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MTGO Modern 5-0 League Results (02/01/2022)



Modern League 5-0 Results

Full Results

Direct links courtesy of /u/FereMiyJeenyus and their MTGO Results Scraper


Overview

  • Wizards posts 5-0 League drops every Tuesday and Friday, rain or shine. Holidays are the exception.

  • The criteria of decks showing up is a 20 card difference from other decks, per Wizards. So 20 Jund lists 5-0'ing may result in only one or two Jund lists showing in the dump.

  • Don't take League results as true metagame share, as the above removes the number of results.

  • Naming is best guess. Feel free to correct it in the comments and I will edit it in.

  • I will highlight anything interesting, of course depending on time. Old Favorites will have decks that haven't been showing up in a while or classics, Spicy Decks will have new and unique decks, and Interesting Tech will have existing and meta decks that have some interesting new cards.

  • I primarily save my more opinionated opinions for the bottom.


Old Favorites

  • UG Grishoalbrand: "Rumors of my death were greatly exaggerated" - Griselbrand. The last 'can kill on T1' combo deck rears its head again! With Force of Negation showing up less and less outside of Rhinos, and Solitude not a perfect way to stop Griselbrand, and less hand hate (at least from what I've seen in the challenges), it's the prime environment for the very fragile but very powerful old-school combo deck.

  • UW Control: Blast from the past! Snapcaster in the main. Spells like Condemn, Cryptic Command, Path to Exile, and Spell Snare. Plus a Narset, Parter of Veils? This really feels like a 2019 UW Control list with upgrades like Subtlety and Solitude to give the deck hate pieces against the current meta. Also, I love any deck that brings Shadow of Doubt!

  • Esper Ad Naus: It's a combo-heavy dump this week. Ad Naus is protecting its combo with both Counterspell and one of the all-time greats, Mana Tithe! Nothing like your opponent assuming their counter is safe when you just have a Plains open.

  • UR Prowess: UR Prowess has quite a few iterations and builds dating back to when it was part of the pre-MH2 Tier 1 Trifecta. Monastery Swiftspear, Soul-Scar Mage, and Stormwing Entity are always four-ofs, with a few exceptions. Sprite Dragon was one of the primary contenders for the last few slots as two-four of. But, the last slot has been contentious and never felt quite 'right'—as even in the very solved pre-MH1 meta, it was always in flux. Bedlam Reveler was the most common but Blistercoil Weird showed up, even weird things like Bonecrusher Giant or Abbot of Keral Keep. However with the printing of the first generically good cheap red midrange threat—Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer—UR Prowess, like plenty of other red decks, finally has a threat like Goyf or SFM that can shore up the primary game plan.

  • R Burn: bolttheface slams a trophy with a budget burn list! $200 or 150 tix, with some cool meta hate like Blood Moon and Eidolon of the Great Revel, along with a very '20 bolt' style build with cards like Shard Volley, Flame Rift, and Exquisite Firecraft. Burn is quietly one of the better decks, and it's cool to see one of the no-joke intro to Modern decks get a trophy!

  • Boomer Jund: A far more classic Jund, not just Liliana of the Veil but also Bloodbraid Elf. And of course, BBE into Seasoned Pyromancer or Grist, the Hunger Tide is still an amazing play!


Spicy Decks

  • Jeskai MoonBlade: A very tap-out control flavored Stoneblade deck, with mainboard Blood Moon and Chalice of the Void, and hate cards like Sanctifier en-Vec and Cleansing Wildfire. This list is strong against the meta manabases and strong against the meta BRx decks. Teferi, Time Raveler and Prismatic Ending shore up the rest of the field with unconditional removal and cascade/control hate. It's an interesting deck design that feels very 'stop the opponents and win with SFM', much like Death & Taxes but attacking with broader hate.

  • Rb Prowess (Lurrus): Similar list to last time; R Prowess main but room for Thoughtseize and Dark Confidant in the side. The latter especially feels great for the deck that generally just needs one more spell.

  • 4c Domain Zoo (Lurrus): Big creatures are the way. Scourge of the Skyclaves, Tarmogoyf, and Territorial Kavu are backed up by the usual package of Lightning Bolt and Tribal Flames, but also Prismatic Ending and three copies of Seal of Fire, for a whopping 19 non-creatures to filter draws with Dragon's Rage Channeler.

  • R Moon Dragons: Humans? Spirits? Those are lame tribes! Sarkhan, Fireblood and all his dragon friends: Glorybringer, Moonveil Regent, Obsidian Charmaw, and Stormbreath Dragon are way less vulnerable to Prismatic Ending and Plague Engineer than other tribes. And it is a tribal deck resilient against Blood Moon, so much so that it can run its own playset! There are some interesting lines here as well—Sarkhan, Fireblood can +1 into a cost discounted Obisidan Charmaw on the draw in christmasland. Also, an interesting piece of yard hate with Lantern of the Lost —not one we've seen too often.

  • UB Fairies (Lurrus): So. Fairies has never quite been good enough. A friend of mine kept trying to make it work and it always stumbled. The clock was too slow, or you'd die to your own Bitterblossom, or you'd get a Fallen Shinobi or something stuck in hand. It turns out that while BB and Spellstutter Sprite are still crucial to building an evasive tempo deck, the real answer to the deck's problems is Urza's Saga. Need graveyard hate? Nihil Spellbomb. Need to speed up the clock, or make more favorable trades or gain back some life? Shadowspear! A 2/2 flying, lifelink, trample is a lot different than a 1/1 flier, after all! Against sorcery speed decks, late-game equip the Creeping Tar Pit for a surprise 5 damage.

