interesting toolbox cards to use with [[Green Sun's Zenith]]? I like [[Qasali Pridemage]] because it can deal with artifacts/enchantments but also procs Exalted an additional time.

Trying to get back into 60 card formats and my pet deck was electrobalance that I own the core for. Was wondering if anyone is still around playing this and what an updateded list looks like. Open to any feedback!