Hello, and welcome back to Metagame Mentor, your weekly guide to the top decks and latest Constructed developments on the path to the Pro Tour. With Modern Regional Championship Qualifiers (RCQs) now underway, it's the perfect moment to sift through successful decklists and uncover spicy, unexpected standouts. Today, I'll highlight eight of these decks, each offering hidden potential or a compelling option for anyone looking to try something new.

The Modern Metagame at the RCQs

To set the stage for the Regional Championship Qualifiers, I recently wrote a Modern format primer featuring sample decklists alongside an overview of the game plans and key cards of the top decks. I followed that up with a look at the most impactful additions from Magic: The Gathering® | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, such as Casey Jones, Vigilante in Jeskai Blink; Skateboard in Izzet Affinity; and Sewer-veillance Cam in Emry, Lurker of the Loch decks.

However, these articles and their metagame overview were largely based on decklists from Magic Online tournaments. With RCQs now underway, I was curious to see how the tabletop metagame might differ.

To investigate, I analyzed over 200 decklists from 28 RCQs across the world, as published by organizers or collected from aggregator websites. For each deck, I assigned points based on its rectified number of net wins, calculated as the estimated number of match wins minus losses given the tournament size. By combining these points across all events, each archetype's share of the total rectified net wins blends popularity and performance into a single, comprehensive metric: the winner's metagame share.

Compared to the snapshot from my recent Modern primer, which was largely based on data from Magic Online, a few notable differences emerged. Jeskai Blink was less prominent at tabletop RCQs, while Izzet Affinity, Amulet Titan, and Domain Zoo appeared far more frequently at the RCQ top tables than on Magic Online. Beyond these standout shifts, decks like Eldrazi Ramp, Esper Blink, Samwise Gamgee Combo, and Golgari Yawgmoth also appeared more often in RCQ Top 8s. Given the relatively small sample size, it's difficult to draw statistically significant conclusions, but the biggest differences are nevertheless logical.

For one, Izzet Affinity, Amulet Titan, and Domain Zoo have posted strong win rates of late, whereas Jeskai Blink seems to be losing some momentum. A larger factor is the pace of metagame evolution. On Magic Online, invested players can pivot between decks with ease, causing trends to shift rapidly. At RCQs, by contrast, many players bring the same well-worn, sleeved deck they've piloted for years, relying on familiarity and experience to carry them.

Indeed, in the Modern metagame of the fall 2025 RCQs and Regional Championships, Izzet Affinity and Domain Zoo were already popular choices. So, their continued presence at RCQs today should not be surprising. Moreover, both decks are proactive and creature-driven, making them appealing options for competitive players who don't play Modern every week.

Amulet Titan's 9% share of the RCQ winner's metagame not only mirrors its tabletop numbers from fall 2025 but also highlights a key structural difference between digital and tabletop play. The deck is notoriously difficult to execute on Magic Online, where assembling land-based infinite combos demands dozens of clicks and precise trigger management each time. This process is both error-prone and time-consuming. In paper, you can simply demonstrate a loop with Aftermath Analyst to generate infinite mana. Consequently, Amulet Titan tends to be more prevalent at RCQs.

As a result of these differences, access to cards like Blood Moon or Meltdown in your sideboard may be more important for your RCQ deck than Magic Online data alone would suggest.

In any case, with its deep card pool spanning over 22 years of card history, Modern supports an immense range of viable strategies. In the remainder of this article, I turn to the "Other" category, highlighting eight spicy decks that reached at least a Top 8 finish at RCQs and that could catch opponents off guard. Let's take a look!

