With my school prom and mid-year exams over, I decided to start preparing myself for the local Modern PTQ next month. Like before every major event, I began my preparation by analyzing past results to get an understanding of what the top decks are and try and look for decks that I believe are well positioned. Based on this research, this is how I believe the format is currently positioned:

Tier 1:
• Birthing Pod decks (Angel Pod, Melira Pod and Kiki Pod)
• Rock Variants (Jund and GB)
• Affinity
• Splinter Twin (UR, Tarmotwin is very badly positioned now)
• UWR (Flash and Kiki)

Tier 1.5:
• RG Tron
• Burn

There’s about 20 different Tier 2 to 3 decks (basically most decks you’ve heard the name of) but these are the 7 main decks which I believe are the pillars of the format. While it may be surprising to see Burn up there, I found that Burn has been dominating in the Japanese metagame (5 Burn decks placed in the Top 16, and won, a 300 man event at Saito’s store) and it continually does well online.

However the deck that I’m most excited about isn’t any of these top decks, in fact it’s one that seems to have fallen off the map completely; Blue Moon. The deck had a breakout performance at Pro Tour Born of the Gods as Lee Shi Tian piloted it to a Top 8 finish. However since then it hasn’t been seen at all online and it hasn’t put up a major result in real life with the exception of a 2nd place finish at the Bazaar of Moxen. Here are the respective lists:

Lee Shi-Tian, Top 8 Pro Tour Born of the Gods

Creatures

3 Snapcaster Mage

2 Master of Waves

Spells

4 Blood Moon

2 Spreading Seas

2 Threads of Disloyalty

2 Vedalken Shackles

2 Batterskull

4 Lightning Bolt

4 Serum Visions

4 Spell Snare

3 Remand

2 Vapor Snag

2 Mana Leak

2 Cryptic Command

Lands

4 Misty Rainforest

4 Scalding Tarn

3 Steam Vents

10 Island

1 Mountain

Sideboard

3 Anger of the Gods

3 Vendilion Clique

2 Vandalblast

2 Spreading Seas

1 Flame Slash

1 Combust

1 Negate

1 Counterflux

1 Teferi, Mage of Zhelfir

 

Nicolas Massat, 2nd Bazaar of Moxen Modern Main Event

Creatures

4 Snapcaster Mage

2 Vendilion Clique

Spells

3 Blood Moon

2 Spreading Seas

2 Vedalken Shackles

1 Batterskull

4 Lightning Bolt

4 Serum Visions

3 Mana Leak

3 Cryptic Command

2 Flame Slash

2 Spell Snare

2 Remand

2 Electrolyze

1 Spell Pierce

1 Izzet Charm

Lands

4 Misty Rainforest

4 Scalding Tarn

2 Steam Vents

2 Sulfur Falls

9 Island

1 Mountain

Sideboard

3 Vandalblast

3 Combust

3 Anger of the Gods

2 Relic of Progenitus

2 Negate

1 Spreading Seas

1 Batterskull

 

The big reason this deck fell out of flavor is the resurgence of Splinter Twin and Burn being a lot more popular online and in the PTQ/GP scene compared to at the Pro Tour because the deck is very accessible and cheap. This deck has a pretty hard matchup against both decks as Blood Moon does very little against them and unlike UWR Flash, this deck has worse threats and is unable to close a game as fast so will always get outraced by Burn and will have a hard time keeping up with Twin’s threats unless you manage to resolve a Vedalken Shackles

So then why am I interested in this deck? The major reason is based around the shift in the metagame. Ever since GP Minneapolis where Andrew Huska and Willy Edel took Jund to a 2nd place and Top 16 finish respectively, people have started to pick up the Rock variant more which has slightly decreased the popularity of Splinter Twin. Also it seems like RG Tron is becoming more popular online as a response to this decrease in popularity of Twin and increase in fair decks (Pod, UWR and Rock) and I expect this trend to translate to real life as well because of how cheap the deck is.

Another big reason is that Kiwis LOVE fair decks. The Modern PTQ last year was full of various UWR, Rock and Pod decks while Splinter Twin was underrepresented. Since it seems like these decks are still doing very well and continue to be top decks, I expect most people will just stick to them which is great for Blue Moon as it preys on these three-color-manabases and its few basic lands. Between Blood Moon and Spreading Seas-ing their few basics, you can completely manascrew your opponent out of the game. I also expect a decent amount of RG Tron as people around here know just how much fair decks there will be at the PTQ and may try to beat them, which is great for Blue Moon as it has a stellar Tron matchup. While this means that Blue Moon may not be perfect for your meta, I think there is a general shift towards more fair decks being played and a drop in popularity of Twin, Storm and other combo decks which makes it a better choice and can really be great if your area is similar to mine where people tend to lean heavily towards fairer, reactive decks. Plus the deck’s a complete blast and a lot of fun to play!

Here is the list I am currently experimenting with:

Creatures

4 Snapcaster Mage

2 Vendilion Clique

2 Keranos, God of the Storm

Spells

4 Blood Moon

2 Spreading Seas

2 Vedalken Shackles

4 Lightning Bolt

4 Serum Visions

3 Spell Snare

3 Mana Leak

3 Cryptic Command

2 Remand

2 Electrolyze

1 Flame Slash

Lands

4 Misty Rainforest

4 Scalding Tarn

3 Steam Vents

10 Island

1 Mountain

Sideboard

3 Vandalblast

3 Anger of the Gods

2 Combust

2 Negate

2 Spreading Seas

1 Relic of Progenitus

1 Vendilion Clique

1 Batterskull

 

This list is closer to Nicolas Massat’s list from the Bazaar of Moxen as I believe his changes to the deck correctly identified the shift in the metagame. Lee Shi Tian’s was designed for an event where Zoo was the most popular deck but now that is not the case. This means dropping cards such as Threads of Disloyalty and Master of Waves for more Vendilion Cliques and Cryptic Commands

One major change I made to the deck was choosing to play Keranos, God of the Storms over Batterskull. While Batterskull is much better against the aggro decks such as Zoo, Keranos is almost unbeatable against decks such as Rock and UWR as they have no way to deal with it once it’s resolved. Batterskull is also relatively weak against Pod as they have Qasali Pridemage and Harmonic Sliver to deal with it but they have no way to deal with a resolved Keranos as you can slowly take out all their creatures and/or overwhelm them with card advantage.

