Wow. There are bannings, and then there are bannings. This was definitely the latter. Wizards looked at non-Standard Constructed, saw that it was poor, and nuked it. All of it, Historic, Pioneer, Legacy, and most importantly, Modern. Vintage also saw an unbanning. Because somebody had to get thrown a bone. Monday morning, Wizards dropped the largest […]

Kaldheim is out and starting to impact constructed formats! Joe takes a look at the three singles he’s most excited from in the set and their potential to be good speculations for your spec box.

Hot on the heels of my practical examination last week, it’s time to formally close the books on the old metagame. Or at least that expression of the old metagame. Who knows how Kaldheim will actually affect Modern, but regardless, the old metagame will see turmoil and change. I expect whatever emerges from Kaldheim to be similar […]

And now, to formally close the books on a terrible year. Yes, it is in fact 2021; time did truly progress, and we’re not trapped in a Doctor Who-style loop. However, a new month means a new metagame update, which means that I must remind everyone of the past year. Sorry! The data set is […]

Final article of the year! Good riddance, 2020. Hopefully, things start to turn around quickly and we can have the gathering part of Magic: The Gathering back again. But, this isn’t about a virus or vaccine. Today, I have business that must be finished before 2021 begins. For the third year running, it’s time to update my […]

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 […]

Alright, no more delays. All the data is finally in, and so it’s time to do November’s Metagame Update. So far, the metagame has generally been dynamic. The top deck hasn’t been consistent between months, though Rakdos Prowess and its descendant Scourge Shadow have been consistently Tier 1 since I started doing these again. Will […]

It’s important to consider alternative solutions to any problem. No matter how clear the solution to a given problem may be to you, never discount the possibility of other perspectives offering insight. Or that biases can blind to us to potential solutions. Either way, entertaining alternatives can get the creative juices flowing. Which is why […]

My last article was about Scourge of the Skyclaves… and it still opened by acknowledging that Modern’s general narrative currently revolves around Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath. Yes, Uro is everywhere, and Modern players seem up on the fact that it’s incredibly strong—if they aren’t playing it, they’re finding ways to beat it, or more […]

Paper Magic tournaments are going to come back someday post-pandemic which will undoubtedly lead to an increase in paper Magic card prices. Modern especially seems like a format prime for price increases, and today Joe takes a look at three popular decks from the Modern meta that are full of prime speculation targets.

Continuing on with article types that have been vanishingly rare this year, it’s time to look at the lessons from a specific tournament. I haven’t done this since February because there just haven’t been any Modern tournaments. Wizards has neglected every other format in order to push Arena. Which means that other competitive formats have been neglected. […]

Alright, now. Everybody exhale. Last week is over. We can all try to grind our way through the rest of the year. We’ve been through enough already. Now it’s time for some lighter fare, especially the kind that used to be my bread and butter. Then, the lockdown rendered then impossible. I am of course […]

Zendikar Rising has had a notable effect on Modern, but it’s been mostly positive. Whether it’s making Death and Taxes finally viable or shaking up the Prowess decks, the new additions seem to be providing the right incentives without being oppressive. However, one card is drawing ire, mostly by association rather than anything it’s actually […]