Corkyboyy's Challenge win headlines a week that also saw Ruby Storm surge in meta share and Boros Ponza collect multiple Challenge titles.
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Corkyboyy won the June 26 Modern Challenge 64 (111 players) with 5 Color Creativity, and the deck followed that result by vaulting 41 places to #1 on the Power Index — the sharpest single-week move in the rankings this period, landing in tier S.
Quote of the Day
With a single act of bravery, she went from expendable to indispensable.
Boros Ponza collected two Challenge titles across the week. McWinSauce won the June 27 Modern Challenge 64 (92 players), and gazmon48 won a Challenge 32 the same day (43 players). The archetype placed pilots in four additional Top 8s, with ScreenwriterNY finishing 4th and Ceiros 7th in the June 28 Challenge 64. Its week share of 5.5% sits 2 points above its trailing baseline of 3.5%.
Ruby Storm won two events: SanPop took the June 27 Challenge 32 (88 players) and azax won the June 22 Challenge 64 (95 players). Its week share of 6% is 3.5 points above its trailing baseline of 2.5% — the largest positive delta in the field.
Azorius Control also posted two wins: cftsoc3 took the June 24 Modern Challenge 96 (111 players) and JustAnotherGuy83 won the June 22 Modern Challenge 64 (121 players), the week's largest field. Its week share came in at 5.1%, up 1.4 points from a trailing baseline of 3.7%.
Goryo Reanimator won two events: KingHairy took the June 28 Challenge 64 (78 players) and Rvng won a June 24 Challenge 32 (34 players). Its week share of 6.1% is 1.4 points above the trailing baseline of 4.7%.
Affinity was the week's most-played archetype at 11.1% of the field, up 2.9 points from its trailing baseline of 8.2%, placing pilots in eight Top 8s without a Challenge win. CMack_ won the June 22 Challenge 64 (95 players) on Boros Energy, which ran at 10.2%, up 1 point from its trailing baseline of 9.2%.
Eldrazi dropped to 6.9% — 5.2 points below its trailing baseline of 12.1%, the steepest negative delta of the week — and Izzet Aggro fell to 3.9%, down 2.3 points from a baseline of 6.2%.
Below 5 Color Creativity's climb to #1, the index recorded broad slippage elsewhere. Rakdos Aggro fell 37 places to #50 (tier B), Dimir Control dropped 27 places to #33 (tier A), and Phoenix slipped 23 places to #36 (tier A). Samwise slipped 22 places to #31 (tier A).
Samwise went 5-0 across four Modern Leagues, with six pilots sharing a 42-card core built around Cauldron Familiar, Chord of Calling, Gilded Goose, and Samwise Gamgee. Three pilots ran Marionette Apprentice as a four-of alongside Young Wolf, Carrion Feeder, Orcish Bowmasters
Alakai moved three Hex Magic and a Grapeshot into the Ruby Storm main deck, removing two Glimpse the Impossible, Flashback, Heroes' Hangout, and Strike It Rich; the sideboard gained Brotherhood's End and Empty the Warrens at the cost of two Prismatic Ending.
TomCairns rebuilt a Dimir Frog list by adding two Unearth, an Abhorrent Oculus, and a Flare of Denial to the main deck, removing two Emperor of Bones, a Bloodstained Mire, and an Emeritus of Ideation // Ancestral Recall; the sideboard gained two Nihil Spellbomb and a Force of Negation while dropping End of the Hunt and Engineered Explosives.
Rvng leads the 30-day player form table with seven Top 8s from 20 events, including a first place finish on Goryo Reanimator this week. JustAnotherGuy83 is the most efficient: three Top 8s from just five events over the same window, including a first place finish in the week's largest field of 121 players. Young_Shaman has four Top 8s from nine events in 30 days. Jumba posted two Top 8s this week alone — first place on Tron at one event and second place at another — and holds four Top 8s across 18 events in 30 days. rastaf also carries four Top 8s in 17 events, including 4th-place finishes on Boros Energy in both the Challenge 96 and a Challenge 64.
Phillydrew215 climbed 2,911 places to #360 in the player points ranking after a 3rd-place finish on Azorius Control this week — the standout climb among players with a direct bracket result attached.
Whether 5 Color Creativity can hold tier S as the field adjusts is too early to call — watch how many Challenge lists add dedicated answers to the archetype in the coming week.
Esper Blink also went 5-0 across four Leagues from a 29-card core anchored by Solitude, Ephemerate, Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, and Consign to Memory. Two pilots ran nearly identical lists built on Overlord of the Balemurk, Quantum Riddler, Emperor of Bones, Flickerwisp, and Thoughtseize; a third kept Overlord of the Balemurk and Flickerwisp but added Psychic Frog, Ketramose, the New Dawn, and Relic of Progenitus; the most divergent list cut the Overlord package entirely for Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, Practiced Offense, Psychic Frog, and Mockingbird.
Dimir Frog went 5-0 across three Leagues from a 26-card core of Psychic Frog, Fatal Push, Thoughtseize, and Consign to Memory. One pilot ran a full reanimator package with Abhorrent Oculus, Archon of Cruelty, Persist, Unearth, Gran-Gran, and Fallaji Archaeologist; the remaining pilots differed mainly on whether Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student // Tamiyo, Seasoned Scholar, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, or Wan Shi Tong, Librarian filled the top-end threat slot alongside Quantum Riddler and Orcish Bowmasters.
JohnTag667 retooled an Izzet Aggro list between events: Expressive Iteration, Slickshot Show-Off, and Violent Urge moved into the main deck while three Academic Dispute came out; the sideboard added Consign to Memory, Prismari Charm, Spell Snare, and Surgical Extraction in exchange for Boomerang Basics, Firebending Lesson, Flusterstorm, and Tormod's Crypt. JohnTag667 finished second and then 5th in separate events this week.