Modern and a failed GP Trial...

Hi again
So last Saturday I got the chance to play a GP Trial at Uchronie Games, a small but very nice shop in the Parisian area. We were 33 players, a reasonable number for a Modern tournament (They were 46 at the last GP Trial, a week before this one). Before we get to my results, I would like to go back a few months back...

The first Modern GP in Europe took place in Torino, Italy, in march. I did quite some testing, and the expected decks at the time were Twin, Jund, Affinity, Melira Combo, Delver (U/W/R, RUG), Storm, Loam, and the RG TRON, recently broken by Charles Gindy on a MTGO PTQ. You see, I love playing with the graveyard, and the Loam deck was a decent choice, specially because most people didn't know how to play against it. When we got there, we saw that almost 80% of the GP Trials were won by RG TRON. The deck was everywhere. Every single copy of Sowing Salt (Exile target nonbasic land. Search its controller's graveyard, hand, and library for all cards with the same name as that land and exile them. Then that player shuffles his or her library.) was sold out, meaning people were really afraid of the deck. I finished day one at 6x3, loosing against TRON, Affinity (damn Relic of Progenitus), and finaly Melira pod.

The GP was won by Antonino da Rosa with Delver,  and you can find the coverage here 

I decided to mention the GP Turin to give you a overall look at the modern metagame. Even with the printing of Avacyn Restored and M13, we only really got Restoration Angel that made an impact in the format, giving birth to the Pod-Kiki-Angel deck. The next 2 modern GPs were in Japan (where the POD deck dominated despite the WB tokens taking the title) and in the US (Robot wins), with no big changes to the format.

Then, we have the players Championship. 16 of the best players in the world battling through 3 days of modern, cube and m13 draft. The only real surprise was the deck builder master Yasooka presenting the world his last creation: Eternal command. (Dech-Tech ).

So, what can we learn from all of this? Modern is a very wide format, with no broken (at least for now) decks, and most people play what they are familiar with. Jund is probably a little bit ahead the other ones, considering its raw power, but its not unbeatable. But if you are thinking about going to GP LYON, be prepared  to face JUND. With only half of Return to Ravnica spoiled, we cant say much about the format
after October, and considering that Pro-Tour Seattle it Is MODERN, Im myself going to wait for the results before making my final choice for the GP.

Wait a second, what about the GP Trial? Well... I haven't play modern since GP Turin, so I called a friend and asked him if he had a deck available... So he asked me if I would like to play Eternal Command... The deck seemed fun, and I watched Yasooka crush everyone (except Alexander Hayne and Watanabe in the finals) with it. So lets give it a try!!
I started with a win against Affinity, with turn 1 Vial both games, and just crushed his mulling to 6 game one. Game 2 I had 2 eternal witness, vial and ancient grudge, draw a spell snare turn 1, and that was fast.

The rest of the rounds... not even worthy mentioning. Lost  against RUG Delver, and RG TRON after my perfect draws in the first round. Got stuck with 2 lands in play both games, with my Cryptic Commands staring at me. =(  It was over after 1x2... The deck is extremely hard to play, and probably needs more lands, or more spells like serum visions. I wouldn't recommend it except if you are Japanese and a hall of famer...

You can find the link to thet top 8 here, won by watchdamatch (probably the only French magic website) modern specialist Arnaud H! He played Esper Teachings, a solid control deck that haven't being putting good results recently...
http://www.watchdamatch.com/coverage/report-trial-gp-lyon-uchronies-games/

That was a little bit long, but hope you guys have enjoy it!