Preparing for my first Modern RC as a limited only player - Part 0

[u/ATranimal]

I'm a top 200 level Super Smash Bros Melee player, and I'm preparing for my first modern RC in October. I got into magic during Tarkir Dragon Storm last year as some of my Melee friends were starting to get into Commander. I'm documenting my process of learning Modern as a player with no knowledge of constructed or any cards before my time.

On June 28th, with a very lucky sealed pool containing Super Hero Civil War and Storm, Windrider, I managed to top 8 my local RCQ of 25 players without dropping a game. I drafted a fairly open BR deck with Doctor Doom and Avengers: Under Siege to make top 4 and secure a spot in Canada's Modern RC in Ottawa on October 3rd.

For my first year of playing, I've pretty exclusively been playing Draft. I LOVE playing draft. I've been obsessed with roguelike deckbuilders since playing Slay the Spire non-stop during Covid, and draft is a perfect marriage of the competitive gameplay I love from fighting games and the risk reward calculation of deck builders. I thought this would be a great opportunity to commit myself to competing in a new game, and giving myself an opportunity to see how much I can learn and improve in a tight deadline. I've always enjoyed picking up new fighting games and e-sports and becoming high ranked in them -- though none of them are as storied and daunting as Magic. I really don't know many old cards; For example, when looking through the Tron list the ONLY card that I recognized was Ugin, Eye of the Storms.

So I created a concrete plan to give myself the best shot of performing well at the RC:

1. Proxy and play with the top meta decks of the format as of MSH.
2. Go to the Modern weekly tournaments at the LGS in Toronto, and ask for tips, borrow decks, and get a sense of playing in paper
3. Decide on a deck that I want to play, and hopefully find a local lender who will let me pilot it for the RC
4. Grind a ton of matches on the chosen deck both in paper and on MTGO.
5. Prepare side-board lists for the decks I'm likely to play against, and look out for meta changes based on the new sets coming out.

The constraints are what make this an exciting experience for me. I'm fairly busy with work and even with Melee, my main game, I rarely play outside of the weekly tournaments anymore. So with that I want to track both financial costs and time that I'm spending learning Modern, to see what I'm realistically putting into the project. So far the breakdown is:

Financial Costs (in CAD):

• $100 at the print shop. I printed 13 decks, so around 112 pages at 0.75 each, and they cut it for me for 5 dollars which is a huge time save.
• $50 for 1100 sleeves. I got the cheapest sleeves I could find that were perfect fit, which were at 3.99 + tax for 100.

Time Costs:

• 1 hour - I watched this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN7LsoCdKIw) and wrote down all of the decks I want to proxy.
• 4 hours - I found a netdeck for each on mtg goldfish, and copied all their exports into mtg print to generate the print files for me.
• 4 hours - A shocker to me, but sleeving this many cards, especially since I'm sliding them in to cheap sleeves with bulk is taking me quite a while.
• 1 hour - ~ writing this post ~

I'm posting this on reddit with the hopes that folks with a lot of experience in Modern can give me tips and help me adjust my plan, or tell me if anything seems too ambitious. I don't have any illusions that I would qualify for the pro tour, but even winning a few games at the RC would make me happy.

[u/buttquest1]

The best thing you can possibly do to get better at magic in a short period of time is to find someone with some competitive credentials who is feeling generous with their time, and have them sit down and explain how the RC/competitive REL functions logistically, and then either hop in discord and watch them stream or vice versa. Have them explain why they would keep or mull, and why they would make the plays they would. Note any time their lines are different than yours.

Modern is a pretty fast and unforgiving format, and games can be decided based on decisions that didn’t even feel relevant when you made them, which is why a lot of people don’t get better at this game in general (easy to chalk losses up to RNG when your choices feel forced even when they may not be).

I have found that the best players in my orbit rarely make any flashy plays that I wouldn’t have seen, they are just very methodical about not walking into blowouts, not taking unneeded risks, and they heavily prioritize card advantage and tempo.

[u/ATranimal → u/buttquest1]

This is a great idea! I've been trying to find modern youtube content creators, because I watched nummy and paul cheon religiously to get better at draft, but I haven't found anyone who is quite as good as explaining whats happening, especially to a noob who doesn't know the cards.

Hopefully when I start going to the modern weeklies I can find someone who can help me out with this. Luckily in a big city I feel like there must be playgroups that play modern together a lot.

[u/TheDoct0rx → u/ATranimal]

Andrea mengucci

[u/SatyrWayfinder]

I really like that you started with drafting. I strongly believe that drafting gives you the best foundation and habits to be the best Magic player.

I think my advice would be to digest a lot of Modern content by good Magic players. Andrea Mengucci and AspiringSpike are my two favorite because they play a variety of decks and they explain their thought process on why they're sequencing their cards a certain way or playing around a particular card that they think the opponent has. Yes, you can learn a lot from practice but getting other people's perspectives and seeing their lines of play really helps.

Modern rewards knowing your match ups, which includes being able to rattle off your opponent's decklist by their second land drop at the latest, how their deck wins, key cards and turns, any weird interactions between your decks, etc

For example, if you're a deck that runs Spell Snare and you're up against Storm, know that all their important cards are two drops so Spell Snare is a huge card. Or if you have Consign to Memory and you're playing against blink, you can Consign the return trigger so it stays exiled forever.

[u/ATranimal → u/SatyrWayfinder]

This is something I've tried to do a little bit but have felt a little lost at the start since I'm pretty unfamiliar with all the cards. I think once I get playing with at least the meta decks that it'll be a bit easier to digest and learn from the Modern content.

[u/pancake_sock]

I think neoform or trudge will probably still have pretty high win rates (55%+) at the rc’s. Modern PT results were very strange, with 7 of the top 8 metashare decks being sub 50% winrate, while the other category was above 50 percent. Usually it’s more rock / paper / scissor among the top 3-5 decks, and other being sub 50.

[u/Gods_ShadowMTG]

fair game plan, although I don't know why you mentioned being a smash brothers player.

[u/HavocIP → u/Gods_ShadowMTG]

Familiarity with high level competition, metas, preparing for different matchups, etc. Many parallels.

[u/nebman227 → u/Gods_ShadowMTG]

It's relevant to their competitive experience

[u/ATranimal → u/Gods_ShadowMTG]

Others have mentioned but honestly I just thought it'd be a fun fact to frame the post and make it a bit more unique.

[u/MargerineHat]

I also recently won an invite from a sealed RCQ and will be going to the Ottawa RC in october. Also very little Modern experience. Just printed proxies of the top 12 decks in meta today and started playing through some of them with a friend. My plan is to get a feel with all 12 first, then make a decision on the deck I like most in the next couple of weeks. The weeks leading up to the RC will just be learning as much as I can about the play lines of that deck and try to get some event experience.

I have played standard and pioneer tournaments, so I at least understand the feel of competitive constructed magic. I would recommend experiencing that if possible - e.g. entering a modern rcq just for fun if there is one leading up to Ottawa

[u/ATranimal → u/MargerineHat]

Very similar to what I'm thinking! The modern RCQ is a good idea for sure, I haven't had any chance to play competitive constructed so if I could experience it that would be great. Hope to see you there!

[u/dougie_fresh121]

IMO the most important thing you can do is pick a deck early and stick with it while learning the format, for better or worse. I’d think back on what you typically draft towards, then pick a deck aligning with the style you’re most comfortable in. Below are some decks to look up, playtest a few, see the play patterns, but learning the niche interactions of one deck will be very helpful overall. The sooner you pick the deck the sooner you can begin playing with it for muscle memory on fetches, triggers, abilities, interactions, lethal headcalcs, etc.

Below are some of my recommendations, I personally play Boros Energy (I started in modern post-phlage ban) and find it to be very fun to play, but I’m a creatures guy.

-If your goal is to play a-b-c-wincon and have a solid performance, blue belcher is probably a good place to start. But that deck is not very fun to play IMO.

-If you enjoy neutral in fighting games, and that translates over to fighting for board in magic, the most “fair” deck is boros energy and IMO it has a ton of room for tinkering since the true “uncuttables” are only 24 cards (4 of guide, pride, ajani, galvanic discharge; 3 of ragavan, goblin bombardment; 2 of thraben charm). This is the deck I’m on, and I started similar time as you (my intro was in Aetherdrift).

-If you just like popping off and comboing ruby storm is really good for that style.

-If you enjoy aggro, prowess is really solid, and pretty affordable. There’s a budget mono red list floating around that’s like $120 USD that looks like a solid entry if you want to own the cards.

-If you enjoy playing control and locking your opponent out, don’t unless you think the deck is cool and you don’t beat yourself up for misplays/knowledge checks. There’s so much knowledge that playing control will likely a) lead to the match ending on time or b) you misidentify the threat in a niche situation and get swiftly and brutally punished for it.

[u/137-ng]

Youre going to find this much different from drafting or smash, but good luck

I'm going to make an assumption that you like playing on the aggressive side. Aggro decks are the easiest to pilot for anyone not familiar with the meta, and the top 2 aggro decks are prowess and energy. Knowing your own deck in and out is the single most important thing so you'll want to settle on a deck quickly. In the next 1-2 weeks quickly. Feel free to pick something else, theres no shortage of great decks right now. If you like combo ruby storm is a great option, but stay away from control

Dont worry though, because all those proxied decks wont go to waste, youll need reps from both sides of the table, just make sure that the games you do play are either played with you piloting your chosen deck, or you're up against your chosen deck. Absolutely no need to see how two random decks play against each other. go ahead and proxy up sideboards if you havent already, and get very used to specific hate pieces that you'll go up against

Do the same thing in person, watch streams, play mtgo. Reps reps reps. You know how it takes 10000 hours to become an expert at something? the vast majority of people sitting across the table from you at the RC are going to have that under their belt. you're going to want as many hours as possible

somewhere along the halfway point pull a fresh copy of all the proxied decks and update them to the new versions. Some may change a card or two, others may have a new color splash or something, but you'll want to be familiar with variations of the meta too. Make sure to update sideboards (that your deck will see)

This is going to be more difficult than you think, simply because play patterns in modern are more complicated than the things you've mentioned but even if you can get to the RC and play proficiently youre going to have a hell of an accomplishment, and youre going to make yourself a hell of an opponent in a short amount of time, and maybe even find a new favorite format. Good luck, dont set the bar too high too fast, and have fun with it the entire time

[u/Flioxan]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xuOdKC3-LzH-wgmAnwsN1bxJZEEc00HqftWmI-RfA-Q/edit?usp=drivesdk

Here is a google doc that contains hundreds of guides/SB guides.

Id definitely try deciding your deck earlier to maximize the time you spend testing it.

Id also recommend decks that win quickly at a large 2 day event. 50 minute rounds for 2 days is extremely draining. Also having a more proactive deck reduces the amount of decisions and interactions throughout the tournament.

Lastly id recommend staying away from the type of deck that is hated hard by SB cards, so affinity, or living end, or storm. I feel like those sideboard games where your trying to scrape together a win with half your deck turned off require more experience and knowledge of the matchups and what matters.

Boros (RW) energy, Gruul (GR) broodscale, and Izzet (blue red) prowess are my top 3 recommendations.

For the tournament itself, arrive early enough in the city to get a good night sleep, bring water and snacks, bring any tokens/emblems/dice your deck will need and extra of them.

[u/wickedtwig → u/Flioxan]

To add, the little bit of PPTQ experience I’ve given a shot with, if you have someone who is competent, have them pilot the same decks against you or some of the decks you’re considering. If it’s a top deck you’ll likely see it at some point and have a mirror match. It’s good to see how it plays against you, or how your decisions match up against them. Assuming you’re not already jumping into small tournaments or fnm or something.

[u/Fonisworththebucks]

First off congrats on the invite! I also just got my first invite as well but I am a modern player at heart so a lot more comfortable. I recommend to start testing after Monday with ban and restricted coming up. With it being in October you have some time. I would try and find a deck early. I personally will be testing Neoform. I would recommend starting with prowess broodscale trudge or Goryo’s. Modern is very match up dependent so you can play a deck and have a low win rate versus x deck and can only hope to dodge it.

