Curses is an Enchantment, Aura/Curse, prison deck whose goal is to create a soft lock on creature and planeswalker-based decks by cheating Overwhelming Splendor and Curse of Death’s Hold into play using Curse of Misfortunes. Following this, the deck uses Cruel Reality and Curse of Thirst as finishers. The deck uses hand disruptions such as Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize to disrupt combo decks as well as protect its hand from potential answers, such as counter spells. The deck also uses mana acceleration in the form of Lotus Bloom, Pentad Prism, and Hero of Iroas in order to cast Misfortunes as fast as possible. Lastly, the deck runs Open the Armory as Misfortunes numbers 5-8 and as a quick tutor for Curse of Exhaustion if our opponent is on Storm/Phoenix.

Theoretically, some of the biggest counters to this deck include faster combo decks, such as Dredge, or decks that run hand-hate, like Abzan/Jund Midrange. Thus, we have Rest in Peace, Leyline of the Void, and Leyline of Sanctity post-board. We also have four copies of Fragmentize in case our opponent has Sanctities of their own, and Thoughtseize to further rip apart combo decks’ hands.

Furthermore, Hall of Heliod’s Generosity acts as utility in case our enchantments are destroyed or pulled out of our hand. Here is the list below:

WB Curses

Creatures (4) 4 Hero of Iroas Artifacts (8) 4 Pentad Prism 4 Lotus Bloom Spells (21) 4 Path to Exile 4 Inquisition of Kozilek 4 Fatal Push 4 Open the Armory 3 Surgical Extraction 2 Thoughtseize Enchantments (9) 4 Curse of Misfortunes 1 Curse of Exhaustion 1 Curse of Death’s Hold 1 Curse of Thirst 1 Cruel Reality 1 Overwhelming Splendor

Lands (19) 4 Concealed Courtyard 4 Marsh Flats 4 Silent Clearing 3 Hall of Heliod’s Generosity 2 Godless Shrine 1 Plains 1 Swamp Sideboard (15) 4 Fragmentize 3 Leyline of Sanctity 3 Leyline of the Void 3 Rest in Peace 2 Thoughtseize

An example of a strong gameplan looks like this:
T1 – Land, Inquisition of Kozilek, Suspend Lotus Bloom
T2 – Land, Open the Armory, or Hero of Iroas, or Pentad Prism, or hand-hate/removal spells.
T3 – If you cast Pentad Prism last turn, you can cast Curse of Misfortunes here assuming you have a land.
T4 – Lotus Bloom being popped here for Curse of Misfortunes + Path/hand-hate is strong here.
Find Overwhelming Splendor or Curse of Death’s Hold, depending on the deck. A lot of X/1 decks will fall over to just Curse of Death’s Hold. Follow up with whichever of the two you didn’t get on your next turn, then Cruel Reality, then Curse of Thirst. Assuming your opponent can’t play creatures, they should die slowly to the upkeep damage.

Some weaknesses for this deck include spells that deal direct damage and decks that run significant hand-hate and counter magic. While this is fixed with Sanctity post board, it’s possible that you may never see it in a hand with strong opening spells. Moreover, Creeping Chill completely circumvents Sanctity‘s ability. Counter spells, such as Cryptic Command, become problematic when they bounce cards, such as Overwhelming Splendor, back to the player’s hand, as a efficient way to cast this spell or shuffle it back into the library does not exist.

Thank you for reading my article of Curses for competitive Modern gameplay. Feel free to leave comments on the deck below. If you wish to support me, my articles, and my deck brews/theorycrafting, my patreon is here.

Sky Hochberg

My name is Sky. I am 23 years old and am agender; meaning I prefer that you refer to me using they/them/their pronouns. I am a SUNY Oswego graduate with a BA in Creative Writing with a minor is Psychology. I am a Modern player, with my favorite deck being Dredge. I began playing Magic during Scars of Mirrodin; however, I did not play competitively until a few years ago. In my spare time, I enjoy writing poetry, studying/practicing Psychology, and composing music.

You may be asking yourself “What is a supplemental draft?” Just like in sports, where a draft is an event for all of the teams choose from eligible athletes to select to add to their organization. For example; MLB just finished their draft, selecting players from high school and college to supplement the pool of players on their teams. When it comes to Magic: the Gathering these supplemental draft sets are meant to add to the existing pool of cards available for players all over the world.

Over the years there have been more sets added to their release schedule. The game has grown from having a core set every other year, to every year, to eventually none in order to make room for new Standard cards, and now booster packs available outside of the Standard format for players to enjoy. With these sets there have been reprints of favorite cards, brand new cards showcasing new planes we haven’t visited before, and new mechanics aimed at multi-player play. While each set may be different from the last, they all add a level of fervor to find out what is in the set, and how well the cards will add to existing strategies if not provide new ones.

This is where Modern Horizons is supposed to come in. However has it delivered? It’s hard to say. As many of you know, I am disappointed in this set. There are several factors to this, and it’s not a “from the hip” reaction just because of what is or is not in this set. Through this article I will explain why this, and other supplemental sets, have either been exciting or disappointing.

Please understand this is not meant to deter you from your enjoyment of this set. No one should be pushing your point of view on anything towards a perceived majority. Everyone’s opinions should hold some level of value, and if you enjoy sets like these (regardless of what is or is not in it) then that’s awesome. Magic: the Gathering is foremost a game, and should be played and enjoyed by all (more on that later).

Here’s what we knew from this set:

• Designed to skip Standard, going directly to Modern.
• Approximately fifty cards being reprinted from sets released prior to 8th Edition, and Mirrodin.
• No reprints of cards currently legal in Modern.
• New cards.

Sure…they did that, but was it worth it? Let’s take a look at some videos that led up to the release of this set.

Prior to the announcement of Modern Horizons The Professor over at Tolarian Community College had Gavin Verhey on his channel to ask a lot of questions, starting with reprints. You should view it with this link. There is a concern that with the end of Masters sets with Ultimate Masters that there would be a lack of placement for reprints in Modern. Gavin mentions both Battlebond, and Conspiracy. He mentions that a lot of the reprints we asked for that landed in Masters sets meant that the Masters sets took up a lot of space for reprints in other sets. Hold on to that thought for a moment as I’ll touch on that later. There are other points in this video that are also important for all to hear so continue listening then come back.

Then there was the announcement video. This was released on Magic’s live channel titled Weekly MTG. They discuss the details of the set, and showcase two cards. Notice how they mention “draft”? A lot? The focus really felt directed towards draft sets such as Conspiracy and Battlebond. They talked about this set allowing for reprints of cards, and even new designs possibly too powerful for Standard, but on par for Modern. Matt Nass mentions this around the 17:24. Did that happen? In the case of reprints, I don’t think so. New cards? Hard to say.

After this came out there was some follow up content made available. Take a listen to The Professor’s concerns (before the set was out) here. Around the 8:25 mark he even stated if the cards are not powerful enough that they would become draft chaff.

Draft

Chaff

He may have been right. We’ll get to that later in this article.

What I want to do before we get to that is look at all of the sets we have received over the years so we can get an approximate comparison between each of them, and I hope at the end of this we all can understand why, for the most part, that we should be asking for more from these sets than what we have received.

…but how did we even get here to begin with?

How this began

Long before these reprint and supplemental sets began showing up on shelves, reprints of cards could happen anywhere. Sometimes those reprints would be common and uncommon for the purposes of draft (which WOTC still does to this day), but other cards show up at higher rarities as they would be either be tied into the story, or the effect was much needed to keep other cards in check. There have been cards that have entered Standard that some thought 1) were concerns, or 2) made formats warp around them, or 3) make certain decks more challenging to battle against, 4) or cause a few decks (if not just one) to take up too much representation in the metagame, which would lead to less diversity.

We’re always the bad guys, aren’t we?

In the years preceding the Masters sets, and at the dawn of the format we now know as Modern, these cards could be seen all over Standard. Not just for one rotation, but many. There was even a time (as both Mana Leak, and Ponder were reprinted in Magic 2012) they were alongside cards like Delver of Secrets. The community was concerned that the power level of certain cards was warping the format around them, and it felt like we were slowly returning to an era similar to when Caw Blade ruled Standard for a whole summer.

While this was happening a new format was designed with the help of those in the community through Magic Online. Made available in May of 2011, in August of that same year Modern replaced Extended as the format of choice for Pro Tour Philadelphia, and a new format was born.  Knowing that they could not put powerful cards such as Liliana of the Veil back into Standard via a core set (although they tried), and players complaining about powerful cards in Standard such as Thoughtseize being printed in Theros, Wizards knew that this was the path to go for powerful cards.

What we didn’t know is that not only would we see accessibility to a format become an issue, but due to complaints of the past we would be locked out of any quality reprints from Standard core sets until they returned with Core Set 2019 after a four year absence.

A lot of pressure was placed on these reprint sets to deliver for those who play Modern even at the FNM level. So let’s take a look at all of these sets, and then look at Modern Horizons, and its possible full impact on the format.

When reviewing these sets I will only focus on the rares and mythic rares in the sets, and the decks that were made more accessible by their reprinting. I won’t be talking about decks where a card was banned (unless they kept the same strategy after a key card was banned), nor a deck not around at the time of the set being released. Will I mention all possible decks? No. Will I miss some? Probably. The point of this exercise is to truly understand the quality of reprints in these sets so we can realistically set our expectations when a set like this is announced in the future.

Furthermore we can all understand that commons as well as uncommons are reprinted primarily for the use of drafting. While there are some of those rarities more sought after than others it doesn’t require printing a new set to make cards of those rarities available.

Unlike drafting, Modern is viewed as more of a competitive format. If the focus is only on playing the best deck (or playing a competitive deck well) then the cards to do so need to be available.

Modern Masters (2013)

The first of the Masters sets was announced at Pro Tour Ravnica in 2012. This was the first reprints-only set since Chronicles. The Masters sets were originally designed to cover sets that are no longer in print, and were not released in Standard within the last two to three years. This initial set covered cards from the beginnings of this new format to Alara Reborn.

If the name Chronicles sounds familiar to you then you should understand the significance of this reference. That set’s printing caused so much consternation within the community that it caused not only the creation of the (often hated) Reserved List.  It even caused this statement from Bill Rose (then) VP of R&D:

“Wizards has no plans for another reprint expansion. We will continue to publish new editions of the Core Set with new and different reprints, as well as include reprints in expert-level expansions.

We’re happy with the Standard cardpool size maxing out at around 1500. Two three-set blocks plus one Core Set is just over 1500 cards.”

Has…no plans…for another…reprint…

*looks at Modern Masters again*

…no…plans??? I guess Wizards of the Coast broke a promise. Yet no one sued them due to the values of their cards dropping due to being reprinted? No one sued them for breaking a promise???

Editor’s note: If you’re unclear on what is so controversial about this decision, please check out this article.

The first card revealed was Tarmogoyf which would go on to be reprinted quite often to make the card more accessible to those wanting to play the format. While the set was designed to be drafted with a full box (24 packs) it was aimed at those wanting to enter Modern. Let’s crunch some numbers to see how well they did.

Rares & Mythics in set: 68
Quality Rares & Mythics reprints: 27
Quality reprint percentage: 39.7%

Academy Ruins
Aether Vial
Angel’s Grace
Arcbound Ravager
Blinkmoth Nexus
Blood Moon
Bridge From Below
Chalice of the Void
City of Brass
Cryptic Command
Dark Confidant
Death Cloud
Engineered Explosives
Ethersworn Canonist
Gifts Ungiven
Glimmervoid
Kataki, War’s Wage
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
Knight of the Reliquary
Life From the Loam
Lotus Bloom
Maelstrom Pulse
Pact of Negation
Slaughter Pact
Tarmogoyf
Vendilion Clique

Total decks impacted: 12*
Decks:
Ad Nauseum, Affinity, Amulet Titan, All Blue based control decks, Death & Taxes, Birthing Pod (later becoming Collected Company decks), Infect, Jund* (all BGx Midrange decks), Merfolk, Mono Blue Tron, Soul Sisters / Martyr Proc, Storm

For the first reprint set providing nearly 40% of quality reprints for Modern players, there was a lot to choose from. Jund players were probably the real winners here by having two key creatures reprinted for their deck. The problems with this set though was both the low supply, and the MSRP of $6.99 not really being followed. Packs suddenly approached $10 (or more) per pack, and it was something that Wizards of the Coast would take notice of for future sets.

Conspiracy (2014)

Magic: the Gathering’s first attempt, in my opinion, to enter the tabletop boardgame realm, Conspiracy was made specifically to draft without impacting Modern. There were cards in this set unique to the drafting environment, and only legal while drafting! The Conspiracy card type allowed effects that would either happen while drafting, or allow you to start the game with them in play. This set’s mechanics also focused on multiplayer; once the packs were drafted players would split into two pods containing four players instead of traditional drafting where players are paired one on one. Coming in a unique design you could buy the box, draft it, and split the remaining packs among the players based on their record. It was easy for stores to hold these drafts as the packs had a normal MSRP of $3.99 per pack. With the understanding that this set would include few reprints and that nothing was legal in Modern, it was viewed more as a fun set or something to do outside of tournaments.

Only two rares impacted Modern, and just barely. They were:

Reflecting Pool
Terastodon

We need to be reminded that this set was not aimed for Modern; however, how often do sets aimed at Modern reach out to other formats? Why doesn’t it happen the other way too? Let’s keep looking.

