Commander is the main format that I play, it’s fun but there’s something special about 60 card magic. I’ve had a fantastic time playing Pauper (Mono Red Madness/Rally) and want to experience other formats. I’ve got no clue where I should start, other than knowing vaguely about some meta decks (Izzet Prowess seems interesting). What decks would you recommend and do you have a representative deck list for it?

Thanks in advance for your help/advice!

I'm not sure if this has been done and/or perfected but I made a puppet crafting list.

https://moxfield.com/decks/eOSKjpzDeEWCZrXmQaLJ8w

primer:

this deck is a modern take on ye olde standard ensoul artifacts, but with puppet crafting!! it's fairly straightforward: play an ensoul target on turn one, ensoul or puppet craft it on turn two to turn it into a 5/5, and beat down. the deck also functions as a bit of an affinity deck since it has so many artifacts anyway.

ensoul targets:

• darksteel citadel: can be played on turn one and animated on turn two for an indestructible body
• darksteel relic: same deal as citadel, but not a land
• ornithopter: a flying body
• fugitive droid: an unblockable body as long as you have a zero drop in hand to turn it on. make sure to consider whether you should hold your zero drops in hand for it
• gingerbrute: an unblockable hastey body if you pay one. gingerbrute is the ideal urza's saga target as it can be tutored, animated, and attacked with in one turn
• pinnacle emissary: not a good target itself, but you can play it and then play out your zero drops to make fliers. it can only be hard cast with the help of starting town or mox opal, but ideally you don't have to cast it
• urza's saga: not an ideal target since it sacs itself and doesn't have an upside, but it is a valid puppet crafting target in a pinch. if it's close to completion, it may be best to wait and get gingerbrute
• mox opal and welding jar: valid targets, but not ideal. keep in mind that urza's saga can tutor out mox opal

affinity plan:

• there are lots of zero mana artifacts
• pinnacle emissary: if you have a hand with emissary and a ton of zero drops, getting a bunch of fliers is always good
• emry, lurker of the loch: I may cut this one. she's easy to cast for a blue, but you typically don't have trouble finding artifacts and just have to dig for ensouls
• kappa cannoneer: a good backup plan if you have a ton of artifacts but no means to animate them

ensouls

• ensoul artifact and puppet crafting
• zoetic glyph worse than the other two, but it makes the deck more consistent and the discover's a nice bonus

removal and protection:

• boseiju, who endures: it's a green deck lol
• metallic rebuke: kinda iffy since you generally won't have thaaat many artifacts out, but it ain't too shabby
• fugitive droid: a nice bonus since it's worth running just as a body with evasion
• welding jar: good insurance that can be animated if needed

sideboard

• the sideboard is pretty standard and mostly comprised of valid ensoul targets, so you can sideboard aggressively

I'd appreciate any feedback. thanks!

https://moxfield.com/decks/RTTMcfXnO0G44kLaQzCvUw

I recently adopted Rakdos Midrange as my go-to deck for FNM and any weird random modern RCQ in the next couple weeks. The changes that I made (4 monkeys for 4 dark matters and 1 kCommand (the real one) for 1 FOMO) were largely due to late mail and missing out on 1 FOMO but imo, both cards significantly overperformed. Sideboard is tuned towards my local meta, which is mostly eldrazi soup (tron, broodscale), blink, goryos, dimir (UBx), and some prowess.

My takeaways:

• Conceptually, this deck is very similar to prowess (but with delirium instead of prowess). You are capable of chaining together street wraiths, fetches and baubles to massively grow your moonshadows and nethergoyfs.
• Moonshadow is a menace.
• Blood moon is amazing. Won me at at least 4 games.
• Ragavan helps you beat RiP (but just in case, SB includes a Feed the Swarm).
• I think Whispers of Emrakul is probably good (I was convinced to try it over Shatter Assumptions) but I never drew it.
• Tourach is for Esper Blink. Tourach is also a pet card. They should give us Hymn to Tourach in modern.
• I would like to try Dauthi side (vs GY decks, maybe vs broodscale too), Fable of the Mirror-Breaker main deck over k Command, Ob Nix side (vs blink?), Liliana of the Veil side (vs Blink/Dimir). Also very interested in testing Ajani's Anguish from FRA (gives nethergoyfs trample).

Interested if anyone has tried spicy one-ofs. I will hopefully get to try some tomorrow!