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. The past two weekends featured two Spotlight Series events, each highlighting the Modern format. Magic Spotlight: The Hobbit™ was a pair of high-stakes, two-day open tournaments in Brisbane, Australia, and Dallas, Texas. Across both events, which attracted nearly 1,500 competitors combined, sixteen Pro Tour invitations were awarded alongside $100,000 in prizes and stunning promo cards.

🏆Congratulations to the winner of #SpotlightTheHobbit here in Brisbane: Jefferson Lee, who surged to victory with Izzet Prowess!🏆

Jefferson takes home $10,000 in addition to a Pro Tour invitation, as well as becoming a Spotlight Series champion. GGWP! pic.twitter.com/HkAgwkExbV

— PlayMTG (@PlayMTG) August 30, 2026

And we have a winner! Roy Varney made his first Top 8 at a major event, defeated three pros in a row once there, and walks away as the champion of #SpotlightTheHobbit with Izzet Prowess! pic.twitter.com/ZG5h3rYzY0

— PlayMTG (@PlayMTG) September 7, 2026

Izzet Prowess won both tournaments. Jefferson Lee claimed victory in Brisbane and Roy Varney triumphed in Dallas. While the same archetype won both weekends, the broader metagame remained remarkably diverse, with several fringe strategies posting excellent results. In this article, I will take a closer look at the weekend's metagame, examine win rates across the major archetypes, and highlight the standout strategies that ultimately rose to the top.

The Modern Metagame and Win Rates

Modern is a nonrotating 60-card format based on expansion sets, core sets, and straight-to-Modern sets from Eighth Edition forward, save for cards on the banned list. The table below presents the combined raw metagame numbers from Magic Spotlight: The Hobbit in Brisbane, Australia, and Dallas, Texas, alongside match win rates for each deck archetype (excluding mirror matches, byes, and draws).

In this table, each archetype name hyperlinks to a decklist that closely reflects its aggregate build. The "Other" category includes decks with less than one percent of the winner's metagame, including Samwise Gamgee Combo, Tameshi Belcher, Azorius Control, Golgari Yawgmoth, Merfolk, Azorius Fiddlebender, Rhinos, Mardu Energy, Sultai Ritual, Mono-Blue Loki, Mono-Green Leyline, Ruby Belcher, Ascendancy Combo, Mono-Blue Tron, and more.

The field was remarkably diverse overall. The metagame was largely in line with expectations based on online and tabletop events earlier in August, as analyzed in my previous article on the Modern format. Compared to that metagame snapshot from a few weeks ago, Izzet Prowess was even more popular at the Spotlight Series. Devoted Druid Combo showed up in smaller numbers than its mid-August spike, but it was still far more prominent than it was a few months ago. In any case, these shifts were minor, and there were no massive surprises.

In terms of win rates, Boros Burn significantly underperformed with a disappointing 34.5% win rate. Meanwhile, Broodscale Combo, Esper Blink, Devoted Druid Combo, and Dimir Midrange had excellent showings. The check marks in the table indicate that the entire 95% Clopper-Pearson confidence interval sits strictly above 50%. This means that each of these four decks' above-average performance is statistically significant.

Interestingly, based on the round-by-round results from both Spotlight Series events, Esper Blink is favored against the other three decks, though it struggled against Izzet Affinity. Thus, each of the best-performing decks has good and bad matchups. This means that a healthy amount of churn will be possible as we move toward the Modern cycle of Regional Championships in the coming weeks and months.

Let's now take a look at the standout Modern strategies and stories to come out of Magic Spotlight: The Hobbit.

