We Modern Now

Unfortunately, there are no weekly Legacy events here in Jacksonville. Despite buying some Legacy cards on MTGO, I prefer paper Magic to MTGO enough that I'm willing to play Modern FNM. Here are some of the decks I've been playing:

UW Midrange, 7/27/18
Creature Spells (16) 4x Wall of Omens 4x Kitchen Finks 2x Vendilion Clique 4x Restoration Angel 1x Dragonlord Ojutai 1x Lyra Dawnbringer	Noncreature Spells (19) 4x Spell Snare 4x Path to Exile 2x Remand 1x Negate 1x Blessed Alliance 2x Detention Sphere 3x Cryptic Command 2x Supreme Verdict
Lands (25) 4x Flooded Strand 2x Hallowed Fountain 3x Island 3x Plains 4x Celestial Colonnade 3x Mystic Gate 1x Eiganjo Castle 1x Minamo, School at Water's Edge 4x Field of Ruin	SB: 2x Damping Sphere SB: 2x Rest in Peace SB: 2x Stony Silence SB: 2x Runed Halo SB: 2x Dispel SB: 2x Disenchant SB: 1x Celestial Purge SB: 1x Negate SB: 1x Supreme Verdict

UW Midrange has become one of my favorite Modern archetypes. The manabase and sideboard cards are great, and the Resto/Finks/Wall team does SO much work. This take is heavily based on Yuuya Watanabe's list from Worlds in 2015. UW has been quite successful in Modern recently in the form of hard control builds with Terminus, but I find that style much less appealing.

Zoo, 8/15/18
Creature Spells (27) 4x Noble Hierarch 4x Wild Nacatl 4x Tarmogoyf 2x Qasali Pridemage 2x Scavenging Ooze 4x Knight of the Reliquary 3x Loxodon Smiter 4x Bloodbraid Elf	Noncreature Spells (11) 4x Path to Exile 4x Lightning Bolt 2x Lightning Helix 1x Domri Rade
Lands (22) 4x Windswept Heath 4x Wooded Foothills 2x Arid Mesa 1x Temple Garden 2x Stomping Ground 2x Sacred Foundry 2x Forest 1x Plains 1x Horizon Canopy 1x Stirring Wildwood 1x Ghost Quarter 1x Kessig Wolf Run	SB: 3x Molten Rain SB: 2x Grafdigger's Cage SB: 2x Fiery Justice SB: 2x Kitchen Finks SB: 2x Stony Silence SB: 2x Gaddock Teeg SB: 1x Ancient Grudge SB: 1x Sword of Light and Shadow

I always find myself coming back to Big Zoo in Modern. It just plays efficient, reasonably powerful cards and is capable presenting a quick clock, which are valuable attributes in this format. The unbanning of Bloodbraid Elf was great news for Zoo, but it has yet to put up many strong results. I think the deck isn't played very much as its on the more expensive side and isn't perceived as being good.

Liege Junk, 7/31/18
Creature Spells (27) 4x Noble Hierarch 4x Birds of Paradise 4x Voice of Resurgence 2x Qasali Pridemage 2x Scavenging Ooze 4x Loxodon Smiter 4x Siege Rhino 3x Wilt-Leaf Liege	Noncreature Spells (10) 4x Path to Exile 2x Thoughtseize 4x Lingering Souls
Lands (23) 4x Windswept Heath 4x Verdant Catacombs 1x Marsh Flats 1x Temple Garden 1x Overgrown Tomb 1x Godless Shrine 3x Forest 1x Plains 1x Swamp 3x Razorverge Thicket 3x Gavony Township	SB: 2x Damping Sphere SB: 2x Rest in Peace SB: 2x Thoughtseize SB: 2x Stony Silence SB: 2x Gaddock Teeg SB: 2x Blessed Alliance SB: 1x Maelstrom Pulse SB: 1x Thrun, the Last Troll SB: 1x Sword of War and Peace

This deck has very polarized matchups and probably isn't very good overall.  However, I continue to play it solely due to the fact that Wilt-Leaf Liege is one of my favorite cards, and I don't really have another deck to play it in.

A Modern Renaissance

Modern is a format I've relegated to the back burner for several years, having last played it regularly during 2014. Since then, a flurry of bannings and unbannings have occurred, and decks have risen and fallen. By now, Modern has become a nearly unrecognizable format.