Modern Masters (2015)

The second entry into the Modern Masters line of products, this set was also made to draft and touched upon more sets from the past up to Rise of the Eldrazi. The first set to be priced at $9.99 MSRP per pack, and to focus on trying to be environmentally conscious with packs that one could recycle. This was a unique entry into the Masters line from that information alone, but how well did they do when choosing reprints?

Rares & Mythics in set: 68
Quality Rares & Mythics: 18
Quality reprint percentage: 26.5%*
(*included Eldrazi Temple which was downshifted to uncommon, and not banned)

All is Dust
Bitterblossom
Blinkmoth Nexus
Cryptic Command
Dark Confidant
Daybreak Coronet
Eldrazi Temple
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Etched Champion
Fulminator Mage
Karn Liberated
Leyline of Sanctity
Mox Opal
Noble Hierarch
Primeval Titan
Spellskite
Surgical Extraction
Tarmogoyf

Total decks impacted: 9*
Decks:
Affinity, Amulet Titan, Azorius Control* (all Blue based control), Bogles, Faeries, Goryo’s Vengeance* (all versions), Jund* (all BGx Midrange decks), Titan Shift, Tron

This set was a dud. Period. While this set did add some accessibility to Modern overall, this was viewed as a failure. With all of that said, it did not have the lowest quality reprint percentage, and the cards mentioned above still hold a good amount of value on the market. However the chance you would find a card of value in a pack was even more rare than the mythic rarity.

Eternal Masters (2016)

With Eternal Masters we have another set that was focused on other older formats, but with little coming back the other way. While this set did help (a little) with formats like Legacy there were a pair of reprints that helped Modern. Even if just a little.

Heritage Druid (upshifted to rare)
Wrath of God

It would have been great if another one of these sets was released, as drafting with cards aimed specifically at formats older than Modern could have felt more like Cube drafting. Plus, formats older than Modern need a lot of help. This set was so well received it was available for upwards of six months as Wizards of the Coast kept printing it. I wish they would print a new Eternal Masters set.

Conspiracy: Take the Crown (2016)

Conspiracy: Take The Crown (more affectionately called Conspiracy II) followed the same example as the previous set in this series; providing a multiplayer draft experience making the game feel more like a tabletop board game than a collectible card game. The Conspiracy card type returned, and brought some new multiplayer mechanics with it. However this set was once again not aimed at Modern or Standard players, and the MSRP was still $3.99.

This was also another set with few reprints for Modern, however this one had two that actually did help in some manner.

• Birds of Paradise
• Inquisition of Kozilek (upshifted to rare)

Keep in mind this set came out the same year as Oath of the Gatewatch, which actually had a card named “Kozilek” in it, yet it was decided (I guess?) to reprint Inquisition of Kozilek in a set where Eldrazi are not a part of the story?? It did help though. This card was pushed outside of affordability reaching a high of $27.00 due to this, and the reprint was possibly done as an emergency as a Modern-era uncommons should never be that high in price.

Modern Masters (2017)

With the feedback from the previous Masters set, we returned to traditional booster pack wrappers with Modern Masters 2017. Again the focus here was on draft, but this time we were able to obtain reprints of actual key cards needed for Modern accessibility!

Rares & Mythics in set: 68
Quality Rares & Mythics: 30
Quality reprint percentage: 44.1%

Abrupt Decay
Arid Mesa
Basilisk Collar
Blade Splicer
Blood Moon
Cavern of Souls
Craterhoof Behemoth
Damnation
Death’s Shadow
Gifts Ungiven
Goblin Guide
Grafdigger’s Cage
Griselbrand
Liliana of the Veil
Marsh Flats
Misty Rainforest
Pyromancer Ascension
Ranger of Eos
Restoration Angel
Scalding Tarn
Scavenging Ooze
Snapcaster Mage
Sphinx’s Revelation
Stony Silence
Summoning Trap
Tarmogoyf
Temporal Mastery
Terminus
Verdant Catacombs
Voice of Resurgence

Total decks impacted: 15*
Decks:
Azorius Control* (all Blue based control), Burn, Death & Taxes, Death’s Shadow* (all variants), Eldrazi Aggro, Elves, Faux Pod* (All Abzan/Collected Company decks), Goblins* (all versions), Humans, Infect, Jund* (all BGx Midrange decks), Merfolk, Mono Red Prison, Oops All Turns (Taking Turns decks), Storm, Tron

Touching on sets all the way through to Dragon’s Maze this set felt like the first one where the community’s concerns were heard. Having reprints of long needed cards such as Damnation, Liliana of the Veil, Snapcaster Mage, and the Zendikar fecthlands (just to name a few) made this an instant hit. Modern has since remained (mostly) unchanged since this set, and it really felt like R&D understood what the format was when releasing this set. Having the highest quality reprint percentage at over 44%, this is the set that should be used as a benchmark to make the following sets better.

Unfortunately that did not happen.

Iconic Masters (2017)

Released in the fall of 2017 Iconic Masters was used to provide a reprint set for players to draft at the first and (so far) only HASCON. There was no preview season for this set, which was available for sale in November nearly two months after HASCON. The set was previewed on site at the event, and through opening packs. It was an odd attempt to recreate the original Magic: the Gathering new set experience by giving players the chance to see the cards for the first time when drafting. The internet was a lot different in those days long since passed, and this experience really hurt the set. So did the lack of quality reprints.

Rares & Mythics in set: 68
Quality Rares & Mythics: 17
Quality reprint percentage: 25%

Aether Vial
Ancestral Vision
Anger of the Gods
Bloodghast
Cryptic Command
Glimpse the Unthinkable
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
Knight of the Reliquary
Magus of the Moon
Oblivion Stone
Primeval Titan
Restoration Angel
Serra Ascendant
Serum Powder
Supreme Verdict
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
Thoughtseize

Total decks impacted: 8*
Decks:
Azorius Control* (all Blue based control), Death & Taxes, Eldrazi Aggro, Elves, Humans, Jund* (all BGx Midrange decks), Merfolk, Mono Red Prison

It is really a shame this set did not go over so well. There were packs of this available at stores long after printing has stopped, and it’s really difficult to judge if the $9.99 is still even worth it at this point. This was also a set where they attempted to blend the needs of formats older than Modern with the needs for Modern at the same time. In that aspect this set did well in their attempt, but there was much more room for improvement.

Masters 25 (2018)

As part of the celebration of their 25th anniversary Wizards of the Coast released Masters 25 to showcase cards through the game’s history. While hot off the heels of Iconic Masters, this set was looked upon to deliver a lot of key cards for Modern as by this point Modern was 60% of the game’s history.

It failed.

Rares & Mythics in set: 68
Quality Rares & Mythics: 11
Quality reprint percentage: 16%

Azusa, Lost but Seeking
Blood Moon
Chalice of the Void
Eidolon of the Great Revel
Ensnaring Bridge
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Pact of Negation
Rest in Peace
Summoner’s Pact
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
Vendilion Clique

Total decks impacted: 8*
Decks:
Ad Nauseum, Amulet Titan, Azorius Control* (all Blue based control), Burn, Death & Taxes, Eldrazi Aggro, Lantern Control, Titan Shift

To say this set represented all of the game’s history was really short sighted. Yes there were a lot of cards at common or uncommon included, and there were also cards that are only legal in formats older than Modern. However when you have a format that is more than half of your history, and you fail this badly, our expectations were not too high. You failed to deliver. This set sat side by side with the previous one on shelves at stores collecting dust. I can probably still find packs to this day at stores who are probably more than happy to move this product to make room for something that has a better chance of selling.

The only thing this set did right was have the quality reprints focused on the rare and mythic spots, but a lot of their choices were lackluster to say the least.

Battlebond (2018)

This set was designed to provide a unique drafting experience by having a partner to fight alongside you, against two other opponents. This format, called Two-Headed Giant (after the card), while always being an option at various pre-release events, felt like it was at least acknowledged with this set. Modern players expected little, if anything, from this set as it was marketed that Battlebond was for those who like to draft as well as EDH players. We were right, as any quality reprints were for those who play formats older than Modern. However with that said of all of these draft sets this one is the most popular.

Ultimate Masters (2018)

Now we get to Ultimate Masters, a set that was not only unexpected, but also felt a little rushed to the finish line. While I’m sure this set was printed for a scheduled for release this year, it was instead released late last year. Honestly I wish this was released this year instead so we could have had a traditional release. However, this set was released to announce the end of the Masters line of sets.

Rares & Mythics in set: 73
Quality Rares & Mythics: 27
Quality reprint percentage: 36.9%

All is Dust
Bitterblossom
Bridge From Below
Cavern of Souls
Celestial Colonnade
Creeping Tar Pit
Daybreak Coronet
Desolate Lighthouse
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Engineered Explosives
Fulminator Mage
Gaddock Teeg
Goryo’s Vengeance
Karn Liberated
Life From the Loam
Liliana of the Veil
Maelstrom Pulse
Noble Hierarch
Raging Ravine
Runed Halo
Sigarda, Host of Herons
Snapcaster Mage
Tarmogoyf
Through the Breach
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Vengevine
Visions of Beyond

Total decks impacted: 13*
Decks:
Azorius Control* (all Blue based control), Bogles, Death & Taxes, Dredge, Eldrazi Aggro, Faux Pod* (All Abzan/Collected Company decks), Faeries, Goryo’s Vengeance* (all versions), Humans, Izzet Phoenix, Jund* (all BGx Midrange decks), Mill, Tron

For a set with a $13.99 MSRP per pack one would think this would have surpassed Modern Masters 2017 for the largest amount of quality reprints. This set even had five more cards that were rare or mythic to choose from. However it fell just short of the record. This set set succeeded at providing reprints for older formats many of which were receiving their second booster box printing, and in some cases making them available in pack foil for the first time. This set also succeeded at providing box toppers from various cards in the set. Instead of a buy-a-box promotional card it made everyone’s box a little more unique as that topper could be a Tarmogoyf.

Sadly the Masters line ended with this set, but imagine if some of these cards were made legal in Modern? This set would have had a lot more excitement around it, and would have been in demand through the beginning months of this year. However its short print run, and high prices of packs didn’t really leave an impressionable mark on Modern. It helped a little, but didn’t have the impact that Modern Masters 2017 did.

Modern Horizons

Now we arrived at Modern Horizons.  A set that is designed to draft, covers some of the game’s history, comes in boxes with 36 packs, and has a price that could be less than those in the Masters sets. However with MSRP no longer being announced for paper product it’s hard to judge what that will be. Providing 254 cards, of which 249 are new (as the basics are obviously not reprints) this set skips Standard and places the cards directly into Modern.

…and Legacy.
…and Vintage.
…and EDH/Commander.
…and so on.

With a set aimed squarely at Modern, and reprinting cards that prior were only legal in formats older than Modern, one would think this set would have an impact similar to either Modern Masters 2017 or Ultimate Masters, right? They have made reprint sets for drafting where Legacy legal cards sat side by side with Modern legal cards, so surely they would understand how to provide that same level of power while making a draft format for those who draft to avoid, right?

Right?

Well it’s going to take some time to fully judge that, but in the meantime let’s take a look at the cards currently available, and what decks that (as of this writing) will impact Modern decks. Again I am only going to look at the rare and mythic spots.

Rares & Mythics in set: 68
Quality Rares & Mythics: 21
Quality reprint percentage: 30.8%

Altar of Dementia
Archmage’s Charm
Cloudshredder Sliver
Collector Ouphe
Fact or Fiction
Fiery Islet
Flusterstorm
Force of Negation
Force of Vigor
Giver of Runes
Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis
Kaya’s Guile
Nurturing Peatland
Prismatic Vista
Ranger-Captain of Eos
Seasoned Pyromancer
Silent Clearing
Sunbaked Canyon
Unsettled Mariner
Waterlogged Grove
Winds of Abandon

Total decks impacted: 10*
Decks:
Azorius Control* (all Blue based control), Death & Taxes, Dredge, Eldrazi Aggro, Humans, Infect, Izzet Phoenix, Jund* (all BGx Midrange decks), Mill, Slivers

For a new set that they spent months hyping, impacting only nine existing decks isn’t a lot. Sure there may be some new decks out there that come from this set, but that’s not the focus of this article. Also, new decks are unproven. Imagine if you put all of your disposable income into a new deck because of these cards, and you lose. A lot. That’s not going to feel really exciting. I do hope that those who do construct a new deck work their tail off to get everything they want out of it. Many of us, unfortunately, don’t feel that this set delivers on our hope of seeing cards from Legacy appear in Modern. While there were some at the common and uncommon rarity levels, those really will impact the draft environment more than Modern.

If this set would have been pitched as a set like Conspiracy, with a focus on a themed draft set, and titled “Magic Horizons” while still indicating that this set was going straight into Modern then perhaps the expectations would not have been set as high.

Remember when I mentioned Gavin Verhey’s visit with The Professor earlier in this article? It was mentioned that the Masters sets were taking up too much space for desired reprints to be placed in other sets. If that were truly the case we would have seen more quality (not quantity) reprints in Modern Horizons. As a matter of fact, take a look at that list again. Not a lot of those cards are reprints. In fact in all of the cards at rare or mythic, not a lot of them are reprints. If they would have learned from Masters 25 this is where the reprints of pre-Modern legal cards should have been. Imagine if in just the rare and mythic spots that half of them were reprints, and the other half new cards? This could have been a better set, and allowed to obtain interest from more than just those who draft or play casual formats such as EDH or Cube Draft.

