2. The Modern Format
● Constructed format
● Includes sets from 8th Edition (modern frame)
● Very popular
GP Prague
1,396 players
GP Richmond
4,300 players
GP Minneapolis
1,600 players
GP Boston-Worcester
2,394 players
GP Kobe
2,270 players
GP Madrid
?
3. Jeskai Combo (1/3)
● Combo deck based on Jeskai Ascendacy
● Mana creatures
● Cheap cantrip spells
● It kills with Giant Birds!
4. Jeskai Combo (2/3)
Potential Problems
● A lot of card drawing
● Many invisible effects (color changing, P/T bonuses)
● Multiple triggers at the same time
● Tracking of mana in pool
5. Jeskai Combo (3/3)
Split cards with monocolored sides are
considered multicolor cards and can be
fetched with Glittering Wish
Both abilities trigger at the same Time, and can be placed on
any order on the stack
Active Player must point out the order
Copying a spell does not trigger the Ascendancy
6. Affinity / Robots (1/5)
● Artifact based aggro deck
● Cheap creatures with high sinergy
● A lot of acceleration
● Manlands
● Fast!
7. Affinity / Robots (2/5)
Potential Problems
● Sometimes it’s difficult to calculate the total combat
damage
10. Affinity / Robots (5/5)
Dodges Summoning Sickness !
If Sacrificed for itself,
Modular does not put an additional
+1/+1 counter due to the ability !
11. Twin Exarch (1/4)
● Usually presented as UR Tempo Deck, but there are
other flavors (Tarmo-twin, Temur-twin, etc.)
● Burn spells, cheap counters and cantrips
● Infinite tokens combo
14. Twin Exarch (4/4)
Targets must be legal
on resolution
to draw the card!
Tokens put into Battlefield
at end of turn, stay until
the Beginning of End Step
of next turn !
15. Scapeshift (1/4)
● UG Ramp control/combo deck
● Kills by resolving Scapeshift and searching for Valakut
and many Mountains.
16. Scapeshift (2/4)
Potential Problems
● Many players do not know how Valakut works
● Suspend spells (Search for Tomorrow)
17. Scapeshift (3/4)
Destroying Valakut in response to the trigger does not counter the trigger
Intervening IF:
Trigger is checked both in triggering and in resolution.
18. Scapeshift (4/4)
Player casts Scapeshift
Sacrificing 7 Lands.
How many triggers when
Scapeshift Resolves? 6
How many if 1 Mountain is destroyed
with triggers on stack ? 1
19. Melira Pod (1/4)
● Green based midrange deck
● Utility creatures with ETB abilities
● Birthing Pod engine
● Combo with Melira and creatures
with Persist
22. Melira Pod (4/4)
Potential Problems
● Infinite Combos
● Many triggers
● Persist and graveyard interaction
23. Burn (1/3)
● Classic mono-red aggro deck
● Straight plan: dealing maximum damage to opponent
● Direct damage spells and creatures with Haste
24. Burn (2/3)
Potential Problems
● Each life point matters. Life discrepancy between
players can be dramatic and lead to uncomfortable
situations.
25. Burn (3/3)
Needs 2 Targets: Creature & Player
Cannot target a player with no creatures.
Removing targeted creature does not
counter this spell
Active Player is responsible for
trigger.
This may incur in several
Warnings and maybe a Game Loss
Unearth is an activated ability
Cannot be countered by normal
spells
If the creature would leave the
Battlefield, it is exiled instead
26. UWr Control (1/2)
● The Modern Control Deck
● Fast responses to early threats (Path to Exile,
Lightning Bolt, Mana Leak...)
● Card advantage spells in late game (Supreme Verdict,
Snapcaster Mage, Sphinx’s Revelation…)
27. UWr Control (2/2)
1.- If all targets are not legal when the spell resolves,
it does nothing.
