If you asked me today what the best deck in Modern is I’d have a pretty hard time not advocating on behalf of Bant Spirits. Especially if we’re considering the most recent FacetoFaceGames.com Open Series results.

This past weekend the Open Series traveled to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan for a Modern Classic. Justin Lee was able to take down the trophy, with some help from his Spirit friends.

Spirits checks all the boxes when it comes to Modern. It’s got a fast clock, powerful individual cards and enough disruption to allow you to interact with the format’s most linear combo decks.

Another place it really shines is in its sideboard. Unlike the previous top dog for tribal aggro decks — Humans, Bant Spirits has access to hay-makers like [Card]Rest in Peace[/Card], [Card]Stony Silence[/Card] and [Card]Worship[/Card]. The deck really has got it all.

Joining Justin in the Top 8 were a slew of other beat down decks with varied degrees of disruption along with a copy of Mono-Green Tron and a copy of [Card]Ad Nauseum[/Card]. Creatures are king in Modern, and this event certainly showed us that.

Notably, Isaac Pasloski’s second place Humans decklist looks particularly well-tuned to me. The two copies of [Card]Knight of Autumn[/Card] are brand new versatile additions to the deck from Guilds of Ravnica that I like a lot in a format filled with artifacts and enchantments. I’m also a big fan of the [Card]Riders of Gavony[/Card] in his sideboard that can really act as a bomb in these creature mirrors.

Last but not least I’d like to mention Mitchell Brown and his [Card]Hardened Scales[/Card] deck. This is obviously no longer an unknown quantity, but is a deck that I believe to be one of the best in Modern and that gets slept on a little too often. There are just so many broken cards in this deck and it has one of the fastest clocks in the format.

Congratulations to Justin on his big win this past weekend! The next stop on the FacetoFaceGames.com Open Series is coming up on Dec. 15 when we’ll be travelling to Red Deer, Alberta for a Modern Open. Make sure to pre-register, get your creature combat skills tuned up and come on out to battle!

First Place, Justin Lee – Bant Spirits

[Deck]
[Creatures]
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Phantasmal Image
1 Rattlechains
3 Selfless Spirit
4 Supreme Phantom
4 Drogskol Captain
1 Geist of Saint Traft
2 Reflector Mage
4 Spell Queller
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
2 Path to Exile
4 Collected Company
3 Aether Vial
[/Spells]
[Lands]
2 Botanical Sanctum
1 Breeding Pool
1 Cavern of Souls
2 Flooded Strand
1 Forest
1 Hallowed Fountain
3 Horizon Canopy
1 Island
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Moorland Haunt
1 Plains
1 Seachrome Coast
1 Temple Garden
2 Windswept Heath
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Geist of Saint Traft
2 Knight of Autumn
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Dromoka’s Command
1 Unified Will
3 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
1 Worship
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

Second Place, Isaac Pasloski – Humans

[Deck]
[Creatures]
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Kitesail Freebooter
4 Meddling Mage
4 Phantasmal Image
4 Thalia’s Lieutenant
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Mantis Rider
3 Militia Bugler
3 Reflector Mage
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Aether Vial
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Ancient Ziggurat
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Horizon Canopy
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Seachrome Coast
4 Unclaimed Territory
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Auriok Champion
2 Gaddock Teeg
1 Anafenza, the Foremost
2 Izzet Staticaster
1 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
2 Knight of Autumn
3 Sin Collector
1 Riders of Gavony
1 Dismember
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

Third Place, Cameron Carruthers – Infect

[Deck]
[Creatures]
4 Glistener Elf
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Blighted Agent
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Blossoming Defense
2 Distortion Strike
3 Groundswell
4 Might of Old Krosa
4 Mutagenic Growth
2 Spell Pierce
4 Vines of Vastwood
1 Apostle’s Blessing
1 Dismember
3 Become Immense
[/Spells]
[Lands]
2 Breeding Pool
2 Forest
4 Inkmoth Nexus
3 Misty Rainforest
2 Pendelhaven
1 Temple Garden
3 Windswept Heath
3 Wooded Foothills
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Spellskite
4 Geist of Saint Traft
1 Dismember
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Rest in Peace
3 Stony Silence
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

