Modern RCQ Power Rankings Week 3

Plenty of action in SoCal this past weekend, as usual, with two 2-slot qualifiers in modern, and another in limited. TLK members Grant Strom and Kazi Baker both made the top 8 of the second Collector Legion RCQ of the season, and Kazi ended up taking home one of the invites, which locks in the team's first member for Denver! Let's take a  dive into our paper data after this weekend.

Here are the two sets of top 8 standings after swiss for the RCQs this weekend.

Collector Legion 9-16-23: 2 slots

1st - Bryan Ferguson - Murktide (6-1)

2nd - Steven Haker - Titan (5-0-2)

3rd - Grant Strom - Jeskai Breach Combo (5-0-2)

4th - Wappa Hamada - Rhinos (5-1-1)

5th - Oscar Carlos - Black Coffers (5-1-1)

6th - Sebastian Rizvi-Neuman - Indomitable Creativity (5-1-1)

7th - Kazi Baker - Murktide (5-1-1)

8th - Alex Bosserman - Tron (5-1-1)

Finch 7 Sparrow 9-16-23: 2 slots

1st - Ariel Kimmok - Hammertime (5-1)

2nd - Zane Toledo - Yawg (ft. Cauldron, 4-0-2)

3rd - Jennier Carson - Tron (4-0-2)

4th - Guillermo Sida - Scam (4-1-1)

5th- Ivan Espinoza - 4cElementals (4-1-1)

6th - Jake Parea - Yawg (ft. Cauldron) (4-1-1)

7th - Nick Tu - Titan (4-1-1)

8th - Dana Fischer - Burn (4-1-1)

Cumulative top 8s (SoCal, Q indicates Denver qualifications)

4x Titan (Q)
4x Tron (Q)
3x Murktide (2Q)
3x Scam
3x Yawg
2x Rhinos
2x Coffers
2x Burn
1x Living End
1x GW Company
1x UB Shadow (Q)
1x Eldrazi Tron
1x Domain Zoo (Q)
1x Hammertime (Q)
1x 4c Elementals
1x Creativity
1x Breach Combo

Some overall thoughts: first off Agatha's Soul Cauldron has been insane in Yawgmoth with some small adjustments to the list. Titan seems to be performing extremely well in Southern California's meta, despite the meta appearing, on paper at least, to be ready for it. This Coffers deck could be real, however, the person piloting it is the only one top8ing with it so far, so it could be more of a testament to that individual's skill and choices than the power of the deck. Murktide will likely see less representation in top 8 going forward, as both the players who put it in the top 8 are moving onto Denver and therefore soft-banned (sick brags, I know).

To go over a couple of decks to look out for which will not be making the top 10: I think Domain Zoo is going to be moved off of the list for now. With a lack of representation, it's really hard to keep calling this deck a threat. There are certainly a few people on it, but I think that more people would be on it if the deck was as consistently powerful as the other decks on the top 10 will be.

Coffers is worth keeping an eye on. While I do think that the pilot matters a lot in our SoCal RCQs, I cannot outright ignore the fact that the deck has been putting up some reasonable showings in MTGO challenges week-to-week. Definitely a deck I will need to keep an eye on going forward, especially if I see more people pick up the deck in paper.

Creativity making a comeback? Doubtful. The deck is certainly worse than it was before the release of LOTR, but I think that may be in part to turning from a control deck with a combo-finish and a marginal matchup spread to being very polarized. It feels significantly swingier than it did before, and because of that I feel it has been less attractive. Definitely lacks placings in challenges and MTGO data, but maybe in paper it could see a resurgence.

Here's my list for the top 10 decks. We'll dive a bit deeper below as to why things have shifted so much this week, but if you want to skip the rest this is what it'll boil down to:

10. Burn
9. Living End
8. Murktide
7. 4c Elementals
6. Hammertime
5. Yawg
4.Rhinos
3. Titan
2. Scam
1. Tron

10. Burn

We're going to knock burn down a peg, despite its additional top 8 this week, mostly because it seems a bit underrepresented and the same player has been top8ing with it. That isn't to say burn is not a good deck. While it still has the same consistency issues it always has had, with its polarized matchup spread and ability to lose to itself, its sideboard tools and especially Roiling Vortex have been insane. But it finds itself killing without interaction on turn 4 quite often, and a lot of decks which would traditionally be soft to the speed of burn have developed tools and gameplans to combat it, whereas the interactive decks which could traditionally board into better outs now lose to Roiling Vortex. Interesting spot for the deck to be in, and excellent at keeping a room honest.

