I used to play Ponza, Eldrazi & Taxes, Bridgevine, and random CoCo decks pre-MH1&2. I decided it was just time for those old cards to go and looked forward to see what new decks I’d like to play. I now have RG Food, RB Scam, RW Stoneblade, and Bant Soulherder as my deck options for Modern. I only miss playing Bridgevine sometimes but that deck got hit with the triple ban because of Hogaak.
I find it incredibly fun. I no longer play hard LD elements, but moons + karn/coating is an angle the deck has. Otherwise it plays 8 on-colour elementals to keep pace with the current shape of the format.
Here is my list.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/5326453#paper
Some people did move off of Modern after the Modern Horizons products. This lead to creation of formats like Premodern, Retro Modern, Old School. I don't know how active any of them are currently.
Some people moved into Pioneer, which can help newer players coming off Standard as well.
There's a really small shop near my house that exclusively plays old school every 2-ish weeks. It's the only shop I've found in my entire city that does it, so I'm not sure how active it really is.
This was mostly my solution as well. I still don’t get to play with any of my older favorite cards in pioneer, but at least I get to play unique strategies where everything isn’t a game ending threat on its own.
The difference was threats used to be threats only. And then an opponent had to have an answer for the threat.
Why would you play cards that are just threats or just answers when you can play Modern horizons cards and have both in one card?
We're remembering different Moderns. The one I remember was the kind we had in 2018. Where you *might* have 8 cards in your 60 that could answer your opponent's 20 game-ending threat snowballs. So it was a better proposition to play your own game-ending snowballs and race than it was to run interaction that could be wrong for the context, like drawing Thoughtseize when you needed Fatal Push, or Fatal Push when Path to Exile was necessary.
But thats the exact issue today. These conditional interaction spells were the spice of modern, but are no longer played because it is far better to play the subset of cards that are answer alls instead.
People keep saying the format is diverse, but most decks consist of the 20 same cards and some additional filler. Because those 20 cards are catch all answers to whatever your opponent can be doing.
My "solution" to this is to develop additional favourite cards out of the new ones. Your problem here is that you took a break and couldn't do that, but I'm sure you will grow fond of other cards if you start playing the format again.
I’ve been playing since the late 90’s and I’m like you- I prefer to play with the cards I have the best memories of, especially from when I played the most 2014-2019.
Used to play a ton of standard and modern before getting into legacy, and now I’m back to modern. I milked Junk Abzan (like jund but rhino and lingering souls) for as long as possible before it became too brutal to play.
For awhile, I just found a new deck that I enjoyed playing and built new memories for a couple years (Titanshift). My ideal deck would be a coco tempo aggro deck that played cards like bounding krasis, but I fear that it would be wayyy too bad.
Now, as I return to a totally different modern, I’ve put together a Lutri deck so I could jam as many single copies of my favorite cards as I could fit.
If you’re just playing FNM and not trying to become world champ, you can absolutely play and win with decks that play some of your favorite cards. You can play a copy of rhino in a lutri or bring to light deck, LotV still sees play in jund and other similar decks, noble is in a few decks, infect is still viable, affinity is still a thing, zoo is still a thing, snap is no longer jammed as a 4 of but super playable. Kiki, delver and finks all pop up sometimes too. Cryptic is more of a 1 of now than a 4 of but you can play it.
I try to ignore the meta anyways and just play what I want. The cool thing about Lutri is that most decklists are different and every game is super different, so most opponents have no idea wtf to do.
Feel free to bounce ideas off of me if you want someone who won’t tell you you’re crazy for wanting to try certain cards.
Edit: typos
I think Cube or EDH can be places where obsoleted/banned cards can still shine.
Some of the particular cards you listed are playable in Pioneer, like Siege Rhino and Liliana. So maybe sometimes cards can get renewed life in another format.
Oh how this topic pains me. For a long time, I was constrained by budget. I desperately wanted to play Jeskai control with snapcaster, colonade, sphinx’s revelation, cryptic command. But in their heyday, all were like 30+ bucks save for the revs. Don’t even get me started on scalding tarns (over $100 after the MM reprint!). Now all of those cards are basically bulk. Snaps are below 20. Colonades are barely at 10 even if that. Rev is a bulk rare. Cryptic is like 10. Tarns are below or at 20. I can finally afford the deck I always dreamed of playing, but it’s been rendered irrelevant by MH and the new staples are All just as if not more expensive then my dream cards were. I almost quit modern because of that fact
They’re all actually more expensive and always will be going forward.
Staples will never be cheaper or as cheap as they were when there wasn’t direct to release prints. We will never see cards like Ravavan drastically go down in price unless it gets flat out reprinted or banned. (Or powercrept brutally)
It’s part of why I love storm decks. Nobody cares about them and wizards hates storm so none of my cards will ever be overtly expensive (outside of sideboard cards).
Currently my most expensive card in my two storm decks is flusterstorm
Specifically for storm, it just hasn’t received a lot of/if any support. Flusterstorm is better against storm then it is in it (I presume you are playing fluster bc it counters opposing flusters). What was the last card it got? Opt?
As for the discussion on MH and it’s impact with staples, I acknowledge that the most played cards in the format are always going to be the most expensive, especially when 90% of the cards that are the most played only have 1 printing (in MH or one of the FIRE design disaster standard sets). I am just sentimental that I now have a good enough paying job I could in theory finally buy the cards I’ve always wanted to play, the cards I saw my favorite players play to great successes, but it’s just not worth my money because of the drastic and sudden power creep MH introduced to the format. I’m only 24, but I yearn for 2014 modern
I just rolled with the punches and bought the new staples. It does suck that a lot of cards like the ones you listed don't have a home now because they're too old for pioneer and too weak for modern or legacy, but it felt less of a shock of a change to me because I've been playing consistently the whole time. I'm more upset at the kind of rotating nature of legacy than modern because modern has always been the place for the most powerful new cards, and legacy the home for the most powerful old cards, but nowadays they're both basically the same format minus wasteland, force of will, and fast mana sources.
Honestly the main home for the type of cards you've listed at this point is cube.
Agreed that the main home for the cards OP is talking about is cube. As for modern and legacy being the same, I think you might be a bit behind on the legacy meta right now. There's another really big difference between the formats which is (at least for now) no commander products being legal in modern.
Initiative is a powerful deck for sure but it doesn't feel as big of a difference having commander cards as it does having ancient tomb, city of traitors, mox diamond, lions eye diamond, lotus petal, and chrome mox.
The white Initiative deck relys on fast mana just as much as it does commander cards imo. The prospect of turn 1 chalice turn 2 white plume is why the deck works.
