Hey everyone!

Streets of New Capenna will be legal just in time for Pittsburgh, and today I'm going to share a Modern update just in time. While the main event features Team New Capenna Sealed, there are plenty of opportunities to play high-stakes Modern.

This won't have much of an impact for Modern, which is a good thing. Gone are the days of new sets breaking the format. The Triome cycle is filled out and there's a new way to build Devoted Druid combo decks featuring Luxior, Giada's Gift, but I don't expect to face Devoted Druid in a competitive event.

My friend, Hawaii, has been favoring Esper Control in Modern with a near miss playing for Top 8 at the NRG Series stop in Fort Wayne last month. Raffine's Tower will help flesh out the mana requirements.

Elementals is currently the favored way to build Omnath Piles. It leans on Eladamri's Call to curve into Risen Reef. Counterspell and Expressive Iteration are removed from the deck which means I would prefer to begin the game on a Triome that doesn't have both green and white mana. Oddly enough, I think Ketria Triome and Raugrin Triome were the right lands for the deck all along.

The most powerful spells in New Capenna have shard colors, which means they cost at least three mana. In a format as efficient as Modern this is a big price to pay. Modern was not a format hurting for card advantage in the three-mana slot, but Riveteers Charm might be strong enough.

In recent weeks the Modern metagame has continued to shift. Even if New Capenna has a small impact player have had a chance to adapt to the massive influx of cascade decks. A few weeks ago it seemed as though Living End could not be stopped.

A few ways to fight the graveyard in the sideboard is not enough to stop Living End. The deck can efficiently cast the game-ending spell with Grief and Force of Negation to interact. Teferi, Time Raveler is too slow on the draw to matter, too.

I took Living End for a spin recently at my LGS and won all of my games. Some of the games were close, but the deck punished mistakes because there are only a few turns before a horde of monsters come back from the graveyard. In a large tournament I expect my opponents to be ready with plenty of interaction to stop me from winning an above-average amount.

Maindeck Endurance is becoming more prevalent as well as Chalice of the Void in the sideboard. Graveyard decks can have a difficult time with a target on their back because unexpected hate cards can leave you dead on the first turn.

If I was going to play Living End in the near future, I would play the following list:

Living End

Living End | Modern | Kyle Boggemes

• Creatures (30)
• 4 Architects of Will
• 2 Colossal Skyturtle
• 4 Curator of Mysteries
• 2 Endurance
• 4 Grief
• 4 Shardless Agent
• 4 Street Wraith
• 3 Striped Riverwinder
• 3 Waker of Waves

• Spells (11)
• 3 Living End
• 4 Force of Negation
• 4 Violent Outburst

• Lands (19)
• 3 Botanical Sanctum
• 2 Breeding Pool
• 1 Forest
• 1 Island
• 4 Misty Rainforest
• 2 Otawara, Soaring City
• 1 Polluted Delta
• 1 Scalding Tarn
• 2 Spirebluff Canal
• 2 Steam Vents

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Endurance
• 2 Force of Vigor
• 2 Foundation Breaker
• 2 Leyline of Sanctity
• 2 Mystical Dispute
• 4 Subtlety
• 1 Ingot Chewer

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The list is very similar to Piper Powell's list she used to take down the NRG event in Fort Wayne last month. While I do expect players to adapt to the power of Living End I also wouldn't be surprised to face it a couple times. This version is teched out to fight the mirror with Endurance in the maindeck. The four Subtleties in the sideboard help you fight opposing Endurance.

Since the Endurance plus Subtlety plan is well-known at this point, local grinder, Ethan Dunn, has moved to simply sideboarding four Leyline of the Void for the mirror. This plan is acceptable because it blanks Subtlety and the opponent won't have many ways to interact if they're taken by surprise.

RIW teammate, Connor Mullaly, posted a video playing Living End recently and his mirror match opponent was not only ready with Endurance and Subtlety, but also Leyline of Sanctity. This may seem strange and risky, but it stops the graveyard from being shuffled to the bottom with Endurance. This can happen when mirror matches become inbred.

The inbred mirror matches combined with the increased hate for Living End will allow new decks to rise to dominance in the short run. Modern has plenty of interaction, but it's hard to answer everything at once.

I'm currently favoring the newest flavor of Omnath, Four-Color Elementals:

Four-Color Elementals

Omnath Pile | Modern | Kyle Boggemes

• Companion (1)
• 1 Yorion, Sky Nomad

• Creatures (19)
• 4 Omnath, Locus of Creation
• 4 Solitude
• 3 Fury
• 4 Risen Reef
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Magus of the Moon
• 2 Endurance

• Spells (31)
• 4 Abundant Growth
• 2 Lightning Bolt
• 2 Unholy Heat
• 2 Utopia Sprawl
• 2 Oath of Nissa
• 4 Prismatic Ending
• 4 Teferi, Time Raveler
• 4 Wrenn and Six
• 3 Ephemerate
• 4 Eladamri's Call

• Lands (30)
• 2 Cavern of Souls
• 2 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
• 4 Flooded Strand
• 4 Misty Rainforest
• 4 Windswept Heath
• 2 Wooded Foothills
• 1 Stomping Ground
• 1 Temple Garden
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 1 Steam Vents
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 Ketria Triome
• 1 Raugrin Triome
• 2 Snow-Covered Forest
• 1 Snow-Covered Plains
• 1 Snow-Covered Island

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Endurance
• 1 Emrakul, the Promised End
• 1 Meddling Mage
• 2 Supreme Verdict
• 1 Knight of Autumn
• 2 Force of Negation
• 2 Chalice of the Void
• 3 Veil of Summer
• 1 Yorion, Sky Nomad
• 1 Aether Gust

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On the surface it doesn't look like much has changed from the traditional versions of Omnath decks featuring Expressive Iteration and Counterspell. Maximizing the strength of Eladamri's Call and playing the full playset enables this Yorion deck to have a better game plan against linear decks like Tron, Burn, Living End, and more.

