Every weekend, Modern challenges on MTGO showcase the format’s top decks and attract hundreds of great players looking to battle. What decks topped the tournaments this weekend?
The last weekend before March of the Machine impacts Modern saw Omnath and Rhinos fight with Murktide and Scam for top spots, plus one of the coolest Mono-Blue lists we've seen in a while!
MTGO Friday Night Challenge Results
Temur Rhinos - Bullwinkkle6705
Temur Rhinos - MarcoBelacca95
Burn - wangcai
5C Bring to Light Omnath - YungDingo
4C Omnath - Kurusu
Jeskai Control - Parrotlet
Belcher - TheManLand
UR Breach - Simarisu
Full list here
Direct links courtesy of Reddit u/FereMiyJeenyus and their MTGO Results Scraper.
MTGO Saturday Morning Challenge Results
BR “Scam” Midrange - JuanmaAT
UW Hammer - flamedragons2
Mono-Blue Affinity - Tezzey
BR “Scam” Midrange - Bugsy69
Mono-White Humans - qbturtle15
Temur Rhinos - edc26
Living End - Minuet
UR Murktide - Urthstrype
Full list here
Direct links courtesy of Reddit u/FereMiyJeenyus and their MTGO Results Scraper.
MTGO Saturday Night Challenge Results
Temur Rhinos - Bullwinkkle6705
Jeskai Prowess - Tedaboy
Mono-Green Tron - narca
Mono-Blue Tron - shoktroopa
UR Murktide - AvocadoToast
UR Murktide - ScreenwriterNY
Mono-Blue Tempo - NorthLagos
5C Creativity - Terminal Justice
Full list here
Direct links courtesy of Reddit u/FereMiyJeenyus and their MTGO Results Scraper.
MTGO Sunday Challenge Results
UR Murktide - anast1997
UR Murktide - kefka27
5C Omnath Bring to Light - CanadianNinja
UR Murktide - Lennny
Yawgmoth - Xerk
UR Murktide - sokos13
UR Murktide - No_e_that_knows
BR “Scam” Midrange - iShambler
Full list here
Direct links courtesy of Reddit u/FereMiyJeenyus and their MTGO Results Scraper.
MTGO Modern Challenge Top Decks
Rhinos Still Reign
First, a big congratulations to Bullwinkkle6705, who won two challenges this weekend with their take on Temur Rhinos! They opted for Murktide Regent and Become Immense in the flex slots, with Blood Moons coming in from the sideboard. The two other Rhinos decks also chose to play Murktide Regent, which is quickly becoming a favorite in the Cascade strategy.
Rhinos is still one of the best strategies in Modern, and the handful of options means you can never be sure what to play around. The core of the deck is set, but be prepared for anything from Fable of the Mirror-Breaker to Blood Moon or Murktide Regent in the main. And certainly play around Become Immense!
Mono-Blue Midrange?
What a list! Vendilion Clique? Ancestral Vision? Piracy Charm? This seemingly strange strategy has been around for a bit but has never seen much success online. I’ve seen it described as a tempo deck, akin to “Mono-Blue Jund.”
The deck is full of counters, fighting against problem spells with Subtlety, Force of Negation, and Counterspell. An early Chalice of the Void or Spreading Seas can slow down your opponent, and Petty Theft can buy you time against anything that does resolve.
Svyelun of Sea and Sky might seem like a strange choice in a list with no other Merfolk, but it’s only there for its ability that draws a card whenever it attacks. Clearing the way for Svyelun, together with Ancestral Vision, can quickly fill your hand back up with more answers.
Finally, the lands are one more benefit of going mono-blue. Faerie Conclave and Hall of Storm Giants can start attacking once the coast is clear. Otawara can give you another out to something giving you trouble, and Blast Zone is another way to answer problem permanents.
Light it Up
YungDingo and CanadianNinja both made the top four of challenges with “Niv to Light,” but YungDingo played with 80 cards!
The core of the Bring to Light Omnath deck is the same as other traditional Omnath lists: Wrenn and Six, Teferi, Omnath, and plenty of removal spells. Bring to Light usually finds Niv-Mizzet Reborn, hence “Niv to Light,” and fills up your hand thanks to playing so many multicolored cards.
Bring to Light is flexible though, and doesn’t always find Niv-Mizzet. Facing an army of creatures, Supreme Verdict helps you stabilize. Omnath is never a bad choice, helping you gain some life and extra mana. Sometimes Elesh Norn can just lock your opponent out of the game.
General Ferrous Rokiric can spiral out of control, making 4/4 Golems if unanswered. Kaya’s Guile is extremely versatile and gives you some main deck graveyard hate and extra life gain in the face of Burn, alongside Lightning Helix. The one-of Unmoored Ego can also be tutored to essentially win on the spot against certain combo decks like Creativity or Living End.
Bring to Light is a strong card in a great deck, and looks to become even better with the multicolor-focused March of the Machine release.
Golos is Good in Green
Finally, narca made the top four Saturday with Golos Tron! This list is similar to regular Mono-Green Tron, but uses Golos, Tireless Pilgrim to cheat out some huge threats, even without assembling the three-land-combo.
Most of the deck is devoted to finding the three Urza’s lands, and the threats that they can help power out, like most Tron lists. Golos can put Cascading Cataracts into play, and the following turn, its ability lets you cast the top three cards of your library for free! It only takes seven mana plus Cataracts to activate, meaning you can cast multiple game-enders like Kozilek or Ulamog as early as turn four, with only four lands.
Extra disruption fills out the rest of the deck and sideboard, easily accessible thanks to Karn, the Great Creator. Trinisphere and Ensnaring Bridge are traditional lock pieces, along with multiple copies of The Stone Brain and Relic of Progenitus. Plus, Oblivion Stone, Nevinyrral’s Disk, and Ugin can all wipe the board if you need a reset button. Jegantha is always an option to spend mana on, as well, and can help activate Golos with its mana ability.
Rest of the Best
Murktide is still the deck to beat, with anast1997 and kefka27 coming first and second, respectively, on Sunday. Notably, they both played Blood Moon in the main, which seems to be more of a popular choice every week.
JuanmaAT won on Saturday with Scam, which is also still one of the top decks. Maindeck Blood Moon was here and in the fourth place list, too!
All these Blood Moons might help explain the decrease of Hammer and Creativity, which both found their way into top eights this weekend but were much less successful this week. Some other notable top-eight strategies that don’t always find the elimination rounds include Living End, Belcher, Jeskai Control, Affinity, and Burn.
Trends and Takeaways
Big mana and multicolored strategies found lots of success this weekend, with Omnath, Rhinos, and Tron brawling with Murktide and Scam, along with their horde of Blood Moon effects. Many of those effects are showing up in the main deck of many lists, so continue to watch out and fetch for basic lands when you can.
Which cards from March of the Machine will have the biggest impact on Modern? We’ll find out next week!
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