Mono Blue Eldrazi (Modern)

《Ugin’s Labyrinth》 opens up the possibility of turn 1 《Chalice of the Void》, as well as making turn 2 《Thought-Knot Seer》 very real. 《Ugin’s Labyrinth》 requires us to play a solid amount of expensive Eldrazi – here, we achieve that by cheating a little bit.

《Elder Deep-Fiend》 and 《Nulldrifter》 are meant to be cast for cheaper; 《Devourer of Destiny》 is mainly supposed to function like a weaker version of 《Once Upon a Time》; while 《Drowner of Truth》 is simply a land.

《Kozilek, the Broken Reality》 maindeck might be a little extreme, but I wanted one to access with 《Sanctum of Ugin》. 9 mana is achievable in a longer game with all the Eldrazi Temples. Kozilek’s cast trigger interacts with cards in the opponent’s hand, making it meaningful even against combo decks.

You can curve a 《Dress Down》 at the end of your turn, untap, and evoke a 《Nulldrifter》. That way, you’ll get both the cast trigger and a decently sized Eldrazi with Annihilator 1! It’s a little gimmicky, but the upside is there, and at times 《Dress Down》 can be just a strong card in the Modern metagame. Alternatively, you could cast 《Dress Down》 just as your opponent attempts to remove your 《Thought-Knot Seer》 to prevent the opponent from drawing a card.

The only way to get 《Ugin’s Binding》 to the graveyard is by casting it, which is certainly a bit awkward. Emerging an 《Elder Deep-Fiend》 in your opponent’s upkeep, tapping down their lands, AND bouncing their entire board in one go sounds powerful, though.

《Matter Reshaper》 is not a creature I would be happy to run otherwise, but it made the cut as the best sacrifice fodder for 《Elder Deep-Fiend》. 《Eternal Scourge》 is another consideration – especially because of the synergy with 《Devourer of Destiny》!

Rakdos Sacrifice (Modern)

《Phyrexian Tower》 is not a card I expected to see reprinted in Modern – but here we are!

The main game plan of this deck is to nickel-and-dime the opponent while gaining value with recursive creatures. 《Phyrexian Tower》 can help us out with a broken mana jump for little cost if we get to sacrifice a 《Stitcher’s Supplier》, 《Bloodghast》, or an evoked 《Grief》.

But don’t be fooled – it’s not a slow strategy. 《Warren Soultrader》 lets you sacrifice and replay your 《Gravecrawler》 continuously – pair that up with a 《Marionette Apprentice》 or a 《Mayhem Devil》 and you’ll get to deal two damage to your opponent for every life point you have – a curve of 《Gravecrawler》, 《Marionette Apprentice》, and 《Warren Soultrader》 wins on turn 3 uninterrupted – and you can involve 《Grief》 and 《Phyrexian Tower》 in those draws to power them up further!

《Chthonian Nightmare》 helps us assemble the combo and grind through removal. Post-board, looping 《Fulminator Mage》 over and over should help with what otherwise could be a bad matchup – Amulet and Tron.

No Modern deck would be complete without a good amount of interaction. 《Grief》 can be used in many ways – “Scam” it with 《Malakir Rebirth》; sacrifice it to 《Phyrexian Tower》 or 《Flare of Malice》 before it goes away, use Tower to get to four mana early and hardcast it, or loop it with 《Chthonian Nightmare》.

《Galvanic Discharge》 is a reasonable removal spell – which you’ll need especially against 《Dauthi Voidwalker》 – which helps you collect some extra energy to return 《Grief》 easier.

Honestly, it seems like this deck has a lot going for it and I’m pretty excited to try it. It should also be possible to play more midrange-oriented cards – 《Orcish Bowmasters》 and 《Amped Raptor》 come to mind. Perhaps even a Mono-Black build, running a couple 《Spymaster’s Vault》, is possible?

Card to Reevaluate: 《Shuko》

《Shuko》 is famous for the combo with 《Cephalid Illusionist》, but now is the right time to get your copies for Modern. 《Nadu, Winged Wisdom》 seems like a backbone for future Modern combo decks, and 《Shuko》 is amongst the best ways to keep triggering Nadu for free. I’ll be exploring how Nadu decks can be built in an article later this week!

Eldrazi Tron (Modern)

One of the most exciting cards in the new set is 《Ugin’s Labyrinth》, and the most natural home for it seems to be Eldrazi Tron.

