Pro Tour LOTR Showcases Meta-Warping Adaptations!

Pro Tour Lord of the Rings has finally concluded, and there’s a lot to take away from the event. Rakdos Scam not only occupied nearly 20% of the room, but it also managed to take down the event. This is in spite of putting only way player into the top eight! The most played MTG card at the event was none other than The One RingThe One RingIndestructible
When The One Ring enters, if you cast it, you gain protection from everything until your next turn.
At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life for each burden counter on The One Ring.
{T}: Put a burden counter on The One Ring, then draw a card for each burden counter on The One Ring.. The colorless Artifact continues to dominate and warp the metagame around it.

While this may not sound like an entirely healthy Modern metagame, there was at least a decent amount of innovation within players’ decklists. Even well-established archetypes have been forced to adjust to the powerful Lord of the Rings and Modern Horizons Two cards that have put a stranglehold on Modern.

Even with Rakdos Scam being the most played deck in the room by far, it still accounted for less than a fifth of the room, meaning many players still collectively brought lots of different styles of decks to the Pro Tour. Many players expected Rakdos Scam and decks featuring The One Ring to be quite popular. As a result, many players made a handful of important adjustments within top-tier archetypes to better prepare themselves against the most popular decks in the field. Some players even came with unique archetypes skewed to beat the best decks. Today, we will be looking at these various adjustments that performed well and why they were successful.

Preparing for Rakdos Scam

While Rakdos saw a lot of play at the Pro Tour, this didn’t come as much of a surprise to many players. Some of the best performing non-Rakdos decklists geared themselves relatively heavily towards fighting the archetype. For example, one of the best performing decks in the event was mono-green Tron. Tron generally has had a weak matchup against Rakdos. The combination of a quick clock, discard spells like ThoughtseizeThoughtseizeTarget player reveals their hand. You choose a nonland card from it. That player discards that card. You lose 2 life., and some hate cards like Blood MoonBlood MoonNonbasic lands are Mountains. could pose a major problem for Tron players in general.

Interestingly, two of the three players that made top eight of the Pro Tour played multiple copies of DismemberDismember({B/P} can be paid with either {B} or 2 life.)
Target creature gets -5/-5 until end of turn. in the maindeck. While this may seem like a minor change, it helps beat Rakdos’ fastest draws. Without Dismember, the combination of FuryFuryDouble strike
When this creature enters, it deals 4 damage divided as you choose among any number of target creatures and/or planeswalkers.
Evoke—Exile a red card from your hand. and Feign Death turn one from Rakdos could simply be too much to overcome, especially on the draw.

Some players went even deeper to try to minimize the archetype. The best performing Hammer Time player with a Modern record of eight wins and two losses made some unique deckbuilding decisions out of the sideboard, including playing three copies of Strict Proctor. Strict Proctor not only taxes the Evoke Elementals, but it also affects Orcish BowmastersOrcish BowmastersFlash
When this creature enters and whenever an opponent draws a card except the first one they draw in each of their draw steps, this creature deals 1 damage to any target. Then amass Orcs 1. and Seasoned PyromancerSeasoned PyromancerWhen this creature enters, discard two cards, then draw two cards. For each nonland card discarded this way, create a 1/1 red Elemental creature token.
{3}{R}{R}, Exile this card from your graveyard: Create two 1/1 red Elemental creature tokens.. Of course, players had to be prepared for more than just Rakdos, and there’s plenty more innovative decisions to take a look at.

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Preparing for The One Ring

No single card saw more play at this event than The One Ring, but again, players recognized that the card would be everywhere. As such, some adjustments needed to be made. The most notable change that many players made to various archetypes was to add cards that negated the “Protection from everything” clause on The One Ring. Kai Budde did just this by adding Questing Beast to his Temur Rhinos deck. Being able to bypass the damage prevention from The One Ring is huge.

Even if you don’t get to attack for lethal, the more you can whittle down the opponent’s life total, the less cards they can afford to draw with The One Ring. Not to mention many opponents may think they are safe to slam The One Ring if you are tapped out, only for you to play Questing Beast, attack with a bunch of Creatures, and deal a ton of damage. As mentioned during coverage, Questing Beast rarely represents four damage under Ring Protection, but usually 12 instead since the Questing Beast will likely be swinging in with some Rhinos.

Just like Questing Beast, Bonecrusher GiantBonecrusher GiantWhenever this creature becomes the target of a spell, this creature deals 2 damage to that spell's controller. can also bypass the Protection clause via the “Stomp” portion of the card. Of course, you will have to target yourself with Stomp, but this will still allow your Creatures to deal damage. Some Temur Rhinos players opted to play this Bonecrusher Giant, but most interestingly, a Living EndLiving EndSuspend 3—{2}{B}{B}
Each player exiles all creature cards from their graveyard, then sacrifices all creatures they control, then puts all cards they exiled this way onto the battlefield. player made top eight of the Sunday Second Chance Pro Tour Qualifier playing three copies of Bonecrusher Giant among their 75 cards. This player even played three sideboard copies of Sanctifier en-VecSanctifier en-VecProtection from black and from red
When this creature enters, exile all cards that are black or red from all graveyards.
If a black or red permanent, spell, or card not on the battlefield would be put into a graveyard, exile it instead. as a different card to Cascade into against Rakdos!

