Esper Blink Modern Quantum Riddler

Based on the tournament data from the last 60 days, Quantum Riddler is primarily played in these Modern archetypes (excluding Goryo's Vengeance reanimator):

Main Archetypes:
• Esper Blink - 185 decks (3.09 avg copies) - The most popular home
• Azorius Control - 44 decks (3.95 avg copies) - Control shell utilizing the card draw
• Simic Ritual - 15 decks (1.87 avg copies) - Combo/ramp strategy
• Azorius Scam - 13 decks (3.92 avg copies) - Tempo/value deck
• Esper Frog - 11 decks (3.09 avg copies) - Midrange shell

Other Notable Appearances:
• Various Scam variants (WURG, WUBG)
• Control decks (Jeskai, Omnath)
• Some fringe combo decks (WURG Ritual, Bant Ritual)

The card appears to be most at home in blue-based control and blink strategies that can leverage its card draw ability when operating with a low hand size. Esper Blink is by far the most common archetype, likely using it as both a threat and card advantage engine alongside blink effects.

Sources
Data from 116 tournaments: 82.8% MTGO, 17.2% Melee. Recent events include Modern Challenge 32 and $uper $unday RCQ.

Perfect! I found the top performers for both archetypes. Here are the recent tournament winners and top performers:

Esper Blink Top Performers:

Tournament Winners:
• TheKG - Won Modern Challenge 32 on 2025-08-24

Tournament Performance:
• 85 Top 8 appearances (7.63% of all top 8s)
• 9 tournament wins in the past 2 months
• 2nd most successful archetype by wins after Boros Energy

Azorius Control Top Performers:

Tournament Winners:
• Arcbound_Papi - Won Modern Challenge 32 on 2025-08-24

Tournament Performance:
• 27 Top 8 appearances (2.42% of all top 8s)
• 2 tournament wins in the past 2 months
• More selective but still competitive in the meta

Both decks had recent victories on the same day (August 24th), showing they're viable competitors in the current Modern meta. Esper Blink has significantly more top 8 representation and wins, making it the more dominant of the two Quantum Riddler archetypes.

Sources
Data from tournaments with 32+ players from July-August 2025: 82.8% MTGO, 17.2% Melee events.

Here are the recent Azorius Scam tournament decklists with Quantum Riddler:

Recent Azorius Scam Lists:

• Nordic Masters: Modern (Aug 30, 2025)

• ReCQ - Modern - SCG CON Orlando (Aug 29, 2025)

• Modern Challenge 32 (Aug 24, 2025)

• Modern Challenge 64 (Aug 22, 2025)

• Modern Challenge 64 (Aug 18, 2025)

The archetype appears regularly in both MTGO Challenges and paper tournaments. Based on the earlier data, these decks typically run 3.92 average copies of Quantum Riddler, suggesting it's a 4-of in most builds.

Sources
Data from 11 tournaments with Azorius Scam entries: 81.8% MTGO, 18.2% Melee events from July-August 2025.

Here are the recent Esper Frog tournament decklists with Quantum Riddler:

Recent Esper Frog Lists:

• $uper $unday RCQ - Modern - SCG CON Orlando (Aug 31, 2025)

• Modern Challenge 32 (Aug 31, 2025)

• Nordic Masters: Modern (Aug 30, 2025)

• Modern Challenge 32 (Aug 30, 2025)

• ReCQ - Modern - SCG CON Orlando (Aug 29, 2025)

The archetype appears regularly in both major paper events and MTGO challenges. From the earlier data, Esper Frog runs 3.09 average copies of Quantum Riddler across 11 decks, suggesting most builds include it as a 3-of for card advantage.

Sources
Data from 62 tournaments with Esper Frog entries: 79.0% MTGO, 21.0% Melee events from July-August 2025.

Based on the Standard tournament data from the last 2 weeks, here's what the "Unknown" archetype looks like:

Unknown Archetype Stats:

• 2.78% of meta presence (48 total entries)
• 35.66% winrate - Significantly below average (one of the worst performing)
• Appeared in 19 different tournaments
• 51 wins vs 92 losses (very poor performance)

Performance Pattern:

Most "unknown" entries performed poorly, with many going:
• 0-1, 0-2, 1-2 records - Common pattern
• Best performers: 5-4 records (3 players achieved this)
• Typical record: 1-4 or worse

Tournament Presence:

The unknown entries appeared primarily in SCG CON Orlando events during the final weekend, suggesting these might be:
• Experimental brews that didn't work out
• Misclassified decklists that couldn't be properly categorized
• Off-meta attempts that struggled against the established field

The poor winrate (35.66% vs 56.22% for top-tier Izzet Cauldron) suggests these were likely unsuccessful experimental decks rather than viable hidden strategies.

