by Johnny Cycles, November 23rd, 2023

Modern Horizons was released in June 2019 and fundamentally changed both the format and how Wizards has approached it. Prior to Modern Horizons, new cards made their way into Modern via Standard. Modern players would carefully pour over each new spoiled Standard card, looking for something to add to an existing archetype, or, much more rarely, something that would create a new deck entirely. Wizards thought carefully about the power level of new cards for the Standard set, with little to no thought as to the impact of those cards on eternal formats. Given that Standard has historically been the least powerful of any format, Modern players would find only a few, if any, gems from each new set.

Modern Horizons was the first set Wizards designed specifically for the format. What had once been a trickle of cards into Modern from Standard became a flood. And with that flood of new cards, new archetypes using Modern Horizons cards quickly began dominating the format.

Most infamous of all was Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis. An unremarkable rare during spoiler season, save for one of the strangest rules text I’ve ever seen (“You can’t spend mana to cast this spell.”), the card quickly became the centerpiece of the best deck in the format.

And not only was Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis the new hotness among tier 1 decks, it warped the format to the point that graveyard hate was no longer for sideboards. Both those looking to win with Hogaak and those looking to beat Hogaak began main-decking Leyline of the Void, Rest in Peace, or whatever else answered the Avatar. Here’s Martin Muller’s top 8 Hogaak deck from Mythic Championship IV in Barcelona:

Decklist – B/G Hogaak

by Martin Müller
Format: Modern (2019)

Creatures (31)

4 Carrion Feeder
4 Gravecrawler
3 Insolent Neonate
4 Stitcher’s Supplier
4 Bloodghast
4 Satyr Wayfinder
4 Vengevine

4 Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis

Spells (8)

4 Faithless Looting

2 Lightning Axe
2 Assassin’s Trophy

Enchantments (2)

2 Leyline of the Void

Lands (19)

3 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Polluted Delta
2 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Stomping Ground
4 Verdant Catacombs

Sideboard (15)

2 Engineered Explosives
2 Fatal Push
1 Nature’s Claim
3 Thoughtseize
2 Assassin’s Trophy
1 Shenanigans
2 Rotting Regisaur
2 Leyline of the Void

The deck was so powerful, Wizards banned Bridge from Below less than a month after Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis was printed in an attempt to weaken the deck. This didn’t work, and the Avatar got the ban hammer August 26th, 2019, less than 3 months after its printing. Faithless Looting was also banned and, even though Wizards pointed to the win rate of other graveyard decks like Hollow One and Izzet Phoenix as their reasoning, at the time, it felt like Faithless Looting was the victim of Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis being too good.

Unfortunately for those of us who love brewing and playing janky builds, the Faithless Looting banning hurt more than the tier 1 decks in the format. My Lightning Skelemental deck lost much of its power and explosiveness without the 1-mana sorcery.

Faithless Looting was the engine for more than just tier 1 decks…

After the banning of Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis, Modern stabilized and the top decks before Hogaak returned to their previous place. Modern Horizons cards didn’t feel like they were too powerful, too pushed, or too ubiquitous. Certain archetypes got new toys (Force of Negation for U/W Control, Giver of Runes for Humans and eventually Hammer Time, Seasoned Pyromancer for Jund and other midrange decks looking to grind out value), but many of the top tier decks remained familiar. Tron, Burn, Death’s Shadow, along with those mentioned above, continued to put up good results.

One big reason for this sense that Modern Horizons was healthy for the format was the printing of some of Magic’s most busted cards in Standard-legal sets. Oko, Thief of Crowns, Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath, and the Companion mechanic, led by Lurrus of the Dream-Den, far and away overshadowed any non-Hogaak card Modern Horizons had brought to the format.

These are all fine…just fine…

Throne of Eldraine as a set was so overpowered that Wizards banned a whopping 6 cards from it in Standard (besides Oko, Once Upon a Time, Lucky Clover, Cauldron Familiar, Fires of Invention, and Escape to the Wilds were also banned). In Modern, Oko, Thief of Crowns, Once Upon a Time, and Mystic Sanctuary got the ban hammer.

But it wasn’t just Throne of Eldraine that brought overpowered cards to Modern via Standard. In the year following Throne of Eldraine, Modern saw at least one banning from each of the released sets. Veil of Summer and Field of the Dead from Core Set 2020, Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath from Theros: Beyond Death, and the Companion debacle from Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths (technically, Wizards first changed the mechanic before finally banning Lurrus of the Dream-Den and Yorion, Sky Nomad in 2022). Whether by coincidence or plan, Wizards managed to print more powerful and problematic cards in Standard legal sets than they did in Modern Horizons, the set designed specifically for the format. To date, only two cards from Modern Horizons have been banned (the aforementioned Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis and Arcum’s Astrolabe). For a full list of bannings and their dates, click here.

The power creep Standard (and therefore Modern) experienced in the sets that followed Modern Horizons took most of the attention away from any potentially overpowered cards from the latter set. Modern was in a better place thanks to Modern Horizons.

Modern Horizons 2…More of the Same?

With the release of Modern Horizons 2 in June 2021, everything changed. Wizards’ second set designed specifically for the Modern format didn’t just provide new toys for old archetypes; it created brand new ones that are still considered tier 1 by most. Rakdos Scam, Crashing Footfalls, and Izzet Murktide are all directly spawned from Modern Horizons 2 cards. Of course, no one deck plays cards only from a single set, but without the Evoke Elementals, Shardless Agent (making its first appearance in Modern), and Murktide Regent, to name just a few, these archetypes would not exist at the top of the format.

That none of these decks have needed a a card banned is perhaps a sign that Wizards got it right this time. There was no card in Modern Horizons 2 like Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis that broke the format. Each of the respective new archetypes are powerful, tier 1 decks that use Modern Horizons 2 cards as the core element to their strategies. So, Modern Horizons 2 is a resounding success, correct?

