There has been a lot of talk about Modern lately. With so many different decks taking the top spots across the tournaments, diversity was the name of the game. Metagame heterogeneity is highly valued by many players. Even though I don’t think a diversified metagame is necessarily more enjoyable, it surely helps to keep it dynamic.

However, on February 12th, Wizards of the Coast made a big announcement:

Modern:

《Jace, the Mind Sculptor》 is unbanned.

《Bloodbraid Elf》 is unbanned.

I don’t have a strong opinion yet about the unbannings. I don’t know yet if they are good or bad for Modern as a format, but they are clearly going to shake things up. I find very enjoyable exploring new formats, and that includes when certain cards change those formats in different levels.

Where Do We Go Now?

With 《Jace, the Mind Sculptor》

I would like to touch a little bit where I would go if I wanted to start playing with those recently unleashed cards. What will be the best home for 《Jace, the Mind Sculptor》?

Grixis Control is where I would start in terms of exploring 《Jace, the Mind Sculptor》. The reason behind it is 《Lightning Bolt》. Formerly known as the best removal spell in Modern, 《Bolt》 is ready for a great comeback. 《Jace》 not only shines in Control decks, it’s also equally useful against those control decks, and 《Lightning Bolt》 just provides a direct way to deal with opposing 《Jaces》.

With interactive spells such as 《Lightning Bolt》 and 《Fatal Push》, or flexible tools like 《Kolaghan's Command》 and 《Cryptic Command》, Grixis seems to me like a great Modern deck right now.

《Snapcaster Mage》, besides being an excellent card on its own, is just a perfect match with 《Jace, the Mind Sculptor》. It flashbacks our removal spells and also provides a body to protect our Planeswalker. I wouldn’t be surprised if a 《Jace》+《Snapcaster Mage》 deck eventually becomes the best Modern deck.

What About 《Bloodbraid Elf》?

《Bloodbraid Elf》 is likely a little bit less powerful than 《Jace, the Mind Sculptor》, but I expect her to show up in a bunch of decks. The most obvious one is Jund, since she just fits the deck’s plan perfectly, and her presence on that archetype was the reason why the card got banned originally. Besides Jund, I think 《Bloodbraid Elf》 could find its way in many different Modern decks.

One reasonable home for 《Bloodbraid Elf》 is GR Ponza (Land Destruction). The deck has been posting some decent online finishes thanks to its efficiency in the matchup against big mana decks like Tron or Titanshift. Before the unban, one of the biggest weaknesses of the deck was not having enough power to play a fair game against decks where the disruption wasn’t just enough. 《Bloodbraid Elf》 could help shaving that weakness. Also, building your own 《Avalanche Riders》 is pretty cool!

Restoration Deck With 《Bloodbraid Elf》

New cards sometimes make old archetypes to reappear, and there is one deck that has been seeing some play since the unbanning: Tribal Zoo.

Tribal Zoo is an Aggro deck that tries to play a bunch of efficient creatures and a 5-color manabase to maximize the power of 《Tribal Flames》. 《Bloodbraid Elf》 is a great addition to this deck, but not the only one, since 《Mantis Rider》 is also joining team. I didn’t expect to see the 《rider》 out of Humans, but Cascading into a 3/3 flyer is a very powerful play, and once you are already playing blue lands, the cost isn’t very high.

I also think the 3/2 haste body in this deck is very relevant, so I wouldn’t be surprised if an archetype like this could fight with Burn for the “Aggressive Red Deck spot” in Modern.

Can We Play Both Of Them?

What if you want to play both 《Jace, the Mind Sculptor》 and 《Bloodbraid Elf》? No worries! There’s always a deck. Temur Moon has been around for a while as a tier 2/3, but these two cards might be all that the deck needed.

《Ancestral Vision》 is the card that ties both the Elf and the Planeswalker together. 《Jace》 lets us put the 《Ancestral Vision》 on the top of our library so we can Cascade it with 《Bloodbraid Elf》.

I think both 《Izzet Charm》 and 《As Foretold》 are very smart here since they will add consistency, making 《Ancestral Vision》 less awkward on the late game.

Overall, I think 《Jace》 and 《Bloodbraid Elf》 are going to improve the midrange/control decks in Modern. Both cards are better if you play with removal spells, so playing a deck that’s has a good pairing against that kind of interaction is going to be a solid option as Modern moves forward.

What Strategy Is Good Against Them?

Going under is an appealing option, since going over 《Jace, the Mind Sculptor》 can be tricky, especially in post sideboard games where the advantage he provides can be too much.

BR Hollow One, the breakout deck of Pro Tour Rivals of Ixalan, could be a way to attack a midrange-based decks. Here’s one sample list with 《Vengevine》. By maximizing our graveyard recursion we make our deck better against removal spells, and haste is your best ally against all the Planeswalkers.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, Modern is still Modern, and I’m sure we will still see old favorites like Burn, Bogles or Tron at the top tables of the events.

Enjoy the new format!

Javier Dominguez