Sources
Data from 21 tournaments with Unknown entries: 61.9% Melee, 38.1% MTGO. Recent events: $uper $unday RCQ, ReCQ Orlando, Oversized Standard.

Here's what the "Unknown" archetype cards look like in Standard over the last 2 weeks:

Main Deck Pattern:

The "Unknown" category appears to be a mix of experimental decks with these common themes:

Mana Base:
• Green-focused - Forest in 60% of decks (4.66 avg)
• Multi-color - Various shocklands and color-fixing lands
• Starting Town - 40% presence suggests aggro/tempo builds

Core Creatures:
• Llanowar Elves (31% of decks) - Ramp package
• Ouroboroid (16%) - Bloomburrow creature
• Spyglass Siren (15%) - Blue aggressive creature
• Overlord of the Hauntwoods (15%) - Big Duskmourn threat

Key Spells:
• Bushwhack/Shoot the Sheriff - Removal suite
• Smuggler's Surprise - Card advantage
• Enduring Curiosity - Card draw engine

Sideboard Pattern:

• Ghost Vacuum (28% of sideboards) - Graveyard hate
• Counterspells - Annul, Negate, Disdainful Stroke
• Flexible removal - Abrade, Get Lost
• Graveyard hate - Rest in Peace, Scavenging Ooze

Analysis: These look like diverse experimental brews - some ramp strategies, some tempo builds, some midrange piles. The poor 35.66% winrate suggests most were unsuccessful homebrew attempts rather than refined archetypes.

Sources
Data from 68 unknown entries across 21 tournaments: 61.9% Melee, 38.1% MTGO from August 18-September 1, 2025.

Based on the Standard tournament data from the last 2 weeks, here's the typical Mono Red Aggro list and variations:

Core List (100% presence):

Lands (16-17):
• Mountain (16.44 avg) - Basic manabase
• Soulstone Sanctuary (2.93 avg) - Utility land in 99% of lists

Core Creatures (4x each):
• Burst Lightning (3.99 avg) - Premium removal
• Hired Claw (3.98 avg) - Aggressive creature
• Screaming Nemesis (3.95 avg) - 99% presence

High Consistency Cards (80%+ presence):

• Razorkin Needlehead (3.98 avg, 89% decks)
• Nova Hellkite (3.01 avg, 85% decks)
• Obliterating Bolt (2.36 avg, 83% decks)
• Burnout Bashtronaut (3.94 avg, 80% decks)
• Lightning Strike (2.03 avg, 77% decks)

Major Variations:

Blue Splash (~53% of lists):
• Riverpyre Verge + Spirebluff Canal for mana
• Scalding Viper // Steam Clean - Blue card advantage

Traditional Mono-Red (~47% of lists):
• Rockface Village (3.84 avg in 45% of decks)
• Emberheart Challenger (4x in 44% of decks)
• Pure red manabase

Standard Sideboard:

• Sunspine Lynx (93% of sideboards, 2.38 avg)
• Abrade (88%, artifact/creature removal)
• Fire Magic (85%, burn spell)
• Magebane Lizard (84%, anti-noncreature)
• Chandra, Spark Hunter (80%, planeswalker)

Analysis: The archetype has moderate variation - about half splash blue for card advantage while half stay mono-red for consistency. The core is very stable, with variations mainly in the 2-3 drop slots and mana base.

Sources
Data from 28 tournaments: 50% MTGO, 50% Melee. Recent lists: Standard Challenge 32, ReCQ Orlando, $uper $unday RCQ.

Yes! There is indeed a clear split between the two variants, and their winrates are very close:

Mono Red Aggro Variants:

Scalding Viper (Blue splash) Build:
• 51 entries (53% of total)
• 58.85% winrate (226-158 record)
• More popular variant

Emberheart Challenger (Pure mono-red) Build:
• 42 entries (44% of total)
• 59.57% winrate (140-95 record)
• Slightly higher winrate (+0.72%)

Neither/Other:
• 3 entries (3% of total)
• 35.71% winrate - Likely experimental/incomplete lists

Key Insights:

• The performance difference is minimal (59.57% vs 58.85%)
• Both variants are viable competitive choices
• Emberheart Challenger builds have a slight edge but Scalding Viper builds are more popular
• The split is almost 50/50 in terms of player preference

This suggests the choice between blue splash (Scalding Viper) for card advantage vs pure aggro (Emberheart Challenger) for consistency is largely meta-dependent or personal preference rather than one being clearly superior.

Sources
Data from 96 Mono Red Aggro entries across tournaments from August 18-September 1, 2025.