Overdriven! 51

Modern: Huge Tracts of Unexplored Land

It has been said of Modern: “The most important thing about Modern is diversity. It’s by and far the most open format right now, there are huge tracts of land no one has explored. It’s the new frontier of competitive Magic,” and “The nice thing about Modern is that the format is very open. There’s a lot of room to explore and find decks that can work.” And just to hammer that point, here are maps from some recent explorations:

Zur the Enchanter, mtgo0488 (3-1) Modern Daily #4703813

Lands (22) 1 Creeping Tar Pit 2 Glacial Fortress 1 Godless Shrine 2 Hallowed Fountain 2 Island 4 Marsh Flats 1 Moorland Haunt 1 Plains 3 Scalding Tarn 1 Swamp 2 Tectonic Edge 2 Watery Grave Creatures (16) 3 Deathrite Shaman 3 Geist of Saint Traft 4 Meddling Mage 2 Snapcaster Mage 4 Zur the Enchanter Other Spells (22) 2 Detention Sphere 2 Lingering Souls 4 Path to Exile 3 Remand 4 Serum Visions 1 Shielding Plax 2 Spell Snare 3 Steel of the Godhead 1 Threads of Disloyalty Sideboard (15) 2 Darkblast 2 Dismember 1 Ghostly Prison 3 Negate 3 Rest in Peace 1 Spell Pierce 1 Spell Snare 2 Stony Silence

Buy this Deck

Steel of the Godhead on Geist of Saint Traft? Yes, please!

Hate Rock, fweiiin (3-1), Modern Daily #4703587

Lands (22) 1 Forest 2 Gavony Township 1 Godless Shrine 2 Marsh Flats 1 Misty Rainforest 1 Overgrown Tomb 1 Plains 4 Razorverge Thicket 2 Stirring Wildwood 1 Swamp 2 Temple Garden 4 Verdant Catacombs Creatures (27) 2 Aven Mindcensor 2 Baneslayer Angel 4 Deathrite Shaman 2 Kitchen Finks 4 Loxodon Smiter 4 Noble Hierarch 3 Qasali Pridemage 2 Sublime Archangel 4 Wilt-Leaf Liege Other Spells (11) 3 Abrupt Decay 4 Lingering Souls 4 Path to Exile Sideboard (15) 2 Creeping Corrosion 1 Gaddock Teeg 3 Inquisition of Kozilek 1 Relic of Progenitus 3 Rule of Law 1 Sigarda, Host of Herons 3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben 1 Zealous Persecution

Buy this Deck

It’s not really Rock, it’s not really Hate Bears. I filed it under “GB(W) as “Hate Rock” for now.

Meta Madness

Here we are, a few days after the end of the Mayan calendar, and we’re all still here. Well, most of us are. If you’re surprised at this, neener neener. Some interesting things have been occurring in the twisted maelstrom that is the online Modern meta. For one thing, there are now enough results, even with redaction, to where the charts have undergone another split:

If things go according to plan, the next quarter should have a more complete breakdown. While the overall picture looks similar to what it did last month, some shifts have been occurring in the ranks. Let’s take a brief glimpse at some of these sub-metas in detail.

Pod People

At the beginning of November, the Pod sub-meta was almost all Blue Naya Pod. This is no longer the case. GBW (the “plain ol’ Melira Pod”) has been putting up some impressive numbers in the past few weeks! I haven’t seen Realm Razer Pod in a long time, nor “plain ol’ Naya Pod”.

Jundian Psychology

Meanwhile, over in Jundville, Spirit Jund continues its climb to dominance in the pecking order. The Lotus Cobra build from GP Toronto appears to be having a mixed impact. (GP Toronto in general seems to have made little impact on the Modern meta) Only one “Lotus Jund” deck has shown up since, but a number of Spirit Jund decks have started sporting Thundermaw Hellkites recently.

Valakut! Gesundheit!

Well, it appears that Valakut decks have not run rampant over the field as had at first been feared. In the month and a half since its unbanning, it’s gone from “talk of the town” to “just another player”.

Who Says There’s No Control In Modern?

In the back and forth arguments over “my format can beat up your format”, this has been one of the Modern Naysayer’s favorite bleats after the price of Goyf: the absurd claim that there’s no viable control decks in today’s Modern environment. To which I say, take a look at this bevy of blue-based badness:

I Think The Swelling Has Gone Down!

Just last month, Infect was running amok in the daily SEs, accounting for over 20% over the overall (filtered) meta. While it still does show, and often, the numbers have gone down very significantly – from top of the pops to the number-four spot, and sinking:

It’s Kinda Like The Same Thing, Only Different

The PE meta looks a little different than what we’ve been looking at. This is because I’m also keeping track of how well archetypes finish, not just their appearances. This is also how the PTQ meta will be presented for the next few months, so you may as well get used to seeing this.

Archetypes are ranked based on the number of 1st, 2nd, Top 4, and Top 8 appearances they achieve. So while Jund, for example, may have more overall appearances, it would be ranked lower than an archetype which has racked up more 1st-place finishes.

By the time you’re reading this, the first PTQs will have finished, both online, and in paper. You can look forward to an in-depth look at the first two weeks of the PTQ meta with the next article. I’m so looking forward to firing and dishing up that flambe!

Overdrive! #74 Champion: Lickitung / URW Delver
Overdrive! #75 Champion: fatkiddestroyers / Bant Denial
Eurodrive! #55 Champion: Komle / G Infect
Eurodrive! #56 Champion: _Kumagoro / Killer Pod
Decks from all Overdrive! And Eurodrive! events can be found here.

Where Angels Fear To Tread #35
Players: 24
4-0: Nyzzeh, Gilipolleces ~ 3-1: thewoof2, pk23, rickster, matlatouff, Freyd
Where Angels Fear To Tread #36
Players: 16
4-0: _Kumagoro_ ~ 3-1: caliban17, Nyzzeh, pk23, shiftingshadows
Decks from all WAFTT events can be found here.

Friday Night Standard #3
Players: 18
4-0: ssWakizashI, nav_pilot ~ 3-1: BattleCaptain, pk23, souhei719
Friday Night Standard #4
Players: 17
4-0: Lickitung, Gilipolleces ~ 3-1: jimbilly517, Verthand, BattleCaptain
Decks from all Friday Night Standard events can be found here.

Dark Wars: A Legacy Of Evil
Season 1 Qualifier 4
Players: 15
Players, tables, and results can be found here.
Season 1 Championship: January 30, 2013
11/07/12 Bigwilly5555
11/21/12 Super_Secret_Tech
12/05/12 leprchan
12/19/12 SekKuar Deathkeeper
01/02/13 Seat 5
01/16/13 Seat 6

Interesting Tidbits

By the time you’re reading this, the first PTQs in the new Modern PTQ Season (for PT Dragon’s Maze) have been played. Woo hoo! We’re off! The spreadsheets for this are ready and waiting to be filled in!

Modern attendance has been very nice.