Pro Tour: Modern Horizons 3 has come and gone and we are left with a new boogieman- Nadu, Winged Wisdom.
The combo bird was not only heavily represented at 25% of the field, but boasted nearly a 60% win rate and represented the entire top 4. Congratulations to Simon Nielsen on his first Pro Tour victory after five consecutive top 8s! A truly insane run.
To illustrate how Nadu’s dominance is problematic consider Mythic Championship IV, or better known as PT: Hogaak.
Hogaak posted a 56% win rate, represented 20% of the field, put just a single pilot into the top 8, and didn’t even win the event. Leyline of the Void was the defining card of the tournament, but Nadu doesn’t have to fight a similar silver bullet. Quaint in comparison.
Heading into the Pro Tour it was clear the rules of engagement for Modern shifted thanks to MH3. This is now a turn three format, but there are many flavors of decks to arrive at this result. If your deck plans to make it to turn four then it’s very helpful to have free interaction.
Let’s get to it! Here’s the list Simon Nielsen used to take down the tournament:
Nadu combines with Shuko to trigger the bird’s ability repeatedly.
Springheart Nantuko joins the party to generate additional creatures to equip Shuko. Nadu occupies the turn three win space for creature combo decks. Nadu can craft convoluted lines and has plenty of room for innovation if you enjoy thinking about these types of puzzles and can handle playing public enemy number one.
The earlier sketches of Nadu will draw their deck and win with Thassa’s Oracle, but paper tournaments can now use Sylvan Safekeeper to sacrifice lands, put them back in the deck with Endurance, and create loops to gain life with Haywire Mite, destroy lands with Boseiju, bounce permanents with Otawara, and add counters with Bristly Bill.
Cephalid Coliseum was in previous builds of the deck to loop with Endurance and deck the opponent.
Many of these loops aren’t possible on Magic Online so you must choose to play Thassa’s Oracle or simply generate many tokens and pass the turn into a potential Wrath of the Skies. I’ve also seen Finale of Devastation as it’s a win condition that can function as a tutor.
After watching countless Nadu feature matches I learned plenty of cool tricks with Springheart Nantuko. Bestowing Dryad Arbor can generate multiple creatures as the copies generate landfall. Simon Nielsen bestowed on an opposing creature to keep it safe from removal. Bestow also targets a creature to generate an additional Nadu trigger.
Moving forward I expect more maindeck Volatile Stormdrakes to have a way to break up the opposing Nadu combo while enabling your own wins. Chord of Calling can not only fetch combo pieces, but serve as interaction.
Nadu is not only very consistent, but doesn’t have any obviously bad matchups. The deck has a high risk of being banned in August, but a lot of metagame movements can occur before the announcement. WOTC is typically slow to ban newly printed cards so it has the chance to be viable for a while.
Since the deck has created a fresh tier above the rest of the format I’m going to look at the rest of the Modern metagame today.
MONO BLACK NECRODOMINANCE
Noah Ma cracked the top 8 with Mono Black Necro alongside Seth Manfield. This powerful new strategy also posted nearly a 60% win rate at PT:MH3 despite the top 8 matchups against Nadu looking less than favorable. There weren’t many other archetypes represented as Nadu took up five of the top 8. Here’s Noah’s list:
Mono Black Necro looks to interact the opponent down to few resources and resolve the namesake card. This is a viable archetype with or without Nadu in the format. I was low on this strategy in the early days of MH3, but the shell has been optimized enough to be a serious force.
Necrodominance works differently than Necropotence as you’re drawing cards; this leaves you vulnerable to opposing Orcish Bowmasters, but can combo with your Sheoldred.
Soul Spike has seen a massive price spike as there’s only a Coldsnap printing, but is essential to restore your life total to draw more cards with Necrodominance and kill the opponent. I would like to see WOTC be more aggressive in reprinting old cards with only a single version if they pair well with a new release. Purchasing Shuko and Soul Spike is like catching a falling knife. Sometimes these interactions are missed with the rapid set releases, but even an indication on the soonest reprint could help alleviate the price and curtail speculation.
Mono Black is able to supplant Rakdos as the premier Scam shell since Fable of the Mirror Breaker doesn’t threaten to kill as quickly. There are plenty of double-faced spells and pitch spells to give this strategy room to innovate. I like that Necro is the best way to scam as the namesake enchantment creates room to customize the amount of life to pay. Deck familiarity will be heavily rewarded with such a modular card.
The One Ring was in previous builds of Sheoldred midrange, but not pitching to Soul Spike is a real drawback. What a world we live in.
Inquisition of Kozilek can be considered over some Thoughtseize because the life loss is relevant with Necro. Profane Tutor is also a way to find Necrodominance without being vulnerable to discard. Black mages currently have more good options than room in a sixty-card deck.
Rounding out the top 8 was Javier Dominguez with Jeskai Control. His thesis on Jeskai was to max out on the One Ring and combine it with four Subtlety and four Force of Negation. I do like this idea as Phlage can also be risky to cast early.
