The people have spoken!

Last week I asked what you wanted to hear about from me this week, and you voted Modern. Must be some Modern news going on or something.

We'll never know for sure.

Miscellaneous Thoughts Related to Format Health

The graveyard is just part of the gig. Faithless Looting is the Brainstorm of the format, and that should be wholeheartedly embraced. People play Legacy with the top of their deck always moving around and nobody complains - I'm kidding, someone always does - so why not just accept that Modern is a dirty format that does dirty things? Exile is the new graveyard, graveyard is another hand, and in a few years, we'll be lamenting newly printed Standard rares that interact with the command zone or something.

There are a few steady attitudes I've seen and heard over the years about what the Modern format should entail, and it often seems to come down to either 1.) Make it more like Legacy or 2.) Make my favorite relatively thinkable archetype possible.

Although some of the intentionality of Modern Horizons did things to make the first group a little closer to their ideal, it probably didn't do much for the latter. This isn't a bad thing, however, as the latter has been a forgotten dream for the format for years now.

Tip: If you're holding out hope that there will ever be a day where you can cast a reasonable ex-Standard card that doesn't do ridiculously efficient things or win the game on the spot, it's over. Luckily for everyone, it only takes one pocket result to get everyone excited about Cloudthresher or whatever the hell, so there are still going to be rogue deck celebrations in spite of the reality now and again. Nevertheless, for the discerning and competitive Modern player: do something absurdly broken or know all the broken stuff in the room to the point you can react to it with precision. Embrace the power or move, but don't be astonished when no one wants to trade for your Mistbind Cliques when you drop from the event at lunchtime.

Rather than just paint the walls with a bunch of decks you already know are good, I figured it might be more useful to let limitation breed creativity. Here are five decks I'd play if you made me play any given three-color trio at a tournament where I was invested in my performance. The five trios that I skip this week will be presented right here another time.

You will return to me.

Bant Infect | Modern | Danny West

• Creatures (14)
• 2 Giver of Runes
• 4 Blighted Agent
• 4 Glistener Elf
• 4 Noble Hierarch

• Instants (19)
• 1 Dismember
• 1 Spell Pierce
• 2 Become Immense
• 3 Blossoming Defense
• 4 Might of Old Krosa
• 4 Mutagenic Growth
• 4 Vines of Vastwood

• Sorceries (6)
• 2 Distortion Strike
• 4 Scale Up

• Enchantments (1)
• 1 Keen Sense

• Lands (20)
• 1 Forest
• 1 Dryad Arbor
• 1 Flooded Strand
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Wagerlogged Grove
• 2 Breeding Pool
• 2 Horizon Canopy
• 2 Misty Rainforest
• 2 Pendelhaven
• 3 Windswept Heath
• 4 Inkmoth Nexus

• Sideboard (16)
• 2 Spellskite
• 1 Vendilion Clique
• 1 Elvish Fury
• 2 Shaper's Sanctuary
• 1 Eladamri's Call
• 1 Sword of Truth and Justice
• 1 Viridian Corrupter
• 1 Spell Pierce
• 1 Dismember
• 1 Ranger of Eos
• 1 Keen Sense
• 3 Surgical Extraction

Buy This Deck Export text format

Ranger of Eos is a clunk skunk for this format, but it's a fun place to mess with all the good 1-drops the format has. If it weren't for Simic needing to dominate the optimal mana for this strategy to be as high ceiling as it is, you could do some cool things with Eos, in general.

Scale Up is obviously the best thing to happen to this archetype in a while - if we're not counting the best deck being punched in the gut yesterday, anyway - but there are other new cards I felt were at least worth trying. I often make it a habit in creature-based Legacy decks to include a Sword or two, and the textbox on Truth and Justice makes it the easy choice here.

If you do want to drop White to keep it safe, that's cool, but max out on Waterlogged Groves if you do. Their fuel in conjunction with Become Immense is great for re-educating opponents on how much time they have to live.

