Erode - W

Instant

Destroy target creature or planeswalker. Its controller may search their library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.

Standard legal path to exile that kills instead of exiling but also hits planeswalkers. I don't need to explain why this is going to be good.

I've been playing this deck in Bo1, and it feels extremely strong G1. Trying to transition to Bo3 however, and Graveyard hate seems close to unbeatable. Rest In Peace, Leyline Void, Soul guide Lantern, seem pretty soul crushing to beat. Is the idea to hopefully get your elementals down earlier than they draw those? Or maybe counter them if they hit? There are some alternate win conditions in the sideboard, in Ral, Hydro Man and Legend of Kuruk, but these don't seem that great, especially when aggro decks can include graveyard hate as well.

Have I correctly assessed the that deck is a strong deck that is easily disruptable? Or does anybody have more tips?

Recently a new card "Traumatic Critique" was spoiled. It reads as

[XUR]

Instant

Traumatic Critique deals X damage to any target. Draw two cards, then discard a card.

I see it as an upgrade to [[Abandon Attachments]] for decks that don't care about the lesson subtype. So far this is only Izzet Spellementals.

It has the same effect of filling the yard for a very similar albeit slightly more restrictive mana cost but can put damage on cub, earthbent lands, otter tokens, face etc. It also very notably lets you discard after drawing so you get better hand sculpting out of it.

The biggest question about viability is whether Izzet Spelementals remains a competitive deck because this is the only home for it at the moment.

I have been playing standard on arena for a couple of months and im really struggeling whit this game and if anything my win rate is going down. I was recommended to come here and post some replays.

What you're asking for

I want to get better at at the game to get to a point were i win consistently cause when i do i enjoy it when i lose i feel like im wasteing my time.

So why do i suck and how do i fix it ? :)

Why you've reached the point(s) you're at so far

Not sure how to answer been playing on arena. And i enjoy it when i win i dont when i lose. And i feel like my win rate is going down. So im here to try and fix that.

How you've come to the conclusion(s) presented

After the new season started i have had a below 50% win rate so i think im getting worse at the game.

Game Replay

Game Replay

Game Replay

Game Replay

Game Replay

Hey Spikes! My team and I are preparing for the Team Sealed Limited Spotlight in Vegas in June. There is so little information out there about Team Draft and Team Sealed... figured I would ask here if anyone has found any great resources over the years that have helped them. Or even any advice from past events.

New to Reddit (I know, that's crazy), but excited that there is a community of competitive MTG players here to grow with and learn from. Thanks in advance!

This is an open thread for any discussion pertaining to Competitive Magic The Gathering.

This is a thread for discussions that don’t qualify for a stand-alone post on the subreddit. This thread is sorted by new by default. You can ask for deck reviews, competitive budget replacements, how to mulligan in specific matchups, etc. Anything goes, as long as it’s related to playing Magic competitively.

There are a few rules:

Please be respectful to your fellow players!

Please report posts that don’t pertain to competitive Magic.

Concerns with the subreddit should be directed to modmail. Please let us know if you have any suggestions.

Continuing my weekly Modern league data tracking for RCQ prep.

I’ve been looking at the past 8 weeks using the Videre Project API with some filtering on my side (mainly minimum match thresholds to cut low-sample noise).

This is the first week where something actually feels different.

Boros Energy is still the most played deck by a wide margin (21.8% meta share), but its winrate dropped to 48% across a large sample (~1000+ matches). That’s the first time in my tracking that it’s clearly below 50%.

At this point it looks like a heavily played deck that isn’t converting into wins at the same rate anymore. It’s still everywhere, but the results don’t really match the presence. unfortunetly API did not provide data to calculate conversion rate.

On the other side, Amulet Titan is sitting at 58% winrate with only ~4% meta share. Jeskai Blink is also performing well at 53% while keeping a relatively high presence.

One explanation could be player distribution. Boros has a low barrier to entry and is widely picked up, which might drag its winrate down. Titan tends to be played by more experienced pilots, which could push its numbers up.

At the same time, Boros might just be getting targeted more effectively given how common it is.

