It’s been just over a week since Once Upon a Time got the boot in Modern, so we don’t have a lot of information with which to decisively answer the question on everyone’s mind: where does the format go from here? We do, however, have some data points. Today, we’ll look at a few decks from Modern Preliminary #12102042, the very first Wizards-published online event since the ban. While the info therein is unlikely to accurately shape our understanding of the coming months, it does offer us:
- a window into strategies being picked up early to accommodate the new metagame
- an idea of the changing landscape
- reassembled builds of decks directly affected by the ban
- some lighthearted reading in this surreal time of social distancing
Modern Preliminary #12102042
I know very little about this tournament other than its name and its decklists. But it seems like some things have definitely changed in Modern since the Once Upon a Time ban. The following four decks exemplify some of these changes.
Bant Snow
Last week, we heralded the dominant UGx Midrange super-archetype: a collection of splashy effects floated by a core of Arcum’s Astrolabe, Ice-Fang Coatl, and Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath. We also focused on nonwhite decks, as most Bant decks were electing to run Stoneforge Mystic over the Uro package. Since the Once Upon a Time ban, that trend has been bucked.
Bant Snow, ZYURYO (5-0, Modern Preliminary #12102042)
| Creatures (9) 4 Ice-Fang Coatl 3 Snapcaster Mage 2 Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath Planeswalkers (6) 2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor 2 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria 2 Teferi, Time Raveler Instants (14) 2 Archmage’s Charm 2 Cryptic Command 1 Dovin’s Veto 3 Force of Negation 2 Mana Leak 4 Path to Exile Sorceries (3) 2 Supreme Verdict 1 Winds of Abandon Artifacts (4) 4 Arcum’s Astrolabe Lands (24) 1 Breeding Pool 4 Field of Ruin 4 Flooded Strand 1 Hallowed Fountain 4 Misty Rainforest 1 Mystic Sanctuary 1 Snow-Covered Forest 5 Snow-Covered Island 2 Snow-Covered Plains 1 Temple Garden | Sideboard (15) 1 Dovin’s Veto 2 Aether Gust 2 Ashiok, Dream Render 1 Celestial Purge 1 Crucible of Worlds 1 Engineered Explosives 1 Mystical Dispute 1 Pithing Needle 1 Questing Beast 2 Surgical Extraction 2 Veil of Summer | |
| Buy deck on Cardhoarder (MTGO)Buy deck on TCGPlayer (Paper) |
Bant Snow was the only deck to 5-0 this preliminary; a similar build also achieved the same result. But the deck was immensely popular by any metric. Of the 14 UGx decks present in the preliminary, a whopping 12 were Bant, with two of those running Stoneforge Mystic and three packing Urza, Lord High Artificer. The non-Urza decks played Supreme Verdict, pegging that card as the shard’s apparent draw.
Another benefit of white, though, is the unmatched effectiveness of Path to Exile as an answer to opposing Uros. In the UGx mirror, having the option to not only remove the 6/6 from the battlefield, but prevent it from ever re-escaping, is surely game-winning. Path can even be cast in response to escape’s sacrifice trigger, gaining a small edge in the value war—opponents subsequently lose the option to escape Uro for the extra cantrip down the road.
Traverse Shadow
Traverse Shadow rarely ran Once at the full four copies, but nonetheless adored the instant. In this shell, Once was like a zero-mana, zero-setup Traverse the Ulvenwald, and casting it even turbo-charged delirium for actual copies of Traverse down the road.
Traverse Shadow, JLED (4-1, Modern Preliminary #12102042)
| Creatures (14) 4 Death’s Shadow 1 Grim Flayer 4 Street Wraith 4 Tarmogoyf 1 Windcaller Aven Planeswalkers (1) 1 The Royal Scions Artifacts (4) 4 Mishra’s Bauble Instants (12) 1 Assassin’s Trophy 1 Delay 2 Dismember 3 Fatal Push 3 Stubborn Denial 2 Temur Battle Rage Sorceries (11) 3 Inquisition of Kozilek 4 Thoughtseize 4 Traverse the Ulvenwald Lands (18) 1 Blood Crypt 2 Bloodstained Mire 1 Breeding Pool 2 Nurturing Peatland 1 Overgrown Tomb 4 Polluted Delta 1 Stomping Ground 1 Swamp 4 Verdant Catacombs 1 Watery Grave | Sideboard (15) 1 Assassin’s Trophy 1 Fatal Push 1 Stubborn Denial 1 Collective Brutality 1 Disdainful Stroke 1 Grafdigger’s Cage 1 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy 1 Kolaghan’s Command 1 Liliana, the Last Hope 1 Mystical Dispute 1 Nihil Spellbomb 1 Pithing Needle 1 Plague Engineer 2 Veil of Summer | |
| Buy deck on Cardhoarder (MTGO)Buy deck on TCGPlayer (Paper) |
The slots leftover from removing Once are filled with more interaction, including the elusive Delay; since Shadow decks enjoy an aggro-combo dimension with Temur Battle Rage, giving enemy spells suspend is often the same as countering them, as opponents won’t ever get a chance to resolve that critical spell. Overall, though, the deck’s composition remains unchanged.