Grixis Welder | Modern | Danny West

• Creatures (9)
• 1 Sai, Master Thopterist
• 4 Goblin Engineer
• 4 Urza, Lord High Artificer

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas

• Instants (3)
• 3 Whir of Invention

• Sorceries (2)
• 2 Thoughtseize

• Artifacts (25)
• 1 Ensnaring Bridge
• 1 Ichor Wellspring
• 1 Pithing Needle
• 1 Pyrite Spellbomb
• 1 Sword of the Meek
• 1 Time Sieve
• 1 Tormod's Crypt
• 1 Welding Jar
• 2 Mind Stone
• 3 Thopter Foundry
• 4 Arcum's Astrolabe
• 4 Mishra's Bauble
• 4 Mox Opal

• Lands (20)
• 1 Snow-Covered Mountain
• 2 Snow-Covered Swamp
• 4 Snow-Covered Island
• 1 Academy Ruins
• 1 Darkslick Shores
• 1 Inventors' Fair
• 1 Steam Vents
• 1 Watery Grave
• 2 Polluted Delta
• 3 Prismatic Vista
• 3 Scalding Tarn

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Galvanic Blast
• 2 Dead of Winter
• 1 Ghirapur Aether Grid
• 2 Thopter Spy Network
• 1 Thoughtseize
• 1 Hurkyl's Recall
• 2 Flusterstorm
• 1 Skred
• 2 Nihil Spellbomb
• 1 Karn, Scion of Urza

Buy This Deck Export text format

The Lantern Prison deck has given way to a deck that's basically just as insufferable to play against but at least has a lot more style.

Until Deathrite Shaman came along, Goblin Welder was thought to be one of the most powerful 1-drops in busted up powerhouse Magic. Goblin Engineer, the Modern version, is teaming up with Urza - a Grand Architect so grand that the comparison almost feels hilarious - the Magic hero of yesteryear which can make all the Blue artifact mana you can stand while also doing insane Mind's Desire type things too.

Like I said, at least it's cooler than Lantern.

My list uses a diverse set of win cons and tricks to avoid Meddling Mage and Pithing Needle type crap, all while having some very dangerous combos to just win once in a while. People have been losing to Thopter Sword for the last decade, so why stop now?

The sideboard has a host of options for diversifying the thing that will kill your opponent most reliably, keeping them further off guard with the Magic Origins enchantments acting as their own must-answer endgame engines.

This deck is high powered, and the strategy may be entering its golden age. Beware, though: the increase in power has not diminished the difficult of playing it optimally. This is an archetype to spend time with.

Jund | Modern | Danny West

• Creatures (14)
• 2 Hexdrinker
• 2 Seasoned Pyromancer
• 3 Bloodbraid Elf
• 3 Dark Confidant
• 4 Tarmogoyf

• Planeswalkers (7)
• 1 Liliana, the Last Hope
• 2 Liliana of the Veil
• 4 Wrenn and Six

• Instants (11)
• 1 Kolaghan's Command
• 2 Abrupt Decay
• 2 Assassin's Trophy
• 2 Fatal Push
• 4 Lightning Bolt

• Sorceries (6)
• 1 Maelstrom Pulse
• 2 Thoughtseize
• 3 Inquisition of Kozilek

• Lands (24)
• 1 Forest
• 1 Mountain
• 1 Swamp
• 1 Blood Crypt
• 1 Stomping Ground
• 2 Overgrown Tomb
• 2 Raging Ravine
• 2 Wooded Foothills
• 3 Blackcleave Cliffs
• 3 Bloodstained Mire
• 3 Nurturing Peatland
• 4 Verdant Catacombs

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Thoughtseize
• 2 Plague Engineer
• 2 Collective Brutality
• 3 Leyline of the Void
• 1 Liliana of the Veil
• 1 Fulminator Mage
• 3 Crashing Footfalls
• 1 Ancient Grudge
• 1 Electrodominance

Buy This Deck Export text format

Even with Bridge from Below being gone, we're still approaching a point where Liliana of the Veil is too embarrassing to be seen in Modern public, at least as often as she used to be.

Here's the real new business:

I'm going to assume Wrenn is the one to the right and Six is the one to the left. Planeswalkers lack for flavor text, so I'm not really sure what's going on here. The only thing I'm positive about is that this card and Nurturing Peatland have a great time together. Note you can zap your own Dark Confidant if you fly to close to the sun.

Here's another one you may not know:

To think people used to rely on Kessig Wolf Run to get over the line with decks like these. I expect Jund decks to continue to become more divided between some of the classic choices and new cards like this. This list uses it as flood protection and as a finisher, but you could easily just jam this card and go. It is so, so real.

Speaking of mana flood:

Miser Bloodbraid nonbos aside, this is an interaction I've been wanting to sneak into the format somewhere. Most sideboards are full of answers. Since Jund's main deck is mostly answers, I decided to use the sideboard to try out sneaky rubbish.

