1-0 in the Modern Challenge with Broodscale! Streaming at twitch.tv/ross_merriam

Had to stop early but 6-2 on the day, beating up on a lot of fair midrange decks. Challenge at 9am eastern on Thursday!

Live in 5 with more Broodscaling! twitch.tv/ross_merriam

7-3 on the day and Mycospawn was impressive. Not sure if I want 2 or 3 but I'll be playing them going forward.

Live in 5 trying Sowing Mycospawn in Gruul Broodscale! twitch.tv/ross_merriam

4-3, Top 32. I feel comfortable against every matchup except Boros Energy, which I just can't ever beat. Going to get some focused work done in that matchup specifically, hopefully starting tomorrow.

Live in 5 for the Modern Challenge w/ Gruul Broodscale! twitch.tv/ross_merriam

Live in 5 with more Broodscaling! twitch.tv/ross_merriam

2-3 with Lab, but trophied with Gruul! The red cards don't blow me away, but Devourer has been a liability and the Lab builds mana makes you less consistent and more prone to stumbling. Guide update coming to Patreon asap!

Live in 5 with more Broodscale testing. Playing both Gruul and Mono-Green Lab builds at twitch.tv/ross_merriam

Played my first Riftbound local. 2-1ed with Irelia losing the mirror as my opponent had the gall to know what the cards did and how to play them properly.

Got an email this week saying I was qualified for an RC this season, which I wasn't aware of. So I had to awkwardly email asking how and apparently it's policy to invite everyone qed for a PT to the RC connected to that PT. Glad I don't have to LCQ for DC!

Live in 5 for the Modern Challenge w/ Lab Broodscale and Trying Izzet Bounce Between Rounds at twitch.tv/ross_merriam

3-2ed the LCQ but was happy with the list. Going to play the Thursday 9am Challenge with it. Also picked up a trophy with this Vintage Cube masterpiece.

Live in 5 with the Modern Showcase LCQ playing Lab Broodscale and Vintage Cube between rounds at twitch.tv/ross_merriam

Lost the last round to kanister to miss the qualification, which stings but I was happy with my list and mostly happy with my play. 4-1ed the Brood league losing to a misclick. Running that deck in tomorrow's 11am Modern LCQ as my last bullet!

Live in 5 for a Standard Showcase LCQ w/ Izzet Prowess and Lab Broodscale between rounds at twitch.tv/ross_merriam

I received so many pictures from @emmapartlow.com of the tasty food she was eating at Paupergeddon that I had to make polenta with a lentil bolognese. #roanokeeats

5-4 the Standard Showcase with Prowess. 1-3 in the mirror losing to several Talent-Basics Full House draws with Crabs behind. Lost the trophy match with Lab Broodscale in my side league--liking that build over Gruul so far. Firing bullets in LCQs on stream tomorrow and Tuesday!

7-2, 15th. Deck was solid all day, losing to Jeskai Blink (worst matchups) and a tight 3 game set to Energy. The metagame looks great for the deck so I'm going to work more on it this week and update my Deck Guide on Patreon. Back tomorrow at 11am edt for the Standard Showcase!

Live in 5 for the Modern Showcase Challenge w/ Gruul Broodscale! Izzet Prowess between rounds at twitch.tv/ross_merriam

Live in 5 with the decks I'm planning on playing in Showcase Challenges this weekend: Gruul Broodscale in Modern and Mikey Landfall in Standard! twitch.tv/ross_merriam

At one point yesterday I was 3-0 in a league with a solid win rate on the week and feeling like I was getting to a good spot with Cam Combo. Since then I've gone 4-13 and can't understand how the deck ever wins. Mikey Landfall is solid though.

Live in 5 for the Modern Challenge w/ Temur Cam! Mikey Landfall in Standard Between Rounds. twitch.tv/ross_merriam

4C Build was the best build so far but not sure 4C is better than Temur though. Cauldron was impressive and Rumble was so good I feel stupid for not playing it before. Still struggling against aggressive strategies as pressure + removal for Emry/Tamiyo/Saga is hard to beat.

Day 3 of working on Cam Combo in Modern! Today's focus is trying to find builds with good interaction but that can combo more consistently, so both have 4 Malevolent Rumble and an Agatha's Soul Cauldron to access Emry from the graveyard. Live in 5 at twitch.tv/ross_merriam

Ever yawn and in the process knock over a bowl of popcorn, spilling it all over your desk, yourself, and the floor? Yeah, me neither.

