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Pax Prime is closing in on us and that means we’re about to start the Battle for Zendikar! Like most players, I am extremely excited for some Magic Christmas presents. Spoiler season is among my favorite times of the year and the return to Zendikar has the community buzzing in anticipation.
Pax Prime is always when Wizards begins giving out real gifts from their hyped fall set and this year should be epic. Eldrazi, landfall, and a host of planeswalkers traveling to the plane to win this war makes for an Emrakul-sized hyped machine. That’s a unit of measurement right? One Emrakul. You think that will catch on with the rest of the world? Doubtful, but in the Magic community we know Eldrazi-sized hype when we see it.
Reexamining Preorders
Although I am stoked for preview season to begin and for rotation to throw us back to the drawing board for Standard, I’m trying to focus my attention on the financial implications and opportunities the new sets are generating. Today I want to take a look back at some trends I’ve noticed in the preorder process and prepare you for the possibilities to make a boatload of money in a month or so.
Let’s start by heading back five months or so to the time leading up to the release of Dragons of Tarkir. The most memorable card that surged in value during preorder season had to be Narset Transcendent. This second coming of Jace, the Mind Sculptor, or so we thought, started out at a whopping $40. Most among the financial community told you to avoid the card completely because no planeswalker is Jace.
I think we will see another potent planeswalker that makes an impact in eternal formats, but that’s the type of thing that only comes around once in a blue moon. The blue moon phenomenon happens once every 2-3 years and that seems about right in my approximation of likely events. Jace, the Mind Sculptor came out near the end of 2009 and then we had Liliana of the Veil near the close of 2011. So, we’re about due for another high voltage planeswalker.
Getting back on track, Narset was certainly not worth the $40 that she started at and neither were the other cards in the set that started out valuable like Sarkhan Unbroken. It took several weeks for us to see the real value of the Dragons of Tarkir card pool. Here’s a short list of cards that changed dramatically in value after the set released.
These eight cards, which constitute most of the high value cards in the set, doubled or more in value. I’ve been noticing this trend more and more over the past year or two; we see cards fluctuate drastically in value from their preorder price to their true market economy price.
Now, you may be saying, obviously cards will fluctuate in cost from preorders to release. But let's focus on a different aspect of the situation. Eight cards in the set increased their value by tremendous percentages in a short amount of time. We are talking about unbanning-type percentage increases.
This is not a situation we’ve been able to take advantage of in a number of years. Around the time of the original Zendikar block and before, I dipped my toes into the preorder lottery with repeated success. After a while, those opportunities dried up and the preorder prices became a somewhat stable representation of the financial layout of each set. As we’ve progressed in time, the designers of the game have been pushing the envelope with their design process. When we see drastically different types of cards being printed, some of them become hard to assess because they are so unique.
Use both Den Protector and Deathmist Raptor as prime examples of this concept. We last saw the morph mechanic a decade ago, and then a decade before that, and of those two instances a total of one card with the mechanic (Exalted Angel) saw significant play. Because of this, the community at large disregarded nearly every morph in the set as unplayable. So Raptor went from a preorder price of $8 down to $6 and then skyrocketed to $20+ within a month. Den Protector began his humble life as barely above bulk before progressing to the price point where he now sits.
We can look back at the newest addition to Magic history, Magic Origins, from the same vantage point as well. We didn’t see quite the same flipping-on-its-head that Dragons gave us financially, but there were many cards that followed this progression.
Liliana, Heretical Healer was one of the first cards we saw from the set. The legendary creature that flips into a planeswalker got us all pumped up so much that preorders started around $20, and then she made her way up to $25 before starting her descent back down.
She is still one of the most valuable cards in the set but that may change over time. There were lots of cards that started out rated highly, by myself and others on this site, that proved their financial worth by radically shifting in value.
Much of these shifts in value happened after the Pro Tour, but regardless of what events are lining up near the release, cards are changing in value and we should be capitalizing on these opportunities. What these past two sets have highlighted for me is that preordering isn’t the monster we’ve grown to think it is. Rather, the process is a treasure trove of prospective investments.