Today's sneaky rubbish is tomorrow's metagame breaker.

Always be trying sneaky rubbish.

Mardu Pyromancer | Modern | Danny West

• Creatures (11)
• 1 Grim Lavamancer
• 2 Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
• 4 Seasoned Pyromancer
• 4 Young Pyromancer

• Instants (7)
• 1 Lightning Helix
• 2 Fatal Push
• 4 Lightning Bolt

• Sorceries (22)
• 1 Collective Brutality
• 2 Dreadbore
• 2 Smiting Helix
• 2 Thoughtseize
• 3 Unearth
• 4 Faithless Looting
• 4 Inquisition of Kozilek
• 4 Lingering Souls

• Lands (20)
• 1 Mountain
• 1 Plains
• 1 Swamp
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Marsh Flats
• 1 Sunbaked Canyon
• 2 Arid Mesa
• 2 Blood Crypt
• 2 Sacred Foundry
• 4 Blackcleave Cliffs
• 4 Bloodstained Mire

• Sideboard (15)
• 4 Leyline of the Void
• 2 Plague Engineer
• 1 Wear // Tear
• 1 Surgical Extraction
• 1 Celestial Purge
• 1 Kaya's Guile
• 1 Thoughtseize
• 2 Blood Artist
• 1 Liliana, the Last Hope
• 1 Magmatic Sinkhole

Buy This Deck Export text format

Yawgmoth is being adopted as the new staple inclusion ahead of Bedlam Reveler. For more information on why this has happened, read the textbox of each card.

Four mana in Modern is like eight in Standard, but nevertheless: This card is insanity. There are certainly times where it's as painfully useless as anything else reasonable to the format (cough Burn cough), but the amount of engine you get for such minimal input is a thing of beauty. Most still haven't figured out that this card is basically Modern's attempt to make Yawgmoth's Bargain a reasonable Magic card, a dubious proposition if there ever was one.

Grim Lavamancer is an attempt to give the deck a bit more reach in the wake of (presumably) graveyard hate being turned down from ten to about six. Not only that, but with Unearth in the picture, it has a good shot at being on the battlefield a few times.

Tip: Decks like this are the reason Plague Engineer is such a rock star. Keep in mind the static ability is asymmetrical; if you're playing the mirror, you can name Elemental or Spirit and keep your squad. On a related note, you probably just won the game.

Esper Mentor | Modern | Esper Mentor

• Creatures (10)
• 2 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
• 4 Monastery Mentor
• 4 Snapcaster Mage

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
• 2 Teferi, Time Raveler

• Instants (12)
• 1 Fact or Fiction
• 1 Path to Exile
• 1 Spell Pierce
• 2 Force of Negation
• 3 Fatal Push
• 4 Opt

• Sorceries (15)
• 2 Chart a Course
• 2 Thoughtseize
• 3 Inquisition of Kozilek
• 4 Serum Visions
• 4 Unearth

• Lands (20)
• 1 Island
• 1 Plains
• 1 Swamp
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Marsh Flats
• 1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
• 1 Vault of the Archangel
• 1 Watery Grave
• 2 Hallowed Fountain
• 3 Darkslick Shores
• 3 Polluted Delta
• 4 Flooded Strand

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Dark Confidant
• 2 Smuggler's Copter
• 1 Zealous Persecution
• 2 Plague Engineer
• 2 Stony Silence
• 1 Vendilion Clique
• 2 Surgical Extraction
• 1 Remand
• 1 Force of Negation

Buy This Deck Export text format

Very early on in Modern's inception a strategy like this existed briefly before falling off. As usual, being a little too far was the cause of death. Fortunately, with the insanely efficient creatures available now, Unearth is happy to once again be the unfair factor that gives us credence to try again.

The credit for the resurgence of this archetype goes mostly to online Modern trendsetter Nilsfit. I've been longing for Monastery Mentor to be as at least half as prominent in Modern as it is in Vintage for years now, and Nilsfit may have finally made my dreams come true.

Five Down, Five To Go

Abzan, Jeskai, Naya, Sultai, and Temur are on my Modern horizon for next time. Until then, I hope these decks have done something more valuable than merely reinforce what you already knew about Humans, Dredge, Azorius Control, Tron, Phoenix, etc. I hope they've given you some new interactions to contemplate, some new card choices to consider, and some up and coming archetypes to first work on, then tune, then believe in, then champion.