Notes on the Modern Meta (Early 2026)

These are my notes on playing Modern, and the decks I've run into on MTGO and at FNM.

The decks are roughly sorted in tier order from 🥇 through 🥈, 🥉 and ending with 🍌 niche/janky and 🦕 blast from the past. 🚧 means the notes are not complete.

These tiers don't really translate into "which is the best deck". If that's the sort of thing you're after, WOTC has win rate data from the 2025 RC season. Article about the data, video from Andrea Mengucci.

For decks I've seen a lot, I try to have notes on:

• How to recognize the deck based on what they play on turns 1-2
• What their plan is to win the game
  • Their main lines to win
  • What interaction they play
  • What's in their sideboard
• How to beat them
  • What sideboard tech is good against them
  • Any other tips and observations

My notes are colored by what decks I've been playing and advice I've been able to get. Mostly, I've been playing Energy and Storm, and I've played at least one league each with Affinity, Tron, Prowess, Goryo's and Blink.

I am nowhere near pro-level play, so take all this with a grain of salt. (The previous sentence is a big understatement.) If anybody reading this has any corrections or comments, I'd be happy to learn from you. Let me know by email or DM me on Twitter.

🥇 Energy

Updated: 2026-01-09

Boros aggro deck with efficient creatures cast on curve. All of their stuff synergizes with all of their other stuff. Grinds well with two-for-one cards and recursive threats like Phlage.

Typical list

Early Tells

• Turn 1 Sacred Foundry + Ragavan or Guide of Souls
• Ajani or Ocelot Pride
• Galvanic Discharge

Their Plan

Energy plays 24-26 efficient CMC 1-3 threats and about ~12 interaction. Their turns 3-4 are often explosive with Ajani + Bombardment, Phlage, lots of tokens, etc. Usually, energy gets on board quickly and wants to end the game by around turn 6.

Lines to Win

• Ajani + Bombardment
• Hasted Phlage with Arena of Glory
• Lots of tokens Ocelot Pride + Guide of Souls

Maindeck Interaction

• Galvanic Discharge
• Thraben Charm
• One Blood Moon
• Phlage from hand is functionally a Lightning Helix for {1RW}
• Flex slot: Static Prison, Mana Tithe or Lightning Bolt

Sideboard Tech

• Blood Moon
• Wear/Tear
• Celestial Purge
• Wrath of the Skies
• The Legend of Roku or Showdown of the Skalds
• Deafening Silence, High Noon and/or Damping Sphere
• Surgical Extraction, Scavenging Ooze, Ghost Vacuum, etc.
• Clarion Conqueror or Stony Silence
• Obsidian Charmaw or Molten Rain

Occasional Sideboard Tech

• Orim's Chant
• Reprieve
• Vexing Bauble
• Taii Wakeen, Perfect Shot
• Chained to the Rocks
• Ghost Vacuum

Strategy

Some things to be aware of:

• Ajani can be flipped by casting another Ajani (due to the legend rule)
• Turn 2 Goblin Bombardment -> they might have an Ajani in hand
• Guide of Souls hits the board and they have {W} open -> Ocelot Pride is usually next
• Seasoned Pyromancer can make tokens from the graveyard for {3RR}.

Energy can usually rebuild after the first board wipe, but the second, well-timed board wipe usually gets them.

Turn 1

Usually open with Ragavan or Guide of Souls.

Turn 2

If they connect with Ragavan, they might ramp into a turn 2 Blood Moon or Fable.

If there are blockers, Galvanic Discharge might clear path for Ragavan.

They'll deploy more threats:

• Guide of Souls + Ocelot Pride
• Ajani
• Bombardment -> usually signals Ajani is coming next
• Voice of Victory

Turn 3

Often explosive.

• Ajani + Bombardment can blow up
• Voice of Victory + Bombardment and/or Ocelot Pride
• Usually enough energy to get a flying attacker from Guide of Souls
• Usually the earliest they can escape a Phlage
• Usually the earliest they can get City's Blessing

Turn 4

Expect Arena of Glory + Phlage or City's Blessing and lots of tokens.

Combat Math

It's their turn, first main phase. How much damage can they do per creature?

Example: flipped Ajani and Bombardment are both in play. They have a Voice of Victory and Ocelot Pride to attack with. If they have at least 3 lands, they will gain City's Blessing in the end step.

• Combat damage: 1 (voice) + 2 (tokens) + 1 (ocelot) = 4
• Ajani damage second main: 1 (cat warrior) + 4 (creature count) = 5
• Max bombardment damage in end step: 5 (creatures going in) + 1 (cat token) + 3 (copies of tokens from City's Blessing) = 9

That's 18 damage dealt, even though the total power they had on board was 2.

Sideboard Plan

• Early, one-sided board wipes: Pest Control, Wrath of the Skies, Fire Magic are all good.
• Efficient creature removal, like Fatal Push or Path to Exile
• Graveyard hate (for Phlage): Surgical Extraction, Bojuka Bog, Ghost Vacuum...
• Spell Snare is very strong against Energy

What's bad:

• Thoughtseize is bad against Energy, because it fills their graveyard and reduces your life total.

🚧 🥇 Amulet Titan

Updated: 2026-01-10

Amulet has remained tier 0 or 1 through metas with KCI, Hogaak, Eldrazi, Oko, Mox Opal, Treasure Cruise/Dig Through Time, Faithless looting/Golgari Grave Troll Dredge, and to this day. The deck is always the most broken thing in modern and just avoids bans by being hard to play.

