It’s a bold statement, but it’s one I believe to be true. We are living in the Golden Age of Modern.
I made a video saying as much, and before I go deeper I figure I may as well post it, as well as a rough transcript for those who can’t watch right now (remember to subscribe if you want more of this content, and I’d love any feedback!)
Eight different decks made the top eight of Grand Prix Oklahoma City last weekend.
I want that to sink in. Magic is an incredible game full of tons of interesting options and interactions, and still we almost never have that many different decks make it to the top eight of a tournament. Not only that, but a deck that has never even made a top eight before won it! Lantern Control is one of Modern’s most unique decks, and the odds of Zac Elsik winning the Grand Prix with it are truly unbelievable.
There’s no doubt about it: we’re in the Golden Age of Modern. Patrick Chapin summed it up best when he told me on Saturday at the Grand Prix that there was a tiny difference between the best deck in Modern and the 20th-best. And he’s right. More than 40 different decks made it to day two of Grand Prix OKC, and there were some pretty awesome new ones among those. Not only did new builds of Scapeshift and Elves pop up, we had some old standbys like Storm and White-Black Tokens advance to the second day.
Of course, all of this merely scratches the surface. The list of new decks that appeared last weekend is even more impressive. Freaking Naya Allies, people. Naya Allies is good enough to make day two of a Grand Prix. Soul Sisters. Suicide Zoo. Faeries. Jund Scapeshift. Ad Nauseam. The list goes on and on, and I haven’t even touched on Merfolk, my favorite deck and the one that Paul Rietzl called the best in the tournament on this way to the top eight with the fish.
Simply put, there is no better format in Magic right now than Modern. With more 50 decks capable of finding success in the format, this is the format Wizards of the Coast envisioned when it was created. All the decisions – bannings and additions – since have served to create the deckbuilder’s paradise we have now. This is the Golden Age, and I’m enjoying the ride.
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Didn’t someone from wotc recently announce that wotc doesn’t want fetchlands to be around the entire time that landfall is around? Some took that to suggest that the enemy fetches won’t be reprinted until BFZ rotates.
I believe it was they don’t want it to be “all the time.” Given the new Rotation, this means they could be in the Fall 2016 block.
Ah I see. Makes sense. Thanks!
I think the choice of putting allied fetches in khans, which is in standard for a shorter time, says more than we’re hearing: without another short cycle, maybe they will not make the enemy fetches standard legal and hold them over to justify high rrp on a Modern Masters 3…..theyve just reprinted them so as to be standard nonlegal, after all….
You have provided good reasoning for a lot of spec picks that I was on the fence about. Glimmervoid, Nettle Sentinel and some others that I wasn’t sure about originally payed off HUGE. So thank you for that!
I was on the fence about Tasigur and I was about 80 percent sure I should be picking up spellskites. If you are confident in these two cards I think your track record alone would justify a buy in. I’ve already considered these two cards but I think with the Corbin stamp of approval… I should go ahead and start buying some up before others do.
Thanks for the Modern update and providing us with more great spec opportunities. I realize that many others have talked about the same specs you pick… But in the end it is your concise reasoning behind the spec that is pure gold. Keep em coming!