2026-07-30 & 08-02 GenCon MSH (4-2 | 0-1)

Introduction

Marvel Super Heroes is a somewhat interesting limited format. UW are very much the best colors across all rarities, many rares are traps, but creature combat remains compelling. Some various thoughts.

• W and U both have more rares (mythics incl.) than the other three colors.
• W is often overdrafted at high skill tables, so apply grain of salt to various data ex. PT 3-0 decks - W is underrepresented as a result. UW also worse in MTGA Quick Draft queue.
• BR and GR have the worst 2C stats based on 17L - these are traps.
• Primary 17L data sources are Arena Direct Sealed + Premiere Draft for deep diving, mostly due to sample sizes.
• Bombs are bombs are bombs. Captain Marvel, Leader, Doctor Doom, Thor, Super Hero Civil War etc.
• RG Wolverine Fierce Fighter is one of the highest WR rares - even though RG as a color pair performs very poorly! Checking Arena Direct trophy decks, he's often a splash or even a double splash.
• Dud rares are dudliest duds of the duds. These are bait. Most notably Sentry in white. Also duds: Alien Invasion, basically all Plans, do nothing enchantments, buff-my-dudes payoffs.
• R cards all very low on WR!
• G  has no gigabombs, top G card is Ka-Zar at uncommon fair enough. Notably many good cards are splashable on one pip.
• Removal is very high quality albeit low density. 

Thursday - Pool

•  6 rares which is well below expected # of rares for contemporary sets. EV on rares is 1.3 per pack, getting 6 is about a 1-in-8 chance.
• Arc Reactor, World War Hulk, Doom Reigns Supreme - all duds.
• Mjolnir and Agent Phil Coulson - both high performing rares. But wait where are my heroes.
• There are a lot of villains but I refuse to be baited.
• End up with this: https://sealeddeck.tech/57x83MgdRa WB splashing R. Post-mortem, probably should have put in Jessica Jones over probably Red Room Recruit.
• R1: unexpected bye
• R2: WW vs Cory T on 4C, feel good about playing a less greedy deck.
• R3: WLL vs Roman E on UWR goodstuff. Unable to close G3 with him at 2 off Hydra Infiltration triggers.
• R4 LL vs Kevin M with nutty Squirrel Girl + Shang-Chi nonsense 
• R5 LWW vs Brandon R on 4C heroes and pile
• R6 WW vs Nathan G on UR artifacts with the toys - mythic Iron Man + his suit + decent artifact density
• Honestly just happy to pull out a 3-2 with this deck which I consider pretty below average. 

Sunday - Pool

• Wowee ten rares plus a Path to Exile
• General shape of the build is fairly easy - WB and G, tons of removal, tons of rares. Theory is I just need to fix my mana and cast things right?
• Build as such: https://sealeddeck.tech/1m7Y9qugLt 
• I think -Dependable Quinjet -Black Widow -White Tiger, + Murdock's Crusade +Wakandan Drone Flock +idk
• Game 1 OTP keep 3 Forest, Skrull mana dork, Pet Avengers, Web Up, Cruel Alliance. Seems good, can cast anything and I have an accelerated T3 play. Pet Avengers gets soft-countered and then I just flood out and draw nothing !?
• Game 2 I hit my rares and smash
• Game 3 I feel good, trade off resources. Play out Drone Flock and Captain America onto an empty board, scry 2 lands to the bottom, we're gaming. Opp spins Avengers Tower, finds Storm Windrider and aaaaaaaaaaaaaa 

2026-06-28 Genesis Gaming RCQ (7-0-1)

Introduction

For this season, I started out by jamming versions of Orim's Chant Omnath. My main thesis was that Galvanic Discharge + Wrath of the Skies are the most powerful removal package in the format, then locking people out with Wrenn & Six + Orim's Chant + Teferi Time Raveler is hilarious.

Then some guy from Erie PA drove up and smacked folks (i.e. me) down with Boros land destruction. So I swapped over, one because it fits my thesis, two because it gets to soak all the fun from the game, and three because I lost to it and hope that by piloting it I can figure out its weakness.

Decklist

• 4 Galvanic Discharge + 4 Wrath of the Skies: kills basically everything but planeswalkers and lands (Discharge can hit PWs though).
• 4 Path to Exile + 3 Erode + 4 Solitude: these remove many creatures.
• 4 Cleansing Wildfire + 4 Price of Freedom + 2 Avengers Disassembled: these kill lands
  Price of Freedom also kills artifacts.
• 4 Field of Ruin + 3 Demolition Field: these kill nonbasic lands.
• 2 White Orchid Phantom. Also kills lands, but WW is pip-intensive. The WOPs are on the chopping block, worst card in the deck imo. Cutting them can open up room for a SB Kaheera.
• 2 The Legend of Roku + 3 Cori Mountain Monastery: card advantage engines.
• 7 basics for finding with Fields, 3 Sunken Citadel to power up Fields & CM Monastery. And 4 Sacred Foundry for actual fixing.
• 1 Mana Tithe because I only own(ed) 3 Erodes.
• 2 Reprieves. They're a bit air, which admittedly creates breathing room.
• Sideboard is pretty broad-spectrum hate.
• Deck is very consistent, basically breaking up as one-third lands, one-third creature removal, and one-third land removal. Couple of oddballs that don't fit in the categories like Reprieve & Legend of Roku but whatever.
• Oh and the deck is cheap as heck for modern. It's basically $140 for Solitudes which are staple for many modern decks then $140ish market price for everything else.

