The only problem with that, Matt, is that Fair decks tend to be much more expensive than “Fair” or Unfair decks. Jund costs over two grand because all of its auto-includes are just all-around powerful cards that see play in other decks and other formats. A deck like Merfolk, for instance, is cheap in part because the only competitive player buying Lord of Atlantis is the one trying to build merfolk, as opposed to Tarmogoyf which sees Modern play in half a dozen decks and a few legacy builds, too. That shifts the demand curve.

Granted, a new modern player with cash to burn would be in great shape getting something like Abzan midrange, but I felt it was worth pointing this out since the price tag of modern is often a barrier to entry.

I should have said it as “It’s a fair deck. It’s not one of the Fair decks.” if that makes more sense. It isn’t a Fair deck, but it has a fair gameplan. The Fair decks share the same gameplan and tend toward midrange and control. There are plenty of other decks that are fair, but they’re not a Fair deck.

The reason, I fee they are not well suited to the new modern player is what you mentioned. They rarely have horrible match ups but rarely have great ones. Alot of wins are slog fests and incorrect sequencing can kill you 3-4 turns later.

That’s not to say a deck like Merfolk or Affinity is easy to play(archbound ravager is among the more skill testing cards in modern) but in general, I’ve found Affinity or Soul Sisters easier to play than Grixis Delver. That said, I think Jund is among the easiest of the fair decks to play since your curve is very nicely laid out vs something like Jeskai or Grixis where you may have 4 2 drops to play turn 2 and the incorrect one will likely cost you the game.

“It is a fair deck but it’s not one of the fair decks.” Okay, I’m lost!

Tempo is a separate decktype. It is a fair deck but it’s not one of the fair decks. Tempo is kind of its own thing, an aggressive deck that isn’t really linear aggro, gotcha!, or power card. I am planning on dealing with this eventually.

Aren’t you referring to midrange and control decks? Tempo decks are the third popular brand of fair strategies, and they do not operate on this axis at all, especially in fair “mirrors.” Instead, they want to maximize the time advantages you mentioned when referring to Jund’s plan against combo decks. For tempo decks, maximizing that time advantage is their primary gameplan, not trading cards and running opponents out of resources.

Thank you, I intend to!

+1 🙂