Izzet Prowess Conquered Both Events

4 Dragon's Rage Channeler 1 Thundering Falls 4 Expressive Iteration 1 Arid Mesa 4 Lightning Bolt 3 Scalding Tarn 4 Preordain 4 Mutagenic Growth 3 Mountain 3 Wooded Foothills 4 Cori-Steel Cutter 4 Mishra's Bauble 3 Steam Vents 2 Violent Urge 4 Monastery Swiftspear 2 Fiery Islet 4 Slickshot Show-Off 4 Lava Dart 2 Bloodstained Mire 2 Surgical Extraction 3 Consign to Memory 2 Spell Snare 2 Spell Pierce 2 Meltdown 4 Unholy Heat

Izzet Prowess was the most popular deck at 11.2% of the field and, despite a middling overall win rate, claimed three of the sixteen Top 8 slots. Jefferson Lee won Magic Spotlight: The Hobbit in Brisbane with the list shown above, which is reflective of most builds of the archetype. With Dragon's Rage Channeler and Monastery Swiftspear leading the charge on turn one, followed by Cori-Steel Cutter or Slickshot Show-Off on turn two, the deck backs up its threats with an array of cheap cantrips.

Over in Dallas, Roy Varney won with Stormchaser's Talent and Boomerang Basics while running only two copies of Mutagenic Growth and no copies of Violent Urge. This approach sacrifices explosive kill potential for greater staying power in longer, grindier games, but it's an unusual build. The other build that reached the Top 8 in Dallas, piloted by Queen Varrone, also looked more typical, resembling Lee's winning list from Brisbane.

Devoted Druid Combo Proved Itself

1 Craterhoof Behemoth 1 Gemstone Caverns 1 Thoughtseize 2 Windswept Heath 1 Horizon Canopy 2 Forest 2 Misty Rainforest 2 Dryad Arbor 1 Underground Mortuary 1 Temple Garden 2 Overgrown Tomb 4 Badgermole Cub 4 Delighted Halfling 4 Green Sun's Zenith 1 Nurturing Peatland 4 Nature's Rhythm 2 Birds of Paradise 4 Leyline of Abundance 1 Fiend Artisan 1 Duskwatch Recruiter 2 Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu 2 Verdant Catacombs 2 Wooded Foothills 4 Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler 1 Tyvar, the Pummeler 2 Boseiju, Who Endures 1 Vizier of Remedies 4 Devoted Druid 1 Formidable Speaker 1 Kraul Harpooner 1 Endurance 1 Fatal Push 1 Reclamation Sage 1 Vexing Bauble 1 Keen-Eyed Curator 1 Grist, the Hunger Tide 1 Crystal Barricade 1 Guerrilla Gorilla 3 Abrupt Decay 1 Icetill Explorer 1 Force of Vigor 1 Thoughtseize

In my previous Modern article, I highlighted the rise of Devoted Druid Combo. Vizier of Remedies allows you to untap Devoted Druid without placing -1/-1 counters on it, resulting in infinite green mana, which in turn leads to a win through Duskwatch Recruiter or Leyline of Abundance. Leyline of Abundance, a recent innovation, is another Badgermole Cub-like effect that amplifies your mana-producing creatures and sets up an infinite loop alongside Tyvar, the Pummeler and Devoted Druid. The deck can win quickly even through interaction, and this new Leyline build reached 7.9% of the winner's metagame in August.

Back then, I wrote, "Whether it will be just the flavor of the month or a genuine mainstay remains to be seen." With the deck posting an impressive 56.2% win rate and Mark Jacobson reaching the Top 8 in Dallas, I'd say that Devoted Druid Combo has now proven itself.

That said, Roy Varney had insightful comments about the deck in his winner's interview. "Devoted Druid is the matchup you're gunning for when you sleeve up Prowess." With Prowess winning tournaments, Devoted Druid Combo might be a risky choice going forward.

