Want to play Magic’s most popular constructed format? Here’s how.
If you play Magic: The Gathering, there’s a chance you’ve heard about Modern, but you aren’t quite sure what it is. Well, you’re in luck — because this article is for you! Modern first came into existence in 2011 as an evolution of Extended, a format that adopted a rotation every seven years. Originally, Modern was a non-sanctioned Magic Online (MTGO) format, and through popularity, Pro Tour Philadelphia changed from Extended to Modern as the competitive format of choice. It’s only grown in strength since then and is now one of Magic: The Gathering’s most popular constructed formats.
Playing Modern in Magic: The Gathering
Market Price: $27.61
Market Price: $23.19
Like Standard, Pioneer, and Pauper, Modern games are one-on-one with a sixty-card minimum mainboard and a fifteen-card sideboard. Modern follows similar rules to other constructed formats where you can run only four of any individual card outside of Basic Lands or any card that specifies you can run more copies of it, such as Dragon’s Approach or Shadowborn Apostle, for example.
In addition, games of Modern are best-of-three, where you may sideboard cards into your mainboard after game one. You start on twenty life and win by reducing your opponent’s life total to zero or forcing them to draw an empty library.
Why Should You Play Modern in Magic: The Gathering?
Market Price: $25.12
Modern is Magic: The Gathering’s most popular constructed format, and it isn’t close. Modern offers plenty for competitive players with dozens of archetypes to choose from, and since it’s a non-rotating format, this allows players to keep the same deck for years without needing to change a card (bans pending, of course). Despite Modern being so competitive, the format isn’t ideal for newer or more casual Magic players given there are some complicated mechanics that can be intimidating or convoluted to understand. For beginner players, it’s recommended to begin with Standard as the mechanics are easier to understand while giving you the experience of playing constructed. Then, you can explore Pioneer or Modern once settled and comfortable with the rules.
From a competitive standpoint, Modern is one of the very few formats where you see “archetype masters”, players who play the same strategy regularly and who are highly proficient with a strategy. This is an excellent way to learn about the Modern format and the matchups and broaden your card knowledge by watching others play. Another plus for Modern is that you can use your old Standard rotated cards for Modern, or even Pioneer if you want to dip your toes into a newer eternal Magic: The Gathering format first.
What Magic: The Gathering Cards are Banned in Modern?
Magic cards from Core Sets and expansions starting from Eighth Edition are available to play in Modern. Eighth Edition and Mirrodin were the first expansions to use the current Modern card frame that we know and appreciate today, which is another reason why the format is called Modern. In addition, some expansions see print with a straight-to-modern ideology, such as Modern Horizons, Modern Horizons 2, The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth, and soon-to-be-released Modern Horizons 3, where these releases ignore Standard and Pioneer and just enter through Modern instead.
As for the Modern banlist, it is currently as follows:
- Ancient Den
- Arcum’s Astrolabe
- Birthing Pod
- Blazing Shoal
- Bridge From Below
- Chrome Mox
- Cloudpost
- Dark Depths
- Deathrite Shaman
- Dig Through Time
- Dread Return
- Eye of Ugin
- Faithless Looting
- Field of the Dead
- Fury
- Gitaxian Probe
- Glimpse of Nature
- Golgari Grave-Troll
- Great Furnace
- Green Sun’s Zenith
- Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis
- Hypergenesis
- Krark-Clan Ironworks
- Lurrus of the Dream-Den
- Mental Misstep
- Mox Opal
- Mycosynth Lattice
- Mystic Sanctuary
- Oko, Thief of Crowns
- Once Upon a Time
- Ponder
- Punishing Fire
- Rite of Flame
- Seat of the Synod
- Second Sunrise
- Seething Song
- Sensei’s Divining Top
- Simian Spirit Guide
- Skullclamp
- Splinter Twin
- Summer Bloom
- Tibalt’s Trickery
- Treasure Cruise
- Tree of Tales
- Umezawa’s Jitte
- Up the Beanstalk
- Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath
- Vault of Whispers
- Violent Outburst
- Yorion, Sky Nomad
Wizards of the Coast often announces a Banned and Restricted update when there’s a change that’s needed to help cultivate the growth of the given format while also addressing deck diversity healthily. Wizards of the Coast often announce any Banned and Restricted updates annually where these will usually happen around the fall Standard release, which triggers rotation. However, these updates have been happening every three weeks after a set’s release, with the next scheduled Banned and Restricted update occurring on May 13, three weeks after the release of Outlaws of Thunder Junction.
The Modern Staples in Magic: The Gathering
Market Price: $10.04
Market Price: $16.75
Market Price: $21.15
Since Modern is full of so many powerful cards, it’s challenging to cover every single Modern staple in one article. However, there are a handful of cards you will see more commonly in the format. There are a bunch of strong and popular Modern archetypes, many of which you can find here.
The One Ring
Market Price: $86.93
Market Price: $92.19
Market Price: $60.93
Releasing in Tales of Middle-earth, The One Ring (along with Orcish Bowmasters) became a staple of Modern due to its ability to draw a huge chunk of cards that come at an eventual downside. For four colorless mana, The One Ring does quite a lot where the card sees play in Mono-Green Tron, Four-Color Control, Mono-Black Coffers, Amulet Titan, and many more! Furthermore, it’s easy to mitigate the downsides from The One Ring by just casting another, and due to the Legendary rule, you can sacrifice the one with all the burden counters and keep drawing cards! If you are looking to dive into Modern, be wary of The One Ring as it’s one of the best cards in the format.
Fetch Lands
Market Price: $22.48
Market Price: $19.49
Modern centralizes around multicolor strategies, and it’s largely thanks to the Fetch Lands. These Lands enable players to search for versatile options such as Hallowed Fountain, Thundering Falls, Spara’s Headquarters, and more! Also, these lands fill up the graveyard, which plays well into Delve cards such as the Modern staple Murktide Regent. These cards will remain evergreen in Modern for as long as the format exists, they’re simple and effective in what they do. As such, there’s always an evergreen demand for Fetch Lands as they play a pivotal role in Modern, and it’s never a bad thing to invest in these cards over time, especially if you play casual formats such as Commander.
Market Price: $14.09
Market Price: $14.07
Market Price: $11.07
One thing that is worth mentioning is that Modern Horizons 3 (releasing in June 2024) will have the Allied Fetches reprinted, and these are Wooded Foothills, Flooded Strand, Bloodstained Mire, Polluted Delta, and Windswept Heath. Over time, these Fetch Lands became expensive due to demand and lack of printings. But with Modern Horizon 3’s upcoming release, it’ll be a good time to invest as these will be more affordable compared to previous printings.
The Elemental Invocation Cycle
Market Price: $13.11
Since the release of Modern Horizons 2, there’s a bunch of cards that see extensive play in the format such as Urza’s Saga and Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer. More popularly, the Elemental Invocation cycle sees heavy play in Modern, as these effects are almost “free” in terms of casting these cards. By exiling a card of the same color from your hand, you can cast one of these cards without paying their mana costs to get the effect, but not the creature. However, by using spells such as Feign Death or Undying Malice, you can cast one of these spells with the Evoke trigger on the stack, returning it into play as a new creature, one that doesn’t remember the Evoke casting cost. However, paying the native mana value of these Elemental cards remains a powerful thing to do in Modern.
It’s these four cards (five until the recent Fury ban) that all cater to a particular aspect of the Modern format. Solitude is excellent spot removal, Endurance manages the graveyard, Grief attacks the opponent’s hand, and Subtlety cares about tempo. At times, it’s hard to play around with these cards, as their abilities can be played at instant speed. As such, these cards maintain their value as they’re extremely good at what they do, and the likelihood of seeing improved versions of these cards is low.
Modern Archetypes You’ll Likely Face
Market Price: $16.93
As mentioned earlier, Modern boasts a wealth of different and unique archetypes. Since the card pool is so broad in Modern, you’ll likely come up against a different strategy every time you play.
Golgari Yawgmoth
Market Price: $15.17
Market Price: $26.22
Regarded as one of the best archetypes in Modern at the time of publication, Golgari Yawgmoth has gone from strength to strength with the release of Wilds of Eldraine. Golgari Yawgmoth is a creature combo deck that utilizes Yawgmoth, Thran Physician and a mixture of cheap creatures to leverage the battlefield in your favor. It also uses Grist, the Hunger Tide and Agatha’s Soul Cauldron, which in itself is a devastating combo.
Modern
Golgari Yawgmoth
Market Price:$795.24
Maindeck, 60 cards
Sortsort deckCreature (29)
- 1Blood Artist
- 4Delighted Halfling
- 1Dryad Arbor
- 1Endurance
- 1Gilded Goose
- 1Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons
- 1Ignoble Hierarch
- 4Orcish Bowmasters
- 1Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
- 1Strangleroot Geist
- 1Walking Ballista
- 4Wall of Roots
- 4Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
- 4Young Wolf
Planeswalker (4)
- 4Grist, the Hunger Tide
Instant (4)
- 4Chord of Calling
Artifact (3)
- 3Agatha’s Soul Cauldron
Land (20)
- 4Blooming Marsh
- 2Boseiju, Who Endures
- 2Forest
- 1Misty Rainforest
- 1Overgrown Tomb
- 1Pendelhaven
- 1Swamp
- 1Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
- 2Twilight Mire
- 1Underground Mortuary
- 4Verdant Catacombs
Sideboard (15)
- 2Chalice of the Void
- 1Endurance (Retro Frame)
- 2Force of Vigor (Retro Frame) (Foil Etched)
- 1Fulminator Mage
- 1Go for the Throat
- 1Haywire Mite
- 1Legion’s End
- 1Maelstrom Pulse
- 2Pick Your Poison
- 1Reclamation Sage
- 1Scavenging Ooze
- 1Soulless Jailer (Extended Art)
Picking up Golgari Yawgmoth is unforgiving when starting as it’s so nuanced as there are various lines to take with the strategy. With that, do not feel disheartened if you lose games to begin with, Modern is all about building a profile of knowledge and the decks you’ll face where over time, those losses will convert into wins. It’s worth noting that Golgari Yawgmoth, much like Amulet Titan, rewards you for consistent practice over time.
Domain Zoo
Domain Zoo has become the de facto aggressive strategy in Modern as it’s able to capitalize on Modern’s broad mana base while demonstrating a quick clock. By using cards such as Scion of Draco, Tribal Flames, and Territorial Kavu, your spells benefit from having different Land subtypes (so, Island, Plains, Mountain, etc) in play.
Modern
Domain Zoo
Market Price:$488.28
Maindeck, 60 cards
Sortsort deckCreature (20)
- 4Nishoba Brawler
- 4Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
- 4Scion of Draco
- 4Territorial Kavu
- 4Wild Nacatl
Sorcery (4)
- 4Tribal Flames
Instant (6)
- 4Lightning Bolt
- 2Stubborn Denial
Enchantment (8)
- 4Leyline Binding
- 4Leyline of the Guildpact
Land (22)
- 1Breeding Pool
- 4Flooded Strand
- 1Forest
- 1Overgrown Tomb
- 1Plains
- 1Sacred Foundry
- 1Savai Triome
- 1Steam Vents
- 1Temple Garden
- 1Verdant Catacombs
- 4Windswept Heath
- 4Wooded Foothills
- 1Zagoth Triome
Sideboard (15)
- 2Drannith Magistrate (Extended Art)
- 2Flusterstorm
- 2Force of Vigor (Retro Frame) (Foil Etched)
- 1Jegantha, the Wellspring (Extended Art)
- 2Legion’s End
- 1Path to Exile
- 2Pick Your Poison
- 1Surge of Salvation
- 1Teferi, Time Raveler
- 1Wear // Tear//
It’s also gotten easier with the printing of Leyline of the Guildpact, a card that permits every Land you control to be every type, meaning it’ll work with Scion of Draco and friends, especially if the card entered play before the game even began! What’s even cooler is that Leyline of the Guildpact also turns every card you control (that is in play) into every color, which makes Scion of Draco a massive threat! The downside of Domain Zoo, however, is the cost. Given this multicolor strategy cares about having a robust mana base, that mana base doesn’t come affordably. Through the use of Fetch Lands, Shock Lands, and Triomes (Savai Triome, etc), most of the deck’s value is in the mana base. However, once you’ve finally built Domain Zoo, you can use these Land cards in future Modern builds!
Mono-Green Tron
Market Price: $21.36
If you want something more classic but powerful, then Mono-Green Tron is for you! Tron centralizes around the three Urza Lands Urza’s Power Plant, Urza’s Mine, and Urza’s Tower where combined, these allow you to generate seven colorless mana. And with that mana, you can cast all kinds of haymaker threats such as Wurmcoil Engine, Karn Liberated, or even The One Ring.
Modern
Mono-Green Tron
Market Price:$765.34
Maindeck, 60 cards
Sortsort deckCreature (6)
- 1Haywire Mite
- 2Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
- 3Wurmcoil Engine
Planeswalker (5)
- 4Karn, the Great Creator
- 1Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Sorcery (9)
- 1All Is Dust
- 4Ancient Stirrings
- 4Sylvan Scrying
Artifact (22)
- 4Chromatic Sphere
- 3Chromatic Star
- 4Expedition Map
- 4Oblivion Stone
- 3Relic of Progenitus
- 4The One Ring
Land (18)
- 1Boseiju, Who Endures
- 3Forest
- 4Urza’s Mine
- 4Urza’s Power Plant
- 2Urza’s Saga
- 4Urza’s Tower
Sideboard (15)
- 3Chalice of the Void
- 1Cityscape Leveler (Extended Art)
- 1Cursed Totem
- 1Engineered Explosives
- 1Ensnaring Bridge
- 1Haywire Mite
- 1Liquimetal Coating
- 1Pithing Needle (Foil Etched)
- 1Sundering Titan
- 1The Stone Brain (Extended Art)
- 1Tormod’s Crypt (Retro Frame)
- 1Venser’s Journal
- 1Walking Ballista
Granted, Mono-Green Tron isn’t the most exciting archetype as it does The One Thing™ and does it very well. However, it’s fairly easy to play and allows you to figure out the best way to achieve Tron through using cards such as Ancient Stirrings, Chromatic Star, and so forth. If you’re after a strategy that is simple and allows you to spend mental bandwidth learning the decks you’re playing against, then Tron is for you.
Playing Modern on a Budget
Of course, Modern is known for being expensive due to Modern Horizons cards commanding a higher price, but this shouldn’t discourage you from playing the format affordably. There are a bunch of budget decks, such as Boros Burn, Selesnya Bogles, Infect, and Dredge that are worth picking up to get started. However, TCGplayer and ChannelFireball’s Darren Magnotti covers budget decks across Standard, Pioneer, and Modern!ARTICLE SPOTLIGHTHow to Build Modern MTG Asmo Food on a BudgetDieting made easy.Darren Magnotti2/3/2024
Knowing where to start in Modern can be intimidating since the format is so broad, so knowing the kind of decks you enjoy playing does help. Of course, taking the time to figure this out is also crucial as it’ll insulate you from spending money that you didn’t need to!
Where to Find Other Modern Magic: The Gathering Players
With everything reopening after the halt of the COVID-19 lockdowns, there are numerous ways to play Modern, whether through tabletop or digital clients such as Magic Online. As for tabletop, a good starting point is to visit your Local Games Store (LGS) to see whether they host Modern FNMs or any other Modern events (such as the Regional Championship Qualifier) that way, you can fit into your local community while broadening your experiences with the format. If you live in the US and the right area, Star City Games (SCG), Apex Gaming, and Nerd Rage Gaming (NRG Series) often host tabletop Modern competitive events with a lucrative prize pool.
Fortunately, Magic Online is the only suitable and reasonably affordable way to see whether the format is for you, as MTG Arena won’t introduce Modern to the digital client. Even though some of the cards are pricey on MTGO, there are subscription services such as Mana Traders or Cardhoarder that can help. These services will often loan the cards to you for a monthly subscription fee, enabling you to figure out the strategy you want to play without throwing too much money into Modern.