One of the most dangerous things you can do as a Magic player is to reject ideas that aren't your own.

This is something that often befalls more experienced/accomplished players when they are dealing with less experienced/accomplished players because they incorrectly assume they have nothing to learn from them. The reality is that experience often leads to stubbornness which can blind a player to new ideas. Being able to see things from a different point of view often exposes you to ideas you haven't considered yet, even if that point of view isn't perfectly refined.

This is why I enjoy playing viewer's decks on my stream so much.

I do a show called "Your Deck... LIVE!" where viewers can donate and submit a decklist and I play the deck while offering my advice, ending in a full rebuild of the deck to what I think is optimal at the conclusion. These decks often come in packed full of cool ideas but are not constructed optimally, as, naturally, my viewers are of varying skill and experience levels; not everyone has the experience of playing Magic for ~20 years and having it be their full time job.

Today I wanted to highlight three of my reworks to these viewer submitted decks, because, quite frankly, they're just awesome. We were able to take excellent original ideas and massage them into decks that wouldn't be surprising at all to see 5-0 a Magic Online league.

Uro Or Fiction | Modern | Jim Davis and NanachisPower

• Creatures (7)
• 1 Tireless Tracker
• 1 Vendilion Clique
• 2 Snapcaster Mage
• 3 Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Tamiyo, Collector of Tales

• Instants (25)
• 1 Abrupt Decay
• 1 Assassin's Trophy
• 1 Mana Leak
• 2 Cryptic Command
• 2 Fact or Fiction
• 2 Spell Snare
• 3 Drown in the Loch
• 3 Fatal Push
• 3 Force of Negation
• 3 Growth Spiral
• 4 Thought Scour

• Sorceries (1)
• 1 Maelstrom Pulse

• Lands (26)
• 2 Island
• 1 Creeping Tar Pit
• 1 Field of the Dead
• 1 Hinterland Harbor
• 1 Lumbering Falls
• 1 Overgrown Tomb
• 1 Watery Grave
• 2 Breeding Pool
• 2 Field of Ruin
• 2 Mystic Sanctuary
• 4 Misty Rainforest
• 4 Polluted Delta
• 1 Snow-Covered Forest
• 1 Snow-Covered Swamp
• 2 Snow-Covered Island

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Aether Gust
• 2 Ashiok, Dream Render
• 2 Collective Brutality
• 1 Disdainful Stroke
• 1 Engineered Explosives
• 1 Field of the Dead
• 1 Ceremonious Rejection
• 2 Plague Engineer
• 2 Veil of Summer
• 1 Mystical Dispute

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There's no doubt that Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath is one of the premier new threats in Magic.

Uro asks a lot.

You need to be proactively putting cards in your graveyard, as well as be able to handle the heavy manacost. It's also nice if you are able to make good use of the front side of Uro, being paid off for the extra land drop in some way. But if you put in the work, you get rewarded in a huge way. Uro is an absolute monster that beats some decks singlehandedly, and even if they are able to deal with him you are almost always up on the exchange because of the life gain and draw. And if they can't exile him he's always waiting in the wings to be cast again.

This Sultai Control deck, originally submitted by viewer NanachisPower and tuned by me over the course of ten matches uses Uro exquisitely.

Built like a true control deck around a core of countermagic, instant speed interaction, and Mystic Sanctuary, Sultai Control is a perfect home for Uro. Drawing cards, gaining life, and making land drops are all exactly what a control deck wants to do, as well as having a resilient and lean win condition. Drown in the Loch is an impressive tool for control decks that slots in nicely next to Thought Scour, and there's no denying the effect that Mystic Sanctuary plus Cryptic Command has had on the format.

We go a bit beyond a normal control deck however, looking to ride Uro a little bit harder. Thought Scour is already a proven card in graveyard centric control shells, but we're willing to go a bit further than that. How far? EOTFOFYL! Fact or Fiction entered Modern with a whimper, but there's no denying the power and synergy it brings to the deck. Any piles containing a Uro will be devilish for your opponent, and the card advantage at instant speed plays perfectly in the deck. Against slow decks you can even rebuy it with Mystic Sanctuary for more fun! Growth Spiral stands in as well to help Fact or Fiction and Cryptic Command come online sooner, while also being phenomenal with your one mana spells. A turn two where you cast Growth Spiral into a land that casts Spell Snare or Fatal Push is a major tempo swing. You've also got a Field of the Dead and some creature lands for a little more late game push that comes at almost no deck-building cost.

If you love control decks this is a very fun variation, and if you've never cast Fact or Fiction before it is highly recommended.