Gruul Cragganwick

4 Yargle and Multani 4 Badgermole Cub 4 Cragganwick Cremator 2 Delighted Halfling 2 Formidable Speaker 4 Ignoble Hierarch 1 Magus of the Moon 3 Screaming Nemesis 1 The Underworld Cookbook 1 Vexing Bauble 4 Lightning Bolt 1 Unholy Heat 2 Monstrous Emergence 1 Traverse the Ulvenwald 4 Blood Moon 4 Urza's Saga 1 Boseiju, Who Endures 1 Commercial District 2 Copperline Gorge 3 Forest 4 Misty Rainforest 2 Stomping Ground 4 Verdant Catacombs 1 Wooded Foothills 2 Vexing Bauble 1 Collector Ouphe 4 Endurance 2 Force of Vigor 2 Hexing Squelcher 2 Magebane Lizard 1 Pithing Needle 1 Shattering Spree

This Top 8 list from a 50-player RCQ aims to ramp into Cragganwick Cremator while holding exactly one card in hand: Yargle and Multani. Doing so lets Cragganwick Cremator deal 18 damage to your opponent, often ending the game on the spot. Formidable Speaker improves the deck's consistency, helping assemble this quirky combo. Even if you don't draw Cragganwick Cremator, you can reveal Yargle and Multani to Monstrous Emergence to blast Screaming Nemesis for a devastating 18 damage!

Ignoble Hierarch and Delighted Halfing enable a turn-two Blood Moon to disrupt your opponent's mana base. There's even a weird interaction with Urza's Saga. While the land's primary role is to fetch The Underworld Cookbook for setting up Cragganwick Cremator, an Urza's Saga that has already reached its second chapter retains its Construct-making ability under Blood Moon. The result is a Mountain that sticks around indefinitely at two lore counters, capable of building an ever-growing army of Constructs. Altogether, this deck dazzles with a plethora of unusual interactions.

Mono-Black Necro

2 Blackbloom Rogue 4 Boggart Trawler 4 Castle Locthwain 4 Fatal Push 4 Fell the Profane 3 Force of Despair 3 Inquisition of Kozilek 2 March of Wretched Sorrow 4 Necrodominance 4 Orcish Bowmasters 2 Shadow of Doubt 3 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse 1 Sign in Blood 4 Soul Spike 2 Surgical Extraction 10 Swamp 4 Thoughtseize 1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse 4 Break the Ice 4 Dauthi Voidwalker 4 Graveyard Trespasser 1 Liliana of the Veil 1 Sorin of House Markov

Necrodominance [JAa40T7Zx1GMYaKkhNmam]
Soul Spike

This Top 8 list from a 96-player RCQ proves that Necrodominance remains competitively viable in 2026 Modern. Its core philosophy is unchanged from its breakout performance at Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3 in 2024. Mono-Black Necro relies on cheap, efficient interaction to trade resources early, then reloads with Necrodominance. Because the enchantment actually draws cards, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse can nearly double your life total while you sculpt an ideal five-card hand.

There's also an opportunity to cast spells in the window between drawing cards and discarding down to hand size. You can pay an exorbitant amount of life, pitch a bunch of modal double-faced cards to March of Wretched Sorrow or Soul Spike, then pass the turn at a higher life total than you started with. Though Mono-Black Necro has moved to the fringes of the format, its game plan remains as potent as ever.

Jund Cosmogoyf

4 Serum Powder 1 Callous Sell-Sword 4 Cosmogoyf 4 Devourer of Destiny 2 Disciple of Freyalise 4 Manamorphose 4 Pact of Negation 4 Plunge into Darkness 4 Spoils of the Vault 4 Summoner's Pact 4 Thud 4 Blackcleave Cliffs 1 Blightstep Pathway 4 Blooming Marsh 2 Copperline Gorge 1 Darkbore Pathway 4 Gemstone Caverns 4 Gemstone Mine 1 Swamp 4 Chancellor of the Tangle 2 Extirpate 2 Meltdown 2 Pyroclasm 3 Temur Battle Rage 2 Veil of Summer

Tobias Gaudin notched back-to-back RCQ Top 8 finishes in Sweden with this spicy Jund Cosmogoyf deck. The main game plan is to exile 20 cards as quickly as possible, sometimes before the game even properly begins, with Serum Powder and Devourer of Destiny. Spoils of the Vault and Plunge into Darkness can also exile large chunks of your library while digging for key combo pieces.