Adding it all up

So why does Wizards of the Coast reprint cards?  According to the article linked: “The Magic trading card game has tremendous appeal as both a game and a collectible. For us, however, the Magic game is first and foremost a supreme game of strategy and skill. We choose to reprint cards because we believe (a) the cards we reprint make for enjoyable game play, and (b) all Magic players deserve an opportunity to play with these cards. Any card that isn’t on the reserved list may be reprinted.”

I want to take a moment to address the last point first. “All”. That means those who wish to compete, even at the FNM level, and those who wish to casually have fun at the game. These sets should be aimed at both sets of players, which the first point in the quote above illustrates, but as we look at the numbers the level of enthusiasm as well as the expectations often times aren’t reached.

So what does this mean for you, the individual? Honestly that’s up to you, but I don’t see any reason to buy boxes of these products until the line improves (if ever). Obviously if you are more aligned to drafting, let alone have a group of friends to draft with (which is also another requirement if a store does not have a draft night) go right ahead. If you are looking to add to your Modern Dredge deck though, why spend $200 (or more) on a box just to add three to five cards when buying the singles would be a better use of your money.

Speaking of money, it costs a lot to draft these sets. While even $15-$20 to draft Standard may seem like a lot, imagine spending $30-$40 to draft? These sets are made to draft, and when players draft them a small handful of times where do the rest of the packs sit? On the shelf. Probably next to any remaining packs of previous supplemental sets. Shelf space is important for stores, and asking them to buy a certain amount of product to maintain some level of status with you when their consumers can’t afford the packs (let alone draft them) is honestly unfair. If a set was desired by players (such as Modern Masters 2017 that cost might be easier to swallow for the consumer. For sets that aren’t even at 40% reprint quality? Not so much. Why make a product that doesn’t sell, Wizards of the Coast? What if that happens to Modern Horizons? It’s not the consumer’s fault.

Another thing to note, especially with Modern Horizons is that as new cards were revealed, and possible deck ideas were being hatched, existing cards in new deck ideas were starting to increase in price. How can one build a new deck if they can’t afford either the existing cards they don’t have, let alone the new card (or cards) that are pre-selling for more than a player can afford? Regardless of which Legacy cards you think should have been in this set, why is it’s inclusion so damn stressful? Should this happen with these sets, and more importantly should we as the community blindly accept everything Wizards of the Coast releases to us? Or can we be critical for once, and provide feedback in a constructive way so that perhaps the needs of everyone are not only understood, but met.

While not the same as far as product type, Commander 2018 was not received very well among many players. However, criticism about that set was not received with the same level of counter points as criticizing Modern Horizons has. Why is that? Perhaps once we figure that out we can move forward, and demand better products from Wizards of the Coast

In Conclusion

Whew! That was a lot to cover. If you made it this far, give yourself a star. While I hope for positive things from this new direction taken with Modern Horizons, I also hope that all new cards, including those coming into Standard, are tested in Modern. Why? Well one thing that has been proven with Modern Horizons is that they actually have time to do that or this set would have never come to light.

What are your thoughts on what was covered today? Leave them below, and follow me on both Facebook as well as Twitter.

I’m going on vacation, so no new article next week. In two weeks I’ll return with a reboot of an article series I started. You’ll just have to wait, and see what that will be.

Until next time…

TAP MORE MANA!!!

Scott Campbell

Scott Campbell, better known as MTGPackFoils, has been playing Magic since he was 17 (which was in 1993). He’s known for loving decks such as Azorius Control, Jund, and others (especially in Modern). He is a husband, father, and a former nightclub DJ.

http://www.twitter.com/MTGPackFoils

So let’s go ahead and dive right in.

White

White usually tries to keep things in order, and offers both removal spells as well as protections that can be used to help you avoid a quick defeat. Here’s a few that can help in some strategies.

• Generous Gift: I did not think we would get cards shifted from one color to another, but here we have a color shifted Beast Within. While turning an opponent’s Planeswalker, creature land, or other non-creature permanent into a 3/3 creature can be difficult to understand, keep in mind for us Azorius Control players we can remove that with the Unsummon ability on Jace, the Mind Sculptor.
• Gilded Light: When Cycling was first released I was not playing Magic. However, being about to give yourself Shroud at instant speed can help defend you against decks such as Burn or decks with targeted discard. Used this way, it can be a pseudo counterspell; and vs decks that don’t target you, it is half of a Think Twice.  This is a pretty solid card to keep an eye on.
• On Thin Ice: Last week I reviewed a few snow permanents, and now we have some more. While this may not necessarily better than Chained to the Rocks, it does have that same effect in decks built around having snow permanents. It’s “ok.” It will be interesting to see if this finds a home.

White still feels like a support color instead of a color that can stand on its own here in Modern. With that said, there might be enough to build a deck based on Cycling. With that archetype not even existing prior to Modern Horizons, it will be hard to gauge where it belongs in the format.

Blue

While blue offers spells that more often than not draw cards, it is also a color for those who wish to manipulate time, or even improve on artifact strategies. Here are this week’s offerings.

• Echo of Eons: Perhaps the card that most players are excited about, this is in essence a recosted Timetwister. Possibly the card closest to a Power 9 card that we will ever see in Modern, many are already wanting to play this while controlling a Narset, Parter of Veils or Notion Thief so they are the only one drawing cards. Six mana is a lot for a card that does not win the game when cast. I’m not sure where this will find a home, but perhaps someone with a deck taking extra turns (named “Oops, All Turns”) could run it.
• Mirrodin Besieged is the next card in a line of “named after sets” cards. Apocalypse, Future Sight, and Time Spiral all come to mind when thinking about this. Enchantments that provide you a choice when entering the battlefield are always interesting. I’m not sure if this will see any Modern play, as it is relatively inexpensive to cast, but this will find a home in many EDH decks.
• Tribute Mage comes from a long line of mages that search for artifacts. Trinket Mage, Trophy Mage, and Treasure Mage all before them have seen some level of play, with Treasure Mage appearing sometimes in Mono Blue Tron. There are a lot of good artifacts at the casting cost of two that are targets for Tribute Mage. I might even mention some in this article.

Currently blue decks in Modern are more control or combo based, but that doesn’t mean those are the only options. Keep this in mind when brewing as this color will always have tricks up its sleeve.

Black

“Greatness, at any cost” is often the motto of black: finding ways to utilize your life total for greater effects, your creatures on the battlefield to provide additional effects (destroying creatures, sapping life totals, etc), or bringing the dead back to life. A lot of successful decks over the game’s history have had black involved in some manner. Could there be more here in this set?

• Endling: I love cycles. Cards where a color, or colors, are represented to make sure each possible combination gets something. Dual land design follows this principle, but other permanents have over the years as well. The “-ling” cycle started in Urza’s Saga with Morphling, and although it’s been over twenty years since the first in this cycle appeared, we now have it completed. I wish it had Undying on it without having to pay mana to protect it from Lightning Bolt, however this is a solid card that might get some players brewing.
• Unearth: While this was a pleasant surprise I’m honestly not sure where this could fit. One place that was mentioned to me by my friend Joe was that Jund could use this. Being able to discard a creature with Liliana of the Veil‘s first ability, and then immediately put a creature into play with Unearth can be pretty powerful. Cascading into this with Bloodbraid Elf should also not be overlooked. To be honest, I could see Dredge also playing this if the matchups where Darkblast does nothing become more commonplace. The thought of either getting a creature back, or cycling to dredge is rather appealing though.
• Yawgmoth, Thran Physician: A surprising legend to say the least. I honestly wish this card was Orzhov colors, as it would have been a great general for Cleric EDH players. However looking at this for Modern it does have the interesting “Protection from Humans” line. By the time you are able to cast him, the opponent’s Humans deck may have a lot of creatures well beyond the range of his -1/-1. It will be interesting to see if this has a home, and hopefully it’s not in the sideboard of other Humans decks. Maybe there is an aristocrat deck out there somewhere.

Black is still the most powerful color in Modern in my opinion. Being the most disruptive with removal spells, discard spells, and creatures difficult to remove puts this above a lot of other colors.

Red

The most passionate color, and fanbase, red brings us even more spells that don’t necessarily do damage and show the flexibility the color can provide.

• Shenanigans: Not much says Shenanigans than the line “Dredge 1.” With the possible rise of Ensnaring Bridge in Modern, this card is perfect to deal with that pesky artifact allowing your creatures to attack. Watch out for Chalice of the Void on two though.
• Tectonic Reformation: Don’t sleep on this card. One of the ways that many decks (including Burn) lose the game is drawing cards that don’t do anything. For Burn it’s lands. That’s no longer the case with this card, where every land in their hand is a redraw allowing them to find the burn spell needed to secure the win. Also remember Wrenn and Six from last week? Yeah. Read these two cards again.
• Urza’s Rage: The card I never thought Tron needed, and here it is. Some of you may think I am joking, but how else are you going to get to 9 mana? Being able to deal ten (10!) to an opponent in one spell is always worth looking at, and Tron produces enough mana (ok I guess Amulet Titan players do too…) to help win the games quickly beyond the traditional planeswalkers used. Don’t sleep on this inclusion to Modern.

Red seems to be packing a punch on both ends of the mana curve. Which cards will make the cut in Modern? We’ll have to play the cards to find out.

Green

Growth. Nature. Life. These are the things green is known for, and this second week of previews is no different.

• Collector Ouphe: I thought this thing would take control of an artifact. It has “collector” in the name afterall. However a Stony Silence that can attack for two is nothing to dismiss. This creature can be found via Collected Company, Chord of Calling, along with another card I will mention soon.
• Llanowar Tribe: I’m honestly not sure why we need this card, but the callback is rather interesting. Remember when the one mana elf was changed from Llanowar Elves to Elvish Mystic? A reason why this happened was due to only a single elf being pictured on a card with a plural name. Thus we have this. Now there is a line where one could play Karn Liberated on turn three with elves, but I doubt we’ll see a lot of that.
• Weather the Storm: NOW we’re talking! Look at this sweet card! Have you ever lost against Burn? Are you playing green? You need this in the sideboard. Gaining six life in response to a Lightning Bolt is well worth the sideboard inclusion. I know, I’m advocating for a green card. Weird, right?

Green will always have a lot to offer, as it’s the most flexible color in the game. It can be as much of a primary color as a support color, and there are many archetypes that tap into this color.

Multicolor

Multicolored spells are continuing to provide brewers possible options for new and existing decks. These will be no different.

• Eladamri’s Call: Most tutors are sorcery speed; this card being an instant allows you to find the exact creature you need. I can see this sliding into any deck with Primeval Titan. Also creature combo decks will want this.
• Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis: Easily the best named card in the set, this is going right into Dredge. “You can’t spend mana to cast this spell” is also the best sentence ever written in the game’s history. Bloodghast‘s do nothing the turn they come into play (unless the opponent is at ten or less life) so casting this early can put you ahead on the board. An 8/8 draws a lot of attention, so you might be able to focus on your Conflagrate plan while the opponent tries to deal with this.
• Kaya’s Guile: While I’m not a fan of Esper Control in Modern, this goes a long way toward making me want to try it. Any spell that gives you a choice, especially at instant speed, allows you the ability to make the correct decision (with the exception of Gifts Ungiven). Sometimes control players may have six mana open, and can cast this using all of the abilities on this card. This is one to watch, and can even go into Abzan, Mardu, or Orzhov decks.

Multicolored cards often times provide just enough utility to enhance a deck. Some even provide creatures that probably could not exist as a mono color spell. Make sure you choose wisely for your deck.

Artifact

FINALLY! We have the Talisman cycle finished! I know this may not seem like a lot, but remember what Tribute Mage can do? These cards will see play. Modern? Maybe. EDH? Definitely. Keep in mind the colorless mana added with these can help casting some Eldrazi cards.

Lands

These lands from the Onslaught set make their inclusion into Modern, reminding us all of those who played during the era of Astral Slide. While these will help players draw past unwanted mana in their decks I’m not sure of their true purpose in existing decks. Dredge may play a pair of Forgotten Caves but perhaps they will spark a new archetype? Again only time will tell.

In Conclusion

With the set in full view, I’m still disappointed in Modern Horizons. I don’t think the set delivered what the hype, and set up, led many to believe this set was going to deliver. It feels like another set like Conspiracy, or Battlebond. Those sets were marketed correctly, and understood to be a casual draft set that would only impact Draft, Legacy, and EDH. This set has the word “Modern” on it to help players understand these cards are going straight into Modern. However the impact this set will have, in my opinion, feels very minimal. I will go more into this next week.

Is there a card I missed in this second week of previews that you are excited about? If so, please leave a comment below, and follow me on both Facebook as well as Twitter.

Next week I’m going to be taking a look at the history of supplemental sets to try and understand why the promise of Modern Horizons fell flat for many of us (myself included).

Until then…

TAP MORE MANA!!!

Scott Campbell

Scott Campbell, better known as MTGPackFoils, has been playing Magic since he was 17 (which was in 1993). He’s known for loving decks such as Azorius Control, Jund, and others (especially in Modern). He is a husband, father, and a former nightclub DJ.

http://www.twitter.com/MTGPackFoils

Before we take a look at some of the cards coming up in the set, let’s take a look at what this set holds for us.

Modern Horizons is a supplemental booster product set similar to the Conspiracy sets and Battlebond, and is primarily made to draft. The cards in Modern Horizons will be legal for play in the Modern format, and not be legal in Standard.

Modern Horizons reprints will be from cards not currently in Modern. We’re not going to get cards on the Reserved List (of course), but there _are_ a lot of cards that they could reprint that are legal in formats older than Modern, right? RIGHT?