Perhaps not.

In place of a single, dominant card, Modern Horizons 2 instead introduced more than a dozen cards that have, since their printing, steadily taken over Modern. The result of this is that Modern feels more and more like a Modern Horizons 2 format.

This doesn’t even include Grief, Solitude, Fury, or Dragon’s Rage Channeler…

According to mtggoldfish.com, 3 of the top 10 most played cards in Modern are from Modern Horizons 2. This may not seem like much, but in a format that pulls from more than a decade of cards, it is a lot. The only other set that has more than one representative is the recently released The Lord of the Rings, the third set designed and released straight to Modern. Both The One Ring and Orcish Bowmasters are in the top 10, though the former is seeing less and less play.

If we look at the top 10 creatures played in Modern (again, thank you mtggoldfish.com), things get even more Modern Horizons 2-y: 7 of the top 10 creatures played are from the set. Not appearing in the top 10 is Dragon’s Rage Channeler, a card that is a 4-of in one of the best decks in the format.

What this means is that it is a rare match in which Modern Horizons 2 cards don’t make an appearance, particularly in league play. Unfortunately, it also means that if you want to compete in today’s Modern, you better be playing Modern Horizons 2 cards.

When Did Modern Become Legacy?

For many years, Legacy as a format was defined by Force of Will. In fact, even today, it is the second-most played card in the format, after Surgical Extraction (mtggoldfish.com). What is so unique and powerful about this former bulk rare? We can cast it for free. More correctly, we can cast it while all our mana is tapped, or even before we play a land. The cost, as anyone who’s been playing Magic knows, is a single life and a Blue card exiled from our hand.

Sound familiar?

The printing of the Evoke Elementals has warped Modern far more than Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis did, pushing it more and more in the direction of Legacy. Not only have new archetypes been born from this powerful mythic cycle, former tier 1 archetypes, as well as tier 2ish, have been pushed out of Modern entirely. Jund, Death’s Shadow, U/W/x control, Ponza, Humans, Merfolk, Goblins, just to name some of the most popular decks of yesteryear, no longer see play. What do these decks have in common? Other than Control, they are creature-based strategies, either midrange or aggro.

It’s not all because of the free nature and power level of the Evoke Elementals from Modern Horizons 2, however. With each made-for-Modern set, Wizards continues pushing the power level of its 1- and 2-drop creatures. Remember when Tarmogoyf was well over $100 and was a 4-of in some of the best decks in both Modern and Legacy? Snapcaster Mage? Bloodbraid Elf, which was actually banned in Modern for awhile? What made these cards good was either they were undercosted, overpowered threats (Tarmogoyf could easily be a 4/5 on turn 2), or they offered a 2-for-1. Flashing back your best spell on a 2/1 body may seem unimpressive now, but many were the games won via Snapcaster beats after the Control player outvalued their opponent.

Modern Horizons 2 features creatures that are better than strict 2-for-1s. They are undercosted, powerful creatures that do more than one thing that entire other cards in Modern used to do by themselves. Who needs Leyline of the Void when we can play Dauthi Voidwalker and get the same effect on a 3/2 evasive body with serious upside? Who needs Serum Visions or Thought Scour, when a 1-drop on a 3/3 flier offers a similar, repeatable effect of stacking our deck and filling our yard for other busted Modern Horizons 2 cards (looking at you Murktide Regent)? And Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer is such a unique and powerful card, I’m not even sure he replaced any one card at the 1-drop slot, so much as he forced whole archetypes to either rebuild in order to play him, or risk becoming obsolete. The above list of former Modern decks shows just how many went extinct.

Which leaves Modern looking a whole lot like Legacy, with its free spells and cheap, powerful creatures competing largely against degenerate combo decks trying to win on turns 1 or 2. Modern is a turn slower, perhaps, but if you aren’t playing the Evoke Elementals and superpowered 1- and 2-drops from Modern Horizons 2, then you’re either comboing off with Primeval Titan or Colossus Hammer. Or you aren’t winning many games.

Perhaps I’m oversimplifying things a bit. Decks like Hammer Time and Rhinos do well, though the latter exists thanks to Modern Horizons 2, while the former got a power boost in Urza’s Saga. Meanwhile, Hardened Scales and Affinity are competitive, while Infect and Burn can still put up good numbers. So what archetypes are missing?

Are Midrange and Control Dead in Modern?

Jund, Death’s Shadow, U/W/x Control, the Rock, B/W Tokens, and similar decks no longer see play in Modern. Similarly, former creature-based aggressive strategies, like Humans and Merfolk, have also been largely pushed out of top competition. The reason for this is precisely what I’ve detailed above: the Evoke Elementals and the printing of undercosted, overpowered creatures.

We don’t need a 3- or 4-drop creature to do more than one thing and take over the game. We have Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer and the like for that. And we don’t need powerful 5-drop creatures that demand answers because we have the Evoke Elementals that can be cast both early and late, offering both flexibility and a 2-for-1 (or 3- or 4-for-1) on a legitimate finisher. Who needs janky Snapcaster beats when we can play Fury on turns 1, 2, etc., and then hard cast it on turn 5 and close out a game extremely quickly?

Midrange decks of old are obsolete thanks to the printing of these cards, most of which are from Modern Horizons 2. Wizards continued to push Modern towards Legacy with The Lord of the Rings, the third and most recent straight-to-Modern set. Orcish Bowmasters is the 2nd-most played creature in Modern now, behind only Fury. It’s true that The One Ring gave hope to midrange decks, but, other than Tron, the busted mythic only boosted the power level of established decks. And now, with the emergence of Up the Beanstalk, The One Ring is seeing less and less play.

Or Has a New Midrange and Control Emerged?