Typical list

Early Tells

• Arboreal Grazer
• Crumbling Vestige
• Amulet of Vigor or Spelunking
• Gruul Turf

Their Plan

Amulet has endless lines to win, and trying to list them all would fill this whole page. A more complete look at the deck is All About Amulet Titan by Dom Harvey.

In brief, the Amulet deck has two basic modes:

With Amulet of Vigor or Spelunking

• Ramp and defend with Arboreal Grazer
• Generate crazy mana with bouncelands (Gruul Turf, Lotus Field...)
• Cast Primeval Titan or Cultivator Colossus
• Optionally copy the titan with Mirrorpool
• Optionally go into a loop with Aftermath Analyst and Shifting Woodland, make infinite mana, infinite titans and win on the spot.
  • Titans can be hasted with Hanweir Battlements, also infinitely.

Without Amulet

• Urza's Saga to find the Amulet
• Regular green ramp with Explore, Arboreal Grazer, Scapeshift etc.
• Fair Primeval Titan or Cultivator Colossus

🚧 Strategy

• Blood Moon and Molten Rain are good
• White Orchid Phantom sounds more effective than it really is, but it's better than nothing
• Removing the Amulet is good, but they don't really need it. They might be winning the game in some other way, while you're fixated on removing their amulets.

What's bad:

• Obsidian Charmaw is usually too slow
• Damping Sphere does nothing
• High Noon, Orim's Chant, etc. don't stop them, they can play around them. Lots of their removal and tutors are not spells, but abilities like channel and transmute.

🥇 Affinity

Updated: 2026-01-08

Very fast deck. Casts a ton of free artifacts, which they use to cast Kappa Cannoneer with improvise. Secondary lines abuse ETB triggers and Urza's Saga. Weak to board wipes.

• Typical list
• Typical list (Ravager variant)

Early Tells

• Turn 1 Pinnacle Emissary, Claws of Gix or Memnite is definitely affinity
• Turn 1 Spirebluff Canal is often affinity
• Turn 1 Tormod's Crypt or Mox Opal often affinity

Their Plan

Lines to Win

• Kappa Cannoneer on turn 2 or 3, often hasted with Lavaspur Boots
• Weapons Manufacturing + Engineered Explosives or Claws of Gix
• Urza's Saga constructs

These three lines also support each other, e.g. the Pinnacle Emissary and Weapons Manufacturing have the same triggers, and a Kappa is both an artifact and has improvise.

Maindeck Interaction

• Metallic Rebuke
• Sink into Stupor
• Engineered Explosives is surprisingly versatile
• Aether Spellbomb
• Pithing Needle
• Tormod's Crypt

Sideboard Tech

• Countermagic, usually Force of Negation, Consign to Memory, Mystical Dispute
• Whipflare
• Galvanic Blast
• Vexing Bauble
• Grafdigger's Cage
• Damping Sphere

Occasional Sideboard Tech

• Harbinger of the Seas or Blood Moon
• More copies of Pithing Needle
• Aether Spellbomb (sometimes maindeck, too)

Strategy

• Board wipes (Wrath of the Skies and Meltdown are excellent)
• Vexing Bauble
• "Return target spell" effects like Reprieve or Sink into Stupor against Kappa
• Artifact and enchantment removal (Wear/Tear is often 2-for-1)

🥇 Storm

Updated: 2026-01-08

Combo deck that can go off out of nowhere, cast a lot of rituals and then kill with Grapeshot. It's surprisingly resilient with a skilled pilot and can go off through a lot of disruption.

Typical list

Early Tells

• Sunbaked Canyon or Gemstone Caverns
• Turn 2 Wrenn's Resolve or Reckless Impulse. Typically setting up a turn 3 Ruby Medallion or Ral.
• Turn 2 Ruby Medallion, Artist's Talent or Ral.

Their Plan

Lines to Win

• Ruby Medallion discounts their spells, then chain rituals (Desperate Ritual and Pyretic Ritual) and impulsive draw (Reckless Impulse and Wrenn's Resolve) to rack up the storm count. Kill with Grapeshot.
• Artist's Talent at level 3 can make the lethal storm count as low as 5 or 6.
• After casting six or more instants/sorceries, they can flip Ral and use the ultimate, which typically wins on the spot.
• Past in Flames lets them recast their graveyard, typically wins on the spot if there are enough spells there.
• If they can't get high enough storm count for Grapeshot, then Wish + Empty the Warrens can still win the game.

Maindeck Interaction

• Wish can get them sideboard tech game 1 (usually Prismatic Ending)
• Grapeshot can be a board wipe with even a modest storm count (5 or 6 is often enough)
• Sometimes they have Fire Magic

Sideboard Tech

• 3 or 4 Orim's Chant and Prismatic Ending
• Empty the Warrens or another storm spell in case Grapeshot doesn't work out for any reason

Occasional Sideboard Tech

• Untimely Malfunction
• Brotherhood's End
• Wear/Tear
• Consign to Memory (rare nowadays)

Strategy

Discard / counter / removal / surgical priorities:

1. Discounters: Ral, Medallion, Artist's Talent
2. Manamorphose
3. Reckless Impulse and Wrenn's Resolve
4. Pyretic Ritual, Desperate Ritual

What storm count is lethal (before starting the final chain listed here) and how much mana is needed assuming one Medallion is in play:

Additionally:

• If Ral is in play, then flipping him with the 6th or later instant/sorcery they cast will let them immediately use his ultimate and most likely win the game on the spot.
• If their graveyard is full and they have a Medallion in play, then Past in Flames probably wins the game if they have at least {2RR}.
• If they need to Wish for Past in Flames, then they need {3RRR}.

How to tell they're about to go off:

• Storm will usually wait until the last possible turn to improve their chances. If you have a clock, they will usually combo off the turn before your clock wins the game.
• They have a Medallion in play and Ral is on the stack -> they are going for the flip-Ral combo line.

Sideboard Plan

• Make spells expensive: Trinisphere, Damping Sphere, similar
• Limit number of spells: High Noon, Deafening Silence
• Any countermagic or spell bounce. The right moments to counter are:
  • They're out of mana if the spell doesn't resolve
  • They're out of cards if the spell doesn't resolve
  • Key combo pieces (e.g. hitting the Medallion with a Consign)
• Orim's Chant - wait for them to commit resources, then hit them with it. Perfect timing is when they have a lot of mana, or will lose access to their spells (e.g. Past in Flames or Glimpse the Impossible expire).
• Graveyard hate: Bojuka Bog, Rest in Peace, Relic of Progenitus.
• Drannith Magistrate stops Past in Flames.
• Surgical Extraction is ok if you can hit Medallion or one of the main impulse draw spells.
• Pithing Needle can shut down Ral
• Most of their key spells have mana cost {2}. Spell Snare and Chalice of the Void are excellent.

What's bad & should be boarded out:

• Storm doesn't care about your game plan unless you can win on turn 3. Any grindy value pieces (Fable, Phlage) should go.
• Clunky disruption. You need to hit an artifact, a creature and their graveyard. Enchantment removal is a distant fourth. Disruption with a single mode (like Path to Exile) is bad.

🥇 Jeskai Blink

Updated: 2026-01-10

The most popular blink deck. (Two other variants being Esper and Bant.) It's a midrange deck built around using blink-like mechanics to abuse ETB triggers, cheat big creatures into play and remove opponent's permanents.

Typical list

Early Tells

• Ragavan and a blue land (Steam Vents)
  • (Could also be UR Murktide)
• Sacred Foundry + Steam Vents is usually this deck
• Quantum Riddler + Ephemerate

Their Plan

Lines to Win

• Against aggro decks: build card advantage and remove threats, then typically win by attacking with the Quantum Riddler or Solitude.
• Against control decks: early pressure from Ragavan, Phelia clearing the way for attackers, close the game out with Phlage.

Maindeck Interaction

• Removal: Lightning Bolt, Prismatic Ending, March of Otherworldly Light
• Solitude
• About half of the time, they have 1-3 Teferi, Time Raveler
• Consign + 1-3 efficient countermagic (Spell Snare, Stern Scolding, Strix Serenade, No More Lies)
• Ephemerate

Sideboard Tech

• Teferi, Time Raveler for the bounce effect
• Wrath of the Skies
• High Noon
• Obsidian Charmaw or Molten Rain
• 1-5 additional countermagic (often Mystical Dispute)

Occasional Sideboard Tech

• Unholy Heat
• Subtlety
• Force of Negation
• High Noon
• Damping Sphere
• Ghost Vacuum
• Spell Snare
• Surgical Extraction

Strategy

Some of their tricks:

• They can Consign Phelia's return trigger to permanently remove your stuff.
• They like to blink Teferi, Time Raveler and Fable to reset the lore/loyalty counters on them.

Sideboard Plan

• Surgical Extraction should hit their Phlage
• Blood Moon is OK
• Value pieces, anything to close card advantage gap

🥈 Eldrazi Tron

Updated: 2026-01-08

Mostly colorless eldrazi deck that gets {7} mana on turn 3 and takes control with Ugin, Eye of the Storms, then kills with a heavy hitter like Ulamog.

Typical List

Early Tells

• Turn 1 any tron land (Urza's Mine, Urza's Power Plant or Urza's Tower)
  • Playing Urza's Tower first is a sign they don't have the other ones.
• Pre-game Devourer of Destiny is typically also tron.

Their Plan

Lines to Win

• Get urzatron turn 3 (Expedition Map helps), then bring out:
  • Ugin, Eye of the Storms
  • Sire of Seven Deaths
  • Devourer of Destiny
• Secondary combo line with Kozilek's Command and Glaring Fleshraker can kill at instant speed.
• Ulamog

Maindeck Interaction

• 4 Kozilek's Command is their swiss army knife
• A couple Dismember is common
• Thought-Knot Seer for discard
• A single Relic of Progenitus is common against Energy
• Sometimes they play a Boseiju

Of note is Karn, the Great Creator, which gives access to their sideboard in game 1.

Sideboard Tech

Because of Karn, the Great Creator, their sideboard is usually almost 100% artifacts.