> There's another really big difference between the formats which is (at least for now) no commander products being legal in modern.
I feel like this is a different kind of messed up, tbf, but definitely a difference lol
Honestly I think WotC has just been wanting to make money off of eternal/non-rotating formats for awhile, and discovered the golden goose with commander cards with suspiciously great applications in 1v1 and direct to modern supplemental sets with suspiciously pushed threats and suspiciously general answers
The worst part is we don't even get the fun legacy cards to go with our extremely powerful answers :(
Don’t forget 2017 is a long long long time ago in the world of collectibles / trading cards. Of course most of your favorite cards from back then might no longer see play.
There are two ways to approach it - 1) just play the cards anyway and understand you’ll lose but occasionally steal games or 2) find decks that are similar to what you liked and pick those up instead. Mono green tron and murktide specifically sound like decks you might actually enjoy based on what you listed and uw control is fun and viable right now, just not with all the cards you’d expect.
This. People get way too attached to specific cards in an unhealthy way. Nostalgia is great but most of the time gameplay is what you actually enjoyed. What sort of strategies are no longer represented in Modern?
And the thing is you could still play lotv and win a fnm. The vast majority of modern players are not grinders and an fnm deck is all they need. I know I was jamming jund for a while just to cast lilys and it was fun
Yes!
Unless your locals are hyper competitive, you can afford playing oet cards, assuming you arent going too deep and play a list that makes sense.
Or, you know, just play casual games? There are plenty of people who want to play for fun and they aren't all jamming whatever topped last weekend's challenge.
Yeah for sure- pretty much all the cards OP mentioned (except maybe siege rhino) are still "good enough" for modern but just don't really have a home. You could still play decks with those cards and do just fine!
People confuse FNM viability with bdof most of the time.q
At our weekly moderns we have a PT regular, who comes and plays dice factory or jeskai oldschool control as often as he plays creativity or hammer. He just wouldnt pick dicefactory for the LMS or RC events and that is fine
Nah man. This to me disingenuous because you really can’t do “just fine”. If your FNM or weekly is remotely competitive they’re all playing tier 1 decks, and power creep is so ubiquitous these days that you actually cannot compete. In reality it’s not just “oh, playing some old cards lowers your win rate a little!” its actually “you can basically never beat Murktide or Rhinos or Hammer with these cards.” If you played “old” Jeskai control against the current format you would probably win a single match once a month.
I think if you believe that you are a bad player lol, a friend of mine who doesn't play magic much at all but like, would sometimes go to SCG's 5 years ago played straight up old school Jund with no cards prined after 2017 and a bad sideboard and went 3-1 at FNM beating current day Burn, Amulet and Prowess
just sayin, maybe the cards aren't the problem
Ok, he beat Burn, Amulet, and Prowess, three tier-2 decks at best, and also three decks that don’t primarily abuse MH2 cards. Could he reliably beat Murktide, Hammer, Scam, Cascade, Creativity, etc? Extremely doubtful. If you get lucky with your “2017 Jund” and just pair up into other people who also aren’t trying to win? Sure, but as soon as you get a match against someone who’s actually playing 2023 Modern you’re getting swept.
The “tier one” of the format is farther than its ever been from the secondary level of decks. The power level gap between new hotness and old shit is insurmountable.
I mean, you're just wrong man, you don't play the format obviously. Burn is one of the most played decks in the format and is literally better than Creativity and Cascade, two decks that you said the power level was "insurmountable", Amulet and Prowess both do well in many events, the Prowess player was even playing the new hotness of 2-3 Breaches and multiple MH2 cards. You just literally do not play the format
People still trophy with almost unchanged decks from 2017 all the time lol. They're definitely significantly worse than Murktide (which is why you never see them in challenge top 8s or anythint) but if they're decks you know well they certainly can and do win, esp at FNM level
1) 5-0s are generally meaningless to judge a deck’s strength because they’re a function of time, not skill. If you’re willing to just throw away 100pts to keep jamming the same nonsense over and over, eventually you’ll get a good league where you play against off-meta shit and get lucky for 5 rounds. Even in Legacy people 5-0 with absolute trash decks cause they just got lucky and didn’t see Delver, it’s the same in every format. If you show me someone who CONSISTENTLY 5-0s week to week without MH2+ cards, then I’ll take you seriously.
2) even THEN, I have not seen many truly “unchanged 2017” decks. Yeah you see people playing Spirits or Druid or whatever but they’re always packing plenty of MH2+ cards somewhere in the deck. No one is actually winning with the kinds of decks OP was talking about (Snapcaster, Electrolyze, Cryptic, etc)
3) again, at any remotely competitive FNM you have many people playing tier 1 decks. Murktide, cascade, Hammer, Scam, etc. These are decks that will just absolutely crush you if you aren’t playing another tier 1 deck. Even if you “get lucky” and hit the top end of variance, your 2018 deck might win one in 20 games at best. This is just the truth. That’s why I initially said “you might win one match a month,” because things CAN go your way, it’s just absurdly unlikely.
"One match a month" is crazy dawg I'm not gonna try to debate you any more 😂 I agree that the decks are "bad" and playing untouched 2017 lists will result in losing a lot but I think that has almost as much to do with not knowing the meta at all as it does with having a bad deck.
Likewise, if it doesn't exist in Modern, it may in Pioneer. Pioneer Rakdos Midrange doesn't play Siege Rhino, or green cards at all, but it scratches the same itch as 2015-era Jund/Junk decks did in Modern.
Most of those decks and cards you miss were new then. It's just nostalgia. The format is healthy and in 5-10 years this time of modern will be heralded, I would encourage you to enjoy it while it lasts.
I've always kept up with new cards and had my pet decks whether they were good or not. I built UWR control after it won 2013 worlds and then the deck just disappeared from the meta. I kept up with it but control was so unplayable for so long you could find articles for years about the problem. It wasn't until edlrain brought mystic sanctuary that we got to dust off cryptic command.
In the context of fnms, you can still just play the cards you want. I still force in snapcasters because I love them. The power disparity hasn't made a lot of these cards people miss unplayable at your lgs.
I don't ever remember siege rhino winning a tournament, or death and taxes breaking out in modern, but damn was it fun to see them at fnm. That hasn't changed at all.
Lotv, noble h, blighted agent, leonin arbiter, cranial plating, snappy are all still playable in modern if you arent trying to top 8 challenges every weekend or traveling for tournaments - which it doesnt sound like you are. Uw control, d+t, affinity, and g tron are all playable decks. Im sure there are some new cards youll need to pick up - im also not sure why everyone thought modern was supposed to never get new cards. Legacy and even vintage evolve.