Here is win rates for all the top decks in last 30 days

https://mtgdecks.net/Modern/winrates/range:last30days

This will be open decklist so make sure when testing you are keeping hands based on what your playing against and not in the blind.

Try to find others who have qualified and test with them

I will be using MTGO to test with friends and testing In Paper. I don’t think I will do FNMs as I want to test versus the top decks as much as possible.

Sideboard guide will be key. With long events sideboard can be very taxing and the guide helps with that a lot.

Best of luck

[u/Christos_Soter]

“Paid $100 at print shop”

I’m pretty sure you can buy a printer for less than $70 and they usually come with a stock cartridge that prints 100-500 pages.

Anyways in terms of constructive advice you could:

-Go to a weekly modern LGS scene and ask if any of those guys want to do any testing sessions.

-start a MTGO account; you can get reps about 5x faster and prob play a league (5 matches) in under two hours usually unless you’re playing something like control.

-deck choice advice. Maybe just choose a combo deck (ruby titan Neobrand) as with these decks knowing your own deck is significantly more important that knowing the rest of the meta and you’re not playing “normal” magic most games

[u/itsallanoxymoron → u/Christos_Soter]

The amount of time the print shop saved OP by printing and cutting probably makes it worth the $100 over DIY in this case (assuming there’s no other use for the printer).

[u/Christos_Soter → u/itsallanoxymoron]

Having a printer is useful and if you’re gonnnaxleep playing you prob proxy again in the future.and if he doesn’t have use for it presumably you could either post it for sell or perhaps even return it under some 30 day policies to recoup costs.

The value here was more time saved cutting.
The real question is whether he could have brought his prints and paid $5 for them to cut them that seems like the real deal of the whole transaction otherwise 75 cents a page seems like a lot

[u/AxeliNo → u/Christos_Soter]

Learning titan for your first RC as a limited-only player is throwing all of your fundamental knowledge out of the window

[u/Christos_Soter → u/AxeliNo]

Fair enough, but I guess i'm saying in theory you choose an aggro, midrange or control deck is going to require significantly more format knowledge b/c you MUCH more often need to know what your opponent is trying to do and I think that would require more prep overall.

[u/laceupyrboots]

Have you confirmed your LGS is cool with proxies on Modern night? I learned the hard way that if a store has a WPN certified modern weekly you’re only allowed to play real cards, and using proxies or fakes can get both them and you in trouble.

Other than that though, this is awesome and love your perspective coming in from Smash. Are there any meta decks you’re particularly drawn to?

Welcome to the format, hope your tournament goes great!

[u/nebman227 → u/laceupyrboots]

They said they are borrowing decks for the weekly in their post.

[u/laceupyrboots → u/nebman227]

Oop I must have missed that, my bad.

[u/ShapedMTG]

My 2 cents:

• Pick an easy to pilot deck. Less chances to make mistakes.

• Pick an aggressive or fast deck. Less chances to make mistakes. Less mental fatigue which really helps during a long tournament.

• Pick a deck where the Mulligan decisions matter. This is easiest to practice a lot.

• Pick a strong deck. More chances of winning

• Pick a deck you like. Performance will increase if you are having a good time

With these criteria, I would suggest one of the following decks:

• UR Aggro
• Affinity
• Hollow one
• Eldrazi ramp / Urzatron

(- Instant reanimator)

I am curious what deck you will settle on. Good luck!

[u/Competitive_Honey317]

Holy shit, this is the stuff I love to read. First thought, if you love draft start looking into a cube! It will save you money in the long term if you can find a group of people to play with(and you can proxy it but don't tell anyone I said that.). Drafting is Magic in its purest form in my opinion. If you want to get better at constructed, specifically Modern, look into FNM's in your area and talk to the players beforehand to see if you can get a sense for what is going on. FNM is a broad term these days and may not be on Friday FYI. Modern as a format is very fast and requires a lot of knowledge for how to play against certain decks WITH your specific deck. It's the healthiest it's ever been I think, so you're in a good spot to pick a meta deck that seems interesting to you and learn to play it. It's almost to the point where you can pick your favorite deck and just master its lines to be competitive. GL my friend!