We are right in the middle of a series of Regional Championships globally, and there is a deck is standing out as a fun new combo deck, and it's even putting up results. About a month ago, I wrote about the combo that works with Unstoppable Slasher and Bloodletter of Aclazotz, and it appears that Pioneer players decided to optimize the list and sought to assemble some turn four victories. The deck is also incredibly resilient, and they found a way to get good value from drawing a ton of cards. We are starting to see consistent results with the deck in major events. When I was in DC last weekend for the RC, there were three players who played mono-black combo that qualified for the Pro Tour, although unfortunately none of those lists made the top eight of the event. This week, we are awaiting final results of Japan's RC, and we know that at least two of the decks have made the top eight, and that five of them actually made the top sixteen. We will briefly go over the version of this deck that performed the best in Japan, and then we will also take a look at how it affects Standard, as the deck features a vast majority of cards in the list that are Standard legal/playable. I'll get you a list for both formats, because there will likely be some Standard Events coming up soon! This list differs a bit from some of the other decks that play demons. Most of the other lists also play Archfiend of the Dross, because that is a big huge demon that is pretty hard to deal with. This list focuses more on prioritizing card advantage with cards like Invoke Despair and Graveyard Trespasser in the main deck. One could make an argument that we would actually move those cards to the sideboard, and then play the four Archfiends, but at this point, we aren't going to argue with the success of the list, as it speaks for itself. Key Combo Pieces

As we ramp up for The MTG World Championships, we also have a few major events before. Right now, the biggest events are the Regional Championships, where the format is Pioneer. This past weekend, and this upcoming weekend, we have competitions from Brazil and Washington D.C. Today we will go over the results from the past weekend, and my favorite deck from the event. We have been waiting for events such as this one to see what decks emerge as the best so that we can work closer towards having a "solved" meta both after bans and a new set that came out. The meta from this event was certainly interesting compared to events before bans. I think one of the most noteworthy things was the fact that we didn't see any Phoenix in the top 8, or even the top 16. I will review a few of the top 8 decks for you, and we will have a brief analysis of the finals matchup. Then I'll go over my favorite deck from the top 8. Top 8 Results Let's take a look at the overall breakdown from the top 8 in regards to meta share for each deck. Rakdos Prowess had three decks in the top 16, and it was the most well-represented archetype in the elimination rounds. It also had two decks in the top 4, but they were unable to beat Enigmatic Fires and Azorius Control, who ultimately ended up playing in the finals. Jund Sacrifice also made it into the top 8. That was a result that was expected to a degree. Another deck that is emerging is Rakdos Transmogrify, and that also found its way into the top 8. The deck that I was most happy to see in this top 8 was Rakdos Midrange. It basically is a Mono Black deck that runs Fable and Bloodtithe Harvester. 

Duskmourn has officially made its mark on the meta, as we have some emerging archetypes that get kills so fast, people are already calling for bans. Aside from the aggro decks getting their payoffs even faster, it seems that most other archetypes got some type of boost as well. There's a question everyone is asking though: How do we deal with the turn two kills from the red decks? The short and lazy answer is a ton of removal. You basically need to have at least two removal spells in your starting hand, which means that in order to start with that in a hand consistently, you will probably want close to ten removal spells in the deck itself. It's unfortunate that it's come to this, but we can't keep losing to red decks or be forced to play them if we don't want to. There has to be another way. I managed to put together a mono black deck that got a trophy in a Standard event and I faced red decks six different times. What I would add onto my solution earlier along with removal, is that it was definitely key for me to have multiple instances of lifegain in my deck. This was often able to buy me time, and allow me to stabilize to get an advanced board state against the aggro decks. We will take a look at the deck, and I apologize. There aren't a ton of new cards, but the ones that are there serve their purposes well. This is best of one this time, maybe we can start testing it for best of three later. I specifically wanted to do this for best of one for now, because that is where I heard the most of the people complaining about red decks.  It's kind of funny to think that a typal deck performed well. While we do have plenty of good vampires in the format, you typically detract from a higher power level by forcing creatures of a certain type when there may be better synergies with other creature types that could give you a higher chance to win. In this one though, we do include six non-vampire creatures, and I think they allow the deck to be properly functional. Let's check out some of the cards that we like in the deck. Duskmourn Cards in the Deck

Duskmourn has hit the shelves for prerelease, but we still have a few days to wait until it hits Arena. For now, we are still theory crafting for the digital client. Last time we went over the newest Mono Black Deck for the format, and today, I figured that it wouldn't be a proper theory crafting cycle for this set if I did not give you at least one reanimator deck, so here we are.  Theory Crafting for the New Set Today, we are going to look at one of the new cards from the set, Victor, Valgavoth's Seneschal. We will use the card to attempt to reanimate Valgavoth as early as turn four. We have some surveil lands to help put Valgavoth in the graveyard, and Scavenger's Talent allows us to mill plenty of cards. Since we are a reanimator and combo deck, we also have ways to cheat out Rottenmouth Viper, or reanimate it. 