Indentifying Potential Gainers
What factors do these cards have in common that can help us identify the right course of action? I’ve narrowed them down to two key components.
The first is timing. So far in this article, each section has started with the mythic rare that was spoiled first for each set. In both cases, these were not good investments. Narset decimated peoples’ wallets with her price taking such a huge dive and Liliana’s price surprisingly stayed relatively stable. With each of these cards, waiting to purchase them would have served you well.
With preorder prices on the early spoiled mythics trending towards the top end of each set, we need to time our purchases accordingly. The better investments tend to get spoiled toward the end of spoiler season. In addition to popping up at the end of the spoiler, these cards have shown a trend of new mechanics. They are typically new designs or strangely difficult to analyze. Hangarback Walker for instance is a unique card whose power level is hard to pin down, hence its price fluctuating significantly.
Secondly, I need to highlight the most important factor: price. The starting price of the card is the part you need to pay the most attention to. If the card is starting over twenty dollars, chances are that you are not going to make money on that one. The Demonic Pacts and Kolaghan's Commands of the world are where we want to shine the spotlight.
To wrap up, as we are filled with joy from the Battle for Zendikar spoilers, focus your attention on rares and mythics spoiled late that are preordering for cheap. Sometimes a Jace, Vryn's Prodigy will surprise you and make you money, but the trend lies with the cheap cards.
Cards to Watch Leading up to BFZ
There may be some great opportunities from this highly anticipated fall set, but there are also some great ones in the here and now. On top of that, I’ve noted some upward trending cards that you may be aware of but are still worth mentioning.
Evolutionary Leap
Initially, I thought this card was headed for the bulk bins, or close to it. Certainly it has applications in Commander and for the casual crowd, but my opinion has grown beyond that narrow scope.
At Pro Tour Origins, Brian Kibler utilized this interesting reimagining of Birthing Pod and Survival of the Fittest in his sideboard to great effect. The Hall of Famer combined this new enchantment with Hangarback Walker to provide him with a constant stream of threats to fight against controlling strategies.
When I heard about this sequencing, I was blown away at the possibilities. Not only is it an underused sacrifice engine, but it also allows you to blank your opponent's removal spells by replacing every threat with another as long as you have mana available to activate it. This card has potential and could be the centerpiece of a strategy moving forward.
Shaman of Forgotten Ways
Many local players that work with Magic finance have brought this to my attention because if I try to lower the price on it, they buy me out. Their reasoning seems obvious when you put the pieces together. We are entering a block with gigantic monstrosities that cost a billion mana and we’re losing our best mana producers from Theros block.
Shaman of Forgotten Ways seems poised to jump in and not only help with mana ramping fun but also with winning the game. That ferocious ability doesn’t take much to turn on when you have Eldrazi charging into the format. With this card bottoming out, now is the time to get in before we start the Battle.
Descent of the Dragons & Risen Executioner
Both Descent of the Dragons and Risen Executioner are good Magic cards that don’t have any friend to help them succeed. Returning to Zendikar could change that completely. I would say these are soft buys. Isolate these cards in trades and try to get a playset or two because their potential is tremendous. These are more risky than the cards I’ve identified above, but they seem like plants to me for archetypes that could pop up in the new set.
What’s going to help Descent of the Dragons succeed? How about eldrazi spawn tokens. If we see that mechanic return on some new cards, you wouldn’t be able to use them for mana and to make dragons, but playing these types of cards alongside this powerful mythic could end well for players brewing the sweetness.
What about zombies though? This creature type was basically nonexistent on Zendikar the last time we were there, but anytime you’re talking about annihilating armies of monsters and large-scale battles, there might also be some necromancer trying to take advantage of the situation by bringing back some of the fallen. If this happens, the Risen Executioner is looming in the shadows waiting to lead them to victory.
Sarkhan
As one of my favorite characters in the Magic universe, I may be a little biased on this one, but I think both versions of Sarkhan that have been released in Khans block could see significant gains in their future. Both of these adaptations cost five mana, which holds back their value, but they are both incredible planeswalkers. One of them basically turns into Stormbreath Dragon while also being able to kill a guy, and the other draws cards while accelerating your mana and also makes dragon tokens to protect himself.