Swiss

• R1 Nic C on Boros Energy WW (1-0)
  Wrath of the Skies is pretty core in the matchup, but what else is there to say? Kill all threats, 
• R2 Ashden C on UR Eldrazi Aggro WW (2-0)
  Oddball deck. Cutting him off colorless kneecaps the deck, but he's running >60 cards and 7 basics so actually winning is slow. He'd do better on 60 cards and not trying Salvage Drone as "budget Ragavan"
• R3 Josh B on UR Affinity WW (3-0)
  Only two basics for Affinity, wreck his mana then Wrath of the Skies.
  G2 he does nothing and I turn one a Vexing Bauble and he is very sad.
• R4 Jerry G on UR Affinity WW (4-0)
  Played for seeding. Same story as last round.  
• R5 ID (4-0-1)
  In at first seed in a field of nineteen.
• QF vs Andy C on Domain WW (5-0-1)
  Mana Tithe does work vs a T2 Scion of Draco. Honestly Mana Tithe did some mean work all day that I haven't been mentioning.
• SF vs Josh A on Grixis Persist WW (6-0-1)
  G1 he gets me down very low with a few Abhorrent Oculus hits but then I stabilize and clear his lands. G2 he mulls to 5 and gets Mana Tithed.
• Finals vs Judah S on Esper Dorks + Practiced Offense WW (7-0-1)
  Both games I eat some hits, then I Wrath of the Skies as he kind of floods out. Didn't mulligan in either game with the theory that I should be keeping land + spell hands vs Thoughtseize deck.

Conclusions

• Deck is pretty straightforward. It's good practice for lining up your removal vs various decks.
• The hardest part is land sequencing, specifically a turn 1 Sunken Citadel since you have to commit.
• I think the deck loses to off-meta archetypes with 5+ basic , or sticking a T2 threat like Leyline of the Guildpact + Scion of Draco or reanimating an Archon of Cruelty. Merfolk beat me at FNM via Aether Vial + permission. Simic Ritual might play similarly.
• A crazy idea - this archetype plays a single digit number of threats. If you can sandbag 6 answers + lands to cast them you could potentially go draw-discard-go and try to deck RW LD.
• The deck generally seems like a meta call that stops working if everyone other deck collectively weakens themselves by playing more basics -- or RW LD mirrors.
• I think 2 WOPs and 2 Avengers Disassembled are probably fine. Going into the local meta, I would consider playing 62 cards with 4th Erode, 4th Demolition Field (prev. cut for a second Mountain) if others adopt the deck.

2026-02-07 & 08 F2F Toronto Spotlight Lorwyn Eclipsed (5-3 | 5-2-1)

Introduction & Prep

Going to skip match results here, not a lot to say. Don't keep too few or too many lands, play good cards, try not to flood.

Lorwyn Eclipsed has been a really fun set for me. Five tribes/typal bases, an overarching multicolor vivid theme, and five off-color combos with varying degrees of playability. Draft is a little bit on rails, though it's really interesting to navigate it when the lane isn't open + build priority order + understand what is/isn't a signal

Approximate ranking of archetypes (draft mostly):

• GW Kithkin, UR Elementals, GB Elves, UW Merfolk
• RGx or UGx Vivid, BW Counters
• RW Counters - trickier than BW
• BR Goblins
• UB Faeries - very hard to find this lane

One of our locals was qualified for PT Richmond ECL so we had a few limited meetings discussing archetypes and insights. Some scattered thoughts

• Merfolk in draft is easy to assemble, lot of commons. Lean a lot on Gravegill Scoundrel & Tributary Vaulter
• In draft you want to plant your flag around P1P4 or 5. If you haven't found a lane at that point you're in trouble.
• Many cards have significantly better WR in certain archetypes.
• Bark of Doran is a Merfolk card.
• A lot of the -1/-1 counter synergies work better in BW, RW, or even BG because they need big butts which BR is short on. This also increases the value of 2 mana 1/3 gobbos.
• Kithkin midgame leans on 4 mana Mistmeadow Council. This can allow you to get a free attack or tempo swing on T3
• Picking Changelings early is good for banking vivid & upping tribal/typal count. At the cost of playing weak statted creatures ex. Feisty Spikeling
• Prismatic Undercurrents is better than Tend the Sprigs though you need to invest a bit into off-color & mana sinks
• Your deck & its creatures need to be able to hold the board down by T3. This is why Gnarlback Elm & Reluctant Dounguard are so far down the priority pick list.
• Tricolor rares are even more bomby than other rares - Maralen, Doran
• Rooftop Percher is a perfectly fine card to jam into any deck, with the exception of Vivid since it doesn't contribute strongly to the color plan 

