The Best Decks In Modern After Violent Outburst Banning

Discussion Modern

Genoslugcs March 17, 2024 4 min

The Best Decks In Modern After Violent Outburst Banning

The 3/14/24 banned and restricted announcement saw Violent Outbust banned in Modern and Ponder removed from the restricted list in Vintage. Many people saw the banning of the instant speed cascade card coming, and it did. After the banning of Fury and Up the Beanstalk a while back, cascade decks took their place at the top of the Modern meta. With a critical card gone from the deck, what will be the top dogs in the meta now? Let's take a look.

After the banning of Violent Outburst, these decks seem to be well-positioned in the meta:

Today, I'll cover how banning Violent Outburst changes the Modern meta, where cascade decks stand now, and which decks are the best (and worst) positioned post-ban and why. If you're a Modern player looking to find the strongest options to play post-B&R announcement, you're in the right place. So, without further ado, let's jump in.

Here is a list of all Banned & Restricted MTG cards by format to keep everyone up to speed.

Violent Outburst Banning

So, Violent Outburst got the ban hammer. Let's briefly talk about why. It enabled two decks to cascade into spells with zero mana cost - Rhinos, which uses Crashing Footfalls, and Living End decks, which play Living End. The way they're set up is that anytime you cast Violent Outburst, you cascade into the given deck's respective suspend spell and cast it for free.

When Fury was banned and Rakdos Scam fell from the top spot, Rhinos (rhinos perhaps the main culprit in the banning) stepped up and took the place, helped out by Leyline of the Guildpact alongside Scion of Draco.

Violent Outburst isn't the only cascade card that works like this, but it is the only one that can do it at instant speed. Instant speed cascade allowed the deck to do its thing during the opponent's turn while backed up by Force of Negation. Wizards of the Coast had this to say on the matter:

"Over the past Regional Championship season, Temur Rhinos has begun to approach previous levels of Rakdos Midrange metagame dominance. While we want to preserve the cascade strategies as viable options in Modern, we'd like to remove one of the more powerful aspects of their strategy.

Namely, the ability to cascade into a payoff card at instant speed. Casting Violent Outburst during an opponent's turn reduces a lot of the risk inherent in such a strategy. It allows the cascade player to untap with all their mana open and Rhino tokens or cycling creatures ready to attack. Both decks also include Force of Negation, which costs zero mana on opponents' turns, enabling a streamlined defense of the combo."

If you're interested in what else they said (or the unbanning in Vintage), here is a link to the entire B&R Announcement.

Best Decks To Play Post-Ban

With Violent Outburst gone, what should you play in Modern? You may assume that Rhinos and Living End are no longer viable options, but you'd assume incorrectly. In fact, a Temur Rhinos list took first place in the first major MTGO Modern Preliminary event post-ban. The deck certainly still has game; it just needs a replacement for Outburst.

Beyond that, we'll look at Golgari Yawgmoth combo and Amulet Titan, which are in a very good spot post-ban. First up, we have the tweaked Rhinos list!

Crashing Footfalls With Ardent Plea

As far as replacements go, you have two options: Demonic Dread and Ardent Plea. Ardent Plea seems to be getting the nod for Rhinos, while Living End may have more incentives to play Demonic Dread. Here is a look at the winning list:

Crashing Footfalls Rhinos By McWinSauce

Main 60 cards (25 distinct)

Lands - 22

Side 15 cards (8 distinct)