by Johnny Cycles, September 24th
Magic’s latest set releases in just a few days and, with it, new mechanics, new flavor, and a new kind of foil – the fracture foil. The set is “inspired by horror media of the ’80s through the modern day,” which explains the modern feel to some of the cards.
Telephones…flashlights…televisions…space ships….rollercoasters! I never thought I’d see the day Wizards printed such obvious contemporary technology in a Standard-legal set. And I’m not sure how I feel about it.
On one hand, I love horror movies. But on the other hand, I’ve always associated Magic with fantasy, meaning the horror needs to be fantasy horror, like Innistrad. On the third hand (on flavor with this set), the art is done in such a way that I don’t find it too jarring to see a Magic card full of televisions or with a camcorder. But, on the fourth hand, a rollercoaster? Seriously?!
As to the set’s playability, time will tell, of course. The Verge lands are pretty exciting, but are they good enough to see play in Modern? Are they even necessary in Commander? I think the answer is no on both fronts.
Meanwhile, the Vitality cycle of cards feel like auto-includes in a lot of mono and 2-color decks in Commander. I imagine they’ll also see play in Standard, while I see Enduring Innocence finding a home in Modern, perhaps in Death and Taxes or even Boros Energy. Its 1 toughness is a liability, but since it comes back upon death, the Patronus rip-off laughs at the format-warping 2-drop otherwise known as Orcish Bowmasters. I know I want to try out Enduring Courage in a Gruul deck featuring a whole slew of creatures heretofore unplayable due to their lack of haste.
Is it finally time for Ambuscade Shaman to shine? Eh, probably not, but I want to try!
We also have an (almost) completely new cycle of Leylines. Will any of these break any format?
Leyline of Mutation has the most potential, but I’m not sure it’s necessary. There are other ways in Modern to cheat big cards into play that haven’t cracked tier 2, much less tier 1. The question for me is, does Leyline of Mutation do something in a top (or former top) archetype that will put it back in contention for best deck? Does Domain Zoo play this alongside Leyline of the Guildpact and play a more Midrange strategy?
Are Ninjas a viable tribe in Modern now? I like to think so.
Best Card for Modern goes to…
I really like this card. I see it finding a home in Rakdos Midrange decks, where it will provide some incidental card advantage over the course of an otherwise grindy game of Magic. But I also see it featuring in combo decks looking to fill the graveyard and/or sacrifice creatures for value. Modern Horizons 3 gave us a number of new ways to gain value out of this recursive Zombie.
We can sacrifice it precombat to cast Flare of Malice, then recast it from the graveyard and attack the same turn for 3. We can sacrifice it to Warren Soultrader to make a Treasure, recur it later, attack, and do it again. And, we can pitch it to Psychic Frog and recast it later to trigger Vengevine and friends.
Best Card Name goes to…
As to Commander, the set is full of fun cards that I’ve set aside to find room for in my various decks. Ob Nixilis, both budget and nonbudget, is getting some new toys (Popular Egotist, Fear of Lost Teeth, and the above-pictured Sawblade Skinripper, to name a few). My Bant Blink deck has a new counter spell in Get Out and a new target to blink in Toby, Beastie Befriender. My Mono Red Dragon Tribal deck gets Scorching Dragonfire, while my Boros Triple Keywords deck gets The Wandering Rescuer.
And that’s just to name a few…
The Card Commander Needed the most goes to…
Eye Tribal is in desperate need of, well, just about anything. There are only 9 (nine!!!) creatures that are Eyes. This is also a really powerful card that I see finding a home in a Modern brew in my future.
As always, thanks for reading and watching! I’ll catch y’all on the next one!
Oh, and I almost forgot…
