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While it has certainly become a little dated, Modern long stood as the most played and celebratedMagic: The Gatheringconstructed format in the game’s history. Originally introduced on Magic Online back in May of 2011 as a format named Extended, it rose to the limelight of constructed play after being renamed Modern at Pro Tour Philadelphia in August of 2011.
The idea was to provide a constructed format for all cards printed using a modern card frame. This is where the format’s namesake comes from. In recent years, the format has changed wildly as sets made specifically for the format, known as Modern Horizons, have been released.
Modern Basics
The Modern format shares thebasics of most other constructed formats. Games consist of a single player contending against another using decks with a minimum size of sixty cards, andyou will play in a best-of-three series of matcheswhere each player may access a sideboard of up to fifteen cards.
Furthermore,a player’s deck and sideboard cannot feature more than four copiesof any single card.
What Cards Are Legal?
Perhaps the greatest feature of Modern isthe ridiculously large card pool that it contains.The format includesall cards fromEighth Edition and beyondas long as they were printed in a core or expansion set.
In other words, all cards printed since July of 2003 are legalaside from cards printed solely for Commander or promotional reasons.
That being said,Modern does feature a ban list that prevents a select few of these cardsfrom seeing play, with the list regularly updated to ensure the health of the format. Below is a table of all the cards banned in Modern as of December 4th, 2023.
Field of the Dead
Umezawa’s Jitte
How Is Modern Different?
The thing that makes Modern different from every other format is thesheer number of cards you’re allowed to play. Modern hasa larger selection of cards available for players to pickfrom than any other format aside from Legacy and Vintage.
However, both Legacy and Vintage restrict most playersfrom playingdue to theabsurdly high costof some of the cards printed in the first seven editionsof the game. For example,many of the decks at the top of the Legacy metagame cost somewhere around $5,000, so in comparison, most top Modern decks cost somewhere around $1,000.
There are cheaper Modern decksthatperform nearly as wellas the top decks and are closer to a cost of $500.Boros BurnandMono-Green Tronare some of the most obvious examples.
The extreme size of the card poolmakes for a metagame where all strategies have a seat at the table.Whether you want to play aggro, control, midrange, combo, or some other strange hard-to-define brew,Modern has the card pool to make it possible.
Some strategies fall out of the metagame’s favor at times, but they are still very much playable.
Modern is a pretty fast format, however, soPioneer and Explorer players ought to already be familiar with this paceof play. The format is home to a fair amount of turn-three win conditions though, sobe ready for that when your opponent draws their deck’s god hand.
Lastly, even though Modern features a fair amount of interaction,many decks focus on enacting their game plan over interacting with the opponents.This can be a little off-putting to playerswho like to trade resources with their opponents before finally claiming victory.
Consequently,you will want tobe careful about the deck you chooseto invest in before paying that high price tag.
Key Decks (Metagame) In Modern
Crashing Footfalls
This deck’s namesake card isCrashing Footfallswhich creates two 4/4 Rhino tokens. While you would typically need to suspend the card for a single green mana and wait four turns before seeing your Rhinos enter the battlefield, Footfalls avoids this time delay by cascading into the card usingShardless AgentorViolent Outburst.
This also means that thedeck features no cardswith aconverted mana cost less than three. While that might seem problematic in a format as fast as Modern, Footfalls is actually one of thebest decks in the metagame.
Murktide Regent
While not a true control deck,Murktideis about as close as you’ll get to playing a control strategy in Modern. The deck’s win condition is a huge Dragon that you can delve out for aslittle as two blue mana.
Alongside the Dragon are a slew of instant and sorcery spells thatprovide removal, card draw,andcounterspells: making Murktide one of themost versatile decksin the format.
Yawgmoth
This is a combo deck that seeks to win by assembling a handful of creatures with activated abilities onto the battlefield.Yawgmoth, Thran Physician is the most important of those creatures, and the deck consistently draws him through the use of thecreature tutor Chord of Calling.
All that being said, this deck can also win throughnormal combat damage in a pinchwhich is what makes it so difficult to deal with.
Rakdos Scam
This was almost undoubtedly thebest deck in the formatup until the banning of Furyon December 3rd, 2023. Now, its standing is a little less clear.
Scam is a good old-fashioned Rakdos Midrange deck that looks toabuse powerful creatureeffects by keeping the creatures in play through the use of cards likeNot Dead After AllandUndying Evil.
It should be noted that it’s named Scam because, before Fury was banned, playing against this deck felt like you had just been scammed.
Living End
Like Crashing Footfalls,Living Endis named after a suspend card that you cheat into play early usingShardless AgentorViolent Outburst. Unlike Crashing Footfalls, the result is acombo killthat wins you the game on your next turn, makingLiving Endmore powerful than itsCrashing Footfallsbrethren at the cost of being more susceptible to interaction such as counterspells.
Boros Burn
Arguably the deck with thelongest standing timeat the top of the Modern metagame,Boros Burnis your typicalburn strategythat makes use of aggressive, low-cost creatures and a critical mass of direct damage spells to empty the opponent’s life total as early as turn three.
This is theperfect deck for beginner Modern players; however, it can also be surprisingly deadly in a veteran’s hands.
Hammer Time
Have you ever wanted to play anequipment-based deck? Well,Hammer Timeis finally giving every Magic player that chancethanks to the synergy between Colossus Hammer, Sigarda’s Aid,and eitherStoneforge Mystic or Puresteel Paladin.
Make a little creature impossibly large and smash in for half of the opponent’s life total. Sounds fun, right?
Indomitable Creativity
This five-color deck seeks to cheat Archon of Cruelty into play by usingIndomitable Creativitytargeting tokens created byFable of the Mirror-Breakeras well as the land cardDwarven Mine. Playing all five colors gives you access to some of the best cards in the Modern format.
Creativity plays like aReanimator strategy of old, so if you miss graveyard shenanigans, this may be your best bet.