Birthing Pod:
+3 Anger of the Gods
+2 Spreading Seas
+1 Relic of Progenitus
+1 Vandalblast
-3 Spell Snare
-2 Remand
-1 Mana Leak
-1 Vendilion Clique

The general plan here is to try kill all their creatures, especially their mana accelerators, and then lock them out with Blood Moon + Spreading Seas on their few basic lands. Counterspells tend to be bad in this matchup as the game tends to go long which makes cards like Remand and Mana Leak useless topdecks. However I like keeping in a couple of Mana Leaks though to deal with any early threats and Birthing Pod. Against Kiki Pod, you can bring in Combusts as well.

Rock:
+2 Spreading Seas
+1 Relic of Progenitus
+1 Batterskull
-2 Remand
-2 Electrolyze

The plan is the same as against Melira Pod, keep threats off the board while you try to lock the board with Blood Moon and Spreading Seas. Remand isn’t very good due to their large amount of discard spells and their key cards against you are Tarmogoyf and Liliana of the Veil, neither of which Remand is great against as it doesn’t permanently deal with them and they can easily recast it as they’re relatively cheap. While Mana Leak isn’t great, it’s necessary to deal with Goyfs and Liliana and hopefully you can lock them out before they become dead in the lategame.

Affinity:
+3 Vandalblast
+3 Anger of the Gods
+1 Batterskull
-2 Remand
-2 Spreading Seas
-2 Vendilion Clique
-1 Blood Moon

Pre-Board this matchup is relatively tough but it gets significantly better post board as both Vandalblast and Anger of the Gods are great against them. I like keeping in the Blood Moons in this matchup as it can turn off their manlands which is crucial as you have 6 board sweepers to deal with any threat on the field but they don’t deal with the manlands. Remand is very bad here as all their spells are very cheap. Vedalken Shackles can be great in this matchup as they may go all in on a creature to save them from Anger of the Gods and you can just steal it so try sandbag it accordingly. Your biggest concern is Etched Champion, which you will have to counter or overload Vandalblast to deal with it. For this reason try hold your counterspells for it if possible.

UWR:
+2 Combust
+2 Negate
+1 Spreading Seas
+1 Vendilion Clique
+1 Batterskull
-4 Lightning Bolt
-2 Electrolyze
-1 Flame Slash

This match-up is all about trying to resolve Blood Moon and Keranos, God of the Storms. Other than Blood Moon, their deck is much better positioned than ours as they have better threats in the form of Celestial Colonnade which is outside burn range. However if we can resolve a Blood Moon, we can severely hurt their mana as well as negate the manlands. Because of this, I like to board in Combusts and Spreading Seas as it stops their Colonnade and is better than the dead removal we have in the maindeck. The most important threat to resolve however is Keranos. UWR has no outs to it unless they have Celestial Purge in the sideboard, so sequence your plays based on this and prepare to enter a counter war for it as it’s essential for you to try stick one of these into play.

Splinter Twin:
+2 Combust
+2 Negate
+1 Vendilion Clique
+1 Batterskull
-4 Blood Moon
-2 Spreading Seas

This is one of the deck’s harder matchups as Blood Moon and Spreading Seas are both completely dead against them. While you do have many answers at your disposal, you don’t have the high quality of threats that UWR has such as Restoration Angel and Celestial Colonnade which means that you are unable to present good pressure on them so they can often outdraw you if the game goes long. The key to winning this game is to try resolve a Vedalken Shackles or Keranos. Vedalken Shackles is crucial as it is very hard for them to beat it as it stops them from being able to combo and it can make combat a nightmare for them.

RG Tron:
+3 Vandalblast
+2 Negate
+2 Spreading Seas
+1 Vendilion Clique
+1 Batteskull
-4 Lightning Bolt
-3 Spell Snare
-1 Flame Slash
-1 Electrolyze

This matchup is great as between Spreading Seas and Blood Moon, you can easily stop their combo. While the game does go long so they can often hardcast their threats, you have enough counterspells to deal with their weak effort at trying to resolve one. Spell Snares are boarded out as it doesn’t hit anything except Sylvan Scrying which you don’t care about. I like to board in Vandalblast here as you have so many dead cards and Vandalblast can deal with an Oblivion Stone which is one of their few key ways to deal with all your mana denial (it is unlikely they reach 8 lands so they’ll try to resolve one then blow it up the following turn which gives you a window to deal with it) as well as being able to deal with Wurmcoil Engine in multiples if necessary. Post board, remember that they have access to Nature’s Claim so try play around it accordingly.

Burn:
This matchup is unwinnable. Prey that they mulligan to death and if they do keep seven, save yourself the effort and just scoop so you have more time to rest and prepare yourself for the next round.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed this article and I am looking forward to experimenting and working on this deck for the next couple of weeks as I get ready for the PTQ. Expect the next couple of articles to be Modern related as I explore this format deeper and try get more exposure to the format to get a better understanding of it. As usual if you have any questions or feedback (doesn’t necessarily have to be about this article), feel free to comment here or tweet at me!

Cheers,
Zen Takahashi
@mtgzen on Twitter