Both of these cards have the makings of greatness within them. All they need is the right home to truly make them shine. They’re not getting any cheaper so if you like this investment, grab them while you can.
Dragonlords
In my store, all Dragonlords have been selling consistently higher than TCG Player prices. I’ve sold out of every one of these epic dragons including the massively underplayed Dragonlord Kolaghan. They are intensely cool characters in the most popular race in the game.
Whenever you have a chance to obtain copies of this cycle, do so. They make great generals in Commander, every kitchen table is filled with them, and they’re good enough to see play in Standard. That makes them a prime buy.
Temple of Epiphany
Due to the creation of U/R Artifacts and the resurgence of Jeskai Aggro, one temple stands above the rest scoffing at their falling prices. Temple of Epiphany has surged up in value and now is the time to take advantage of that fact. If you have extra copies, unload them now while you still can.
The others are already near their post rotation bottom, but with the blue-red one, you still have time to extract some value. If you aren’t using them right now, move them or you will regret it later.
Fetchlands
I’m sure by now you’re aware of the price jump the Khans block fetchlands have seen lately. We’re not done yet. These lands are going to continue to increase as time goes on. Basically every Magic finance writer and dealer could tell you the same exact thing, but it bears repeating. These two blue ones, Polluted Delta and Flooded Strand, are the obvious winners simply because they obtain blue mana.
Just like their Zendikar versions, unless some wonky reprint happens with one of them, they should always be at the top of the heap. Don’t be surprised to see them continue to go up a bit more while they’re in Standard. There will be opportunities to make money on these cards at each plateau so stand firm in your continued acquisition of this real estate.
What did surprise me was the increase in Wooded Foothills and Bloodstained Mire. These two Jund fetches are usually the cheaper ones, yet they have jumped alongside their blue counterparts. Certainly I expected this as well, but not so soon.
Wooded Foothills in particular jumping up close to Flooded Strand left me wondering what was going on. G/R Devotion coming back into the meta may have had something to do with this, but I think the more important aspect is the rising Zendikar lands brought this one along with them. Again, they’re not done. They will rise more still and have lots of room to grow.
Windswept Heath is the popular kid who broke up with his girlfriend and then all his friends rejected him. Now he’s relegated to the bottom of the list because he was slapped in the face with a random clash pack reprint. This event shows us that Wizards is willing to put fetches in random products like this, which is something to take note of.
Yet again, its price will still rise from its current value. Don’t lose faith in the lonely bottom dweller because his time will come again and I wouldn’t be surprised to see this card's value overtake Bloodstained Mire in 2016.
Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed this article about what’s happening in finance right now and the opportunities that are coming your way in the near future. Post your thoughts in the comments and let’s gear up for a great time in Magic finance.
Until next time,
Unleash the Force!
Mike Lanigan
MtgJedi on Twitter
Jedicouncilman23@gmail.com
The core of the deck is the creature base, which is somewhat stock and unchangeable. Full playsets of the Merfolk lords is where you want to start - Merrow Reejerey is the lesser of the three (outside of specific instances, but is somewhat of a win more card) and at three CMC is the first one I’d trim down to three copies. Silvergill Adept is solid – drawing a card on a body is great when it’s of the relevant tribe - little more can be said other than you want four.
Master of Waves has appeared in lists anywhere from one to four copies, but I chose to run the whole playset. It breaks board stalls, is near irremovable against a large part of the field, and can sometimes win the game when Vialed in EOT against an unsuspecting opponent. As the curve topper, I would be hesitant to reduce this to less than three copies in the current meta.
Phantasmal Image is a great catchall creature. Be it lords 12 through 14, copying an Adept to draw a card, Harbinger to bounce, or copying your opponents best creature, it is an extremely good card that promotes knowing the format, when to use it, and just what you can do with it.
