Table of Contents
The shakeup created by the most recent banned and restricted announcement has been a breath of fresh air for the Modern format. It’s just in time too, as the Modern cycle of the Regional Championships is starting imminently.
Below we go over the latest tournament results to see how the Modern metagame is developing and which decks are standing out. This snapshot includes decks from the Modern Challenges on MTGO, the SCG CON Atlanta RCQ and more.
Check out what you’re likely to face in your next event so you can prepare your deck of choice accordingly.
Tier List
| Tier | Deck | Popularity |
| Tier 1 | Boros Energy | 17% 🔼 |
| Dimir Oculus | 13% 🔽 | |
| Grinding Breach | 7% 🔼 | |
| Eldrazi Ramp | 7% 🔼 | |
| Tier 2 | Landless Belcher | 4% 🔽 |
| Ruby Storm | 3% 🔽 | |
| Mardu Energy | 3% 🔽 | |
| Amulet Titan | 3% 🔽 | |
| Golgari Yawgmoth | 3% 🔼 | |
| Orzhov Blink | 3% 🔼 | |
| Tier 3 | Rhinos | 1% 🔽 |
| Jund Creativity | 1% 🔼 | |
| Domain Zoo | 1% 🔽 | |
| Mono Green Broodscale | 1% 🔽 | |
| Esper Reanimator | 1% 🔽 |
Tier explanations:
- Tier 1: The most dominant decks of the moment. This implies the percentage of victories, presence in the meta, and favorable games.
- Tier 2: These will be solid decks with a relevant presence in the meta. A good pilot will probably be able to play one of these archetypes and have a good result in a competitive event. They usually have at least one difficult match against the rest of the archetypes.
- Tier 3: In this tier, we find decks with little presence, but enough to be considered when preparing for a tournament. In addition to their low popularity, they are decks that present two or more complicated matchups against the meta. This prevents them until the release of additional support or a meta shift from standing out. However, players who dedicate themselves to mastering these archetypes usually have the opportunity to obtain good results.
- Silent Performer: Lastly, at the end of the spectrum we find some decks that are little to almost non-present in the current metagame state. However, these archetypes may have won or reached the Top 8 in a relevant tournament or the Top 16 in any event with more than 100 players. The sample size may be too small to represent their actual strength.
This Modern meta report covers the results of relevant events in the past 30 days. This includes major tournaments, RCQs, MTGO leagues, and in-store events.
Meta Overview
In the wake of ltr-246-the-one-ring, mh3-114-amped-raptor, and mul-109-jegantha-the-wellspring leaving the format, the Modern metagame is seeing a resurgence of revitalized archetypes join the fray, some with the help of the four newly unbanned cards.
Immediately standing out is Grinding Breach, powered by the returning som-179-mox-opal. Amulet Titan is trying to recover from the loss of ltr-246-the-one-ring by relying on ema-169-green-suns-zenith for flexibility. Jund Creativity is the natural home of sta-38-faithless-looting, which speeds up the deck and provides more gas late game.
A quick look at the numbers show that four decks are dominating so far: Boros Energy, Dimir Oculus, Eldrazi Ramp, and Grinding Breach. However, there’s a deep diversity of decks performing well for those looking to catch opponents off guard.
Tier 1
Boros Energy
Despite losing the oppressive mh3-114-amped-raptor as well as ltr-246-the-one-ring, Boros Energy continues to enjoy being the top dog of Modern. It has adapted by adding slp-24-seasoned-pyromancer and mh3-40-phelia-exuberant-shepherd for card advantage and value.
Some lists include wot-40-blood-moon in the main deck, which it can rummage away with the pyromancer in case it’s a dead card, so make sure to fetch basics in Game 1. The core of the deck is much the same, with the combo of mh3-29-guide-of-souls and mh3-122-galvanic-discharge powering those explosive starts.
Late game, mh3-197-phlage-titan-of-fires-fury hasted by mh3-215-arena-of-glory can finish off tapped out opponents. mh2-279-goblin-bombardment and Cat tokens can also become an offensive threat that’s difficult to stop.
