tempo | Quiet Speculation

Metagame Stabilizing: August ’21 Metagame Update

David Ernenwein — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 16:00:51 +0000

How apropos that the Metagame Update is falling on the same day that Innistrad: Midnight Hunt spoilers begin. It's a perfect transition from the metagame we knew to the new one to come. However new it actually is or isn't is irrelevant. The addition of new cards creates new possibilities which alone change the metagame dynamics. And […]

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Early Access: MH2 Speculation, Pt. 1

David Ernenwein — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 17:00:47 +0000

Welcome to December! At long last, the year known as 2020 is coming to a close. Huzzah! I had planned to kick this off with the traditional metagame update, but that's not to be: Wizards hasn't posted the last few events at time of writing, so the data's incomplete. Even if that wasn't the case, […]

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July ’20 Brew Report, Vol. 2: Bird in the Bush

Jordan Boisvert — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 16:00:21 +0000

Last week I unveiled Delirium Delver, my latest pile featuring Tarmogoyf and Serum Visions. It was Stormwing Delver that got me brewing again, and apparently I wasn't alone. Today, we'll explore Modern's latest spell-attack renaissance by looking at what the tempo heads are slinging online. Clearly, there's no shortage of options! Flipping the Table That's […]

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The New Crackback: Introducing Miracle Bo

Jordan Boisvert — Fri, 03 Aug 2018 16:00:42 +0000

There's a new Delver in town, and this one doesn't need delirium or a white splash to put the hurting on opponents as of turn one. All it requires is a single, generic mana and an appetite for attacking. Meet Bomat Courier, my latest addition to Temur Delver. Noah Walker's breakout Legacy performance with post-ban Grixis […]

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Boremandos Enraged: Brewing Jeskai Delver

Jordan Boisvert — Fri, 01 Dec 2017 17:00:33 +0000

Deep in the Modern annals lies a deck called Boremandos. This deck was the format's first to feature Delver of Secrets, and was wildly successful in its heyday. It paired Delver with Steppe Lynx, Remand, and a hearty dose of burn spells to gently disrupt opponents and kill them quickly, and eventually inspired the blueprint […]

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Chart Toppers: Counter-Cat After Ixalan

Jordan Boisvert — Fri, 06 Oct 2017 16:13:17 +0000

My Ixalan spoiler review covered cards leaked back in June, and was published well before Wizards revealed the full expansion. As such, it didn't discuss Chart a Course, a spell spoiled during the Magic: Arena unveiling that has me giddier than anything else in the set. Chart a Course has shown promise in my go-to Delver […]

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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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The Unusual Decks: A Beginner’s Guide

David Ernenwein — Tue, 28 Feb 2017 18:00:50 +0000

Here we are, the final category of decks! Well, I say category but it is actually categories. You see, there are a number of archetypes that are either rare or derivative of the other ones and so don't really require separate articles. This is not to deride their value to Modern or their power. It is simply […]

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Tempo in Modern and the Card Advantage Trap

Jordan Boisvert — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 16:00:13 +0000

When I began tuning Monkey Grow, the biggest surprise among peers and opponents was my sworn dedication to Disrupting Shoal. Certain players couldn't believe that countering a spell was worth losing a card, citing Force of Will's status in Legacy as a check to degenerate combo decks that usually gets boarded out against fair strategies. But […]

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Curious George Goes to a Super Series: Revisiting Monkey Grow, Chapter 2

Jordan Boisvert — Mon, 14 Dec 2015 17:00:35 +0000

Friday, I began chronicling a Mana Deprived Super Series 3K tournament in Montreal. I piloted Monkey Grow to a 6-2 finish. This article concludes the report and gives some closing thoughts on the deck. We ended Chapter 1 on a high note, following an embarrassing loss to Grixis Twin with a triumphant victory over Abzan Midrange. That match ended […]

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Evolving Temur Prowess

Trevor Holmes — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 16:00:03 +0000

Last month, Patrick Chapin went 8-1 on Day 1 of GP Oklahoma with Temur Prowess, and the deck hasn’t been talked about much since. I find this very odd, since The Innovator's decks usually see much press and emulation. Not so this time. I thought this was odd enough that my video series this week […]

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Trevor Holmes Plays MTGO: Temur Prowess

Trevor Holmes — Mon, 05 Oct 2015 16:00:16 +0000

Hey guys! Welcome to Episode 3 of our Modern Nexus Video Series, where we pick a sweet list and run it through some matches on Magic Online. This week we have Patrick Chapin’s 64th place Temur Prowess deck from Grand Prix Oklahoma City in mid-September. With Battle for Zendikar coming to Magic Online next week, I figured […]

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Some Bob With Your Bugs: Confidant in Delver

Jordan Boisvert — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 16:00:06 +0000

Since Origins was spoiled I’ve been tuning iGrow, a Delver deck abusing Day’s Undoing to crush the midrange strategies that have historically oppressed my buggy buddy since Abrupt Decay’s printing. It worked, but at the cost of dedicating an entire sideboard to beating the aggressive decks that benefitted from my mainboard set of Undoings. With today’s […]

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Pyromancer iGrows Up: WMCQ Toronto

Jordan Boisvert — Fri, 11 Sep 2015 16:00:30 +0000

Five hours. That's how long it would take me and a band of Modern-loving francophones to reach Toronto in Milkman's big van. It took much longer. After an airport shuttle from the hotel, a busride from the airport, and a yellow-line subway jaunt, I arrive at my buddy's Chinatown apartment five hours late. He'd hit the town without me, so […]

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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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Best of Both Worlds: Your Weekly Undoing Digest

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

This week's article contains some Day's Undoing theory and unveils a new brew. But before we begin, let's address the Trained Armodon in the room. I hyped Day’s Undoing as the best card in Magic Origins and predicted it would completely turn Modern on its head. I expected the virtual end of midrange decks (not containing […]

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Oops, I Undid It Again: Two Top 8’s with iGrow

Jordan Boisvert — Fri, 24 Jul 2015 16:00:43 +0000

Effectively tuning a deck requires multiple avenues of testing. Last week, I wrote about minor tweaks to my iGrow shell implemented during friendly testing sessions. A day after that article was published, the real testing began, as I took the deck to a pair of ~25-player Modern PPTQs. I made Top 8 in both events […]

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Power Calls: iGrow and Broken Tempo

Jordan Boisvert — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 17:45:07 +0000

There’s an easy way to break tempo; the archetype just requires ways to turn a previously unused resource into something it craves and has little of. Tempo has no shortage of spare land drops or excess cards in the graveyard that we would gladly trade for more tools to win games with. Cards that offer these […]

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