Metagame: Modern's First Week Post-Unbans

Last week was huge for Modern. In addition to banning key cards like The One Ring and Amped Raptor, Wizards of the Coast also announced the unban of four historical staples of the format: Faithless Looting, Green Sun’s Zenith, Mox Opal and Splinter Twin.

After many tests and Challenges, the first results show some changes on certain fronts, while on others, it seems to have stayed the same. The end of the year period is always harder to evaluate, and the first week after changes makes it even harder to understand how the Metagame is developing.

In this article, we present the main new features of Modern in the Challenges of the first week after the bans, which saw the return of Mox Opal in combo decks, Green Sun’s Zenith solidifying itself as a new key player for some archetypes while, on the other hand, Energy decks still seem to be the best option in the format.

It’s too early to say that Energy is still the best deck. The Metagame has changed a lot, and it’s normal for an aggressive archetype to have an advantage in an environment where everyone is testing cards. What’s clear, however, is that Energy’s losses were relatively easy to replace, even when they don’t offer the card advantage that Amped Raptor and The One Ring did.

The archetype is separated between the Boros, Mardu and Jeskai variants. The replacements vary depending on the color combination, but the top candidates include Unstable Amulet, Seasoned Pyromancer, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Chthonian Nightmare, and Expressive Iteration. Sometimes, two or more of these cards share the same list.

It's worth noting that Energy was the deck with the most appearances in the Top 8 of Challenges this weekend.

Boros variants have heavily relied on Seasoned Pyromancer, a trait shared by most lists with results in Challenges.

Pyromancer's interaction with cards like Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury while putting tokens on the board to trigger Guide of Souls and, consequently, Ocelot Pride, makes it the perfect replacement, in addition to its tokens helping Ajani, Nacatl Pariah deal damage with its ability and being able to sacrifice both Pyromancer and the creatures it puts into play with Goblin Bombardment.

Another common addition to Boros lists was Blood Moon to punish greedy mana bases, which may or may not become a trend depending on how the format adapts in January.

Mardu seems to be taking lessons from the Energy lists from Timeless to adapt to Modern post-bans with cards like Chthonian Nightmare and interaction with Thoughtseize, in addition to the already known Orcish Bowmasters set.

The competition between it and the Boros variant will be defined by which card is more important in the Metagame: Thoughtseize to deal with combos or Blood Moon to stop the greedy mana base of archetypes like Amulet Titan or Four-Color Goodstuff, which may have returned to the menu.

Jeskai seems like the least attractive version right now, but Expressive Iteration is a good cheap source of card advantage that interacts well with Unstable Amulet. Perhaps playing with a lower curve and/or in a Metagame where cards like Spell Pierce or Consign to Memory are essential will make this variant gain more space.

Despite the results, it seems necessary to state again that it is too early to say Energy is still the best deck in Modern. It was the reliable choice, the deck that would be played by those who want to win without trying anything too bold and preying on a Metagame where new lists are being adapted.

It is clear, however, that it probably still occupies the Best Aggro spot. Archetypes like Domain Zoo did not have significant results this week and still seem to require a lot to do what Boros Energy does best. Furthermore, even if Zoo gains space, the amount of flexible answers in Energy's combinations, including Blood Moon, certainly put it in a more favored space in the Metagame.

Among the cards unbanned from Modern last week, Mox Opal was the most played and had the most results in Challenges. While everyone feared that Affinity would crush the Meta, Opal proved to be a much more efficient option in combos.

After all, why try to play Kappa Cannoneer on the second turn when we can close the combo as soon as the third turn and win with Grapeshot or Thassa’s Oracle?

The combination of Grinding Station with Underworld Breach was already a well-known strategy in Modern and which gained traction in a format where archetypes were trying to ignore Boros Energy and bypass the protection of The One Ring, and what Mox Opal did for the archetype was give it four more sources of free mana, totaling eight Moxen - at this point, Grinding Breach doesn't seem to play Modern in the format's terms.

That doesn't mean it's a broken deck. The results indicate that it has a good presence, and some archetypes are already working the Sideboard or even the maindeck to deal with the combo, and we still need some time until we can point to a consistent win rate with and against it that shows signs of how good it is against the rest of the format.

Broodscale Combo already existed in Modern before the bans and found in Mox Opal another way to speed up its turns, not unlike what it already does with Eldrazi Temple. This was another standout archetype this week, and the extra mana complements how deep this archetype can dig for its key pieces with Ancient Stirrings and Malevolent Rumble.

There were other surprises this week, but the most interesting with Mox Opal was the return of Hammer Time, a deck that had disappeared from the format since Orcish Bowmasters and The One Ring basically invalidated its game plan. Now, without a Fog on steroids in the way, the deck finds means to be as fast as other combos while exercising a viable backup plan with Kappa Cannoneer or Stoneforge Mystic and Kaldra Compleat.

