Wizards of the Coast announced Modern Horizons 3 at Gen Con, which is set to release in the summer of 2024. Like its predecessors, it will inject some power into Modern, bypassing Standard completely. And having gone through this a couple times before, the questions we have include: “What will this do to Modern?” and “What have we seen so far?” …
Banned and Restricted Update: August 2023
This week, Wizards of the Coast announced their last Banned and Restricted update before switching to a new, yearly cadence in October. But while conversation in the community was blowing up about targets for Modern and Pioneer, every possible option escaped the hammer. Instead, Wizards of the Coast actually unbanned two cards, one in Modern and one in Legacy. The …
Banned and Restricted Targets in Modern
Fresh off the heels of the Modern Pro Tour The Lord of the Rings (but not yet into Wilds of Eldraine season), we have a wonderful time of year: Banned and Restricted Limbo! On Aug. 7, Wizards of the Coast will announce their first eternal format focused yearly banning update. So, we’re going to do what any good Magic player …
Lessons Learned from Pro Tour The Lord of the Rings
Pro Tours spark innovation and grow formats, as the best players use the best decks they can find to walk away the big winner. That held true in Barcelona at Pro Tour The Lord of the Rings last weekend, as players demonstrated the power of the new additions to Modern. With that in mind, we’re going to examine some of …
Innovation in Modern
Last week I spoke about how desperation breeds creativity, and as Modern adapts to the changes brought on by The Lord of the Rings, this has proven to be true. Over the last few weeks I’ve noticed some interesting new innovation in existing Modern decks, and even new decks all together put up strong tournament results. So much of competitive …
What I’ve Learned Playing The Lord of the Rings Modern
Since the release of The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth, Modern has received a few powerful, new options. Those include The One Ring, Orcish Bowmasters and cards that line up well against those cards, with players trying to gain an edge before Modern settles into its new metagame. I’ve been playing a lot of Modern to try and …
The Lord of the Rings Tales of Middle-earth Satisfying Design
Tales of Middle-earth proved how well Magic can adapt itself to capture the identity of other blockbuster media products through its design. As with the Warhammer 40,000 Commander decks last year, Wizards of the Coast bet a lot on their ability to draw in new and returning players from among fans of the source material. It’s a confident move; Magic …
Regional Championship Prep: Modern
The next Regional Championship Qualifier season begins in just a month or so and will use the Modern format for the first time. While many are still competing in Pioneer, it’s important to start looking ahead. Modern is also a format that many haven’t touched, so figuring out which deck to buy can be an incredibly daunting decision given the …
The Lord of the Rings Tales of Middle-earth Modern Results
Lord of the Rings Tales of Middle-earth hasn’t been around Magic Online for long, but there are already plenty of Modern results to look at from recent challenges and the showcase. The decks we’re looking at today are all from the finals of either kind of event. And while that’s not a direct indicator of how good the decks are, …
Building with The One Ring in Modern
It’s release week for The Lord of the Rings, and somehow we haven’t talked about The One Ring in the context of Modern since we first saw it previewed months ago. In some ways though, it’s like saving the best for last. While a card like stern scolding is more likely to see tons of play, I think The One …