With Mythic Championship II just behind us and Modern Horizons coming up, there’s been a lot of buzz about the Modern format. We’ve also seen a huge influx of new Magic players to the competitive ecosystem with the advent of MTG Arena, so we wanted to offer a quick introduction to the Modern format.
Modern is a non-rotating format that includes cards from Eighth Edition to the present. That card pool includes some of the most powerful and efficiently-costed creatures and spells ever printed, so Modern decks have a much higher power level than the Standard decks you may be used to.
Ban List
An extensive banned list keeps the Modern format in check. Here’s a list of all the cards that are currently banned in Modern:
- Ancient Den
- Arcum’s Astrolabe
- Birthing Pod
- Blazing Shoal
- Bridge from Below
- Chrome Mox
- Cloudpost
- Dark Depths
- Deathrite Shaman
- Dig Through Time
- Dread Return
- Eye of Ugin
- Faithless Looting
- Field of the Dead
- Gitaxian Probe
- Glimpse of Nature
- Golgari Grave-Troll
- Great Furnace
- Green Sun’s Zenith
- Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis
- Hypergenesis
- Krark-Clan Ironworks
- Lurrus of the Dream-Den
- Mental Misstep
- Mox Opal
- Mycosynth Lattice
- Mystic Sanctuary
- Oko, Thief of Crowns
- Once Upon a Time
- Ponder
- Preordain
- Punishing Fire
- Rite of Flame
- Seat of the Synod
- Second Sunrise
- Seething Song
- Sensei’s Divining Top
- Simian Spirit Guide
- Skullclamp
- Splinter Twin
- Summer Bloom
- Tibalt’s Trickery
- Treasure Cruise
- Tree of Tales
- Umezawa’s Jitte
- Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath
- Vault of Whispers
Last updated: March 7, 2022
Modern Decks for Beginners
Competitive Magic players often refer to Modern as “The Players’ Format.” Unlike Standard, whose metagame changes rapidly and rewards players who choose the right deck for the tournament, Modern rewards those who know their decks inside and out. The format is diverse enough that your favorite deck often has a fighting chance, no matter how fringe it may be.
If you’re looking to start playing Modern, here are a few beginner-friendly decks that we’d recommend.
Burn
Burn is a perennial favorite for newer Modern players. It’s relatively affordable to build, and even budget versions of the deck can be successful in tournaments.
Modern Burn is blisteringly fast, with plenty of one-mana creatures and spells in its arsenal. That means you can power up a Monastery Swiftspear quickly, especially if you have a Rift Bolt coming off suspend the turn you attack with it. Eidolon of the Great Revel is also a fantastic tool for Burn to win races against other decks that have low-cost spells to cast.
Burn’s game plan is easy to understand, but its nuances take time and practice to master. We highly recommend it to any new Modern players, or players looking to expand their range.
Check out Burn decks on MTGGoldfish (including this budget version).
Bogles
Like Burn, Bogles has a straightforward game plan:
- Play a creature with hexproof (such as Slippery Bogle)
- Attach auras to it
- Profit!
Most importantly, the Bogles deck has the tools to deal with just about any challenge. Worried about board wipes? Suit your Bogle up with Hyena or Spider Umbra. Blockers in your way? Give your creature flying with Gryff’s Boon or protection from creatures with Spirit Mantle. Liliana of the Veil got you down? Play a Dryad Arbor and sacrifice it so you can keep your Slippery Bogle.
Check out Bogles decks on MTGGoldfish (including this budget version).
Elves
Tribal decks are fixtures of the Modern metagame. While Humans and Spirits tend to get the most press, there are plenty of other viable options, including a favorite of green mages: Elves!
Elves is a creature-combo deck that uses Nettle Sentinel and Heritage Druid to generate absurd amounts of mana. Its Plan A is to flood the board with creatures and win with a Shaman of the Pack trigger, though attacking with those creatures can often get the job done, especially when you have Ezuri, Renegade Leader to make them bigger.
Elves is a great starting place for aspiring combo players, or anyone looking to get some extra mileage out of their Collected Companies.
Check out Elves decks on MTGGoldfish (including this budget version).
Which deck would you like to try out in Modern? Let us know on Twitter at @Card_Kingdom!