Esper Blink Outperformed Esper Goryo's

1 Swamp 4 Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd 3 Flickerwisp 4 Witch Enchanter 4 Flooded Strand 4 Thoughtseize 4 Fatal Push 3 Ephemerate 1 Hallowed Fountain 1 Teferi, Time Raveler 1 Consign to Memory 1 Polluted Delta 1 Undercity Sewers 1 Shadowy Backstreet 1 Meticulous Archive 1 Prismatic Ending 1 Watery Grave 3 Emperor of Bones 4 Solitude 2 Plains 1 Boggart Trawler 2 Godless Shrine 4 Overlord of the Balemurk 4 Quantum Riddler 4 Marsh Flats 2 High Noon 1 Nihil Spellbomb 1 Mystical Dispute 3 Consign to Memory 2 White Orchid Phantom 3 Wrath of the Skies 1 Containment Priest 2 Clarion Conqueror

The current Modern metagame features two popular Esper strategies that share many cards. These decks utilize a midrange core of Thoughtseize, Solitude, Quantum Riddler, and Ephemerate. Esper Goryo's adds a reanimation package with Goryo's Vengeance, while Esper Blink adds a suite of blink synergies through Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd and similar effects.

Both decks showed up in relatively large numbers at Magic Spotlight: The Hobbit, but Esper Blink came out ahead with a 55% win rate, compared to 52% for Esper Goryo's. Their matchups were fairly similar, but the main difference came against Devoted Druid Combo. Esper Blink performed far better against that creature-combo deck because it is much better at reusing Solitude. For now, the results suggest that Esper Blink is the better-positioned deck of the two.

Broodscale Combo Takes Three Pro Tour Invitations

1 Gemstone Caverns 1 Thought-Knot Seer 3 Blade of the Bloodchief 2 Dismember 5 Forest 4 Basking Broodscale 2 Delighted Halfling 1 The Mycosynth Gardens 4 Eldrazi Temple 2 Cavern of Souls 1 Springleaf Drum 4 Kozilek's Command 4 Grove of the Burnwillows 4 Malevolent Rumble 1 Glaring Fleshraker 4 Ancient Stirrings 3 Sowing Mycospawn 1 Walking Ballista 2 Vexing Bauble 1 Haywire Mite 3 Emrakul, the Promised End 1 Soul-Guide Lantern 2 Boseiju, Who Endures 4 Urza's Saga 1 Thought-Knot Seer 2 Nature's Claim 2 Damping Sphere 1 Vexing Bauble 1 Pithing Needle 2 Thief of Existence 1 Grafdigger's Cage 1 Dismember 2 Warping Wail 2 Sire of Seven Deaths

Another archetype with excellent results at Magic Spotlight: The Hobbit was Broodscale Combo. In Brisbane, James Wilks reached the Top 8 with the list shown above, while Brendan Cooper finished in the Top 8 with a small red splash for Unholy Heat. In Dallas, Sean Goddard secured his return to the Pro Tour with a Mono-Green build akin to Wilks's take, though with Devourer of Destiny instead of Delighted Halfling. I grouped all versions under a single Broodscale Combo macro-archetype.

Though all versions of the deck feature the two-card infinite combo of Blade of the Bloodchief and Basking Broodscale, it's important to remember that this is not a single-minded combo deck. As Goddard said in Dallas, he "likes putting Emrakul in play." That alternative game plan of ramping to the powerful Eldrazi through Eldrazi Temple and Malevolent Rumble can overwhelm many opponents.

Dimir Midrange Succeeded in Multiple Variations

1 Swamp 1 Flooded Strand 1 Sheoldred's Edict 1 Kaito, Bane of Nightmares 1 Otawara, Soaring City 2 Counterspell 4 Thoughtseize 4 Fatal Push 1 Wan Shi Tong, Librarian 1 Murktide Regent 1 Drown in the Loch 1 Darkslick Shores 1 Scalding Tarn 3 Orcish Bowmasters 3 Island 2 Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student 2 Consign to Memory 3 Force of Negation 2 Spell Snare 2 Undercity Sewers 4 Psychic Frog 4 Polluted Delta 3 Watery Grave 3 Subtlety 2 Sink into Stupor 1 Marsh Flats 1 Gloomlake Verge 1 Bloodstained Mire 4 Quantum Riddler 1 Kaito, Bane of Nightmares 1 Toxic Deluge 2 Nihil Spellbomb 1 Requiting Hex 1 Stern Scolding 2 Mystical Dispute 2 Consign to Memory 2 Engineered Explosives 2 Harbinger of the Seas 1 Sheoldred's Edict