Fourth Place, Ben Burrough – Dredge

[Deck]
[Creatures]
4 Bloodghast
1 Golgari Thug
4 Narcomoeba
4 Prized Amalgam
4 Stinkweed Imp
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Conflagrate
1 Darkblast
4 Faithless Looting
4 Cathartic Reunion
4 Life from the Loam
4 Creeping Chill
4 Shriekhorn
[/Spells]
[Lands]
1 Arid Mesa
1 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Blood Crypt
2 Bloodstained Mire
3 Copperline Gorge
1 Dakmor Salvage
1 Mana Confluence
2 Mountain
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
2 Stomping Ground
2 Wooded Foothills
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Darkblast
2 Lightning Axe
3 Nature’s Claim
1 Thoughtseize
1 Abrupt Decay
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Assassin’s Trophy
1 Collective Brutality
2 Leyline of the Void
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

Fifth Place, Mark Sedgewick – Eldrazi Tron

[Deck]
[Creatures]
4 Walking Ballista
4 Matter Reshaper
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Reality Smasher
4 Endbringer
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
1 Warping Wail
2 Dismember
2 All Is Dust
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Expedition Map
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Mind Stone
[/Spells]
[Lands]
2 Cavern of Souls
4 Eldrazi Temple
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Sea Gate Wreckage
4 Urza’s Mine
4 Urza’s Power Plant
4 Urza’s Tower
3 Wastes
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Hangarback Walker
1 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Gut Shot
2 Spatial Contortion
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

Sixth Place, Mitchell Brown – Hardened Scales

[Deck]
[Creatures]
4 Hangarback Walker
4 Walking Ballista
4 Arcbound Worker
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Steel Overseer
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Mox Opal
3 Welding Jar
2 Animation Module
2 Throne of Geth
4 Hardened Scales
1 Evolutionary Leap
[/Spells]
[Lands]
1 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Darksteel Citadel
6 Forest
2 Horizon Canopy
4 Inkmoth Nexus
1 Pendelhaven
2 Snow-Covered Forest
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Karn, Scion of Urza
4 Nature’s Claim
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Dismember
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
1 Relic of Progenitus
4 Damping Sphere
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

Seventh Place, Ethan Gray – Ad Nauseum

[Deck]
[Creatures]
1 Laboratory Maniac
4 Simian Spirit Guide
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Pact of Negation
4 Angel’s Grace
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
2 Spoils of the Vault
2 Peer Through Depths
1 Lightning Storm
4 Ad Nauseam
4 Lotus Bloom
4 Pentad Prism
3 Phyrexian Unlife
[/Spells]
[Lands]
1 City of Brass
3 Darkslick Shores
3 Gemstone Mine
1 Island
1 Plains
4 Seachrome Coast
1 Swamp
3 Temple of Deceit
3 Temple of Enlightenment
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Slaughter Pact
2 Darkness
1 Duress
2 Fatal Push
1 Echoing Truth
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
2 Bontu’s Last Reckoning
4 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

Eighth Place, Brian Keminsky – Mono-Green Tron

[Deck]
[Creatures]
2 Walking Ballista
3 Wurmcoil Engine
1 World Breaker
2 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
1 Emrakul, the Promised End
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Karn Liberated
2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Sylvan Scrying
2 Dismember
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
4 Expedition Map
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Oblivion Stone
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Forest
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Sanctum of Ugin
4 Urza’s Mine
4 Urza’s Power Plant
4 Urza’s Tower
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Thought-Knot Seer
2 Thragtusk
2 Nature’s Claim
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Life from the Loam
1 All Is Dust
2 Chalice of the Void
2 Grafdigger’s Cage
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]