Roland F. Rivera Santiago | Quiet Speculation

Deep Diving into Bomat Red

Roland F. Rivera Santiago — Wed, 09 May 2018 16:00:26 +0000

As the metagame continues to incorporate cards from the past few expansions, we don't only see them slotting into existing decks; sometimes, their printing enables all-new archetypes to surge into the metagame. Modern is the non-rotating format in which this happens most readily, as recently demonstrated by the likes of Humans and Hollow One. However, […]

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One Step Ahead: Avoiding Being Metagamed

Roland F. Rivera Santiago — Wed, 25 Apr 2018 16:00:42 +0000

As Magic tournaments are held and results gathered, certain decks establish themselves as the top contenders, and attract attention from anyone seeking an edge. The format then shifts to combat these best decks as players "metagame" against them. This phenomenon occurs in competitive gaming scenes ranging from small-scale FNMs to Grand Prix and Pro Tours. Correctly […]

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Not Done Yet: Decks Exceeding Expectations

Roland F. Rivera Santiago — Wed, 11 Apr 2018 16:00:37 +0000

Throughout Modern's history, decks have risen and fallen in popularity. One of the most critical factors driving these shifts on the metagame ladder are changes to the card pool; a new set or a timely edit to the banned and restricted list can send a deck's stock soaring or tumbling. However, not all of the […]

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Speed Check: Is the Metagame Faster or Slower?

Roland F. Rivera Santiago — Wed, 28 Mar 2018 16:00:38 +0000

As the metagame continues to settle after the unbans of Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Bloodbraid Elf, an interesting dichotomy has arisen: some players claim that the presence of these powerful four-drops has made the format faster and less interactive, while another sector espouses the opposite belief. I took it upon myself to find out […]

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Beating the Heat: Anti-Jace/Bloodbraid Tech

Roland F. Rivera Santiago — Wed, 14 Mar 2018 17:08:26 +0000

As the first tournament results since last month's landmark unbans roll in, it has become abundantly clear that Bloodbraid Elf and Jace, the Mind Sculptor are going to be major players in the metagame going forward. Competitive players need a plan to face these cards. Fortunately, Modern's card pool has plenty of options for exactly this […]

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Odds and Ends: Unusual Homes for Bloodbraid and Jace

Roland F. Rivera Santiago — Wed, 28 Feb 2018 17:00:38 +0000

As the metagame continues to adapt to the recent additions of Bloodbraid Elf and Jace, the Mind Sculptor, we have seen lots of the expected: Bloodbraid bolstering Jund, and Jace slotting in nicely as a finisher for controlling blue decks. Temur Midrange was also a concept that was bandied about, and is currently seeing play. […]

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Systematic and Practical Testing Guidelines

Roland F. Rivera Santiago — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 17:00:30 +0000

Thanks to Wizards' bombshell unban announcement, Modern is on the cusp of a great age of experimentation. Established and rogue archetypes alike will be examining their 75s in efforts to either combat or incorporate the format's latest newcomers, and I fully expect some new archetypes to appear in the wake of these powerful additions to […]

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Just Keep Swimming: SCG Classic Top 16 Report

Roland F. Rivera Santiago — Wed, 31 Jan 2018 17:00:48 +0000

The 2018 Star City Games Team Constructed Open was held in "Philadelphia" (the location of the event was about a half hour drive away from the actual city) this past weekend, and given that it's the first major paper tournament that's been held within an hour of me in a long time, I resolved to […]

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Army of the Night: Brewing Vampire Tribal

Roland F. Rivera Santiago — Wed, 17 Jan 2018 17:00:00 +0000

New sets often pique the interest of Modern players. My last article discussed about how Rivals of Ixalan has brought quite a bit of excitement for Merfolk in Modern. This time around, we'll see how the set's tribal theme might have improved archetype that has been biding its time in Modern for a long while. Vampires have received […]

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Walking on Water: Merfolk After Rivals

Roland F. Rivera Santiago — Thu, 04 Jan 2018 17:00:20 +0000

I normally prefer waiting until spoiler season is over to begin publishing think pieces on the upcoming cards, but had to make an exception this week. The announcement of Merfolk Mistbinder in Rivals of Ixalan has profound implications for my Modern deck of choice. While adding green to Merfolk is something pilots of the deck have […]

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Crashing Through: The Rise of Combo-Control

Roland F. Rivera Santiago — Wed, 20 Dec 2017 17:00:27 +0000

One of the most interesting trends that has emerged over the last few weeks in the Modern is the resurgence of combo-control. Several decks have seen success with an interactive shell that has some sort of a combo finish. Be it Living End suiting up with Cryptic Commands and Remands instead of its traditional creature-heavy […]

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Careful Study: Determining the Fairness of Modern Decks

Roland F. Rivera Santiago — Thu, 07 Dec 2017 18:00:46 +0000

Fair and unfair can prove contentious terms when it comes to deck discussion, perhaps especially in Modern. This week, I’d like to expand upon some of the ways to categorize and define decks that I initially touched upon in my articles on how to tune a deck’s mainboard flex spots and sideboard to an open meta. […]

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You’ve Got Another Thing Coming: Building Sideboards in an Open Meta

Roland F. Rivera Santiago — Wed, 15 Nov 2017 18:40:28 +0000

Modern remains wide-open, which carries implications for deckbuilding. Last week, I talked about mainboard flex slots. This week, we’ll tackle a significantly thornier topic: sideboarding. Due to Modern's wide variety of linear decks, and the relative lack of powerful catch-all answers that you see in formats like Legacy or Vintage, ours is a format that puts […]

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King of the Hill: Using Your Flex Slots in an Open Meta

Roland F. Rivera Santiago — Tue, 07 Nov 2017 19:00:42 +0000

If you’ve been playing Modern over the last few months, you may have noticed an interesting trend in the metagame results: no one deck is top dog. While a familiar cast of characters inhabits the top of the charts, it seems as if any one of them can do well in a given tournament, all […]

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