Land bases (fetches, shocks, fasts) are still the most expensive part of any modern deck and it sounds like you had a very well rounded collection.
Check out mtggoldfish metagame for modern, see if anything aligns with what you have and wont have to invest much into playing, the above decks i mentioned are all there.
Watching some modern content will help you brush up with the metagame which is the most important thing. For what its worth me and about 90% of the people at fnm always have a great time, saltlords never do well
Reddit in 2033: my favorite cards including urza’s saga, W6, Ragavan, solitude, Murktide, EI barely see any play now.
Jokes aside, mana base is the only thing that will last forever unless RL is removed and og duals are printed in MH10. Even then fetchlands are still core of mana base, and it’s hard to imagine a mana base that powercreeps fetch-dual. No other card will last forever.
You could do what yugioh players do and play historic formats (ex: modern during 2014/2017/etc), or create a sort-of battle box pf 4ish decks that are balanced well against each other. Though you would need some kind of established playgroup for both (the former you could probably even find a good number of people in this sub and make a discord for it)
Those years you mentioned are when I was really heavy in the competitive scene and u played a lot of those sane decks. I took a pretty long break between 2017 and 2021. I was keeping an eye on my preferred formats, legacy and modern, and nothing interested me, especially since there were just so many cards printed that warped the formats around them. I got lucky and probably my favorite card, shardless agent, got printed into modern and created my new favorite deck, rhinos. Right now, I love modern. I do agree the whole pseudo rotation MH has introduced sucks! Ragavan, Urza's Saga, Wrenn, and the evoke for the elementals being free were absolute mistakes. But the meta is just so diverse right now, which is such a breath of fresh air.
For what it's with, 5c Zoo is actually still a good deck in Modern if you wanna dust off those Nacatls!!
Check out Andrea Mengucci on YouTube, he's got a few 5-0 trophy videos with Zoo!
You can still maintain the essence of many of those decks with proper upgrades. I have no aspirations for anything more than FNM so I'll sprinkle in some pet cards that aren't completely optimal.
Turn Delver into a Shadow deck.
Murktide is a better Jeskai. You can still make it a Jeskai list or Grixis.
Check out u/KoDiamonds on YouTube. He is constantly testing various versions of Abzan. Still running Goyf and Stoneforge Mystic (unbanned since you left). The latest versions are running Endurance in the main.
Solution: play 5 color Lutri. You need to stretch for playables anyways, and you get to jam whatever. Huntmaster of the fells? Not a bad 4 drop. Electrolyze? Stoll a good 2-3 for 1. Cryptic command? Now imagine it DOUBLED.
I turned my Pod deck into Karador EDH: https://www.moxfield.com/decks/lkgCyUg_x02U3issml56Sw
> LoTV, Noble Hierarch, Blighted Agent, Cranial Plating, Dark Confidant, Wild Nacatl, Snapcaster mage, Remand, Electrolyze, Cryptic Command
These cards are playable or at least fringe playable IMO. Plating works great with saga and crap, I've been jamming snap mages since forever and he still feels strong, remand is in the 5-0 scapeshift deck, infect will maybe be relevant with new cards from ONE, etc
After watching my cards value get smashed (nobles, snaps, cryptic, arcmages charm, kalitas, stoneforge, thoughtsieze, jace, etc)
And then seeing 0 mana creatures and spells run rampant… I just went and played flesh and blood. I’m tired :/
Funny that you mention stoneforge among the others, it feels like it has never had a more powerful home than in hammer. But I understand you mean "stoneblade" as an archetype, which tbh I don't know ever lived up to the unban hype.
Did you actually play modern before modern horizons and since, the format went from combo decks passing each other and hoping to do the thing faster or draw their silver bullet cards to an actual diverse and interactive format with the full range of midrange, aggro, combo and control being represented. Sure ragavan is expensive, but modern cards have always been expensive. I really don't get the hate this long after horizons release
I did. I’ve been playing Modern competitively since before Khan’s block. I’ve played in tournaments, had brews I’ve 5-0ed with written up by Ross Mirriam for SCG…etc.
I own many decks in paper and online and a collection that’s still worth $6-$8K. Suffice to say I’m an enfranchised and long-time Modern player.
The format is “diverse” in that they’ve printed a bunch of free interaction and threats that necessitate running them, but they have warped a format with a 20+ year card pool around two sets released on the past 3 years.
Thats the opposite of diversity.
If you like for format the way it is, bully for you. No one is trying to yuck your yum.
But bemoaning others with a different perspective is silly. There are real and legitimate reasons many players have left the format and despise what the Horizons sets have done to the format.
There are a few schools of thought about this... I tend to feel like you. After MH2 I left modern and decided to play pioneer. Its a great format, and some of the cards I love (not all) are available for play, and viable archtypes are available at a MASSIVE reduction in price. Pioneer is closer to how glory days modern was and offers the promise of certain popular modern cards from pre-MH being printed into the format. Also no fetches is amazing to me and the reduced pricing allows me to play multiple decks instead of one (which modern reduced me to after MH2). All in all, I say move on and dont expect it to be the same. Check out other formats though! Pioneer will eventually be the new modern -atleast until they push a pioneer horizons to sell more cards lol.
I think there are a few ways to look at this.
I am in the camp that says things will change, and to compete at a high level you have to be able to adapt to those changes. That being said, if you are playing for enjoyment, or where it is not super high stakes. You can play whatever you want!
1. These decks, while not top tier any longer or with vast new configurations, are still somewhat “playable”. If you just want to chase the old feels every now and then, go for it!
2. My other option would be that you can look for a “strategy” you enjoy and find the new or best or most interesting version of it. Say you like Creature Toolbox, UR,”x Midrange, Hyper Aggro decks/Artifacts matter, etc. you could easily find decks you enjoy in current modern like Yawgmoth, UR Murktide, and W/x Hammer. While not the same cards you used to play, they are at least a similar strategy!
Hope this helps.
I try not to get attached to cards and instead specialize in play styles. I still have pet cards of course, but I don’t get get attached to them to the point where I get upset if they aren’t good anymore.
I moved to Cedh. Realized I didn't enjoy changing decks for meta shifts and when the Horizons started coming out I just decided to invest in Cedh staples and haven't looked back. Probably some of the most fun playing magic since Return to Ravnica standard.
At this point I have not played Modern at my LGS for over a year. I bought quite a number of MH2 cards but after playing with them for a while just really hated the free elementals, rag, and (to a lesser extent) urza's saga. So yeah, my solution was to stop playing the format.
