control | Quiet Speculation

Mastering the Meta: Azorius Control in Pioneer/Explorer

LessAlex — Tue, 06 Jun 2023 14:00:00 +0000

This week LessAlex shares his favorite deck, Azorius Control in Pioneer/Explorer. He explains card choices and why the deck is one of the best in the format.

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Buying Into Modern

Paul Comeau — Wed, 16 Jun 2021 11:00:46 +0000

With all the hype from Modern Horizons 2 spoilers, you’re excited to dive into the Modern format for the first time. So where do you begin? Understanding what makes Modern tick as a format, apart from the obvious of what cards are legal, is the best place to start.

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Counterspell and Sanctum Prelate in Horizons 2

David Ernenwein — Tue, 11 May 2021 16:00:09 +0000

It would seem that Wizards is growing impatient. The stated beginning of Modern Horizons 2 previews was next week. However, as part of their announcement of the "Summer of Legend" (which trips my marketing gag reflex), Wizards gave us some early spoilers. Clearly intended to whet player appetites for what is to come, the spoilers were […]

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Fortune Telling: MH2 Speculation, Part 3

David Ernenwein — Tue, 22 Dec 2020 17:00:27 +0000

Everything eventually ends. As the year wraps up, it's time for me to bring my Modern Horizons 2 speculation to a close. I need to clear space for the upcoming Kaldheim spoiler season. And hopefully, the return of paper Magic; I've spent considerable time and energy trying to figure out how I'm going to incorporate […]

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Wild Speculation: MH2 Speculation, Part 2

David Ernenwein — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 17:00:19 +0000

With the metagame update done, that ends the heavy content for 2020. It's time to coast to the finish! I think we've all earned a nice easy December considering how 2020's gone, so going into the new year, let's destress and remember what hope felt like. I miss FNM. To that end, I'll be picking […]

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Switchblade Combat: UW vs Bant Stoneblade

David Ernenwein — Tue, 11 Aug 2020 16:00:58 +0000

In case you haven't noticed, Magic can be weird. I'm not just talking about cards or mechanics, though mutate, Goblin Game, and Raging River are certainly out there. I'm talking about how counter-intuitive the game can be. Again, not in the Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth still works under Blood Sun sense (though that absolutely qualifies). I […]

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To Goyf or Not To Goyf: UGx Midrange in 2020

Jordan Boisvert — Mon, 09 Mar 2020 16:00:10 +0000

While putting together brew reports since the Oko ban, I picked up on an interesting trend: UGx midrange seems to be catching on. And by UGx midrange, I don't mean a single deck, à la Jund Rock. I mean the archetype at large, which has opened itself up to a myriad of different plans, packages, […]

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Balance and Blades: Honing Stoneforge Mystic

David Ernenwein — Tue, 22 Oct 2019 16:00:13 +0000

Unbannings always trigger a surge of interest, articles, and brewing. When the card's utility and thus its home is obvious, the cards is quickly adopted, as was the case for Bloodbraid Elf. For those whose power is tougher to unlock, interest and visibility wanes while the hard work is done. Such is the case for […]

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War of the Spark Standard: SCG Richmond and MCQ Season

Christopher O'Berry — Thu, 09 May 2019 12:54:23 +0000

This week, Chris reviews the decks of SCG Richmond, the first Standard event since War of the Spark's release, and looks ahead to the cards that could be winners going forward.

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Hold ‘Em & Fold ‘Em #16

Edward Eng — Thu, 25 Oct 2018 12:08:51 +0000

The SCG Dallas Open showcased some interesting developments in several formats. Eddie takes stock of new technology and logs the changes to his portfolio in response.

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Modern Myths: Dismantling Preconceptions

Jordan Boisvert — Fri, 19 Oct 2018 16:00:50 +0000

How many times have you heard something you disagree with? How often has it pertained to Modern? My answer to both questions is plenty. Lately, none spur me into debate more than the claims that countermagic is bad and midrange is dead. In this article, we'll debunk each of these myths by examining theory, decklists, […]

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Draw, Go: Parsing Modern’s Interactive Decks

Jordan Boisvert — Fri, 01 Jun 2018 16:00:13 +0000

With Humans the de facto best deck in the format, now's an exciting time to be interacting in Modern. The control renaissance offers players plenty of options when it comes to picking their poison. Whether they're zapping Champion of the Parish with Lightning Bolt or Fatal Push, or closing out games with Tarmogoyf or Celestial […]

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Brewing UBx Legends with Mox Amber

Jordan Boisvert — Fri, 30 Mar 2018 16:00:05 +0000

After seeing the leaked Dominaria spoilers for the first time, one of my first orders of business was to try out Mox Amber in Modern. I brainstormed a couple of possible shells before settling on something radically different from what David ended up choosing: a UBx midrange deck. In this article, we'll take a look […]

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First Strike: SCG Dallas Analysis

David Ernenwein — Tue, 13 Mar 2018 16:00:44 +0000

With SCG Dallas in the books, the process of deciphering the metagame can commence. True, there have been plenty of MTGO results to pore over, but selected lists don't form a random sample. It's curated with a goal in mind, and so not every deck has an equal chance of being included. In large tournaments, […]

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Spare a Home for a Mind Sculptor? Jace Tryouts

David Ernenwein — Tue, 06 Mar 2018 17:00:47 +0000

It's been three weeks since Jace, the Mind Sculptor was unbanned. For the past three weeks, I have struggled with the card; the power is there, but an optimal shell has proven elusive. Judging by the lack of articles around the greater internet, it seems that most brewers are having similar problems. Today, I will […]

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Control Decks in Modern: Exploring the Variations in Viable Archetypes

Ryland Taliaferro — Wed, 30 Aug 2017 17:00:46 +0000

For a long time, control decks in Modern have struggled to gain some inkling of viability. Considering the huge breadth and diversity of Modern, a deck composed of all answers has be tuned just right for the current metagame. While this is already quite the lofty task, the next step is near impossible—getting pairings to […]

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Four-Event Recap: Metagame Shifts

Trevor Holmes — Thu, 06 Jul 2017 17:19:41 +0000

Modern tournament decklists are flooding in to the point where the phrase “too much of a good thing” is starting to come to mind. Nah, who am I kidding. I love this stuff. I hope you do too, because today we’re going to dive right in. I plan on recapping and analyzing high-level Magic tournament […]

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Look Who’s Flooded: Welcoming Combo and Control to Modern

Jordan Boisvert — Fri, 27 Jan 2017 17:30:57 +0000

It's been an exciting week for Modern. Fatal Push was sanctioned last Friday, and the SCG Columbus Classic gave players a highly anticipated datapoint for the new metagame. A linear combo deck won that event, and a purely reactive control deck just missed the Top 8. Combo and control are famously underpowered archetypes in Modern, giving us […]

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A New Tool for Control: Evaluating Fatal Push

Ryan Overturf — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 17:00:09 +0000

If you liked "dies to Doom Blade," you're gonna love "dies to Fatal Push!" Few are more surprised than I to see a great black removal spell grace the Aether Revolt spoiler page, though initial evaluations largely seem to be calling the card something it's not. It's a solid card with a role to play, […]

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Considering Control’s Conundrum

David Ernenwein — Tue, 08 Nov 2016 17:00:52 +0000

Happy/Miserable Election Day to all my US readers! Regardless of what actually happens tonight, the world is certainly ending for half of my readership. Before you celebrate or run off to join Jordan in Canada, I have some unfinished business to attend to. Two weeks ago I claimed that the problem with control wasn't that […]

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