Once a Cosmogoyf with 20 or more power hits the battlefield, Thud or Callous Sell-Sword's Adventure allows you to sacrifice it and deal lethal damage to your opponent. They won't have an opportunity to block or remove it. The deck can consistently threaten a turn-three kill, though it comes with inherent risks. It's fragile against discard or countermagic and it can occasionally lose to itself via Spoils of the Vault. Even so, these deep RCQ runs confirm its explosive potential.

Sultai Infect

4 Glistener Elf 4 Ignoble Hierarch 4 Blighted Agent 4 Phyrexian Crusader 4 Thoughtseize 4 Scale Up 4 Vines of Vastwood 4 Might of Old Krosa 4 Royal Treatment 2 Rancor 1 Snakeskin Veil 4 Verdant Catacombs 4 Blooming Marsh 3 Windswept Heath 1 Underground Mortuary 1 Pendelhaven 2 Forest 1 Swamp 2 Nurturing Peatland 2 Overgrown Tomb 1 Breeding Pool 3 Veil of Summer 3 Drown in Ichor 3 Nature's Claim 2 Damping Sphere 4 Leyline of the Void

This Top 4 list from a 28-player RCQ aims to deploy an Infect creature and boost its power to 10 for a one-shot kill. A turn-two victory is possible by enhancing Glistener Elf with Scale Up and Might of Old Krosa, though any blocker would halt that line. More often, the deck relies on unblockable threats like Blighted Agent or Phyrexian Crusader to slip through defenses and secure the win.

Infect was once a premier Modern strategy, seeing plenty of play roughly a decade ago. Since then, it has drifted toward the margins of the format. However, with Boros Energy currently one of the most popular decks, protection from red and white becomes highly relevant. In that context, Phyrexian Crusader may be particularly well-positioned. Perhaps Infect still has the tools to mount a quiet resurgence.

Five-Color Omnath

2 Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd 3 Wrenn and Six 2 Teferi, Time Raveler 4 Omnath, Locus of Creation 4 Quantum Riddler 4 Solitude 2 Orcish Bowmasters 2 Risen Reef 1 Endurance 1 Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines 3 Ephemerate 2 Lightning Bolt 2 Prismatic Ending 1 Supreme Verdict 4 Leyline Binding 3 Flooded Strand 3 Misty Rainforest 3 Windswept Heath 1 Hallowed Fountain 1 Overgrown Tomb 1 Steam Vents 1 Stomping Ground 1 Temple Garden 1 Indatha Triome 1 Raugrin Triome 1 Hedge Maze 1 Lush Portico 1 Undercity Sewers 1 Forest 1 Island 1 Plains 1 Boseiju, Who Endures 1 Endurance 1 Supreme Verdict 1 Boseiju, Who Endures 3 Consign to Memory 3 Obsidian Charmaw 2 Force of Negation 2 Force of Vigor 1 Ashiok, Dream Render 1 Surgical Extraction

This Top 2 list from a 35-player RCQ brings back another classic archetype that we haven't seen much lately. In this deck, a dense package of fetch lands, paired with Wrenn and Six, enables multiple Omnath, Locus of Creation triggers each turn, generating both life and mana in abundance. A light black splash for Orcish Bowmasters neatly completes the five-color shell.

Beyond its robust control elements, featuring Leyline Binding, Prismatic Ending, and Solitude, the deck also incorporates blink synergies with Quantum Riddler. Flickering Omnath, Locus of Creation or Solitude yields additional value, while also retriggering Risen Reef for further card advantage. Altogether, this list draws on the strengths of all five colors and serves as a reminder that there are always opportunities for long-established archetypes to punch through.