Spreading Seas is a great card. Enabling islandwalk can turn a stalled board into the signing of a match slip in one turn. It doubles as splash over Tron hate – keeping them off Urzatron for even a few turns can be enough to win the game before Karn and friends show up. It also punishes greedy three color mana bases like Grixis and Jund, and turns off annoying manlands. Oh, and it also draws you a card. I like four, but have tested three and am comfortable at that number.
The land base is fairly straight forward. Mutavault is great, doubling as a Merfolk (and Elemental!) that beats sorcery speed removal. Ghost Quarter is currently at its all-time high in playability and the deck can handle one more colorless land outside of the worst of draws. Islands fill up the rest, as well as any non- basic blue providing lands you want to run if Choke is a concern. While it seems like you can skip on them, they are actually more important then they appear. Dodging Choke is critical, as that is the only real “hate” card floating around in sideboards. Minamo, School at Water's Edge is sometimes relevant, being able to untap a Kira or Thassa, and Oboro can provide fuel for Liliana's discard ability in a pinch.
Hurkyl's Recall and Chalice of the Void are nods to the worst match-up for the deck: Affinity. Chalice on zero or even one, if you can wait that long, are game breaking. I’d still consider it tough after board but dedicating 6 slots makes it a lot better. Chalice is also near unbeatable for Bogles as well as Burn, so it isn’t a narrow inclusion.
Kira, Thassa, and Spellskite are all nods to the high amount of removal some decks bring to the table. Kira, Great Glass-Spinner stops the spot removal that can be the bane of the deck. Thassa, God of the Sea is indestructible card selection that is easily turned on and creates more ways to make your team unblockable Spellskite is a catch-all answer to the formats most maddening decks and cards. All of these are very broad answers to a lot of decks and provide consistent answers to the most troublesome problems the deck can face.
Adding white is usually the way you can go if you want to add a second color, due to the lands (Wanderwine Hub and Seachrome Coast) being easily added. The most common cards added with white are Path to Exile and more/better Affinity sideboard hate in the form of Kataki, War's Wage or Stony Silence. Personally, I feel this is not needed and we do not gain enough from it. Path is great removal but not where the decks wants to be. Spreading Seas becomes a lot worse at cutting off mana sources, and the tempo generating cards we run become less effective when you are ramping your opponent.
While great removal and a perfectly fine inclusion, Merfolk has a lot of added bonus in the fact it takes zero damage from its manabase/cards. Not taking 1-3 damage against the other aggressive decks in the format automatically make our match ups much better. Continuing with this, playing a card that you will automatically take 4 from just to cast doesn’t seem like where the deck wants to be. I feel Vapor Snag does (mostly) what you are looking for out of that slot.
A perfectly fine sideboard card against Snapcaster Mage, random graveyard strategies, Collected Company decks, and more. I find these matchups to already be somewhat good for Merfolk, but if you are having trouble this is a great card to add to the board.
Knowing when to go from two to three, or even to four, is an acquired skill that has huge ramifications. Think of all the possible draws and how exactly you’d want to sequence them, and plan out the ticking up or holding of the counters. You will quite often keep it at two as most of our creatures as well as creature based interaction comes from that CMC.
With all the lords in the deck, damage can easily be missed, or the clock you have miss-read. Double check your power and toughness (as you are responsible for doing that checking).
This card has a plethora of uses and can do many interesting things. When Vialed in against Twin, you can copy the Deceiver Exarch or Pestermite in response to Splinter Twin and tap it down, giving you an extra turn to draw an answer or swing in for lethal. Watch out for them end of turn tapping your Vial though!
The flash is very relevant. While it’s best to just Vial it in, don’t forget about it also has flash itself. Watch your mana – always remember against Twin they can tap one down before they go off. Harbinger is great interaction that gets around the commonly-held Dispel.
