Top 8 Decks in Modern - August 2021

Ryan Normandin
August 09, 2021
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Since the early days of Modern Horizons 2, when people regularly discussed not if, but when Urza's Saga would be banned, the format has changed substantially. Players have continued to explore the powerful cards the set contains, bringing us to a metagame where an unexpected tribal deck is on top. Let's take a look at my picks for Modern's best decks.


8) Footfalls

                                      

The printing of Shardless Agent into Modern has unlocked three Cascade variants in the format: Footfalls, Living End with either Grief or Fury, and Glimpse of Tomorrow. While they share some similarities in weakness, Living End opens itself up to graveyard hate (Dauthi Voidwalker feels particularly bad) and Glimpse is a bit on the janky end of things with low interaction and a higher fail rate. Rhinos seeks to do one thing only: cast a Cascade spell to make some Rhinos. This allows the deck to maximize interaction, ideally mitigating the effects of troublesome cards pre- or post-board.


When the deck looks good, it looks great. It can Ice down land on Turn 2 to clear the way for a Cascade, Petty Theft hate cards, and even go off in the opponent's upkeep with Violent Outburst with Force of Negation backup. However, the deck has a couple of problems keeping it from being a great choice.


First, the ultimate goal of the deck is to make two 4/4's. Ideally, you can Cascade again, but sometimes the deck is forced to go low on resources due to pitch spells, something gets countered, or it otherwise fumbles. Two 4/4's, while good, is not unbeatable in Modern. An Unholy Heat and a big Murktide Regent cleanly deals with the payoff, which makes it seem a tad underwhelming.

Second, partially in response to Crashing Footfalls and partially in response to other forces, Chalice of the Void, Teferi, Time Raveler, and Engineered Explosives are seeing an all-time high in metagame play. Void Mirror, while less popular, pops up as well. The problem is not any one of these cards, but that many decks in Modern have the ability to play multiple hate cards plus pack mainboard interactive spells like Thoughtseize or Counterspell. While any combo deck can fight through some hate, it's pretty tough to battle specific hate cards combined with a deck filled with incidental hate.


Rhinos does something relatively powerful, has decent interaction, and is a bit cheaty, so I can't be too down on the deck, but I'd wait for a major metagame shift away from Chalice, Teferi, and EE before picking it up.


7) Heliod


     Heliod, Sun-Crowned (THB)

Heliod, one of the top dogs pre-MH2, is rarely seen these days. There are a couple reasons that explain this fall from grace.


First, high-level paper events are still uncommon; this renders the Heliod/Spike Feeder combo, which is an extremely fast, powerful route to victory, unusable online on MTGO. Second, MH2 sped up Modern substantially. While Heliod can win quickly, decks like Hammertime can outrace. Third, cheap, flexible interaction has similarly spiked. Hand disruption, counterspells, and Unholy Heat have made Heliod easier to interact with than it once was.

Even with all of this said, I believe that Heliod is still underplayed for how good it is, particularly in paper. Jace, the Mind Sculptor is less common, which means the only real ways to beat infinite life in Modern are decking with Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer hits or killing with Inkmoth Nexus. Additionally, Heliod picked up powerful new tools in Sanctifier En-Vec and Sanctum Prelate. While Sanctifier has been quickly incorporated into the sideboard, other options like Sanctum Prelate or a red splash for Imperial Recruiter have yet to be fully explored.


While the overall speed of the format has picked up, none of today's Modern decks, outside Hammertime, pressure Heliod's life total as quickly as UR Prowess did pre-MH2. This is an archetype that I'd recommend experimenting with; the power level is very much still there.


6) Four Color Midrange

    

Sequencing Prismatic Ending into Wrenn and Six into Teferi, Time Raveler into Omnath, Locus of Creation even with a step or two missing, is arguably one of the best things that you can do in Modern. At multiple points, this sequence answers Dragon's Rage Channeler and Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, nets card advantage, and forces the opponent to answer your answers. These are four powerful cards in Modern that act as both threats and answers, and they only get better when played in conjunction with each other.