Spotlight Open - Pool 1

• Holy moly mythics. Two planeswalkers, Soul Immolation bomb, Doran bomb, roleplayer rares.
• Color balance - rough. Green is deepest by a mile, blue has some hard-hitters, then cards are scattered all over the place. Not much "real" fixing
• What I built - Abzan Doran. Puca's Eye was not worthwhile, basically I'm just hoping to play my rares and ride them to victory. Gnarlback Elm underperformed, Mutable Explorer also quite meh
• Pulled the deck up after day 1, group consensus was to play Temur. Basically Mono G with some side splashing, playing all the fixing I have, not bending over backwards to play W&B.

Limited Championship Qualifier aka Limited Tournament Qualifier - Pool 2

• This pool is insane. Fixing, both 7 mana mythic giant bombs, and packing some serious power in the colors.
• What I built: Abzan rares
• I got fairly lucky throughout the day, honestly I should have been on 16 lands imo. The deck has so many ways to find land I need just a little more juice.

Conclusion

Loving ECL. Maintained about a 66% WR across the weekend, which is pretty good in a vacuum. Lost an ODE draft to the person who won the whole Spotlight later in the weekend lol

Great times in the 9-count Airbnb, 3-0d the in-house draft 

On Arena I've done 21 Traditional Drafts, 3-0 trophying 7 times, 2-1ing 11 of the other times for a total of 48-15 overall match WR of 76.2%.

I've been trying to snapshot my tabletop draft pick orders which has been really good for review.

As a whole, I think our group built a pretty good idea of the format though variance didn't always line up for us. Got to play vs some stone-cold killers and lost to some Kinbindings. Hope to play more Limited in the near future!

2026-01-28 Best of One Gaming RCQ (3-1-1, 2-0)

Introduction

I've'nt played much Standard this season. We're back in the phase of mythic-dollar-creep it seems across Badgermole Cub, Quantum Riddler, Ouroboroid, and now the ECL mythic evoke elementals. Badgermole Cub is really definitional to the competitive format, though most players at the local level won't be able to engage through Badgermole Cub. So of course I asked a local in the community to borrow their Cubs after they secured two RC invites.

Decklist

• Picked the deck because it's pretty straightforward.
• There's a Gw verison, which is basically Mono G with a tiniest handful of white spells namely Seam Rip and Felidar Retreat. The Mono G list looks strong enough that I don't feel the need to pain myself off Temple Gardens.
• Used MTGGoldfish so I could print off a decklist, though I started on Moxfield for a collection comparison w/ cards-I-own.
• I thought I owned four Earthbender Ascension, turns out I only have three so I played a Lumbering Worldwagon in its place.
• Added one Sandman as a self-mill payoff engine

Swiss

• Round 1 Bye (1-0)
• Round 2 Dana S on Allies LWW 
  Aggro variant playing Invasion Reinforcements & Wartime Protestors, got aggro'd out then went bigger than Earth King's Lieutenant could grow. Luckily they hit lands off active Hakoda
• Round 3 James B on RW WW
  Not much to say here, creatures ate some removal, then got engines online & accrued advantage + board presence
• Round 4 Bob M on Sultai Reanimator ID
  Played it out to 1-1, he went OTP G1 and didn't hit lands so I stole that game, G2 I need to hit multiple GY interaction & pressure spells.
• Round 5 Athena P on UW Merfolk LWL
  1st seed, pair down vs 5th since I had already played vs players in positions 2, 3 & 4
  G1 She had 2x Deeproot Pilgrimage and I got blown out by back-to-back Disruptors of Current
  G2 & 3 Into the Floodmaw did work against me
  I was locked for T4, unfortunately for Athena one of the 3-1s got double pair-downed into a 1-3 and won so no 3-2s made it in. 3rd seed going into the T4.

Semifinals vs Bob Martin LWW

OTD, G2 & G3 saw a bunch of GY interaction. G3 was slow, we both had little to do, he Superior-Spider Man'd my Icetill Explorer and just kept hitting lands.

Finals vs James B WLW

OTP, James was 4th seed.
G2 he dropped a RIP which did a fair amount of work, got there in G3 with stuff.

Conclusions

• I think my thesis was correct - Mono G Landfall was an easy & strong deck that I had access to. 
• Earthbender Ascension is one of the best cards in the deck due to granting trample. flipside of Esper Origins similarly
• Vivien Reid I think is better as a one of, also doesn't answer Clarion Conqueror.
• Could do with one more Soul-Guide Lantern
• Sapling Nursery, not sure on. It's a solo-win-con that doesn't necessarily synergize with anything else in the deck.
• Not the most thoughtful blog post, just wanted to get it out there. Will see about hitting more Standard this season, then consider judging vs playing @ RCs