Tough as Nails: Combat, Removal, and Stats

August 17, 2018 – by Jordan Boisvert 2

Lightning Bolt once set Modern’s high-water mark: the most efficient and flexible removal spell at its price point, Bolt dictated which creatures did and didn’t see play in Modern almost single-handedly. Today, Bolt’s no longer the end-all-be-all of Modern kill spells.…

Modern’s Removal: Blessing or Curse?

April 27, 2017 – by Trevor Holmes 3

You sit down to fill out the last few slots of your generic three-color midrange brew. You’ve responsibly dedicated seven slots to removal; now what? You’ve heard Lightning Bolt is good, but is it really the best option in 2017?…

Rank	Deck	Metagame %
1	Grixis Shadow	5.5%
2	Burn	5.4%
3	Gx Tron	5.2%
4	Jeskai Tempo	4.8%
5	RG Valakut	4.7%
6	Eldrazi Tron	4.6%
7	Affinity	4.5%
8	Humans	4.5%
9	Gifts Storm	4.4%
10	Counters Company	3.7%

NOTE: Metagame % is calculated from the unweighted average of all MTGO leagues, paper T8s/T16s, and GP/PT/Open Day 2s in the date range. Data is tracked in the Top Decks page, which you can browse for more details.