Two Dimir decks reached the Top 8 at Magic Spotlight: The Hobbit in Dallas. Scott McNamara's version, shown above, was a fairly typical midrange list. It uses a mix of countermagic, removal, and discard effects to disrupt the opponent while gaining steady card advantage through Psychic Frog or Quantum Riddler.

Meanwhile, Evart "Aspiringspike" Moughon clinched a Pro Tour invitation with an all-instant approach. His list omitted mainstays like Psychic Frog, Quantum Riddler, and Thoughtseize. Instead, he relied on Subtlety; Wan Shi Tong, Librarian; Consult the Star Charts; Cling to Dust; and various other instants and flash creatures. This let him dictate the game on the opponent's turn, always reacting to their plays. Although Aspiringspike's deck was classified as Dimir Control on Melee and in coverage, I treated it as Dimir Midrange in my classification because it doesn't use any sweepers. In any case, the two Top 8 lists show that Dimir decks can be successful in Modern across a wide variety of card choices and play styles.

Azorius Fiddlebender Proved Itself

3 Portable Hole 1 Otawara, Soaring City 1 Agatha's Soul Cauldron 1 Grinding Station 1 Disruptor Flute 4 Oswald Fiddlebender 4 Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student 4 Hallowed Fountain 4 Seachrome Coast 2 Scalding Tarn 3 Mox Amber 2 Island 1 Pithing Needle 1 Skateboard 4 Mox Opal 1 Aether Spellbomb 4 Emry, Lurker of the Loch 4 Mishra's Bauble 1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge 3 Sewer-veillance Cam 3 Loki, God of Mischief 1 Scrabbling Claws 2 Metallic Rebuke 4 Urza's Saga 1 Expedition Map 2 Aang, Swift Savior 1 Damping Sphere 1 Vexing Bauble 3 Consign to Memory 3 Force of Negation 2 Teferi, Time Raveler 1 Hall of Heliod's Generosity 1 Shadowspear 1 Soul-Guide Lantern

At July's Pro Tour, the highest win rate in Modern was posted by an Azorius deck featuring Loki, God of Mischief and Oswald Fiddlebender. Magic Spotlight: The Hobbit showed that those Pro Tour results were no fluke, as Brandon Rashad piloted the deck to a Top 8 finish in Brisbane!

While the archetype was called "Azorius Loki," I've since taken to calling the deck Azorius Fiddlebender. With Oswald Fiddlebender and Emry, Lurker of the Loch on the battlefield, Oswald Fiddlebender can sacrifice a zero-cost Mox to fetch Sewer-veillance Cam, untapping Oswald. Oswald then sacrifices Sewer-veillance Cam to fetch Grinding Station. At that point, you've assembled an infinite loop where Emry alternates between returning Sewer-veillance Cam and a Mox to pay for it, while Grinding Station sacrifices the artifacts for infinite mill. The deck's finish is another example of how Modern can reward deep familiarity with an unconventional strategy.

Affinity Bounced Back

1 Otawara, Soaring City 4 Fiery Islet 2 Salvage Titan 3 Starting Town 1 Preordain 1 Blood Moon 1 Pithing Needle 2 Island 4 Engineered Explosives 4 Kappa Cannoneer 1 Skateboard 4 Mox Opal 1 Welding Jar 4 Mishra's Bauble 4 Pinnacle Emissary 1 Haywire Mite 4 Weapons Manufacturing 4 Tormod's Crypt 2 Emry, Lurker of the Loch 1 Steam Vents 3 Spirebluff Canal 2 Metallic Rebuke 4 Urza's Saga 2 Claws of Gix 2 Damping Sphere 1 Vexing Bauble 1 Cursed Totem 1 Mystical Dispute 3 Consign to Memory 1 Shadowspear 1 The Legend of Roku 2 Whipflare 2 Galvanic Blast 1 Swan Song