9. Living End

No top 8s for this list this week, and also virtually no representation. This deck is mostly here because when it is played, it seems to do very well. However, if we do not see more results from this archetype or a significant uptick in representation in online or paper results, it will likely have to be off the list. One of the best players I personally know (and this list's designer) insists this is the one. The gameplan is so defined and so executable that planning around it just isn't that relevant, according to him. I'm honestly surprised I haven't seen this deck a bit more, but perhaps I'm just not assessing it correctly.

8. 4c Elementals

This is our first tier 2 deck (consistent top 8 threat, has trouble against top 8 players). This list is still on the same plan, has even gotten results this past week, and seems to be the bane of r/modernmagic's existence as of late. So how have we not moved? Well, first and foremost, this list will struggle in general to crack the top 4 as long as those spots are being taken up by our tier one decks, as each of them has even to dominating matchups against 4c Elementals. Second, Yawg's move up the ladder is a serious problem. While cauldron itself is actually not great against elementals - Solitude interacts fairly positively, Prismatic Ending trades one for one, Fury is still enough of a problem to still be fine against it - the mere presence of yawg is an issue for this type of deck.

7. Murktide

This list won me my most recent RCQ. This, coupled with my opponent's misplays and terrible topdecks, made for a pretty good day. I think this list is much better since the Preordain unban, and is just overall decent. It also advanced my theoretical finals opponent to Denver. So why is it losing a spot in this weeks power rankings? Well, with Yawgmoth rising, Murktide takes a significant hint. I think that Yawgmoth may be arguably a tier one deck in the format with the new addition of Agatha's Cauldron, and while I may have won it on occasion, the overall the matchup is abysmal, and Cauldron not only makes Yawg better, but skews its Murktide matchup even further. I worry about this deck going forward, especially as Rhinos continues to be highly represented, Yawg rises, and Leyline of the Void becomes more and more playable.

6. Hammertime

As the Finch and Sparrow top 8 participants can tell you, ain't much scarier than knowing you're on the draw facing down Hammer. Congratulations to the homie Ariel for taking that RCQ down all the way, he's a crusher and hopefully he'll crush Denver as well. This deck actually benefits from Yawg being a bit more present, and with Titan and Tron moving or staying up, I am cautiously optimistic about this deck being a bit better positioned going forward. I will say it will likely never climb higher than this, unfortunately, as it is incredibly difficult to pilot optimally, but its beautiful to see. An excellent deck to really dedicate yourself to, and certainly capable of getting results.

5. Yawgmoth

This is the big controversial take for the week. This cauldron card is f****** broken. It is insane how well it kills people, and I don't even think builds are optimized for it quite yet. The pilots who played it this week are excellent, and this is a hard deck to play, but its probably not quite optimized yet. Sitting across from this deck was painful in my own swiss rounds this past weekend. I think as we move forward, this deck could crack tier one, which starts with...

4. Rhinos

This deck kicks off our new and improved Tier One. Rhinos is still gas, and has been putting up decent numbers on the board, somewhat proportional to its representation. This deck is still not easy to play, but requires MTG fundamentals moreso than memorization and exploration of intricate kill lines, which makes it a great deck to pick up for experienced grinders, who seem to be loving this deck around LA and San Diego. It has felt a bit less powerful as people find a build that competes with Titan and Murktide a bit better, but this deck can certainly adjust.

3. Amulet Titan

We've expanded Tier One (consistent top 8, regularly threatening invites) specifically to include Titan. While it is clear that hours are very important, I think this deck has been doing a lot of work. It's made every top 8 this season except one, and the dedicated pilots are going to stack up results as they play the deck. What's the difference between this, and say, hammer? Two major things: this deck is much harder to interact with on a positive axis, and there are way more Titan players crawling out of the woodwork than I originally anticipated. There are definitely decks with positive matchups (Murktide, Scam), but well-versed pilots can really make it hard to beat.

2. Scam

Deck gud. Play Scam. Win games. This has the same traits as some of the other midrangey decks of rewarding fundamentals and playing around your opponent blahblahblah, but it also can just kill you on turn one. Like sure, you might not be dead, but you have no removal or gameplan, and Scam Man is attacking for six every turn after he dashes a Ragavan. The deck has such sick openers, it is hard to justify moving it lower. It does lack top8s considering its representation, and Titan keeps crushing, but I just feel like between the results it is still getting in paper coupled with its domination of MTGO challenges, it should continue to be here.

1.Tron

Of note, the Tron list has changed. I think this is closer to what you want to play in more hostile metagames, as the extra land, blast zone, and boseiju give you more linearity than the "Handshake" list which is playing multiple Urza's Sagas and less Scrying. This just isn't gonna move anytime soon unless it suddenly starts, you know, losing.

We'll be back in about two weeks or so for our next Power Rankings, SoCal isn't going to have any RCQs this weekend due to Worlds, and I hope everyone who is going has a great time!

-Kazi