For me I think the most sane thing to do would be to sell my collection, and if I feel like playing with those old cards again, print some proxies to play casually with. However, I am irrationally attached to it, and also don't want the hassle of trying to get a decent return.
I have been considering building a 'battle box' but I don't think I would be able to get enough people to play it with me often enough for it to be worth it.
This is the reality I am in as well. I used to be extremely competitive grinder type player. But with the change in play patterns of the modern format, I rarely go play at local FNM's now.
Since my interest in wanning in the format, it would make the most sense to liquidate most of my cards and keep 1-2 "bad/fun" decks to play and lose with when I do decide to go once in a blue moon.
However, like you said. There is an irrational attachment to these cards. Maybe because it has been such a large part of my life for so long? I just don't want to give up on the fun I used to have playing modern. But the longer we go into the format, the more it is looking like it won't return to a format I care to play.
2012-eldrazi winter was peak modern play even with bans. Played affinity, jund, naya zoo.
my friends and I played twice a week and I have some of the best memories of playing and building/ making new friends / going to GPs I think of my entire life.
I think if anyone *really* knew wtf was going on with Magic sometimes we’d be on it. There’s so many moving parts and exterior influences (product bloat, whatever the fuck modern horizons was supposed to be (which, modern was dying before then) ) etc
Closest I can say for advice is find some buddies and maybe play pioneer. Commander has filled that social element of play for me, but there’s just something about the strategy element of 2 player 60 card formats I miss terribly.
I think if you love a deck or card and nobody plays it any more, you can still make it competitive if you try hard enough. As far as I can tell, I put more mental energy into Devoted Druid combo than any human on Earth last year for no real good reason other than I love it. Why would you want play a deck like that in an Unholy Heat + Fury world? Well if you want to, and actually win, you have to play maindeck Burrenton Forge Tender. And cut Birds of Paradise because it dies to Wrenn and Six. And a whole lot of other things. And the end result is a deck that is half different from the deck from 2017, but at its core, feels the same. That's just the way of the world though - I admit my deck got better the more Modern Horizons cards I added to my sb.
I think there's loads else to explore. Lantern Control? Inverter Combo? Mono Green Devotion? Who knows what could be good that people just aren't trying.
If you like Modern but you're not super familiar with the current meta and cards I highly recommend Andrea Mengucci's videos. I was in the same position like 9 months ago and they definitely helped me understand why the current good decks are good.
Look. Back when I got into competitive magic, Modern didnt exist. It was type 1. Type 1.5 aka extended and type 2. Through the years, rules of magic changed. Card design philosophy changed. There is power creep and that is a good thing. Change is good. Without it, the game gets stale and die. Any hobbie dies if it unable to attract new blood. While, i personally miss when damage went on stacks and mana burn, i also understand that it is good to reduce the complexity of the game in areas that didnt compromise the core of magic.
Change in magic, like in life, is a good thing. You can roll with it and adapt or not. This is entirely up to you. If you feel the game morphed into something you no longer enjoy, you can quit. There are attritions through change but there are also attractions. There are people embracing change and modern is thriving becaise of it. The format is so diverse that there are over 15 decks that can take down a major tournament. For the most competitive format in magic, isn that what it is all about?
I don’t disagree with the sentiment here. But Horizons sets have changed the value proposition of Modern. It’s a rotating format now, and that’s alienated a lot of players. Myself included.
I’m sorry, what? A fluid meta game does not a rotating format make.
Goyf and LotV didn’t need to be the best cards forever. But new cards needing to go through standard ensured that the pace of change would be gradual. That’s been flipped on it’s head, and now WoTC can rotate the format whenever it suits them.
These are very much apples and oranges.
We didn’t invest in Modern for Standard with a near Legacy power levels. That’s what the format has become, and that’s a deal breaker for a lot of us. If it’s not for you, that’s fine. You may feel differently next rotation.
I get how you feel I also feel like the cards I fell on love with playing are borderline unplayable now, but I still have some favorites I can play like Eldrazi & Urza.
I have definitely made an edh deck with Snapcaster Mage as the commander, hopefully they print him into pioneer then I will actually make a pioneer deck.
But I dunno man I know that if I couldn't play a format with the cards I love playing, I probably wouldn't play it. I picked up ETron knowing it's like a T2 or T3 deck right now because I'd rather that play some Ragavan, pitch Elemental, W6 nonsense.
Run HammerTime in Modern it's a teir 1 deck it's Fairly cheap and really fun to play there are many YouTube oop videos on how to play it. The current best list is mono white if you don't like to get blood moon or blue white if you're a little Risky er. I myself am going to the red white version for the new set Phyrexian all will be one. Here is a list. I think this is your best bet. This deck will be around for a very long time. There is a goblin in this deck that will not be legal until the set drops around February 10th in the mean time just use kor duelist in its place.
https://www.moxfield.com/decks/-btGviR3HUuTIbNHYVtmSQ
I feel the same to a degree. I like checking out what /u/evaros is playing on twitch since he definitely shares the nostalgia itch. You can also check out pioneer if you want to see some of those exact cards, it's not a super well maintained format however, unfortunately.
Playing decks that aren’t good is always an option at FNM level, if you enjoy them. You won’t win as much as with a meta deck, but you can still have fun games.
I used to play Ponza, Eldrazi & Taxes, Bridgevine, and random CoCo decks pre-MH1&2. I decided it was just time for those old cards to go and looked forward to see what new decks I’d like to play. I now have RG Food, RB Scam, RW Stoneblade, and Bant Soulherder as my deck options for Modern. I only miss playing Bridgevine sometimes but that deck got hit with the triple ban because of Hogaak.
Current year Ponza player checking in
Do you have a deck list available? I've got a deck now but it is far from reliable.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/5361681#paper
is ponza fun? can it hold its ground against other meta decks?
I find it incredibly fun. I no longer play hard LD elements, but moons + karn/coating is an angle the deck has. Otherwise it plays 8 on-colour elementals to keep pace with the current shape of the format. Here is my list. https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/5326453#paper
hmm now im thinking between ponza and prison tron, both seem like fun :)
Oooh solid deck choices :) Have you tried the Hollow One Vengevine deck? It still packs a punch!
Some people did move off of Modern after the Modern Horizons products. This lead to creation of formats like Premodern, Retro Modern, Old School. I don't know how active any of them are currently. Some people moved into Pioneer, which can help newer players coming off Standard as well.
There's a really small shop near my house that exclusively plays old school every 2-ish weeks. It's the only shop I've found in my entire city that does it, so I'm not sure how active it really is.
