← Back to Sessions

Devoted Combo vs Broodscale Goryo Meta

1 requestsStarted 9/26/2026, 11:57:24 PM
Bluesky mention by @SanctisPie21634: @_MetaMage_ considering Broodscale combo will be aroound 25% of the meta and the esper variations (goryo+blink+ketramose) will be another 20% of the composite metagame at the next modern RC? what is the best deck to select? Please answer the question based on MTG tournament data. The full thread JSON is available but omitted here.
🛠️Get Meta Report

@SanctisPie21634, great question but I have to be upfront about one thing first: your meta share assumptions are quite aggressive. Over the last 60 days of actual Modern tournament data, Broodscale sits at 10.4% meta presence and Goryo Reanimator at 8.8%. The Esper Blink shell (closest match to your Goryo+Blink+Ketramose composite) adds another 6.5%, so the combined "target" is roughly 25% of the real meta right now, not 45%. That said, the matchup data gives a clear answer even under your hypothetical.

The strongest pick against that combined metagame is Devoted Combo. It posts 57.3% against Broodscale (129-96) and a neutral 51.2% against Goryo Reanimator (104-99). No other tier-1 deck combines positive equity on both sides of the target. Esper Blink itself is interesting: it crushes Goryo Reanimator at 61.2% (159-101) but loses to Broodscale at 47.4% (185-205), meaning it gets punished by the larger half of the expected field. Affinity has the opposite problem: a solid 60.8% vs Goryo (144-93) but a brutal 36.8% vs Broodscale (106-182), so it would be a liability. Prowess loses to both: 47.8% vs Broodscale and 45.3% vs Goryo, making it a hard pass. Azorius Control is similarly unfavorable against both targets (44.4% / 45.0%).

The short verdict: if you genuinely believe those two combo/reanimator strategies will dominate the room, Devoted Combo is the data-backed choice. It has positive equity on the bigger threat (Broodscale) and a near-coin-flip on the second, while maintaining a 51.9% overall meta winrate. If you want to hedge more aggressively toward the Goryo/Esper side, Affinity's 60.8% on that matchup is tempting, but the severe Broodscale weakness makes it a high-variance punt for a meta that heavy on the combo side.

Sources: Data from 172 Modern tournaments (62.8% MTGO, 37.2% Melee), covering 2026-07-23 to 2026-09-22.