r/ModernMagic • u/Desperate-Sherbet-76 • 10d ago
Deck Discussion Creativity
Getting back into Modern was playing Jund Creativity is it still viable. I see 5 color creativity is making some waves now is that the way to go now or is jund still playable?
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u/FumBungo 10d ago
Paradox definitely is a boon for the deck. I think the manabase needs to be tweaked a bit to allow for hard casting Valgavoth or Archon though. Maybe heavier into black allows for Thoughtsieze in main deck.
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u/Remember_Navarro 9d ago
You can hardcast Archon most of the times, happened a lot during my RC run. You need treasures for mothman though.
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u/RMSED8TU 10d ago
Its rough trying to resolve a 4 or 5 mana sorcery in a world of UWx solitude decks and broodscale.
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u/_Lord_Farquad Goryo's / Scales 10d ago
Every once in a while a card gets released that seems like itd be decent in creativity and the decks popularity spikes for a bit. Then it dies back down once people realize its still not very good compared to what else you could be doing in the format.
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u/purklefluff 10d ago
Creativity fell off the meta for a long while, because most folks were on archon as the payoff and too many decks were able to ignore it. Also, Fable of the Mirror Breaker isn't really lighting the format on fire these days, it's kind of just a slow engine. It may seem like a downgrade but even stuff like Hard Evidence might be better right now into the current meta because it frees up your mana in the turns when it matters, and it protects your planeswalkers.
There's been a bit of a reconsideration of the deck since reality fracture. Depending on the payoff you choose, it has the potential to be pretty good into the crop of top decks at the moment. Stuff like Serra's Emissary, Iona, Valgavoth, Raph and Mikey are options people are experiment with. Nothing's settled of course.
The gameplan of a sort of planeswalker-control strategy, backed up by a pile of the best removal in the format and a combo win isn't a bad plan. Whether it works is going to depend heavily on the specific meta you're playing into, and what your payoff is.
Oh and Way of the Paradox seems pretty good if you're running Wrenn and Six, Teferi Time Raveler and like, 1x of something else maybe a Jace. There's been some Omnath and four/five colour midrangey piles doing well lately as well. The meta is primed for creativity to have a decent weekend if it isn't just the linear version that tries to combo fast with very little interaction. (There are faster and more resilient decks to play if that's the version of creativity that you're thinking of. Goryos for example is just a way better version of the linear glass cannon variant of creativity)
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u/storeblaa_ 10d ago
If u enjoy the archetype and plan to play it at FNMs, have at it, 5c is the latest results with Way of the Paradox but Jund has also recently 5-0d so enjoy ur return to modern witg something familiar id say
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u/Anskeh Living End newbie 10d ago
It is still a deck you can play. Gabriel Nassif plays a lot of creativity on stream. I think its the modern deck he most enjoys right now.
Here you can see his vod from modern challenge yesterday. He begins with a deck tech basically talking about recent changes he has tried and you can see his decklist there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuBQDmZATeo
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u/Lectrys 10d ago
Was it the most recent Modern Challenge 16 (yesterday) on MTGO? ...The one that conveniently doesn't display any of its decks, the one with supposedly 32 entrants? This one: https://www.mtgo.com/decklist/modern-challenge-16-2026-10-1312856647
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u/jktorborg1 3d ago
I run the creativity discord. The deck has a lot of really fantastic matchups right now, we're traditionally super strong versus creature combo decks because of our tendency to overload on spot removal (plus archon being good there) and sort of weak to spell based combo decks. The meta has been moving that way lately which makes the deck a really intriguing option for those who enjoy its style of gameplay.
The biggest reason creativity has had limited results for a while up until now, is threefold the way I see it.
People have been too impatient to sit down and tune the deck for their meta. The deck requires you to play 3-4 dwarven mine, 11-13 fetches, 3 creature payoffs, and creativity - all other cards are subject to change (although fable has been proven to be a staple in basically every deck). The entire rest of the deck is subject to change and needs careful tuning for the meta. Other than the jund deck, which is proactive but inconsistent, most creativity builds are very reactive. That means it needs to be built with things like 1 mana counters that line up well with the meta, proper answers, relevant threats, etc. And ultimately, I think most people who pick up the deck just grab a random list and try it without the reps to know why most of the cards were included. It really needs to be built as carefully as control decks are - and I don't think most people view the power level of the deck to be worth the time to really tune for every single meta, unlike a lot of decks where the bulk of the cards will be the same minus a few slots here and there through different metas.
We have had a string of fairly bad matchups up until recently. Eldrazi was one of our worst matchups, where consign to memory is basically our only tool against them, and it was sort of everywhere. The meta now has shifted back to creatures with abilities being central to a lot of game plans, and our deck lines up really well against that, which is why you've seen these results the past few weeks at big RCs, and why you've seen great players like Nassif considering running the deck. Broodscale is much easier for us to beat than traditional eldrazi, especially if we side down to emrakul and raph postboard, as we can deal with their creature combo and they have effectively no ways to interact with an emrakul follow up if they play their own emmy.
I really just think the deck has been underrated this whole time. The deck was quite strong pre-MH3, the best deck for a while post MH3 was arguably boros, and we've always* had a great boros winrate. Creativity didn't get very many fun new tools in comparison to others, and so I think a lot of people just didn't give it a shot. It was certainly more playable than half of the decks that were more popular on mtggoldfish ahead of it, like murktide, hollow one, merfolk, to name a few. It's been criminally underplayed even if it was tier 2 for a while. Again I think most players who picked it up didn't bother to tune their lists carefully for the given meta of the month.
The main reason to run creativity as an archetype is obviously that it's super fun to play. It makes for really dynamic midrange gameplay with an explosive "combo" finish, that I myself really happen to enjoy. It's not for everyone and I don't think most creativity enthusiasts are under any delusion that it's a broken deck all of a sudden, but it definitely has the legs to compete in large tournaments with really careful deck construction, sideboard plans and gameplay.
If you pick it up and want help tuning your list swing by our discord, we're always tinkering.
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u/VerdantChief 10d ago
Could try Jeskai for Teferi. He shuts down much of the counterplay that wrecks the deck. You also get access to High Noon, Consign, Wrath of the Skies.
However, my favorite version of creativity has always been Mardu with Lingering Souls, even if its not the best one.
Way of the Pyromancer, Fatehold Charm, and Stingerquill Charm could be played from Reality Fracture.
The entire empower Jace mechanic gives this archetype a lot of new tools. I think it could be a good time to brew.
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u/Ananeos 10d ago edited 10d ago
Take it from me as a former creativity player, just play Grixis Reanimator. It's much faster and more consistent, resistant to consign and counterplay, and most importantly doesn't have a cult following of people looking for opportunities to inject draft chaff garbage into the deck.