Arguably Magic: The Gathering's most beloved format, Modern has seen many changes to its metagame in recent years. The format has become considerably faster with one-mana creatures like Dragon's Rage Channeler and Esper Sentinel running rampant across many decks. As a result, many longtime Modern favorites like Affinity, Humans, and Infect have fallen to the wayside.
In their place stand a number of decks that contain incredibly cheap removal and threats as well as a handful of decks featuring nearly impossible-to-beat combos. As the Modern format gets older and older, decks playing so-called "fair" strategies become less and less effective as can be seen in Magic's older eternal formats. All that being said, let's take a closer look at the format's current metagame champions.
Updated by Chris Stomberg on January 7, 2023: As is the case with all constructed formats, Modern is an ever involving space where the top meta decks can shift drastically over a handful of months. Seeing as it has been more than a handful of months since the original publishing of this article, it's time to include all the best new evolutions that Modern has come up with.
Thanks to Modern being a non-rotating format, all the decklists mentioned previously remain both powerful and competitive. However, some of them may struggle to present the proper tools to fight newer Modern decklists included at the bottom of this list. After all, these new entries evolved to beat the decks that came before them.
12 Jund Saga
|
Jund Saga |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Haywire Mite |
Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer (x4) |
Tarmogoyf (x4) |
Soul of Windgrace (x2) |
Wrenn and Six (x2) |
|
Fatal Push (x3) |
Inquisition of Kozilek (x2) |
Lightning Bolt (x3) |
Thoughtseize (x4) |
Unholy Heat |
|
Terminate (x2) |
Nihil Spellbomb |
Pyrite Spellbomb |
Shadowspear |
Fable of the Mirror-Breaker (x3) |
|
Blackcleave Cliffs (x2) |
Blood Crypt (x2) |
Blooodstained Mire (x2) |
Boseiju, Who Endures (x2) |
Overgrown Tomb |
|
Snow-Covered Forest |
Snow-Covered Mountain |
Snow-Covered Swamp |
Stomping Ground |
Urza's Saga (x4) |
|
Verdant Catacombs (x4) |
Wooded Foothills (x2) |
Ziatora's Proving Grounds |
||
|
Sideboard |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Chalice of the Void (x2) |
Engineered Explosives (x2) |
Nihil Spellbomb |
Pithing Needle |
Veil of Summer (x2) |
|
Terminate |
Endurance (x2) |
Necromentia (x2) |
Force of Vigor (x2) |
|
Despite so-called "fair" decks struggling more and more as the format ages, Jund continues to prove its playability thanks to its flexibility. The ability to answer the cards in your opponent's hand through Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, and Liliana of the Veil still holds up to this day, and Tarmogoyf remains to be an impressive threat.
However, Jund's continued success in the format is largely thanks to the new planeswalker Wrenn and Six. This card allows you to continue to build your manabase despite Liliana forcing you to eventually discard your hand. More importantly, its minus ability is a surprisingly perfect answer to the format's ever-increasing number of one-mana threats. Recently, a new iteration of Jund featuring Modern's most powerful land, Urza's Saga, has proven to be even more resilient than the deck's original formula. Alongside a handful of other artifacts, Urza's Saga provides the deck with much needed late game inevitably through the ability to recur the land using Wrenn and Six's +1 loyalty ability. Long live Jund.
11 Death's Shadow
|
Death's Shadow |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Jegantha, the Wellspring |
Death's Shadow (x4) |
Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer (x4) |
Dragon's Rage Channeler (x4) |
Kroza, Titan of Death's Hunger |
|
Ledger Shredder (x3) |
Fatal Push (x2) |
Lightning Bolt |
Spell Pierce (x2) |
Thoughtseize (x4) |
|
Unholy Heat (x3) |
Drown in the Loch (x4) |
Expressive Iteration (x4) |
Terminate |
Mishra's Bauble (x4) |
|
Blood Crypt (x2) |
Bloodstained Mire (x4) |
Polluted Delta (x4) |
Scalding Tarn (x3) |
Snow-Covered Mountain |
|
Snow-Covered Swamp |
Steam VEnts (x2) |
Watery Grave (x2) |
||
|
Sideboard |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Engineered Explosives |
Alpine Moon |
Flusterstorm (x2) |
Dress Down (x2) |
Terminate |
|
Tourach, Dread Cantor (x2) |
Unlicensed Hearse (x2) |
Kolaghan's Command (x2) |
Mystical Dispute |
|
Death's Shadow completely dominated the Modern metagame in 2016 with the printing of Temur Battle Rage in Fate Reforged. When used in combination with Become Immense and Death's Shadow, these three cards provided a reliable turn three kill that shook the format to its roots. Since then, Death's Shadow decks have completely changed though due to the welcome banning of Gitaxian Probe in 2017.
