We’re celebrating Mythic Championship II London with some awesome fantasy tournaments on Thousand Leagues! You could win a Guilds of Ravnica Mythic Edition or some sweet Hipsters gear—and as always, you can make your own league and invite some friends!
As we get ready for Mythic Championship II London, it’s exciting to see the competitors get to work solving Modern. I personally love to see the changes in a given metagame around these major events. As usual, Wizards has taken some actions to shake up the format. But this time, instead of bans or unbans, we get a new mulligan rule and public decklists.
Our coverage at Hipsters has already explored the top cards and decks in light of these changes. Today I give you my picks for winners and losers for this new Modern format. Hot takes incoming.
Winner—Cheerios
The Puresteel Paladin combo deck, known as Cheerios because it abuses zero-mana artifacts, is a big winner when it comes to both changes. The deck has a high fail rate if it does not find a copy of Sram, Senior Edificer or Puresteel Paladin. You need to find those engine cards, and the London Mulligan makes the deck come together more consistently. Being able to mull deep to find a combination of those two while not needed a critical mass of spells to go off really boosts the deck’s power level.
The rest of the deck is so redundant that you can combo off with all sorts of cards once you have the engine set up. Public decklists help identify the interaction to play around in game one, which makes you decisions much easier. Knowing when to be able to jam safely with any combo deck is huge; but with a deck as fragile as Cheerios, it is vital.
Loser—Tron
My opinion may be controversial, but I will say both rules hurt Tron more than they help. Yes, the improved mulligan rule makes the deck even more consistent. Tron expert Tannon Grace once said however, that “Tron always had an advantage when each player mulliganed but now it is on an even playing ground, which overall is a negative for Tron.” When it comes to the open decklists, this hurts Tron simply for the fact their opponents can aggressively mulligan game one hands with a lot of removal that will be dead.
Tron negates many of the common interaction spells of the format, which is a big part of its advantage. Opponents can mulligan away from hands that will lose to quick Tron, and that cuts further into Tron’s natural strength. So consider me skeptical that Tron will perform well this weekend in London.
Winner—Pregame Effects
The suite of cards with pregame effects grow more powerful with the London mulligan rule—such as Leylines, Gemstone Caverns, and Serum Powder. Leylines were already powerful and commonly played before the rule change, but now you can play fewer than four copies to open sideboard slots for other matchups.
Cards like Serum Powder and Gemstone Caverns greatly improve the all-in glass cannon strategies that have been popping up now thanks to the rule. Adding an extra mana power some broken starts, and the new London Mulligan ensure more hands to take advantage of the mana. If you want to spike a major tournament with a fragile combo deck, this may be the weekend for you. Just be ready to win through a Leyline of Sanctity.
Loser—Burn
Burn is a tough one to evaluate when it comes to the new rules. I think having the knowledge that you are playing burn is more costly than any benefit the burn player gains by knowing what they are up against. The public decklist rule effectively adds a few points to the life totals of burn opponents, which is akin to forcing the Burn deck to mullian down a card. Being a bit more cautious with your life total in the first turns can really swing a game against decks full of Lightning Bolts. The best example I can think of is with Grixis Death’s Shadow. Being able to fetch a basic and Inquisition of Kozilek instead of dealing five damage to yourself can make or break the game.
Winner—Grixis Death’s Shadow
The new rules line up very well for Grixis Death’s Shadow. You often struggles when you draw the wrong half of the deck. Some games demand threats, while in others you want to lean on the controllign elements of the deck. Draw the wrong type of hand and you are in big trouble. The mulligan rule helps this issue by evening out the portions you need for a given match. Plus your discard spells are happy to see opponents taking mulligans more aggressively. That one key Cheerios card won’t make it until turn two.
Public decklists are even better for seasoned Grixis Death’s Shadow players. Sequencing the first few turns is critical, and becomes much easier when you know what you are up against. Being able to sequence their first few turns and know how to manage your life total is really important. The deck is equipped to naviate all sorts of games across the range of the Modern metagame. Seeing lists helps immensely, and Grixis screams winner all around for me.
These have been my takes on how these rules may work with certain strategies going into the Mythic Championship. Lets see if they are hot or cold!
Zack is a SCG grinder with one ultimate goal: getting to the Players Championship. Based out of NYC, you can find him in other cities every weekend trying to hit that goal. When he isn’t traveling he streams. Follow his journey on Twitter!