• Trinisphere
• Damping Sphere
• Tormod's Crypt
• Chalice of the Void (sometimes maindeck)
• Torpor Orb
• Disruptor Flute
• Ensnaring Bridge
• Grafdigger's Cage
• Vexing Bauble
• Relic of Progenitus

Occasional Sideboard Tech

• Extinguisher Battleship
• Sundering Titan
• Liquimetal Coating
• Oblivion Stone
• All Is Dust
• The Filigree Sylex

Strategy

• Enchantment hate is useless
• Damage effects are weak against their big creatures and should be boarded out
• Graveyard effects are easy for them to prevent with Relic of Progenitus etc, so consider cutting Phlage and similar.

Sideboard Plan

• Land hate: Obsidian Charmaw, Blood Moon, Molten Rain, Field of Ruin, White Orchid Phantom are all strong.
• Big spell bounce: Reprieve, Sink into Stupor
• Consign to Memory is excellent

🥈 Neobrand

Updated: 2026-01-09

Glass-cannon combo deck built around Neoform. Cheats a big creature (traditionally Griselbrand, recently Ghalta) around turn 3. With Ghalta + Xenagos, it can do 26 damage as early as turn 2.

Typical list

Early Tells

• Turn 1 Hedge Maze
• Planar Genesis
• Not doing much on turn 2, e.g. a second Hedge Maze + Preordain.

Their Plan

Lines to Win

• Allosaurus Rider cast for pitching two green cards, then immediately Neoform or Eldritch Evolution to find (usually) Griselbrand.
• Alternatively, if they have Summoner's Pact or creatures in hand, they can get Ghalta + Xenagos and hit for 26 with trample.
• If they don't have Allosaurus Rider, they can fall back on Hooting Mandrills for delve cost, or one of the other 6-mana creatures. This way, Neoform can get them an Atraxa, rather than Griselbrand.

Both Neoform and Eldritch Evolution are sorceries, so you might think removing the creature at instant speed stops them, but the sac is a cost. If played correctly, you will not have priority to cast removal between the creature entering and Neoform getting cast.

Maindeck Interaction

Entirely reactive, aimed at protecting the combo.

• They protect the combo with Pact of Negation, which they survive by Consign on the pact trigger.
• 4 Consign are load-bearing against their pacts.
• Veil of Summer

There is a variant that plays Glittering Wish.

Sideboard Tech

• Nature's Claim
• Mystical Dispute
• Into the Flood Maw
• Endurance
• Boseiju
• Force of Vigor

Strategy

What creature they're getting, based on what they have:

• Allosaurus Rider + Neoform -> Griselbrand
• Allosaurus Rider + Neoform + Summoner's Pact -> Ghalta + Xenagos
• Allosaurus Rider + Eldritch Evolution -> Atraxa
• Allosaurus Rider + Eldritch Evolution + Summoner's Pact -> Ghalta + Xenagos
• Hooting Mandrills + Neoform -> Atraxa
• Hooting Mandrills + Eldritch Evolution -> Atraxa
• Hooting Mandrills + Eldritch Evolution + Summoner's Pact -> Ghalta + Xenagos

Note that Disciple of Freyalise is in the deck for two reasons:

1. A land they can fetch via Summoner's Pact 1) Enter as a creature via a Ghalta ETB trigger and potentially draw them 7-12 cards with its ETB trigger.

It helps to know the lines, but really the main takeaway is to stop Neoform. (This also applies to Eldritch Evolution.) Here's how, based on what you have:

• Containment Priest: with Neoform on the stack.
• Countermagic: obviously just counter
• Grafdigger's Cage: cast as soon as possible and protect it against Nature's Claim and similar.

Sideboarding Plan

• Countermagic, Chalice of the Void ({X} = {0} for pacts or {2} for Neoform)
• The Stone Brain
• Tempo play like Aven Interrupter
• Thoughtseize
• Blood Moon
• Containment Priest is incredible. Flash it in response to Neoform to get two of their cards.
• Grafdigger's Cage
• High Noon and Deafening Silence spread the combo across two turns, giving you time for removal.
• Celestial Purge works agains Griselbrand and Atraxa, but not Ghalta. If you have it and they play Ghalta, hit Xenagos.
• Orim's Chant as with other combo decks

What's bad:

• Surgical Extraction is too situational to be good
• Bounce spells are meh: Atraxa and Ghalta have powerful ETB triggers and Griselbrand can draw in response to the bounce.

🥈 Prowess

Updated: 2026-01-08

Explosive aggro. Gets in chip damage on turns 1 and 2, then it can explode on turns 3 or 4 and deal 19 damage out of nowhere. Easily underestimated.

Typical list

Early Tells

• Fiery Islet
• Turn 1 DRC or Swiftspear
• Turn 1 Mishra's Bauble cracked immediately
• Lava Dart

Their Plan

Lines to Win

• Mutagenic Growth + Violent Urge combo hits for 16 when combined with Slickshot Show-Off. With a Lava Dart flashback, that's 19 damage, potentially on turn 3.
  • On a Slickshot it's worth 16 damage or, with Lava Dart, 19. Flying.
  • On a Swiftspear the combo is worth 12 damage or 14 with Lava Dart.
  • On DRC with delirium it's worth 12 or 13 flying.
  • With a Cutter, it's worth 14 or 17 with Lava Dart. The equipped token has trample.
• Cori-Steel Cutter goes wide very quickly. They can also trigger it on opponent's turn. Cutter + Mishra's Bauble is a common turn 2 combo.
• A couple of DRC with Delirium is a very fast clock.

Maindeck Interaction

• Mutagenic Growth works defensively.
• 4 Lava Dart (look out for the flashback mode)
• 4 Lightning Bolt
• Often 1-2 Unholy Heat

Sideboard Tech

• Consign to Memory
• A big creature like Murktide Regent or Abhorrent Oculus
• More Unholy Heat
• Surgical Extraction
• Situational countermagic: Spell Snare, Mystical Dispute, Subtlety, etc.
• Artifact hate, e.g. Meltdown

Strategy

Against most decks, prowess is the beat down. Side out early small creatures like Ragavan - they will just hit them with the Lava Dart, which is not a trade you want (given the flashback).

Orim's Chant is bad, because they can just respond to it at instant speed, or go off a turn later.

Sideboard Plan

• Any lifegain. Phlage is excellent.
• Instant speed removal, e.g. Lightning Bolt, Galvanic Discharge, Celestial Purge.
• One-sided board wipes to hit the Cutter + tokens, e.g. Wrath of the Skies
• Stop their "big turn": Damping Sphere, High Noon, Trinisphere.
• Vexing Bauble shuts down Mutagenic Growth and plotted Slickshot
• Consider 1 Surgical Extraction to hit Lava Dart

🥈 Goryo's

Updated: 2026-01-09

A frog deck with an extra combo using Goryo's Vengeance and Ephemerate to cheat an Atraxa and abuse ETB triggers.

Typical list.

Early Tells

• Fallaji Archaeologist
• Faithful Mending or Tainted Indulgence
• Frog and Thoughtseize could be Goryo's, but also another Esper or Dimir deck.

Their Plan

Lines to Win

Their goal is to cheat into play Atraxa or Griselbrand through the graveyard. The steps are:

• Discard Atraxa or Griselbrand by surveil, the Frog, Faithful Mending, Fallaji Archaeologist or similar effect.
  • A neat trick is Thoughtseize on themselves.
• Fish it out hasted with Goryo's Vengeance and attack
• Keep it on board with Ephemerate (or Consign the exile trigger as a backup option)

If they have Frog and 15 or more life, then Goryo's Vengeance + Griselbrand usually wins the game immediately by drawing 14, discarding 14 and attacking with the flying frog for 15+ damage.

Plan B is to play a fair game with Frog and Quantum Riddler.

• Discarding cards to the Frog fills their graveyard for Goryo's Vengeance and causes Quantum Riddler to draw multiple cards.
• With the draw engine going, the Frog can easily win the game on its own.

Maindeck Interaction

• Thoughtseize
• Removal, usually Fatal Push and/or Prismatic Ending
• Ephemerate
• Consign to Memory (usually no longer 4 copies)
• A few counterspells, usually Subtlety or Force of Negation.
• Solitude

Sideboard Tech

• Consign to Memory
• Board wipes: Pest Control, Wrath of the Skies, Supreme Verdict
• Mystical Dispute and some additional counterspells (e.g. Spell Snare)
• Teferi, Time Raveler (sometimes also in the maindeck)

Occasional Sideboard Tech

• Superior Spider-Man
• Ghost Vacuum

Strategy

• They like to play Goryo's Vengeance in your end step. (Also because Force of Negation's alternative cost is only available to them on your turn.) Be ready to remove their graveyard in response.
• Frog should die before it gets big. They will try to keep it on board, so you can bait them to discard cards they might prefer to keep with a damage spell. E.g. Lightning Bolt can cause them to trade 2 for 1.

Sideboard Plan

• Blood Moon if you have it
• Instant speed graveyard hate, like Relic of Progenitus or Thraben Charm. Be aware that Goryo's Vengeance is an instant, so you must wait and play your graveyard removal in response to Goryo's Vengeance.
• Containment Priest
• Rest in Peace
• Big creature removal: Celestial Purge hits almost every threat in their deck.

What's bad:

• Surgical Extraction is negated by a Frog, because they can exile cards from their graveyard in response.

🚧 🥈 Domain Zoo

Updated: 2026-01-11

Five-(actually four)-color aggro deck. Like Energy, it opens with Ragavan and often ends games with a hasted Phlage, but it also has access to Leyline Binding and countermagic.

Typical List

Early Tells

• Leyline of the Guildpact
• Territorial Kavu
• Any triome, usually Indatha Triome
• Only Zoo plays both Ragavan and Stubborn Denial
• Turn 1 Steam Vents + Ragavan could also be blink or murktide.

Their Plan

Lines to Win

• Get full domain via the leyline or by lands (usually Steam Vents + Indatha Triome)
• Having full domain turns on the rest of the deck:
  • Leyline Binding becomes 1-mana removal of anything
  • Scion of Draco becomes a 2-mana 4/4 that gives all their creatures all the keywords.
  • Territorial Kavu becomes a 5/5
• End of turn 2 flash Doorkeeper Thrull, then Phlage on turn 3 doesn't die.
  • Often with Arena of Glory for haste

Maindeck Interaction

• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 4 Leyline Binding
• Stubborn Denial

Sideboard Tech

Most domain lists are not actually real 5c decks, but effectively Jeskai with a green splash for Territorial Kavu and a single triome that could, but never does make {B}. This means their sideboards are very similar to jeskai sideboards, but there are exceptions.