Featured: Boros Energy by Jumba - 1st place at MTGO Challenge 64
Dimir Oculus
The printing of mh3-199-psychic-frog has made Dimir the preferred colors for Modern mainstay pmh2-52p-murktide-regent, which itself has taken a backseat to the powerful dsk-42-abhorrent-oculus. Discarding it with the frog, the eye is one of the best targets for ha7-8-unearth, and makes it very hard to deal with when backed by counterspells.
Dimir Oculus is perhaps the biggest winner of the B&R announcement as its core is not impacted at all by the changes. This makes it a solid choice for the current metagame especially with more permission, disruption, card draw, and removal coming out of the sideboard.
Featured: Dimir Control by Nammersquats - 1st place at MTGO Qualifier
Grinding Breach
The deck celebrating the most with the recent unbanned cards is Grinding Breach, which can now utilize som-179-mox-opal to power and feed mb2-223-grinding-station, get replayed with mb2-200-underworld-breach, and cast dmr-125-grapeshot or mb2-175-thassas-oracle for the win.
Combo players had to make considerable changes to the deck with the loss of ltr-246-the-one-ring and to build around som-179-mox-opal’s Metalcraft requirements. It relies on otc-107-preordain to dig for artifacts and missing pieces while also using more cards that create artifacts such as mh3-242-tamiyo-inquisitive-student-tamiyo-seasoned-scholar and mh3-161-malevolent-rumble.
Because of the deck’s popularity, anti-artifact, enchantment, and/or graveyard hate, like pip-222-wear-tear for example, feels mandatory for sideboards in Modern.
Featured: Breach by Magicverse - 1st place at MTGO Challenge 64
Eldrazi Ramp
Ending a game with sld-1160-emrakul-the-promised-end is always satisfying and worth ramping into. There are several ways of accomplishing this, including using Tron lands or via uma-152-through-the-breach.
The best performing Eldrazi lists currently pack mh3-161-malevolent-rumble, plst-DIS-99-utopia-sprawl, blc-287-talisman-of-impulse, and mh3-170-sowing-mycospawn. They’re predominantly green (and colorless of course) splashing red mostly for m3c-214-kozileks-return and blue for sideboard cards.
It took a big hit losing ltr-246-the-one-ring, as it lost its Time Walk effect against aggressive decks and Ancestral Recall against slower ones. rvr-1-karn-the-great-creator and mh3-13-nulldrifter are trying to make up for it but they hardly compare.
Featured: Eldrazi Ramp by Scorpion100 - 1st place at MTGO Challenge 32
Tier 2
Landless Belcher
Mono Blue Belcher can get an instantly lethal plst-DDT-57-goblin-charbelcher activation by going “landless” with an extra large helping of blue modal double-faced cards (MDFC).
These MDFCs don’t count as lands in your library and can be pitched to uma-51-disrupting-shoal, which, together with free and cheap counterspells like mh3-326-flare-of-denial and znr-64-jwari-disruption-jwari-ruins, can slow down the opponent long enough to assemble the combo.
tsr-270-lotus-bloom not only powers the Belcher; it also combos with prm-97913-tameshi-reality-architect to gain three mana for every land you bounce, ensuring you have plenty to dig for the win.
While Belcher has a pretty good matchup against decks without disruption, sideboard answers like mh3-54-consign-to-memory and mm3-25-stony-silence can shut it down.
Featured: Landless Belcher by josetorr87 - 2nd place at MTGO Challenge 64
Ruby Storm
A true goldfishing deck, Ruby Storm is the fastest combo deck in the format. A perfect hand can win as early as turn two, and turn three is the usual target. It’s the deck to play if you want quick, straightforward wins.
Reducing the cost of red spells with mh3-295-ruby-medallion and mh3-445-ral-monsoon-mage-ral-leyline-prodigy (plus blb-124-artists-talent for extra consistency) lets you build up massive mana with red rituals that can power red draw spells. ss3-4-past-in-flames means you can double up on all these and build up storm for a lethal dmr-125-grapeshot via prm-92746-wish.
Interestingly, one of the best sideboard cards against the deck, mh3-265-orims-chant, is also one of the best proactive defenses that Ruby Storm can use the turn it tries to go off.
