Modal lands

For the most part I’m only looking at the cycle of Mythic Sorcery/Land cards, 《Emeria’s Call》, 《Sea Gate Restoration》, 《Agadeem’s Awakening》, 《Shatterskull Smashing》, and 《Turntimber Symbiosis》. All of these cards will likely see some amount of Modern play because the opportunity cost is rather low.

That being said most 3 or more color decks don’t have a lot of room for lands that only produce 1 color, and on top of that cards like 《Lava Dart》 and 《Mystic Sanctuary》 would reward a player for just playing a basic land over these cards if they really didn’t value the options.

In the history of Modern it always seems like modal cards come up short. With the exception of 《Archmage’s Charm》, 《Cryptic Command》, and 《Boros Charm》, most cards never make the cut. They always seem to be competing with efficient cards that would better suit a more narrow gameplan of the deck.

《Izzet Charm》 always comes to mind as the card I’ve frequently seen show up in early iterations of various Modern decks and eventually never making the cut as a list becomes more tuned. Luckily these cards are competing with lands, which gives them the best shot of seeing Modern play.

《Turntimber Symbiosis》 seems the most likely to have the biggest impact on Modern given its use in Amulet Titan. While you can’t find the land half with 《Primeval Titan》, it can increase your density of threats while still functioning as a land drop in the early game that can be picked up with a bounceland later on.

Will Pulliam, someone I consider an expert at the archetype, believes that 4 copies of 《Turntimber Symbiosis》 will be normal in Amulet Titan moving forward, and I’m inclined to agree with him.

《Ancient Greenwarden》

《Turntimber Symbiosis》 might not be the only new inclusion for Amulet Titan or similar decks however. Occasionally in these 《Primeval Titan》 archetypes we will see them sideboard a 《Ramunap Excavator》, and while the cheap cost of 《Ramunap Excavator》 can be quite appealing, the high ceiling of 《Ancient Greenwarden》 might prove itself more valuable.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see this popping up as a 1 of in the occasional ramp deck to have access to with 《Summoner’s Pact》 or 《Eladamri’s Call》. While not great with bouncelands, this offers nice closing power with 《Field of the Dead》 or 《Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle》, and is still nice to pair with something like 《Ghost Quarter》 in Amulet Titan.

《Sea Gate Stormcaller》 and 《Magmatic Channeler》

These are both cards that I expect to see more play in Legacy than in Modern. There is a common trend for this to be the case with many cards that care a lot about instants and sorceries, like 《Delver of Secrets》 or 《Dreadhorde Arcanist》, and this is mostly just due to a better selection of cantrips in Legacy compared to Modern.

I expect 《Sea Gate Stormcaller》 likely won’t be much of a player due to this, but I could see 《Magmatic Channeler》 making its way into the Red Prowess decks as those decks seem to be getting increasingly better at playing a long game and turning the corner quickly when they need to.

New Land Hate

Zendikar Rising is offering a new selection of land hate in the form of 《Confounding Conundrum》, 《Lithoform Blight》, and 《Cleansing Wildfire》.

None of these feel like heavy hitters as 《Lithoform Blight》 and 《Cleansing Wildfire》 feel very similar to 《Spreading Seas》, which isn’t seeing much play either, but they are all welcome additions to the format. I’m a big fan of cards like this existing in order to reduce the number of potential bans in Modern, so I’m happy to see potential problems being solved by new printings instead.

《Confounding Conundrum》 and 《Cleansing Wildfire》 might also spark some new decks trying to lock out your opponent’s lands in the early turns. Both play well with 《Ghost Quarter》 and 《Field of Ruin》, and as someone that’s played a Mono White 《Martyr of Sands》 deck a reasonable amount, I can appreciate the angle of exploiting the low amounts of basics players usually use in Modern.

Aggressive Landfall Cards

《Skyclave Pick-Axe》, 《Akoum Hellhound》, and 《Brushfire Elemental》 all can pack a serious punch in a Landfall aggro deck alongside 《Steppe Lynx》 and 《Plated Geopede》. I actually think this deck could now be built in a way to consistently goldfish a lot of turn 3 kills with turn 4 being the failcase.

The issue is it’s incredibly one-dimensional and your deck is almost entirely 1 toughness creatures, leaving you vulnerable to cards like 《Lava Dart》 and 《Wrenn and Six》.

I know a while ago in Modern I’ve seen some Landfall aggro decks utilizing 《Scapeshift》 as not only a way to just get 4 triggers off 1 card, but also to include a couple 《Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle》s and still give yourself the classic 7 land 18 damage combo.

I’m sure these Landfall cards will make whatever that deck was trying to do better, but I doubt it will be good enough for the current era of Modern.

《Crawling Barrens》

I expect this card to see play in both regular Tron and Eldrazi Tron. It seems like a really low cost to find room for at least 1 copy if not more, and it also seems like a great payoff to have access to if you’re flooded as a Tron deck.

While it can be pretty simply answered by a 《Fatal Push》 or 《Path to Exile》, having 1 more threat than your opponent has answers is all it takes to win the game, and especially against attrition decks, turning your top deck 《Expedition Map》s or 《Sylvan Scrying》s into a very quickly clock should determine a good amount of games of Modern.

I would actually expect Eldrazi Tron specifically to maybe lower their current toolbox of various lands to get with 《Expedition Map》 or even increase their land count in order to use more copies of 《Crawling Barrens》.

《Omnath, Locus of Creation》

As I said before, this is the card I’m most excited to see in Modern. Currently Modern seems dominated by 《Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath》 decks, and the lists I see are all playing similar Midrange/Control gameplans across Sultai, Temur, and Bant.

I expect 《Omnath, Locus of Creation》 will now open the door for RGUW 《Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath》 midrange to take over. In my mind this card is just so good in every spot you’d want a 4 mana card in Modern, and the most challenging part of deckbuilding with it won’t be playing 4 colors, but how to best spend the mana from the 2nd part of its Landfall trigger.

This would usually mean you’d want to find cards that you can spend mana on proactively, because the frequent play pattern would be to play 《Omnath, Locus of Creation》 and a fetchland in the same turn, meaning you’d have 5 mana available to you after you get 4 mana from the 《Omnath, Locus of Creation》.

I don’t think it’s incredibly necessary to use all 5 mana in that scenario, and I like the idea of not going out of my way to find some awkward 5 drop like 《Golos, Tireless Pilgrim》 to feel like I’m getting more out of that scenario.

Here’s an example deck showing what the current 《Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath》 Midrange decks could look like if they started using 《Omnath, Locus of Creation》 as well.

Naturally a deck with a lot of reactive elements will need to be tuned for the expected field. I liked the idea of using 《Lightning Bolt》 as my primary removal spell as the damage you can threaten from 《Omnath, Locus of Creation》’s 3rd Landfall trigger is quite high. I also could see leaning higher on 《Snapcaster Mage》 and 《Shark Typhoon》 in order to further leverage that pressure.

The other notable thing about 《Omnath, Locus of Creation》 is you don’t really have to leverage its 2nd or 3rd Landfall triggers to make it amazing. In an aggressive matchup every fetchland with 《Omnath, Locus of Creation》 represents 8 life if you just wait until your opponent’s turn to fetch, which seems quite hard to overcome.

《Omnath, Locus of Creation》 could also be played in something like 4C 《Saheeli Rai》, but I think right now it’s just too good to be playing it alongside 《Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath》, mostly because I think not playing with 《Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath》 in Modern right now is just a mistake.