State of Modern - April 2024: Scion of Draco is Here

A lot has happened since the release of Murders at Karlov Manor and the Regional Championships which took place across the world. In the US Regional Championship, with Temur Rhinos as the #1 deck comprising of 30% of the meta, one deck broke out as a solution to the Rhinos mirror: Rainbow Rhinos. 

The deck utilized the new card, Leyline of the Guildpact and Scion of Draco to maximize Leyline Bindings and Scion’s synergy with Leyline of the Guildpact. Temur Rhinos simply could not beat the power of Turn 2 Scion being a 4/4 Flying, Hexproof, Vigilance, First Strike, Lifelink, Trampler. Nor could it beat the deck's ability to cascade and create two more creatures with almost the same line-up of abilities. The reason this occurs is because scion gives abilities based on a creatures colors, and Leyline of the Guildpact makes all permanents you control all colors. The power of Rainbow Rhinos came from its diversity of threats and protection. Leyline of the Guildpact plus Scion of Draco is a very powerful combination and is resistant to removal. Plus, with Force of Negation backup, it becomes equally hard to interact with. This made the deck hard to sideboard for as Force of Vigor could deal with Leyline Binding, Scion, and Leyline of the Guildpact, but not the 4/4 Tramplers coming off a Shardless Agent or Violent Outburst. Rainbow Rhinos would frequently dodge Rhinos hate like Chalice of the Void by siding out Crashing Footfalls for Territorial Kavu. 

Temur Rhinos and Rainbow Rhinos began to dominate even greater than before. Between the two decks they posed threats that are hard to interact with or sideboard for. Eventually, on March 11th, Violent Outburst was banned from Modern. Wizards of the Coast cited the ability to cascade at instant speed and the use Force of Negation as combo protection as the primary reason for the banning. 

After the banning, Scion of Draco and Leyline of the Guildpact have begun to rise to an unparalleled dominance in the metagame. Domain Zoo is the most played deck with variants of the strategy arising such as Blue Zoo, effectively Murktide mixed with the Guildpact package of Leyline, Draco, and Binding. 

Rhinos did not die but rather started playing 4 Shardless Agent and 4 Ardent Plea. Though they can no longer use Force of Negation as Combo Protection, two 4/4 rhinos for three mana is very powerful regardless. Both cascaders can also be bounced to hand with Teferi, Time Raveler which means they can be recast to get an additional set of rhinos! They of course also have the Guildpact package aswell. 

Esper Goryo’s Vengeance came about as well. It is a deck looking to reanimate Atraxa with Goryo’s Vengeance and flicker it with Ephemerate to keep it around at the end of turn. Running Solitude and Grief means the deck can Grief Scam with Ephemerate leading off the game with a triple thoughtsieze into a Reanimation of Atraxa to end the game. Additionally Goryo’s Vengeance being instant speed means it can be cast on your opponents turn and protected with Force of Negation. The deck seemed normal and a strong choice after its dominating performance at SCGCon Philadelphia, but then even it fell to the Plague of the Guildpact Package. Gerry Thompson won a 15k using the Goryo’s Vengeance list effectively slotting in the 12 cards cutting filler cards and giving Goryo’s Vengeance a proactive plan. 

Popular streamer D00mwake has begun a bit on his past few streams by simply slotting the package into increasingly absurd modern decks like Mill and Tron. However, his Guildpact Tron list actually did well in the challenge and placed 12th with a strong record for a deck so silly in its conception. 

The best way to attack the strategy is by far the new best sideboard card in modern: Pick your Poison. In a recent article discussing the Modern Metagame from Frank Karsten he revealed a shocking fact: Pick your Poison is not just the most played sideboard card in modern right now, but rather the most played card in general. It’s flexibility and efficiency makes it a fantastic choice in sideboards and is boosted by the fact it is the best answer to a turn 2 4/4 Flying, Vigilance, First Strike, Trample, Lifelink, Hexproof creature. 

Looking into the future people thought that the metagame would not shift until MH3 as the decks are so powerful it would be absurd for a standard set to make a real impact. However, with the spoilers from Outlaws of Thunder Junction coming out I do not believe such is the case. This new set is jam packed with powerful and interesting spells. In the mean time pack your sideboards with Pick Your Poisons, maindeck your Liliana’s, Scavenging Ooze’s and Plaguecrafters to make sure you can address the Atraxa’s, Scions and other Shenanigans going around right now.