With the Modern RCQ Season starting up, Spotlight Series Indianapolis this weekend, and Modern Regional Championships coming around the corner, it is time for an update on Modern! What cards from Tarkir: Dragonstorm are seeing play?
Cori-Steel Cutter
In my last article, I wrote about how Cori-Steel Cutter is broken in Standard. Essentially, powerful cards that are paid off by having low mana curves tend to be broken. (Lurrus is an extreme end of this) Cutter is absolutely nuts in Modern for the same reasons. In fact, it may be more broken in Modern because there are so many free spells in the format. In the Modern UR Prowess deck, Cutter is enabled by the deck's incredibly high density of 1 and 2 mana spells, but also by 12 different free spells: 4 Mishra’s Bauble, 4 Lava Dart (flashback cost of sacrificing a land), 4 Mutagenic Growth (phyrexian mana).
Overall, the card is incredible and has even seen play in Legacy and Vintage. It is a better Monastery Mentor in many ways.
Voice of Victory
Voice of Victory slots right into 1-2 of Boros Energy’s flexslots. The card is an aggressive threat that pushes three damage a turn despite its 1/3 body because of Mobilize 2. Stopping any sort of removal on your turn means a guaranteed attack trigger from Guide of Souls and a guaranteed endstep trigger from Ocelot Pride. Lastly, the Mobilize 2 also synergizes with Guide of Souls because the repeated tokens each turn fuel the energy necessary to put both +1/+1 and flying counters on the deck's creatures.
Clarion Conqueror
Clarion Conqueror is a 3-mana 3/3 Flyer with relevant disruption. Though it doesn’t seem incredibly powerful or splashy, the combination of both disruption and threat into one makes Clarion Conqueror a great sideboard card.
Narset, Jeskai Waymaster
Narset, Jeskai Waymaster is a different payoff of the Jeskai Ascendancy decks that have been popping up occasionally. Most sideboard disruption for the deck affects the graveyard or artifacts and enchantments. Narset, in turn, works as a great payoff to dodge those disruptive elements while still being a proactive, on-plan threat/payoff.
What are the Top decks?
The overall meta can be broken down into 3 Tiers. A Tier consists of Boros Energy & Izzet Prowess both aggro decks. B Tier consists of Dimir Murktide, Belcher, Eldrazi, Amulet Titan, and Ruby Storm. C Tier are the decks that can put up results but are less common. Either flash in the pan or background meta players. This contains decks like Neobrand, Abzan Samwise, Mono White Prison, Affinity, Orzhov/Esper Mid, and Domain Zoo.
My go to pick for an RCQ would be Boros Energy or Prowess due to their sheer power but many of the options lower down are still respectable if not just awesome. (Neobrand is always a sick deck no matter what.)
Boros Energy On Top
Boros Energy is still on top. The deck was hit by a myriad of bans a couple of months ago, and a list of unbannings shook up the format. Despite this, according to MTGGoldfish, it is 20% of the metagame. The two decks to unseat Boros Energy from its throne atop the Modern Metagame have been Underworld Breach Combo and Nadu Combo, two of the most broken combo decks in the format's history.
What's up next? I have interviewed 3 highly successful RC players about their deck choice of Mono-Black/Orzhov Demons and will have much to share on the deck, their experiences, and its evolution in response to a format dominated by Izzet Prowess.