A few weeks ago I decided to play in SCG Modern Regionals on a lark, mostly because it was being held at my LGS, Gaming Etc. My Modern collection had been decimated from years of disuse. I could put together some sort of Zoo deck from my Legacy collection, but had my eyes set on something a bit different. After buying a few cards and asking around to borrow others, I ended up with this:

UW Midrange, 2/4/17
Creature Spells (16) 4x Wall of Omens 4x Blade Splicer 2x Vendilion Clique 2x Snapcaster Mage 4x Restoration Angel	Noncreature Spells (19) 4x Path to Exile 4x Spell Snare 3x Mana Leak 2x Cryptic Command 2x Ojutai's Command 1x Blessed Alliance 1x Detention Sphere 1x Engineered Explosives 1x Supreme Verdict
Lands (25) 4x Flooded Strand 2x Hallowed Fountain 5x Island 2x Plains 4x Celestial Colonnade 2x Glacial Fortress 1x Mystic Gate 4x Ghost Quarter 1x Moorland Haunt	SB: 2x Grafdigger's Cage SB: 1x Dispel SB: 2x Negate SB: 1x Condemn SB: 2x Stony Silence SB: 2x Aven Mindcensor SB: 1x Pithing Needle SB: 1x Celestial Purge SB: 1x Detention Sphere SB: 1x Brimaz, King of Oreskos SB: 1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant

UW Midrange/Control is an archetype that has existed in Modern for a long time. You may recall John Finkel playing such a deck at the Players' Championship in 2012. This archetype got a significant boost with the printing of Flooded Strand into Modern, cementing one of its greatest advantages: a rock-solid manabase that can support two of the best lands in Modern, Celestial Colonnade and Ghost Quarter. Beyond the manabase there are a range of builds that can be played, from "do-nothing" Sphinx's Revelation control to value-oriented midrange.

I was naturally interested in trying a UW deck since Celestial Colonnade (which I had never played with) and Cryptic Command are two of my favorite Modern cards. The midrangey builds looked perfect for me due to their focus on creatures and blink shenanigans, one of my favorite things in Magic.

For my creature suite I went with the non-traditional choice of Blade Splicer over Kitchen Finks. Blade Splicer is card I have very fond memories of as it was the bread and butter of my first competitive Magic deck. It does some things better than Kitchen Finks and other things worse. Running Blade Splicer also opened up the possibility of playing Ojutai's Command for further cuteness (Update: this interaction does not work the way I want it to). Adding a Moorland Haunt was irresistible as well (I even considered jamming a Venser, the Sojourner somewhere in the 75 but that was too much). Otherwise, I think the list was pretty standard.

The tournament went poorly for me with a final record of 3-6. I honestly wasn't expecting to do well considering how rusty I was with the format, coupled with the fact that my deck probably wasn't very good. Indeed, I got punished for numerous play and sideboarding mistakes. However, I had a great time overall, and my interest in Modern has been re-invigorated and I've bought the remaining cards for the UW deck.

I also decided to give Zoo a spin in a local monthly event two weeks later.

Zoo, 2/18/17
Creature Spells (27) 4x Noble Hierarch 4x Wild Nacatl 4x Tarmogoyf 2x Qasali Pridemage 2x Scavenging Ooze 1x Voice of Resurgence 4x Knight of the Reliquary 3x Loxodon Smiter 2x Stormbreath Dragon	Noncreature Spells (11) 4x Path to Exile 4x Lightning Bolt 1x Domri Rade 1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant 1x Chandra, Pyromaster
Lands (22) 4x Windswept Heath 4x Wooded Foothills 1x Arid Mesa 2x Temple Garden 2x Stomping Ground 1x Sacred Foundry 2x Forest 1x Plains 1x Mountain 1x Horizon Canopy 1x Stirring Wildwood 1x Ghost Quarter 1x Kessig Wolf Run	SB: 2x Grafdigger's Cage SB: 2x Blood Moon SB: 2x Kitchen Finks SB: 2x Stony Silence SB: 2x Gaddock Teeg SB: 2x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben SB: 1x Ancient Grudge SB: 1x Dromoka's Command SB: 1x Pithing Needle

Its a Big Zoo deck pretty similar to those that emerged in the aftermath of Wild Nacatl's unbanning. My curve goes up to five with Stormbreath Dragon in true Kibler style. I was reminded of the power of this card when I had the misfortune to play against it with the UW deck. Pro-White, Flying, Haste, and even Monstrous are all real things.

This tournament fared better than the first. I ended with a 4-2 record for 11th place out of 40-something players. My familiarity with Big Zoo in Legacy and the fact that its a reasonably forgiving deck definitely helped, but again I made several poor plays and sideboarding choices due to my inexperience with the format.

There are a few things I'd like to refine with the list. A 23rd land is needed in order to play 5-drops, and the manabase was sometimes sketchy in terms of colors (Red in particular), so the 2nd Arid Mesa is going in, and Raging Ravine will possibly replace Stirring Wildwood. In the sideboard I'll try cutting the versatile Dromoka's Command for a more dedicated removal spell like Fiery Justice.

Overall, I'm looking forward to play some more Modern. It will make for a nice change of pace from Legacy every so often.