Regular Tron is extremely focused on the trio of 《Urza’s Mine》《Urza’s Power Plant》 and 《Urza’s Tower》, but the Eldrazi Tron deck would be more than happy to keep a hand without any of those if it has, for example, an 《Ugin’s Labyrinth》 and an 《Eldrazi Temple》 in it instead.

Eldrazi Tron also naturally plays expensive cards to pitch to the 《Ugin’s Labyrinth》. Since the deck now operates more often in increments of two in the early turns, I have added 《Eldrazi Mimic》 back into the deck.

This gives it the possibility for the powerful curve of turn 1 《Eldrazi Mimic》 into turn 2 《Thought-Knot Seer》 into turn 3 《Reality Smasher》.

The second new addition is 《Devourer of Destiny》, which works well in the deck in many ways. It makes your Tron starts more consistent by finding you the lands you need, pitches to the 《Ugin’s Labyrinth》 to accelerate your game plan, and also serves as a decent payoff for having lots of mana.

Finally, there is also a 《Vexing Bauble》 as a tutor target for 《Urza’s Saga》. The artifact is a cheap piece of disruption against a wide variety of cards in Modern, ranging from 《Living End》 and 《Summoner’s Pact》 to 《Mishra’s Bauble》 and 《Solitude》. I could easily see playing more than one copy of it in many metagames.

Death & Taxes (Legacy)

Death & Taxes has been a staple in Legacy for a long time, and it got some new interesting additions from Modern Horizons 3.

《Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd》 seems like a very natural inclusion in a creature deck full of “Enters the Battlefield” abilities, especially when the deck already plays 4 《Karakas》 to protect it! The cute little dog gives you a chance to go off with 《Recruiter of the Guard》《Skyclave Apparition》《Solitude》 and the other new addition, 《White Orchid Phantom》.

Mana denial has always been one of the mono white deck’s primary angles of attack, and the spirit knight disrupts the opponent while building up pressure. If the opponent doesn’t have many basics in their deck, they face a difficult decision on the early turns: fetching non-basic lands leaves them vulnerable to 《Wasteland》, while fetching basics leaves them vulnerable to 《White Orchid Phantom》.

The first trigger of the Phantom might not be backbreaking very often, but with 《Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd》 and 《Flickerwisp》 in the deck it’s not too hard to get more…

Deck to Reevaluate: Dredge

《Stinkweed Imp》! Dredge got some new tools in 《Deep Analysis》 and 《Cephalid Coliseum》 that could make it faster, and 《Narcomoeba》 is probably the best creature in the format to sacrifice to 《Flare of Denial》.

Paradoxical Outcome (Vintage)

《Vexing Bauble》 is extremely powerful in Vintage. The card does so much and interacts so well with so many cards that I would be surprised if it doesn’t see quite some play in the format. Let’s also keep in mind that the floor on the card is a 2 mana draw a card you can split in two different turns. That’s said, let’s dig a bit in all the properties this powerful artifact has.

The most obvious use is to be a hoser for all the Moxen your opponent can have. This means 《Vexing Bauble》 can be a 《Chalice of the Void》 that you can play 4 copies of and also sacrifice to draw a card when you feel the effect doesn’t matter anymore. Not a bad start. But there’s more into this card.

It is very powerful against all the 《Bazaar of Baghdad》 decks. It is strong to the point it basically shuts down the ability to cast spells out of most of them, and if 《Vexing Bauble》 is somewhat common in the metagame I could see the 《Bazaar of Baghdad》 decks needing to adapt.

On top of that, 《Vexing Bauble》 is also an artifact that costs 1, and that means it plays extremely well with 《Urza’s Saga》. Not only you can search it with chapter 3, but also is another artifact that makes our construct kill faster. One last interaction I think that might be relevant is that it’s yet another permament effect you can play with 《Paradoxical Outcome》. I think cards that to something but make our 《Paradoxical Outcome》 better are very important for the archetype.

It is unclear to me if the card will be a little bit awkward in multiples since it can cycle, but I would definetely try some copies in combo decks based on how good at preventing 《Force of Will》/《Force of Negation》, which leads me to the last upside of the card.

《Vexing Bauble》 is actually a 《Defense Grid》 on top of a 《Chalice of the Void》 because free countermagic are mostly the way decks interact in Vintage. This means if you have a 《Vexing Bauble》 you can protect your own combo kill while stopping your opponent from accelerating their mana to reach theirs. This sounds powerful to me.

