Summary

  • The Modern format offers diverse deck options with powerful cards, making it stable and constantly evolving.
  • The Orzhov Ephemerate deck focuses on leveraging ETB triggers using Phelia and Ephemerate for strategic plays.
  • The Burn deck is affordable yet effective, featuring low-cost spells to deal direct damage for a quick win strategy.

Modern is one of Magic: The Gathering’s most exciting formats, pulling some of the best cards the game has to offer all in one format, without the baggage that other Eternal formats bring (looking at you Legacy and your Dual Lands).

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Being a non-rotating format, it is constantly growing as Magic releases more and more sets, but also means that it is relatively stable, at least when compared to Standard. If you’re looking to jump in to the format or at least want a good idea of what to expect, these decks are some of the best the format has to offer.

10 Orzhov Ephemerate

Use Those ETBS

Close

Creature - 30 Cards

4

Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd

2

White Orchard Phantom

3

Emperor of Bones

3

Recruiter of the Guard

1

Aven Interrupter

3

Flickerwisp

1

Skyclave Apparition

1

Boggart Trawler

4

Witch Enchanter

4

Solitude

4

Overlord of the Balemurk

Artifact - 4 Cards

4

Aether Vial

Instant - 8 Cards

4

Fatal Push

4

Ephemerate

Lands - 18 Cards

2

Godless Shrine

2

Shadowy Backstreet

3

Plains

1

Swamp

2

Arid Mesa

4

Marsh Flats

2

Flagstones of Trokair

1

Takenuma, Abandoned Mire

1

Flooded Strand

read more

There are so many lines of play with an Orzhov Ephemerate deck that it can be a bit overwhelming, but that just means you have tons of options open to you at any given time. The deck revolves around Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, a little doggy that lets you activate all your enter the battlefield triggers multiple times.

Alongside the pupper is Ephemerate, an instant that exiles a creature you control, only to bring it right back immediately. You can use Ephemerate to dodge removal spells or to reset creatures like Overlord of Balemurk so you can attack on your next turn.

9 Affinity

Look At All The Cheerios

Creature - 16 Cards

1

Haywire Mite

4

Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student

4

Emry, Lurker of the Loch

4

Kappa Cannoneer

3

Thought Monitor

Artifact - 20 Cards

1

Aether Spellbomb

1

Lavaspur Boots

4

Mishra's Bauble

2

Mox Amber

4

Mox Opal

1

Pithing Needle

4

Portable Hole

1

Shadowspear

1

Soul-Guide Lantern

1

Tormod's Crypt

Instant - 3 Cards

3

Metallic Rebuke

Sorcery - 4 Cards

4

Thoughtcast

Lands - 17

2

Darksteel Citadel

2

Hallowed Fountain

1

Island

1

Otawara, Soaring City

3

Razortide Bridge

4

Spire of Industry

4

Urza's Saga

read more

There are two camps for Affinity decks in Modern right now, with a faster mono-blue iteration and a slightly slower Azorius build though both are pretty solid decks. The goal is to load up on artifacts with a Kappa Cannoneer out, letting you power it up and making it unblockable with each artifact that enters the battlefield under your control.

You also get access to Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student, which you can flip relatively easily thanks to a playset of Thoughcast and Mishra's Baubles which you can recyle turn after turn with Emry, Lurker of the Loch. Urza's Saga does a lot of work in this deck, letting you tutor up your choice from up to ten different artifacts with a variety of effects, making it a strong toolbox card for you to work with.

8 Burn

The Great Equalizer

Close

Creature - 12 Cards

4

Monastery Swiftspear

4

Goblin Guide

4

Eidolon of the Great Revel

Instant - 12 Cards

4

Searing Blaze

4

Lighting Bolt

4

Skullcrack

Sorcery - 16 Cards

4

Boltwave

4

Lava Spike

4

Rift Bolt

4

Skewer the Critics

Lands - 20 Cards

1

Elegant Parlor

4

Barbarian Ring

1

Scalding Tarn

2

Bloodstained Mire

3

Wooded Foothills

2

Arid Mesa

4

Mountain

3

Sunbaked Canyon

read more

Burn is one of the cheaper decks to get right into in Modern and aside from a few more pricy lands, no single card gets above $5. The meat and potatoes of every burn deck is a suite of spells to damage your opponent directly. Cards like:

  • Boltwave
  • Lava Spike
  • Rift Bolt
  • Skewer the Critics

Are all one mana spells (Skewer the Critics has an alternate casting cost to make it one mana) that deals three damage. Realistically, you only have to cast seven of these spells to reach 21 damage in an average game to win, which is probably not going to happen, but the fact that you don’t need many spells to win is hilarious.

Generally, no spell costs more than two mana (again, Skewer the Critics and Rift Bolt can be hard cast for more, but more often than not only cost you one mana), letting you keep the curve exceptionally low, and leading you to only run around 20 lands.