Perhaps midrange isn’t dead after all, but only fundamentally changed. After all, Rakdos Scam and 4- and 5-Color Money Pile, the current best decks in the format, all frequently play a long game. Rakdos Scam certainly has elements of a combo deck, but playing powerful creatures up the curve supported by hand disruption and removal sounds a lot like Jund. Money Pile decks also have a combo feel to them, with the synergies between their cascade spells, Evoke Elementals, and their new toy, Up the Beanstalk. The deck relies on card draw and an endless amount of answers to pull ahead until they can stick a finisher. Sound familiar Control players?

The chief problem, however, is there isn’t room for other midrange and control decks to function unless they’re playing Modern Horizons 2 cards. Similarly, creature-based aggro decks have all but disappeared, replaced by creature-based combo decks, like Hammer Time and Hardened Scales. Burn is the only competitive aggro deck left from pre-Modern Horizons 2 cards, while Amulet Titan and Tron represent former midrange decks. Both, however, have as much in common with combo decks as midrange, so naming them such is misleading.

Hasn’t Modern Always had Distinct Tier 1 Decks?

All formats have their best decks, and today’s Modern Horizons 2 Modern is no different. What is different, though, is just how big of a gap there is between tier 1 and the rest. Furthermore, for the rest to even be considered tier 2, they most likely have to play Modern Horizons 2 cards, at which point, why even bother playing something that isn’t tier 1? In my experience playing Modern for 10 years now, there used to be a healthy group of tier 2 and 3 decks that could compete with the tier 1 decks, even winning more often than losing some of the time. Aggressive strategies like Merfolk and prison strategies that relied on land destruction and Blood Moon might not have been tier 1, but they helped keep the format honest. It’s a sign of an unhealthy format when 5-color decks are not just dominant, but are dominant despite Blood Moon still being legal.

What Needs to Be Done?

It isn’t surprising that cards from a set specifically made for Modern see a lot of play in Modern. Wizards has redefined the format, for better or worse, with Modern Horizons 1 and 2 and The Lord of the Rings sets. However, cards from Modern Horizons 2, particularly the Evoke Elementals, currently play an outsized and unhealthy role in the format. For creature-based strategies to make a comeback, Wizards needs to start giving their 4- and 5-drops the same kinds of upgrades they’ve given to their 1- and 2-drops. 5 mana for a 4/4 hasty flier was once a powerful creature. Now it just dies to Fury or Unholy Heat. It’s a sad day for dragons and other creature types, when a 5-mana investment gets you less than a 1- or 2-mana investment does.

Hexproof and Ward would go a long way in resuscitating creature-based midrange strategies. 5 toughness should be the norm for mythic creatures that cost 4 or 5 mana, with 7 being a regular occurrence. And they should come with text boxes that do at least as much as the 1- and 2-mana mythics do. Attaching the effect of Roiling Vortex to a 5/5 hasty flier would at least give midrange strategies a fighting chance. Questing Beast is an example of the kinds of midrange creatures we need more of, and even it dies to Fury.

Mana dorks, like Delighted Halfling, with at least 2 toughness, if not Ward, would greatly benefit midrange-ramp strategies. The dream of all ramp players, of course, is a 1-mana mana dork with Hexproof. In the world of Dauthi Voidwalker, is that too much to ask?

As to noncreature control strategies, many of the kinds of answers necessary would probably just get ported in to the current best decks. Honestly, I don’t think Modern needs better answers at the moment. Yes, Control is not viable in today’s format, but printing cards that would help make it so would only make midrange strategies worse. Given the prevalence of flexible and cheap answers already out there, I’m not sure Control can make a comeback. I think we just have to accept that Control decks rely less heavily on kill spells and counter magic, and more heavily on flexible creatures that function as both. It looks different than traditional Control shells, but 5-Color Money Pile functions the same way.

However, if we wanted to return to the Control of before, attaching more card draw to cheap, if not limited, targeted removal and sweepers would help. Fatal Push plus Opt, for instance. Or Anger of the Gods plus Serum Visions. Such cards are obviously both powerful and pushed, but so, too, is Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer.

Another avenue to breathing life into Control is to give it more powerful and harder to answer Planeswalkers. Jace, the Mind Sculptor is considered by many to be the best Planeswalker ever printed. It was even banned in Modern until a few years ago. Now? Oko, Thief of Crowns was too busted and went in a variety of decks other than Control, but maybe there’s a middle ground? What about a Planeswalker that could protect itself better? Say, a -2 or -3 that read, “Counter the next spell that targets this Planeswalker; target creature an opponent controls gets -3/-0 until your next turn.”? Or a +1 that read, “Draw a card; this Planeswalker phases out.”?

Finally, land destruction needs to make a comeback. Obsidian Charmaw would be a good example, had it also had 5 toughness and haste. Printing Wasteland for Modern wouldn’t be a bad thing. Blood Moon effects for less mana or that are difficult to deal with would help. Currently, Modern has a wide variety of flexible answers to traditional hate (Leyline Binding, Boseiju, Who Endures, etc.) beyond its new suite of free spells. Some of these answers help keep the new powerful creatures in check, but the collateral damage is the loss of the kinds of archetypes I’ve highlighted here.

What will Modern Horizons 3 Bring to the Table?

Wizards has backed themselves into a corner with the introduction of free spells into Modern, as well as with the amount of power creep they’ve allowed with their 1- and 2-mana creatures. Will they continue pushing the envelop in this direction, driving Modern closer and closer to Legacy? Or will they give the same superpowered buffs to cards that support other strategies, whether they be Midrange, Control, or Combo? Is it possible to increase the power level of creatures in a way that fuels creature-based aggressive strategies, like Humans, Goblins, or Merfolk, without simply giving the current best decks better toys? Will graveyard strategies get another boost?

Or, perhaps best of all, will Wizards manage to create new archetypes yet again, reinvigorating what has, for many, become a stale meta? More and more cards currently exile, either as removal or card draw. Perhaps there is a way to create a new archetype that cares about cards in exile in a way that makes it competitive.