Duskmourn is now fully previewed, and everyone is scrambling to come up with what will be the best deck. I am currently doing the same, and like I always do, I am coming to you today with my best version of Mono Black for Duskmourn! The one thing I love the most about this set is that feels like Mono Black will be able to do a couple of different archetypes that will be competitive. There are combos, midrange options, and even aggro. Other colors are also getting the same flexibility. It feels like we will have a well-rounded format once all of these cards are released. The power level will be incredibly high, and the format should be wide open. While I am excited for the diversity that is to come, let's take a look at how this list works. Combos and Play Lines in the New Deck If you were here a few sets ago, you saw me trying to get one turn kills with Bloodletter of Aclazotz. We did have a good bit of success with that, and the combo was really fun. Today we are going to be able to tighten up that idea and hopefully make it much more consistent. We now have multiple ways to make the opponent lose half of their life total, which becomes their full life total when Bloodletter is out. We have some other options in the deck to pivot from that plan if there is simply too much removal that we are up against - because the format is still full of efficient options to remove permanents. We will also utilize the good removal that we are given, and we are now gaining access to enchantment removal that is somewhat efficient. We should be able to deal with most of the problems that we face, and I think it is safe to say that we are cooking. Let's take a look at the list itself now, and the cards that are going to be relevant.

Normally I don't play in store championships, but this time I had to make an exception. Everyone was going on and on how valuable the full art Urza's Saga was, and I had to get in on this. I admittedly didn't have any intention of keeping the card, but I knew that I could get some great trade value for it, or at least be able to sell it for a decent amount of money When the first weekend of store championships took place, this card was selling for $350 USD. It has since gone down to about $270 USD, but it still makes it worth it - especially when the entry for the event was $20, and I already had it covered for free with store credit that I had built up. I waited for the event at my LGS, and I brought my trusty mono-black discard deck, and gave it a shot. There were four rounds in total, and it took a deal at the end to get it done, but I was able to get through the day undefeated and secure the saga. I'll go over how my matchups were, and of course some key elements of the deck that I played. I believe it is very similar to a deck in one of my previous articles, so I won't dwell on the list itself too much. We will mainly just go over the key cards that make everything work, and some of the cards from today that stood out in each matchup. First, let's take a look at the deck! This deck is aptly named Standard 8-Rack. It models itself after a similar archetype in modern that punishes the opponent for having one or fewer cards in hand. Ideally, we have the deck set up where after the opponent has their upkeep and draw step each turn, they are losing four life. You can also double down on that with the fact that one of the effects dealing the damage is a creature that is difficult to block, and that can also accelerate the clock. Key Cards for the Rack

This past week, Wizards gave us some bans that were desperately needed. In addition to that, we even got some that many would say were not needed. Some of the cards that were on the ban radar came out unscathed this time, with conjecture that they may end up being banned later. We were all positive that Nadu was going to get banned, and the format was suffering while in the waiting room for that. One ban in Modern that we did not expect, however, was for Grief to be banned. It was still a broken card, but with a lot of the cards printed in MH2, it appeared to have been powered down a bit compared to the rest of the cards out there. The good news is that a lot of the decks that played it were able to adapt around it, but what we really want to check on today is how the meta looks in general. Similar to the last article, we will look at the decks that round out the top tier, and what decks we should look to see taking the spot as our best deck for the format. Let's get to the Modern Meta check-in. What Deck is the Best? We'll get to that pretty quickly here, and it was also rather obvious - Boros Energy is taking the meta by storm currently. It is able to snowball so much, and has cheeky elements of control that allow the deck to simply do its thing uninterrupted. It is well-rounded and has bunches of life gain. Many decks in the format do not run board wipes, and those decks tend to suffer against Boros. Let's take a look at the list itself.

Wizards brought out the hammer this past Monday, and we are absolutely feeling the effects across multiple formats. For today, I would like to go over how the metagame of Pioneer is starting to sort itself out, what we can expect going forward, and maybe even see if we can reach a consensus on what the best deck currently is. Even if you aren't sold on there being a "best" deck yet, it is safe to say that creature-based decks are currently dominating all of the challenges that we are seeing so far from MTGO. From the most recent two challenges that we have available, one to eight metagame saw all of the decks be creature-based, while the other had four of eight decks centered around creatures for their win conditions. Not all of them were aggro - although a good bit of the better performing decks are - but even when they weren't aggro, the decks still used a combination that in some way puts a ton of creatures on the board and swings for a ton of damage. It is evident that decks with twenty or more creatures are currently thriving, and the only thing they really have to worry about right now is board wipes. We are even seeing a new archetype come into play in Selesnya Aggro. I personally think that right now, Izzet Phoenix is the best deck. It is always present in top finishes currently, and it often still performed well before the bans. We will take a look at that deck, and then I will tell you about another one that I think will be cracked wide open pretty soon. No matter what way you slice it, however, creature decks are claiming a large metashare. Izzet Phoenix This list is your standard good Phoenix build. It was played pretty heavily before bans, and it will see even more play now. The play patterns in the deck become a little more straightforward now because we are, at least for now, a little bit more narrowed down in what the best decks are. Phoenix has been around long enough that we know what the good cards are, and what it does. I'll spare you a full breakdown of the deck that you've likely heard plenty of times. Just know that Arclight Phoenix does a lot of work, and cards like Crackling Drake come in from the sideboard to also get in for tons of damage, and the format often doesn't allow it to be easily removed. We can check on a newer addition to the sideboard that we are seeing now, as the deck becomes more prevalent.