The more things change, the more they stay the same. We are heading into the first big paper tournament after the Lurrus ban two weeks ago. We have had an online Super and some other events to draw information from, but what will people end up bringing? Today we are going over what I predict will be the five most popular decks with Lurrus gone.
Money Pile
Money Pile, or Four-Color Control, was the jump-to deck for many people minutes after the Lurrus ban. It has a companion and was already a top player in the format. This deck has been around for a while and continued to be a player in the format with it being the deck of choice in certain weeks. I wrote about the deck after my 9th place finish in Vegas with the 95.
The deck has a few different variations right now and all of them are fairly strong. I would suggest going with monkeys if you expect lots of the mirror and Murktide and multiple Eternal Witnesses if you don’t expect a lot of those decks. That’s the TLDR version. Regardless, the deck is solid and a force in the meta that can tune and change itself to adapt to most things.
Money Pile is the best control deck in Modern, and one that will be far more popular than most people expect. Who doesn’t love infinite value?
Murk Tide
The default answer for most people when Lurrus was banned as to what’s good was the Money Pile and this one. Murktide has been a player in the modern meta since its release. Its efficient spells, quick clock, and has a wide toolbox of answers to line up with the threats your opponent is presenting.
This deck is a lot like classic Boomer Jund in my opinion. You have game versus everybody, but unlike Boomer Jund you do actually have some good match ups – thanks to the density in cheap and evasive threats.
Murktide often has trouble impressing players, but its consistency and powerful draws still make it a popular choice, and something you have to keep in mind going into a Modern tournament.
Amulet
A personal baby of mine. I love Amulet and the Death’s Shadow matchup was really bad. In part due to looping Dress Down over and over again, effectively turning off your deck. Despite that, we did see Amulet push through at points during the Shadow era at the end of Modern pre-ban.
Amulet is a very punishing combo/ramp deck hybrid. You’re able to subvert lots of typical hate given the dual nature of the deck, and you’re 100% able to win any matchup thanks to your deck having a small percentage chance to turn-2 kill people with turn-3 kills having an even higher chance.
You also sport some really good matchups across top decks, with the best being Money Pile. While they did just get Boseiju to help the matchup out, It’s still really hard for them.
Amulet is one of the decks where the benefits and rewards of putting more time into it are more apparent than most decks. If you have wanted to play Amulet, don’t be scared by the daunting difficulty. Put the time in and learn it. It’s much easier to pick up than you think, buy harder to master than you think.
Living End
This is a deck that always puts up reasonable results, but is skewed away from by most given how much agency you lack. But, there is a time and a place where this deck absolutely crushes the competition.
Living End is a deck that presents a linear powerful game plan that is disruptable, but you have to have the right tools for the job or the deck will simply rebuild and go for another Living End. So not only are the right tools needed, but you need a fast clock. That’s where this deck shines, as some of the top decks have one but not both of these factors. While ultimately your plan does come down to presenting a bunch of powerful threats on a somewhat fragile axis, it’s surprisingly resilient, and as mentioned before, often forgotten that you can simply start rebuilding and go for your second Living End if they somehow stop the first.
This deck is one to play when you’re trying to exploit a hole in the metagame. All things being equal now is a better time than most to try and burst through with this deck. That might change in the coming weeks but having this deck in your back pocket is not the worst place to be.
Shadow
What’s dead can never die. Shadow might have gotten a Lurrus ban two weeks ago, but that hasn’t stopped the deck from coming back in full force, winning the Sunday challenge this past weekend. Shadow no longer gets to play this crazy control role as well as the normal tempo midrange deck it was before, but it’s still plenty strong.
Losing Lurrus also opened up the door for some new innovations. Murktide, as mentioned before, is one of the best threats in Modern. It dodges most removal while being an incredibly quick clock.
This is a great first draft of Shadow post-ban, and I am excited to see how this archetype will adapt and evolve over time. There is so much room to explore and adapt to the metagame with this shell that I am sure Shadow decks will be played in force – even if they are at the end of this article.
That’s all for Modern this week. The format is wider than any other with playable decks, and we could have easily talked about 15 decks today! So what deck are you excited to play? Tweet @masoneclark and let me know!
Mason Clark is a grinder in every corner of the game who has played at the pro level and on the SCG Tour with Team Nova. Whether he’s competing in Standard, Historic or Modern, Mason plays with one goal in mind: to be a better player than he was the day before. Check out his podcast, Constructed Criticism, and catch his streams on Twitch.