Whatever Wizards chooses to do, Modern has enough cards to pick from that there should be a healthy tier 2 set of decks that are not reliant on the same card pool as the tier 1 decks. Otherwise, Modern will continue to feel more and more like Block Constructed than an Eternal format.

Janky Decks Need Good Cards Too

So how do janky decks survive? How do those of us who want to play dragons, for instance, manage to win in Modern? The short answer is, janky decks have a chance if they’re hyper aggressive or able to abuse a I-win-the-game combo, but dragons are fighting an uphill battle. Midrange decks of 2010, like Jund and even Death’s Shadow, are no longer viable in Modern. Dragons is a midrange strategy that never competed at the level of those two decks. It will be even harder for it to win, as those who wish to read on will see.

In writing this article, I wanted to put some of my theories to the test. In order to do this, I chose Rakdos Dragons. I picked Rakdos because we have an obvious point of comparison in the recent Pro Tour winning Rakdos Scam deck. Everyone knows the power of a Rakdos deck built around Modern Horizons 2 cards. I picked dragons because, well, if you’re on this site, you know why. Perhaps I should’ve picked an archetype that used to be tier 1 to test out instead, but I love dragons and want to see if they have a chance in Modern. Tl;dr: not really.

Before I get started, I will say that I’m using a small sample size for each decklist. I simply do not have the time or the mental energy to play multiple leagues with some of these decks. Variance can play an outsized role for this reason. I’ll point out when it seems variance is on our side or not. I will continue to update this article as I get more games in with these decks.

Second, it is quite possible that there is a better Rakdos Dragons list than I have tried here. In fact, I’m certain other builds could do at least as well, if not better. Again, as I play more and more decks, I’ll update this article with the decklists and results.

Finally, there are plenty of better players than me out there that could surely do better with the same builds. Maybe you’re one of them and will 5-0 with the various jank you’re about to see. Let me know in the comments if you try one of these decks out!

Rakdos Dragons – no MH2 Cards

by Johnny Cycles
Format: Modern

Creatures (27)

4 Charming Scoundrel
4 Kalain, Reclusive Painter
2 Bonecrusher Giant
3 Shivan Devastator
4 Rivaz of the Claw
4 Decadent Dragon
4 Glorybringer
2 Realm-Scorcher Hellkite

Spells (10)

2 Fatal Push
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Thoughtseize

Lands (23)

4 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Field of Ruin
5 Mountain
5 Swamp
1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance

Sideboard (15)

3 Chalice of the Void
3 Cast into the Fire
3 Void Mirror
2 Damnation
3 Leyline of the Void
1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse

The overall goal of this deck is to make Treasure tokens with our 2-drop creatures that we can than use to ramp into our dragons and/or sacrifice to Realm-Scorcher Hellkite. We play a typical package of cheap removal and hand disruption.

 

What immediately stands out with this list is that the jank level is extremely high. We are playing cards few, if any, are playing in Modern. Kalain, Reclusive Painter has probably never seen a Modern game until this deck, for example. Other than Murktide Regent and Glorybringer, most dragons, also don’t see play in Modern (and even Glorybringer‘s heyday is long past). Rivaz of the Claw, while making perfect sense in a Rakdos Dragon deck, is not considered playable in competitive decks in Modern either.

Worth mentioning here is the room for innovation within this decklist. Is Stormbreath Dragon better than Shivan Devastator? Would Sarkhan, Fireblood be more synergistic and less likely to die to removal than Rivaz of the Claw? Should we play some combination of both? Would strictly better, non-MH2 cards, make the deck stronger without getting too far from the spirit of the deck? Some of these questions will be answered below as I test out different builds of Rakdos Dragons in Modern.

Finally, it should be noted that I avoided all cards from the three straight-to-Modern sets. While the focus of this article has been on the impact of Modern Horizons 2 on Modern, I wanted to play a list that avoided the cards that add to the overall feel of Modern being a Block Constructed format.

Now, on to the results of Rakdos Dragons with no MH2 cards!

League 1

Match 1 – Bogles

Game 1 – Mull to 5 after opening 7 looked like this:

Followed by this:

 

The resolution is crap, but OP had two hexproof creatures or maybe my 1 Thoughtseize would’ve been enough.

Game 2 – Got distracted by the lag in the game and forgot to take pictures past my opening 7, but OP scooped to a Chalice of the Void on 1 followed by a Shivan Devastator hitting for 4 a turn. Yay, we won a game!

Game 3 – Had a fair, midrange hand with Damnation as a way to reset. It was our best game, but OP played Sanctifier en-Vec after Damnation and won the race.

The match-up feels tough preboard, so I’m not sure a keepable 7 would’ve gotten me there in game 1. Now, had OP only had 1 creature in hand when I cast Thoughtseize, I may have stolen the game.

Match 2 – Rhinos

Game 1 – Up against one of the best decks in the format…with a bunch of jank. Got crushed in game 1 with no way to stop the rhinos. For insult on injury, OP countered their own spell that we stole with Expensive Taste that would’ve bought us a turn. More rhinos soon followed, though, so it probably wouldn’t have mattered.

Game 2, I slowed them down and annoyed them, but I missed land drops (including from their deck, twice), and they won playing a fair, midrange game. Feels bad to lose that kind of game, but not getting past 4 mana, including having to take a turn off to mana fix with Field of Ruin, is not a recipe for victory in any format. It’s not looking great for the janky Rakdos Dragon build. Shocker…

Had to mulligan the first hand. Field of Ruin has been more of a liability than a help in today’s Modern.

Stuck on 4 mana, OP ignored the Void Mirror, made land drops, and played the better midrange game.