  • GW Amulet Titan (Yorion): The 'standard'—such that it is—Yorion Titan list. 40 lands, the standard Amulet Titan cards, and Eternal Witness, Wall of Blossoms, Eladamri's Call, with a singleton Ephemerate added to the main. Eladamri's Call especially feels like the card that makes it—not free but no upkeep to end-step tutor a card is a big plus!

  • BW PoxBlade: Old-bag-o-bones (Liliana of the Veil, Stoneforge Mystic, Tourach, Dread Cantor, Smallpox, Vindicate).

  • Jund Superfriends: Carth the Lion along with all the planeswalkers! Interesting Ashiok, Dream Render and Wrenn & Six -1 effects are now infinite, allowing for win-cons behind an Ensnaring Bridge wished in from Karn the Great Creator. Grist, the Hunger Tide can ult after one turn, and Liliana of the Veil, Liliana, the Last Hope, and Nissa, Voice of Zendikar are much, much stronger with the +1 to all costs.

  • R Midrange: A very MHayashi deck, it's like Obosh Prowess and Red Prison got smashed together and this is what's left. Chandra, Torch of Defiance and Blood Moon. Seasoned Pyromancer and Reckless Impulse. It's also a very satisfying decklist, consisting of all four-ofs except for the three-of Kozilek's Return the side—which is a very interesting include. Last week, I mentioned damage-based board wipes were very rare at the moment. As such, it's interesting to see it here.

  • RW Lockout (Lurrus): The full mana denial package with Boom // Bust and Crack the Earth to blow up lands and Mana Tithe to punish reduced mana. Older decks ran things like Nahiri, Harbringer and Ajani Vengenant as win-cons. Lurrus lets the deck run 13 strong one-drops and not let the opponent recover from the lock, as older decks were want to do.

  • W Heliod: With how much 1-1 removal the format has (Fire // Ice, Unholy Heat, etc.) mana dorks very rarely survive to untap. GW Heliod somewhat relied on Utopia Sprawl + Arbor Elf as a way to power Collected Company into a win, but it's more fragile in a meta that kills dorks and has Counterspell in a ton of decks. bobthebuilder tried a different way; W Heliod with both the combo but also Stoneforge Mystic with Batterskull + Kaldra Compleat, and the mono-color deck giving room for utility lands like Cavern of Souls and Field of Ruin

  • BR Prowess Shadow (Lurrus): A cool merging of R Prowess and older style Death's Shadow with Scourge of the Skyclaves able to get down earlier with the early Prowess aggro of Monastery Swiftspear, Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, and Soul-Scar Mage. Thoughtseize to protect a big swing and every single creature is a great target for Temur Battle Rage!


Interesting Tech

  • Jeskai Storm: Still the UR shell, but dipping white for mainboard Prismatic Ending and sideboard Silence!

  • Boomer Jund: Similar to the list posted last week with three copies of Lurrus of the Dream-Den! Of special note are the sideboard Huntmaster of the Fells and Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet; both cards are no longer commonly seen but remain extremely strong.

  • UB Mill: Ditching the Lurrus to keep sideboard Ashiok, Dream Render, not uncommon, but the Plague Engineer hasn't been seen in quite a minute. There's a way to shut down all the x/1 creatures like Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer. Also, Bribery! A great way to steal that Emrakul, the Aeon's Torn that your opponent sided in and assumed would win the game.

  • UR Wish Storm: Why not have a wishboard? Three copies of Wish in the main gives access to every piece of the combo in the side. Some cool tech like Galvanic Relay and removal/protection like Echoing Truth. The maindeck is left much leaner and smoother with just the Wishes being non-combo pieces (sorta, of course).

  • U Tron: Some rarer includes for U Tron in this list including the maindeck Oblivion Sower and two-of Aetherize, for the mono-blue psuedo board-wipe and a threat + ramp combination. Also interesting is the three-of Cyclonic Rift—I can't recall the last time I've seen more than one in U Tron.

  • W Hammer: Lurrus-less Hammer continues to put up results in the challenges and here as well. Kaldra Compleat and Sword of Fire and Ice make the Stoneforge Mystic a real threat, not just a tutor as it is in the Lurrus variants. I'll be curious to see if the new Boseiju channel land in NEO raises Kaldra Compleat's stock in Hammer lists in a few weeks!

  • UW Control: Interesting to see a deck favor the 15th sideboard slot over the companion here, even with the requirements met. However, considering the sideboard has a ton of cards that would turn off Kaheera, the Orphanguard: Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, Emrakul, the Promised End, Hullbreaker Horror, and Sanctifier en-Vec it does make sense. But aside from those six creatures in the side, the list is very post-MH2 stock UW Control.

  • 5c Humans: You know who is a human? Tourach, Dread Cantor. You know who Imperial Recruiter can go fetch? Tourach, Dread Cantor. Aside from that, the usual 2022 tech of Adeline, Resplendent Cathar + Esper Sentinel is here, and this list is playing the less-common Kitesail Freebooter as well.

  • Esper Reanimator - Control: Priest of Fell Rites is very common in the Control variants of Reanimator, but the three maindeck Jace, Vryn's Prodigy caught my eye, as well as the Darkblast for its dual purpose as both dredger and active removal!


 

What's your favorite list from this week's drop? Got a spicy list you want to share? Drop us a link in the comments or on social media!


 

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