Burn (Modern)

Even though Burn is one of the archetypes that has been around forever in Modern, it clearly has felt like it wasn’t powerful enough to compete with the higher tiers. I think that might change, or at least to some extent. Burn has always been quite fast and scary with its good hands, as the deck is not only very fast but also quite hard to interact with.

However, it also presents a gameplan that is extremely vulnerable to manafloooding, as drawing one or two too many lands mean they can’t simply win the game.

I think 《Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury》 might be powerful enough to partially fix that. The face value costs one more mana than 《Lightning Helix》, a card we already want to play, and I think having a 4-mana threat that is strong enough to win the game by itself is worth it. Even if 《Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury》 gets dealt with, it still will cast an extra 《Lightning Helix》 for free when it comes into play from the graveyard, so it’s sort of a card advantage source in a deck that was noticeably lacking one.

On top of that, we also get 《Amped Raptor》. It doesn’t play very well if we flip 《Searing Blaze》 against an opponent with a creature, but otherwise I think it should be better than cards like 《Eidolon of the Great Revel》, as it sort of deals damage while giving us enough time to setup our 《Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury》.

Card to Reevaluate

Modern: 《Eldrazi Temple》

It should not a huge surprise but I think the Eldrazis in this set are aggresively costed and certainly are good enough to be considered playable in the format. For that reason, I think we will see 《Eldrazi Temple》 in tournament decks once again. Cards like 《Kozilek’s Command》 are even worded in a way where they work with the temple.

Particularly 《Wastescape Battlemage》 is a tool that I think could be very useful in the current metagame as it can answer cards like 《Scion of Draco》 and 《Agatha’s Soul Cauldron》 quite efficiently while being a cheap Eldrazi on its own.

Legacy: Dimir Reanimator

Dimir “Scaminator” is already one of the top decks in the format, if not the best one. I think 《Psychic Frog》 is powerful enough to make it so a deck like that can be built differently, as it’s a card that’s powerful enough on its own while also being a discard outlet for reanimation targets.

On top of that, it isn’t particularly bad against 《Orcish Bowmasters》 and the flying ability makes it so you easily can build a frog that can ambush opposing 《Dragon’s Rage Channeler》. Even without much support, the card is straight unkillable for Izzet Delver as it is built nowadays and I think the combination of that card with how good it is at discarding 《Archon of Cruelty》 and 《Atraxa, Grand Unifier》 might create a new archetype.

Mono Blue Affinity (Modern)

I think finally it might be time for Affinity to shine again we have so many new toys that I don’t know where to start! But for me a clear roleplayer card will be 《Ugin’s Labyrinth》 a 《Ancient Tomb》 style card will always be super busted in magic the gathering and this one don’t ask for much to be honest.

Most of the time with 《Ugin’s Labyrinth》 you can ramp into a turn 2 《Simulacrum Synthesizer》 or 《Kozilek’s Unsealing》 and explode from there making infinite golem and drawing infinite cards with all the enforcer plus 《Thought Monitor》 type of cards that get ultra reduced by all your 0 mana artifact that generate mana with 《Springleaf Drum》.

With all things said all your best nut draws will involve 《Ugin’s Labyrinth》 thats why I give it the nod over other new cards that I think will be extremely powerful on theyre own too.

Rakdos Affinity (Pauper)

(*Note: 《Cranial Ram》 was banned in the June 6 Banned and Restricted Announcement.)

This card will surely be the best card in pauper by a mile and its application is absurd in many pauper decks. Giving a body to it makes it a automatic threat that you have to kill and to even add insult to injury it gives one defense to the equipped creature.

You might think it’s not relevant but its super important after you equip a 《Myr Enforcer》 with this the most common way to deal with it normally would be 《Galvanic Blast》 and that worked in the 《Cranial Plating》 era (Spoilers alert 《Cranial Plating》 is banned) and this one will be no different because I almost only see upsides, as it goes in more archytpes like some sort of Mardu Synstesyzer with 《Glint Hawk》 and 《Kor Skyfisher》 returning it.

As it is I don’t see it living more than one month withouth being banned but I guess we will see.