Match 3 – Burn

Lost the match 0-2. Neither game felt particularly close. I’ve played Burn a few times with a variety of versions of this deck, and we are just too slow. I think we need to tweak our sideboard to account for our really hard match ups. Of course, there are so many…

Game 1

OP had Searing Blaze for days…

Game 2

Another 1-lander opening hand in my 23-land deck…

Match 4 – Up the Beanstalk Money Pile

Game 1 – Went to the wire and I misplayed by casting Lightning Bolt before the Solitude trigger went on the stack (I cast it in response to the fetch that put them to 3, not knowing they had Solitude. Lesson: they always have it!)…oops.

I mulliganed the first hand…doing nothing until turn 3 seems bad, but given their card advantage engine, in hindsight, I could’ve kept.

Should’ve waited to pull the trigger on the Lightning Bolt…sigh. Lesson learned.

Game 2 – Went worse. It is another midrange match-up that outclasses what we’re trying to do by a longshot due to its free spells and card advantage. No wonder Roiling Vortex has shot up in price recently.

I managed to get their life total down in both games and Shivan Devastator did some work, but the card advantage was just too much to overcome.

Match 5 – Goblins

I WON A MATCH!!!!

Granted, Goblins are not tier 1, but they have both aggro and combo potential.

Game 1 – Got run over. Had triple Lightning Bolt with no red mana and mulliganed. I probably would’ve kept it had I known I was playing Goblins. But, for the record, in this league, I’ve had to mulligan a hand with triple Thoughtseize with 0 lands and a hand with triple Lightning Bolt with no Mountain. Oh, variance, you’re a cruel mistress.

Game 2 – Had a hand full of removal and OP scooped after missing their 3rd land drop a couple of turns. I think they could’ve played it out a bit more, but I’ll take it!

Game 3 – Felt close for a bit, but OP couldn’t get anything going before the dragons started coming. Dragons should beat Goblins.

League Record: 1-4

Our non-MH2 version only won a single match, while it won a handful of games. It’s obviously a small sample size and I could see the deck going 2-3 and sometimes 3-2, but we’re fighting an uphill battle. Here are some observations from the matches.

Where were the dragons?

Unlike my Gruul Dragons deck, the Rakdos build barely got to play any dragons before dying. Expensive Taste made several appearances and did some work, but I would often be left casting Decadent Dragon into death. Shivan Devastator had its moments, as well, but more often than not, I died before casting it. Even with the Treasure tokens as potential ramp, the deck is simply too slow. It’s a fair, midrange strategy and, so far, if we aren’t playing the MH2 cards, we just can’t keep up with the speed, versatility, or power of the current format.

Janky Synergies

Speaking of dragons, I built the deck around Realm-Scorcher Hellkite and the new Bargain mechanic. I didn’t resolve the 6-drop a single time. That being said, the Treasure tokens I made along the way did help ramp us into our dragons a bit earlier than normal. Furthermore, Charming Scoundrel did good work and is a legitimately good card, particularly in the right shell.

Kalain, Reclusive Painter felt fine in the 2-drop slot, since the Elf gives us a Treasure token, but we didn’t really get to abuse the +1/+1 counters he gives our creatures. Similarly, Rivaz of the Claw never got to shine. Both creatures would draw out a kill spell, which in old Modern, might have allowed us to resolve and attack with our dragons. In today’s Modern, though, either OP never ran out of answers, or we were dead before we could resolve a 5 drop. And we never got to cast a dragon from our graveyard with Rivaz of the Claw. That being said, we frequently ran into mana issues, so maybe 24 lands is a better number.

Burn, Infect, and Amulet Titan

These decks have been in the top 2 tiers of Modern (Infect is probably tier 2, while the others are tier 1) for awhile and none rely too heavily on MH2 cards to execute their game plan. With some sideboard changes, I think our midrange strategy can compete with Burn and Infect, while Amulet Titan is so powerful and fast, I’m not sure what we would have to change to have a chance.

Where does that leave us?

Rakdos Dragons, take 2 – let’s add some Modern Horizon 2 cards!

I don’t play dragons in Modern and expect to be up there with the top decks, but maybe a few upgrades will make the deck more competitive. Let’s start by cutting some of the more janky, albeit synergistic cards, from the main deck.

Out:

Charming Scoundrel
Kalain, Reclusive Painter
Realm-Scorcher Hellkite – the only 6 mana creature playable in Modern is Primeval Titan…

We’ve moved completely away from the idea of the deck, while still keeping the majority of our dragons.

Now let’s add some Modern Horizons 2 all-stars!

In:

Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
Orcish Bowmasters
Dauthi Voidwalker
Grief
The One Ring
Fury

by Johnny Cycles
Format: Modern

Creatures (28)

4 Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
4 Orcish Bowmasters
4 Dauthi Voidwalker
2 Shivan Devastator
4 Decadent Dragon
2 Grief
4 Fury
4 Glorybringer

Spells (8)

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Thoughtseize

Artifacts (1)

The One Ring

Lands (23)

2 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Field of Ruin
4 Mountain
5 Swamp

Sideboard (15)

2 Fatal Push
2 Terminate
2 Blood Moon
3 Brotherhood’s End
2 Seasoned Pyromancer
3 Leyline of the Void
1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse

League 2

Match 1 – Infect

Game 1 – Kept a risky keep with double Field of Ruin, but it worked out. Decadent Dragon was the MVP, first stealing a Mutagenic Growth and Vines of Vastwood with Expensive Taste, then attacking to get me the Treasure token to cast the latter to keep OP from giving his creature unblockable with Distortion Strike. It was as fun as it sounds. If this hadn’t been league play, I imagine OP would’ve had some choice, salty words for me. Orcish Bowmasters and Fury both did work, as well, so our only-for-Modern cards are showing their worth…unsurprisingly.

Game 2 – Some interesting choices and interactions, not least of which was Orcish Bowmasters triggering a whopping 4 times due to Shapers’ Sanctuary. Misplayed on taking Scale Up over Vines of Vastwood with Grief, but luckily it didn’t cost me. MH2 cards again really shown, as I took advantage of the Shadow on Dauthi Voidwalker and Menace on Grief to ignore OP’s creatures and win the race.