Featured: Ruby Storm by pizzangry - 2nd place at MTGO Challenge 64
Mardu Energy
Mardu Energy aims to “improve” Boros Energy with powerful black cards. slp-3-fatal-push is excellent creature removal while akr-127-thoughtseize is efficient combo disruption.
ltr-554-orcish-bowmasters provide a versatile tool that works well with neo-357-fable-of-the-mirror-breaker-reflection-of-kiki-jiki, making the enchantment the better choice for the deck instead of, or in addition to, slp-24-seasoned-pyromancer appearing in Boros versions.
Now, whether the black splash is actually an improvement remains in question, since Boros Energy’s results and popularity speak for itself. It might be the right metagame call in case there’s a lot of combo decks in your event, though.
Featured: Mardu Aggro by Kotte89 - 1st place at MTGO Challenge 64
Amulet Titan
Perhaps the most complex and hardest to master deck in the format, Amulet Titan is very powerful in the hands of an experienced pilot. This also explains why it’s not as popular as other archetypes.
The biggest impact to the deck is making do without ltr-246-the-one-ring. It gained ema-169-green-suns-zenith to tutor for ha7-12-primeval-titan or silver bullets post-sideboard, so it traded raw card draw for versatile answers.
Another recent innovation to the ramp deck is an infinite combo enabled by blb-183-lumra-bellow-of-the-woods. It requires a bit of setup, since you need specific lands in the yard in addition to lcc-103-amulet-of-vigor or lci-213-spelunking, but it’s there for the instant finish.
Featured: Amulet Titan by fj_roman - 2nd place at MTGO Challenge 32
Golgari Yawgmoth
dmr-431-yawgmoth-thran-physician enables infinite loops with his morally questionable experiments on creatures, particularly inr-319-young-wolf. Mucking around with +1/+1 counters lets him draw the entire deck, gain tons of life, and ping the opponent to death.
Once again ema-169-green-suns-zenith is a natural inclusion to the deck, as it can fetch missing pieces like sld-1595-chord-of-calling. This adds some needed consistency, though the intricate tricks of the deck makes it pretty difficult to play.
There are some lists that leave out the disturbed doctor entirely, instead just focusing on the interaction between mh2-306-grist-the-hunger-tide and woe-366-agathas-soul-cauldron, which is more reliable thanks to the green tutors.
Featured: Yawgmoth by XXFromMarsToSiriusXX - 3rd place at MTGO League
Orzhov Blink
Blinking creatures with desirable ETB effects has been the bread and butter of Death and Taxes decks. Its latest iterations in Modern feature the horrific dsk-391-overlord-of-the-balemurk, which just oozes in value if blinked: you get two extra creature cards and a big body for cheap.
An early prm-102329-aether-vial generates even more advantage, since your now flash-y creatures can get tricky in combat or during the opponent's turn. plst-CN2-22-recruiter-of-the-guard can conveniently tutor for juicy targets like spg-44-solitude and gdy-2-skyclave-apparition, which is very useful especially after sideboarding.
Featured: Death and Taxes by cigarettesaftershrek - 1st place at MTGO Challenge 64
Tier 3
Rhinos
Featured: Cascade Crash by BaseCommand - 3rd place at MTGO League
Jund Creativity
Featured: Jund Creativity by Christophe Hostettler - 2nd place at SUL Premier Event
Domain Zoo
Featured: Domain Zoo by Maestro Kumano - 2nd place at Artabrian Nights - Nadal 2024
Mono Green Broodscale
Featured: Broodscale Bloodchief by ziofrancone - 3rd place at MTGO Challenge 32
Esper Reanimator
Featured: Instant Reanimator by Ivan_Draw_Go - 2nd place at MTGO Challenge 32
Final Thoughts
There’s no doubt that the banning of ltr-246-the-one-ring has significantly opened up the Modern metagame, allowing for a resurgence of decks that suffered under the oppressive jewelry. Boros Energy also seems to be weakened enough that it’s no longer as dominant as it once was.
In such a deep and diverse format, it’s way more important for players to be able to understand and play their deck effectively. There are plenty of tools available to adapt your weapon of choice for your perceived metagame.
It’s pretty exciting to see the innovations and hopefully new archetypes that spring up during the Regional Championships that just started. We’ll be back for another meta report as the season progresses.