The world is changing.

I can feel it in the air.

Much that once was, is as it was again, for the Pro Tour has returned.

The return of the Pro Tour this year has been exciting and invigorating. Reid Duke winning his first Pro Tour! Nathan Steuer continuing his dominance after winning the 2022 World Championship by adding a Pro Tour win! The return of Magic coverage that's better than ever! As well as a bunch of other great storylines like some schlub going 8-0 on day one and bombing out on day two!

Personally, being a part of the Pro Tour again as a retired-pro-turned-content creator has been awesome, and I am writing this from Barcelona on the eve of another Pro Tour event.

And if it's the eve of a Pro Tour, you know what that means. It's time for my Pro Tour Predictions!

Prediction One: Rakdos Scam Will Be The Most Played Deck, But Not More Than 15% Of The Metagame

This is the first Modern Pro Tour we've had in a long time, and I think people often forget how many possible decks exist in the Modern Format.

Aside from the times of extreme outliers like Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis at Mythic Championship IV or Eldrazi Summer for the short time period that Eye of Ugin and Eldrazi Temple were legal at the same time, Modern is known as being the format with the widest array of possible decks. Sure, decks wax and wane, but 20 years of Magic cards is a long time and there are a lot of things you can do in the format.

There's no doubt that the elemental cycle from Modern Horizons 2 are some of the most powerful cards in the format, and a deck that can use them in a proactive way on turn one with cards like Undying Malice looks and plays a little more like a Legacy deck than a Modern deck, but that still doesn't change the fact that people will be playing many other different archetypes at the event.

While Rakdos Scam will likely be the most played deck, I predict it will not pass the 15% metagame share Threshold.

Prediction Two: Lorien Revealed Will Be The Surprise Breakout Card From Tales Of Middle-earth

We all know about the big three from The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle Earth.

There's no doubt this is where Wizards of the Coast allotted most of the power in Tales of Middle-Earth. The One Ring is one of the most powerful cards to enter the format in a long time, with the question almost feeling like "when will it be banned" rather than "will it be banned." Amusingly, thanks to how powerful Orcish Bowmasters is by itself as well as against The One Ring, it might actually be the best card in the set, while Delighted Halfling is a huge addition to the format, providing a mana dork that doesn't die to the former or Wrenn and Six.

Aside from that however, the set looked mostly tame for Modern. Or has it?

When cycling was first introduced in Urza's Saga, it was mostly locked to simply costing two generic mana. This would hold as the Standard for a very long time, until Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths showed us how powerful cycling for one generic mana could be.

Well, Tales of Middle-Earth has shown us how well one-mana landcycling works, giving us a cycle that is the pride of the draft format and now showing up in a bunch of other formats as well. Why?

Aside from the modality of just having a land also be a spell, adding more Blue cards to your deck for the all-important Force of Negation, Force of Will, or Subtlety is huge when it comes to deck-building. Furthermore, like fetchlands, landcyclers play excellently with any sort of dual land like Steam Vents or Xander's Lounge, giving you mana fixing on top of all the other benefits.

Plus, sometimes the game just goes long and you want to draw three cards for five mana!

It is very easy to play Lorien Revealed in many sorts of different decks, which is exactly what we're going to see.

Prediction Three: Tron Will Do Poorly At The Event, Failing To Put A Player In Top 8

Tron has long been the boogeyman of Modern.

Turn three Karn Liberated has been a litmus test in the format for a long time, a crucible that has burned many midrange and control player's dreams. However, the Modern Horizons sets as well as recent releases have not been kind to Tron. Sure there are actual hate cards like Break the Ice or Alpine Moon, but the reality is that the general power level of the format as well as the pitch cards from both Modern Horizons sets have allowed decks to take advantage of Tron with answers that are maindeckable.

Tron doesn't do anything on the first two turns of the game, but used to make up for this by doing a ton on turn three and four. However, now decks can undo all of this for little or no mana with cards like Force of Negation, Grief, or maindeck hate to break up the Tron like Boseiju, Who Endures. And that's not even factoring in sideboard hate like the aforementioned Alpine Moon, Blood Moon, and more.

I love Tron and we gave it an honest shot for this event, but it just couldn't keep up. However, I will add that if a Tron deck does make the Top 8, it will have many copies of Dismember between maindeck and sideboard.

Prediction Four: Half Or More Of The 6-0 Drafters Will Make Top 8

Modern is a huge, wide-open format. Our team was unable to either break it or come to a consensus on a "best deck," with many of us opting to play different decks, and I doubt that anyone else has anything remarkable or extremely surprising to take the event by storm. It is also a somewhat volatile format, with some polarized matchups and occasionally swingy games.

As such, I expect who makes Top 8 will likely be the players who crush the Limited portion of the event. While Modern doesn't seem exploitable and players are just sort of playing their decks, the Limited format will offer a huge advantage to those who are extra well prepared and likely be enough to propel them into Top 8 even with slightly above average results in Modern.

Prediction Five: One Member Of My Testing Team Will Make Top 8

Perhaps I went a bit overboard last time with my prediction that two team members would make the Top 8 (as none of us did, despite winning the prior Pro Tour with two in Top 8), so I'm ready to dial it back down to a more reasonable single member.

I have the absolute pleasure of once again working with Team CFB & Friends for this event, with a truly stacked lineup of Pro Tour Champs, World Champs, Hall of Famers, and legends of the game (and me too!).

• Jim Davis
• Eli Kassis
• Jakub Toth
• Reid Duke
• Gab Nassif
• Sam Pardee
• Brent Vos
• Seth Manfield
• Evart Moughan
• Luis Scott-Vargas
• Arne Huschenbeth
• Tommy Ashton
• Will Pulliam
• Edgar Magalhaes
• Kai Budde

While we didn't really come to a consensus on deck choice and aren't as unified as we were at say Pro Tour All Will Be One for Reid's win, it's hard to bet against such a murder's row of powerful Magic players.

If I had to pick one player from the bunch it would be Arne Huschenbeth, who almost made a Tron pact with me the night before deck submission but ultimately settled on a very well tuned Rhinos list which looks to be well positioned.

The Path to the World Championship 2023

The last year of professional Magic for me has been quite a ride.

When I chose to move over to content creator full-time almost seven years ago, I knew I was likely giving up on my chance to compete at the highest level again. Making content is a time-demanding profession that acts at odds with how a Professional level player usually treats the game. As such, I had mostly made my peace that I wouldn't be playing any more Pro Tours.

Yet here we are after a year of me playing in professional level events again, having my best professional year ever, making my first Pro Tour Top 8, coming in 5th at the World Championship on tiebreakers, and getting the opportunity to work with the literal best Magic players to ever play the game.

I'm not sure when the ride is going to end, but I am very happy to put my best foot forward, try my best, and enjoy it while it lasts. I hope the event goes well!