Match 2 – Burn

Game 1 – Kept a land-heavy hand with some interaction and got max punished, as OP assembled Goblin Guide Tron and ran me over. Goblin Guide revealed Decadent Dragon two turns in a row, ensuring my doom.

Game 2 – Had to go to 6 to find interaction and got burned out pretty quickly. I probably misplayed by hurting myself to play on curve, but I’m not sure it would’ve mattered. Brotherhood’s End, which would’ve been great in game 1, rotted in my hand in game 2. Hindsight is 20/20, but it may be a mistake to bring it in against Burn. MH2 cards couldn’t keep up with all the direct damage. The match didn’t feel close at any point. This match-up is probably one reason Chalice of the Void is in the sideboard.

Result: 0-2

Match 3 – Money Pile Control

Game 1 – Drew nothing but hot fire and still lost. OP had all the answers for days, then locked me out of the game with Narset, Parter of Veils and Geier Reach Sanitarium.

I even drew the Lightning Bolt but OP locked me out of having cards in hand before I could cast it.

Game 2 – I took Lórien Revealed from a 1-lander and he scooped shortly thereafter.

Game 3 was a repeat of game 1, just less hot fire from me. It was close for a bit, but I couldn’t keep up with his card advantage. OP was very nice! Follow his stream here gerrick_relentless!

Match 4 – Janky Domain

OP is playing 5-color Calibrated Blast-Domain, looking to do 12 to the dome, but settling for 5 and 6. Also running Up the Beanstalk.

Game 1 – I got off to a fast start and got lucky with some of my draws. Felt very much like a MH2 win. My dragons were only good for pitching to Fury.

Game 2- OP won the race by resolving Calibrated Blast 3 times. Very spicy! It would’ve only been better had OP hit Scion of Draco to 12 me.

Game 3 – I played Decadent Dragon for value, but otherwise, it was more MH2 cards sealing the win. This game was definitely an MH2 victory. Sad face.

Match 5 – Amulet Titan

Got fairly stomped. It was impressive how many busted things OP did. He has a stream here, mistakenn69, so be sure to check him out! He was super nice. I’ll let the pictures do the talking…

Game 1

Game 2 – double Thoughtseize left my OP with no real action. I followed that up with a Blood Moon. Somehow, I still didn’t win.

OP hit Boseiju, Who Endures to answer my hate and pulled away with a timely Primeval Titan. Never not draw it!

League Record: 2-3

What’s the verdict? League record of 2-3 with Rakdos Dragons featuring a heavy dose of MH2 cards. Would the deck have done better without the dragons? We all know that Rakdos Scam is one of the best, if not THE best, decks, so the answer seems like a resounding yes. Did the dragons help me win the games/matches I won? Yes, though there were games when MH2 cards won without the help of dragons. Overall, the deck felt a little at odds with itself. Playing the powerful MH2 cards was exhilarating at times, but I’m not sure they were as much fun as playing and winning with dragons. Of course, winning with Rakdos Dragons has proven more difficult than I had anticipated, but our league records are close and both bad. A 1-4 probably means we could go 2-3 as frequently, with the occasional 3-2. A 2-3 record suggests 3-2 is just as likely when accounting for variance, with perhaps an occasional 4-1.

Is Rakdos Dragons without Modern Horizons 2 cards really as bad as the 1-4 record? Would upgrading some of the jank with powerful staples outside of MH2 make a difference? Let’s find out!

Decklist – Less Janky Rakdos Dragons with no MH2 Cards

by Johnny Cycles
Format: Modern

Creatures (17)

4 Charming Scoundrel
2 Bonecrusher Giant
3 Decadent Dragon
4 Glorybringer
4 Stormbreath Dragon

Spells (12)

2 Fatal Push
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Thoughtseize

Enchantments (7)

3 Blood Moon
4 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker

Lands (24)

2 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
5 Mountain
1 Polluted Delta
5 Swamp
1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
1 Wooded Foothills

Sideboard (15)

2 Cast into the Fire
3 Roiling Vortex
2 Damnation
4 Leyline of Sanctity
4 Leyline of the Void

League 3

Match 1 – Beanstalk Moneypile

It’s hard not to be salty about this match…

Game 1 – Turns 1 and 2 hand disruption, followed by a turn 3 Blood Moon, followed by dragons to win. Except, OP drew 3, THREE, copies of Fury and won. OP had no Up the Beanstalk, no real card draw. They just drew extraordinarily well, including the Ice to tap down my blocker and close out the game.

Game 2 – Turn 3 Blood Moon off a Treasure token after a mull to 6. I didn’t draw the third land until turn 8, at which point, I was dead. Holy *bleep*…the Magic gods were against my janky build like whoa.

Match 2 – Rakdos Scam

Game 1 – 24 lands…What the heck is going on? First 7:

My next 7 was this:

This is one issue with a small sample size. Is the deck as bad as its record? Not with games that start like this. If I got lucky and went 5-0, would it be that good? No, not even close. Winning 2-3 on average is probably more realistic, with the occasional 3-2 I’d imagine.

I drew well enough that the game was back and forth with some hand disruption. OP drew and cast 3 copies of Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer. They didn’t have the typical scammy draw, but their cheap creatures were just better than what I was doing.

Death looked like this:

 

Game 2 – Leyline of Sanctity wrecked their plan, and I actually got to play a midrange strategy and win with dragons.

Game 3 – Mulliganed to 6 looking for another Leyline (and my opening 7 was sketch), but settled for a playable 6, rather than go to 5. When they didn’t scam me, I thought I’d made the right choice. However, by turn 4, they had the Not Dead After All to keep Grief on the battlefield and it was over very quickly.

The match was frustrating, as it feels more winnable than some, if we can stick a Leyline of Sanctity. Maybe I should’ve mulliganed to 5 for it.