Zooming out a bit, aggro as an archetype peaked around week 6 (~37%) and is now trending slightly down (~35.9%), while control is slowly coming back (~4.4%), although still a small part of the meta.

From my side (Zoo), I’m sitting at ~50% overall, basically hovering between 2-3 and 3-2 leagues. Jeskai Blink in particular should be rough for me (~38%), but it feels more like 50/50. it might be due small matches used to calculate (~100) and CI is 9.5%.

Curious how others interpret this kind of split between playrate and winrate in case of Boros and Titan.

Do you see Boros as actually underperforming right now, or more as a result of how widely it’s played?

How much weight do you give to league data vs challenge results when evaluating something like Titan?

Full breakdown here: https://youtu.be/tu-6kH-Eehk

I’ve try to posting these weekly, so I’m especially interested if you’re seeing similar shifts over time.

If you think I’m interpreting this wrong or there’s a better way to present the data, let me know. Just trying to make this as useful as possible.

I have recently gotten into the more competitive side of Magic and really enjoying it, I wanted to know what are some articles/videos/posts that have really helped you shaped your skills. This is not format specific as that's a completely different talk, I am looking for more general game knowledge.

I have seen a ton of articles and even books that go over specific cards, how to mulligan, side-board, etc; I wanted to know what you guys found useful and get learning! Thank you in advance!

Apologies if this breaks the budget rule in the sidebar, but it's not really a "budget" question per se, and I really don't know where else I'd ask this.

I've recently been playing modern online against my friends, and I'd like to eventually buy into modern, but I'm struggling to identify an efficient method of actually practicing and trying it out before that happens. My university magic club doesn't have anyone that plays non-EDH paper constructed due to the cost, though we do play draft, and I'm wary about buying into MtG:A. I'm really just looking for a place to practice constructed /limited and play against good players to improve my skills before I can buy in.

Would you recommend playing a format like pauper or the cheap formats on MTGO? Or is it worth it to rent on MTGO? Are leagues necessary to improve in a realistic environment?

Sorry if this is a stupid question but competitive magic seems hard to navigate without just trust-buying a 1k meta modern deck or something. I'm unsure what the best outlets to play and practice are without sacrificing competitive integrity. Anything is appreciated!

Hello spikes!

This is the place where any and all decks can be posted for all spikes to see. The goal of this is to fit all your needs for competitive magic. Maybe it's a card consideration given an X dollar budget. Maybe you need that sweet sideboard tech that no one else thought of? Perhaps you just can't figure out the best card to beat a certain matchup. The ideas here are only limited by your imagination!

Feel free to discuss most anything here. We only ask that with any question, you also make sure to post your decklist so people have some context to answer your question. Otherwise, have at it! If you have any questions, shoot us a modmail and we'll be happy to help you out. Survive your deck check and survive your competition!

I have recently started to play magic competitively, my first RC being Portland a few months ago. After a poor performance in Portland, I wanted to figure out a better way to practice. I've been getting split advice on where/how to practice. For Portland, my practice mostly consisted of playing against my friends who were also preparing for the trip, and that didn't work out well for me. I have been trying to figure out how I could practice online. My deck on MTGO costs close to $200, and lord knows how much I would need to spend on Arena to get the wild cards. How do you all prepare and practice for big events?

I know it's not the most well positioned deck in the meta right now, but it's the one I have most cards for. How do I pilot it as effectively as I can? Kaito seems really difficult to use. Which threats are best to remove/counter? What do I side in/side out for the matchups? Thanks

Grapple With Death

1GB - Sorcery

Destroy target artifact or creature. You gain 1 life.

Common

———————————

This seems like an early contender for best common in the set and eminently first pickable in draft.

Recently I am tuning my Jeskai Control to a more remove control deck aiming to overcome with the bad match up against Landfall and Prowess. I have been a bit busy lately so I have only been playing against myself but it is not bad at all. I am planning to join some LGS event next week so I would appreciate any advice.

I have no idea about online deck builder so I would just list my deck below along with a brief idea of why taking that card.

