archetypes | Quiet Speculation

Death’s Shadow of Doubt: Exploring Aggro-Control

Jordan Boisvert — Fri, 12 May 2017 16:10:40 +0000

Immediately following its mainstream introduction to Modern by Josh Utter-Leyton and his crew at GP Vancouver, Death's Shadow gained significant footing in the metagame. The explosion of Jund Shadow onto the paper scene at roughly 10% has since cooled, with the deck taking a more reasonable 8% share when lumped in with Abzan Shadow builds. Part of the reason for […]

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Clarifying Convention: Deck Names and Archetype Levels

Jordan Boisvert — Fri, 23 Sep 2016 17:00:16 +0000

Modern is a format with plenty of decks, and many of those decks have multiple names. This problem becomes apparent as we move down the tier list, and rampant at the very bottom. There are many ways to name a deck, and this article explores some of the possibilities. It also introduces a three-level archetype system […]

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Wheel of Fortune: Riding the Archetype Spectrum

Jordan Boisvert — Fri, 04 Sep 2015 16:00:16 +0000

This week marks my fourth piece on deck archetypes, and it looks to be the most fun. Digging for specific answers with Serum Visions has taught me to be goal-oriented in other areas of my life. So with the basics laid out, we'll focus on my favorite part of the theorizing process: application! We all know I can't go […]

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Fair Thee Well: Modern Archetypes, Part 3

Jordan Boisvert — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 16:00:31 +0000

Since I opened the Nexus discussion on Modern archetypes a couple weeks ago, community members have congregated in the comments section to share their opinions. The biggest argument against the theories I've proposed comes in the form of varying definitions of "fair" and "unfair." Today, I'll address those concerns more closely. (This article is the […]

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Hypnotic Spectrum: Modern Archetypes, Part 2

Jordan Boisvert — Fri, 21 Aug 2015 16:00:07 +0000

From the response to last week's article, it seems the Nexus readership shares my interest in discussing the parameters and strategic relevance of Modern archetypes. Our community raised some insightful points in the comments, so today I'll address those and expand a little on my theory - especially delving into my thoughts on spectrums. "Theory" is the operative […]

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Pigeonholing Prevails: Modern Archetypes

Jordan Boisvert — Fri, 14 Aug 2015 16:00:42 +0000

A few days ago, my buddy commented on Jeskai Control's baby-renaissance. "Why are people hopping back on UWR?" he wondered. "It looks worse than Grixis. It seems slower, too." I dropped some serious knowledge on him: "It's not a question of 'worse' or 'slower.' UWR Control has a great Grixis Control matchup, since Grixis Control is really a midrange deck. Midrange decks […]

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