I cannot escape. As a Denver resident, I am used to unusually unseasonal weather usurping usual undertakings. Why, as a lad I suffered snow at summer camp more than once. Even in July. And an unrelated time, it snowed in August. While thinking of snow on the pines is pleasant and all, it has little […]
David Ernenwein
David has been playing Magic since Odyssey block. A dedicated Spike, he's been grinding tournaments for over a decade, including a Pro Tour appearance. A Modern specialist who dabbles in Legacy, his writing is focused on metagame analysis and deck evolution.
*Sigh* Oh, Magic Online. It is only now, with paper Magic shut down, that I am forced to regularly use you. And remember that I love/hate you. The ability to pick up and play my preferred format anytime, and against anyone in the world, is a true joy. Having to navigate your stubbornly obtuse command schemes […]
Well, this is rather unfortunate. I was intending to start building a new metagame dataset with SCG Baltimore this week. However, COVID-19 has led to basically everything for the next month being cancelled. Which means I’ll need to rely on online data for the foreseeable future. The problem is there isn’t enough non-League data to […]
Well that was fast. It’s only been two months since Oko, Thief of Crowns was banned. It’s pretty rare for Wizards to issue Modern bans in consecutive announcements, except for during emergencies like Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis’s reign of terror. So I wasn’t actually expecting anything to happen in Modern. However, last Thursday, that changed; I […]
As a new sets come out, the entire Magic writing world speculates on the spoilers. Why wouldn’t we? There’s not always much else going on during spoiler season, and brewing with new cards and ideas is a significant part of the game’s appeal. Plus, if Wizards is going to hand us easy content, it would […]
Another event, another set of data, another reexamination of the Modern metagame. As the time of actual Modern Opens and Grand Prix approaches, Modern players are increasingly seeking to find the new rules for the format and whatever edge they can. I’ll be tracking those changes as the data comes in, looking for developments and […]
The metagame is beginning to take form, and now is the time for players to start adapting. This could mean adjusting which decks they play, how they play them, or what cards they play. Now is naturally a time for experimentation, but no such transitional period is free from common mistakes. Whether it’s misunderstanding how […]
Last week, we made a forecast about Modern in 2020. And with a starting point established, we can now begin tracking developments! I previously concluded that the SCG circuit was overplaying Amulet Titan, and that Modern players were forgetting to pack their graveyard hate. This week, I will be adding to the data with additional […]
Everything has to begin somewhere. The Modern metagame is no exception, and last week I used the MTGO metagame as a bellwether for the emerging format. The five decks I examined have done well online. However, as I noted, the data isn’t necessarily accurate or indicative of what players will encounter at a Modern event. […]
That Modern is changing should be obvious: there’s a lower-power set coming out and we just had a major banning. But how Modern is changing is an open question. The only major Modern events for the next month are SCG Classics and Team Opens, which aren’t the most reliable sources for data. So we’ll have […]
With the Prerelease out of the way the actual work of exploring Theros: Beyond Death has begun. As Jordan previously noted, there are a number of interesting role players in Theros. However, there don’t appear to be any unequivocal home runs. Considering how 2019 went, that’s a very nice change; I’d like a chance to finally catch […]
Well, everyone should have seen another ban coming. There was no way that Wizards wasn’t going to let their last scheduled banned and restricted announcement go by without doing something about Oko, Thief of Crowns. However, I didn’t expect it to go this far. Three cards banned would be a fairly substantial shift by itself, […]
Happy New Year! I’ll be kicking off 2020 by leaping into spoiler season. Spoilers for Theros: Beyond Death began trickling in while everyone was on holiday break. Now, with our holiday hangovers but a painful memory, the flood has begun. There appears to be considerable potential for Modern cards, and given how 2019 went, I’m […]