Grixis Midrange

4 Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer 4 Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student 4 Psychic Frog 4 Subtlety 4 Quantum Riddler 4 Mishra's Bauble 1 Cling to Dust 4 Consign to Memory 4 Unholy Heat 3 Force of Negation 4 Preordain 1 Strategic Betrayal 1 Dress Down 1 Blood Crypt 2 Bloodstained Mire 3 Island 4 Polluted Delta 4 Scalding Tarn 1 Steam Vents 1 Thundering Falls 1 Undercity Sewers 1 Watery Grave 1 Force of Negation 1 Dress Down 4 Fatal Push 1 Mountain 1 Pyroclasm 1 Spell Snare 1 Swamp 3 Thoughtseize 2 Vandalblast

This Top 4 list from a 50-player RCQ combines the best midrange cards across its three colors. It doesn't try to play fully at instant speed, nor does it rely on specific Reanimator or Wizard synergies. Instead, you're simply curving Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer into Psychic Frog while disrupting your opponent with efficient interactive spells like Unholy Heat and Force of Negation.

The list is clean, with numerous four-ofs that reflect clear, deliberate choices. Its remarkably low land count aligns with the deck's low average mana value, while Preordain and Mishra's Bauble help smooth draws and hit land drops when needed. This is fair Magic at its finest, where tight sequencing, combat math, and precisely timed interaction decide the outcome.

Hollow One

4 Hollow One 4 Street Wraith 2 Vampire Hexmage 4 Orcish Bowmasters 1 Troll of Khazad-dum 1 Oliphaunt 4 Nethergoyf 4 Detective's Phoenix 1 Boggart Trawler 4 Overlord of the Balemurk 4 Moonshadow 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Faithless Looting 4 Burning Inquiry 1 Swamp 1 Mountain 4 Blood Crypt 4 Bloodstained Mire 2 Arid Mesa 2 Marsh Flats 1 Raucous Theater 2 Damping Sphere 1 Blood Moon 1 Ingot Chewer 2 Meltdown 1 Surgical Extraction 2 Rough/Tumble 1 Faerie Macabre 1 Ashiok, Dream Render 3 Obsidian Charmaw 1 Sheoldred's Edict

The largest event in my dataset was the 178-player Champions Cup Premium Qualifier in Tokyo, a multi-slot RCQ where Takeuchi Makoto secured a qualification with Hollow One. With Faithless Looting and Street Wraith in your opening hand, or a fortunate Burning Inquiry, the deck can deploy multiple Hollow Ones on turn one, immediately applying immense pressure. By turn two, a bestowed Detective's Phoenix can join the fray, allowing you to deliver aerial beats with a 6/6 flier.

The archetype has recently gained new tools, most notably Moonshadow, which grows naturally from discard effects or Overlord of the Balemurk. There's also a clever interaction with Vampire Hexmage, which can remove all counters from Moonshadow to create a one-mana 7/7. Vampire Hexmage can also accelerate Overlord of the Balemurk by removing its time counters, bringing it online far sooner than expected. While many Hollow One lists omit Overlord of the Balemurk and Vampire Hexmage, they fit seamlessly here, and the list looks promising.

Eldrazi Breach

4 Devourer of Destiny 4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn 4 Sowing Mycospawn 3 Nulldrifter 2 Ulamog, the Defiler 1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth 1 Sire of Seven Deaths 2 Talisman of Curiosity 2 Talisman of Impulse 2 Vexing Bauble 2 Yggdrasil, Rebirth Engine 1 Palantír of Orthanc 4 Kozilek's Command 4 Through the Breach 1 Kozilek's Return 1 Firespout 4 Eldrazi Temple 4 Ugin's Labyrinth 3 Wooded Foothills 2 Shivan Reef 1 Blast Zone 1 Forest 1 Gemstone Caverns 1 Island 1 Karplusan Forest 1 Mountain 1 Scalding Tarn 1 Steam Vents 1 Stomping Ground 3 Chalice of the Void 3 Consign to Memory 2 Firespout 2 Torpor Orb 1 All Is Dust 1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All 1 Disruptor Flute 1 Surgical Extraction 1 Trinisphere

Through the Breach
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

While most Modern Eldrazi decks are based around Urza's Tower or Emrakul, the Promised End, Daniel Moncada Tabares claimed victory at a small RCQ in Colombia with a different approach. This build focuses on ramping into Through the Breach, letting you sneak Emrakul, the Aeons Torn into play for an attacker with annihilator 6.