• Consign to Memory
• Clarion Conqueror
• Wear/Tear
• Wrath of the Skies (sometimes also maindeck)
• Damping Sphere and/or High Noon

Occasional Sideboard Tech

• Mystical Dispute
• Surgical Extraction
• Pyroclasm
• Orcish Bowmasters
• Pick Your Poison
• Nihil Spellbomb
• Ashiok, Dream Render

🚧 Strategy

🚧

🚧 🥈 Yawgmoth

Typical list

Strategy

Sideboard Plan

• Containment Priest, Ghost Vacuum
• Blood Moon, Harbinger of the Seas

🚧 🥈 Basking Broodscale

Updated: 2026-01-11

Eldrazi deck that combos Basking Broodscale with Blade of the Bloodchief to make a big lizard and infinite mana.

Typical list

Early Tells

• Turn 1 Urza's Saga
• Turn 1 Ancient Stirrings
• Grove of the Burnwillows
• Obviously: Blade of the Bloodchief or Basking Broodscale

Their Plan

Lines to Win

The combo line works like this:

• Basking Broodscale's adapt gets a +1/+1 counter and makes a Spawn token
• Sack the Spawn to make {C}
• Blade of the Bloodchief sees the Spawn die and puts another +1/+1 on the lizard, which makes another Spawn
• The loop repeats as long as they keep sacing the Spawn

All they need to kick this off (other than the two cards in play) is {2G} to equip the blade and use adapt.

The combo can turn lethal immediately in two ways:

• Walking Ballista
• Glaring Fleshraker

Other ways the combo wins:

• Attack with the big lizard
• Emrakul, the Promised End
• Kozilek's Command to scry 50 and find whatever they need

How they get the combo:

• Urza's Saga to tutor for the blade
• Scry effects: Ancient Stirrings, Malevolent Rumble, Devourer of Destiny

Their plan B is to be a slower Eldrazi Ramp deck with Ugin's Labyrinth, Springleaf Drum and Eldrazi Temple.

Maindeck interaction

• Boseiju
• Kozilek's Command
• Haywire Mite
• Soul-Guide Lantern

Sideboard Tech

Similar to other eldrazi decks:

• Dismember
• Cavern of Souls
• Pick Your Poison
• Pithing Needle
• Vexing Bauble
• Grafdigger's Cage

🚧 Strategy

🚧

🚧 🥈 Simic (or Sultai) Ritual

🚧 🥉 Azorius Control

🚧 🥉 Eldrazi Ramp

Typical list

🚧 🥉 Grixis Reanimator

Typical list

🚧 🥉 Blue Belcher

Combo deck that wins by Goblin Charbelcher because it plays no lands, only multi-faced modal spells with a land on the back side.

Typical list

Early Tells

• Any blue multifaced modal land, like Orderly Plaza, Soporific Springs or Hydroelectric Laboratory.
• Lotus Bloom

Their Plan

Lines to Win

• Primary line: Goblin Charbelcher
• Plan B: Tameshi, Reality Architect

Maindeck Interaction

• Jwari Disruption, Flusterstorm, Force of Negation
• Sink into Stupor

🥉 UR Murktide

Updated: 2026-01-09

Typical list

Tempo deck that wants to delay the opponent and then play a Murktide Regent.

Early Tells

• Turn 1 Ragavan with any blue land (like Steam Vents)
  • (Could also be Jeskai Blink, though.)

Their Plan

Lines to Win

• Murktide Regent played to maximize counters from delve.
• A couple of Channeler with delirium.
• Tie up the opponent with early threats like Ragavan and delay with Lightning Bolt and Unholy Heat.
• Sometimes also Cori-Steel Cutter

Maindeck Interaction

• 4 Lightning Bolt and Unholy Heat
• 4 Counterspell
• Various situational countermagic, often Spell Snare, Force of Negation, Spell Pierce, Subtlety and similar.
• Sometimes bounce spells like Sink into Stupor or Into the Flood Maw

Sideboard Tech

• Blood Moon
• Consign to Memory
• Mystical Dispute
• Additional countermagic
• Meltdown or similar
• Board wipes like Fire Magic or Pyroclasm
• Surgical Extraction

Strategy

• Force the Murktide deck to keep mana open, so they can't roll out their own threats.
• Bait out interaction and try to get their best answers to hit your worst threats. (Usually by leading with your weaker cards.)
• Play sac outlets and interaction magnets that must be answered, then stick the best threat when opponent is tapped out or out of cards.
• Murktide only plays ~10 threats, if you can remove them they can run out of steam.

Sideboard Plan

• Bounce for spells and creatures: Sink into Stupor, Into the Flood Maw, Reprieve are all strong. Hit the Murktide.
• Any value cards decks have for mirrors: Showdown of the Skalds, Fable, big creatures.
• Anything that can eat multiple counterspells or removals: Surgical targeting Counterspell, Reprieve targeting own spells, threats with flashback or escape that have to be answered repeatedly.
• Solitude and Subtlety are very strong.
• Answers for Frog: Fatal Push, Prismatic Ending.

🥉 Dimir Mill

Crab mill deck with some extra tricks.

Typical list

Early Tells

• Hedron Crab or Ruin Crab
• Archive Trap
• Drown in the Loch
• Cephalid Coliseum
• Mikokoro, Center of the Sea

Their Plan

The plan is to mill your deck.

• Hedron Crab and Ruin Crab double as blockers and provide dependable mill every turn.
• Archive Trap, Tasha's Hideous Laughter and Fractured Sanity are the main workhorses.