Without this life loss sorcerery, losing as much life as was necessary simply became too difficult for the deck to accomplish. Furthermore, the ability to know when your opponent had removal was huge when your deck's whole strategy is to kill in a single combat step by going all in. Nowadays, Death's Shadow decks play a much more traditional strategy of playing cards that lower your life total, sticking a big Death's Shadow, and then churning through any blockers in the way thanks to removal spells and the incredible size of your Death's Shadow. Most recently, Dimir Death's Shadow decks making use of important blue cards like Murktide Regent and Archmage's Charm have been the next evolution in this deck's storied history.
10 Amulet Titan
|
Amulet Titan |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Arboreal Grazer (x4) |
Azusa, Lost but Seeking |
Dryad of the Ilysian Grove (x4) |
Primeval Titan (x4) |
Cultivator Colossus (x2) |
|
Summoner's Pact (x4) |
Explore (x3) |
Turntimber Symbiosis (x3) |
Amulet of Vigor (x4) |
Expedition Map |
|
Bokuja Bog (x3) |
Boseiju, Who Endures (x2) |
Castle Garenbrig (x4) |
Cavern of Souls |
Crumbling Vestige |
|
Forest (x3) |
Golgari Rot Farm |
Gruul Turf (x3) |
Hanweir Battlements |
Selesnya Sanctuary |
|
Simic Growth Chamber (x4) |
Tolaria West |
Urza's Saga (x4) |
Valakut, the Molten Pinnalce (x2) |
Vesuva |
|
Sideboard |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Boseiju, Who Endures |
Cavern of Souls (x2) |
Engineered Explosives (x3) |
Radiant Fountain |
Relic of Progenitus |
|
Turn the Earth |
Dismember (x2) |
Endurance |
Tireless Tracker (x3) |
|
Speaking of storied histories, Amulet Titan is another deck that once ruled the Modern world back before Summer Bloom was banned. After this devastating blow, Amulet Titan went largely unseen for many years all the way up until early 2020. Since then, the deck has slowly taken up more and more of the Modern metagame, and now impressively boasts an around four percent metagame share.
One of the reasons this deck has been so slow to regain its prominence is the high difficulty of effectively piloting it. However, those who do take the time to understand Amulet Titan's intricate land-based lines are sure to have an advantage in the format both with and against the titan.
9 Crashing Footfalls
|
Crashing Footfalls |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Shardless Agent (x4) |
Fury (x4) |
Arcane Proxy |
Crashing Footfalls (x4) |
Force of Negation (x4) |
|
Violent Outburst (x4) |
Dead // Gone (x4) |
Fire // Ice (x4) |
Ardent Plea (x3) |
Leyline Binding (x4) |
|
Breeding Pool |
Fiery Islet |
Flooded Strand (x4) |
Forest |
Gemstone Caverns (x2) |
|
Indatha Trimoe |
Island |
Misty Rainforest (x4) |
Otawara, Soaring City |
Steam Vents |
|
Stomping Ground |
Temple Garden |
Wooded Foothills (x4) |
Xander's Lounge |
|
|
Sideboard |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Gemstone Caverns |
Blood Moon (x2) |
Endurance (x4) |
Mystical Dispute (x4) |
Force of Vigor (x4) |
As is the case with many Modern decks, Crashing Footfalls is named after its namesake card. This is a sorcerery with suspend that players are able to cast immediately thanks to the well-used cascade mechanic. As a result, players are able to play two 4/4 green rhinos with trample as early as turn three. As you might imagine, these rhinos are then quickly capable of ending the game.
The deck also leans on Force of Negation and Archmage's Charm in order to protect its rhinos once they come down. As far as cards being abused with cascade go, it's nice to be able to say that Crashing Footfalls isn't all that bad.