The deck that's had the most success with this package thus far is Bring to Light, which can win on Turn 4 with Dryad of the Ilysian Grove and Scapeshift. The deck is also capable of casting Bring to Light to fetch up a Supreme Verdict or a Tibalt, Cosmic Impostor.


Another option is to abandon the combo package and lean into a more controlling plan, playing more copies of Verdict and bigger walkers like Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Teferi, Hero of Dominaria. Some players, such as Twitch streamer @aspiringspike, have also experimented playing the package alongside General Ferrous Rokiric, another underexplored bomb from MH2.


I hope players continue to explore options for this powerful combination of cards, but in the meantime, it's hard to go wrong playing a collection of the best cards in the format. Triomes and fetchlands alongside Wrenn and Six and Omnath, Locus of Creation make the four color manabase palatable, and because so many of the cards both answer threats while generating card advantage, you can grind exceedingly well.


5) Boros Burn

    

Oddly enough, with the massive influx of powerful new strategies from Modern Horizons 2, the metagame has shaped up to allow the return of an old favorite: Boros Burn. Alongside some of the best cheap creatures we've ever seen in Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer and Dragon's Rage Channeler, we've also seen an uptick in efficient ways of targeting these cards such as Unholy Heat, hand disruption, and Engineered Explosives. All of this has pushed up the speed of the format.


The focus on creatures is where Burn gets its edge. For one mana, Goblin Guide and Monastery Swiftspear are more likely to deal 2 damage on the first or second turn than are DRC or Ragavan. Once they've done that, they've done their job, and Burn doesn't rely on them to win like the Grixis-shard decks rely on their Red one-drops. Eidolon of the Great Revel similarly guarantees damage even if it's removed. Thoughtseize is hardly worth it, and Inquisition is at its worst when every card in Burn's hand does the same thing. Once the first couple turns have passed, Burn doesn't continue to rely on creatures like the other decks in the format, instead flinging burn spells directly at the face to finish their opponents off.


The heavy fixation on creatures and interaction is what has given Burn a chance to shine again. The format's popular sideboard cards like Chalice of the Void are fine against Burn, but not great against it, further strengthening its position. The one major threat to the deck is Omnath; the more popular this card becomes, particularly in conjunction with ramp, the less likely I am to play Burn.


While Modern is in a reasonably good place and allows for wide diversity, the top tier has coalesced recently into four decks. While I think decks 5-8 are reasonable, and likely better than decks not on this list, if you want to maximize winning, I'd strongly recommend playing one of the following decks.


4) Grixis Lurrus

    

Grixis Lurrus's power lies in its remarkable flexibility. While it is certainly capable of attacking with DRC and Ragavan backed up by removal and hand disruption, it is just as capable of sitting back in the long game and looping Kolaghan's Command, Lurrus of the Dream-Den, and Snapcaster Mage. The access to both a powerful aggro plan and a formidable control deck is this deck's major appeal.


Kolaghan's Command is another draw to the deck. In a format where artifacts have become common, the Shatter mode is more relevant than ever. And against grindy decks, Snapcaster Mage, Kolaghan's Command, and Lurrus of the Dream-Den are built in card advantage; if they resolve, you're up cards. The deck's flexibility isn't limited to its ability to play multiple roles; it's also built into its cards. Again, Kolaghan's Command will never be dead, and Drown in the Loch can act as a counterspell or a removal spell, particularly in this graveyard-rich format.



3) Hammertime

                                      

Only a couple weeks ago, Hammertime was the undisputed best deck in the format. After weeks of concerted hate, it's only fallen to the third best, and is still very much in the top tier of playability.


Like Grixis Lurrus, this deck is capable of playing multiple roles well. It can combo-kill as early as Turn 2, play a more aggressive game and kill in the midgame, or grind with Urza's Saga, Constructs, and Shadowspear in conjunction with Lurrus.