Big Chandra Moon | Modern | Jim Davis and Deacon_of_unlimitedframes

• Creatures (6)
• 2 Vendilion Clique
• 4 Snapcaster Mage

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 2 Chandra, Awakened Inferno
• 2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

• Instants (21)
• 1 Magmatic Sinkhole
• 2 Force of Negation
• 2 Mana Leak
• 2 Spell Snare
• 3 Cryptic Command
• 3 Remand
• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 4 Opt

• Enchantments (3)
• 3 Blood Moon

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Arcum's Astrolabe

• Lands (22)
• 1 Snow-Covered Mountain
• 7 Snow-Covered Island
• 1 Flooded Strand
• 2 Mystic Sanctuary
• 3 Steam Vents
• 4 Polluted Delta
• 4 Scalding Tarn

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Abrade
• 2 Ashiok, Dream Render
• 1 Blood Moon
• 1 Disdainful Stroke
• 2 Anger of the Gods
• 1 Engineered Explosives
• 2 Mystical Dispute
• 1 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
• 1 Grafdigger's Cage
• 1 Aether Gust
• 1 Narset, Parter of Veils

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Speaking of control decks...

Blue Moon is an older Modern archetype, but is exceedingly well positioned in a world where Primeval Titan runs wild and Blue cards are experiencing a resurgence. You get to punish some decks and get free wins where no other control deck can, while also singlehandedly improving your matchups against decks that often give control deck fits. The biggest problem that Blue Moon has had in the past however is finding a reasonable win condition. Well it looks like Deacon_of_unlimitedframes found a nice one.

Originally a one of in the original list, Chandra, Awakened Inferno over performed big time. An amazing threat against any opposing Mystic Sanctuary deck, Chandra shines as a knockout blow that can also mop up straggler creatures and more importantly take down larger creatures if necessary. Blood Moon and countermagic naturally slow the game down, making Chandra's mana cost not feel nearly as prohibitive as it looks.

Otherwise we've got mostly standard Blue control fare stuff, with Spell Snare being very nice right now and Remand playing very well with Blood Moon in particular. You're capable of winning tempo-style games with Snapcaster Mage, Lightning Bolt, and Vendilion Clique, but you can also go long with Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Chandra if you need to.

Add in a pretty reasonable sideboard (Niv-Mizzet, Parun has been awesome!) and you've got a deck that lines up very well with the current Modern metagame.

Hollow Phoenix | Modern | Jim Davis and Ocara115

• Creatures (10)
• 2 Ox of Agonas
• 4 Arclight Phoenix
• 4 Hollow One

• Instants (19)
• 1 Izzet Charm
• 2 Lightning Axe
• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 4 Manamorphose
• 4 Opt
• 4 Thought Scour

• Sorceries (13)
• 1 Finale of Promise
• 4 Burning Inquiry
• 4 Goblin Lore
• 4 Serum Visions

• Lands (18)
• 2 Island
• 2 Mountain
• 1 Fiery Islet
• 3 Flooded Strand
• 3 Spirebluff Canal
• 3 Steam Vents
• 4 Scalding Tarn

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Abrade
• 2 Aether Gust
• 2 Anger of the Gods
• 1 Spell Pierce
• 1 Negate
• 1 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
• 3 Dragon's Claw
• 1 Surgical Extraction
• 3 Aria of Flame

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While our first two decks are cut from the "I'm a control player, I'm so smart" cloth, our third deck is something with a bit more gamble.

Rakdos Hollow One decks, while once a major player in the Modern metagame, fell off with the banning of Faithless Looting. Relying on just Goblin Lore and Burning Inquiry to fuel the graveyard and Hollow One was just a bit too unreliable. So what if we just add some cantrips in as well as a secondary plan? That's exactly what Ocara115 did and we ended up with something very interesting.

Arclight Phoenix is a natural fit with all the discard and cantrips, but the real exciting piece is the new Ox of Agonas. We've seen how powerful the escape mechanic is on other cards, but Ox of Agonas takes it up to 11. Only costing two mana, Ox come back as a huge 5/3 that will often be drawing you three cards with little downside. Eight cards to escape sounds like a lot, but not when you are burning through your deck with Thought Scour, Burning Inquiry, and Goblin Lore.

With both Izzet Phoenix and Rakdos Hollow One not able to survive the banning of Faithless Looting, maybe turning to each other for help is the solution? The deck is a wild ride of RNG, but the end result feels promising and powerful.

If you love to roll the dice, this one's for you!

The Path Less Travelled

Sometimes tournament Magic can feel tough.

Brewing decks and finding functional new ideas that can compete is tough, but every deck starts somewhere. Don't be afraid to press different buttons and try things; and, most importantly, don't be afraid to listen to others' ideas! Ideas come from all different sorts of places, and only a fool won't at least consider them.

Modern is more open now than it has been in a while, so get out there and experiment!