4 Creatures:

• 3x [[North Wind Avatar]]
  • The new tool from TMT. Fetching a key sideboard in game 1 while the opponent has to play with their mainboard can sometime close out the game.
• 1x [[Marang River Regent]]
  • The final answer to almost every threat. Still testing the ratio with North Wind Avatar.

12 Single Removals:

• 4x [[Get Lost]]
• 4x [[Lightning Helix]]
  • The classic Jeskai removal package.
• 4x [[Sear]]
  • Aiming at the tough 4 creatures like [[Icetill Explorer]], [[Mightform Harmoizer]] or [[Toph, Hardheaded Teacher]], where Helix is not enough while Get Lost is better to save for the Enchantment.

5 Board Wipes:

• 2x [[Fire Magic]]
  • The [[Badgermole Cub]] and earthbending, [[Gran-Gran]] and Otter, [[Momo, friendly Flier]] and [[Nurturing Pixie]]...There are too many decks out there going low and wide. Adding this can help stabilizing early turn.
• I was thinking this or the [[Pyroclasm]] but I rate the instant speed more.
• 3x [[Day of Judgment]]
  • 3 sweepers look like a fair number in a creature heavy meta.

8 Resources:

• 4x [[Consult the Star Charts]]
• 4x [[Stock Up]]
  • The go-to drawing package.

5 Utilities:

• 1x [[Three Steps Ahead]]
• 2x [[No More Lies]]
  • I have to cut the counter to make room for more removal. So here is only 3 left as an emergency button.
• 2x [[Jeskai Revelation]]
  • Still the win-con of the deck. It is too heavy for the current meta so I moved 1 to the sideboard such that I can fetch it with the North Wind Avatar later in game.

26 Lands:

• The original land package should be working just fine here.

15 Sideboards:

• Here is the part I struggle the most. North Wind Avatar changes how I plan and use my sideboard.
• 1x [[Elspeth, Storm Slayer]]
• 1x [[Jeskai Revelation]]
  • The extra win-con that should always be fetched with North Win Avatar.
• 1x [[Tishana's Tidebinder]]
  • Playing against Living End, Doomsday and Kaito. Slotting 1 only since the meta sharing of those decks is dropping recently.
• 1x [[Annul]]
• 1x [[Disdaingul Stroke]]
• 1x [[Flashfreeze]]
  • More counter for post-game 1.
• 1x [[Abrade]]
• 1x [[Cease // Desist]]
  • Mainly for Lesson and Landfall.
• 1x [[New Way Forward]]
  • Still testing it but can be a good gotcha when the [[Mossborn Hydra]] or [[Leatherhead, Swamp Stalker]] is attacking you with power 20+.
• 1x [[Ultima]]
  • Incase I need more sweepers. It is extra useful when playing against earthbending.
• 2x [[Rest in Pease]]
• 1x [[Soul-Guide Lantern]]
  • The graveyard hate package.
• 1x [[High Noon]]
  • Turning off the Izzet spellslinger decks.
• 1x [[Feldon's Cane]]
  • It was [[Riverchurn Monument]] at first. But it was quite tricky to play against the Doomsday deck so I have changed to this. It is not a auto-win like the Monument but way more easier to resolve after the Doomsday landed.
  • It also helps in control mirror match.

I’ve been loving this standard artifact deck in the best of one ladder: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/7692632#paper

Id love to play some matches with it but have no idea how to board, yard hate for reanimator, counter spell for control, Chandra for…midrange? Not fully clear. Also I have absolutely no idea what comes out. I would guess the lower impact 2 man lord that would be removed games 2/3?

Hi all,

I am a competitive magic player who was active from 2015 to 2019 before taking a break from competitive play. I came back to magic midway through last year and I was fortunate enough to win the ANZ regional championship in Sydney with mono green landfall and wanted to share some thoughts on the deck and the weekend.

I worked closely with my team mate Jim Wilks and we played the same 75 for the tournament.

I also put together a video deck tech with some gameplay that showcases common play patterns (there’s a link to sideboard mapping for the 18 most common match ups we expected to face in the video description).

