I get to check on the current metagame of the Modern format by watching the coverage of Magic Fest Dallas/Fort Worth on Twitch last weekend. There were a few featured matches that I am sort of familiar with the deck archetypes but I am curious on how Modern Horizons has affected the current deck builds.

According to the Deck stat group MTG Archive PH on FB that I recently joined, the most popular Day 2 deck was Bridgevine which feature the MH card Hogaak. This is followed by Humans, Izzet Phoenix, Red Prowess and Eldrazi Tron.

Last Sunday’s coverage, I woke up to the semis matchup of Blue White Control Mirror and Bridgevine versus Taking Turns deck. The finals was then decided between Bridgevine and UW Control and the winner: Blue White Control.

Here below is the decklist played by Austin Bursavich.

The text coverage of the event can be found here.

I had difficulty looking for a text decklist of the Top 8 but if ever you have found one, just comment it on the box below. Thank you in advance.

For today’s Modern deck archetype feature, we have the artifact combo deck that utilizes the core card component Krark-Clan Ironworks. Together with the passive effect of the creature Scrap Trawler, the deck can loop and recur cantrip artifacts from the graveyard while digging to its win condition which is the Pyrite Spellbomb.

Here below is the decklist:

Maindeck
2 Myr Retriever
4 Scrap Trawler

4 Ancient Stirrings
3 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
3 Engineered Explosives
4 Ichor Wellspring
4 Krark-Clan Ironworks
4 Mind Stone
4 Mox Opal
2 Pyrite Spellbomb
4 Terrarion

2 Aether Hub
3 Buried Ruin
4 Darksteel Citadel
2 Forest
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
3 Inventors’ Fair

Sideboard
1 Defense Grid
1 Dispel
1 Galvanic Blast
1 Ghirapur Aether Grid
2 Guttural Response
3 Lightning Bolt
4 Nature’s Claim
2 Sai, Master Thopterist

The recently concluded Grand Prix Hartford featured the Top 8 decks as to why Modern still has the most diverse metagame of a format. Personally this is my favorite format of Magic: the Gathering, and this time the winning deck is a new brew of Pro Player Matt Nass. He played KCI artifact combo with the Finals matchup against an Amulet Titan Bloom deck. The rest of the Top 8 included Affinity, the usual Burn deck which performed well in this event, Elves, Bogles and the BR Hollow One deck.

MATT NASS’ IRONWORKS COMBO

Creature (6)
2 Myr Retriever
4 Scrap Trawler

Sorcery (4)
4 Ancient Stirrings

Artifact (36)
3 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
3 Engineered Explosives
4 Ichor Wellspring
4 Krark-Clan Ironworks
4 Mind Stone
4 Mox Opal
2 Pyrite Spellbomb
4 Terrarion
4 Darksteel Citadel

Land (14)
2 Aether Hub
3 Buried Ruin
2 Forest
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
3 Inventors’ Fair

Sideboard (15)
2 Defense Grid
3 Galvanic Blast
2 Ghirapur Aether Grid
2 Guttural Response
4 Nature’s Claim
2 Wurmcoil Engine

You can check the complete decklist of the Top 8 players here at this link.

It was another major Modern scene tournament as last weekend concluded the Grand Prix Toronto. With the wide variety of the deck archetypes in the format, it is no surprise that the Top 8 players played at least 7 different decks. The winner was the Bogles deck and was piloted by Dan Ward. He defeated Jon Stern’s Burn deck in the finals Here below is his decklist.

Creature (13)
4 Gladecover Scout
4 Kor Spiritdancer
4 Slippery Bogle
1 Dryad Arbor

Instant (2)
2 Path to Exile

Enchantment (26)
4 Daybreak Coronet
4 Ethereal Armor
2 Gryff’s Boon
3 Hyena Umbra
3 Leyline of Sanctity
4 Rancor
4 Spider Umbra
2 Spirit Mantle

Land (19)
1 Forest
4 Horizon Canopy
1 Plains
4 Razorverge Thicket
4 Temple Garden
1 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath

Sideboard (15)
2 Path to Exile
1 Dromoka’s Command
1 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Gaddock Teeg
2 Rest in Peace
2 Seal of Primordium
1 Spirit Link
3 Stony Silence

One of the decks that gained a high percentage finish in the recent Modern Pro Tour in Bilbao, Spain was the Black Green version of the Death’s Shadow deck which they called as Traverse Shadow. The deck was played by Jean-Emmanuel Depraz which garnered him a Top 8 rank whereas Immanuel Gerschenson finished in the top 16 in an impressive 9-1 record.

Here below is Gerschenson’s decklist:

Maindeck
1 Blood Crypt
2 Bloodstained Mire
1 Breeding Pool
2 Marsh Flats
2 Overgrown Tomb
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Watery Grave

4 Death’s Shadow
1 Grim Flayer
4 Street Wraith
4 Tarmogoyf

2 Abrupt Decay
1 Dismember
3 Fatal Push
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Liliana of the Veil
4 Mishra’s Bauble
3 Stubborn Denial
2 Temur Battle Rage
4 Thoughtseize
4 Traverse the Ulvenwald

Sideboard
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Collective Brutality
2 Delay
1 Duress
1 Fatal Push
2 Kozilek’s Return
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Stubborn Denial
1 Temur Battle Rage
1 Hostage Taker
1 Snapcaster Mage

He further explains the deck’s functions in his article here.

It is a Modern Pro Tour weekend which I really enjoyed watching the coverage of Wizards and that the outcome was pretty much overwhelming. Lantern control played by Luis Salvatto was able to take the crown and title of Rivals of Ixalan champion with 50,000 dollars added to his stash, and I witnessed the Top 8 matchups as a pretty close matches. The order was Traverse Shadow (3-2) in the quarters, BR Hollow One (3-2) in the semis and lastly, Mardu Pyromancer (3-0) in the Finals against Pro Star Gerry Thompson.

Here below is the winning decklist of Lantern Control:

Maindeck
1 Academy Ruins
3 Botanical Sanctum
3 Darkslick Shores
4 Glimmervoid
1 Inventors’ Fair
1 Island
1 River of Tears
4 Spire of Industry

1 Abrupt Decay
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
4 Whir of Invention

4 Codex Shredder
3 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
4 Lantern of Insight
4 Mishra’s Bauble
4 Mox Opal
2 Pithing Needle
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
2 Pyxis of Pandemonium
1 Witchbane Orb

Sideboard
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Collective Brutality
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
2 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Nature’s Claim
1 Pithing Needle
1 Pyroclasm
1 Search for Azcanta
2 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
2 Welding Jar