While there have only been a few reprints that have excited me personally, there are still some cards in this set we can discuss, and wonder about their applications at the very least. So let’s dive in.

Honorable Mentions

Both Serra Benevolent, and Cabal Therapist have already been previewed with the announcement video. While both of these cards have their various call backs, the potential power for each of them simply cannot yet be determined.

• Serra Benevolent can use her minus ability (-3) to make a blocker to protect herself. Her ultimate is a Worship effect, and would probably fit in a midrange deck.
• Cabal Therapist on the other hand is a call back to Cabal Therapy and can be used every turn. This would be good once you have various tokens, or smaller creatures you don’t need. I can see this appearing in a deck with creatures using the Persist ability, or creatures that have either Unearth or have some level of value when they die.
• Flusterstorm is also in the set, and honestly one of the easiest inclusions to guess. It’s the buy-a-box promo card, so it will not show up in packs. While the Izzet Storm decks are currently playing the Arclight Phoenix decks of the same color, you can still counter instants and sorceries with this spell. This will show up in sideboards of most blue based decks, and will shine against decks that cast a lot of instants and sorceries such as Burn and Infect.

White

In this set there is a cycle of “Force” spells that can be cast for an alternate cost when it is not your turn. This set is (arguably) focused on drafting or playing sealed more than on providing us constructed cards for Modern, however that does not mean these cards are not playable beyond the Limited environment. The color white feels focused on making creatures, and keeping your board presence as high as possible. Here are some of the standouts so far week one of preview season.

• Force of Virtue is an enchantment with Flash, with an alternate cost available on your opponent’s turn (exiling a white card from your hand). This is a solid combat trick to use after blockers are declared. Not the worst of the cards in this cycle may see some casual play at Friday Night Magic (FNM), or in Commander pods.
• Giver of Runes is an obvious call-back to Mother of Runes (we are all thankful that her creature type is not Human). With Death & Taxes decks already a known commodity at FNMs everywhere, this could slide right into those decks (competing with Thraben Inspector).
• Ranger-Captain of Eos however IS a Human, and even cheaper than his previous version Ranger of Eos. For the same cost as his version from Shards of Alara, you can find a creature with a casting cost of one, AND play it the same turn you lay this card. Its ability to Silence your opponent on their upkeep seems really strong, and I look for it to show up in the multicolor Humans decks currently in Modern. This could even cause a mono color Humans deck to appear, and after seeing this as well as all of the three-mana-cost planewalkers in War of the Spark I wonder if we could see Sun Titan start showing up in some decks.

While white has some options to build toward, or add to existing Modern decks, this color seems to focus on playing to the board. With the current majority of Modern decks relying on non-creature spells to advance their strategy, this continues to be a weak color except in very specific strategies.

Blue

A lot of you may be curious what my thoughts are about blue. Counterspell is sadly not in this set, but there are a pair of new cards as well as a surprising entry into Modern. Blue is known for its gathering of knowledge, and having spells to counter what the opponent is playing.

• Archmage’s Charm is, more or less, the Azorius answer to Esper Charm. While they both allow you to draw two cards, this card gives you an option for an unconditional counterspell, as well as the ability to gain control of any nonland permanent with a converted mana cost of 1 or less. This includes solid choices such as Champion of the Parish, Death’s Shadow, Aether Vial, or even any creature that makes a mana. There are many more beyond this, and this spell is quite strong. Could it possibly sit along side Cryptic Command in Azorius Control? Maybe.
• Fact or Fiction? Really? Holy cow, this card is pretty powerful as it allows you to choose which cards to put into your hand. While the opponent does separate them into two piles, you will always benefit from their decision (or indecision). The acronym FOFYL (Fact or Fiction, you lose) is often stated to indicate that no matter how the pile of cards are separated, there is no way to win. Will this be great in Modern? The best option to this point was Gifts Ungiven, and this card may be powerful enough for us Control mages when we need to look for the 100% correct answer to a situation.
• Now we get to the best in the “Force” cycle. Force of Negation is the Modern equivalent of Force of Will, and should close the door on the Alliances uncommon ever showing up in Modern. At the moment of this article I prefer this card over the others, with two or three in the maindeck. With the current tendency of the Azorius decks to use a lot of planeswalkers, Force of Negationallows you to tap out for one early and use this if your opponent tries to kill it with a spell. I could be wrong, but this card definitely makes the “box of Azorius playables” in Modern. It’s ability to be used for no mana, and then flash it back with Snapcaster Mage later on should not be overlooked.

It appears design has leaned hard towards three-mana unconditional counterspells, and when deckbuilding we will need to focus the early turns on playing spells that are targeting early plays, and keeping our hands full of cards before we hit the midgame. Azorius Control won’t be the only blue based deck to show up after this set is released, but more on that in a future article.

My prediction though is that within a year of this set’s release Fact or Fiction will replace Jace, the Mind Sculptor in Azorius Control, if not all control decks in the format.

Black

There was a time where black did everything. From fast mana, to destroying creatures, and even targeting your opponent’s life total. While it no longer accelerates your mana, this color still provides aggro options in various tribes. Let’s take a look at the offerings.

• Diabolic Edict, first presented in Tempest, would have been a great addition to Modern. However we recently received Liliana’s Triumph, and so the possible outlets for this card diminished. I could see this perhaps in Esper Control sideboards, or in other black decks that do not play a Liliana planeswalker.
• Force of Despair, while having a perfect name, may not have a perfect home. You have to cast it after your opponent has played creatures on their turn, but before you get the turn back. It does not deal with creatures already in play, so you have to find another way to deal with those. This card seems to be used to keep the board clear, and sometimes that may not always be possible.
• Who likes Zombies? I know many of you do, and having a 2/2 Zombie on turn two is pretty good. While Undead Augur may not seem to do much, it does help you gain access to more cards as your forces die off which can fit the theme of a solid Zombie aggro deck. Get to brewing folks!

In my opinion Black is the strongest color in Modern. Players have all sorts of options from Control, Combo, Midrange, and Aggro to build with this color. I expect other cards from this set in this color to make some measure of impact in the format.

Red

This color is not only passionate with the power it provides, but has a lot of passionate players. When playing this color you are devoted to dealing as much damage as quickly as possible, and some options in these colors actually allow you to tempo your opponent. There is one card here that I have been the most excited about seeing.

• Force of Rage is far and away the worst of this cycle. While you may have dealt six damage (which is what I believe design was going for) you have neither placed any permanents on the battlefield, nor removed any for your efforts. This is one of those cards that is good on your first play of the game, and then you are behind in cards for the rest of it. Play at your own risk.
• Quite possibly the most exciting card coming to Modern is a red card. Pillage, originally from Alliances, will now stand side by side with Stone Rain destroying your opponent’s lands, or taking care of pesky artifacts that trouble you. This can really put your opponent behind, as them lacking mana alone can seal victory for you. I have to double check every day just to make sure I am not hallucinating. What an EXCELLENT addition to the format!
• From the most exciting card to the one that has a lot of potential, we have Seasoned Pyromancer. This card could really help decks such as Mardu Pyromancer return to prominence. Imagine discarding two Lingering Souls with this as it comes into play, and then flashing those back the next turn. I want you to read this card, then re-read this entry, and then get to brewing. There is A LOT this card can, and will, do.

Who knew I would be excited about some of the red cards? That’s kind of amazing when you think about all of the decks I have talked about here on Strictly Average. I wonder what’s in store for us next?

Green

Is it me or does green see a lot of just good or solid cards lately in Magic? From Commander to Standard there always seems to be multiple decent cards in this color. There’s something we do need to cover that’s very important with the first card though.

• Force of Vigor is the second best in this cycle from this set. Being able to remove two permanents for two cards, with no mana spent by you, can really set your opponent behind. Couple this with cards like Pillage listed above, and these are some great additions for a Gruul Ponza deck. That said, keep in mind that if your opponent has Karn, the Great Creator in play, and lands a Mycosynth Lattice, that you will not be able to pitch cards to Force of Vigor as the Lattice makes cards in hand colorless. Still, an excellent card.
• Nimble Mongoose is in Modern!!! The format of fetchlands has the best card with the Threshold mechanic. While we will not be getting other cards that make the Temur Delver deck a known quantity in Legacy, I have no doubt that people are working on a Modern version right now. Besides “Delver & Goose” sounds like Top Gun fan fiction to me, and anything that creates a new archetype with a funny name is always welcome.
• Speaking of reprints, we get Spore Frog?! What is this doing here? Yes we will also be getting Genesis in this set, however with a deck like Tron in the format do we really want to look for a Turbo Fog deck? There already is one that’s Azorius Colors. Will this find a home? It’s way too early to tell.

Green has always been filled with creature based strategies, and this will be no different. Keep an eye out for more cards in these colors to brew with, but at the moment I’m not seeing much.

Multicolored

Since the time of Legends multi-colored spells have been quite popular, and many of them memorable. From Modern staples such as Bloodbraid Elf, and Maelstrom Pulse, to Supreme Verdict, and Teferi, Hero of Dominaria these types of cards have always found a home. While Baleful Strix was not included in this set there is an interesting inclusion that’s…close.

• Ice-Fang Coatl was one of the first cards revealed for this set. While not the same as the artifact creature mentioned above, it can pull a resemblance to its Legacy counterpart if you have three other snow permanents in play. You can fetch a snow-basic land with any fetchland so there are ways to have multiple snow permanents out on the battlefield. Keep in mind you still draw a card when it enters the battlefield, and that can be important depending on your strategy,
• Who doesn’t like Slivers? Ok, some of you don’t but honestly where would Slivers ever show up in Standard again? Probably nowhere, so this is honestly the correct home for them. The First Sliver provides one heck of a punch, as all of your Sliver spells have Cascade, and us Jund players know how awesome that is. Keep in mind that this guy has to be on the battlefield first. I expect to see this as the premiere Sliver for Commander players going forward.
• Wrenn and Six had their art sitting in the background of the Modern Horizons video this whole time, and we were just introduced to them. Far and away the very best two mana planeswalker ever, this card alone can help you have land every turn (unless you run out of land to fetch from your deck). Easily inserted into Legacy Lands decks, it could also very well be the backbone of the Gruul Ponza decks, or some other strategy in Modern. Excellent card.

The great thing about multicolored cards is how they often represent the flavor of both of their colors. Sometimes all in one effect, other times through multiple effects. This is part of what makes them great, and don’t let their complexity cause their exclusion when deck building.

Artifact

Outside of enchantments, one of the strongest permanent types in the game are artifacts. This card type has grown tremendously from the early days. From artifacts that have static abilities that impact the whole game, to ones that require an activation, as well as ones that act like enchantments as they equip to creatures. Some are creatures themselves, or are even vehicles that become creatures. That’s a lot! This is one of the reasons why this card type is always popular with players.

• I am not sure who asked for Altar of Dementia to be included in Modern, but here you go. Couple Kitchen Finks with Solemnity and you can wipe out an opponent’s library to win the game out of nowhere. I’m not sure how three cards that cost three mana to cast individually will do in Modern, but three is the magic number, right?
• For these next two I will tie them to one entry. For the longest time we have had the cycle of swords that protect creatures from an enemy color pairing (such as blue & red on Sword of Fire and Ice). What do these two bring to the format? It’s not known at the moment, however these cards will surely see play in other formats so don’t discount them. However if Stoneforge Mystic is ever allowed in Modern these will be great inclusions. The only problem in picking swords is that you have limited space in your deck;  you’ll always need to have the best equipment to face against the highest percentage of decks they’ll be good against. Sometimes that’s hard to predict.

Players do have multiple ways of destroying artifacts available in most colors, however if you can find ways to protect these cards, or recur them after they are destroyed, you’ll need to include that in your deck as well. This could cause less space in your deck to be available for other cards so be careful how you choose to build your deck.

Lands

Lands are important to play spells. Everyone knows this, but what’s missed sometimes is what lands to play. Not every deck in Modern needs fetchlands, and not every deck needs a lot of basics. Finding not only the right balance, but also avoiding drawing too many lands, is something many struggle with in this game that’s been out more than 25 years. There are some interesting ones here that have made the set worth a lot well before it’s release.

• Do any of you remember that Horizon Canopy came from Future Sight? The set that was filled with cards slated for future design? Well we now have the enemy pairings of that type of land. Affectionately called “Canopy Lands,” many archetypes now have a land that can turn into another card draw at any time. Each of these will find a home in decks, especially Fiery Islet as in Dredge (you can replace the draw that the card provides to dredge a card back to your hand). Look at the decks you want to play, and grab the ones you need the day this set is available.
• Snow-Covered basic lands are back! The basic lands were not going to be new cards, nor reprints, and perhaps there was not a home for these types of lands in an upcoming Standard set. So here they are. Keep an eye out for “snow matters” cards both in this set, and in previous sets, if you plan to build a deck with that theme.

The lands do provide the base for new archtypes, or adding to existing ones. If you are always drawing too many lands make sure to review your weakest land, and include some of these to help you draw through multiple lands in your deck.

In Conclusion

Modern Horizons is shaping up to be one of the most controversial sets in recent history. From those (like myself) who feel the reprints are not truly representative of what they meant when we were told reprints were coming, to those who don’t play older formats at all and just want new cards, there is a lot for everyone with this set already. I wonder what this next week of previews will bring us.

I’m still not happy with the exclusion of Counterspell. What cards from Week One do you like? Did I miss your favorite? Make sure to leave a comment below, and follow me on both Facebook as well as Twitter.