Eladamri's Call was primarily used in old versions of Omnath Piles to help find Emrakul, the Promised End in the sideboard for the mirror. It wasn't an organic inclusion. Now the curve of Eladamri's Call into Risen Reef can enable some scary starts with pitch Elementals. It also creates more synergy with Ephemerate.

Big Mana matchups, like Tron and Amulet Titan, can be scary, but effectively playing five Magus of the Moon in the main helps a lot. Since 60/80=.75 you can use this Yorion multiplier to help think about the number of effects in your deck under normal circumstances.

• 5 x .75 = 3.75 maindeck Magus of the Moons in a sixty-card deck

You can play a different spell in the maindeck over Magus of the Moon if Tron and Amulet aren't popular in your local metagame. If you draw Magus against a creature deck game one it can be pitched to Fury. A singleton Magus does have a real drawback because a fun-of in an 80-card deck is close to the same as in 60 cards.

Endurance is not only a way to fight the popularity of Living End, but also ensures you won't be decked. Elementals can draw a ton of cards if Risen Reefs are allowed to gain traction. When you combine Endurance with an eighty-card deck the risk of decking out is very low. The 60-card Elementals deck would sometimes slow down to avoid running out of cards.

Utopia Sprawl can enable a second turn Risen Reef. I have to plan around Utopia Sprawl because it can be awkward at times. Since it must target a Forest I typically name White so the land can cast Eladamri's Call.

If you target a nonbasic Forest with Utopia Sprawl it will be vulnerable to your own Magus of the Moon. Field of Ruin and Boseiju can also mess with your enchantment. Yorion can blink your Sprawls in the mid game to reset them on basic Forests. Spreading Seas is currently not popular, but it's a blowout when your Forest is turned into an Island. Urborg doesn't cause the Sprawl to fall off because it grants extra land types and does not replace.

Cavern of Souls is a new land to play in Elementals compared to Four-Color Omnath. It helps your Izzet Murktide matchup as well as Azorius Control. The downside of Cavern is the land doesn't cast Wrenn and Six or Eladamri's Call. It also can't make colored mana for Prismatic Ending. I like to target Cavern with Abundant Growth to help it cast more spells.

Cavern will most often name Elemental, but also Bird for Yorion or Human for Magus of the Moon, Eternal Witness, and Meddling Mage. Remember that Meddling Mage was updated to be both a Human and Wizard.

Oath of Nissa was technology developed by Autumn Burchett and further popularized by Corey Baumeister. Both reported strong results with the card. It enables your Cavern of Souls to cast Wrenn and Six early in the game or better utilize the mana generated by Omnath. It's also a great blink target with Yorion as the deck is filled with creatures and planeswalkers. Oath also fixes your mana with Magus of the Moon on the battlefield. I want to play a combination of four Oath of Nissa and Utopia Sprawl.

The single Eternal Witness doesn't have any Elemental synergies, but can loop Ephemerate and buy back Yorion in the late game. I have already searched for Eternal Witness multiple times with Eladamri's Call.

Risen Reef is the new engine of the deck. Regardless of how you stack the triggers Solitude and Fury must first announce targets before seeing the top card from Risen Reef. It's sometimes correct to play Risen Reef on the fourth turn to have a mana up for Ephemerate. I will often stack triggers for Omnath so I first draw a card before deciding to put a land on the battlefield tapped with Risen Reef.

The Meddling Mage in the sideboard can name Living End, Goblin Charbelcher, and Primeval Titan. I don't expect it to live against Temur Rhinos, but you can also name Crashing Footfalls. Living End only has a couple Sky Turtles and Otawara's to interact.

Veil of Summer is not only good against Grixis Shadow, Murktide, and Azorius Control, but also Cascade decks. A Chalice of the Void backed up by Veil of Summer can end the game quickly. Grief is also the culprit for making Supreme Verdict less effective against Living End.

Knight of Autumn is another anti-Burn card as well as a threat to destroy Urza's Saga. It can be scary backed up by Ephemerate.

Emrakul is for Omnath mirrors as well as Azorius Control. You can name Eldrazi with Cavern of Souls as the 13/13 can be countered.

Supreme Verdict is currently well-positioned as it's a good tool to have against Cascade and Murktide. I don't want specific anti-creature cards in the sideboard against Hammertime because the maindeck has so much interaction already. Hammertime is currently loaded up on Spell Pierce, Blacksmith's Skill, and Giver of Runes which makes the sweeper a good call.

Force of Negation is preferred over Dovin's Veto because when I need to counter a game-winning spell early I can't afford to leave up mana. I will typically need to cast an early Eladamri's Call for either Meddling Mage, Endurance, or Magus of the Moon.

If Tron is big in your local metagame you can find room for an Obsidian Charmaw in the sideboard.

Izzet Murktide is still a popular deck because it has the tools to compete with Cascade. It always has the risk of running into Azorius Control because maindeck Chalice of the Void is currently a good place to be. I like my matchup with Elementals against both Murktide and Azorius Control.

The metagame has become fairly consolidated with the banning of Lurrus and I expect it to remain the case with the introduction of New Capenna. The decks within the consolidated metagame continue to evolve.

Thanks for reading!

-Kyle