Drafting Modern Horizons 2

Lee Shi Tian

Introduction

Hello everyone,

Modern Horizons 2 is about to be released in stores. While it is definitely going to shake up the Modern format, I found the draft format with lots of high power level cards and lots of synergies particularly fun.

In this article, I will talk about my favorite draft archetypes in terms of enablers, payoffs, and the general concept of drafting the decks along with a draft walkthrough. Please note that there are lots of rare drafts, yet these decks are perfectly fine with a good signal reading.

RB Madness

Enablers

Viashino LashclawFodder TosserHell MongrelMount Velus ManticoreThe Underworld CookbookCabal Initiate

《Cabal Initiate》 is not preferred.

Payoffs

Skophos ReaverHell MongrelKitchen ImpTerminal AgonyRevolutionist

RB Madness is the aggressive deck of the format. 《Viashino Lashclaw》 into 《Hell Mongrel》 is one of the best starts in the format. It is fairly easy to overrun your opponent with a stream of hasty Madness creatures. I dislike 《Cabal Initiate》 as an enabler as the ability is not relevant to being aggressive, but if you are short of enablers I wouldn’t mind playing it.

For the payoffs, while 《Skophos Reaver》 and 《Hell Mongrel》 are fine when cast the honest way, 《Kitchen Imp》 and 《Revolutionist》 are quite overcosted. It is fairly easy to pick up these payoffs later in the draft. Also, most of our enablers and payoffs are commons which means it’s very easy to support two Madness drafters in a pod.

Sample Deck List

RB Madness

Click to Wide

Here is my picks for the draft.

Hell Mongrel

In this draft, we opened 《General Ferrous Rokiric》, which is also an extremely broken rare. We then spotted a Pack 1 Pick 3 《Hell Mongrel》 which indicated the archetype is open for at least two seats. I picked 《Hell Mongrel》 to keep myself open to the possibility of switching to RB Madness.

The Underworld Cookbook

We then got another Pack 1 Pick 6 《Hell Mongrel》 while wheeling 《The Underworld Cookbook》. Here we can fairly safely assume we are the only RB Madness drafter in the pod. The rest of the two packs is kind of an easy job for us with lots of good payoffs and removals.

UWx Artifact

Enabler

Hard EvidenceBurdened AerialistOrnithopter of ParadiseChrome CourierWavesifter

Also Artifact Lands. Cheap Vanilla Artifact creatures are not preferred.

Payoffs

Etherium SpinnerSteelfin WhaleSojourner's CompanionLens FlareFiligree AttendantEthersworn Sphinx

UWx Artifact is indeed a very typical flying deck. We get lots of good flying creatures at 3 cost like 《Burdened Aerialist》, 《Chrome Courier》, and 《Etherium Spinner》. On the other hand, we are trying to defend with some big but cheap affinity creatures where all our low drops are able to create Clues, Foods, and Treasures.

Marble GargoyleSoul of MigrationGuardian KirinAeromoeba

We could also include 《Marble Gargoyle》, 《Soul of Migration》, 《Guardian Kirin》 and 《Aeromoeba》 as some easy to pick flying finishers in common.

Wavesifter

With picking up artifact lands at high priority, I personally like splashing green for 《Wavesifter》 where it could be a good source of artifact counts at the early game and very powerful card advantage resources at the late game.

Arcbound ShikariSlag Strider

Splashing Red is also an option with powerful cards like 《Arcbound Shikari》 to pump up the team or 《Slag Strider》 to machinegun our opponent’s creatures and life total.

Sample Deck List

UWx Artifact

Click to Wide

Here is my picks for the draft.

Urza's Saga

In this draft, we started with 《Urza’s Saga》 (Money!) and try to build an artifact deck surrounding the most broken card in the format. I aggressively picked up 《Hard Evidence》 by Pack 1 Pick 4 and Pack 1 Pick 6 to set up a good source of cheap artifacts. In Pack 1 Pick 8, I picked 《Razortide Bridge》 over 《Aeromoeba》 as I value the synergy over a random flying finisher.

Ethersworn Sphinx

Pack 1 Pick 9 is the biggest surprise to me as we tabled 《Ethersworn Sphinx》. Looking back Pack 1 Pick 5 with both 《Sojourner’s Companion》 and 《Steelfin Whale》 still in the pack provided some tells that the pod did not feature many artifact-focused drafters.