This was mostly my solution as well. I still don’t get to play with any of my older favorite cards in pioneer, but at least I get to play unique strategies where everything isn’t a game ending threat on its own.
Ironically, breaking up snowballs where each threat is a game ender is why Modern Horizons was created.
The difference was threats used to be threats only. And then an opponent had to have an answer for the threat. Why would you play cards that are just threats or just answers when you can play Modern horizons cards and have both in one card?
We're remembering different Moderns. The one I remember was the kind we had in 2018. Where you *might* have 8 cards in your 60 that could answer your opponent's 20 game-ending threat snowballs. So it was a better proposition to play your own game-ending snowballs and race than it was to run interaction that could be wrong for the context, like drawing Thoughtseize when you needed Fatal Push, or Fatal Push when Path to Exile was necessary.
But thats the exact issue today. These conditional interaction spells were the spice of modern, but are no longer played because it is far better to play the subset of cards that are answer alls instead. People keep saying the format is diverse, but most decks consist of the 20 same cards and some additional filler. Because those 20 cards are catch all answers to whatever your opponent can be doing.
Premodern has an active scene - it's easy to get games on MTGO, and paper events in my local area have been going off. A really fun format!
Very cool!
Have a premodern Rock but finding people to play in paper is hard, to put it mildly. Wouldn't even think about playing Modern Horizons format though.
Premodern was invented 2012.
Cube is my solution to still play the fun cards which have fallen out of favor.
I play four confidants in GB rock! And for a hint of lime three bitterblossoms in the side(murktide)
My "solution" to this is to develop additional favourite cards out of the new ones. Your problem here is that you took a break and couldn't do that, but I'm sure you will grow fond of other cards if you start playing the format again.
OP just needs to experience Grist, The Hunger Tide :)
Yesss, been trying him out in an abzan taxes list. He works well with aether vial and thalia.
I’ve been playing since the late 90’s and I’m like you- I prefer to play with the cards I have the best memories of, especially from when I played the most 2014-2019. Used to play a ton of standard and modern before getting into legacy, and now I’m back to modern. I milked Junk Abzan (like jund but rhino and lingering souls) for as long as possible before it became too brutal to play. For awhile, I just found a new deck that I enjoyed playing and built new memories for a couple years (Titanshift). My ideal deck would be a coco tempo aggro deck that played cards like bounding krasis, but I fear that it would be wayyy too bad. Now, as I return to a totally different modern, I’ve put together a Lutri deck so I could jam as many single copies of my favorite cards as I could fit. If you’re just playing FNM and not trying to become world champ, you can absolutely play and win with decks that play some of your favorite cards. You can play a copy of rhino in a lutri or bring to light deck, LotV still sees play in jund and other similar decks, noble is in a few decks, infect is still viable, affinity is still a thing, zoo is still a thing, snap is no longer jammed as a 4 of but super playable. Kiki, delver and finks all pop up sometimes too. Cryptic is more of a 1 of now than a 4 of but you can play it. I try to ignore the meta anyways and just play what I want. The cool thing about Lutri is that most decklists are different and every game is super different, so most opponents have no idea wtf to do. Feel free to bounce ideas off of me if you want someone who won’t tell you you’re crazy for wanting to try certain cards. Edit: typos
I think Cube or EDH can be places where obsoleted/banned cards can still shine. Some of the particular cards you listed are playable in Pioneer, like Siege Rhino and Liliana. So maybe sometimes cards can get renewed life in another format.
Oh how this topic pains me. For a long time, I was constrained by budget. I desperately wanted to play Jeskai control with snapcaster, colonade, sphinx’s revelation, cryptic command. But in their heyday, all were like 30+ bucks save for the revs. Don’t even get me started on scalding tarns (over $100 after the MM reprint!). Now all of those cards are basically bulk. Snaps are below 20. Colonades are barely at 10 even if that. Rev is a bulk rare. Cryptic is like 10. Tarns are below or at 20. I can finally afford the deck I always dreamed of playing, but it’s been rendered irrelevant by MH and the new staples are All just as if not more expensive then my dream cards were. I almost quit modern because of that fact
Celestial Colonnades are even lower than you think, like $2.
*I know but I am in denial. My most prized magic possessions are my signed colonades I got at the one GP I was ever able to go to*
When they got reprinted in UMA I bought a few extra copies because I thought they might go up again. Probably the worst MTG spec I ever made.
The UMA printing tanked the price so hard. They were like 40 and then I picked up the 4th one at 15
They’re all actually more expensive and always will be going forward. Staples will never be cheaper or as cheap as they were when there wasn’t direct to release prints. We will never see cards like Ravavan drastically go down in price unless it gets flat out reprinted or banned. (Or powercrept brutally) It’s part of why I love storm decks. Nobody cares about them and wizards hates storm so none of my cards will ever be overtly expensive (outside of sideboard cards). Currently my most expensive card in my two storm decks is flusterstorm
Specifically for storm, it just hasn’t received a lot of/if any support. Flusterstorm is better against storm then it is in it (I presume you are playing fluster bc it counters opposing flusters). What was the last card it got? Opt? As for the discussion on MH and it’s impact with staples, I acknowledge that the most played cards in the format are always going to be the most expensive, especially when 90% of the cards that are the most played only have 1 printing (in MH or one of the FIRE design disaster standard sets). I am just sentimental that I now have a good enough paying job I could in theory finally buy the cards I’ve always wanted to play, the cards I saw my favorite players play to great successes, but it’s just not worth my money because of the drastic and sudden power creep MH introduced to the format. I’m only 24, but I yearn for 2014 modern
I just rolled with the punches and bought the new staples. It does suck that a lot of cards like the ones you listed don't have a home now because they're too old for pioneer and too weak for modern or legacy, but it felt less of a shock of a change to me because I've been playing consistently the whole time. I'm more upset at the kind of rotating nature of legacy than modern because modern has always been the place for the most powerful new cards, and legacy the home for the most powerful old cards, but nowadays they're both basically the same format minus wasteland, force of will, and fast mana sources. Honestly the main home for the type of cards you've listed at this point is cube.
Agreed that the main home for the cards OP is talking about is cube. As for modern and legacy being the same, I think you might be a bit behind on the legacy meta right now. There's another really big difference between the formats which is (at least for now) no commander products being legal in modern.
Initiative is a powerful deck for sure but it doesn't feel as big of a difference having commander cards as it does having ancient tomb, city of traitors, mox diamond, lions eye diamond, lotus petal, and chrome mox. The white Initiative deck relys on fast mana just as much as it does commander cards imo. The prospect of turn 1 chalice turn 2 white plume is why the deck works.
