All eyes on Modern this weekend!

[ ]Anderson and Rosum dissect Modern, while Thompson branches out with a Standard rebuttal! Newsletter Thursday, February 1st Cheers from Bilbao! As I sit here putting the final touches on my preparation for Pro Tour Rivals of Ixalan, many things are running through my mind. Have I done enough drafts to prepare myself for the limited portion of the tournament? Did I get enough games of Modern in with Humans and Tron to prepare myself for the constructed portion of the tournament? And is there anything I can read in the meantime to make myself stop worrying so much?! Fortunately, the third question is easy to answer! First up is Todd Anderson, who took a deep dive into the wackiest Modern deck we've seen in some time—Goryo's As Foretold. Then there's Gerry Thompson, who went toe-to-toe with Brad Nelson about [Merfolk Branchwalker]( and why it's better than Brad thinks. Lastly, there's [#SCGDFW]( champion, Jonathon Rosum, who showed the world just how good Modern Humans can be. Pro Tour Rivals of Ixalan should be one heck of a tournament. With some of the greatest minds in the game focused on Modern, there's no telling what to expect. Will Jeskai Control rule the day as it has over the past month on the SCG Tour? Or maybe Affinity will be unstoppable like we've seen it be so many times before? Or will Lantern Control in the hands of Sam Black rise up and drive everyone nuts? Your guess is as good as mine but I can't wait to find out! — [Cedric Phillips](CedricAPhillips), Content Coordinator [Indianapolis Open Feb 17-18]( [March 3-4]( [March 3-4 Legacy]( [March 10-11]( [March 10-11 Modern]( [March 24-25]( [March 24-25 Team Constructed]( [Todd Anderson]( [Goryo's As Foretold: Where Do We Go Now?]( By [Todd Anderson](   [Facebook](   [Twitter]( Decks like this one make great use out of stuff like [Izzet Charm]( since it can triple up as a removal spell, protection spell, or just a discard outlet for your excess creatures to make your [Living End]( or [Goryo's Vengeance]( a little better. Izzet Charm is a dream card for a deck like this because it will regularly use all three modes. In the entire time I've played Magic, I've never seen a deck that wanted four copies of Izzet Charm more than this one. Much like [Muddle the Mixture]( in Thopter Depths, we use it for anything and everything. [Lightning Axe]( while a fine card to help assemble the [Goryo's Vengeance]( side of things, might not be the card this deck actually wants. It seems actively bad with [As Foretold]( and [Living End]( causes you to two-for-one yourself to kill a creature on the first turn, and is pretty terrible in multiples. But it does play an important role. There aren't a lot of cheap discard outlets in Modern, and we're already playing four copies of Faithless Looting. As you assemble the As Foretold and Living End combo side of things, having cards like Lightning Axe to discard [Griselbrand]( or one of your two combo pieces isn't a big deal. Plus, if you're drawing a ton of cards with [Ancestral Vision]( discarding an extra land doesn't really hurt that much either. One card I'd like to see more copies of is [Jace, Vryn's Prodigy](. Not only does Jace, Vryn's Prodigy give this deck some legs in the early turns, it also acts as a lightning rod for removal. And we all know how good a lightning rod for removal can be in a [Splinter Twin]( deck. [Continue Reading]( Philadelphia Open Weekend Winners [William Lo, Lucas Michaels, and Jeremy Henry take down #SCGPHILLY!]( [William Lo, Lucas Michaels, and Jeremy Henry take down]([#SCGPHILLY](! [Aiden Brier wins Standard Classic]( [Aiden Brier Standard Classic]( [Ross Merriam wins Modern Classic]( [Ross Merriam Modern Classic]( [Oliver Tomajko wins Legacy Classic]( [Oliver Tomajko Legacy Classic]( [Gerry Thompson]( [Why Brad Nelson Is Wrong About Merfolk Branchwalker]( By [Gerry Thompson](   [Twitter]( As far as power level is concerned, [Merfolk Branchwalker]( passes. Have you tried building green decks in this format? Most of the cards stink! Green used to be a huge portion of the metagame share, but [Tireless Tracker]( rotating and energy getting nerfed reduced it to bare bones. If you decide you absolutely want to play green, you're going to need to sacrifice. Is [Merfolk Branchwalker]( as good as [Longtusk Cub]( or [Servant of the Conduit]( No! And no one is saying that. They each have their pros and cons, and last weekend, Merfolk Branchwalker vastly outperformed the competition. [Servant of the Conduit]( and [Aether Hub]( are a significantly worse package without [Attune with Aether](. You'll run out of energy quickly and have a bunch of colorless lands and [Grizzly Bears](. That doesn't necessarily eliminate them from consideration either, but at this point, all the great cards have been banned. Some part of your deck is likely going to be worse than you'd prefer. [Continue Reading]( [Find Game Night Events Near You!]( [Jonathan Rosum]( [The Guide To Modern Humans]( By [Jonathan Rosum](   [Twitter]( Humans is technically a "newer" deck to the current iteration of the Modern metagame. The deck was popularized by my friend and Lotus Box teammate, Collins Mullen, back with his win at [#SCGCIN]( in 2017. Humans is a deck looking to both provide an aggressive clock while also disrupting the opponent to make sure that they can't kill your creatures or you. Humans is a very interesting deck from a gameplay perspective as you do a lot of interacting with your opponent for a deck that has 37 creatures. The reason why I started playing the deck before [#SCGCOL]( was that I found it absurdly consistent at executing its game plan of aggression and disruption as well as rewarding individuals that have vast knowledge of the Modern format. First things first: Let's talk about a few key cards that make Humans special. [Continue Reading]( [Find Invitational Qualifier Events This Week!]( [Facebook](     [Twitter](     [YouTube]( StarCityGames.com, 5728 Williamson Road N.W, Roanoke, VA 24012 [SafeUnsubscribe™ {EMAIL}]( [Forward email]( | [Update Profile]( | [About our service provider]( Sent by donotreply@starcitygames.com in collaboration with [Constant Contact]( [Try it free today](