It’s interesting to look at the Modern format and see it evolve as the weeks go by. Being so new means that it is both extremely dynamic and extremely volatile, and as such it’s unlikely that we’ll be able to see any kind of structured metagame until the end of the current PTQ season. Even then, with its cardpool being smaller than other Eternal formats, we can expect Modern to be strongly influenced by new sets coming out in a manner similar to standard, which can only promote diversity and innovation.

At this point, I feel that there are two ways for a player to approach the format: by actively playing it, or by actively monitoring it. Both methods have their advantages, with one providing a more specific, and the other one a more generic, experience. For players like myself who are looking to invest themselves in the format, I feel that the second approach is the best, providing greater long-term benefits.

But I digress…

Right now, I’m looking at Zoo, which is apparently the first victim of the ebb and flow of the format. Not so long ago, it was the most dominant deck in Modern, and now it can barely be found anywhere. Affinity, Boros and aggressive Soul Sister’s-type decks seems to be the go-to aggro decks, with a few Merfolk, Green/White and Red-based decks showing up here and there.

Evidently, card price is a very real concern for a deck like this, and with more people now playing Modern, it may be that Zoo is seen less often because players just can’t afford it. Add to that the banning of Wild Nacatl which makes the deck a little slower, and the fact that Zoo is using one of the most punishing manabase in the format, and you have a deck which finds itself vulnerable to super-fast and burn-heavy strategies. This is not to say that the deck is dead, far from it. But it may be time to go back to the drawing board, and rethink it a little.

Over the last few days, I’ve been tinkering with the Congregation Zoo list I posted last week: rethinking some aspects of the deck and changing a few cards. I also tried to re-focus the color-pool and tighten-up the manabase. The new list needs more testing, but overall the deck seems to be a lot more stable. Here is the updated list:

(Modern) Congregation Zoo

I’ve also been working on a Zoo list similar to the old Domain Zoo, but with more of a focus on Black than on Blue. The idea is to use hand disruption in the form of Rise // Fall to support the early beats and possibly Dark Confidant instead of Snapcaster Mage for value. The deck is still in beta (so to speak), and may very well end up as an Aggro-Jund deck, but I like the general concept.

Thrown enough ideas on the wall and one is going to stick.

See you ‘round kids and coots.