For redundancy, the deck includes Kozilek, Butcher of Truth and Ulamog, the Defiler as additional annihilator threats. Ulamog is supported by Devourer of Destiny and Ugin's Labyrinth. Meanwhile, Yggdrasil, Rebirth Engine offers a slower but powerful alternative to Through the Breach, which after a few turns of exile will surely deploy a massive Eldrazi onto the battlefield. It's a refreshing take on the Eldrazi core, and it's a welcome sign that Through the Breach can still compete.

What's Next for Modern?

The current round of Modern RCQs runs through August 2, and you can find an event near you by checking with your local game store or visiting your regional organizer's website. These RCQs qualify players for Modern Regional Championships held in September or October 2026, which feed into the first Pro Tour of 2027. Before then, Modern will take center stage at Pro Tour Magic: The Gathering® | Marvel Super Heroes at MagicCon: Amsterdam on July 17–19, 2026.

As the spicy RCQ decks in this article illustrate, the current Modern metagame is broad and varied. Players gravitate toward different decks based on familiarity, experience, and a fondness for their favorite strategies. That diversity is part of Modern's enduring appeal, as nearly any deck can succeed in the hands of a skilled pilot.

Even within the most popular archetypes, there is always room for innovation. While reviewing RCQ Top 8 lists, for example, I was struck by Nakayama Taisei's Amulet Titan build featuring the clever combination of Badgermole Cub and Northampton Farm. Other standout tweaks included Joey Hoffman's Izzet Affinity list with Cranial Plating, Ornithopter, and Thought Monitor; Mattia Cerea's inclusion of Haliya, Guided by Light in Boros Energy; and William Granath's use of Persist alongside Aurora Awakener in Domain Zoo. These subtle adjustments can add a surprising edge to even the most established archetypes.

Petrified Hamlet [6lCFfrakb2z9nGA1S1Ixgg]
Exhibition Tidecaller [5uSt4Ju3CXbMXaWfHu0PQ2]
Lorehold Charm [4gIgzIGrPkYjaOmGgjuiJr]

Looking ahead, Secrets of Strixhaven will introduce new options to Modern, though it doesn't appear to be a format-defining set. Still, a few cards stand out as intriguing possibilities. Petrified Hamlet, for instance, could offer a novel form of disruption in Sowing Mycospawn decks, perhaps by naming Shifting Woodland against Amulet Titan or stopping Urza's Saga from producing Constructs.

Exhibition Tidecaller might find a spot in Dimir Mill, where it amplifies instants and sorceries. In that shell, a full-cost Archive Trap could mill ten additional cards. While it likely won't replace staples like Ruin Crab or Hedron Crab, a ninth or tenth one-mana mill threat could prove worthwhile.

Lorehold Charm also catches the eye as a flexible tool for Boros Energy. Its artifact-sacrifice mode is relevant in a metagame where Scion of Draco and Amulet of Vigor are prevalent, while the +1/+1 and trample boost can close games quickly. Meanwhile, returning Ajani, Nacatl Pariah at instant speed may enable a surprise Cat blocker and corresponding transformation.

These additions, if they find a home at all, seem unlikely to upend the metagame. In Modern, your success still hinges on familiarity with your deck, careful sequencing, and informed decision-making. And as always, the element of surprise from a well-chosen off-meta strategy should never be underestimated.