7 Domain

Five Colors, One Deck

Close

Creature - 18 Cards

4

Psychic Frog

4

Territorial Kavu

3

Orcish Bowmasters

3

Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury

4

Scion of Draco

Sorcery - 4 Cards

4

Tribal Flames

Instant - 9 Cards

2

Stubborn Denial

4

Lighting Bolt

1

Fatal Push

2

Spell Snare

Enchantment - 8

4

Leyline Binding

4

Leyline of the Guildpact

Land - 21

4

Wooded Foothills

1

Thundering Falls

1

Steam Vents

1

Blood Crypt

1

Temple Garden

2

Flooded Strand

1

Hallowed Fountain

2

Marsh Flats

1

Plains

1

Mountain

4

Arid Mesa

1

Indatha Triome

1

Spara's Headquarters

read more

At its core, Domain decks in Modern are really only four colors, but have access to all five thanks to a very generous mana base and a fantastic new Leyline, Leyline of the Guildpact. The deck was growing in popularity thanks to the release of Leyline Binding, combined with Tribal Flames and Territorial Kavu.

The deck is surprisingly reliable despite needing a wide range of lands and different colored spells. The neat thing about Leyline of the Guildpact is that you can start the game with it on the battlefield if it is in your opening hand, making it so you just get a five mana spell right at the start of the game for free.

6 Belcher

Who Needs Lands?

Close

Creature - 16 Cards

4

Fallaji Archaeologist

4

Thundertrap Trainer

4

Hydroelectric Specimen

4

Tameshi, Reality Architect

Artifact - 8 Cards

4

Lotus Bloom

4

Goblin Charbelcher

Instant - 25 Cards

1

Spell Snare

2

Stern Scolding

3

Beyeen Veil

3

Disrupting Shoal

2

Jwari Disruption

4

Flare of Denial

4

Sink Into Stupor / Soporific Springs

4

Whir of Invention

2

Waterlogged Teachings

1

Commandeer

Sorcery - 8 Cards

2

Stock Up

4

Suppression Ray / Orderly Plaza

4

Sea Gate Restoration

read more

The way this goofy but surprisingly reliable combo deck is off of the back of one artifact, Goblin Charbelcher. Once activated, you reveal cards from the top of your deck until you find a land. The way the deck works is that by not running any lands, you're all but guaranteed to dome your opponent for around 40 or more life, or how many cards you have left in your deck, to win the game.

You're able to play spells thanks to modal dual face cards like Sink into Stupor / Soporific Springs and Jwari Disruption / Jwari Ruins. Tameshi, Reality Architect is a bit of a backup plan in case your Charbelcher gets destroyed, as well as a way to rebuy Lotus Bloom a few times for a plethora of mana.

5 Ruby Storm

Wish Upon A Ral

Close

Creature - 4 Cards

4

Ral, Monsoon Mage

Artifact - 4

4

Ruby Medallion

Enchantment - 2

2

Artists's Talent

Instant - 14

4

Desperate Ritual

4

Manamorphose

4

Pyretic Ritual

2

Valakut Awakening / Valakut Stoneforge

Sorcery - 18

2

Strike It Rich

1

Grapeshot

4

Reckless Impulse

4

Wrenn's Resolve

2

Glimpse the Impossible

2

Wish

3

Past In Flames

Lands -

3

Arid Mesa

2

Bloodstained Mire

2

Elegant Parlor

1

Gemstone Caverns

4

Mountain

1

Sacred Foundry

2

Scalding Tarn

1

Sunbaked Canyon

2

Wooded Foothills

read more

The Ruby Storm deck is all about one thing, optimizing your red spells through Ruby Medallion and Ral, Monsoon Mage. With Ral, your instant and sorcery spells cost one generic mana less, while Ruby Medallion does the same to all your red spells in general. This lets you get even more mana back from your Ritual spells, which in turn lets you cast more and more spells to build up a storm count.

Once you have a big enough storm count, typically around six, you can flip Ral into his planeswalker side, which then lets you activate Ral's final ability on the same turn, giving you access to a bunch more spells for free, until you find your copy of Grapeshot. So long as you have a bigger storm count than your opponent's life total, you win the game.

4 Amulet Titan

A Classic Giant

Close

Creature - 11 Cards

4

Arboreal Grazer

1

Aftermath Analyst

1

Dryad of the Ilysian Grove

4

Primeval Titan

1

Cultivator Colossus

Instant - 1 Card

1

Summoner's Pact

Artifact - 4 Cards

4

Amulet of Vigor

Sorcery - 10 Cards

3

Green Sun's Zenith

4

Explore

3

Shapeshift

Enchantment - 4 Cards

4

Spelunking

Land - 30 Cards

4

Gruul Turf

3

Boseiju, Who Endures

3

Crumbling Vestige

3

Simic Growth Chamber

3

Forest

2

Lotus Field

1

Hanweir Battlements

1

Mirrorpool

1

Misty Rainforest

1

Otawara, Soaring City

1

Shifting Woodland

1

Takenuma, Abandonded Mire

1

Tolaria West

1

Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

1

Vesuva

1

Echoing Deeps

1

Thundering Falls

2

Urza's Saga

read more

Lands are hard to deal with in Magic and Amulet Titan is all about maximizing your lands to make the biggest problems for your opponent. The crux of the deck centers around the titular Amulet of Vigor. This one-mana artifact makes it so all your permanents that would come into play tapped, untap when they enter the battlefield.