(Counter target Spell + Draw, Bounce + Draw, Tap + Draw)
2.-
AP: Attack
NAP: I Tap your creatures & Draw
AP: Activate Man Land and I attack
3.-
AP: Attack
NAP: OK
AP: Then, I activate Man Land and I attack
28. Zoo (1/2)
● Creature based Naya aggro deck
● Perfect mana curve
30. Infect (1/2)
● Infect creatures + pump spells
● Can kill in one strike or slowly adding poison counters
31. Infect (2/2)
It’s not Hexproof !
It works in a different way on
creatures of opponent
Only on creatures that are actually 1/1
If the creature is not a 1/1 on resolution,
ability will be countered
32. Tron / Eldrazi Green (1/4)
● Urza’s Lands to produce big amounts
of mana
● Big colorless spells
● Green version for acceleration
● U/W version for artifact tutors and
counterspells
33. Tron / Eldrazi Green (2/4)
Land - Urza’s Mine Land - Urza’s Tower Land - Urza’s Power Plant
ORACLE RULES !!!
34. Tron / Eldrazi Green (3/4)
Stops Urzatron !
Changes Subtype from
Urza’s X to Island
How to restart the Game ?
Creatures do not have
Summoning Sickness !
Gaining Life is part
of the ability, not a
triggered ability
35. Tron / Eldrazi Green (4/4)
Chromatic Sphere lets you draw
when you activate the ability
Chromatic Star lets you draw
even if it is destroyed, but if
there is a Rest in Peace or
Leyline of the Void, you will not
draw
Which lands can I choose?
Exactly one of each basic type
Dual lands can be chosen twice
36. Cards of Conflict (1/6)
1.- Lands that enter the Battlefield tapped still enter the
Battlefield tapped (Replacement effect)
2.- Does not remove Super Types (Artifact, Legendary, Snow)
3.- Latest Timestamp has
priority with Spreading Seas
4.- Urborg loses its effect because
it becomes a Mountain
5.- Manlands / Mutavault: Activating
the land in response to a Blood
Moon being cast, makes the land
become a Creature with no abilities
that it is still a land
37. Cards of Conflict (2/6)
1.- Any spell or ability can be targeted, even if it has no targets
2.- Only changes the target if Spellskite is a legal target
3.- If a spell has several targets, it only changes one of them
4.- If a spell with
“two or more targets”
targets Spellskite with
one of those “targets”,
no other “target” can be
redirected to Spellskite
38. Cards of Conflict (3/6)
1.- If it targets a spell
that cannot be countered,
you still get to draw a
card
2.- If it counters a spell
with Flashback, that
spell is exiled, it is not
put in owner’s hand.
39. Cards of Conflict (4/6)
Affects also activated
abilities in Hand and in
Graveyard (Cycling,
Unearth, but not
Flashback)
Trigger must be
responded to before
looking the top card.
After revealing, the
creature transforms
(Complete ability)
Another Tectonic Edge can
be activated in response to
the first to destroy two lands
It only checks during
activation
Ability cannot be responded to
exiling a card that is going to be
exiled to counter the ability
40. Cards of Conflict (5/6)
Destroy/Exile/Bouncer effects VS Damage and -X/-X effects
Both situations may incur in a double Game Play Error - Game Rule Violation !
41. Cards of Conflict (6/6)
It is not an alternative cost,
it is a way to pay the cost
Delve can be used to pay
alternative costs
such as Flashback
Delve can be used also to
pay additional costs
42. Thank you for your attention !
Any questions and further information
may be asked…
During the Informal Judge Dinner !
Enjoy Madrid !
Notes de l'éditeur
It’s a combo deck based on Jeskai Ascendancy. It plays mana creatures like Birds of Paradise or Noble Hierarch, and a lot of cheap cantrip spells. It also features Glittering Wish for searching sideboard responses and finishers, including the Jeskai Ascendancy itself.