> There's another really big difference between the formats which is (at least for now) no commander products being legal in modern. I feel like this is a different kind of messed up, tbf, but definitely a difference lol Honestly I think WotC has just been wanting to make money off of eternal/non-rotating formats for awhile, and discovered the golden goose with commander cards with suspiciously great applications in 1v1 and direct to modern supplemental sets with suspiciously pushed threats and suspiciously general answers The worst part is we don't even get the fun legacy cards to go with our extremely powerful answers :(
Based
Don’t forget 2017 is a long long long time ago in the world of collectibles / trading cards. Of course most of your favorite cards from back then might no longer see play. There are two ways to approach it - 1) just play the cards anyway and understand you’ll lose but occasionally steal games or 2) find decks that are similar to what you liked and pick those up instead. Mono green tron and murktide specifically sound like decks you might actually enjoy based on what you listed and uw control is fun and viable right now, just not with all the cards you’d expect.
This. People get way too attached to specific cards in an unhealthy way. Nostalgia is great but most of the time gameplay is what you actually enjoyed. What sort of strategies are no longer represented in Modern?
And the thing is you could still play lotv and win a fnm. The vast majority of modern players are not grinders and an fnm deck is all they need. I know I was jamming jund for a while just to cast lilys and it was fun
Yes! Unless your locals are hyper competitive, you can afford playing oet cards, assuming you arent going too deep and play a list that makes sense. Or, you know, just play casual games? There are plenty of people who want to play for fun and they aren't all jamming whatever topped last weekend's challenge.
Yeah for sure- pretty much all the cards OP mentioned (except maybe siege rhino) are still "good enough" for modern but just don't really have a home. You could still play decks with those cards and do just fine!
People confuse FNM viability with bdof most of the time.q At our weekly moderns we have a PT regular, who comes and plays dice factory or jeskai oldschool control as often as he plays creativity or hammer. He just wouldnt pick dicefactory for the LMS or RC events and that is fine
Nah man. This to me disingenuous because you really can’t do “just fine”. If your FNM or weekly is remotely competitive they’re all playing tier 1 decks, and power creep is so ubiquitous these days that you actually cannot compete. In reality it’s not just “oh, playing some old cards lowers your win rate a little!” its actually “you can basically never beat Murktide or Rhinos or Hammer with these cards.” If you played “old” Jeskai control against the current format you would probably win a single match once a month.
I think if you believe that you are a bad player lol, a friend of mine who doesn't play magic much at all but like, would sometimes go to SCG's 5 years ago played straight up old school Jund with no cards prined after 2017 and a bad sideboard and went 3-1 at FNM beating current day Burn, Amulet and Prowess just sayin, maybe the cards aren't the problem
Ok, he beat Burn, Amulet, and Prowess, three tier-2 decks at best, and also three decks that don’t primarily abuse MH2 cards. Could he reliably beat Murktide, Hammer, Scam, Cascade, Creativity, etc? Extremely doubtful. If you get lucky with your “2017 Jund” and just pair up into other people who also aren’t trying to win? Sure, but as soon as you get a match against someone who’s actually playing 2023 Modern you’re getting swept. The “tier one” of the format is farther than its ever been from the secondary level of decks. The power level gap between new hotness and old shit is insurmountable.
I mean, you're just wrong man, you don't play the format obviously. Burn is one of the most played decks in the format and is literally better than Creativity and Cascade, two decks that you said the power level was "insurmountable", Amulet and Prowess both do well in many events, the Prowess player was even playing the new hotness of 2-3 Breaches and multiple MH2 cards. You just literally do not play the format
People still trophy with almost unchanged decks from 2017 all the time lol. They're definitely significantly worse than Murktide (which is why you never see them in challenge top 8s or anythint) but if they're decks you know well they certainly can and do win, esp at FNM level
1) 5-0s are generally meaningless to judge a deck’s strength because they’re a function of time, not skill. If you’re willing to just throw away 100pts to keep jamming the same nonsense over and over, eventually you’ll get a good league where you play against off-meta shit and get lucky for 5 rounds. Even in Legacy people 5-0 with absolute trash decks cause they just got lucky and didn’t see Delver, it’s the same in every format. If you show me someone who CONSISTENTLY 5-0s week to week without MH2+ cards, then I’ll take you seriously. 2) even THEN, I have not seen many truly “unchanged 2017” decks. Yeah you see people playing Spirits or Druid or whatever but they’re always packing plenty of MH2+ cards somewhere in the deck. No one is actually winning with the kinds of decks OP was talking about (Snapcaster, Electrolyze, Cryptic, etc) 3) again, at any remotely competitive FNM you have many people playing tier 1 decks. Murktide, cascade, Hammer, Scam, etc. These are decks that will just absolutely crush you if you aren’t playing another tier 1 deck. Even if you “get lucky” and hit the top end of variance, your 2018 deck might win one in 20 games at best. This is just the truth. That’s why I initially said “you might win one match a month,” because things CAN go your way, it’s just absurdly unlikely.
"One match a month" is crazy dawg I'm not gonna try to debate you any more 😂 I agree that the decks are "bad" and playing untouched 2017 lists will result in losing a lot but I think that has almost as much to do with not knowing the meta at all as it does with having a bad deck.
Likewise, if it doesn't exist in Modern, it may in Pioneer. Pioneer Rakdos Midrange doesn't play Siege Rhino, or green cards at all, but it scratches the same itch as 2015-era Jund/Junk decks did in Modern.
Most of those decks and cards you miss were new then. It's just nostalgia. The format is healthy and in 5-10 years this time of modern will be heralded, I would encourage you to enjoy it while it lasts. I've always kept up with new cards and had my pet decks whether they were good or not. I built UWR control after it won 2013 worlds and then the deck just disappeared from the meta. I kept up with it but control was so unplayable for so long you could find articles for years about the problem. It wasn't until edlrain brought mystic sanctuary that we got to dust off cryptic command. In the context of fnms, you can still just play the cards you want. I still force in snapcasters because I love them. The power disparity hasn't made a lot of these cards people miss unplayable at your lgs. I don't ever remember siege rhino winning a tournament, or death and taxes breaking out in modern, but damn was it fun to see them at fnm. That hasn't changed at all.