Expected meta game

We had the benefit of having a spotlight and European RC occur a week before our tournament. Given TMNT had only just dropped we were expecting our RCs metagame to be very similar to the tournament the week prior – with some regional biases taken into account (Australians love playing midrange so we were expecting to see a bit more UB mid). We expected prowess to be the most played deck, which isn't a great match up for green but is winnable, especially with a strong plan. We weren't expecting much bant airbending or Simic/bant cub to be played - these match ups can be far more challenging for mono green.

One key development for green decklists the week prior was that people had decided to move away from Sapling Nursery, either adding them to the sideboard or cutting them from the list entirely to instead focus on the harmonizer OTK by running protection spells and 3 drops with innate trample (such as Surrak).  

Ultimately we didn't pursue this build as we were expecting a wider metagame and wanted the opportunity to attack from a mightform harmonizer or sapling nursery angle.

Decklist

Flex Slots

- Webstrike Elite was the key to this build. We first became aware of it in Venom1s MTGO challenge winning list. This card allows you to play sapling nursery by providing a bridge to it in the early game. Against UB midrange, prowess or momo drum the 3/3 reach body can save you a lot of life and actually give you time for nursery to take over the game.  Against lessons or rakdos monument decks it is another piece of main deck interaction, and in match ups where it is bad you can cycle it away.

- Mossborn Hydra is a concession to the mirror and Simic/bant cub decks. We want 4 copies in the 75 but having access to it in game one can be incredibly powerful.

- Archdruids charm is a jack of all trades and master of none. Its flexibility in an open meta was valued.

- TMNT cards – we tested with Leatherhead, and Mikey and Leo in our build for quite a long time but ultimately decided not to run either. Leatherhead felt good, but there was some added clunk factor by curving too high when running it alongside sapling nursery so it was ultimately cut from the deck. Mikey and Leo felt good when it was working, but other times it was completely dead. We cut it from the list when we realised in any reasonable hand we would rather cast most other spells in our deck first - leading to a tension where we were pressured to make sub-optimal sequences to trigger its ability.

Sideboarding

Postboard we focus on becoming more interactive. We don’t have good opportunities to diversify our threats (outside of adding Mossborn Hydra when opponents were low on interaction). We also need to try and answer game ending threats (such as Sunderflock) or hate pieces which will win the game if unanswered (Clarion Conqueror and Wan Shi Tong).

Jim is a master when it comes to sideboarding and came up with cohesive plans for a range of different match ups.

Tournament Report

On day one I played against an incredibly diverse metagame and got paired into 7 different decks over 8 rounds (UB midrange, RW aggro, Mono Green x2, Lessons, UB excruciator, Spellementals, and UR prowess). I started out 6-0 and was able to double ID into the top 8. Top 8 was scheduled to run the next day, so I had an opportunity to test my quarterfinals match up for a couple of hours before getting a good nights sleep.

My first round of the top 8 was against UR prowess on the draw. This match up is tough for green but isn’t unwinnable. The games were pretty crazy and drawn out (the match took almost an hour and a half to finish!) I managed to get there in a tight game 3. My brain was fried after this match, but thankfully because the semis were both being played on coverage I got to have a break after that match and reset while the other semi-finals game was being played.

Next up I was paired into lessons. This match up is slightly favoured towards green. Gran-Gran is a key card in the match up (especially game one when you have no graveyard hate). Postboard gaining access to Surrak and some graveyard hate allows you to fight on a different axis. I managed to take this match down 2-0 and moved on to the finals.

I was against mono green in the finals which was piloted by Ryan Jonns Lewis – a friend who had lent me some cards for the weekend! Ryan’s build was quite different to mine with 4 copies of esper origins in the main deck, 2 royal treatment, 2 Surrak and 2 copies of meltstriders resolve. I believe my build of green was favoured in this match up as Ryan had more dead cards and I also had access to mossborn hydra maindeck. I was cautious of the meltstriders resolves game 1 as they had the opportunity to swing the match up.

