Introduction

For those of you who don’t know, Modern is my favorite format. The card pool lines up well with when I started playing Magic, and I love all of the different things/decks try to accomplish.

One of my favorite things about Modern is that it seems almost every new set makes an impact on the format. “Guilds of Ravnica” is certainly no exception as we’ve already seen a lot of the cards show up in Modern, like 《Assassin's Trophy》, 《Creeping Chill》 or the card I want to talk about today, 《Crackling Drake》.

New Blue Moon with 《Crackling Drake》

Very shortly after “Guilds of Ravnica” was available on Magic Online, a close friend of mine Easton Douglas managed to 5-0 a competitive Modern league with the following decklist.

This specific list was close to his first iteration of the deck with 《Crackling Drake》, although Easton has been playing Blue Moon on and off in Modern for quite a while. Easton also streams a few days a week at Twitch and he has actually streamed almost every game he’s played online with the deck so far. He has made some updates and is still trying things out, but here is his most recent list at the time I’m writing this.

Obviously, there are a lot of different ways you can build this deck and it will depend on what you’re trying to beat, but the most notable inclusion is 4 《Thought Scour》. This card just fuels so many of the cards in your deck and I’ve noticed from watching Easton’s stream enough that he’ll basically take as many as he can get in any game. It not only makes it more likely a 《Crackling Drake》 is a 1 or 2 turn clock, but it just gives you more options with 《Snapcaster Mage》 and helps turn 《Logic Knot》 into 《Counterspell》 and 《Harvest Pyre》 into 《Terminate》.

Compared to 《Jace, the Mind Sculptor》

《Crackling Drake》 seems to be replacing the slot of 《Jace, the Mind Sculptor》 in previous iterations of Blue Moon. The cards are actually quite similar as 4 mana win conditions, and they both have strengths and weaknesses.

A lot of decks in Modern right now are just trying to flood the board with creatures and end the game with combat damage, like 5C Humans, Spirits, or Dredge. In these matchups 《Drake》 really proves itself over 《Jace》. It can come down while facing a large board of creatures and threaten to outsize or usually at least trade with one of them, and if it survives it can easily end the game in 1-2 attack steps.

While in more grindy matchups 《Jace》 would likely outperform 《Crackling Drake》, it still isn’t even that bad. Even if your opponent has the very efficient play of 《Fatal Push》 or 《Path to Exile》 to deal with your 《Drake》, you still have gained card advantage that the deck can utilize to eventually grind your opponent out.

《Jace》 also has some really awkward play patterns against decks with 《Lightning Bolt》, that usually lead to deciding between getting immediate value of letting your opponent find a different way to kill your 《Jace》 from 5 loyalty, but with 《Crackling Drake》, 《Lightning Bolt》 isn’t a concern at all. I also think 《Drake》 might prove itself to be reliable in grindy matchups anyways, because in long drawn out games it easily ends up being a 1 turn clock, and playing one and having a hard counter like 《Logic Knot》 in hand can easily force your opponent to have multiple answers or lose the game.

I think moving forward some number of 《Cryptic Command》 will be a staple. It functions as both a hard counter to protect 《Drake》, but also can help you easily turn the corner in a racing situation with the tap mode.

《Crackling Drake》 is also typically better against combo decks because usually with 《Jace》 you are hoping you find enough counterspells or keep your opponent from drawing important pieces, meanwhile 《Drake》 just lets you point your burn at your opponent’s face and get the game over. This can be especially useful against Tron because you can end the game before they use the cast trigger from 《Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger》 to exile your win condition.

Another Strengths of 《Crackling Drake》

It’s also worth noting that 《Crackling Drake》 isn’t affected by typical graveyard hate. I’m personally not a fan of using cards like 《Rest in Peace》 against 《Snapcaster Mage》 decks because a 2/1 body can still be relevant and the person using graveyard hate is down a card. But I still frequently see cards like 《Leyline of the Void》 or 《Rest in Peace》 in play against Easton on stream, so it’s nice that they don’t shut down the main win condition. I’ve even seen a 《Surgical Extraction》 used on 《Serum Visions》 which grew all future 《Drakes》 by 3 power!

The exile clause on 《Crackling Drake》 is also relevant in combination with cards in your own deck. It allows for you to freely use 《Logic Knot》, 《Harvest Pyre》, or 《Snapcaster Mage》 without slowing down your clock, and it also even counts 《Ancestral Vision》 on “Suspend”.

Conclusion

I really wouldn’t be surprised to see 《Crackling Drake》 put up bigger results moving forward in Modern. I think it will largely depend on how well Blue Moon or other Blue-Red strategies are positioned in Modern, but I do think 《Drake》 will prove itself as the correct card to play. It’s a nice hedge to be more proactive in general in Modern, and given it gives you immediate value if it resolves anyways, it still functions well in a control deck’s game plan.

@JacobNagro