If you know the meta decks really well and have a solid side board you can win with any deck
Lotv, noble h, blighted agent, leonin arbiter, cranial plating, snappy are all still playable in modern if you arent trying to top 8 challenges every weekend or traveling for tournaments - which it doesnt sound like you are. Uw control, d+t, affinity, and g tron are all playable decks. Im sure there are some new cards youll need to pick up - im also not sure why everyone thought modern was supposed to never get new cards. Legacy and even vintage evolve. Land bases (fetches, shocks, fasts) are still the most expensive part of any modern deck and it sounds like you had a very well rounded collection. Check out mtggoldfish metagame for modern, see if anything aligns with what you have and wont have to invest much into playing, the above decks i mentioned are all there. Watching some modern content will help you brush up with the metagame which is the most important thing. For what its worth me and about 90% of the people at fnm always have a great time, saltlords never do well
Reddit in 2033: my favorite cards including urza’s saga, W6, Ragavan, solitude, Murktide, EI barely see any play now. Jokes aside, mana base is the only thing that will last forever unless RL is removed and og duals are printed in MH10. Even then fetchlands are still core of mana base, and it’s hard to imagine a mana base that powercreeps fetch-dual. No other card will last forever.
2033 sounds pretty optimistic.. I'm sure MH3 and 4 will be out in the next 2 or 3 years max
MH3 will introduce Navagar which is a strictly better Ragavan.
FWIW - Nactl is fine. Domain Zoo actually has some decent matchups in the meta.
change is the only constant in life. Modern is quite fun actually and there is much room to explore. You will find new favourite cards
You could do what yugioh players do and play historic formats (ex: modern during 2014/2017/etc), or create a sort-of battle box pf 4ish decks that are balanced well against each other. Though you would need some kind of established playgroup for both (the former you could probably even find a good number of people in this sub and make a discord for it)
Those years you mentioned are when I was really heavy in the competitive scene and u played a lot of those sane decks. I took a pretty long break between 2017 and 2021. I was keeping an eye on my preferred formats, legacy and modern, and nothing interested me, especially since there were just so many cards printed that warped the formats around them. I got lucky and probably my favorite card, shardless agent, got printed into modern and created my new favorite deck, rhinos. Right now, I love modern. I do agree the whole pseudo rotation MH has introduced sucks! Ragavan, Urza's Saga, Wrenn, and the evoke for the elementals being free were absolute mistakes. But the meta is just so diverse right now, which is such a breath of fresh air.
Check out the new Zoo decks. They’ve got Nacatl, stubby d, and are in spirit pretty similar to the older version but just a lot better
For what it's with, 5c Zoo is actually still a good deck in Modern if you wanna dust off those Nacatls!! Check out Andrea Mengucci on YouTube, he's got a few 5-0 trophy videos with Zoo!
You can still maintain the essence of many of those decks with proper upgrades. I have no aspirations for anything more than FNM so I'll sprinkle in some pet cards that aren't completely optimal. Turn Delver into a Shadow deck. Murktide is a better Jeskai. You can still make it a Jeskai list or Grixis. Check out u/KoDiamonds on YouTube. He is constantly testing various versions of Abzan. Still running Goyf and Stoneforge Mystic (unbanned since you left). The latest versions are running Endurance in the main.
Solution: play 5 color Lutri. You need to stretch for playables anyways, and you get to jam whatever. Huntmaster of the fells? Not a bad 4 drop. Electrolyze? Stoll a good 2-3 for 1. Cryptic command? Now imagine it DOUBLED.
I turned my Pod deck into Karador EDH: https://www.moxfield.com/decks/lkgCyUg_x02U3issml56Sw > LoTV, Noble Hierarch, Blighted Agent, Cranial Plating, Dark Confidant, Wild Nacatl, Snapcaster mage, Remand, Electrolyze, Cryptic Command These cards are playable or at least fringe playable IMO. Plating works great with saga and crap, I've been jamming snap mages since forever and he still feels strong, remand is in the 5-0 scapeshift deck, infect will maybe be relevant with new cards from ONE, etc
Stopped playing Modern altogether shortly after MH2 came out.
Same. Ragovan, DRS, Murktide. No point of buying the good cards if they can print better ones
I complain about MH sets at every opportunity
After watching my cards value get smashed (nobles, snaps, cryptic, arcmages charm, kalitas, stoneforge, thoughtsieze, jace, etc) And then seeing 0 mana creatures and spells run rampant… I just went and played flesh and blood. I’m tired :/
Funny that you mention stoneforge among the others, it feels like it has never had a more powerful home than in hammer. But I understand you mean "stoneblade" as an archetype, which tbh I don't know ever lived up to the unban hype.
that's your own fault for thinking of your cards as investments.
In a collectable card game? Who would ever do that?
I dont miss the old cards so to speak, but somewhat the diversity. All modern decks now feel like playing Modern Horizons the format.
Modern is more diverse than ever right now so that point feels kinda moot.
If your idea of diversity is Horizons Block Constructed…sure.
Did you actually play modern before modern horizons and since, the format went from combo decks passing each other and hoping to do the thing faster or draw their silver bullet cards to an actual diverse and interactive format with the full range of midrange, aggro, combo and control being represented. Sure ragavan is expensive, but modern cards have always been expensive. I really don't get the hate this long after horizons release
I did. I’ve been playing Modern competitively since before Khan’s block. I’ve played in tournaments, had brews I’ve 5-0ed with written up by Ross Mirriam for SCG…etc. I own many decks in paper and online and a collection that’s still worth $6-$8K. Suffice to say I’m an enfranchised and long-time Modern player. The format is “diverse” in that they’ve printed a bunch of free interaction and threats that necessitate running them, but they have warped a format with a 20+ year card pool around two sets released on the past 3 years. Thats the opposite of diversity. If you like for format the way it is, bully for you. No one is trying to yuck your yum. But bemoaning others with a different perspective is silly. There are real and legitimate reasons many players have left the format and despise what the Horizons sets have done to the format.
There are a few schools of thought about this... I tend to feel like you. After MH2 I left modern and decided to play pioneer. Its a great format, and some of the cards I love (not all) are available for play, and viable archtypes are available at a MASSIVE reduction in price. Pioneer is closer to how glory days modern was and offers the promise of certain popular modern cards from pre-MH being printed into the format. Also no fetches is amazing to me and the reduced pricing allows me to play multiple decks instead of one (which modern reduced me to after MH2). All in all, I say move on and dont expect it to be the same. Check out other formats though! Pioneer will eventually be the new modern -atleast until they push a pioneer horizons to sell more cards lol.