Eldrazi Tron
A major benefactor of Once Upon a Time, Eldrazi Tron used the cantrip to locate its major mana producers and beefy threats alike. But the deck’s core is apparently too legit to call it quits post-ban.
Eldrazi Tron, CHERRYXMAN (4-1, Modern Preliminary #12102042)
| Creatures (17) 2 Endbringer 4 Matter Reshaper 4 Reality Smasher 4 Thought-Knot Seer 3 Walking Ballista Planeswalkers (6) 4 Karn, the Great Creator 2 Ugin, the Ineffable Instants (2) 2 Dismember Sorceries (1) 1 All Is Dust Artifacts (10) 4 Chalice of the Void 4 Expedition Map 2 Mind Stone Lands (24) 2 Blast Zone 1 Cavern of Souls 4 Eldrazi Temple 1 Ghost Quarter 1 Scavenger Grounds 1 Tectonic Edge 4 Urza’s Mine 4 Urza’s Power Plant 4 Urza’s Tower 2 Wastes | Sideboard (15) 1 Walking Ballista 1 Ensnaring Bridge 1 Grafdigger’s Cage 3 Leyline of the Void 1 Liquimetal Coating 1 Mystic Forge 1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship 1 Sorcerous Spyglass 2 Spatial Contortion 1 Tormod’s Crypt 1 Torpor Orb 1 Wurmcoil Engine | |
| Buy deck on Cardhoarder (MTGO)Buy deck on TCGPlayer (Paper) |
Without Once, the deck can happily return to being fully colorless, although Once didn’t warp its mana terribly; indeed, the deck had been content to run a single Forest findable by Expedition Map, aiming to cast Once for free most of the time anyway. So it’s a return to business-as-usual for this old Modern stalwart, whose continued relevance will surely be met with a resurgence in Tron decks powered by the suddenly-good-again Ancient Stirrings (which, unlike Once, is still not good enough for Eldrazi Tron).
Red the Runes
Mono-Red Prowess was a sure-fire short-term winner following the ban announcement. Aggressive red decks are always decently positioned after a format shake-up, and Mono-Red Prowess had already been been enjoying high success in a metagame light on removal.
Mono-Red Prowess, RIICKITUN (3-2, Modern Preliminary #12102042)
| Creatures (15) 3 Kiln Fiend 4 Bedlam Reveler 4 Monastery Swiftspear 4 Soul-Scar Mage Instants (14) 2 Burst Lightning 4 Lava Dart 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Manamorphose Sorceries (13) 4 Crash Through 1 Forked Bolt 4 Lava Spike 4 Light Up the Stage Lands (18) 4 Fiery Islet 13 Mountain 1 Sunbaked Canyon | Sideboard (15) 3 Abrade 3 Blood Moon 2 Dismember 3 Dragon’s Claw 4 Leyline of the Void | |
| Buy deck on Cardhoarder (MTGO)Buy deck on TCGPlayer (Paper) |
With the format shifting towards midrange, though, Burn seemed like it might again have its day; count-to-20-style strategies such as these aren’t interested in trading resources with opponents, and Lava Spike is a lot harder to effectively one-for-one than Monastery Swiftspear.
Instead, Prowess is hanging on thanks to Bedlam Reveler, a way to refuel against disruption-heavy opponents. The midrange decks in question aren’t usually interested in running heavy-duty graveyard hate like Rest in Peace, as they they themselves tend to rely on Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath. Besides, Mono-Red Prowess as an archetype boasts the perfect strategic positioning to get the most out of Reveler when it comes to sideboard battles; Rest in Peace and the like prove quite useless against the rest of the deck, pulling opponents in multiple angles by attacking them in different ways.
A newer arrival is Kiln Fiend, which heavily pressures opponents trying to string together a value engine. Once Uro gets going, it can be hard for Burn-style decks to content with; the Titan walls everything, hits like a brick, digs pilots into more interaction, and even gains life! But it’s also slow, leaving a window for Fiend to “Crash Through” and dent opponents enough that they can’t recover.
A New Chapter
It seems that for most decks in Modern, Life Goes On post-Once Upon a Time. The decks that ran it aren’t changing much but are still clocking results, at least for the time being. And the aggressive strategies that attacked the card’s largest benefactor, Simic Titan, are also chugging right along.
All that’s left is Titan itself, which may need a major redesign if it wants to stay in the format. While some players may return to the Amulet Titan deck not too distant in Simic’s heritage, I expect others still will tweak the new deck into something usable, if fringe; the two Titan decks will then coexist in Modern, living on happily ever after. Like any good story, though, there’s bound to be a sequel—where do you think Modern’s headed minus its most splashable card?
Jordan is the copy and content editor at Modern Nexus. He has played Magic since 2003, and Modern since its inception. Jordan favors card efficiency over raw power and specializes in disruptive aggro strategies. He always brings tuned brews to events.
