We’re here yet again with MTG Modern tier list. Another week of Modern, another week of pretending that Nadu doesn’t exist and that it can’t hurt us! Unfortunately for us, it can hurt us, and no amount of therapy can save us from this format, but there are some newer innovations that have occurred that you can utilize if you want to win an RCQ in the next 2 weeks!

Boros Energy beats Nadu now?

Unlike in previous weeks, RW Energy seems to be sporting a solid Nadu matchup (54% winrate with only a 5% margin of error), and there’s a few key deckbuilding points that we can analyze to figure out why this change has occurred.

One major change is the inclusion of maindeck Blood Moons again, which the current versions of Nadu are reasonably weak to, especially the versions with Arboreal Grazer and Malevolent Rumble instead of Delighted Halfling. Without fetching your Island early, it’s nearly impossible to cast your Nadu, and it turns off the Saga that lets you fetch out your Shuko quickly. The Boros deck can reasonably lock Nadu out of the game if left unchecked with a Goblin Bombardment in play, so it’s important that as the Nadu player, you need to proactively fetch your basics and do your best to ensure that your Delighted Halflings resolve.

We’re also seeing these Boros decks finally cutting Lightning Bolt for Static Prison, which does help specifically in the Nadu matchup. While Bolt was better in the Mirror, Static Prison is actually a decent answer to Nadu and Shuko, and does a very good Bolt imitation versus the Nadu deck’s manadorks. The Prison also helps a lot vs Necrodominance, as it hits The One Ring and Sheoldred, where Lightning Bolt doesn’t do very much there either.

As we get more data over the next 2 weeks, I do expect this matchup to go back closer to 50-50 as the Nadu decks adjust (2nd Boseiju, 2nd Haywire Mite, less Urza’s Sagas), but there’s not much more time left in this metagame, so this could be the last evolution of Boros until a post-Nadu World.

Creatively Beating Nadu?

I do want to close out this article by quickly mentioning what I believe to be one of the most important cards coming to Modern from Bloomburrow, with a deck that I also would assume beats Nadu. Pawpatch Formation is an incredibly versatile card that has a lot of applications in the current format, as well as just being a great Creativity target that also draws a card!

Destroying enchantments definitely matters versus Nadu, at best it’s going to be a 2 mana Stone Rain for the Urza’s Saga, and at worst it’s blowing up some other important permanent such as Springheart Nantuko or even Nadu itself.

Although putting an Archon into play isn’t going to be the end of the world for the Nadu player, the interaction that this deck has always played is generally going to be pretty solid versus Nadu. Reprieve and Spell Pierce is great at countering a Chord of Calling, as the Nadu player has usually spent their entire turn setting it up, and Leyline Binding and Prismatic Ending are good ways to remove Shukos from play, even at instant speed. Iona, Shield of Emeria on Green is almost always going to be game over in the postboard games as well, so this deck does have a lot of play into Nadu if you’re looking to try something a bit more spicy that could succeed into this metagame.

MTG MODERN TIER LIST AKA What you are all really here for: