I personally think that metagaming in Modern is highly underrated. It’s definitively not as important as it is in Standard but I still believe there is a lot to be gained by trying to metagame in Modern.

Between the 1st & 3rd of September I played in the World Championship, not to the best of results, but I did learn a lot about Modern by preparing for the Modern portion.

I believe that the easiest way of thinking about the Modern metagame is to split all the decks up into 4 “Camps”.

Camp 1: Creature combo/aggro
Infect, affinity, death’s shadow zoo, burn, etc.

Camp 2: Midrange
Jund, abzan, bant eldrazi, grixis, UWR control, abzan coco, etc.

Camp 3: Over the top decks
RG tron, RG Titan/Breach/Scapeshift, dredge, living end, etc.

Camp 4: Spell Combo decks
UR storm, ad nauseam, grishoalbrand, pyromancer ascension, etc.

There are of course outliers but this will get you a decent enough overview. Most Modern tournaments will contain a lot more of “camp 1” and “camp 2” decks than 3 or 4 and here’s my explanation as to why.

This is obviously just a generalization but it usually holds up for a lot of the decks.

“camp 1” is good against “camp 3” and “camp 4” but not favoured against “camp 2”
“camp 2” is good against “camp 1” and “camp 4” but not favoured against “camp 3”
“camp 3” is good against “camp 2” but not favoured against “camp 1” and “camp 4”
“camp 4” is good against “camp 3” but not favoured against “camp 1” and “camp 2”

So after looking at these predictions why would you ever play a “camp 3” or “camp 4” deck? The answer: the expected metagame. You should only choose to play a “camp 3” or “camp 4” deck if you feel you can predict the metagame.

If you think a lot of “camp 2” decks will show up and you have a good grasp on what kind of “camp 1” decks will show up you have a great opportunity to get an edge by playing a “camp 3” deck. For example if you expect the most played decks to be Abzan, jund, Abzan Coco, affinity and infect you could play RG Titan/Scapeshift with a lot of sideboard cards aimed at infect and affinity like 《Spellskite》 and 《Shatterstorm》.

It is a lot harder to set up a scenario where a “camp 4” deck is a great choice but they do pop up and also “camp 4” decks are often super cool & fun to play!

If you don’t have any idea what to expect at your Modern tournament then a “camp 2” deck would be the optimal choice. If you believe there will be a lot of “camp 1” decks then a “camp 2” deck also sounds great.

If you can’t quite tell what to expect but you think there will be a higher concentration of “camp 3” and “camp 4” decks than in your average Modern tournament then a “camp 1” deck should be what you are looking for.

It will for sure vary from country to country but there are some patterns that generally apply.

“camp 4” decks are always more popular at local events than at the Pro Tours or Grand Prix so expect them and respect them.

I would expect people’s sideboards to be packed with a lot of high impact hate cards. Affinity hate, graveyard hate, and in general sideboard cards aimed at hosing specific decks, so try to avoid playing strategies that are easily hated out.

You can expect that RG Titan/Scapeshift/Breach will show up more because of its recent success at Worlds and at the GP before Worlds.

A lot of people will just play the deck they know and/or own and there will be a slightly more even split between all the different archetypes as a result.

If my general prediction holds true, I would advise you to play a “camp 2” deck with a good matchup against other “camp 2” decks.

The deck I would choose specifically is Bant Eldrazi. It’s good against “camp 1”, “camp 2”, “camp 3” and better than most of the other midrange decks against RG Titan/Scapeshift/Breach

This will be all for this time. Hopefully the article was helpful and got you crushing your WMCQ! Speaking of, It would be really cool if you used this metagame theory but with your own unique metagame prediction & a different deck choice outcome.

Martin Muller

Martin Muller
He is one of the youngest pro players of the current era, and stands at the top of Danish magic.

His first Pro Tour appearance was at PT: Born of the Gods in 2014, at just 17 years old while also clinching the Danish World Magic Cup captaincy that year and proceeding to lead the Danish team to a first place at the World Magic Cup, leaving a powerful first impression on the magic community.

Achievements include a Top 8 at PT: Battle for Zendikar and 5th place at the 2015 World Championship, definitely a player to take note of from here on out.

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