8 4c Living End
|
Living End |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Brazen Borrower |
Shardless Agent (x4) |
Architect of Will (x4) |
Curator of Mysteries (x4) |
Grief (x4) |
|
Street Wraith (x4) |
Colossal Skyturtle |
Striped Riverwinder (x4) |
Waker of Waves (x4) |
Living End (x3) |
|
Force of Negation (x4) |
Violent Outburst (x4) |
Botanical Sanctum (x3) |
Breeding Pool (x2) |
Forest |
|
Island |
Misty Rainforest (x4) |
Otawara, Soaring City (x2) |
Scalding Tarn |
Spirebluff Canal (x2) |
|
Steam Vents (x2) |
Wooded Foothills |
|||
|
Sideboard |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Boseiju, Who Endures |
Living End |
Dismember (x2) |
Endurance (x2) |
Mystical Dispute |
|
Force of Vigor (x2) |
Foundation Breaker (x2) |
Subtlety (x4) |
||
There are some other cards being abused with cascade that are so bad though, and it's namely Living End. This deck uses the same strategy as Crashing Footfalls, but looks to go the more controlling route of cascading into a Living End after filling its graveyard.
While it usually takes some time to build up this combo, the deck is capable of going off as early as turn three as well. All things considered, resolving a Living End with this deck is often a game-ending line, making it one of the least interactive matchups in the format.
7 Hammer Time
|
Hammer Time |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Ornithopter (x4) |
Esper Sentinel (x4) |
Gingerbrute |
Giver of Runes (x3) |
Haywire Mite |
|
Puresteel Paladin (x4) |
Stoneforge Mystic (x4) |
Blacksmith's Skill (x2) |
Steelshaper's Gift |
Colossus Hammer (x4) |
|
Shadowspear |
Springleaf Drum (x3) |
Nettlecyst |
Kaldra Compleat |
Sigarda's Aid (x4) |
|
Arid Mesa (x3) |
Horizaon Canopy (x3) |
Inkmoth Nexus (x3) |
Marsh Flats (x2) |
Plains (x6) |
|
Temple Garden |
Urza's Saga (x4) |
|||
|
Sideboard |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Blacksmith's Skill (x2) |
Haywire Mite |
March of Otherwordly Light (x2) |
Path to Exile |
Pithing Needle |
|
Drannith Magistrate (x2) |
Hushbringer (x2) |
Sanctifier en-Vec (x3) |
Orvar, the All-Form |
|
When Stoneforge Mystic was unbanned, many players were convinced the card would immediately make its presence known in the Modern format. However, it's only fairly recently that the well-remembered mystic has emerged in the mainboard of the funnily named Hammer Time deck.
This deck makes incredible use of equipment by combining equipment-relevant creature cards like Ingenious Smith and Puresteel Paladin, the ridiculously undercosted Colossus Hammer, and abuse of the enchantment Sigarda's Aid.
6 Burn
|
Burn |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Goblin Guide (x4) |
Monastery Swiftspear (x4) |
Eidolon of the Great Revel (x4) |
Lava Spike (x4) |
Lightning Bolt (x4) |
|
Boros Charm (x4) |
Lightning Helix (x2) |
Searing Blaze (x4) |
Skullcrack (x2) |
Rift Bolt (x4) |
|
Skewer the Critics (x4) |
Arid Mesa (x2) |
Bloodstained Mire |
Fiery Islet |
Inspiring Vantage (x4) |
|
Mountain (x3) |
Sacred Foundry (x2) |
Scalding Tarn |
Sunbaked Canyon (x4) |
Wooded Foothills (x2) |
|
Sideboard |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Path to Exile (x2) |
Deflecting Palm (x2) |
Roiling Vortex (x3) |
Sanctificer en-Vec (x3) |
Smash to Smithereens (x2) |
|
Exquisite Firecraft |
Wear // Tear (x2) |
|||
Whether you're familiar with Modern or not, chances are you're familiar with the infamous Burn deck. This is a deck that seeks to play Magic for as little amount of time as possible by reducing your opponent's life to zero as early as turn three.
The deck features a handful of aggressive and cheap creatures including Monastery Swiftspear, Goblin Guide, and Eidolon of the Great Revel, and leverages their aggression to the max by filling the rest of the deck with nearly 30 cheap burn cards that deal face damage. Burn has been a part of the Modern metagame since the format's inception, and it's not going anywhere anytime soon. If you're wondering if a deck has a chance at making it in the Modern format, a good litmus test is to see if it can consistently beat Burn.