Match 3 – Rakdos Scam

Game 1 – Mulliganed a hand that didn’t have a play until turn 3…kept a 6 that looked like this:

Then I drew dragons and lands until I was dead. Sometimes you only draw 5 drops. To add insult to injury, OP drew Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer the turn after I cast Thoughtseize and preceded to exile kill spells 2 turns in a row. I, of course, drew lands in their places.

Game 2 – Had the double Leyline opening but it wasn’t enough. OP took my Atsushi, even though I don’t think they needed to. I guess it kept them from getting hit back for 4 a turn. Incidental exile effect of Dauthi Voidwalker nerfed the death trigger AND let them cast it themselves. What a brutal two games.

Match 4 – Vengevine Combo

Game 1 – Another unfair deck, I managed to clear the board once of their numerous threats, but they quickly rebuilt, as the deck does.

Game 2 – We both went to 5 and both found what we needed – I a Leyline of the Void and OP a Tear Asunder to answer it. A timely Damnation allowed me to reset and win the race with Glorybringer.

Game 3 – An opening 7 that looked like this:

 

I preceded to draw two more lands just in time to cast a turn 4 Decadent Dragon and die the next turn.

Match 5 – Draco Domain

Game 1 – Couldn’t draw more than 3 lands. I play 24. I guess I need to up the land count…the last game, however, I flooded hard. The deck is already behind the 8 ball with its midrange strategy and it definitely feels like the Magic gods are not helping me much either.

Game 2 – A frustrating game…again. OP had to draw the Fury the turn after I decide not to run out Roiling Vortex. Of course, that may not have stopped them, but that’s how this entire league has felt. The luck, when there is some, has favored OP. That being said, I have not been in the position where one lucky draw would let me outright win very often. Usually, I needed a lucky draw just to keep playing Magic or to stabilize.

League Record: 0-5

Wow! I really thought this would be the better build. So far, however, I’ve just proven the point of this article: in a Modern Horizons world, if you aren’t playing those cards, you probably aren’t winning much.

My second point, and one I’ve been suspicious of and anyone who has played league games in Modern knows: midrange is dead. The closest decks we have to midrange play super-powerful 1- and 2-drops with their only 5-mana spells being the Evoke Elementals. Thus, they get the early, tempo value out of the free nature of the creatures, while having a 2-for-1 built into their late-game plays should the game go long.

Let’s try one more version of Rakdos Dragons before retiring the deck for the foreseeable future. I think I can still take some beats without sinking too deep into depression.

Here’s the decklist:

Decklist – Rakdos Dragons with some MH2 Cards

by Johnny Cycles
Format: Modern

Creatures (23)

4 Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
4 Charming Scoundrel
4 Kalain, Reclusive Painter
3 Atsushi, the Blazing Sky
2 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
3 Glorybringer
3 Stormbreath Dragon

Spells (11)

3 Fatal Push
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Thoughtseize

Artifacts (2)

2 The One Ring

Lands (24)

2 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
5 Mountain
1 Polluted Delta
5 Swamp
1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
1 Wooded Foothills

Sideboard (15)

2 Cast into the Fire
3 Roiling Vortex
2 Damnation
4 Leyline of Sanctity
4 Leyline of the Void

As you can see, we’re trying to stay true to our dragons and to our Treasure synergies. We’ve added Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer because the stupid monkey is the best 1-drop creature that makes Treasure tokens…and just the best 1-drop creature. The One Ring gives us some much needed protection and card draw and can come down on turn 3. Decadent Dragon, as much as I love the card, has been disappointing. We often don’t want to cast it on turn 3 if we have a Treasure token out, since we want to get value from Expensive Taste first. However, more often than not, we need to commit something to the board or risk falling too far behind. Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and Atsushi, the Blazing Sky has taken its place for now. We are still playing 9 dragons, but we are slowly moving away from our main goal and into the realm of cutting all the jank to play Rakdos Scam.

I played some practice games in the free area before jumping into a league. The deck I played in practice was slightly different, running Decadent Dragon (and to spectacular success) and Realm-Scorcher Hellkite, by the way. If you’ve made it this far, congratulations, and I apologize for any confusion!

Practice Games

Match 1 – U/W Control

I don’t have pictures and notes from each game, but I have a few highlights. The game has gone long, with me chipping in some damage through OP’s counters and kill spells. OP just cast Supreme Verdict, killing my Decadent Dragon and Glorybringer. But I have Rivaz of the Claw in hand, two Treasure tokens, and seven lands.

I draw Kalain, Reclusive Painter. I play the Human Elf Bard, get a Treasure token, play Rivaz of the Claw, then cast Glorybringer from the graveyard with my three Treasure tokens and two remaining untapped lands. OP scoops to the now 7/7 flier.

Match 2 – 5-Color Omnath/Scapeshift

I won 2 out of 3 in super grindy fashion, doing my own fun and busted things along the way.

It’s not every day a Rakdos deck gets to cast Omnath, Locus of Creation…

In both matches, my deck won largely by executing my gameplan and without much help from Modern Horizons 2 cards. It’s games like these that make the deck feel powerful and competitive. However, our opponents were playing midrange decks of their own, neither of which are considered tier 1 by most. We ought to win those kinds of games, or at least as often as we lose.

Matches 3 and 4 – Rakdos Scam

Against Rakdos Scam, I went 1-2 in one match and 0-2 in another, losing to the kind of scammy, unfair things that make the deck so powerful.

Their hand here wasn’t even that unfair, but the power and flexibility of the free spells of Modern Horizons 2 are on display. Early game, Fury lets them stabilize, even if they don’t get it back with their Not Dead After All shenanigans, while casting it late game wrecks our synergies and gives them a quick clock.

We were able to put up a fight in that game, but OP drew better than we did.

In another match, OP evoked Fury on turn 1, cast Not Dead After All targeting it, and beat us down by turn 3. A familiar sight to anyone playing today’s Modern.