Spell Pierce
OUT
OUT
OUT
OUT
OUT
OUT
Due to the lack of sweepers, playing your first one-drop on turn one and two more of those one-drops on turn two leads to more free wins than you might expect. A timely spell on turn three can be backbreaking. I ran the numbers, and concluded that 29 creatures, 20 lands, and 11 spells is the optimal mix if you want at least three creatures, two lands, and one spell in your opener. For the mathematically inclined, this entailed running some multivariate hypergeometric distribution calculations. I worked backwards through trial and error to find the number of creatures, lands, and spells most likely to yield at least three creatures, at least two lands, and at least one spell in your opening hand.
Kytheon, Hero of Akros: As it turns out, he’s the real deal and I would recommend playing the full four now. What people often overlook about cards like this is that, while perhaps unimpressive in a vacuum, they create increasingly complex decision trees that provide the opponent more opportunities to stumble. Imagine that you played a Lynx turn one followed by a Champion and Kytheon turn two. If your opponent only has one removal spell for their second turn, what are they supposed to do? Killing Kytheon runs the risk of taking a potential nine damage just from the Lynx and Champion on the next turn, but not killing the Kytheon runs the risk of you deploying additional threats with the ability to leave Brave the Elements mana open. A deck like this really maximizes Kytheon's potential since he threatens to become a 4/4 indestructible attacker as a natural consequence of the deck's primary gameplan.
Student of Warfare: You usually don’t want to invest mana in this guy early; he's more of a mana sink/late game threat. While the leveling mechanic has traditionally been seen as unplayable due to the fact that you are often forced to choose between leveling or developing your board, this deck doesn't present the same issues. Due to the sometimes all-in nature of the deck, you will often find yourself hellbent by turn four with nothing else to use your mana on, and the inevitability of turning Student of Warfare into a 4/4 double striker means that opponents have to choose their removal targets wisely
Brave the Elements: My vote for best card in the deck. Four may seem like overkill, but it enables you to go for broke with landfall or leveling and can be the topdeck you need to break a stalemate.
You should always keep track of when you can afford to throw creatures away in a chump attack, and when you need to stop attacking and play for a topdecked Brave. Generally speaking, if you stop attacking you lose, so it can often be correct to trade a Soldier of the Pantheon for a Lingering Souls token if it means getting in for five damage and flipping Kytheon.
Round 1: U/B Faeries (2-1)
Round 5: Burn (2-1)
I failed to appreciate that the Affinity deck had a far superior late game, and was therefore uninterested in racing me. This miscalculation caused me to believe that trades were good for me, so I continued attacking rather than patiently pumping mana into Student of Warfare and Figure of Destiny with the plan of flipping an indestructible Kytheon in another turn or two. After several trades left his board decimated but me without my Figure of Destiny or Kytheon, a top-decked Etched Champion from my opponent left me with no realistic way of breaking through, and he was able to stay alive long enough to eventually put the game out of reach. Game 2 ended up being worse for me, as I didn't have removal for his Steel Overseer, and that in conjunction with Etched Champion and three or four Nexuses (both Blinkmoth and Inkmoth) spelled game over. This opponent also made Top 8, meaning both of my losses were to top 8-ers.
where I would run out of gas, or my hand would be Thoughtseized into oblivion, and I couldn’t generate enough pressure to stay in the game. As much as I love Mana Tithe, it needed to go to make room for more threats. I’ve since made the following changes to the main:
common Modern discussion points like the banlist and card prices. Everyone has their own definitions of both the cards themselves and the purpose of reprints in Modern. Some players think Modern should be Legacy but without the duals, Brainstorm, and some of the format's more powerful effects like Show and Tell or Lion's Eye Diamond (i.e. the "Legacy Lite" crowd). Others think Modern should be a home for extinct strategies: Psychatog, Phyrexian Negator, and Blastoderm unite! And others still want to improve their own pet deck without any regard for how it would affect the rest of the format (e.g. Chain Lightning to help out those poor, outmatched Burn players with their 8%+ metagame share...).