5 Yawgmoth
|
Yawgmoth |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Dryad Arbor |
Birds of Paradise (x4) |
Ignoble Hierarch (x4) |
Young Wolf (x4) |
Blood Artist |
|
Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons |
Prosperous Innkeeper |
Strangleroot Geist (x4) |
Wall of Roots (x3) |
Endurance |
|
Geralf's Messenger |
Yawgmoth, Thran Physician (x4) |
Grist, the Hunger Tide (x4) |
Chord of Calling (x4) |
Eldritch Evolution (x3) |
|
Blooming Marsh (x3) |
Boseiju, Who Endures (x2) |
Forest (x2) |
Nurturing Peatland (x2) |
Overgrown Tomb (x2) |
|
Swamp |
Twilight Mire |
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth |
Verdant Catacombs (x4) |
Windswept Heath |
|
Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth |
||||
|
Sideboard |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Thoughtseize (x2) |
Veil of Summer (x2) |
Outland Liberator |
Scavenging Ooze |
Unlicensed Hearse |
|
Endurance (x2) |
Magus of the Moon |
Necromentia (x2) |
Force of Vigor (x2) |
Thrun, the Last Troll |
Yawgmoth is the newest combo deck to break into the Modern scene. Combo decks have a long history throughout Modern, and Yawgmoth is simply the newest iteration of this both beloved and despised strategy. The idea here is to use the undying keyword on cards like Young Wolf, Strangleroot Geist, and Geralf's Messenger in combination with Yawgmoth, Thran Physician's activated ability, as well as sometimes Blood Artist, in order to kill your opponent with an infinite loop.
The combo works if you have Yawgmoth, Blood Artist, and two Young Wolves on the field, or a Yawgmoth, Geralf's Messenger, and one Young Wolf on the field. Alternatively, the deck also plays perfectly fine without winning via the combo. Lastly, cards like Eldritch Evolution and Chord of Calling provide the consistency of draw that combo decks like this need.
4 Murktide Regent
|
Murktide Regent |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Dragon's Rage Channeler (x4) |
Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer (x4) |
Ledger Shredder (x3) |
Brazen Borrower |
Murktide Regent (x2) |
|
Consider (x3) |
Lightning Bolt (x4) |
Spell Pierce (x3) |
Unholy Heat (x4) |
Counterspell (x4) |
|
Expressive Iteration (x4) |
Mishra's Bauble (x4) |
Dress Down |
Fiery Islet |
Flooded Strand (x2) |
|
Island (x3) |
Misty Rainforest (x2) |
Otawara, Soaring City |
Polluted Delta |
Scalding Tarn (x2) |
|
Spirebluff Canal (x4) |
Steam Vents (x3) |
|||
|
Sideboard |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Engineered Explosives (x2) |
Flusterstorm (x2) |
Abrade |
Dress Down |
Unlicensed Hearse (x2) |
|
Blood Moon (x2) |
Brotherhood's End |
Mystical Dispute |
Seasoned Pyromancer |
Orvar, the All-Form |
|
Subtlety |
||||
Murktide Regent is the current king of Modern with an overwhelming near 15 percent metashare. This is a classic blue-red tempo deck with aggressive threats like Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, Dragon's Rage Channeler, the newly printed Ledger Shredder, and the namesake Murktide Regent providing cheap, evasive ways to bring your opponent's life total to zero.
Combine these powerhouse threats with classic interaction such as Lightning Bolt, Counterspell, and the incredible draw card Expressive Iteration, and you're left with a deck that can successfully handle anything that's thrown at it. Like Jund but better, it's Murktide Regent's versatile and flexible list that makes it the current best deck in the format.
3 Merfolk
|
Merfolk |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Rishadan Dockhand (x2) |
Tide Shaper (x4) |
Lord of Atlantis (x4) |
Master of the Pearl Trident (x4) |
Merfolk Trickster (x4) |
|
Silvergill Adept (x2) |
Vodalian Hexcatcher (x4) |
Svyelun of the Sea and Sky (x4) |
Subtlety (x2) |
Dismember (x4) |
|
Aether Vial (x4) |
Spreading Seas (x2) |
Cavern of Souls (x4) |
Fiery Islet |
Island (x9) |
|
Minamo, School at Water's Edge |
Mutavault (x3) |
Otawara, Soaring City (x2) |
||
|
Sideboard |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Chalice of the Void (x3) |
Grafdigger's Cage |
Mistcaller (x2) |
Ratchet Bomb (x2) |
Unlicensed Hearse |
|
Force of Negation (x4) |
Subtlety (x2) |
|||
Merfolk is a single creature type Modern deck with a long history in the format. However, this deck took an extended break from being competitive until the recent release of Vodalian Hexcatcher. Thanks to Hexcatcher and a handful of other additions, Merfolk is once again playable at the highest levels of the meta.
