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?
Living End took over this week, but we still had plenty of new cards that made their impact felt in Modern.
MTGO Friday Night Challenge Results
Living End - MeninoNey
Living End - yPrincipe
Living End - J0SE
Temur Rhinos - Hoey07
Jund Creativity - ziyanghuakai
BR “Scam” Midrange - The_Real_DK213
Mono-Red Obosh - TresDosDos
UR Prowess - Alan07
Full list here
Direct links courtesy of Reddit u/FereMiyJeenyus and their MTGO Results Scraper.
MTGO Saturday Morning Challenge Results
Glimpse Combo - Xenowan
Mono-Black Cabal Coffers - Trellon
UR Murktide - JackieBrown
UR Murktide - _StN_
UW Hammer - flamedragons2
Temur Rhinos - dm95
UR Murktide - kefka27
BR “Scam” Midrange - underdog111
Full list here
Direct links courtesy of Reddit u/FereMiyJeenyus and their MTGO Results Scraper.
MTGO Saturday Night Challenge Results
Amulet Titan - gurig
UW Control - Nammersquats
5C Creativity - DarthStone
Temur Rhinos - zer0h
5C Creativity - NsaneGoon
Living End - fingers1991
UR Murktide - Lennny
4C Omnath Bring to Light Scapeshift - Kihara_Works
Full list here
Direct links courtesy of Reddit u/FereMiyJeenyus and their MTGO Results Scraper.
MTGO Sunday Challenge Results
5C Creativity - TGB12
Living End - MeninoNey
5C Creativity - Jumba
4C Omnath Bring to Light Scapeshift - CookieKid00
Thopter Combo - ContraEgo
Domain Zoo - SilentOne9653
Temur Rhinos - toondoslav
Jeskai Obosh - Karstico
Full list here
Direct links courtesy of Reddit u/FereMiyJeenyus and their MTGO Results Scraper.
MTGO Modern Challenge Top Decks
First, let’s take a look at the new cards that made an impact this weekend!
Creativity decks might have received the most impactful cards from March of the Machine. Pilot ziyanghuakai added Wrenn and Realmbreaker to Jund Creativity, which both turns a land into a creature for the namesake card and creates some card advantage with the -2 ability, potentially leaving an Archon in the graveyard to reanimate later.
Both NsaneGoon and TGB12 played Change the Equation in their 5C Creativity sideboards, and TGB12 won the challenge Sunday with the full four! This card is extremely flexible, countering all the smaller removal spells that interfere with your Creativity plan, while also answering essentially any red or green spell you might run into. It also plays well with most counterspells in the format as well as the zero-mana cascade spells. This card can hit anything from Crashing Footfalls to an opposing Indomitable Creativity and pairs well with Spell Pierce to help protect your game plan.
NsaneGoon also played a pair of the new Battle, Invasion of Ergamon, which rummages to find cards you need while also creating a treasure that can be used for Indomitable Creativity.
Two copies of Invasion of Azgol found their way into the main deck of underdog111’s top eight Scam list, providing an edict effect with upside. Surge of Salvation is seeing play in Hammer lists as a usually better Blacksmith’s Skill, and Pile On is a new removal spell that creature decks like Yawgmoth can play as a free answer to certain problem creatures.
Bloodfeather Phoenix and Faerie Mastermind also appeared in the top 32, but it’s too early to tell if they’ll see widespread play in Prowess or Murktide strategies.
Sneaky Scapeshifts
Two separate Omnath Bring to Light decks found success this weekend, with both including the Scapeshift combo to win. Kihara_Works’s top eight list from Saturday is more aggressive, playing Ragavan and Lightning Bolt, while Sunday’s top four list from CookieKid00 acts more like a control deck.
This Scapeshift strategy is heavy on accelerating its mana, playing Arboreal Grazer and Dryad of the Ilysian Grove to power out a quick Bring to Light if needed. It can find a Supreme Verdict to slow down opposing creature decks, an Omnath to stabilize and ramp even more, or Scapeshift to win the game on the spot thanks to Valakut. This version even plays Expressive Iteration and Teferi for card advantage and disruption.
Is this Scapeshift version of Bring to Light better than playing Niv-Mizzet Reborn and tons of cards with different color combinations?
With(out) a Shadow of Doubt
Trellon made the finals Saturday with a slightly unorthodox version of Mono-Black Coffers. They played zero copies of Profane Tutor and the full playset of…Shadow of Doubt?! I’m sure they got some of their opponents trying to fetch on turn two or three, and even at its worst still cycles.
All the extra mana Cabal Coffers creates when combined with Urborg can be used to cast whatever huge threat you want from the sideboard thanks to Karn, and Invoke Despair being cast early or together with something else is backbreaking for any deck.
These powerful spells get paired up with premium black removal in Fatal Push, Bloodchief’s Thirst, and March of Wretched Sorrow to fight off any opposing creatures, and Damnation can always reset the board if things get out of hand.
Coffers continues to rise in popularity and success thanks to its quick mana acceleration combined with how hard it is to disrupt. Blood Moon effects can help, but with so many basic Swamps the deck will still get to cast its spells, and it has answers for almost anything you can throw at it.
Which Omnath?
Winning Saturday morning with Glimpse of Tomorrow, Xenowan had a very interesting elemental addition to the cascading combo. They played four copies of Omnath - not the new one, or the classic four-mana version, but Omnath, Locus of Rage!
This Omnath creates a 5/5 token whenever it sees a land enter play under your control, and it doesn’t take many of these triggers to take over the game.
This version tries to play a more “fair” game by actually casting many of its spells, like Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and Seasoned Pyromancer, instead of relying on getting lucky and hitting an Atraxa or Emrakul off of Glimpse to win. Fury also allows the deck to fight for longer, waiting to cast a game-ending Glimpse or surviving after the first one gets countered.
Rest of the Best
Did everyone forget their graveyard hate this week? Living End was everywhere, including MeninoNey impressively winning Friday and making the finals Sunday! Nothing too shocking about any of these lists, but the strategy is always a threat to win out of nowhere. Claiming all three top spots in the Friday night challenge is super impressive.
Amulet Titan won on Saturday thanks to gurig, with a somewhat stock list, except for the four Phyrexian Metamorph in the main! They can copy an Amulet of Vigor early or a Primeval Titan late. It's surely an interesting choice!
Multiple Obosh lists made the top eight this weekend, including a Mono-Red version full of hate cards like Blood Moon and Relic of Progenitus and a Jeskai build that can play like a control deck. Another unique strategy, Thopter Combo also made the top eight on Sunday. A blue-red prowess list found success Friday, interestingly not playing Underworld Breach, and Domain Zoo with Omnath and Knight of Autumn did as well on Sunday.
The rest of the field in the elimination rounds were the usual suspects, like Murktide, Rhinos, and Hammer.
Trends and Takeaways
While Creativity, Rhinos, and Murktide continue to dominate, Living End was back in a big way this week! It’s one of those combo decks that can take over a tournament when opponents aren’t prepared for it, and it showed why it’s still a powerful choice.
Creativity received tons of new cards to try out, and I would recommend utilizing Change the Equation if you plan to cheat out Archon of Cruelty. I’ve even seen some lists playing one or two in the main - it’s versatile and fairly easy to cast, so it makes sense.
Will any additional new cards break out in Modern? There are plenty of battles that look playable, like Invasion of Ikoria, and Wrenn and Realmbreaker can surely find its way into more decks. We’ll find out next week!
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