Introduction

Modern is a fun format to play. After covering the Damnation Fest, a 300-player event held in Pisa, Italy, and seeing seven different archetypes make it to the Top 8 with even more decks in the Top 16, I’m confident in the health of the format. Among the cards that were unbanned, Green Sun's Zenith and Mox Opal are the most prominent, but players are still brewing and testing their own personal decks. I also have a friend who returned to the format simply because his pet card, Splinter Twin, was finally removed from the banlist.

Marco Vassallo’s 4C Omnath, Top16 decklist

But, amongst all the different decks, there are for sure some better than others. Luckily the best decks are different in archetypes, making the format good for anyone who wants to join it. 

The best aggro deck: RWx Energy

I do think that, differently from other formats like Pioneer or Standard, where aggro decks are linear and “all in”, the Modern aggro decks must have a midrange plan to win the long games vs removal heavy decks. 

The best - and only - strong aggro deck is Energy, including both Boros and Mardu.

Boros is a go-wide deck and arguably the best aggro deck in the history of Magic. This Modern Horizons block-constructed deck plays the strongest aggressive creatures in the format in the one- and two-drop slots, but it can also pivot to a midrange game with Phalge, Titan of Fire’s Fury, and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker in response to Pyroclasm effects. The strength of this deck lies in its synergy between creatures and removal: Galvanic Discharge can deal more than 5 damage, while Goblin Bombardment often serves as a win condition when paired with Ajani, Nacatl Pariah.

Mardu Energy follows a similar game plan but trades raw power for consistency, splashing Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, and Orcish Bowmaster to improve its matchup against combo decks.

UB Frog

As a blue-tempo enthusiast, this particular phase of Modern feels like Christmas. Psychic Frog decks began to gain traction right after the Pro Tour MH3, but with the printing of Abhorrent Oculus, the deck became a serious contender in the format. Now, with the banning of The One Ring, UB Frog has emerged as one of the top-tier decks in Modern.

Fatal Push is likely the best one-mana removal in the format, and being able to deal with your opponent's threats efficiently with cheap countermagic, while executing your own unfair plan—Unearth into Abhorrent Oculus—is the dream of every tempo lover. Psychic Frog is the "director" of the deck, applying pressure, drawing cards, and creating a graveyard to either cast or cheat into play the Oculus.

Currently, there are two "schools of thought": UB with Murktide and Counterspell.

The list follows a “stock approach” to deckbuilding, aiming for consistency across various matchups.

After testing these decklists for a while, I found myself losing with Murktides and Oculuses stuck in hand after my opponent played some graveyard hate. I also realized that Counterspells felt clunky in a format where turn-two threats can end the game quickly. So, I decided to work on this list: 

I swapped out Counterspells for discard spells, added more one-mana countermagic, and removed Murktides, which made the deck smoother and more resilient to graveyard hate. While there are some “weird choices” — I find Picklock to be a bit iffy — I personally believe this is the right direction to take.

Combo decks: Breach and Belcher

Underworld Breach is, in my opinion, the best spell in Modern. It was almost immediately banned in both Legacy and Pioneer and remains a contender in Vintage. In Modern, there are fewer options and different kinds of hate, but a Breach deck has always been at least tier 1.5 in every meta. Replacing The One Ring with Mox Opal made the deck less midrange and more focused on explosive starts. Opal enabled more turn-one Emry plays and even one-turn-kill (OTK) potential starting as early as turn two.

What sets Breach apart from other "goldfish combo" decks like Storm is its ability to play longer games and win in multiple ways. Your opponent may sit on Rest in Peace and Spellbombs, but you can still ultimate Tamiyo and chain Emrys/Rumbles to eventually play Oracle. Additionally, the deck plays four copies of Urza’s Saga, and you can easily splash other colors to include cards like Teferi, Time Raveler or Basim ibn-Ishaq.

The other strong combo deck in Modern is Mono-Blue Belcher. The strength of Belcher revolves around it being an “one card combo” with modal dual face lands. 

While I think the deck was slightly better when The One Ring was legal—since it served as both a card your opponents had to keep in mind and an irrelevant card for you—the deck is still performing well and has favorable matchups against most of the format, especially Boros.

The main change from previous iterations of the deck is the counter suite. Nowadays, Spell Snare is excellent for countering Ajani, Frogs, and Breach, while cards like Commandeer have been surpassed.

The Other Decks

As I mentioned in the introduction, Modern is a wide format, and many decks can be playable—and even strong. For example, right now, a BW Sewer deck featuring Phyrexian Phelia and Overlord of the Balemurk is achieving good results. In my view, the key to success in Modern is:

Midrange plan + Broken combinations + Good matchup/sideboard cards against 2/3 of the meta.

Speaking of strong archetypes, I believe the best ones right now are:

Amulet Titan: You can end the game as early as turn two, and you’re resilient to hate, which, although present, isn’t extremely prevalent.

Ruby Storm: As the fastest deck, it has favorable matchups against Boros and Breach, ranging from good to very good.

Rhinos: Cascade is difficult to hate on, and the surprise factor can easily trample on your opponent.

All those three decks are a clever example of my “rule”. 

Conclusion

Modern is a format partially unexplored, full of good decks and different strategies. In a week, Regional Championships are approaching, likely showing new decks or better iterations of the current decks. 

I am curious to see which one will be the best!

To close the article, I will leave you with the coolest deck that is finally playable (and probably not very good still): Rhino-Twin!

Rhino-Twin by Medvedev, 17 place Modern Challenge