The uptick in Engineered Explosives, Shattering Spree, and Chalice of the Void alongside the popularity of the highly interactive URx decks has dampened Hammertime's previous ability to rampage freely in Modern. Nevertheless, playing against Hammertime is a little bit like playing against Twin; you always need to have interaction up, which hampers your ability to pressure them freely. Esper Sentinel further strains mana, especially in multiples, and Sigarda's Aid lets them play at instant speed.


This is a deck that you absolutely need to have a plan for. Do not go to a Modern tournament and hope to just dodge Hammertime, get lucky, or figure it out on the fly. This deck, some freakish matchup of Infect, Affinity, and Twin, preys on unprepared players and will not be beat without concerted effort in the main and sideboards.



2) UR Murktide

                                     

There are two reasons to play UR Murktide over Grixis Lurrus, and they are pictured above.


Expressive Iteration is a card that is seeing play in every format, and is one of the best (without being broken) card draw spells ever printed. A two-mana cross between Anticipate and Divination, you're never sad to draw this card. If you're missing your third land drop, this card is 2 mana to find a land and replace itself in your hand. In the mid- and late-games, it's typically better than a two-mana Draw 2. While cards like Kolaghan's Command are two-for-ones, Expressive Iteration generates more meaningful two-for-ones. Often, Kolaghan's Command will use the discard mode in conjunction with either two damage or return a creature. But, in the late game, the card opponents' are discarding are often just useless lands. Expressive Iteration, on the other hand, can find two Murktides, or a threat and a counterspell, or any other combination of far more meaningful two-card-combinations. I'm quite comfortable in claiming that Expressive Iteration is one of the best cards in Modern right now, and a major pull towards playing UR.


Murktide Regent is appealing for the same reasons that Gurmag Angler used to be: the format's removal does not line up against it at all. Lightning Bolt, Prismatic Ending, Unholy Heat, and Fatal Push all miss this threat, which is often a two-mana flying 8/8. It's not uncommon for this dragon to close the game out in two attacks. Its very presence has forced the adoption of Terminate in RB strategies and encouraged the return of cards like Supreme Verdict and Teferi, Time Raveler. Murktide has single-handedly had a format-warping effect on Modern because, in all likelihood, it is the single best threat in the format.


Outside of these two cards, UR has access to great card selection, fantastic additional threats in its red one-drops, and Archmage's Charm. A fantastic choice for any tournament that has game against every matchup – well, almost every matchup.



1) Elementals

    

I admit to being surprised that what I consider to be the best deck in Modern is a tribal deck playing a three-mana 1/1. Fundamentally, Elementals is the best deck because of Modern's current focus on creatures and creature interaction. Fury and Solitude embarrass every threat in the format, and with Risen Reef and Ephemerate, they trade up or even on cards when you cast them for free. The ability of this deck to effortlessly negate the downside that is supposed to accompany casting these two cards for free is wild. In a format that cares about card advantage and creatures, there is no better choice than Elementals.


Because Elementals does so well interacting early, and plays ramp in the form of Utopia Sprawl and Risen Reef, it almost always is able to get to five mana to start hard-casting the mythic five-drops. Once that point is reached, catching back up is nigh impossible. Solitude laughts at Murktide, and Fury is regularly able to kill two or more creatures. Even when Evoked with no Reef, Fury typically is even on cards.

Like every other card in the deck, Ephemerate generates absurd value, often killing more creatures while simultaneously countering a removal spell. In decks without many creatures, you can go all-in on pressuring opponents by Evoking a Fury T1 and Ephemerating it immediately. Sure, you're down a card, but you have what is typically a three turn clock on Turn 1.


If you haven't tried this deck, I highly recommend it. Matchups against the other top decks feel wildly lopsided. If Tron picks up in response, you might consider playing something else, but as long as creatures are running around, there's no better choice.

Ryan Normandin is a grinder from Boston who has lost at the Pro Tour, in GP & SCG Top 8's, and to 7-year-olds at FNM. Despite being described as "not funny" by his best friend and "the worst Magic player ever" by Twitch chat, he cheerfully decided to blend his lack of talents together to write funny articles about Magic.