At the Pro Tour, Izzet Affinity fell short of expectations, with a substandard 45.9% win rate against the rest of the field. However, at Magic Spotlight: The Hobbit, Affinity shot up to a 51.3% win rate, putting two players into the Top 8 in Brisbane. Spearheaded by the warded Kappa Cannoneer, the deck has a particularly strong matchup against Esper Blink, which is a nice benefit in the current metagame.

Jin Kim's Top 8 list, shown above, was the spicier of the two, featuring Salvage Titan. This creature is difficult to cast naturally unless you draw multiple copies of Mox Opal, but it synergizes perfectly with Weapons Manufacturing. You may sacrifice three Munitions tokens rather than pay Salvage Titan's mana cost, turning it into a zero-mana 6/4 that lets you deal 2 damage three times. Dan Bretherton, also in the Top 8 in Brisbane, had a more typical list with a singleton Shadowspear and a singleton Arcbound Ravager instead of the spicy Salvage Titan.

Three New Cards Made Their Mark

By the raw numbers, Bilbo, Thief in the Night; Giant's Boulder; and Key to the Side-Door were the most-played new cards in Modern. Moreover, each appeared at least once in a deck that went 11-4 or 12-3. This shows that the newest set did not simply produce one obviously dominant new card or archetype; instead, its cards found homes in several existing strategies and strengthened them in very different ways.

4 Otawara, Soaring City 4 Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student 3 Grinding Station 4 Island 4 Mox Amber 1 Pithing Needle 1 Skateboard 4 Mox Opal 1 Aether Spellbomb 4 Emry, Lurker of the Loch 4 Mishra's Bauble 3 Minamo, School at Water's Edge 4 Key to the Side-Door 4 Sewer-veillance Cam 3 Sink into Stupor 1 Tormod's Crypt 3 Loki, God of Mischief 4 Metallic Rebuke 4 Urza's Saga 1 Disruptor Flute 3 Dismember 2 Torpor Orb 3 Consign to Memory 2 Force of Negation 1 Strix Serenade 1 Sink into Stupor 1 Hurkyl's Recall 1 Test of Talents

Iain Bartolomei went 11-4 in Dallas with four copies of Key to the Side-Door. With seven different legendary cards in the deck appearing as three-ofs or four-ofs, including legendary lands and artifacts, you can readily turn excess copies of a legend into card advantage. And if you have enough mana to make Loki, God of Mischief unblockable, he also rewards you with a free card in return.

Besides, a cheap artifact never hurts for this deck. Key to the Side-Door enables Mox Opal; reduces the cost of Emry, Lurker of the Loch; helps cast Metallic Rebuke; grows Construct tokens; and can be fetched with Urza's Saga. It does a little bit of everything, and its versatility helped it earn a deep finish.

4 Ugin, Eye of the Storms 4 Ugin's Labyrinth 2 Forest 1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger 4 Urza's Mine 2 Trinisphere 2 Dismember 4 Talisman of Resilience 1 Abstergo Entertainment 4 Eldrazi Temple 4 Karn, the Great Creator 4 Devourer of Destiny 4 Kozilek's Command 3 Giant's Boulder 4 Sowing Mycospawn 4 Expedition Map 4 Urza's Tower 4 Urza's Power Plant 1 Sire of Seven Deaths 1 The Stone Brain 1 Ensnaring Bridge 1 Disruptor Flute 1 Liquimetal Coating 1 Cursed Totem 1 Torpor Orb 1 Trinisphere 1 Chalice of the Void 1 The Ten Rings 1 Grafdigger's Cage 1 Tormod's Crypt 1 Haywire Mite 1 Walking Ballista 1 Extinguisher Battleship 1 The Filigree Sylex

Giant's Boulder appeared in this Mono-Green Tron deck that scored an impressive 12-3 record in Dallas, delivering the pilot a 10th-place finish. In this deck, it serves three distinct purposes. In the early game, when the one-mana artifact enters, it offers cheap card selection, letting you look at two additional cards. This helps increase the consistency with which you can assemble the combination of all three Urza's lands by turn three.