Card to Reevaluate: 《Thought Monitor》

This card as always been a good card in Modern but lacked the powerful shell behind it. Now I think we got the tools to make it fly into a tier 1 deck with the help of all the new toys 《Ugin’s Labyrinth》 and 《Kozilek’s Unsealing》 will make this into a 1 mana 2 mana Draw 5 imagine that you will be a never ending gas machine!

Crab Vine (Modern)

I was looking for a deck that uses 《Narcomoeba》 and 《Bloodghast》 as creatures to cost to cast pitch spells such as 《Flare of Denial》 and 《Flare of Malice》, which led me to Club Vine. Since you can sacrifice not only these creatures, but also the spent 《Merfolk Secretkeeper》 and others, you should have no trouble with the cost.

Cat Sacrifice (Modern)

This deck features 《Ajani, Nacatl Pariah》 from the new set. To actively transform Ajani, we have combined the familiar 《Cauldron Familiar》 and 《Witch’s Oven》 system from Pioneer.

Ajani’s backside shows its true value when controlling red permanents. In addition to 《Mayhem Devil》, which works well with 《Witch’s Oven》, and 《Fable of the Mirror-Breaker》 and 《Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer》, which work well with Magic, we have adopted 《Amped Raptor》, a key card from the new set.

《Chthonian Nightmare》 is another card to look forward to. In a light deck like this, it is even stronger than the original 《Recurring Nightmare》. I would love to use it to keep playing 《Ajani, Nacatl Pariah》 and 《Mayhem Devil》 over and over again.

Card to Reevaluate

(1) Creatures that can easily be used to pay for Pitch Spells

Pitch spells in the new set require non-token creatures as a cost. Creatures that are easier to apply to these costs will be more valued. For example, the following cards.

②《Stoneforge Mystic》

As the quality of equipment has improved with 《Kaldra Compleat》, 《Cryptic Coat》, and 《Assimilation Aegis》, the card’s power has also increased over the years. With the appearance of powerful white creatures such as 《White Orchid Phantom》, this card will be used when white midrange becomes popular, and it is also excellent as a search method for 《Shuko》, which is getting rave reviews for its combo with 《Nadu, Winged Wisdom》.

Burn (Modern)

First is the Burn deck, which features four new cards. It is enhanced by various cards.

The new creatures, 《Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury》 and 《Barbarian Ring》, have improved Burn’s issue of running out of breath. We adopted more fetchlands with an eye to efficiently storing graveyards for these cards.

Also, the new pitch spell 《Flare of Duplication》, is a little harder to use in this deck with so few creatures, but when 《Monastery Swiftspear》 or 《Goblin Guide》 is about to be removed, you can cast 《Lightning Bolt》, sacrifice the creature targeted by the removal, and play 《Flare of Duplication》. Furthermore, when you have 4 or more mana, you can play 《Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury》 and cast 《Lightning Bolt》 than sacrifice 《Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury》 to play 《Flare of Duplication》 and use it as a 0 mana firepower spell.

It can also copy your opponent’s removal to remove their creatures or counter counters. Although the cost of sacrificing a creature is a concern for this card, being able to cast firepower for 0 mana will reduce one of the ways to lose, which is to be pushed out by the opponent before you can use up all the spells in your hand.

As for 《Ghostfire Slice》 which can be cast for one mana depending on the opponent, this time it is used in the main deck, but its “Devoid” nature allows it to deal with 《Kor Firewalker》 and 《Sanctifier en-Vec》 in the opponent’s sideboard that have “Protection (Red)”.

Although 3 mana may seem a bit heavy at times, the high damage of 4 points will help you win.

Card to Reevaluate: Elemental Incarnation Cycle

I have only used 《Grief》 and 《Fury》 (which is now banned), but I felt that the introduction of the “3-point land cycle” would make it even easier to use.

As for Rakdos Evoke, some people used to include 《Malakir Rebirth》, which is also a color-matching land, but many people did not adopt it because they did not like the fact that it is tap-in. 3 damage of disadvantage is painful, but if it can be untapped, a few copies may be adopted instead of lands. However, if it can be untapped, it can be considered to be used in place of a few lands.

I feel that these 3-damage lands will reduce the “I don’t have any colored cards in my hand or I only have one colored card in my hand and I don’t want to cost that card” situation.

If you have other lands, it is just fine as a cost, and if you don’t have many lands, you can place it with lands. I also like the fact that when you draw later in the game, it will likely be better than pure land.