It usually kills with a very big Birds of Paradise, Grapeshot or Aurelia’s Fury.
It’s a combo deck based on Jeskai Ascendancy. It plays mana creatures like Birds of Paradise or Noble Hierarch, and a lot of cheap cantrip spells. It also features Glittering Wish for searching sideboard responses and finishers, including the Jeskai Ascendancy itself.
It usually kills with a very big Birds of Paradise, Grapeshot or Aurelia’s Fury.
The explosive deck of artifact creatures. It exploit the sinergy between it cards and features heavy acceleration. A typical affinity hand can drop all the cards in the first two turns and attack for 10 or more in the third one.
1.- Introduction to Etched Champion => Protection from All Colors IF Metalcraft (3 or more artifacts controlled)
2.- Path to Exile and Lightning Bolt cannot target it
3.- Pyroclasm assigns damage, BUT it is prevented due to protection
4.- Generic destroy spells kill the Champion
5.- Even generic effects that do not deal damage may kill it (Toughness = 0, Sacrifice)
There are many flavors of this deck, but the most common is an UR tempo deck that includes the combo Deceiver Exarch/Pestermite + Splinter Twin/Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker to put hundreds of tokens.
Usually presented as a UG Ramp control/combo deck which kills the opponent resolving Scapeshift and search one or more Valakuts and many mountains that trigger simultaneously.
1.- Remind Judges that, once Scapeshift resolves, no Mana can be extracted from lands that are going to be sacrificed.
2.- If Valakut is destroyed, triggers still resolve
3.- Each one of the 6 Mountains see that there are other 5 Mountains on the Battlefield, so they trigger Valakut.
4.- Is one of those Mountains is destroyed THAT Mountain’s trigger still sees other 5 Mountains, so it resolves
5.- BUT, the other 5 Mountains’ triggers only see 4 other Mountains, so they do not resolve.
This deck uses Birthing Pod and Chord of Calling to search for pieces of a combo, usually involving Melira.
1.- Melira + Creature with Persist = Creature returns to the Battlefield due to Persist, but without -1/-1 counters due to Melira
2.- With Sacrifice outlet (Viscera Seer), an infinite loop can be obtained
3.- The creature with Persist goes to the Graveyard before returning to the Battlefield. The trigger can be responded to. Also, replacement effects may cause the creature not to return to the Battlefield (Rest in Peace, Leyline of the Void)
This deck uses Birthing Pod and Chord of Calling to search for pieces of a combo, usually involving Melira.
1.- Remove a +1/+1 counter from Spike Feeder, gain 2 Life, then put a +1/+1 counter on Spike Feeder
2.- If there are no +1/+1 counters on Spike Feeder, if nothing raises its Toughness, it is put into the Graveyard when State Based Actions are checked (Cannot be responded to)
Red. Red. Red. This deck have a straight plan, cast your spells to deal maximum damage to your opponent. With the recent inclusion of cards like Monastery Swiftspear or Eidolon of the Great Revel, this deck reaching a high competitive profile.
It’s a midrange control deck featuring cheap countermagic and removal spells to bring the game to the state where it can cast powerful treats like Restoration Angel, Cryptic Command, Sphinx’s Revelation or Supreme Veredict.
The classic Naya aggro deck with good quality creatures and removal, not so fast, not so midrange. Its most representative cards are Tarmogoyf, Wild Nacatl, Path to Exile and Lightning Bolt.
Infect is the modern Berserk Stompy. It tries to set the opponent to 10 poison counters as fast as it can, with fast Infect creatures with Infect and pumping spells.
1.- It is not Hexproof, because it stops spells and abilities your opponents control, such as Equipping, and Auras (Splinter Twin)
2.- Beware if the creature has +1/+1 counters. Beware of other Pump spells that the creature might have.
Urzatron based deck, with big colorless spells like Karn Liberated, Wurmcoil Engine, Sundering Titan and, of course, Emrakul.