Cabal Coffers

Pack 2 was kind of funny to me. I picked three 《Cabal Coffers》 in Pack 2 Pick 2, Pack 2 Pick 3 and Pack 2 Pick 4. There was a point where I thought I had just failed to click on the card as there is a 《Wavesifter》 in all three of those packs until I found out I do have four copies of the mythic card in my sideboard.

Sojourner's CompanionWavesifterSweep the Skies

Once again we are in an extremely open position even though we rare-drafted 4 slots in pack 2. We tabled 《Sojourner’s Companion》, some 《Wavesifter》 and a last pick 《Sweep the Skies》 to get enough payoffs to the deck.

Etherium Spinner

In pack 3 we are able to pick up double 《Etherium Spinner》 and a couple of on color artifact lands to finish the deck.

UGx Domain

Enabler

Rift SowerJewel-Eyed CobraTerramorphOrchard StriderBurdened AerialistMental JourneyOrnithopter of ParadiseTanglepool Bridge

Payoffs

Late to DinnerSweep the SkiesJunk WinderRadiant EpicureKaleidoscorchCombine ChrysalisProphetic Titan

And any Rare/Mythic Bombs.


5-color is always always a powerful deck type in a high-power level draft format. We try to pick up some off-color bombs from other players when most players settle on specific colors at the later stage of the draft.

Rift SowerMental Journey

Green provided extra good mana fixing in terms of 《Rift Sower》. Land cyclers are especially great in Blue and Green. 《Mental Journey》 also fills up the mana fixing role nicely in the early game and helps in digging out our powerful spells in the late game.

Orchard StriderLate to Dinner

《Orchard Strider》 provided a nice way to recover our life total where our early game is mostly setting up our mana especially when you paired it up with a turn 4 《Late to Dinner》. And that’s the reason I put 《Late to Dinner》 at the payoff once you picked up two 《Orchard Strider》.

Jewel-Eyed CobraBurdened Aerialist

The treasure-generating commons like 《Jewel-Eyed Cobra》 and 《Burdened Aerialist》 are also nice as we do not need a repeated color source for some of our one-of off-color splashes.

Darkmoss BridgeMistvault Bridge

For artifact lands, I prefer partially off-color green/blue-based land as we can utilize the main color while being able to add up some goods.

Junk WinderCombine Chrysalis

In a domain deck, we want around two to three game finishing cards. 《Junk Winder》 and 《Combine Chrysalis》 are particularly good as they are uncommon.

Sample Deck List

Multicolor Domain

Click to Wide

Here is my picks for the draft.

Rift SowerTerramorphOrchard Strider

In this draft, we started with Pack 1 Pick 3 《Rift Sower》 and Pack 1 Pick 4 《Terramorph》. Along with our Pack 1 Pick 1 《Verdant Catacombs》, we are nicely set up for a good domain deck. With Pack 1 Pick 6 and Pack 1 Pick 9 《Orchard Strider》, we could almost guarantee a good mana base for any bombs in the format.

Karmic Guide

Pack two we are able to pick up 《Karmic Guide》 and triple 《Late to Dinner》 which works well with 《Orchard Strider》. We also got a Pack 2 Pick 6 《Junk Winder》 which works well with other token generators. So in pack three we picked up 《Hard Evidence》, 《Jewel-Eyed Cobra》, 《Etherium Spinner》, and 《Wavesifter》 to finish the deck.

Hard Evidence

It is not hard to see there are lots of the same cards shared between the UWx artifact and UGx domain. And that is why you will always see me picking up 《Hard Evidence》 over some good cards as it glues up cards in different deck types really well. While I listed them as two different archetypes, it is not hard to draft a mix of two deck types.


Urza's SagaRagavan, Nimble Pilferer

So here is what I have for today. I wish you luck in opening 《Urza’s Saga》 and 《Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer》 during the weekend. And most importantly, Happy Drafting!

Lee Shi Tian (Twitter / Twitch)

  • このエントリーをはてなブックマークに追加

Lee Shi Tian Lee Shi Tian is a super star from Hong Kong. He has 5 PT top 8s and 10 GP top 8s with 1 trophy and is well known as a Modern specialist. He is an outstanding player but also well known as a great community leader for Asia. Lee and his squad "Team Mint Card" made a lot of excellent results one after another at pro scene. His impressive results and contributions were rewarded and he was elected Magic Pro Tour Hall of Fame 2018. Read more articles by Lee Shi Tian

Series Archive

Archives