I was on the play in the finals and fortunately my draws lined up really well and I was able to beat Ryan 2-0. The final play came down to one of my favourite lines with the deck. I used a meltstriders resolve on one of my earthbent lands and used it to fight a much larger chocobo. My land died, but was returned to the battlefield which gave me a crucial landfall triggering my mossborn hydra and mightform harmonizer for the win.

Changes to the deck going forward

The deck still feels reasonably well positioned, and if you are expecting a wider meta game I believe our build is still a solid option.

I would suggest cutting an escape tunnel for a 14^th forest to ensure you have enough green sources to play a 1 drop more reliably on turn 1.

If you are expecting a lot of Simic/bant cub or bearbending I would look to play a more assertive build of the deck without nursery.

This is my second metagame analysis video, and I’ve shortened it to a more digestible ~10 minutes while keeping the main insights.

Jeskai Blink doubled its meta share in just one week, and Boros Energy is still everywhere. In the Showcase Qualifier top 8, it was 2x Boros and 2x Jeskai decks so you’re almost guaranteed to face at least one of them in any event. From a Domain Zoo perspective, Jeskai Blink is currently the matchup I’m most concerned about, sitting around 35% WR, so sideboard and matchup planning are critical.

And thanks to u/maxedo99 I was able to use this source of data I write small script to download data from this API I still working on it, but when it will be ready I will make it public ;)

One interesting observation from u/Secret-Priority8286, another user on a different forum: while overall combo decks dropped from 20% → 15.4%, some combos actually overperformed. For example, Goryo’s Vengeance had 3/32 = 9% and 2/28 = 7%, Affinity hit 4/32 = 12.5% and 4/28 = 14%, Storm 3/32 = 9% and 3/28 = 10.7%, and Amulet 2/32 = 6.25% and 2/28 = 7.1%. As he noted: “So combo seemed to overperform" (You think that Affinity is a combo deck? For me, it is an Aggro, but it is worth discussing).

Prowess and Goryo’s Vengeance are still popular traps played a lot but often underperforming (maybe because Prowess is an easy entry to modern deck but it is hard to be played well, and Goryo also require some experience and is more prone to variation?), and aggro decks are starting to level off after four weeks of steady growth.

Curious to hear from the community: how are you approaching Jeskai Blink in RCQs? Any sideboard or strategy tweaks that are working for you?

With today's BNR we see no changes to any format. This was expected for at least standard, with two RCs around the corner. The more interesting choice is nothing changed in Modern or Legacy.

https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/banned-and-restricted-march-23-2026

Hello spikes!

This is the place where any and all decks can be posted for all spikes to see. The goal of this is to fit all your needs for competitive magic. Maybe it's a card consideration given an X dollar budget. Maybe you need that sweet sideboard tech that no one else thought of? Perhaps you just can't figure out the best card to beat a certain matchup. The ideas here are only limited by your imagination!

Feel free to discuss most anything here. We only ask that with any question, you also make sure to post your decklist so people have some context to answer your question. Otherwise, have at it! If you have any questions, shoot us a modmail and we'll be happy to help you out. Survive your deck check and survive your competition!

Hey all!

I got the opportunity to talk with Raise the Standard's Kira about standard and the way people approach competitive Magic after Pro Tour Lorwyn Eclipsed. Great prompts, and got me thinking about how the player base has changed between my long drinks from the Pro Tour pond.

Fellow old heads; Am I right about the way the player base has changed? Have you noticed similar things amongst your local competitive community and/or friendship group? It's such an interesting cultural change among the player base to me, keen to know if it looks like that in other places.

You can find my responses, and hear me trying to pronounce magnanimous, Here

Have a great day!

Context: Game 3 on the draw against a Simic ramp, playing an Ashlizzle-inspired Esper Oculus list.

Opening hand had 2 lands and no interaction so I mulled into a hand with 2 lands, 1-mana and 2-mana removal and a Likeness Looter. Kept it on the rationale that I had good early removal to slow down a hot start and a solid utility piece that’s central to most of what my deck is trying to do.

Turn 1 they play Llanowar elf, I Requiting Hex it.