Maindeck Interaction

• Drown in the Loch
• Surgical Extraction
• Fatal Push
• Field of Ruin or similar
• Sometimes Sink into Stupor

Sideboard Tech

• Toxic Deluge
• Soul-Guide Lantern
• Consign to Memory
• Profane Memento

Strategy

Milling 3 cards is sort of like taking 1 damage.

Mill potential from various sources and how much it costs:

🚧 🥉 Esper Blink

🥉 Red Burn

Updated: 2026-01-27

Straightforward burn deck. Attacks with fast, small creatures like Goblin Guide and plays a lot of direct damage burn spells. Plays beatdown in every match.

Typical list

Early Tells

• Goblin Guide
• Barbarian Ring

Their Plan

Lines to Win

• 4 copies of Lightning Bolt and 6 more cards that are functionally Lightning Bolt with extra steps: Skewer the Critics, Rift Bolt, Lava Spike, etc.
• A few points of extra damage to cinch the game come from Barbarian Ring and Eidolon of the Great Revel.
• (Recent addition) Chandra's Incinerator on turn 2 or 3

Maindeck Interaction

• The most versatile is probably Lightning Bolt
• Searing Blaze deals with small creatures
• Skullcrack shuts down lifegain

Sideboard Tech

• Magebane Lizard
• Tunnel Ignus, Molten Rain or Obsidian Charmaw
• Searing Blood against creature decks

Occasional Sideboard Tech

• Roiling Vortex
• Untimely Malfunction
• Pyroclasm or Fire Magic
• Smash to Smithereens
• Blood Moon

Strategy

Burn needs to win fast, so sideboard strategy should focus on surviving into later turns, when the balance will shift in favor of the deck playing control to burn's beatdown.

Sideboard Plan

• Efficient countermagic to shut down the worst damage spells
• Any lifegain
• Slow down spells, like High Noon and Damping Sphere
• Orim's Chant

🚧 🥉 Jeskai Control

🚧 🥉 Eldrazi Aggro

🚧 🥉 Samwise Combo

🚧 🥉 Cosmogoyf Fling

🚧 🥉 Song of Creation

🦕 Phoenix

A really neat Izzet deck built around Arclight Phoenix and Thing in the Ice and/or Demilich. Plays lots of spells to get hasted phoenixes or flip the thing.

Typical list

Their Plan

• Get Arclight Phoenix into their graveyard with surveil, loot and discard effects
• Play enough spells for it to come back hasted
• Same triggers can also flip Thing in the Ice

Maindeck Interaction

• Red cantrip removal
• Sometimes splashes black for Thoughtseize

🦕 Dredge

Dredge is a combo deck that goes off on one big turn. It's similar to Phoenix, but operates completely through their graveyard, which they can fill very quickly.

List with Green List with Narcomoeba

Their Plan

The plan has two steps:

1. Fill the graveyard quickly
2. Use cards in the graveyard to win the game

Step 1 is mostly done with dredge, which combos with Artist's Talent. Every time they cast a spell, the talent lets them discard a card and draw a card, which turn on the dredge effect and adds between 3 and 5 cards to the graveyard. Auxiliary discard comes from surveil (lands, Otherworldly Gaze) and Faithless Looting.

Step 2 is done with three effects:

• Damage spells with flashback - Lava Dart and Conflagrate
• Arclight Phoenix
• Creeping Chill

Maindeck Interaction

No a lot: basically only what they need to fight graveyard hate like Rest in Peace.

• Pick Your Poison
• Thoughtseize
• Burning Inquiry

Sideboard Tech

Usually they have some of these:

• Meltdown
• Boseiju
• Surgical Extraction
• Into the Flood Maw
• Ancient Grudge
• Pick Your Poison
• Nature's Claim

Strategy

Priority targets:

1. Artist's Talent should be countered or removed immediately
2. Exile their graveyard
3. Hit Arclight Phoenix with Surgical Extraction

Sideboarding Plan

• Instant-speed graveyard hate: Thraben Charm, Tormod's Crypt, Kozilek's Command
• Rest in Peace
• Damping Sphere, High Noon, silence effects
• Surgical Extraction, Scavenging Ooze, Emperor of Bones, similar
• Instant-speed enchantment removal

🚧 🍌 Hollow One

Typical list

🚧 🦕 Lantern Control

🚧 🦕 Jeskai Ascendancy

🚧 🦕 Living End

🍌 Red Belcher Storm

Updated: 2026-01-27

Surprisingly viable red variant of the Goblin Charbelcher deck with elements of Ruby Storm.

Example list

Early Tells

• Mystic Peak, Spikefield Cave, Shatterskull, the Hammer Pass or Volcanic Fissure
• Bitter Reunion or March of Reckless Joy

Their Plan

Primary line is Goblin Charbelcher. They can get the mana to cast and activate it with Ruby Medallion + Pyretic Ritual or Desperate Ritual, or Irencrag Feat.

Second line is rituals + Stormscale Scion. Bitter Reunion can give the dragons haste.

They also tend to play Blood Moon and Magus of the Moon.

🚧 🍌 Izzet Steel Cutter

🚧 🍌 Humans

🚧 🍌 Kethis Combo

Typical list

🚧 🦕 Dimir Frogtide

Traditionally, a Frog + Murktide deck. Exists on the same spectrum with Kaito tempo and Abhorrent Oculus.