should serve one of two goals (or both). First, they should improve tier 2 or lower strategies without significantly improving tier 1 ones. Second, they should create new strategies in space that was previously unfilled. Additionally, reprints should not violate other rules of the format, especially surrounding the turn four rule (sorry, Dark Ritual and company). Although some players are critical of too much format diversity, largely due to sideboarding difficulties and the "matchup lottery", a greater range of viable strategies is important for metagame regulation. It's hard to reach a Caw Blade or Mirrodin Affinity situation in a metagame with lots of powerful decks to regulate the others, and reprints can be very valuable in that respect. Also, in the spirit of that email I received last week, reprints are just plain fun. People want to play cool new cards and even if they aren't seeing a lot of play (I'm still rooting for you, Goblin Piledriver!), their presence is good for longterm format health. The following reprint suggestions live in these categories, either improving existing decks, making new ones, or just being awesome.
get Abrupt Decay and/or Terminate. Meanwhile, if you're playing black you're struggling whether to run Doom Blade and lose to a turn two Dark Confidant, Go For The Throat and lose to Affinity and Tron, or Dismember and lose to Burn. Innocent Blood would change that in a big way. Right now, control in Modern is heavily reliant on a red splash to keep the board under control. How else are you supposed to answer those turn one or turn two creatures at parity? A white splash gives you Path, but Path isn't where you want to be against turn one Birds and Goblin Guides. As a result, Esper Control is basically nonexistent and cool ideas like UB Control, Mono Black Control, 8Rack, and others are relegated to the "maybe next year" pile. Blood gives those decks early removal in the critical turns one through three window, which is the exact test a lot of these decks fail.
Thirst is an excellent spell in the abstract but Modern doesn't have the tools Thirst needs to succeed. Blue-based Tron decks use the card, but we don't see a lot of these outside of random PPTQs and local events. Unfortunately, the Thirst engine doesn't have enough fuel to work in "better" decks. Making matters worse, control decks also struggle with early Tarmogoyf, Tasigur, and Angler beatdown, something Thirst couldn't even address on its own. Baleful Strix addresses both of these problems. The world's scariest owl activates a powerful Modern card-advantage engine while also providing control decks an early Fog/removal hybrid to get them into the mid-game. We won't see spells like Preordain unbanned anytime soon, which means blue players will always have to look elsewhere for good card draw. Thirst isn't quite in the same cantripping category as Preordain, but the combination of Strix and Thirst is a powerful tool these decks could leverage.
alongside Smallpox and Seismic Assault. What better way to bring this grindy engine back to Modern than the Onslaught cycling lands? Tranquil Thicket and its four friends don't look like the most exciting reprints on paper, but they would have a considerable effect on Modern. Aggro Loam decks fill a BGx-esque space in Modern, adding a fair deck to the format that also polices less fair ones. A turn three Seismic Assault is one of the most abstractly powerful drops in Modern, but it is blunted by the weakness of the Aggro Loam shell. Cycling lands let Assault shine, whether clearing the board of opposing threats or pinging an opponent down to zero in a few turns. The cycling mechanic is also perfectly suited for a diverse format that rewards diverse answers. Thicket-powered Loam decks are incredibly consistent, digging through their deck for answers in only a few turns, which is the sort of policing force Modern can use.
going to borrow a mainstay from the Legacy playbook and see how she does in Modern. Mother of Runes is one of the best one-drops in Magic, and the workhorse of Legacy's Death and Taxes deck. She protects your creatures from removal, stalls big attackers, and lets you swing in for lethal through even the most stalled boardstates. She's also white (and I don't just mean the woman depicted in the art). White mages don't get a lot of love in Modern: it was pretty much all downhill since Path to Exile. It's the least-played color in the format, shows up in the fewest top-tier decks, and is often regarded as a sideboard or removal color if anything at all. Many players, however, don't just want to play Stony Silence and Leyline of Sanctity. They want to play white creatures. They want their Thalia, Guardian of Thraben to put in work in a removal-clogged format. No one enables this more than Mama Runes herself.
For example, Grixis Control is very reactive, walking opponents into Remand, Spell Snare, and Terminate before taking over with a Tasigur. But against Burn, a deck with more speed and inevitability than Grixis, it's forced into a proactive role, trying to land a delve creature and attack for lethal before getting toasted by Lava Spikes.