In the mid-game, the color filtering can help you cast Sowing Mycospawn in a mana base stocked with colorless lands, and it may even save you two points of life when casting Dismember. Finally, in the late game when you have mana aplenty, it turns into a hard removal effect. While Giant's Boulder does none of its three effects more efficiently than another card, its unique package of three useful abilities makes it stand out and earns it a slot in the deck.

1 Thundering Falls 1 Flame of Anor 1 Otawara, Soaring City 1 Agatha's Soul Cauldron 4 Scalding Tarn 3 Preordain 4 Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student 2 Grinding Station 3 Misty Rainforest 1 Breeding Pool 2 Force of Negation 3 Mox Amber 3 Bilbo, Thief in the Night 2 Island 1 Skateboard 4 Mox Opal 1 Aether Spellbomb 4 Emry, Lurker of the Loch 4 Mishra's Bauble 2 Sewer-veillance Cam 1 Quantum Riddler 4 Unholy Heat 1 Haywire Mite 2 Steam Vents 1 Soul-Guide Lantern 4 Urza's Saga 1 Flame of Anor 1 Cursed Totem 1 Vexing Bauble 1 Pithing Needle 1 Lightning Bolt 3 Blood Moon 3 Consign to Memory 1 Shadowspear 1 Quantum Riddler 2 Metallic Rebuke

Bilbo, Thief in the Night lets you recast artifact, instant, or sorcery spells from your graveyard. You can reuse Unholy Heat to devastate your opponent's board, much like Dreadhorde Arcanist. You can also recast Mishra's Bauble to draw an extra card each turn. Along with the ability to unlock Mox Amber, Bilbo adds valuable utility to this Izzet Metalcraft deck, which Alan Swan piloted to an 11-4 record.

This particular list also features the Emry Station combo, which uses Emry, Lurker of the Loch to repeatedly recast zero-mana artifacts and Sewer-veillance Cam from the graveyard after sacrificing them to Grinding Station. This creates an infinite loop of triggers that continually untaps your pieces, allowing you to mill your opponent's entire library in a single turn. To assemble these pieces, Preordain is a valuable tool, and Bilbo lets you recast that sorcery from the graveyard. Everything fits together and forms a powerful, synergistic package.

What's Next for Modern?

Izzet Prowess may have won both tournaments, but the results hardly point toward a format with a single obvious deck. Devoted Druid, Esper Blink, and Broodscale Combo all performed extremely well. Dimir Midrange succeeded with radically different builds. Azorius Fiddlebender remained excellent. Affinity rebounded. Meanwhile, new cards are strengthening several different archetypes, and there always seems to be another hidden gem waiting to be discovered.

Kozilek's Command

This weekend kicks off an exciting round of Modern Regional Championships, which will offer invitations to Pro Tour Nauctis in February 2027. Eldrazi players can rejoice with the textless Kozilek's Command promo: While supplies last, all participants at this round of Regional Championships will receive a non-foil version, with Top Finishers receiving traditional foil copies.

The schedule for this round of Regional Championships, with corresponding Melee links, is as follows:

• September 11–13: China and United States (Baltimore)
• October 2–4: Canada and Japan/Korea
• October 9–11: United States (Los Angeles), Europe/Middle East/Africa, Mexico/Central America/Caribbean
• October 16–18: Southeast Asia
• October 23–25: South America and Australia/New Zealand
• October 31–November 1: Chinese Taipei

With another round of Regional Championships on the horizon, the next question is not whether the competitive Modern metagame will change, but how. I can't wait to see how Modern evolves through these tournaments!