Hello Everybody!

In this article we’ll be talking again about modern and we’ll analyze what new insights PT Born of the Gods has given us. After the recent bannings and unbannings we reached several conclusions:

* Thanks to the unbanning of Wild Nacatl, Zoo is once again viable and is likely to become the most played deck.
* Due to the banning of Deathrite Shaman, Jund is no longer the sheriff in town (though still viable). This means an increasing popularity of combo decks like Splinter Twin, which used to have a tough matchup against Jund.
* Urzatron, which has a good matchup against the former best deck and a poor matchup against combos, is likely to become less popular.
* The unbanning of Bitterblossom is going to be abused with Faeries/token decks.

Most of these predictions came true. Zoo and Twin were the most popular decks, followed by tweaked versions of well-known archetypes like Melira Pod, UWR Flash, Hexproof Auras, Scapeshift and Affinity.

Among the top performing decks we found some surprises. Let’s start with the absence of Bitterblossom, a card which used to dominate the metagame just a few years ago. People in testing realized that Faeries couldn’t stand up to the pressure of decks like Zoo and Affinity, so only six players sleeved up Spellstutter Sprite & co. Among them, though, was one of the top deckbuilders in the world, Shouta Yasooka. Let’s take a look at his deck list:

Shouta Yasooka – UB Faeries

Creatures

3 Mistbind Clique

1 Snapcaster Mage

4 Spellstutter Sprite

3 Vendilion Clique

Spells

1 Agony Warp

4 Bitterblossom

3 Cryptic Command

2 Go for the Throat

3 Inquisition of Kozilek

2 Liliana of the Veil

2 Mana Leak

1 Smother

2 Sword of Feast and Famine

2 Thoughtseize

2 Tragic Slip

Lands

2 Creeping Tar Pit

4 Darkslick Shores

2 Island

4 Mutavault

4 River of Tears

4 Secluded Glen

3 Sunken Ruins

2 Swamp

Sideboard

2 Batterskull

3 Deathmark

2 Flashfreeze

2 Glen Elendra Archmage

2 Jace Beleren

1 Relic of Progenitus

1 Thoughtseize

2 Threads of Disloyalty

 

Yasooka’s deck has a good matchup against combo and control while not giving up to aggro, and I expect this deck to shine again once the format is established and it will be possible to tune the deck for the expected field.

As far as Tokens are concerned, the White Weenie Master Craig Wescoe performed well with an interesting Bitterblossom-less version of WB:

Craig Wescoe – WB Tokens

Lands

4 Arid Mesa

4 Marsh Flats

3 Fetid Heath

4 Godless Shrine

2 Plains

1 Swamp

3 Isolated Chapel

3 Tectonic Edge

1 Vault of Archangel

Creatures

4 Squadron Hawk

Spells

4 Doom Blade

3 Engineered Explosives

4 Honor of the Pure

2 Inquisition of Kozilek

4 Lingering Souls

4 Path to Exile

4 Spectral Procession

3 Sword of War and Peace

4 Thoughtseize

Sideboard

3 Disenchant

2 Grafdigger’s Cage

3 Liliana of the Veil

3 Rest in Peace

3 Stony Silence

1 Tectonic Edge

 

You see? Just 12 ways of generating creatures and a lot of ways to pump them, backed up by a mix of removal and disruption. Surely it’s worth a try!

If you’re not about to give up your turn 1 discard spell, turn 2 Dark ConfidantTarmogoyf, turn 3 Liliana of the Veil, Matt Costa and Reid Duke offered a good innovative solution for you:

Matthew Costa and Reid Duke – BG Midrange

Creatures

4 Dark Confidant

2 Kitchen Finks

4 Phyrexian Obliterator

4 Scavenging Ooze

4 Tarmogoyf

Spells

3 Abrupt Decay

4 Inquisition of Kozilek

4 Liliana of the Veil

2 Maelstrom Pulse

2 Slaughter Pact

4 Path to Exile

1 Victim of Night

2 Thoughtseize

Lands

1 Forest

2 Marsh Flats

2 Overgrown Tomb

4 Treetop Village

4 Twilight Mire

2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

4 Verdant Catacombs

4 Swamp

1 Woodland Cemetery

Sideboard

3 Creeping Corrosion

2 Deathmark

3 Fulminator Mage

2 Grafdigger’s Cage

1 Kitchen Finks

1 Sword of Light and Shadow

2 Thoughtseize

1 Thrun, the Last Troll

 