Strong against: Tempo and some Combo. Historically, Combo beats Aggro, as it's a turn or more faster. But the 
Strong against: Aggro, Midrange, and Combo. Control's sweeper effects, supplemented with one-for-one removal, puts Aggro decks in a tough spot - they can over-commit to deal more damage, opening themselves up to Wrath of God, or try to get by on single threats at a time, handing Control decks enough turns to stabilize. Midrange decks weaken their aggro plan to devastate fair decks, making them easy prey for the unfair Control decks that want to "go longer." Counterspells, hand disruption, and hate cards easily break up Combo's synergies.
Combo decks rarely care about opponents and epitomize the term "unfair." Every Magic player ruefully remembers the first time they lost to a Combo deck. These decks are proactive, linear, and unfair.
Each strategy attacks from such a unique angle that it becomes difficult to metagame against Aggro-Combo decks as a whole: enchantment hate and Spellskite do wonders against Bogles, but nothing against Elves; Pyroclasm hoses Elves, but Affinity and Bogles frequently ignore it. These blazing-fast decks possess some of the most streamlined cores in the format. Aggro-Combo is proactive, linear, and unfair.
Control decks want to win in some unstoppable way after grinding games to a halt, but Control-Combo doesn't mind only temporarily delaying opponents to fire off wins in a small window. For Scapeshift, the only real Control-Combo deck in Modern, that window resides between assembling seven lands and losing to a Siege Rhino opponents finally resolve through four Remands. Control-Combo is reactive, interactive, and unfair.
Consider a White Weenie deck that wins by going wide with undercosted 2/x's beefed up by Glorious Anthem. A Control player will happily watch the Weenie deck slam creatures every turn and shut him out of the game with an on-curve Wrath of God. If White Weenie splashes blue to address this weakness by way of, say, Spell Pierce, it becomes a Tempo Deck, sacrificing some speed for points against unfair decks.
Both Tempo and Midrange use the in-game mechanic of tempo* – or, of buying time – more than any other Magic archetypes. The Tempo deck uses tempo to preserve a favorable board presence, with the goal of killing opponents before they start resolving their ostensibly “better” cards (compare Insectile Aberration to Baneslayer Angel). This deck casts Remand to buy itself another attack step while denying opponents a chance to summon a blocker with the Finks. Midrange uses tempo to find itself in a game state (i.e., the mid- or late-game) where its spells affect the game zones more than its opponent’s. It casts Remand on a turn-three Kitchen Finks to Time Walk itself into the next turn, where it can resolve a threat that will outclass the Finks.
Since Innistrad, Grow decks in all formats have played Delver of Secrets, a card tailor-made for the archetype. The main difference between Fish and Grow lies with threat density. Grow employs fewer threats, but expects each of them to get the job done by itself: a transformed Delver of Secrets will end games a lone Silvergill Adept could never hope to. Grow decks offset this low threat density with cantrips to find the right combination of creatures and answers at the right times. They play flexible, efficient spells, among which Lightning Bolt reigns as king in Modern. Compared with Fish, Grow gives up some game against Aggro for improved Combo and Control matchups.
Rock exemplifies the midrange credo, dismantling an opponent’s hand and board and chasing the carnage with a huge threat. Modern’s Rock decks favor Tasigur, the Golden Fang and Tarmogoyf for the role of attacking funeral procession. Compared with pure Control, Rock can use its creatures to pressure Combo opponents early, effectively becoming Tempo decks for those matchups. On the name: while “Rock” has traditionally referred to black and green decks, I’ll use it here (and in the future) to refer to any deck with a similar midrange gameplan, regardless of color.
Ramp strategies occupy a strange place among Midrange decks, as it trades interaction for mana acceleration and expensive bombs. It ends up losing to Tempo, but beating other Midrange decks, as well as many Control strategies. Unlike other Midrange decks, Ramp strategies are unfair.
Strong against: The field. Aggro-Control-Combo doesn't "crush" any one strategy, instead boasting game against everyone. This versatility explains Twin's continued relevance in Modern (since 