• Thought Scour usually means Oculus or another graveyard deck like reanimator
• Graveyard Trespasser also usually means Oculus (being a grindy card)

🚧 🍌 Sultai Midrange

🚧 🦕 Boomer Jund

🚧 🦕 Blue Tron

🚧 🦕 Miracles

🦕 Narset Control

Updated: 2026-01-10

A variant of Azorius Control built around the Narset, Parter of Veils + Day's Undoing combo. It's usually not aggregated as a separate deck, getting lumped in with regular UW control, but it functions more like a prison deck, than traditional control.

Typical List

Their Plan

The deck's plan is to use Narset, Parter of Veils to deny their opponent cards in hand. This combos well with Day's Undoing, whose effect is to discard their opponents hand. Teferi, Time Raveler helps them do this at instant speed, usually right after the draw step.

Remaining threats are controlled by Chalice of the Void, regular countermagic and Subtlety + Solitude.

After locking their opponent out, they usually win by a man-land, typically Hall of Storm Giants.

Strategy

Their lock consists mainly of planeswalkers and the occasional artifact, so it's not difficult to remove.

Priority targets:

• Narset, Parter of Veils should be removed on sight
• Teferi, Time Raveler

If you can, remove planeswalkers with damage and keep universal removal for Chalice of the Void and any other lockout pieces they might play against you (e.g. Pithing Needle).

Otherwise, the plan is the same as against any control deck:

• Force bad (for them) trades by leading with the weak threats.
• Try to push card advantage: they play 10-12 pitch spells.
• Hit Counterspell with Surgical Extraction.

🚧 🦕 Omnath

Typical list

🚧 🦕 Hammer Time

🍌 White Land Destruction

Updated: 2026-01-11

This deck sucks. Its whole plan is to slowly blow up the opponent's mana base and win around turn 30 with Castle Ardenvale. (That's not an exaggeration.)

Typical List

Early Tells

• Ghost Quarter or Field of Ruin combined with Esper Sentinel or White Orchid Phantom
• Crucible of Worlds

Their Plan

• Destroy nonbasic lands with White Orchid Phantom
• Destroy basics with Field of Ruin and Ghost Quarter
• Keep replaying Field of Ruin and Ghost Quarter with Crucible of Worlds
  • Find Crucible of Worlds with Karn, the Great Creator
• Remove all enemy creatures with Solitude, Wrath of the Skies and Path to Exile
• Once their opponent is out of lands, slowly win the game with Castle Ardenvale

Maindeck Interaction

• Emergency Eject
• Path to Exile
• Solitude
• Wrath of the Skies
• Reprieve

🚧 Strategy

Just concede, it's not worth it.

🚧 🍌 Monoblack Midrange

🚧 🦕 Elves

🚧 🦕 Merfolk

🚧 🍌 Bogles

🚧 🍌 Wizard Storm

🚧 🦕 Splinter Twin

🚧 🦕 Indominable Creativity

Typical list

🚧 🦕 Through the Breach

Typical list

🍌 Titanshift

Amulet Titan in Gruul, without the Amulet. Landfall / ramp deck that ramps into Primeval Titan and wants to win via landfall with Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle. Scapeshift can win on the spot.

Typical List

🚧 🦕 Monoblack Burn

🚧 🍌 UR Wizards

🍌 Domain Helga Keruga

Example List

Early tells:

• Revealed companion [Keruga]

Another take on domain aggro. The enabling cards are the same: Leyline of the Guildpact, Leyline Binding, Zagoth Triome. The threats are different: Helga, Skittish Seer wants to see big creatures and provides ramp to enable casting them. Combines with Scion of Draco and [Keruga] in the sideboard.

Their interaction typically plays countermagic (mostly Force of Negation) rather than Lightning Bolt.

[Omnath] deck.

🍌 Asmo Food

Example List

This deck wants to discard a lot to Monument to Endurance, Frog, [Underworld Cookbook]. Doing that turns on [Asmo] and [Moonshadow]. Ovalchase Daredevil is a good discard target to, because it keeps coming back for food tokens.

The two main combo lines are:

• [Asmo] + [Underworld Cookbook] + Ovalchase Daredevil: Repeatedly make food and use [Asmo]'s ability to clear the board.
• [Moonshadow] + repeatable discard source results in a 7/7.

Stack ranked threats:

• Monument to Endurance is how they dig through the deck and keep cards in hand. Remove on sight.
• [Asmo] is a key combo piece and effectively a 3/3 for {B/R}, turned on by [Underworld Cookbook] or Frog.
• [Moonshadow] can be up to a 7/7 for {B}, if they manage to discard.
• Urza's Saga - the tokens are often relevant and it can fetch them [Underworld Cookbook] for the combo.

Interaction:

• Mainly Fatal Push.

🍌 Devoted Druid

• Abzan List
• Selesnaya List

Combo line:

• [Devoted Druit] + Vizier of Remedies: infinite {G} and infinite untap
• Typically kill with Walking Ballista, Viridian Longbow or Finale of Devastation

The rest of the deck does two things:

• Protect the combo: Tamiyo's Safekeeping, Path to Exile, Boseiju, Giver of Runes
• Find the combo: Summoner's Pact, Esper Sentinel, [Formidable Speaker], Collected Company, Chord of Calling

If splashing black, they also play [Grist] and Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler.