People want to play more Modern! Wizards of the Coast just added a Modern Pro Tour to the 2015 line up after public outcry over no modern (originally all the Pro-Tours were to be standard format). This tells me is Modern is alive and well. Our tournaments at Shuffle & Cut in Orange, Ca can Testify to this. Eleven people showed up to compete for store credit and be eligible for the Arcbound Ravager we gave away as a door prize (hot off of Affinity's win last week). Ron Parker managed to bring Delver back to the top... again. Ryan Betts also took third playing delver. Although affinity didn't pull off back to back 4-0 records, Paul Llamas piloted an interesting infect/affinity deck to a 3-1 finish.

Thirteen players showed up to play modern Magic: The Gathering on August 4th, 2014. The tournament lasted four rounds with AJ Rodriguez, piloting Affinity, going undefeated. Although Affinity has done well in many of our modern tournaments here at Shuffle, this is the first time since we started doing metagame reports that it has taken down the top spot.  Being a 110% style tournament, AJ was rewarded for his efforts with $23 store credit and all four players with a record of 3-1 were prized out $13 store credit. We also gave out a Kiki-Jiki as a random door prize!

Lots of sweet brews this week for our Modern MTG Tournament! Eleven players competed this week for a 110% payout as well as for a shot at a randomly given away Thoughtseize! RUG Delver, piloted by Ron Parker took home the top prize as the only undefeated player after four swiss rounds. In addition to aggro/control, both combo and control were represented in top three. Check out the complete breakdown for one of the most diverse metagames we've had so far!

For the last couple months our Monday Modern tournaments were shaken up by Zendikar Fetch Land prizing. I hope everyone enjoyed changing things up to the higher stakes, winner take all format, if only for the few short months it lasted.Our goal was to get more format staples into the hands of the players, and that has definitely been a success. 

Although there was a smaller turnout for the last installment of this promotion, it looks like Modern as a Format is gaining ground in SoCal. Eleven players battled it out this week for their shot at a Misty Rainforest. We ended the tournament after only three rounds of play because Justin Nguyen, playing Angel Pod, was the only undefeated player remaining! Consequently there are more players with an X-1 record or better than not, this time around. Because of this, I will just list final standings.

Don't think for an instant that is the end of great prizing for Modern at Shuffle & Cut! on Monday, July 28th, 2014 we start prizing out at 110%. To give you guys an idea of what your looking at heres an example: last night at our 110% standard 28 players showed up, the two  4-0's each got $28 in store credit and the sever 3-1 players each got $14. Because there were so many attending the random prize got upgraded to a Nissa, Worldwaker!

Seventeen players showed up to for what was anticipated to be the last event in our series of Zendikar fetch land tournaments. In a surprising twist of fate, only one player, Kevin Daley, remained undefeated after four rounds of swiss play. What this means is that the fetch land for first place format will be extended for one more week before the Monday Modern events convert to the 110% payout prizing format. Its interesting to note that the metagame has shifted to become more diverse over the last several weeks, moving away from heavy aggro/aggro control (merfolk, affinity, delver) to incorporate more combo elements. It was also nice to see some pod decks finally make an appearance in the metagame.

As we wind down the fetch land promotion and prepare to move into a 110% payout prizing format, we are actually seeing several new decks appear in the metagame. This week, two decks we haven't seen much at our local modern tournaments went undefeated: Scapeshift, piloted by Keane Ngiem and Death & Taxes, piloted by Bruice Liu. Amit Patel, though not securing a fetch land this week, managed to take his R/G Shaman brew to a respectable 3-1 finish. Mono-Black Infect also returns as a top finisher this week. We were missing a few decks again this week from the breakdown. Please help us fill in the blanks by leaving a comment if you have any information!

We only have one or two more weeks worth of fetch lands to prize out (depending on attendance) and will then be moving to a 110% payout format. Each week a modern staple card will be raffled away (such as thoughtseize, splinter twin or spellskite). Top finishers also receive 110% of the entry fees as store credit. For example, at our recent 110% Standard tournament 18 players showed up so top 4 split $100 store credit (18*5*110%) and a thoughtseize was raffled away.

Due to some technical difficulties we were not able to bring you a metagame report for the Modern Magic: The Gathering tournament that took place on June 30th, 2014.  After some investigation, we were able to piece some of the info together for those of you who are interested. Twenty players showed up to battle it out for Zendikar Fetch Lands. Ryan Betts (Delver) and Amit Patel (Shaman Tribal Brew) went 4-0, both winning a fetch land. Any help finishing this break down would be much appreciated! Looks like delver came out on top again, but what version? Anyone have info on this infamous Shaman deck that's been running around?

The field was more diverse this week at Monday Night Magic, but there were also seven more players competing this time around: 22 players total. Both undefeated players netted a Zendikar fetch land for their efforts. Affinity was still the most heavily represented deck, though U/R Delver and Merfolk switched spots in popularity. I think the question on everyone's mind remains: where's all the pod at? Taking a look at top finishers, its interesting to note that neither of the undefeated decks were represented in last weeks top 4. In addition, both Merfolk players this week went 3-1. On to the data!