In a closed-decklist tournament Jeskai Control can lose percentage points as it’s a highly reactive strategy. It’s also possible to predict a few decks that are expected to represent close to half of the tournament which is more difficult to do in many other events.
Jeskai Control posted about a 50% win rate at PT:MH3 as there may not be enough incentive to take the opponent to the late game. Phlage is a quick clock when it gets going, but Lightning Helix isn’t particularly well-positioned at the moment. This may change with fewer players respecting Phlage’s ability.
Big Mana decks didn’t have a breakout weekend at MH3 so I’m lower on Invert Polarity at the moment. The mana is sketchy in Jeskai and it’s already being held together by Mystic Gate as Island and Phlage don’t mix. Wrath of the Skies is the only white card I’m looking to actively put in my deck.
Suncleanser is deceptively tough to remove out of Nadu making Supreme Verdict a key card in the matchup.
Memory Deluge was played by some prominent Japanese pilots and I think the card is underplayed. Instant speed is very important and I would like to avoid playing so many copies of Subtlety. Pitch-casting Subtlety in a slow deck isn’t powerful unless you are casting The One Ring to close the game.
Eldrazi Tron strategies held up fairly well despite operating in such a fast environment at 55%. Trinisphere is well-positioned against decks looking to win quickly and can always go over the top of control. This is what separated Eldrazi Tron from the other big mana strategies.
Here’s David Gonzalez’s PT:MH3 list that finished 7-2-1:
Matt Sperling posted the lone 10-0 constructed record at PT:MH3 with Esper Goryo’s Vengeance. The deck overall had a 55% win rate on a small sample size, but is a strong way to threaten the game to functionally end on the third turn combined with plenty of free interaction.
I plan to play Esper Goryo’s at my upcoming Modern RCQs because it can not only hang with Nadu, but uses the Grief+Ephemerate combo. I have been gravitating toward fair decks with powerful interactions and this is right on the edge.
The main goal of the deck is to reanimate Atraxa with Goryo’s Vengeance and keep it in play with Ephemerate. The free interaction found from Atraxa prevents the opponent from winning in the meantime.
Psychic Frog is the only MH3 card featured in the maindeck. It’s not only good at fighting fair, but can serve as an additional outlet to get your haymakers in the graveyard.
Wrath of the Skies in the sideboard takes the best aspect of Jeskai Control and only plays them in matchups where it shines. In fact, Azorius has some of the strongest sideboard options at the moment. Celestial Purge can exile Necrodominance before the end step. Consign to Memory counters eldrazi and their cast triggers or simply stifle a cascade trigger. Drannith Magistrate helps against cascade as well as Past in Flames out of Storm.
I’m a fan of Teferi, Time Raveler in a proactive shell as it not only forces through your combo, but pitches to Solitude and Force of Negation. I suspect Necrodominance will become more popular and Teferi’s static ability prevents Soul Spike from being cast on the end step.
The last deck I wanted to cover is Izzet Murktide because Alejandro Morales posted an 8-2 finish by incorporating Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student.
We’ve seen plenty of new archetypes emerge, but some of the oldies can still hang.
Izzet Wizards posted a weak win rate, but Tamiyo was able to slot nicely into the Murktide shell.
I was impressed with Ragavan and is still the premier one-drop in the archetype.
Tamiyo also played well in the deck and made me rethink the turns I wanted to draw a card off Mishra’s Bauble.
Spell Snare has plenty of targets against the big decks, but it’s not crucial enough for me to want to play many copies. In fact, Force of Negation, Spell Pierce, and Subtlety are all decent, but none of them are head and shoulders above the rest. I haven’t been impressed with Subtlety in slower decks, but the tempo aspect of Murktide increases the value.
Sink into Stupor’s tempo aspect was nice, but the card truly shines in Living End as Murktide is less susceptible to lock pieces.
Magebane Lizard was valuable against Storm because the damage is compounded by the early tempo creatures. It’s possible to sideboard Harsh Mentor as well when the Nadu pilot’s life total is being pressured. I don’t like the red hate bears in decks that don’t pressure life totals.
Blood Moon effects are strong against Tron when a clock is applied and Ragavan ensures it comes out a turn early. The color-screwing aspect of moons can also be valuable against Nadu. Moving forward I would consider two Blood Moon instead of playing Magus without the presence of Amulet Titan.
Despite Nadu being the clear best deck there are plenty of options in the second tier. Nadu is likely not long for this world and players acquiring the falling knife that is Shuko will keep the numbers suppressed.
I would recommend Matt Sperling’s Esper Goryo’s deck as it doesn’t require a big investment in new MH3 cards and is fast enough to keep up with Nadu.
Modern Horizons 3 turned the Modern metagame upside-down and there are plenty of powerful engines that have yet to see play leaving room for innovation.
