Comic Con Africa 2022 Modern Metagame Breakdown
Comic Con Africa 2022 Modern Metagame Breakdown
By Kiran Mani
On the 24th September 2022 MTG players were spoiled with another big modern event following on from the RCQ held just over a month earlier which was hosted at Comic Con Africa by Easy Gaming Group & Unplug Yourself.
What follows is a brief metagame overview aimed at those who are more competitively inclined and on the look-out for what to expect at their next competitive event and those who are just merely interested to see what everyone else played on the day and what did well.
Overall Metagame
Archetype | Number | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
Burn | 7 | 13% |
UB Mill | 4 | 8% |
Murktide | 3 | 6% |
UW Hammer | 2 | 4% |
UR Delver | 2 | 4% |
G Tron | 2 | 4% |
Yawgmoth | 2 | 4% |
UR Breach | 2 | 4% |
UW Chalice Control | 2 | 4% |
GDS | 2 | 4% |
Heliod | 1 | 2% |
UB Pioneer | 1 | 2% |
E Tron | 1 | 2% |
4c Vivien | 1 | 2% |
Living End | 1 | 2% |
Mono Red Prowess | 1 | 2% |
8-Wack Goblins | 1 | 2% |
Temur Rhinos | 1 | 2% |
Enchantress | 1 | 2% |
Abzan Midrange | 1 | 2% |
RG Titanshift | 1 | 2% |
4c Omnath (Counterspell) | 1 | 2% |
4c Omnath (No counterspell) | 1 | 2% |
Amulet Titan | 1 | 2% |
Bant Midrange | 1 | 2% |
Bant Blink | 1 | 2% |
Ad Naus | 1 | 2% |
UW Spirits | 1 | 2% |
4c Kiki Chord | 1 | 2% |
Affinity (8 cast) | 1 | 2% |
Abzan Combo | 1 | 2% |
UB Control | 1 | 2% |
5c Domain Zoo | 1 | 2% |
Mono Black Midrange | 1 | 2% |
As mentioned in the RCQ metagame article, South Africa has always had an interesting modern metagame compared with those of overseas owning to local card availability and rising cost of the game. This however does not deter players from pitching up at big event ready to dust off their beloved pet decks.
“Meta” / Popular Online Decks vs Non Meta Representation:
Archetype | Number |
|---|---|
Burn | 7 |
UB Mill | 4 |
Murktide | 3 |
UW Hammer | 2 |
Yawgmoth | 2 |
UR Breach | 2 |
UW Chalice Control | 2 |
GDS | 2 |
4c Vivien | 1 |
Living End | 1 |
Temur Rhinos | 1 |
RG Titanshift | 1 |
4c Omnath (Counterspell) | 1 |
4c Omnath (No counterspell) | 1 |
Amulet Titan | 1 |
Affinity (8 cast) | 1 |
5c Domain Zoo | 1 |
E Tron | 1 |
G Tron | 2 |
35 | |
67% | |
Everything else | 33% |
This metagame at this event was somewhat different to the recent RCQ in that there was a significantly higher number of popular, well established, archetypes. Burn was the most represented which is no surprise as it is one of the most affordable modern decks at the moment. Interestingly though there was not a single burn pilot that made it into the top 16; and in fact from the top 3 represented decks: Burn, Mill and Murktide (total = 27%) only one of them, the Mill player, made it to the top 16.
Below is a representation of deck clusters and we see that there is a relatively balanced mix of aggro, combo and fair midrange-style strategies.
Things that were consistent with the RCQ Metagame is that there’s a continued under-representation of cascade decks (only 2 pilots!) with yet again no representation of creativity or the very popular “Rakdos Scam” deck.
Popular Cluster Representations:
Aggro | 25.00% |
|---|---|
Burn | 7 |
Mono Red Prowess | 1 |
8-Wack Goblins | 1 |
Affinity (8 cast) | 1 |
5c Domain Zoo | 1 |
UW Hammer | 1 |
Fair / Midrange | 23.00% |
|---|---|
Mono Black Midrange | 1 |
UB Control | 1 |
UW Spirits | 1 |
Bant Midrange | 1 |
Bant Coco | 1 |
4c Omnath (Counterspell) | 1 |
4c Omnath (No counterspell) | 1 |
Murktide | 1 |
GDS | 1 |
Combo & Combo-esque | 23.00% |
|---|---|
Heliod | 1 |
Yawgmoth | 1 |
4c Vivien | 1 |
4c Kiki Chord | 1 |
UR Breach | 1 |
(Enchantress) | 1 |
Ad Naus | 1 |
Abzan Combo | 1 |
Big Mana | 9.00% |
|---|---|
G Tron | 2 |
RG Titanshift | 1 |
Amulet Titan | 1 |
(E Tron) | 1 |
Cascade | 4.00% |
|---|---|
Temur Rhinos | 1 |
Living End | 1 |
Top 16:
Looking at the top 16 it’s great to see that both UW control players (which happens to be my pet deck as well) placed first and second! Overall there was a great variety of decks in the top 16 but one thing that stood out was that 3 of the 4 players who registered some variant of an omnath pile did extremely well and placed in the top 8.
The online metagame evolves much more rapidly than a paper one and the recent printing of Leyline Binding has made an impact on the MTGO meta which hasn’t been seen in ours as yet, it will be interesting to see if decks featuring leyline binding make appearances in future events as currently they strong forces to be reckoned with in the trenches of online competitive play and are considered front-runners of the format.
Top 16 Goldfish Links: | ||
|---|---|---|
Ribeiro, Ricardo | UW Control | https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/5141696#online |
Krsmanovic, Nikola | UW Control | https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/5141699#online |
Cleghorn, Chris | Amulet Titan | https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/5141701#online |
McBride, Timothy | 4c Kiki Chord | https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/5141703#online |
Bezuidenhout , Wald | 4c Vivien Combo | https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/5141704#online |
Schimper , Bavan | UB Control | https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/5141707#online |
Chetty, Keraan | 4c Omnath | https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/5141709#online |
v Niekerk, Pieter | RG Titanshift | https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/5141711#online |
Matthews, Sebastian | UW Hammer | https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/5141716#online |
Ramos, Damian | Ad Nauseum | https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/5141718#online |
Keller, Rudolf | Abzan Combo | https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/5141721#online |
v de Spuy, Ryno | Enchantress | https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/5141726#online |
Soldin, Richard | UW Hammer | https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/5141730#online |
Janse v Rensburg, Nell | UW Spirits | https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/5141733#online |
Erksine, Shane | UB Mill | https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/5141738#online |
Wild, Robert | Heliod | https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/5141741#online |