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Unique Archetypes

Some players were even daring enough to register abnormal archetypes and tune them for the expected competition. Among these archetypes was five-color Reanimator that made the top 16. This deck is similar to Esper Goryo’s VengeanceGoryo’s VengeanceReturn target legendary creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. That creature gains haste. Exile it at the beginning of the next end step.
Splice onto Arcane {2}{B} (As you cast an Arcane spell, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay its splice cost. If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.) decks that have been around for a while, but with some interesting changes. First, this deck is much less reliant on the graveyard.

In addition to being able to utilize EphemerateEphemerateExile target creature you control, then return it to the battlefield under its owner's control.
Rebound (If you cast this spell from your hand, exile it as it resolves. At the beginning of your next upkeep, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.) to allow you to keep copies of GriselbrandGriselbrandFlying, lifelink
Pay 7 life: Draw seven cards. or Atraxa, Grand UnifierAtraxa, Grand UnifierFlying, vigilance, deathtouch, lifelink
When Atraxa enters, reveal the top ten cards of your library. For each card type, you may put a card of that type from among the revealed cards into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. (Artifact, battle, creature, enchantment, instant, land, planeswalker, and sorcery are card types.) around after Reanimating them with Goryo’s Vengeance, you can use Ephemerate for value when Evoking GriefGriefMenace
When this creature enters, target opponent reveals their hand. You choose a nonland card from it. That player discards that card.
Evoke—Exile a black card from your hand. or Solitude. This deck even runs Orcish Bowmasters and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker. Adding these cards helps this deck play through graveyard hate that players would likely come equipped with thanks to the popularity of Living End.

Another cool archetype that performed well was Naya Scapeshift. This deck also made top eight of the Sunday Second Chance Pro Tour Qualifier. It is very similar to Gruul Scapeshift lists that have popped up here and there, maximizing the power of Wish and Wrenn and SixWrenn and Six+1: Return up to one target land card from your graveyard to your hand.
−1: Wrenn and Six deals 1 damage to any target.
−7: You get an emblem with "Instant and sorcery cards in your graveyard have retrace." (You may cast instant and sorcery cards from your graveyard by discarding a land card in addition to paying their other costs.).

However, this deck not only plays four copies of The One Ring to both buy time to cast or dig for Scapeshift and Wish to win the game with, but it also splashes white for ReprieveReprieveReturn target spell to its owner's hand.
Draw a card. and Leyline BindingLeyline BindingFlash
Domain — This spell costs {1} less to cast for each basic land type among lands you control.
When this enchantment enters, exile target nonland permanent an opponent controls until this enchantment leaves the battlefield.. Both of these cards help manage opposing copies of The One Ring, and Binding can help keep copies of Fury in check from Rakdos. These decks are show that even in a relatively hostile environment, there is still room for innovation.

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Additional Innovation

There are a few other unique cards players played in these events that are worth mentioning. Beyond “damage can’t be prevented” cards like Questing Beast and Bonecrusher giant, some players did even more to beat up on decks with the One Ring. A couple top performing Temur Rhinos players went as far as to play CommandeerCommandeerYou may exile two blue cards from your hand rather than pay this spell's mana cost.
Gain control of target noncreature spell. You may choose new targets for it. (If that spell is an artifact, enchantment, or planeswalker, the permanent enters under your control.) in the sideboard. While pitching two blue cards is a big cost, getting to gain control of The One Ring can be backbreaking for the opponent, letting you generate tons of extra card advantage over time instead of them.

One interesting adaptation some players utilized involved maximizing the mythic double-faced cards like Emeria’s CallEmeria’s CallCreate two 4/4 white Angel Warrior creature tokens with flying. Non-Angel creatures you control gain indestructible until your next turn. to maximize the options of cards to pitch to the Evoke Elementals. The same Hammer Time player playing three Strict Proctors in the sideboard also played four Solitudes in the sideboard and four Emeria’s Calls in the maindeck, allowing them to pitch a “Land drop” to Solitude when necessary.

A Merfolk player with eight wins did something very similar, adding copies of Sea Gate RestorationSea Gate RestorationDraw cards equal to the number of cards in your hand plus one. You have no maximum hand size for the rest of the game. and playing less Lands, giving them the option to pitch Sea Gate Restoration to SubtletySubtletyFlash
Flying
When this creature enters, choose up to one target creature spell or planeswalker spell. Its owner puts it on their choice of the top or bottom of their library.
Evoke—Exile a blue card from your hand. or Force of NegationForce of NegationIf it's not your turn, you may exile a blue card from your hand rather than pay this spell's mana cost.
Counter target noncreature spell. If that spell is countered this way, exile it instead of putting it into its owner's graveyard.. While some of these adaptations may seem minor, they can have a major impact over the course of a long tournament. This Pro Tour showcased that, even when the metagame appears stale, there’s always room for innovation.

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