A typical midrange deck, not as explosive as Shaman Jund used to be but in such a wide open field, is a great choice since it has access to discard spells to fight combo and control. It also has a very good matchup against creature decks thanks to the life-gain abilities of their creatures and the creature bodies. I especially love the Slaughter Pact tech, which can lead to a blowout for unsuspecting opponents. Also, Phyrexian Obliterator seems like such a sweet card…

If you like pure control, we can mention another master, the Hall of Famer Gabriel Nassif, who built a straight UW version. If counterspell, mass removal and Gideon Jura fit your play style, this is the way to go:

Gabriel Nassif – UW Control

Creatures

2 Snapcaster Mage

3 Vendilion Clique

3 Wall of Omens

2 Wurmcoil Engine

Spells

2 Cryptic Command

2 Gideon Jura

4 Mana Leak

4 Path to Exile

2 Remand

4 Spell Snare

1 Sphinx’s Revelation

3 Supreme Verdict

2 Think Twice

Lands

1 Arid Mesa

2 Calciform Pools

4 Celestial Colonnade

4 Ghost Quarter

1 Glacial Fortress

2 Hallowed Fountain

4 Island

1 Misty Rainforest

1 Mystic Gate

2 Plains

2 Scalding Tarn

2 Seachrome Coast

Sideboard

1 Celestial Purge

2 Condemn

1 Dispel

1 Grafdigger’s Cage

1 Hallowed Burial

3 Negate

1 Rest in Peace

1 Rule of Law

2 Stony Silence

1 Supreme Verdict

1 Think Twice

 

And then we come to the innovative builds that made the cut straight to the top 8. Lee Shi Tian built a UR aggro-control deck with his teammates which they called Blue Moon because of its full set of maindeck Blood Moons. Definitely an interesting and efficient strategy which can lead to a number of free wins, especially pre-board. The rest of the deck is a mix of counterspells, solutions and ways to steal opponents’ threats. Additional flash creatures from the board help to improve matchup against non-creature based decks. Definitely well-built and a valid alternative to UR Delver if you’re in Volcanic Island mood.

Lee Shi-Tian – Blue Moon

Creatures

2 Master of Waves

3 Snapcaster Mage

Spells

2 Cryptic Command

2 Batterskull

2 Mana Leak

4 Lightning Bolt

3 Remand

4 Spell Snare

4 Serum Visions

2 Spreading Seas

2 Threads of Disloyalty

2 Vapor Snag

2 Vedalken Shackles

4 Blood Moon

Lands

10 Island

4 Misty Rainforest

1 Mountain

3 Steam Vents

4 Scalding Tarn

Sideboard

3 Anger of the Gods

1 Combust

1 Counterflux

1 Flame Slash

1 Negate

2 Spreading Seas

1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir

2 Vandalblast

3 Vendilion Clique

 

Finally, we come to my favorite deck from PT Born of the Gods. As you know I’m a huge fan of Splinter Twin decks but Patrick Dickmann managed to go beyond with the Green splash. The deck no longer relies on the combo but it’s a tempo/midrange deck able to kill with its Green bad boys while punishing a tapped out opponent by slamming a Splinter Twin on one of our untappers. In certain matchups we can entirely side out the combo adding more stuff to win the Red zone fight. If I were to play a modern tournament tomorrow, this would be my choice:

Patrick Dickmann – RUG Twin

Creatures

3 Deceiver Exarch

3 Pestermite

4 Snapcaster Mage

4 Tarmogoyf

2 Scavenging Ooze

Spells

2 Cryptic Command

1 Electrolyze

2 Gitaxian Probe

4 Lightning Bolt

4 Remand

2 Flame Slash

4 Serum Visions

4 Splinter Twin

Lands

2 Island

4 Misty Rainforest

1 Mountain

3 Steam Vents

4 Scalding Tarn

1 Breeding Pool

1 Forest

1 Stomping Ground

2 Sulfur Falls

2 Hinterland Harbor

Sideboard

2 Anger of the Gods

1 Combust

1 Counterflux

2 Ancient Grudge

1 Negate

1 Dismember

1 Dispel

1 Batterskull

1 Engineered Explosives

1 Nature’s Claim

1 Scavenging Ooze

1 Spellskite

1 Sword of Feast and Famine

Modern once again proved to be a varied and brew-open format and I can’t wait to start testing for the next PTQ season. Hoping you found this review interesting. See you next time!

Alessandro The Pirate Lippi