by Johnny Cycles, December 1st, 2025
Hello! After a long Thanksgiving weekend, I’m ready to get back to Magic! The only problem is that I have too many decks that I want to showcase. Tough decisions will have to be made, but I’m going to put those off for as long as possible. In the meantime, I know I’ll be starting the month with Rat Attack! It’s a Rat Tribal deck I played against recently and whose creator (p00pInMyFacex3) kindly shared with me. It is super fun and powerful and I can’t wait to show it off!
Otherwise, there are several more Modern decks that I’ve been brewing that I still need to test out.
My Affinity Aristocrats deck was a ton of fun to play and very powerful. Sokka, Bold Boomeranger is an interesting addition that I’m curious to test out. Will it be better than Kappa Cannoneer or Pinnacle Emissary? I doubt it, but there’s one way to find out!
Mai, Scornful Striker is another card I highlighted in my Top 10 Modern Cards from Avatar: The Last Airbender. I am currently testing it out alongside one of my all-time favorite cards, Waste Not. This is probably not its best home, but I really can’t resist that 2-mana enchantment. I do think Mai, Scornful Striker is good in a Taxes shell, so we’ll see how my Waste Not version does and how long it takes me to cut that guilty pleasure for better cards.
I’ve been toying around with a Steal-and-Sac Rakdos deck using the various Hijack cards in conjunction with Phyrexian Tower and a variety of draw and kill spells that require you to sacrifice a creature. There is an inherent flaw in this strategy in that you’re relying on your opponent to play creatures…and good creatures. This shouldn’t be too much of an issue in Modern, but the recent appearance of Jeskai Blink in the format may pose issues for the deck. We’ll find out!
Otherwise, I have plans to publish the next two chapters of Zemlyanin and a top 10 moments from 2025. I’m also thinking about posting a series of videos following the building of a new Commander deck. Beginning with conception (choosing a commander) and going through the finding and sorting of the 99, I will discuss my thought process along the way. Let me know in the comments if you think this would be interesting!
I have three weeks before my kids are home for Winter Break and that’s a lot of things to get done. We’ll see what I get to.
Schedule
December 5th – Keeping Modern Janky – Rat Attack
December 12th – Keeping Modern Janky – Mono Black Taxes with Mai, Scornful Striker
December 19th – Keeping Modern Janky – Rakdos Steal and Sac or Affinity Aristocrats
December 26th – Zemlyanin, A Podkind Novel – chapters 5 and 6
December 31st – Top 10 2025 Moments at cyclesgaming.com
The Usual Blurb
My goal is to publish an article between Wednesday and Friday every week. I am a stay-at-home dad of three with a part-time job, though, so there may be weeks that life gets in the way. Whenever possible, I’ll publish articles and videos when they’re ready. Published articles with edited game play are pretty time-intensive, hence the once-a-week-schedule. However, I’ll publish videos of unedited practice matches to my YouTube channel when I can and when it makes sense. Be sure to check there if you’re looking for a match but it isn’t yet on the site.
If there is a topic you want me to write about, a deck you want me to try out, or if you want less of one thing and more of another, let me know in the comments or email me: johnnycycles16@gmail.com. If you enjoy the site, please let your friends know via word of mouth or social media or messenger pigeon, if that’s your preference. This is a relatively new site that needs all the clicks it can get!
Thanks for reading and watching, subscribing and sharing!
About Me
I’m a former Russian literature professor who specialized in 19th-century Russian literature. I love Dostoevsky more than Tolstoy, but both will change your life. I’m currently a stay-at-home dad of three with a part-time job. I love fantasy fiction, mysteries, and horror movies. If you’re surprised at the length of my articles, hopefully my history as an academic plus my love of fantasy help explain it…
Thanks for reading! I look forward to reading your comments on my articles, Russian literature, or the best fantasy series ever written (Tolkien, Jordan, Sanderson?).