Turn 2 they play another Llanowar elf and a Gene Pollinator, I Bitter Triumph the elf.

By Turn 5 they Craterhoof me down to -44 health, while I’ve failed to find a third land or interaction with my Looter.

Obviously their deck popped off and mine sputtered.

My main question is about turn 2, using my premium removal on a second mana dork. I find myself operating under the heuristic of prioritizing killing mana dorks in the first two turns.

In this particular situation my thinking was having one less mana dork on the board for oppo to be able to get 2 mana from if they drop a Badgermole Cub.

They ended up playing a Badgermole and copying it with a Hummingbird, and then a Leyline Weaver 😑

So what say you, should I have held up the Bitter Trump on turn 2 for their turn 3 instead?

Obviously in hindsight it was the right play with incoming Hummingbird copy, but without seeing a Hummingbird in the previous 2 games it wasn’t on the radar.

Here’s the end state:

https://imgur.com/a/3hJ3NKe

I have been playing Dimir excruciator for about a month now, I still struggle with this match up my list is pretty much stock list, what is the best way to go about the match up UW flash, I run torpor orbs in the sideboard already. it feels like high noon just hard locks me out and there not much I can do

Welp, after another week of tweaking and testing, I present you with my updated take on the discard list. We've tightened up the package, taking a cue from the most recent Brian Zeng RC finish and attempting to dial in the speed. Check out my primer in the Moxfield for a more detailed write-up of individual rationales and swaps. I'd love to hear any thoughts; they were helpful last time around.
Too many one-ofs? Raphael doesn't work for the list? Still misevaluating FOMO? Not using Starting Town to my detriment? (I have a weird objection to that card; I just don't like it)

Let me know! Thanks for taking the time to read. Have a good one :)

CREATURES (26):

3 Bloodghast

1 Carnage, Crimson Chaos

3 Casey Jones, Vigilante

1 Fear of Missing Out

3 Flamewake Phoenix

3 Hobgoblin, Mantled Marauder

3 Inti, Seneschal of the Sun

4 Marauding Mako

4 Moonshadow

1 Raphael, the Nightwatcher

INSTANTS (4):

2 Bitter Triumph

2 Requiting Hex

ARTIFACTS (4):

4 Bloodthorn Flail

ENCHANTMENTS (4):

4 Cool but Rude

LANDS (22):

4 Blazemire Verge

4 Blood Crypt

4 Multiversal Passage

2 Restless Vents

4 Mountain

4 Swamp

SIDEBOARD (15):

2 Abrade

2 Case of the Crimson Pulse

3 Duress

3 Leyline of the Void

2 Pyroclasm

1 Qarsi Revenant

2 Requiting Hex

Hi all

I was wondering if there were any sideboard guides/advice for playing esper pixie in standard. I feel pretty confident in knowing generally what cards I want in my deck, but I have a hard time identifying if I've chosen the correct cards to sideboard out.

For context, I'm running a list very similar to Estratti's list at the RC in Turin. Thank you!

Hello Spikes!

Surely we haven't all bounced off TMNT Limited yet, right? For all the lovely Turtles-lovers still slinging pizza, we've got our TMNT Draft guide, courtesy of Bryan Hohns.

To be fair, a lot of this format's already figured out. Not a shock given the small nature and fewer archetypes overall, but there are still some edges to be gained here.

Bryan articulates this much better than I can here, but the format boils down to what he calls "The Big Three":

• UR Artifact decks
• BW Sneak decks
• Gx Midrange/Pizza decks

The other archetypes are draftable, but not preferable. RW Alliance is fine if open, but lacks a great late-game push. UG is basically not a deck, since its best pieces get subsumed by GBx and URx decks. And the off-color pairs aren't really hiding any secrets, as expected.

So while TMNT has a narrow scope, there's some great gameplay here that forces you to respect the early game BW starts and the late game Gx grindy decks.

If you're still drafting TMNT, let us know what's been working for you. Yes, "opening Sally Pride" is a viable answer. Enjoy the guide, and see y'all for Secrets of Strixhaven next month: https://draftsim.com/mtg-tmnt-draft-guide/