You then jam the deck full with lands that enter tapped, like Gruul Turf and Simic Growth Chamber so that you can use all their mana right away. The goal is to drop a Primeval Titan on turn four which lets you go digging through your deck for two more lands when it comes into play.

The back up strategy is to go get the legendary land Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, which makes it so if you have five Mountains in play and then play another, you get to deal 3 damage to a player or creature. While there are no basic Mountains in the deck, that’s okay since Dryad of the Ilysian Grove makes all your lands all basic land types. Suddenly all your lands are Mountains and they’re all dealing damage from Valakut.

3 Eldrazi Ramp

Big Bois

Close

Creature - 15 Cards

2

Writhing Chrysalis

4

Sowing Mycospawn

3

World Breaker

3

Devourer of Destiny

3

Emrakul, the Promised End

Artifact - 4 Cards

4

Talisman of Impulse

Instant - 7 Cards

4

Kozilek's Command

3

Kozilek's Return

Planeswalker - 4 Cards

1

Garruk Wildspeaker

3

Karn, the Great Creator

Land - 22 Cards

1

Bojuka Bog

1

Commercial District

4

Eldrazi Temple

4

Forest

1

Ghost Quarter

1

Misty Rainforest

1

Sanctum of Ugin

1

Shifting Woodland

1

Stomping Ground

4

Ugin's Labyrinth

1

Verdant Catacombs

1

Windswept Heath

1

Wooded Foothills

read more

There is one strategy with Eldrazi Ramp and that’s to get to the biggest spell in your hand as quickly as possible. Generally, the first milestone is with World Breaker and Devourer of Destiny at seven mana each, and then Emrakul, the Promised End at 13 mana.

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Getting there is a lot easier than it seems, thanks to Eldrazi Temple and Ugin’s Labyrinth which get you there a lot faster. The other creatures and spells in this deck are often dedicated to generating Eldrazi Spawn, which you can sacrifice to make more generic mana or use as blockers against more aggressive decks.

2 Dimir Murktide

Nothing Subtle In This List

Close

Creature - 15 Cards

3

Murktide Regent

4

Orcish Bowmasters

4

Psychic Frog

2

Subtlety

2

Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student

Instant - 18 Cards

4

Counterspell

2

Dismember

4

Fatal Push

3

Force of Negation

1

Sauron's Ransom

2

Sink into Stupor

2

Spell Snare

Planeswalker - 2

2

Kaito, Bane of Nightmares

Sorcery - 7

3

Preordain

4

Thoughtseize

Lands - 18 Cards

1

Bloodstained Mire

2

Darkslick shores

1

Flooded Strand

2

Island

1

Marsh Flats

1

Misty Rainforest

4

Polluted Delta

1

Scalding Tarn

1

Swamp

2

Undercity Sewers

2

Watery Grave

read more While a Control deck at heart, Dimir Murktide boils down to just smacking your opponent over and over again with a big dragon until they lose the game, everything else in the deck is just geared around getting you to your Murktide Regent faster, or making your Murktide as big as possible. The Izzet iteration of the deck is very popular too, but going in the blue and black direction gives you not only some strong removal, but access to both Orcish Bowmaster to punish anyone looking to draw cards, and Psychic Frog, to draw you some cards instead. You also get access to a unique planeswalker in Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, which can swap in with its Ninjutsu ability for just three mana.

1 Boros Energy

Resource Management

Close

Creature - 23 Cards

4

Ajani, Nacatl Pariah

4

Guide of Souls

4

Ocelot Pride

4

Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury

3

Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer

4

Seasoned Pyromancer

Instant - 7

4

Galvanic Discharge

1

March of Otherworldly Light

2

Thraben Charm

Enchantment - 8

3

Goblin Bombardment

2

Static Prison

2

Fable of the Mirror-Breaker

1

Showdown of the Skalds

Land - 22

3

Arena of Glory

4

Marsh Flats

2

Elegant Parlor

3

Flooded Strand

4

Arid Mesa

3

Sacred Foundry

1

Mountain

2

Plains

read more

There are so many good cards in the Boros Energy shell that it can be hard to pinpoint the best. You’ve got the best Monkey that Magic ever made in Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, which provides some incredible early game advantages by smoothing out land drops with Treasure tokens and stealing your opponent’s best cards.

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Then you have a mini-Cat kindred theme between Ajani, Nacatl Pariah and Ocelot Pride, which helps you go wide against your opponent’s creatures. The energy mechanics come from Guide of Souls and Galvanic Discharge mainly, letting you upgrade your creatures or move your opponents

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Magic: The Gathering

Franchise Magic: The Gathering Original Release Date August 5, 1993 Publisher Wizards of the Coast Player Count 2+ Age Recommendation 13+ Length per Game Variable Expand Collapse