Next week will be the second week of previews, so make sure to stop by to read my thoughts on my favorites from those previews. Those start today so after you ready this make sure to check which content creators have cards for this week.

Until next week…

TAP MORE MANA!!!

Scott Campbell

Scott Campbell, better known as MTGPackFoils, has been playing Magic since he was 17 (which was in 1993). He’s known for loving decks such as Azorius Control, Jund, and others (especially in Modern). He is a husband, father, and a former nightclub DJ.

http://www.twitter.com/MTGPackFoils

So with that said truly my favorite three color combination is:

For all of the years I played Magic: the Gathering, mostly at the kitchen table before 2006, I always thought the colors of black and green could do some powerful things. There was even a time that these colors made a powerful deck.

The above were just some of the cards I wish I played in Standard when they were legal, and represent some of my favorite cards in the game’s history. While my first adventures at Friday Night Magic events (FNM) revolved around decks such as Dredge, The Rock, and Doran-based decks, it wasn’t until the Shards of Alara expansions were released that my love for Jund started to flourish. Standard also gave us cards like Siege Rhino, and Sidisi, Brood Tyrant (which were great by the way), but my continued love for Jund was with me as I took my first steps into Modern. So let’s take a further look at one of the format’s best decks.

What’s new with Jund?

War of the Spark may have introduced cards for other decks, but Jund already has the tools to deal with the many threats in the format. After about six months of play it has made an important adjustment to confront the metagame.

What changed?

This card.

Thoughtseize is amazing, and while before most Jund players were running only two copies, having a third copy main deck gives the deck something I thought could never be possible in this deck. Acceleration.

This may not make a lot of sense, but let me explain. As the format started to shift with the release of Guilds of Ravnica, casting non-creature spells became more important to many strategies. If a key card was taken early, then your opponent’s deck may not play optimally during the first few turns. This gives you the advantage to deploy your threats immediately, and sometimes without them being removed.

You may be saying “well yeah, Thoughtseize has always been good, but so what?” That would be fair. Sometimes putting your thumb on the pulse of ideas happening within an archetype can lead to conclusions such as this. Around the time of Mythic Championship London (or as I call it MC (900 ft Jesus) II) I was reading up on what others were doing with this archetype. I saw many different builds, some even running three Blackcleave Cliffs and two Blooming Marsh, to get a sense of what others were preparing with in order to attack the format.

Having consistency with your key spells will only benefit you, and in the main deck (of any deck really) you should avoid being too cute with fun-ofs, or single cards that may only work in specific matches. Save those for the sideboard.

Let’s take a look at where I am now.

My current version

With the exception of three Scavenging Ooze, you want four copies of your best creatures, including Dark Confidant. You also want the same for your most important spells including Liliana of the Veil, Inquisition of Kozilek, and Lightning Bolt. Being consistent is the key, as your early spells can easily overwhelm an opponent. There are times, especially when going first, that you may want to play a discard spell, and on your next turn remove their creature and play a shockland tapped. This can put an opponent very far behind, as they are off tempo due to the discard spell, and their first play provided them no results. That’s too great to pass up, and as long as the draws are great for you then you will accelerate (there’s that word again) to victory.

I know that Thoughtseize costs you two life to cast, but I would rather lose the two life than die to anything I allow the opponent to play. This may also feel bad against a deck like Burn. However, removing key cards such as removal, Boros Charm, and Eidolon of the Great Revel (just as a few examples) can really push you ahead. The plus side of having this third copy of Thoughtseize means that it is relevant in more matchups than having a third Assassin’s Trophy, or some other two-cost removal spell. Chaining two discard spells together into a Liliana of the Veil on time can put a lot of pressure on the opponent, and keep their threats from harming you.

I thought this was a 50/50 deck, and…what is that in the board?

While decks like Jund lose a lot of favor in the community due to it being a “fair” deck (even though people still complain about Thoughtseize) it still does quite well in a lot of matchups. Some of those even get better when you go to your sideboard. The most glaring inclusion in my sideboard is a certain color shifted card from Planar Chaos.

That’s right! It’s a Seal of Primordium, a color shifted Seal of Cleansing. Cards in Planar Chaos were shifted away from their original color (in this cases white to green) to provide a spell or effect to a different color. You may be wondering why I have this card in the deck. Thanks to War of the Spark I had to include it in case I came into a situation where my opponent had these two cards in play.

Tron decks have adopted this strategy as Karn, the Great Creator can obtain cards from the sideboard, and if they have ten mana available they can do this in one turn. The Seal of Primordium is there to destroy the Mycosynth Lattice in the event this happens. Now although I doubt opponents would run into this you also have instant speed artifact hate in your deck with both Assassin’s Trophy, and Ancient Grudge from the sideboard. Keep in mind you can “float” mana (tapping your lands to add mana to your mana pool before a spell resolves) to cast either of those cards I mentioned after the Lattice resolves.

Seal of Primordium also deals with the following:

• Aether Vial
• Rest In Peace
• Eidolon of the Great Revel
• Oblivion Stone
• Expedition Map (if you started on the draw, and they do not have mana to activate it)
• Any artifact creature (Inkmoth Nexus)
• Leyline of the Void
• …and so many more.

Remember when I mentioned not to have cute singleton cards in the main deck that are not part of your primary plan, or may be bad against some decks? This is a primary example of using a sideboard slot for that purpose.

Let’s take a look at some other possible sideboard cards for the deck that I may include in future versions of Jund.

Other sideboard options

I’ll be honest. While Huntmaster of the Fells is a fine card, I already have plenty of cards that cost four mana in the deck. Against decks such as Burn that is not only too slow, but the two life gained is very minimal when Burn players can do twelve damage in a turn (two Rift Bolts coming off suspend followed by any two cards that do three damage to a target for a single red mana). Having this early allows you to cast it on the end of their turn to get back a creature you may have discarded with Liliana of the Veil, and gain six life. It’s another Kolaghan’s Command from the sideboard, and the life gain is very relevant. Couple this with the two copies of Collective Brutality, and that’s very solid vs Burn.

Currently Dredge has not appeared a lot in Modern, however that does not mean it will never appear again. You already have tools in Extirpate, Grafdigger’s Cage, Nihil Spellbomb, as well as Scavenging Ooze (in the main deck). If they get off to a fast start, however, you may need a reset button. I personally don’t think it’s needed right now, but if you see a decline in decks such as Burn or artifact based creature decks, consider putting a copy or two of this in the sideboard.

While Surgical Extraction is an option that grew in popularity due to the Izzet Phoenix decks arriving in Modern, this card is honestly only good when you have Snapcaster Mage to cast it again with flashback. Extirpate not only does the same job, but due to Split Second prevents any other spells or effects from being played before it resolves. For instance, Dredge players will activate a fetchland to get their Bloodghasts out of their graveyard. Extirpate prevents them from doing that allowing you to exile their recursive vampire.

I would not run this card. It feels like a trap card (no, not Ravenous Trap), and in order to have it in your opening hand you should run three or four copies. It’s also a terrible reveal with the Dark Confidant‘s ability, regardless of why it is in your deck.

Speaking of bad cards, cascading into this with Bloodbraid Elf feels awful. The fact you can place the Sunburst count at any number between one and three does seem like this would be good, but if you treat your discard spells as removal then this won’t be needed.

Of all the cards I’m looking at today, this is the one I want to find two spots for in my sideboard. Cascading into Choke off of Bloodbraid Elf would be brutal against Azorius Control decks. But it’s not that good if Teferi, Hero of Dominaria is already on the battlefield. Being able to either untap lands, or put it back into your deck makes it easily handled. If blue based control decks are appearing a lot in your local metagame then I would consider running it. Keep in mind that Grixis Death’s Shadow plays only Islands (either basic, or shocklands) so you can also use this as a tool against those decks to lock them out of blue mana for quite a few turns.

The sideboard for Jund is quite flexible, with many slots open depending on what’s happening in your area, so pay attention to what deck shows up more often than others, and prepare accordingly.

In conclusion

Although I know Jund is not the top deck of the format, I have played this deck for several years. One of the reasons for doing so is that it is rare for a card from a new Standard set to impact it that much. This helps keep upkeep costs down; once you have it built the deck maintains its strength while other decks may still be changing and adapting to find the most optimal plays. Constructed formats are about being consistent, which Jund does in spades.

Thank you all for reading today’s article. Do you play Jund? What do you like about what was discussed above? Is there a sideboard card I didn’t mention? Leave a comment below, and follow me on both Facebook as well as Twitter.

As you are reading this, the Banned & Restricted update has occurred, and Modern Horizons previews have officially started. Will there be something sweet to talk about in the first week of official previews? Will something become removed from the banned list in Modern to set the internet on fire? Only time will tell.

Until next time…

TAP MORE MANA!!!

Scott Campbell

Scott Campbell, better known as MTGPackFoils, has been playing Magic since he was 17 (which was in 1993). He’s known for loving decks such as Azorius Control, Jund, and others (especially in Modern). He is a husband, father, and a former nightclub DJ.

http://www.twitter.com/MTGPackFoils

That deck is (probably incorrectly called) Affinity.

While this archetype is mostly known for the sheer destruction in the player base that it wrought when the first expansion sets in Mirrodin were in Standard, the archetype now should truly be called Robots as the cards provide synergy around the Metalcraft mechanic presented in the expansions sets when we visited Mirrodin a second time in Scars of Mirrodin.

The deck, pure aggro in nature, looks to play cards as quickly as possible, and secure the win by attacking a few times with creatures.

I recently rebuilt this deck. I wasn’t getting much play with Tezzerator, and that deck felt like another control or midrange deck in my gauntlet. As much as LOVE Tezzerator, the community was starting to lean away from the agent of Bolas into more of a prison-style strategy. I also felt like the Robots strategy was primed for a comeback of sorts. Many players shifted away from traditional builds in favor of those built around Hardened Scales. While that version of the deck is perfectly fine, I would rather play the original instead of fumbling around with counters and triggers. The only logical thing for me to do was to switch back to Robots, as it’s been a deck I have had off and on since the format started.

Let’s take a look at where builds are now:

How does it work?

More or less you want to play as many cards from your hand as possible. There are times you could be left with no cards in your hand on turn 1, but that’s ok. You usually have two or three left over on good hands, and if you know in advance you will face a lot of artifact hate in game one, you can keep a few cards in hand not to over extend.

Regardless of how your hand is, and what your opponents have sleeved up, attack as much as possible. The earlier you can get damage in, the less you have to do later. While the addition of Experimental Frenzy can help you avoid running out of gas (and be left drawing a single card a turn) is does cost four mana to cast. The turns before you play this card should be spent swinging in for damage every turn.

Why should you play this deck?

• Aggro. Aggro. Aggro.
• You recover better from a flipped Thing In The Ice, or other board wipe.
• Cranial Plating is the best equipment card in Modern.

Why you should not play this deck.

• You see Stony Silence. A lot. Even after Krark-Clan Ironworks was banned.
• Even though the rest of the deck is straight-forward, Arcbound Ravager still causes some confusion for (which is understable).
• Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet shows up in your local metagame a lot. This card is really a pain when sacrificing artifact creatures to Ravager.

Needless to say, you should be faster than your opponent with this deck. Galvanic Blast can deal with many threats, and your sideboard can help you against others you run into. Keep in mind the sideboard cards are true scalpels; you don’t have a lot of cards to side out, and you don’t want to disrupt your primary plan too much. Treat your non-artifact cards as support cards.

However what else can we put in this deck? Let’s take a look.

Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas seems like a great choice, however even with his first ability we can only keep one card. You do only need to activate this one time in order to get a possible ultimate game win with him by draining life from your opponent, However while at this mana cost Experimental Frenzy is a better choice don’t let that deter you from giving this a try.

Look ma! A card with the Affinity mechanic! How many of us want to draw two cards for one mana? Ok it looks like the green mages were the only ones not raising their hands. This card used to be a mainstay in these decks. However, if all of the cards in your deck are good, why have a draw spell? Right? Right??

With that said, if your deck still runs a playset of these that’s fine. This is a very serviceable, and inexpensive card for what it does, and it plays well with the rest of your deck.

To continue finding cards with the Affinity mechanic here we have Frogmite. There has been some concern that the deck does not have enough punch for an aggro deck, and I could see running a few of these to spice things up. A free 2/2 should be nothing to sneeze at.

While Walking Ballista might seem odd, and perhaps slow, it does add an additional form of removal. Also on turns where you have played nothing you can always add an additional counter to it (or more depending on how many Steel Overseers are in play). The tricks you can use with this, and Arcbound Ravager are not without mention. This is especially true if your opponent has an Ensnaring Bridge in play.

In Conclusion

While “Affinity”…err…Robots might not always be on everyone’s radar, it is a solid choice for a deck if you are not only looking to get into Modern, but are either coming back, or even looking for a deck to play the format occasionally. The deck has only picked up a few cards over the years as additions, and usually they are as a single copy, if not two at the most, making this one of the few decks you don’t need to put a lot of money into when a new set comes out. If you are looking for a low upkeep cost deck then this is the one for you.

Thank you all for reading. Based on the last few articles this one felt a little short didn’t it? Well aggro decks do work quickly so I suppose it fits.

What cards have you tried in this deck? Do you have any tips for others? Make sure to leave a comment below, and please follow me on Facebook as well as Twitter to share them there as well.

Next week I want to talk about something magical that happened recently where for me the sport of baseball, and Magic: the Gathering, collided…and it was glorious.

Until then…

TAP MORE MANA!!!

Scott Campbell

Scott Campbell, better known as MTGPackFoils, has been playing Magic since he was 17 (which was in 1993). He’s known for loving decks such as Azorius Control, Jund, and others (especially in Modern). He is a husband, father, and a former nightclub DJ.

http://www.twitter.com/MTGPackFoils

It’s a Company creature-combo deck archetype where its goal is to: One, generate an infinite amount of mana; two, cycle through its library until finding a win condition; and three, finish off the opponent using a spell with X in its mana cost. Contrary to Counters Company, however, Pili-Pala has cantrips and counter spells within its repertoire in order to find its combo pieces more efficiently within the first few turns, as well as offer tempo disruption to the opponent’s deck. By having access to these cantrips, Pili-Pala is less reliant on value-creatures in order to persist throughout the game.

    With color combinations in mind, it’s important to recognize that Pili-Pala is a creature-based combo deck. Therefore, it’s highly beneficial to include Green as an additional color. By adding Green to Pili-Pala, the deck gains access to mana acceleration in the form of Birds of Paradise and Noble Hierarch as well as invaluable creature tutors, such as Eldritch Evolution and Chord of Calling. Furthermore, one could include White for utility and stronger sideboard options, such as Rest in Peace in a format where graveyard-based decks are dominant.

    Though I mentioned mana dorks prior as our preferred turn one spells, the deck also runs a variety of cantrips such as Serum Visions, Sleight of Hand, and Adventurous Impulse. Using these cantrips allows the deck to find combo pieces faster. Alternative digging options include Collected Company, which has the ability to pull two creatures from the deck for a higher mana cost at instant speed. Collected Company, however, is more likely to miss hitting creatures because the deck has a higher number of instants and sorceries compared to Abzan Counters Company. For this reason, I found Eldritch Evolution to be a better alternative; you can sacrifice your mana dork to the card in order to pay for the additional cost, as well as the mana cost.

    The Pili-Pala combo works like this: Pili-Pala is a two-mana artifact creature with flying and “{2}, Untap: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool” attached to a 1/1 body. Pili-Pala works in tandem with another creature called Grand Architect. It is a 3-drop blue creature with three abilities. The first ability is less relevant to the combo, as it is effectively an anthem effect for blue creatures. The second and third, however, are the most useful to the combo: “U: target creature becomes blue until end of turn” and “Tap a blue creature you control: add {2}, Use this mana cast artifact spells or to pay for the activation costs of artifacts you control.” By using the second ability to target Pili-Pala, you can tap Pili-Pala to create the necessary mana to fuel it’s untap ability, creating loop of infinite mana.

    Now that the deck has established an infinite mana loop, there are a variety of other deck-digging tools and pay-off cards. The commonly used payoff cards are Azure Mage, which functions similarly to Duskwatch Recruiter in Abzan Counters Company in order to find Pyromatics. Pyromatics’ Replicate ability is what makes this card an effective pay off card, as even if the initial spell is countered, the copies will still resolve on the stack and kill the opponent. Alternatively, one could pick Banefire or Torment of Hailfire, as Banefire can’t be countered and Torment of Hailfire does not target the opponent (circumventing Leyline of Sanctity).

    Ideal opening hands vary when playing Simic Pili-Pala. Generally, a hand with 2-3 lands, a mana dork, and digging or tutoring spells work well for the deck. Keeping hands with combo pieces in addition to these other cards is also beneficial. A strong sequence of turns could look like this:

T1: Botanical Sanctum into Noble Hierarch

T2: Island into tapping out for Grand Architect, into tapping Architect for Pili-Pala

T3: Untap with creatures, win the game through Blue Sun’s Zenith and Pyromatics.

While this is the ideal start, you can replace your T2 play with Eldritch Evolution into Grand Architect, into tapping it for Pili-Pala, or cantrip with Serum Visions and hold mana for Remand. The main deck features little interaction for opponents’ threats, so try to keep hands that facilitate quick wins.

    The sideboard plan for this deck is to shutdown its biggest counter: Stony Silence. Stony Silence turns off Pili-Pala as our mana accelerant, as the card does not exclude mana abilities in the card text. Other cards that present a problem to Pili-Pala are targeted removal spells. Spellskite works well with Grand Architect, so rather than adding spells to counter their removal, Pili-Pala can tutor for and cast Spellskite early to redirect the removal instead. Gigadrowse allows Pili-Pala to switch off Control decks for a turn. Moreover, Wipe Away and Krosan Grip can’t be countered, thus making the match-up easier. Lastly, this sideboard also includes two copies of Scavenging Ooze to tackle graveyard-based decks, as it is a tutorable, low-cost creature.

    In conclusion, Simic Pili-Pala functions as an alternative creature-based combo deck to Abzan Counters Company. The addition of blue gives early cantrips and countermagic to both disrupt and protect the combo. Consider the following list as a primer for the deck: Decklist and Sideboard.

Sky Hochberg

My name is Sky. I am 23 years old and am agender; meaning I prefer that you refer to me using they/them/their pronouns. I am a SUNY Oswego graduate with a BA in Creative Writing with a minor is Psychology. I am a Modern player, with my favorite deck being Dredge. I began playing Magic during Scars of Mirrodin; however, I did not play competitively until a few years ago. In my spare time, I enjoy writing poetry, studying/practicing Psychology, and composing music.

Was there anything you did in April that you wish you could have a chance to do-over? How many times do we wish we had a chance to correct something? To have a mulligan? While those opportunities may not exist in real life, they do in Magic: the Gathering at the beginning of each game in every format.

This weekend Magic: the Gathering is presenting it’s third mulligan option developed since 2004. It will be used only at MagicFest London. Before we look into this particular mulligan you may be asking yourself: “What is a mulligan in Magic: the Gathering“? From the wiki on this exact subject:

“A mulligan is an optional process by which any player may attempt to draw a superior hand before starting the game. For sanctioned play, the mulligan process is exactly defined in the Comprehensive Rules“.

Essentially if you do not like your opening hand of seven cards, you can mulligan to put those cards back, shuffle up your library, and draw cards equal to seven minus how many times you have not kept. So on your first mulligan you would only draw six cards, your second mulligan five, and so on until you were satisfied with your hand.

These mulligans have been named based on the locations where Magic: the Gathering has tested these rules. In these last few months you may have heard the name “London Mulligan” being thrown around. That is the mulligan rule being tested this coming weekend, since the event is taking place in London, England. Let’s take a look at the history of mulligans in Magic: the Gathering.

Mulligan History

Paris Mulligan: This mulligan allowed players to shuffle their hand back into their library, and draw one less card than the number the previously drew (six for your first mulligan, five for your second, and so on). Prior to this there was no across-the-board rule to a mulligan. Players would sometimes only mulligan if another player did, or if they had no lands, or whatever the case may be. The introduction of this at Pro Tour Paris allowed for the game to have a streamlined and agreeable rule to begin the game.

Vancouver Mulligan: This rule, which started with the Battle For Zendikar pre-release, allowed for players to have an additional Scry 1 once they decided to keep their hand after choosing to mulligan, and only if they chose to mulligan. If you kept your opening seven you do not get to scry, but anytime you chose to mulligan (even if you went to zero cards) you would Scry 1 before starting. This allowed players to look at the top card of their own libraries, and decided to leave the card on top or place it on the bottom. This rule also helped enforce the turn order in deciding mulligans with the player going first making the decision to keep or mulligan, followed by the next player, and once both kept their hands the Scry 1 would follow the same pattern. This is the current system until this weekend.

London Mulligan: This new rule is being tested this coming weekend. Expanding on the previous rules, this will allow players to draw seven cards with each mulligan. However, once the player decides to keep the drawn cards, they would place cards on the bottom of their library (in any order) based on the number of times they chose to mulligan. For example if I draw seven cards, and want to mulligan I would shuffle my hand back in my library. Then draw seven new cards, and if I keep that hand I would put one of my choice on the bottom of my library. If instead I chose to mulligan again, and choose to keep that new hand, I would then choose two cards to put on the bottom.

So why is this happening?

Sometimes what happens when a player chooses to mulligan is that due to them drawing one less card each time they find hands that are simply unplayable. They could copy a full decklist from a website, sleeve it up, and even play the deck a lot; however there will still be moments where that player lost a game due to them not being able to play the cards they drew. These are considered “non-games”. Wizards of the Coast has been testing this new mulligan, and are unleashing it upon MagicFest London featuring both the War of the Spark Draft format, and Modern constructed format.

That’s what brings us here today.

How does this effect Modern?

In the article written by Blake Rasmussen it was even stated “it certainly has some implications for formats like Modern.” While there have been other players and content creators showcasing this mulligan, and Wizards of the Coast allowing it to run briefly on Magic Online, none of us truly know what will happen when this rule is implemented (and it will be).

While I am no Frank Karsten (who is?) his article here goes over the math of this mulligan rule. While this rule is no “fix” to a poorly constructed deck, there are concerns that games may have similar results when played out with this rule. What I am going to do instead is go over three decks that I feel this rule will have the most impact on, and then cover some more Modern thoughts on the way.

The Good

Azorius Control

Creatures (3)
3 Snapcaster Mage

Planeswalkers (5)
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria

Enchantments (1)
1 Search for Azcanta

Instants (20)
4 Path to Exile
4 Opt
3 Cryptic Command
3 Mana Leak
1 Hieroglyphic Illumination
1 Absorb
1 Negate
1 Condemn
1 Spell Pierce
1 Spell Snare

Sorceries (6)
4 Terminus
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Timely Reinforcements

Lands (25)
6 Island
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Field of Ruin
4 Flooded Strand
3 Plains
2 Glacial Fortress
2 Hallowed Fountain

Sideboard
2 Rest In Peace
2 Stony Silence
2 Dispel
1 Baneslayer Angel
1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
1 Timely Reinforcements
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Celestial Purge
1 Runed Halo
1 Negate
1 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Surgical Extraction

Of the decks in Modern impacted by this new rule, I put Azorius Control (and pretty much any Azorius based control deck) firmly in the “Good” category. How many of us have drawn our opening seven, and have no plays for the first three turns? Ok we can all put our hands down. Seriously this deck needs to interact in the early turns until it can either clear the board, or land a Planeswalker to gain control of the game. Having this new mulligan rule will provide control players reasonable hands more often when starting the game. This may help them be more of a presence in tournaments than they already are.

Should anything change?

I don’t see anything getting out of hand with this deck. Although it currently sits as the top control deck in Modern, most of the community feels Jace, the Mind Sculptor is nowhere near as powerful as he was in Standard, or currently is in Legacy. He would be the only card people would want banned if things went crazy.

The Bad

Phoenix decks

Creatures (11)
4 Arclight Phoenix
4 Thing In the Ice
2 Crackling Drake
1 Snapcaster Mage

Enchantments (2)
2 Pyromancer Ascension

Instants (20)
4 Manamorphose
4 Opt
4 Thought Scour
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Lightning Axe
2 Surgical Extraction

Sorceries (9)
4 Serum Visions
4 Faithless Looting
1 Flame Slash

Lands (18)
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Island
2 Mountain
2 Steam Vents
2 Sulfur Falls
1 Polluted Delta

Sideboard
2 Blood Moon
2 Abrade
2 Dragon’s Claw
2 Dispel
2 Spell Pierce
1 Ravenous Trap
1 Shatterstorm
1 Ravenous Trap
1 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Surgical Extraction

Honestly I don’t think this deck needs any help. To be truthful I’m surprised they are not splashing Green for Destructive Revelry or other enchantment hate, but there are not enough enchantments to really be concerned with having that type of hate. This deck has a lot of redundant one mana spells to fuel it’s engine to place Arclight Phoenix in the yard only to get them back when casting your third spell. Of the decks I’ll talk about today this will be the least impacted, but I can see the metagame percentage go even higher with this deck once the London Mulligan rule is in place.

Should anything change?

YES! While many people will complain about Faithless Looting, those complaints will reach higher levels if this deck performs better under the London Mulligan. The problem is that these lump Dredge into the conversation, and honestly Dredge has seen less of a metagame percentage in the last month as it drifts back to being “good” instead of (like Phoenix) “great.” Although the Izzet version is the top Phoenix decks there are still Mono Red versions out there that perform well.

Of the cards that will need to be considered for banning they would be Arclight Phoenix and/or Manamorphose. A lot players want Splinter Twin back, and I don’t know why. Arclight Phoenix IS their precious Twin.

The Ugly

Tron

Creatures (8)
3 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
2 Walking Ballista
1 World Breaker

Planeswalkers (6)
4 Karn Liberated
2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

Artifacts (19)
4 Oblivion Stone
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
4 Expedition Map
3 Relic of Progenitus

Sorcery (8)
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Sylvan Scrying

Lands (19)
4 Forest
4 Urza’s Mine
4 Urza’s Power Plant
4 Urza’s Tower
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Sanctum of Ugin

Sideboard
4 Nature’s Claim
3 Thragtusk
2 Thought-Knot Seer
2 Spatial Contortion
2 Warping Wail
1 Emrakul, the Promised End
1 Grafdigger’s Cage

Of all of the decks I can think of, this one could possibly abuse this new mulligan rule. With each draw of seven cards you increase your chance of having all three of the Urza Lands in hand, allowing you to have a natural Tron on turn three, and seven mana to use for the cards you have drawn. While this is not guaranteed to happen, I can see this happening more often than it does not. Players generally hate Tron more than any other deck; when building any other deck, Tron has been the deck to receive dedicated sideboard slots since its rise in Modern after the release of Battle For Zendikar. It will be a powerful choice going forward. Unless…

Should anything change?

