Modern: 7 Decks to keep an eye on the Post-bans Metagame

The bans have arrived: Nadu, Winged Wisdom has finally left Modern and the format was surprised with the hammer hitting Grief, a card that caused concern due to its play patterns.

Now, the Metagame is trying to adapt to the changes and pick up where it left off. In addition to the clear impact that an environment without Nadu causes, Necrodominance and other lists that took advantage of Grief need to reinvent themselves or make room for other strategies to compete - and the first wave of post-ban Challenges shows an environment with mixes of predictable archetypes and some surprises that we haven't seen in the format for a few months, or even years.

In this article, we present seven Modern archetypes to keep an eye on in the coming weeks, based on the results they presented in competitive events!

Ruby Storm

Ruby Storm was one of the decks that benefited the most from the bans on August 26. Not only did it lose one of its main competitors in its own category, but it also no longer has to fear the format's main disruptor: Grief.

Without it, Midranges must resort to conventional discard methods like Thoughtseize and even Inquisition of Kozilek to interact with the combo, or run blue cards to counter its spells, or the Storm trigger.

These strategies, however, are seasonal: as the Metagame adapts, it will become harder for Storm to maintain its results, and it will remain in the lines of other decks like Hammer Time or Dredge, where it grows as other archetypes stop respecting it in their Sideboard - or we will discover in a few weeks that Ruby Storm is too fast for Modern to keep up with without Grief.

Eldrazi

Whether with traditional ramp, Through the Breach to close a combo-kill or with the toolbox of Karn, The Great Creator and The Underworld Cookbook to cast Emrakul, the World Anew early, Eldrazi are here to stay.

Like Ruby Storm, Big Mana has benefited from the banning of Grief and Nadu, Winged Wisdom and, now without the need to keep the clock faster or rely on the topdeck more often, has diversified into distinct archetypes focused on some of the main Eldrazi released in Modern Horizons 3.

Devourer of Destiny is another motivator for the growth of this strategy in Modern, being the closest to Once Upon a Time that the format has while also being removal and a threat when we reach seven mana - an easy task when we have the pseudo-extra turn of The One Ring to hold off the beatdown of the fairer strategies and, sometimes, even hold the game for enough turns against Aggro.

Jeskai Control

Speaking of The One Ring, Jeskai Control still looks like a safe bet for the post-ban Modern Metagame. Its mix of versatile answers and card advantage bombs give it time to take over the matchup.

Jeskai is also one of the best The One Ring decks in the format today due to its combination with Teferi, Time Raveler to reset it and gain more “extra turns” - a mechanic that the above list adds even more layers to with Orim’s Chant, an efficient meta call against Storm and Big Mana that also works against Aggro.

Energy Aggro

Whether in Boros or with splashes to other colors, Aggro based on the interaction of Guide of Souls, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah and Ocelot Pride is the main strategy to play “under” in Modern today and should remain so in the coming weeks.

Energy is a very versatile archetype, with a lot of reach and a straightforward game plan, but difficult to respond to without the right tools. With the absence of Mono Black Necrodominance, Energy lost one of the matchups capable of holding the game against it while it benefits from the growth of Eldrazi and Big Mana variants that don't have a decent early game and depend on a combo and/or The One Ring to hold the game for enough turns.

Domain Zoo

Domain Zoo is the other Aggro strategy that has been working in Modern post-bans, and surprisingly, with few or no MH3 cards. Some decks can't hold a Scion of Draco on turn two, and Zoo has some important interactions against the rising strategies in the Metagame today, such as Stubborn Denial and Leyline Binding.

Compared to Boros Energy, it loses out on speed in some matchups, but it makes up for it with larger bodies on the board and more flexibility in the Sideboard that its competitor can only access with the right splashes, in addition to being virtually a turn faster in matchups where opponents need to key spells that it can counter and/or by speeding up the clock with Tribal Flames.

Dimir Murktide

Dimir Murktide is the current “fun police” of the format, and time will tell if it has what it takes to stay in that category. Compared to previous Izzet variants, it has more disruption with Thoughtseize and a more explosive game plan with Psychic Frog, where we can discard cards to increase its power and “turbo” Murktide Regent as early as the third turn with removal backup and/or Spell Pierce to protect it.

This is the Tempo Deck of Modern today, perhaps the most efficient in adapting to the recent changes in the Metagame and the way certain strategies behave, and has a notable range of options for most matchups. It's likely to become the format's premier interactive archetype if we don't have another broken deck in the coming weeks.

Hollow One

Hollow One is so pre-Faithless Looting ban that many thought they'd never see it in a competitive Modern tournament again, but MH3 brought some key pieces that the deck can capitalize on to create a consistent strategy.

Nethergoyf and Detective's Phoenix basically offer more actions and ways to generate virtual card advantage with the random discard effects, and it's very challenging to hold the game when a 6/6 Hollow One with Flying is staring at you on the second or third turn, preferably accompanied by a Dragon's Rage Channeler.

This is a very straightforward archetype with a fast and efficient proposal. It is extremely vulnerable to graveyard hate, but the format hasn't been running many Rest in Peace and similar effects in its Sideboards, making it a great choice for Modern today.

That's all for today!

If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!