The fair stuff in both builds was good, the combo stuff was not. I think you may need Rumble to consistently assemble the pieces through disruption, so tomorrow will be about trying some Rumble builds and seeing how far the mana can be stretched to get the best interaction.

Day 2 of my deep dive into Sewer Cam decks in Modern, this time exploring what different splash colors have to offer with my Azorius build and Cesar Merjan's Dimir one! Live in 5 at twitch.tv/ross_merriam

Neither build impressed, mainly due to the support cards. Cutter does not play well in a cantrip-light, Mox heavy deck and you want your non-combo threats to play well without Emry specifically. I was excited about Weapons but it was also awkward. Trying UW+UB builds tomorrow!

Getting back into Modern this week to prepare for this weekend's Showcase Challenge and the RCQ Season and that means trying to find the best build of the new Sewer-veillance Cam Combo deck! Live in 5 with these two lists at twitch.tv/ross_merriam

Going to be working on lots of Sewer-veillance Camera decks in Modern this week, starting with these five builds. Article is live and my stream will be up within an hour. www.patreon.com/posts/5-ways...

Tofu-Vegetable (Carrots, Peas, and Spinach) Curry! #roanokeeats

My Izzet Prowess Guide has now been updated with my most recent list and two more matchups (Esper Pixie and Momo White)! Full Guide requires a $15 Patreon sub but you can buy the updated SB map by itself for $10 without a sub. Links below:

4-3 challenge after a rough start, but 5-0ed the league. Online metagame is getting a bit tougher for Prowess with Pixie and Momo, but I think maindeck Crab is an improvement. And the Mikey Landfall deck has really impressed me once you have an appropriate # of lands.

Live in 5 trying out Mikey Landfall between rounds of a Challenge w/ Izzet Prowess! twitch.tv/ross_merriam

Easy game! My Momo-White opponent mulling to 5 G3 helped but overall this list felt nice. Update to the Patreon guide coming tonight/tomorrow morning!

Live in 5 with an updated Izzet Prowess list for the post-Spotlight metagame! twitch.tv/ross_merriam

The whole region has been dragged into this because they host US military bases. You can't house US troops and weapons systems, then pretend to be neutral.

A heads up that Paupergeddon 2026 Spring Edition tickets are on sale! The event takes place from March 20-22 and is in Lucca, Italy. Player cap is 1200 players for the main event. Hope to see you there! 👋 🇮🇹 paupergeddon.com/index_eng.ht... #MTGPauper

The Democratic Party is directly enabling the war by praising the assassination of Iranian leaders, refusing to condemn the aggression, and approving massive military funding.

My Richmond Tournament Report is now live for all paid Patrons! I go over my pre-tournament crisis of confidence, all my matches, and post-tournament thoughts on my deck. www.patreon.com/posts/spotli...

Fun stream, thanks for everyone who came in to watch me ramble for 3 hours. I'm going to take the next 36 hours off to spend with @emmapartlow.com but the stream will be back Wednesday evening after she's on a plane and I'm sad.

Going live in 5 with a live Tournament Report for Spotlight: TMNT, including breakdowns from every match, and watching over the coverage from the 3 that were on camera! twitch.tv/ross_merriam

Finished 43rd at RC Turin with Izzet Prowess, which is both my first RC day 2 and enough for RC Prague in May. Thanks to @rosshunneds.bsky.social for his excellent Patreom guide. It paid dividends. Matchups below.

Bump for the afternoon crowd!

Live in 5 with the Prowess list from my most recent guide, then trying Leatherhead in Landfall! twitch.tv/ross_merriam

My Standard Izzet Prowess Guide is now live! For a 15$ sub you get the full guide with card by card breakdown of my list, play advice, and sideboard/matchup guide for 12 common Standard archetypes. You can also buy the standalone SB guide for 10$ without a sub. Links below:

Live in 5 testing Landfall builds against Mattia Rizzi on Lessons and Prowess! twitch.tv/ross_merriam

Even though I find the format and decks intriguing, I've decided to refer to Canlander as "The Weiner Format" solely to annoy @emmapartlow.com. These are the sacrifices I make to keep my marriage strong.