Merfolk is a tempo deck that seeks to pressure opponents quickly, while disrupting their plans using spot removal, land hate, and counterspells. As a result, it is one of the more difficult decks to pilot correctly as you need to know what plays you should be disrupting your opponent from making. In other words, you need a solid grasp of your opponent's deck in order to get the most out of these fish folk friends. Regardless, single creature type decks like Merfolk have always been a popular choice for players to pilot, and it's good to see them making a return to the competitive scene of the Modern format.
2 Indomitable Creativity
|
Indomitable Creativity |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Archon of Cruelty (x4) |
Wrenn and Six (x4) |
Teferie, Time Raveler (x2) |
Lightning Bolt (x4) |
Spell Pierce (x2) |
|
Persist (x2) |
Indomitable Creativity (x4) |
Prismari Command (x3) |
Fire // Ice (x2) |
Fable of the Mirror-Breaker (x4) |
|
Leyline Binding (x4) |
Arid Mesa (x3) |
Blood Crypt |
Bloodstained Mire (x3) |
Dwarven Mine (x4) |
|
Jetmir's Garden |
Mountain |
Sacred Foundry |
Scalding Tarn (x3) |
Steam Vents (x2) |
|
Stomping Ground |
Wooded Foothills (x3) |
Xander's Lounge |
||
|
Sideboard |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Boseiju, Who Endures (x2) |
Flusterstorm (x2) |
Turn the Earth (x3) |
Veil of Summer (x3) |
Collective Brutality |
|
Brotherhood's End (x2) |
Wear // Tear |
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn |
||
Five-Color Indomitable Creativity is a relatively new combo deck that came together thanks to the printing of fetchable tricolor lands from Streets of New Capenna as well as the surprising power of Indomitable Creativity, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, and Archon of Cruelty when used in concert. Once you have access to four mana, you can cast Indomitable Creativity targeting one of the artifacts or creatures created by Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Prismari Command, or Dwarven Mine.
This allows you to flip cards from your deck until you inevitably hit the only creature included in the mainboard: Archon of Cruelty. Thanks to Archon's powerful enter the battlefield trigger, you will receive immediate value that's hard for an opponent to overcome, even if they do have a removal spell for your Archon. Creativity is not long like a traditional combo deck that wins on the spot once its combo is enacted. Instead, it's more of a mix of both combo and control as it will likely take you a handful of Archon of Cruelty casts in order to close the game.
1 Rakdos Scam (Midrange)
|
Rakdos Scam (Midrange) |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer (x4) |
Dauthi Voidwalker (x4) |
Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger |
Grief (x4) |
Fury (x4) |
|
Feign Death (x4) |
Lightning Bolt (x2) |
Malakir Rebirth |
Thoughtseize (x3) |
Undying Malice (x3) |
|
Dreadbore |
Terminate (x3) |
Kolaghan's Command |
Blood Moon (x3) |
Fable of the Mirror-Breaker (x3) |
|
Blackcleave Cliffs (x4) |
Blood Crypt (x2) |
Bloodstained Mire (x4) |
Castle Locthwain |
Marsh Flats |
|
Mountain |
Polluted Delta |
Shizo, Death's Storehouse |
Swamp (x3) |
Verdant Catacombs |
|
Sideboard |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Engineered Explosives (x2) |
Fatal Push (x2) |
Abrade |
Collective Brutality (x2) |
Tourach, Dread Cantor (x2) |
|
Unlicensed Hearse (x2) |
Hidetsugu Consumes All |
Magus of the Moon |
Necromentia (x2) |
|
Rakdos Scam is so named thanks to its unfair play patterns that can sometimes make your opponent feel like they are being scammed. This deck revolves around pressuring opponents with powerful, cheap creatures including Ragavan, Dauthi Voidwalker, Grief, and Fury. The elementals are especially key to the deck's gameplan as their absurd enter the battlefield triggers can be activated multiple times thanks to instants Feign Death and Undying Malice. Furthermore, their evoke clauses allow you to put them into play as early as turn one.
Meanwhile, cards like Dauthi Voidwalker and Blood Moon halt opposing game plans, including graveyard synergy and multicolored lands. You also have access to some of the best spot removal in the game in the form of Lightning Bolt and Terminate. The rest of the deck is rounded out by value engines including Thoughtseize and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker. Unless your opponent has access to a lot of exile removal, Rakdos Scam is very good at ensuring that there's pretty much nothing they can do to defeat its ludicrously overpowered creature suite as Feign Death and Undying Malice keep the enter the battlefield triggers and creature beats coming.