Matches 5 and 6 – Boros Hammer Time and Affinity

Against Boros Hammer Time running Cacophony Scamp, it wasn’t even close. I had only just fairly soundly beat an Affinity deck the match before, however.

Practice Games Record: 3-3

On to a league!

League 4

Match 1 – Cabal Coffers

A more fair deck, at least on paper, it goes bigger and bigger faster than our deck. Sigh. Another loss.

Game 1 – I can’t complain about losing to Cityscape Leveler. I love that card. However, the irony is that my hand lined up well against Scam for a change…alas.

Game 2 – Another mulligan to 6 because of a 1-lander in opening 7. OP drew Karn, the Great Creator, while I drew another copy of Leyline of Sanctity after discarding one to Charming Scoundrel. OP resolved Emrakul, the Promised End and that was it. Like I said, they go bigger and they go bigger faster than we do.

Match 2 – Rakdos Artifact/Midrange/Land Destruction

Another frustrating match loss, as it’s rare to play another midrange deck.

Game 1 – I got there, despite some misplays. I was so surprised to play a fair deck and to draw halfway decent (I still had to go to 6 because of an opening 1-land hand), that I forgot to attack with Charming Scoundrel once and played Sheoldred, the Apocalypse AFTER The One Ring…oops.

With the game on the line, I activated The One Ring and drew…3 lands! I thought for sure my bad luck was going to lose me the game, but I drew the Stormbreath Dragon on the next turn to close it out.

Game 2 – I kept a 5-land hand and drew lands my first 2 turns.

Sigh…always mulligan 5-land hands, right? OP kept me off my turn 4 plays with timely land destruction.

Game 3 – another 5-lander that I sent back. See the middle picture for my second 7.

I put one Ragavan on bottom and ended up drawing the 4th soon after. Still, Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer is better than 5 drops before I can cast them. It was a back-and-forth game that OP eventually won with Sheoldred, the Apocalypse.

Match 3 – Rhinos

Another extremely frustrating game. OP had answers upon answers, never drawing more than 3 lands. That’s a lot of hot fire off the top.

Game 1 – Nearly won the race, but OP had Gone to bounce my blocker and win the turn before I could. Close game against one of the best decks. Again, my deck played up to its potential and didn’t lose to bad luck. I was feeling better about the league, despite the record.

Game 2 – OP again drew answers for days, while not getting past 3 lands until the final turn. Last game was the timely Gone, while this game it was a timely Mystical Dispute, after I took the one in their hand with Thoughtseize.

The deck feels better this league, but we aren’t catching many breaks. Both games, OP never got past 3 mana, which is all they really need. Our 2 drops, while janky, have performed better this league, ramping us into turn 3 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and putting counters on dragons to put them out of range of Fury. Still losing, but the deck is functioning well enough to get a sense of its synergies and power potential.

Match 4 – Rakdos Scam

Game 1 – Our bad luck is back…after casting turn 1 Thoughtseize and taking their Thoughtseize over Grief, OP top-decked Not Dead After All. Then, between draw steps and OP’s Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer hits, there were 5 lands on top of my deck.

Perhaps when playing Scam, we should always take their Grief, but my thought process was, let them pitch Orcish Bowmasters to cast their Grief on turn 1. They’re down 3 cards and I’m down 2. You can’t Thoughtseize the top of OP’s deck, though.

Game 2 – a keepable 7 against any other deck. My next 7 was a 1-lander. My next…double Leyline of Sanctity and Leyline of the Void.

Maybe I should’ve kept the first 7, since I had some redundancy.

I never got past 2 lands, while OP preceded to swing in with Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, exiling first the Lightning Bolt that would’ve killed the stupid monkey, followed by two lands. Another game that feels like variance is against me.

I understand, of course, that my sideboard choices could be to blame, as well as deckbuilding. After all, I’m playing 5 drops that can only be cast with 5 mana, while OP and everyone else in Red is playing Fury. Still, many of these games feel like my deck isn’t even close to doing what it wants to do, but less because of what OP is doing, and more because of straight bad luck. My closest games/matches have been when I curved out with lands and spells. Unfortunately, that’s been a rare occurrence.

Match 5 – Living End

I WON A MATCH!!!

Game 1 – OP did their thing and stomped me. Had to mulligan to 6 because, you know, 24 lands just isn’t enough.

Game 2 – Another mulligan, I at least found Leyline of the Void for my 6. OP had the answer, but missed land drops and scooped to some good draws. My luck has turned!

Game 3 – Double Leyline of the Void slowed OP down. Some Ragavan luck in my favor for a change, as I exiled OP’s Force of Vigor. Roiling Vortex and Stormbreath Dragon finished OP off. I played around Force of Negation and luckily didn’t need The One Ring to win.

Another league that ends with my only win coming in the last match. My deck actually did things, drew well, made land drops, got lucky, etc. I still can’t figure out how many of my losses should be chalked up to unlucky variance, though I’ve shown when I think OP got very lucky or got very unlucky, and how many should be blamed on the deck being midrange, etc. I’ll leave it up to you, reader, to decide.

Conclusion

4 leagues, 4 different Rakdos Dragons decks. My overall record was 4-16. That’s pretty bad. Accounting for variance, maybe I get another couple match wins, but overall, Rakdos Dragons is tier 3 or 4, I’d say. If we build it with enough MH2 cards, it may be a high tier 3, low tier 2, but I’d need to test it more and my ego can only take so much. It’ll have to wait.

However, the deck did have its moments when it executed the game plan, played bombs early with Treasure tokens, drew well, and won games. It did enough to leave a kernel of hope in me that I can make a few changes, catch a few more breaks, and maybe go 3-2. Dream big!

As always, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the content! What’s your pet card(s) that you keep trying to make work in Modern? What bad deck do you love playing? Let me know in the comments!