Of all the unbans, Mox Opal seems the most intriguing right now, as we've seen several interventions in Modern in the past to take away access to free mana, with the most recent being Simian Spirit Guide, so we'll have to keep a close eye on how good it is and how the Metagame adapts.

Green Sun's Zenith was one of the most diverse cards in this batch of Challenges. As expected, it really found a home in Amulet Titan and also gave Golgari Yawgmoth a boost that, let's face it, was needed.

Despite not seeking Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Zenith does an impressive job of finding specific pieces to respond to the opponent's hate and complements Chord of Calling in this process, in addition to seeking Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons and Young Wolf, increasing the overall consistency of the combo.

This function was even repeated with Samwise Gamgee:

Another highlight for Zenith lists, for the most part, was Grist, the Hunger Tide, the Planeswalker is treated as a green creature in any zone other than the battlefield, fitting naturally as part of the toolbox of Zenith decks - including as a protagonist in a new Midrange variant.

This is the first time I've seen Agatha's Soul Cauldron being used as an attrition piece instead of combo material (not that it's impossible to add some to the list), but this version is basically a Grist deck trying to use Cauldron to turn creatures into anything: Fulminator Mage, Scavenging Ooze, Wight of the Reliquary and Haywire Mite provide a wide range of abilities for threats with +1/+1 counters, and Grist provides a constant flow of tokens to be sacrificed to destroy nonbasics, or anything along these lines.

Goodstuff piles have gotten a breather with the recent bans, and now Omnath, Locus of Creation can be paired with Green Sun’s Zenith for a toolbox that ranges from Grist, the Hunger Tide to Atraxa, Grand Unifier—potentially castable or searchable with Zenith thanks to the extra mana generated by Omnath.

Yes, Arclight Phoenix and Hollow One have made appearances in Challenges and made the hype around Faithless Looting worthwhile, but by far the most notable development with the unbanned card has been the return of Indomitable Creativity lists.

Faithless Looting provides an alternative line for Creativity to bring Archon of Cruelty into play with Persist, a strategy that was already known when this was the best deck in Modern before it was overshadowed during 2023 and 2024 by The One Ring, which invalidated Archon of Cruelty's competitive viability.

This was another archetype that players respected during the events, with some lists even returning to Orvar, the All-Form as a response. Creativity decks were one of the most hated archetypes in Modern before the release of Lord of the Rings, and I wonder how it will fare in the current format.

Despite bringing back Arclight Phoenix and Hollow One, it seems that Faithless Looting's new best friend is Nethergoyf and the famous Delirium package with Fear of Missing Out and Dragon's Rage Channeler.

In both cases, the core was built around this theme with a few point additions to make another plan work: Manamorphose on Izzet Phoenix is a huge need, while Street Wraith actively helps to cast many copies of Hollow One.

Splinter Twin was the least impressive card among the unbans. Despite the hype and some results in Leagues with different variants, Twin only managed to get one copy in the Top 8 of this weekend's Challenges in a Temur variant with Tarmogoyf

And perhaps Twin's problem today is the same as we see in this list: the deck is mostly stuck in 2015. Either because Deceiver Exarch's interaction with the rest of the format has become irrelevant, or because we're still using cards like Snapcaster Mage and Tarmogoyf, which lose much of their potential when compared to what Modern Horizons brought.

Right now, my impression is that Splinter Twin has become too slow. Incidental hate like Boseiju, Who Endures, Haywire Mite and others are also factors that work against the enchantment in the current Modern, putting it in an unfavorable position in the Metagame.

The rest of the format is split between archetypes that haven't changed much because they know exactly what they want in this Metagame, and those that are adapting to last week's changes.

For example, Dimir Murktide has started to have a splash for Meltdown as a universal answer to Affinity and other Mox Opal decks. Perhaps this splash will lead to the addition of other cards in the future, or it may disappear altogether when/if artifact decks become less relevant, or if there are better answers to their strategies.

Eldrazi, in general, are trying to adapt after the ban of The One Ring. One highlight of this week was a version of Through the Breach with Yggdrasil, Rebirth Engine as an alternative way to cheat on mana costs and Palantir of Orthanc as a source of card advantage.

Another interesting list this week was an Orzhov Vial with a toolbox of creatures to search with Recruiter of the Guard, as well as Overlord of the Balemurk as a way to constantly recur them on every turn it attacks, in addition to being one of the best Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd lists I've seen since its release in Modern Horizons 3.

It's still too early to draw conclusions about Modern after the latest changes. Energy may seem like the best deck, but we need to evaluate how the Metagame will adapt to it, as well as observe how its matchup against other promising strategies, such as Grinding Breach, plays out.

There are many new features on the way, and as the year draws to a close, the format should take longer to correct itself and create a more consistent Metagame with a new layer of dominant strategies. It remains to be seen whether this will be a healthier environment than it has been in the last six months, or if we will face another polarized scene which will, once more, need to be fixed.

Thanks for reading!