It really might. A few years ago people were asking for 8th Edition and 9th Edition to be removed from Modern altogether to eliminate cards deemed as problems, especially the Urza Lands. While I personally do not see anything happening to this deck, I would not be surprised if Wizards of the Coast finally pulls the plug on those lands and sending them off to the banned list. This would be unfortunate, as it’s the only big mana deck that does not rely upon Primeval Titan, and has been a mainstay in Modern nearly as long as Affinity.

However with that said what else should be addressed in the format, especially with this new rule?

Problem cards in Modern

These are some other cards that honestly have overstayed their welcome, and should probably go as they will make the format worse with this rule (in my opinion).

Amulet of Vigor

This card should have left when Summer Bloom was banned. Allowing lands that were designed to come into play tapped to ignore that restriction nearly breaks the manabase this deck holds. Yes while it is unique we need to understand that Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle was on the initial Modern banned list due to its interaction with Primeval Titan. Within a year that card was unbanned to give the Titan it’s deck, however Amulet has taken that over. In my opinion this was not a direction that Primeval Titan decks were to have, and it needs to go.

Chalice of the Void

This may seem odd to say, but it is indeed time for this to go. Being able to draw seven cards with the new mulligan will produce an option where you would have this in play on turn one, between Simian Spirit Guide and your first land. If the new rule is to end (as much as possible) “non-games” between players, there is nothing that abuses that more than this card. Yes people have artifact hate in their decks, but do you want to spend 20 minutes attempting to draw one? Probably not. Goodbye Chalice.

Blood Moon

By that same token, it you replace Chalice of the Void with this, a similar situation arises. Playing this on your second turn can nearly cripple your opponent, and if you went first they will stare at their non-basic land until they can get rid of it. If possible. This new mulligan rule increases your chance of having this card in hand, and honestly I am changing my long-held stance of keeping this card in by saying it needs to go.

In Conclusion

When banning cards we need to keep in mind what impact they would have on the format. If Arclight Phoenix and/or Manamorphose were banned, those players could go back to playing Storm. Or if the Phoenix stays then their deck remains. If Faithless Looting was banned it hits multiple decks, and some decks that aren’t even a problem (or won’t be). Sadly the same goes for cards such as the Urza Lands vs Ancient Stirrings. So before we break out the torches and pitchforks next week after the results of MagicFest London, let’s take a look and properly analyze what the London Mulligan did to the format.

Thank you all for reading. What are your thoughts on the London Mulligan? Have you tested with it yet? Please leave a comment below, and make sure to follow me on Facebook as well as Twitter.

Next week I have a topic that I have been wanting to talk about for a month now, and it is something that affects us all. So please stay tuned for that.

Have a good week everyone, and until then…

TAP MORE MANA!!!

Scott Campbell

Scott Campbell, better known as MTGPackFoils, has been playing Magic since he was 17 (which was in 1993). He’s known for loving decks such as Azorius Control, Jund, and others (especially in Modern). He is a husband, father, and a former nightclub DJ.

http://www.twitter.com/MTGPackFoils

But before I begin, I want to take a look at how we got here.

In the beginning…we Chronicled the past.

In the beginning, before social media, and when the internet was in its infancy, Magic: the Gathering was a relatively new hobby. For new players some of the older products were out of print even a year after being released, and there was no coordinated guide to truly predict a price of a single card. Players were left to the mercy of their local store’s price for a card, and buying singles online was not as widely common as it is now. With how popular their game became, Wizards of the Coast realized it was time to provide players with reprints of cards that they felt were popular.

Chronicles had originally been designed to be an access point, along with the Core Sets, for new players who were not able to buy cards from previous sets (especially the expansions). Chronicles included cards from the previous four expansions:

• Arabian Nights
• Antiquities
• Legends
• The Dark

Each of these cards were printed with a white border, but retained the expansion symbol of their original set. At this time Magic: the Gathering was growing globally as well and these cards were also printed in Japanese.

Many players were upset that reprints might reduce the value of their cards over time. As this game is also a collectible item (and with collectibles still hot in the 1990’s), Chronicles sparked the dreaded Reserved List.

Bill Rose went on to state that: “Wizards has no plans for another reprint expansion. We will continue to publish new editions of the Core Set with new and different reprints, as well as include reprints in expert-level expansions,” and “We’re happy with the Standard cardpool size maxing out at around 1500. Two three-set blocks plus one Core Set is just over 1500 cards.” However, over the years both of these statements were reversed to a degree.

The birth of a new format, and first drafts of the Modern age

In the fall of 2012 Wizards announced an upcoming set. Since the beginning and quick end to Chronicles, Magic: the Gathering had gone under some changes. Shortly before this new set Standard had changed from a card pool containing two expansions and one core set to a card pool with two expansions and two core sets while still rotating in the fall each year. While the number of formats increased a lot since Chronicles was released, a new format had emerged early on this decade to keep players invested into their cards that were no longer Standard legal.

That was Modern.

Despite what Bill Rose said in response to the backlash from Chronicles, Wizards of the Coast provided a reprint set to provide an influx of now Modern-legal cards readily available for stores and players alike. This was the idea behind Modern Masters; a set made to draft, collect, and play. The set was announced at Pro Tour Return to Ravnica which was the third Modern Pro Tour (and the first with a set name attached to it). These sets were made for already existing players (often called Experienced players), and targeted cards from Eighth Edition to Alara Reborn block. It was during this era that player growth had (overall) increased from previous eras, and all of the card border designs were similar. That border came be be called “The Modern Border.”

Released in June of 2013, Modern Masters became a repeated product, usually released following the last Standard expansion before the Core Set in the summer. The Modern Masters series would continue every other year with Modern Masters 2015 Edition, and Modern Masters 2017 Edition respectively. By the second edition of that series Wizards of the Coast began to look further away from reprints just for Modern and gave us Eternal Masters, Iconic Masters, Masters 25 (celebrating the 25 anniversary of the game), and Ultimate Masters. With each of these products there were fewer and fewer quality reprints (although Ultimate Masters had a lot of quality). So much so that it was even a concern to those in R&D as these ancillary sets needed card slots, and if one set had all of the Modern reprints it left blanks in others.

The Masters series ended with Ultimate Masters, leading many to wonder where we go from here. We all wondered what was on the Horizon.

Well…

The introduction of Modern Horizons

Gavin Verhey mentioned that at the end of February we would receive an announcement about a product for the Modern format. He identified that one of the concerns around reprints in Standard-legal sets was that it was difficult to find spots for quality reprints.

• The card is too powerful for Standard.
• The card may not fit the set.
• The card may have been printed too recently in Standard to include.

Although many of us do not feel like printing Modern cards in Standard is a huge problem (as in my opinion Standard SHOULD be powerful) the scars of the Return to Ravnica block to Theros block still resonate with many players as well as R&D (although it was nowhere near the damage either Affinity had during Mirrodin block, or what Caw-Blade did during Zendikar block to Scars of Mirrodin block).

This led some members of the community ask for a Modern set where cards would be printed just for Modern, and never touch Standard.

Enter Modern Horizons.

This is a 254 card draftable set, released during the summer (just like the original Modern Masters), focused on injecting new cards directly into Modern. Of the 249 cards (the ones that are not basic lands) these cards will all be new to Modern. About 50 cards, from what I understand, will be reprints. These reprints will be from before Eighth Edition as they are currently legal in Legacy and older formats. There will also be a buy a box promo that is a reprint of a card currently legal in formats older than Modern.

During the video linked above they did show off two new cards that I will show here:

While these were the only cards previewed there’s been rampant speculation of what will be in the set. Now that we have an idea of the history of reprint sets in the Modern age, I want to dig into thoughts and predictions of some things that can be added to Modern. But first I want to talk about a card that will not be in this set.

Why are we trying to force Force of Will?

Players have been trying to force Force of Will into Modern with Modern Horizons since the set was announced. Let me cut to the chase.

It won’t be in the set. Period.

This card was recently printed in Eternal Masters, and was also a Masterpiece Invocation in Amonkhet. The card is perhaps one of the most important spells in the Legacy format. Force of Will in Modern would continue blending the two formats. Many people fear that Modern and Legacy could one day have similar power level as well as gameplay. I hope Wizards of the Coast wants to keep these two formats, Legacy and Modern, as different as possible. Including Force of Will in Modern does the opposite of that.

Yes I know the video said that a blue card is “the best card” of the set, but the best card does not have to be rare. Heck the card they mentioned may be a completely new card as well. We simply do not know.

Could this show up in the second Modern Horizons set (because YOU KNOW there will be one)? Yes. Absolutely.

What I feel will be in Modern Horizons

Now I am only going to go over six cards I think are in Modern Horizons. I honestly feel like this will be a set based on tribal themes. With the previous inability to inject a lot of quality reprints for Modern players, this could be an avenue for some creatures from the various tribes of Magic’s past to come forward into Modern. There are also strategies in Modern that could either use some help, or are really non-existent, that should be flourishing in a format like this.

So let’s take a look.

Honorable mention

During the announcement video it was mentioned that the Buy-A-Box promo will be of a card currently legal in Legacy and older formats, so it won’t be a new card. This is the prime target for a card like Flusterstorm. The Storm mechanic will never be a part of a card going into Standard ever again due to the Storm Scale (which many of us feel is honestly the Dredge Scale) so this set would be a great chance to increase the access to this card that first appeared in Commander.

How cool would it be to get this as a free card for just buying a box? Maybe it will even have new art? We’ll have to wait and see.

White

A spell that creates a lot of 4/4 angels, when Entreat The Angels is already available, may seem strange. However, in a token strategy (especially with the Serra planeswalker) this card could be quite good. Cycling is a mechanic that could easily be in this set as there are many cards with that mechanic that might serve as a nod to older players.

Blue

It’s time.

This card was almost in Dominaria; however it was deemed too powerful for Standard. The Mono Blue Tempo deck would pack four of it, and perhaps be the top deck in Standard. In Modern, however, this card is perfectly fine, and completely reasonable to have.

Remember what Assassin’s Trophy did for Jund decks in Modern by reducing the number of different removal spells it needed? Counterspell will do the same for control decks.

Yes, cards like Mana Leak, Remand, and maybe even Logic Knot would be deemed inferior. What Counterspell will do is increase play in cards like Negate, and Spell Snare. In order to get you have to give, and I would trade in other two mana counterspells for actual Counterspells every day.

This is a stone cold lock.

Black

Of the strategies not currently in Modern is Reanimator. Yes we have decks running Goryo’s Vengeance, but not a true Reanimator style deck. With Exhume that can change. No longer do you have to always target your Griselbrand; it could be anything. Plus the cost of this card makes Spell Snare better.

Red

Of all the tribes in the history of Magic none have the popularity of Goblins. A mainstay in the hearts of many players, this tribe always seems to find new life through a card being banned, a reprint into Standard or another product, or even a player doing well with the strategy at a tournament. Goblin Warrens is not currently on the dreaded Reserved List, and a “2 for 3” deal is definitely Goblin-level math. Token are also a favorite among many Magic players, especially those who never turn down a Goblin token in their booster pack.

Green

While it would be easy to say that a green reprint will be an Elf, I hope that this set truly embraces the concept of giving life to archetypes that can’t quite make it even at FNM. One of these archetypes is Enchantress. Currently these decks are very slow to start, and are susceptible to disruption when their pay-off creatures get removed before enchantments are put into play. With Argothian Enchantress players would not have that problem. Playing ramp spells such as Utopia Sprawl, and hate cards like Rest In Peace help this non-blue deck draw additional cards to keep their plan moving forward. The Leylines also become playable cards when drawn, as they replace themselves. I look for green to be the underdog with reprints in this set, and we won’t see the impact until it is too late.

Also did I mention Spell Snare perhaps getting better? I thought I did.

Multicolor

My wild card for the set was a powerhouse when in Standard, but has not seen the grace of Modern. Spiritmonger may be the creature that midrange decks need to close out a game. While Tarmogoyf is the current creature many midrange decks go to, it does take awhile to build, and has no built-in protection. Spiritmonger can not only regenerate, but also dodge a color-hate spell such as Celestial Purge. While I would not be surprised if this was not in the set, its inclusion could be what Golgari Midrange needs to separate itself from Jund in the Modern metagame.

In Conclusion

Modern Horizons, just like reprint sets released after Modern Masters 2017 Edition, seems to be built on a lot of promise and hype. Will it deliver? It’s too hard to say, but outside of Ultimate Masters there hasn’t been a lot of good reprint sets to give us hope.

Thank you very much for reading. What cards do you feel will be reprinted in this set? Let me know by leaving a comment below, and make sure to follow me on Facebook as well as Twitter.

Next week I will discuss the London Mulligan, as well as cards that simply need to go in Modern.

Until then…

TAP MORE MANA!!!

Scott Campbell

Scott Campbell, better known as MTGPackFoils, has been playing Magic since he was 17 (which was in 1993). He’s known for loving decks such as Azorius Control, Jund, and others (especially in Modern). He is a husband, father, and a former nightclub DJ.

http://www.twitter.com/MTGPackFoils

Today we have reached the end of a journey that, when planned, was to take us through the rest of Winter as the first day of Spring happens in a few days. I wanted to showcase at least one deck per possible color combination in Magic: the Gathering for the Modern format. This is done not only to show that there is more to the format than the top deck of an event, and as a counter to the (somehow still continuing) conversations that goes something like this: “You play (deck that did not hit first place last week)? That deck is bad, and you’ll just lose”…or something similar. The negativity that conversations about this format bring about are part of what brings interest in this format down, and lead to “Modern is not fun” conversations. I could spout opinions that would be contrary to those conversations, or I can show my work. That’s what I have done here. Thank you for coming along this journey with me. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it.

