In the past few weeks, I have been spending a great deal of effort in attempting to make it back to the Pro Tour for Journey into Nyx in Atlanta.

I fell short twice, but I came close with a Pro Tour Qualifier Top 8 in Pittsburgh and a record of 12–3 in Grand Prix Richmond.

Along the way, I managed to learn quite a great deal about the current state of Standard and Modern.

On Standard

For the Pro Tour Qualifier, I chose to play Esper Control.

"Esper Control"

• Creatures (1)
• 1 Aetherling

• Planeswalkers (5)
• 1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
• 4 Jace, Architect of Thought

• Spells (27)
• 1 Doom Blade
• 1 Far // Away
• 1 Fated Retribution
• 1 Hero's Downfall
• 2 Devour Flesh
• 3 Dissolve
• 4 Sphinx's Revelation
• 1 Divination
• 4 Supreme Verdict
• 4 Thoughtseize
• 4 Detention Sphere
• 1 Elixir of Immortality

• Lands (27)
• 3 Plains
• 4 Island
• 3 Hallowed Fountain
• 3 Temple of Deceit
• 3 Temple of Enlightenment
• 3 Temple of Silence
• 4 Godless Shrine
• 4 Watery Grave

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Opportunity
• 3 Gainsay
• 1 Pithing Needle
• 4 Archangel of Thune
• 1 Last Breath
• 2 Revoke Existence
• 3 Doom Blade

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Why Esper over W/U Control?

The main two reasons are:

• Having access to Thoughtseize is a big deal in a lot of matchups (especially in the W/U Control mirrors).
• Having black removal spells in your deck improves the matchup against the Gruul and Jund Monster decks.

The main disadvantage to going this route is that your lands require you to take more damage.

Here are some notes on playing this deck:

• You need to play very quickly since you only have two actual win conditions.
• Save your scry land for turn two if you’re on the play—you will have a better idea of what you need based on the opponent’s first land drop.
• If you are playing a control mirror, save all of your scry lands as long as possible.

If this deck isn’t in your wheelhouse, Steve Rubin managed to win the aforementioned Pro Tour Qualifier with a riff on a known deck.

"B/u Devotion"

• Creatures (16)
• 4 Desecration Demon
• 4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 4 Nightveil Specter
• 4 Pack Rat

• Spells (18)
• 1 Ultimate Price
• 2 Devour Flesh
• 3 Bile Blight
• 4 Hero's Downfall
• 4 Thoughtseize
• 4 Underworld Connections

• Lands (26)
• 17 Swamp
• 1 Watery Grave
• 4 Mutavault
• 4 Temple of Deceit

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Dark Betrayal
• 2 Notion Thief
• 2 Erebos, God of the Dead
• 2 Duress
• 2 Drown in Sorrow
• 1 Ultimate Price
• 1 Doom Blade
• 3 Lifebane Zombie

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The major innovation is splashing for Notion Thief in the sideboard.

Five blue sources is a low number of sources for that purpose, but you generally don’t need to cast Notion Thief until turn six or later (when Sphinx's Revelation is for at least 3), so the math works out okay for that.

Besides that, this deck seems to be a very good choice, although it’s not exactly different in the main deck than other mono-black decks.

If neither of these is up your alley, Gruul and Jund Monsters are both excellent choices, as are Mono-Blue and U/w Devotion.

On Modern

I chose to play Jund in Grand Prix Richmond based on the list that has been going around from the Pro Tour:

"Modern Jund"

• Creatures (13)
• 2 Scavenging Ooze
• 3 Courser of Kruphix
• 4 Dark Confidant
• 4 Tarmogoyf

• Planeswalkers (5)
• 1 Chandra, Pyromaster
• 4 Liliana of the Veil

• Spells (18)
• 1 Slaughter Pact
• 1 Terminate
• 3 Abrupt Decay
• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 1 Maelstrom Pulse
• 2 Anger of the Gods
• 3 Inquisition of Kozilek
• 3 Thoughtseize

• Lands (24)
• 1 Forest
• 2 Swamp
• 1 Blood Crypt
• 1 Fire-Lit Thicket
• 1 Grove of the Burnwillows
• 1 Misty Rainforest
• 1 Overgrown Tomb
• 1 Stomping Ground
• 1 Twilight Mire
• 2 Marsh Flats
• 4 Blackcleave Cliffs
• 4 Raging Ravine
• 4 Verdant Catacombs

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Batterskull
• 1 Engineered Explosives
• 2 Grafdigger's Cage
• 3 Fulminator Mage
• 1 Scavenging Ooze
• 2 Ancient Grudge
• 1 Golgari Charm
• 2 Thrun, the Last Troll
• 1 Anger of the Gods
• 1 Thoughtseize

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For those of you who pay very close attention to articles, this is exactly one card off from Michael Jacob’s list that he wrote about in a StarCityGames premium article.

His article gives excellent reasons for how the sideboard and main deck are constructed.

However, I chose to play the fourth Liliana of the Veil in the main deck over the third Anger of the Gods because I expected a lot more Bogles and R/W/U Control.

I ended up playing against the following matchups after my three byes:

Day 1

• Round 4: 8rack Win vs. Andrea Lacey
• Round 5: Merfolk Win vs. Alex Capaldi
• Round 6: MeliraPod Win vs. Matt Guido
• Round 7: MeliraPod Loss vs. David Fulk
• Round 8: R/W/U Control Win vs. Luis Alfonso
• Round 9: MeliraPod Loss vs. Mani Davoudi

Day 2

• Round 10: Big Zoo Win vs. Brian Hardie, Jr.
• Round 11: MeliraPod Win vs. Richard Osowski
• Round 12: (Can’t remember what deck, but I want to say B/G Obliterator) Win vs. Scott Ferguson
• Round 13: Jund Win vs. Kevin Ambler
• Round 14: MeliraPod Win vs. Anjon Roy
• Round 15: TarmoTwin Loss vs. Todd Anderson

There were several reasons for choosing Jund for this Grand Prix:

• With 4,500 people registered, it is difficult to figure out what to expect to play against. Jund gives you a proactive deck full of powerful cards and a wide array of plays to make.
• I legitimately enjoy playing Tarmogoyf- and Dark Confidant–, grind-you-out-, midrange-style decks. In a fifteen-round (or twelve-round, after byes) event, enjoying your deck for every round is a Big. Deal.
• Along the lines of the above reason, I’ve had a lot of experience playing Jund- and Dark B/U/G–style decks, so I am far more likely to make the correct plays without too much thought.

If Jund isn’t up your alley in Modern, there’s a plethora of decks that are reasonable choices, up to and including Melira-/Kiki-Pod; Affinity; U/R, R/W/U, or R/U/G Twin; and Scapeshift.

All in all, I am only slightly disappointed in my performances, but I recognize that it takes a bit of luck and a lot of hard work to succeed in any tournament.

I plan to work even harder for this upcoming Limited Pro Tour Qualifier season, and I hope to be attending multiple Grands Prix and StarCityGames Invitationals.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll do my best to respond to comments here or on Twitter @jkyu06.

Jarvis