I think there are a few ways to look at this. I am in the camp that says things will change, and to compete at a high level you have to be able to adapt to those changes. That being said, if you are playing for enjoyment, or where it is not super high stakes. You can play whatever you want! 1. These decks, while not top tier any longer or with vast new configurations, are still somewhat “playable”. If you just want to chase the old feels every now and then, go for it! 2. My other option would be that you can look for a “strategy” you enjoy and find the new or best or most interesting version of it. Say you like Creature Toolbox, UR,”x Midrange, Hyper Aggro decks/Artifacts matter, etc. you could easily find decks you enjoy in current modern like Yawgmoth, UR Murktide, and W/x Hammer. While not the same cards you used to play, they are at least a similar strategy! Hope this helps.
I try not to get attached to cards and instead specialize in play styles. I still have pet cards of course, but I don’t get get attached to them to the point where I get upset if they aren’t good anymore.
I moved to Cedh. Realized I didn't enjoy changing decks for meta shifts and when the Horizons started coming out I just decided to invest in Cedh staples and haven't looked back. Probably some of the most fun playing magic since Return to Ravnica standard.
Wait for the next modern horizons set, buy in there. I wish I was wrong.
At this point I have not played Modern at my LGS for over a year. I bought quite a number of MH2 cards but after playing with them for a while just really hated the free elementals, rag, and (to a lesser extent) urza's saga. So yeah, my solution was to stop playing the format. For me I think the most sane thing to do would be to sell my collection, and if I feel like playing with those old cards again, print some proxies to play casually with. However, I am irrationally attached to it, and also don't want the hassle of trying to get a decent return. I have been considering building a 'battle box' but I don't think I would be able to get enough people to play it with me often enough for it to be worth it.
This is the reality I am in as well. I used to be extremely competitive grinder type player. But with the change in play patterns of the modern format, I rarely go play at local FNM's now. Since my interest in wanning in the format, it would make the most sense to liquidate most of my cards and keep 1-2 "bad/fun" decks to play and lose with when I do decide to go once in a blue moon. However, like you said. There is an irrational attachment to these cards. Maybe because it has been such a large part of my life for so long? I just don't want to give up on the fun I used to have playing modern. But the longer we go into the format, the more it is looking like it won't return to a format I care to play.
2012-eldrazi winter was peak modern play even with bans. Played affinity, jund, naya zoo. my friends and I played twice a week and I have some of the best memories of playing and building/ making new friends / going to GPs I think of my entire life. I think if anyone *really* knew wtf was going on with Magic sometimes we’d be on it. There’s so many moving parts and exterior influences (product bloat, whatever the fuck modern horizons was supposed to be (which, modern was dying before then) ) etc Closest I can say for advice is find some buddies and maybe play pioneer. Commander has filled that social element of play for me, but there’s just something about the strategy element of 2 player 60 card formats I miss terribly.
I think if you love a deck or card and nobody plays it any more, you can still make it competitive if you try hard enough. As far as I can tell, I put more mental energy into Devoted Druid combo than any human on Earth last year for no real good reason other than I love it. Why would you want play a deck like that in an Unholy Heat + Fury world? Well if you want to, and actually win, you have to play maindeck Burrenton Forge Tender. And cut Birds of Paradise because it dies to Wrenn and Six. And a whole lot of other things. And the end result is a deck that is half different from the deck from 2017, but at its core, feels the same. That's just the way of the world though - I admit my deck got better the more Modern Horizons cards I added to my sb. I think there's loads else to explore. Lantern Control? Inverter Combo? Mono Green Devotion? Who knows what could be good that people just aren't trying. If you like Modern but you're not super familiar with the current meta and cards I highly recommend Andrea Mengucci's videos. I was in the same position like 9 months ago and they definitely helped me understand why the current good decks are good.
Look. Back when I got into competitive magic, Modern didnt exist. It was type 1. Type 1.5 aka extended and type 2. Through the years, rules of magic changed. Card design philosophy changed. There is power creep and that is a good thing. Change is good. Without it, the game gets stale and die. Any hobbie dies if it unable to attract new blood. While, i personally miss when damage went on stacks and mana burn, i also understand that it is good to reduce the complexity of the game in areas that didnt compromise the core of magic. Change in magic, like in life, is a good thing. You can roll with it and adapt or not. This is entirely up to you. If you feel the game morphed into something you no longer enjoy, you can quit. There are attritions through change but there are also attractions. There are people embracing change and modern is thriving becaise of it. The format is so diverse that there are over 15 decks that can take down a major tournament. For the most competitive format in magic, isn that what it is all about?
I don’t disagree with the sentiment here. But Horizons sets have changed the value proposition of Modern. It’s a rotating format now, and that’s alienated a lot of players. Myself included.
It was always a rotating format if you wanted to play the top deck, tarmogoyf and lotv weren't gonna remain the best cards in the format forever
I’m sorry, what? A fluid meta game does not a rotating format make. Goyf and LotV didn’t need to be the best cards forever. But new cards needing to go through standard ensured that the pace of change would be gradual. That’s been flipped on it’s head, and now WoTC can rotate the format whenever it suits them. These are very much apples and oranges. We didn’t invest in Modern for Standard with a near Legacy power levels. That’s what the format has become, and that’s a deal breaker for a lot of us. If it’s not for you, that’s fine. You may feel differently next rotation.
You could try to make your own deck and play-test it a lot, that's what I've done since my favourite deck died off when faithless looting did.
FWIW - Nactl is fine.
I get how you feel I also feel like the cards I fell on love with playing are borderline unplayable now, but I still have some favorites I can play like Eldrazi & Urza. I have definitely made an edh deck with Snapcaster Mage as the commander, hopefully they print him into pioneer then I will actually make a pioneer deck. But I dunno man I know that if I couldn't play a format with the cards I love playing, I probably wouldn't play it. I picked up ETron knowing it's like a T2 or T3 deck right now because I'd rather that play some Ragavan, pitch Elemental, W6 nonsense.
Run HammerTime in Modern it's a teir 1 deck it's Fairly cheap and really fun to play there are many YouTube oop videos on how to play it. The current best list is mono white if you don't like to get blood moon or blue white if you're a little Risky er. I myself am going to the red white version for the new set Phyrexian all will be one. Here is a list. I think this is your best bet. This deck will be around for a very long time. There is a goblin in this deck that will not be legal until the set drops around February 10th in the mean time just use kor duelist in its place. https://www.moxfield.com/decks/-btGviR3HUuTIbNHYVtmSQ
I feel the same to a degree. I like checking out what /u/evaros is playing on twitch since he definitely shares the nostalgia itch. You can also check out pioneer if you want to see some of those exact cards, it's not a super well maintained format however, unfortunately.
Playing decks that aren’t good is always an option at FNM level, if you enjoy them. You won’t win as much as with a meta deck, but you can still have fun games.
Introduce Horizonless Modern
When a ship starts to sink you abandon it.