Today I’ll be looking at five decks that are four colors, a five color deck, and a colorless deck to finish off all thirty-two (32!!!) decks for Modern. This is a wild number to think of, While interest in four color decks recently obtained some interest with the release of the 2016 Commander decks there were five cards released years before that which really started the interest in the possibilities of this unique color combination.

Enter The Nephilim

With the release of Guildpact these creatures were brought to life. Four color, or “non-(enter single color here)” cards were attempting to merge multiple color identities into one card. Designed to provide an alternative to the guild focus of the first Ravnica block these cards fell out of favor quickly due to the difficulty of being able to cast them. Many players often feel (correctly so) that they should have been Legendary to allow for different options in EDH play.

Since their release though their names have been used, albeit sparingly, to describe four color decks. During the 2013 SCG Open there was a deck tech on a Witch-Maw deck (White, Blue, Black, Green). The mana base was super greedy, but the deck was quite effective. While I don’t know how this player finished in the tournament I know he wiped the floor against me.

So with this in mind we’ll go over each of the four color decks by naming the corresponding Nephilim (and listing their colors), and as usual I’ll start at the top of the color wheel with White.

Yore-Tiller (White, Blue, Black, Red)

Robots (aka Affinity)

Creatures (24)
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Vault Skirge
4 Signal Pest
4 Ornithopter
3 Master of Etherium
3 Memnite
2 Etched Champion

Artifacts (14)
4 Cranial Plating
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Mox Opal
2 Welding Jar

Instants (4)
4 Galvanic Blast

Sorceries (1)
1 Thoughtcast

Lands (17)
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Spire of Industry
1 Mountain

Sideboard
2 Ghirapur Aether Grid
2 Wear//Tear
2 Rest in Peace
2 Negate
2 Dispatch
2 Thoughtseize
1 Damping Sphere
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
1 Tormod’s Crypt

Perhaps the oldest deck in the format the deck somehow has not been able to shake it’s name “Affinity”. There are no cards with the keyword Affinity in the deck as it’s more akin to Robots, but nonetheless through multiple banned and restricted updates, some players moving to Hardened Scales, and everything else that’s happened in the format this still is a widely played deck.

Powering out your hand early, and attacking quickly, a deck like this can be well positioned if your local meta is filled with linear non-interactive decks. If you have friends who stopped playing shortly after the Scars of Mirrodin block left Standard they can come back with some adjustments and have a top Modern deck.

Why should you play this deck?

• It’s an aggressive aggro deck.
• All of the cards have synergy with each other.
• You don’t have to update the deck often.

Why you shouldn’t play this deck.

• More artifact hate keeps being printed.
• You prefer another Mox Opal deck.
• The deck feels too one dimensional to you.

While there is still concern that Mox Opal could eventually be banned from the format (I don’t think it should) there are still plenty of players enjoying this archetype. It can also be ported to Legacy with very little upgrades. If you want to play another deck with these colors look at Ad Nauseam.

Glint-Eye (Blue, Black, Red, Green)

Dredge

Creatures (18)
4 Stinkweed Imp
4 Prized Amalgam
4 Narcomoeba
4 Bloodghast
2 Golgari Thug

Artifacts (4)
4 Shriekhorn

Instants (1)
1 Darkblast

Sorceries (18)
4 Creeping Chill
4 Cathartic Reunion
4 Life From the Loam
4 Faithless Looting
2 Conflagrate

Lands
4 Copperline Gorge
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Bloodstained Mire
2 Blood Crypt
2 Mountain
2 Stomping Ground
1 Gemstone Mine
1 Mana Confluence

Sideboard
4 Nature’s Claim
3 Ancient Grudge
3 Lightning Axe
2 Ravenous Trap
1 Collective Brutality
1 Assassin’s Trophy
1 Darkblast

Of the four color decks this, and one we will look at later, are the most represented. Another deck that not only has survived multiples banned and restricted updates, but has also seen it’s position improved as other decks have lost cards to those updates. Dredge can not only be a deck that wins through attacking quickly due to having multiple Prized Amalgams on the board, but also win just on the backs of Conflagrate and Creeping Chill.

Why should you play this deck?

• Although the list of broken mechanics is called “The Storm Scale” you know Dredge is the most powerful mechanic.
• You like playing cards without paying their mana costs.
• You fight for the honor of Golgari Grave-Troll. May he live on forever.

Why you shouldn’t play the deck.

• It’s challenging to master.
• You don’t like to fumble with triggers.
• You hate having your graveyard spilled all over the play area (it can be confusing).

While Dredge is a great deck another archetype is rising in these colors. Look for the Whir Prison decks that are starting to post good results. There also is another deck I’ll talk about next that has taken out white in favor of blue.

Dune-Brood (Black, Red, Green, White)

Traverse Death’s Shadow

Creatures (13)
4 Street Wraith
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Death’s Shadow
1 Ghor-Clan Rampager

Artifacts (4)
4 Mishra’s Baubble

Instants (10)
3 Fatal Push
3 Tarfire
2 Kolaghan’s Command
2 Temur Battle Rage

Planeswalkers (2)
2 Liliana of the Veil

Sorceries (13)
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Thoughtseize
4 Traverse the Ulvenwald
1 Collective Brutality

Lands (18)
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Wooded Foothills
1 Arid Mesa
1 Blood Crypt
1 Forest
1 Godless Shrine
1 Marsh Flats
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Stomping Ground
1 Swamp

Sideboard
3 Lingering Souls
3 Fulminator Mage
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Ranger of Eos
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Collective Brutality
1 Grafdigger’s Cage

While this may appear to be simply “another Death’s Shadow deck” it really is not. The White cards add an aggressive element in Lingering Souls which will be good vs fair decks with planeswalkers, and Ranger of Eos allows you to find additional Shadows to play more than your opponent. Tarmogoyf can potentially be a better creature than Gurmag Angler as it can have a larger toughness than the Zombie Fish to dodge removal such as Lightning Axe.

While the mana base is super greedy the deck can still provide a lot of power, and tutor for creatures when needed with Traverse the Ulvenwald.

Why should you play this deck?

• It kind of feels like an aggressive Jund that can make Tarmogoyf HUGE.
• You are way more interactive than other decks.
• Traverse the Ulvenwald post sideboard feels like a way to tutor for something to help with your current matchup.

Why you shouldn’t play this deck.

• You don’t like four color decks.
• You prefer the version that runs blue instead of white.
• You want to make room for more threats.

This option has not appeared in awhile, but is still quite viable within the current metagame.

Ink-Treader (Red, Green, White, Blue)

Amulet Titan

Creatures (13)
4 Primeval Titan
4 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
2 Trinket Mage
2 Courser of Kruphix
1 Walking Ballista

Artifacts (9)
4 Amulet of Vigor
4 Lotus Bloom
1 Engineered Plague

Enchantments (1)
1 Hive Mind

Instants (5)
4 Summoner’s Pact
1 Pact of Negation

Sorceries (4)
4 Ancient Stirrings

Lands (28)
4 Gemstone Mine
4 Gruul Turf
4 Simic Growth Chamber
3 Forest
3 Tolaria West
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Boros Garrison
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Kabira Crossroads
1 Khalni Garden
1 Slayer’s Stronghold
1 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
1 Vesuva

Sideboard
4 Path to Exile
3 Abrade
2 Negate
1 Hornet Queen
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
1 Ramunap Excavator
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Academy Ruins

Now we get to the boogyman in the room. Of every deck in the format in my opinion Primeval Titan decks have been the ones to survive the most when banned & restricted announcements happen. When Summer Bloom was banned many thought the deck went away, but alas here it is…still.

These decks are incorporating more colors now to defend against multiple decks across the format, and is a real threat to take down any tournament.

Why should you play this deck?

• It has a diverse number of threats as it does not solely rely upon Primeval Titan.
• The lands are mostly cheaper than other decks.
• It’s another deck that does not require much, if any, upkeep when new cards enter Modern.

Why you shouldn’t play the deck.

• You feel it needs more threats.
• You feel the deck relies upon Amulet of Vigor too much.
• You simply don’t like the Titan.

While the sideboard for this archetype is always in flux to fit the expected meta there are other options with the color combination. Look for decks that revolve around Saheeli Rai and Felidar Guardian.

Witch-Maw (Green, White, Blue, Black)

Wilderness Teachings

Creatures (2)
2 Snapcaster Mage

Planeswalker (2)
2 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria

Enchantments (4)
4 Wilderness Reclamation

Instants (24)
4 Cryptic Command
4 Growth Spiral
3 Hieroglyphic Illumination
3 Mystical Teachings
3 Remand
3 Path to Exile
1 Nexus of Fate
1 Blue Sun’s Zenith
1 Pulse of Murasa
1 Abrupt Decay

Sorceries (2)
2 Supreme Verdict

Lands (26)
4 Flooded Strand
4 Island
3 Misty Rainforest
2 Creeping Tarpit
2 Field of Ruin
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Polluted Delta
1 Breeding Pool
1 Forest
1 Godless Shrine
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Watery Grave

Sideboard
3 Ravenous Trap
2 Celestial Purge
2 Fatal Push
2 Life Goes On
1 Torrential Gearhulk
1 Murderous Cut
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Negate
1 Ceremonius Rejection
1 Dispel

A new deck to Modern this deck revolves around Wilderness Reclamation and Mystical Teachings. While most versions known have focused on just the Sultai colors I wanted to show what a splash of White can add to the deck.

Why should you play this deck?

• It’s a different take on control.
• A toolbox deck where all of your mana is available all the time sounds great.
• You like greedy mana bases.

Why you shouldn’t play this deck.

• The mana base.
• You don’t like Teferi decks.
• The answers don’t feel like they properly match the threats in Modern.

All in all the deck looks solid, and would be fun to run. If you do let me know how it goes.

Now that we have explored the Nephilim color combinations let’s take a look at the last two possibilities.

WUBRG (all five colors)

Humans

Creatures (37)
4 Mantis Rider
4 Reflector Mage
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Thalia’s Lieutenant
4 Meddling Mage
4 Phantasmal Image
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Kitesail Freebooter
2 Anafenze, the Foremost

Artifacts (4)
4 Aether Vial

Lands (19)
4 Ancient Ziggurat
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Horizon Canopy
4 Unclaimed Territory
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Seachrome Coast

Sideboard
4 Auriok Champion
3 Deputy of Detention
2 Damping Sphere
2 Dismember
2 Knight of Autumn
1 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
1 Sin Collector

What happens when you keep printing the card type “Human” for years? Well you have enough to make a deck with just creatures that can not only win quickly, but can recover from a board wipe.

Why should you play the deck?

• It’s a unique aggro deck that has creatures that are more than just fractions.
• Aether Vial “casts” your cards.
• You enjoy the most of what Magic has to offer, which this deck exemplifies.

Why you shouldn’t play the deck.

• There’s only one reason. You want to play Merfolk or Death & Taxes.

There really are no other five color options so if you are going to play those colors this is the deck. It’s affordability is definitely an issue.

Colorless

Eldrazi Stompy

Creatures (25)
4 Reality Smasher
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Matter Reshaper
4 Eternal Scourge
4 Eldrazi Mimic
1 Endbringer

Artifacts (9)
4 Serum Powder
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Smuggler’s Copter

Instants (3)
3 Dismember

Lands (23)
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Ghost Quarter
3 Blinkmoth Nexus
3 Cavern of Souls
3 Gemstone Caverns
2 Mutavault
2 Scavenger Grounds
2 Wastes

Sideboard
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Ratchet Bomb
2 Damping Sphere
2 Spatial Contortion
2 Torpor Orb
2 Warping Wail

I don’t think there is anyone that does not like the Eldrazi from Oath of the Gatewatch more than I do. The scars of Eldrazi Winter still run deep for some of us, and although Eldrazi Temple still being legal is amazing to me the Eldrazi have not caused a lot of noise in Modern lately. Currently a strong archetype in Legacy this deck feels like as close to a copy of that deck as possible.

Why should you play this deck?

• This feels like a fair midrange deck with giant threats that can close the game quickly.
• It is possibly the best Chalice of the Void deck in Modern.
• Without color restrictions you don’t stumble as much on spells.

Why you shouldn’t play the deck.

• It seems it can be easily disrupted.
• The non-interactive decks can just ignore you.
• Chalice of the Void is your only true defense against opposing decks.

There might be other colorless builds out there, but just like with Humans in the five color slot this is the best option available.

In conclusion

There was a lot to unpack with this project, and during the course of it we got news cards and some decks changed a little bit (such as Amulet Titan going four colors in a good number of builds). We found some older decks that can still appear at FNM, and even mentioned decks that could also appear in the color combinations.

Which one was your favorite? Was there one I missed? Please comment below, and follow me on both Facebook as well as Twitter.

NEXT WEEK I’ll be talking about one of the decks in further detail that is on this very list. What one will it be? You’ll have to come back next week to find out!

Until then…

TAP MORE MANA!!!

Scott Campbell

Scott Campbell, better known as MTGPackFoils, has been playing Magic since he was 17 (which was in 1993). He’s known for loving decks such as Azorius Control, Jund, and others (especially in Modern). He is a husband, father, and a former nightclub DJ.

http://www.twitter.com/MTGPackFoils