With the public’s hunger for Modern, wrenches are sometimes thrown into the mix to shake things up. Several stores, with more all the time, are running unsanctioned Modern events with no banned list. That’s right—all your favorite Modern-frame cards that you’ve been using in Legacy can now go into your weird Modern decks, such as Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Punishing Fire, Dark Depths, Skullclamp, and the deadly Hypergenesis.

I’ve spoken to a few worldwide tournament organizers who have run successful No-Ban Modern events. Also, one Hall-of-Famer—Randy Buehler—has been turned on to No-Ban Modern as part of his Gauntlet of Greatness video showdown series. Check throughout the article for some wicked sample decklists.

Where Did No-Ban Modern Come From?

“Actually, it was our creative department that really got things going,” says Stanley. “The story is that we were coordinate some event-filled weekend with a Magic tournament, merch sale, and so on in mind. Someone chimed in with the idea of a No-Ban Modern event, which we first shrugged off, but I had a second thought and just ran with it. There have been groups of people who’ve talked about it here and there in the area, but we decided to bear down and follow through with it.”

“I think they suggested it (presumably because of the success they're having with those events), but I immediately saw it as a fun idea,” says Buehler. “The trickiest part was figuring out how to get decklists, but the contest to have viewers submit them solved that.”

And Then, It Spread . . . 

Chris Cornejo has been running No-Ban Modern events more recently at Mox Boarding House’s sister store Card Kingdom. “I know our community has been very vocal about getting the word out about these events all over various media, and we are eternally grateful for all the support we get from our players,” says Cornejo. “For Modern No Ban List specifically, Randy's video series on the Mox Boarding House site has certainly been a big help.”

What No-Ban Modern Decks Are Performing Well?

The contest Buehler is referring to did indeed produce some fun and crazy decklists that would have no place in our regulated Modern environment, including this one:

Hypergenesis ? No-Ban Modern | Randy Buehler

• Creatures (21)
• 3 Ashen Rider
• 3 Terastodon
• 4 Simian Spirit Guide
• 2 Griselbrand
• 3 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
• 3 Progenitus
• 3 Urabrask the Hidden

• Spells (19)
• 1 Dismember
• 3 Forbidden Alchemy
• 4 Violent Outburst
• 2 Anger of the Gods
• 2 Demonic Dread
• 3 Hypergenesis
• 4 Ardent Plea

• Lands (20)
• 1 Arid Mesa
• 1 City of Brass
• 1 Horizon Canopy
• 1 Misty Rainforest
• 1 Temple Garden
• 2 Steam Vents
• 4 Gemstone Mine
• 4 Mana Confluence
• 4 Tendo Ice Bridge
• 1 Gemstone Caverns

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Oblivion Ring
• 4 Ricochet Trap
• 4 Ingot Chewer
• 2 Venser, Shaper Savant
• 1 Dragonlord Dromoka
• 2 Alhammarret, High Arbiter

Buy This Deck

Hypergenesis has been banned in Modern for more or less its entire existence, and for good reason—cascading into it creates some seriously cheaty-face game states. A turn-one or turn-two Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is not at all out of the question. “Hypergenesis is just as ridiculous as advertised, but it’s fragile enough that it’s beatable,” says Buehler.

Not to say that No-Ban Modern is all fun and games. It’s a blast to play, but it’s pretty busted all the same, and there are fewer “good” decks than the wide-open normal Modern format, according to Buehler.

It’s also interesting to note that combo doesn’t dominate as expected. Stanley believes it’s because the banned list came first, and then Innistrad block entered the Modern format after that. Whatever scary combos there were never had a chance to get going because Delver of Secrets, Liliana of the Veil, and Snapcaster Mage quickly became ever-present.

Unlike Buehler, Stanley believes No-Ban Modern is actually pretty fair. “For a while, we had that perfect cyclical meta wherein Jund Midrange would check the blue decks, Blazing Shoal Infect would check Jund, and W/U Miracles would check Infect,” he says.

What Can We Learn from No-Ban Modern?

That relegates No-Ban Modern to a wild and crazy event to run once in a while, but not something to take seriously as a competitive format. “WotC more or less knows what it’s doing when it comes to Modern, in my opinion,” says Buehler.

“My personal thoughts on No-Ban Modern is that it's a blast and does a better job of balancing itself than one might think on first impression,” says Cornejo. “No broken combo decks have outright won any of our events as far as I'm aware. It feels a lot closer to the way Legacy games tend to play out than current Modern.”

More No-Ban Modern Decks

Here are a couple of decks that placed well at the Mox Boarding House events late last year. They’re working on revamping the events and should be running more in 2016, if you’re ever in the Bellevue, WA area.

Blazing Infect ? No-Ban Modern | Mox Boarding House

• Creatures (4)
• 4 Blighted Agent

• Spells (38)
• 1 Snapback
• 2 Dig Through Time
• 3 Blazing Shoal
• 3 Spell Pierce
• 4 Mental Misstep
• 4 Muddle the Mixture
• 4 Peer Through Depths
• 1 Serum Visions
• 4 Blasphemous Act
• 4 Gitaxian Probe
• 4 Ponder
• 4 Preordain

• Lands (18)
• 4 Island
• 1 Steam Vents
• 1 Tolaria West
• 4 Flooded Strand
• 4 Inkmoth Nexus
• 4 Polluted Delta

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Blood Moon
• 2 Grafdigger's Cage
• 1 Grim Lavamancer
• 2 Pithing Needle
• 2 Pyroclasm
• 1 Spell Pierce
• 3 Spellskite
• 2 Vendilion Clique

Buy This Deck

The above deck takes the Modern Infect build and adds banned card Blazing Shoal, pitching otherwise-useful expensive card Blasphemous Act for a no-cost, huge pump spell. This gives Infect a much faster clock than it would have otherwise.

Sultai Tempo ? No-Ban Modern | Mox Boarding House

• Creatures (12)
• 3 Snapcaster Mage
• 4 Deathrite Shaman
• 4 Tarmogoyf
• 1 Vendilion Clique

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 3 Liliana of the Veil

• Spells (26)
• 2 Spell Pierce
• 3 Abrupt Decay
• 4 Mental Misstep
• 4 Thought Scour
• 1 Duress
• 2 Thoughtseize
• 3 Inquisition of Kozilek
• 3 Treasure Cruise
• 4 Ponder

• Lands (19)
• 1 Forest
• 2 Island
• 2 Swamp
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 Overgrown Tomb
• 2 Verdant Catacombs
• 2 Watery Grave
• 4 Misty Rainforest
• 4 Polluted Delta

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Deprive
• 1 Echoing Truth
• 3 Golgari Charm
• 2 Hurkyl's Recall
• 1 Mindbreak Trap
• 1 Nature's Claim
• 1 Negate
• 1 Night of Souls' Betrayal
• 2 Nihil Spellbomb
• 1 Nix
• 1 Ravenous Trap

Buy This Deck

This deck is notable for having few banned cards. Other than the ubiquitous Mental Misstep, there are four copies of Ponder and four copies of Deathrite Shaman. There’s also a fascinating card in the sideboard: Nix, which counters spells that weren’t cast with mana, such as the aforementioned Mental Misstep, Hypergenesis, and so on. That seems to be a card that would come in quite handy in No-Ban Modern.