Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably seen or been a victim of the new Hogaak Bridgevine deck. It’s the deck on everyone’s mind and certainly the deck to beat for the time being.
While Hogaak may take the Modern Horizon’s spotlight, there were a lot of other sweet and powerful cards printed in Horizons. These cards have brought new life to old archetypes and even propped up some new ones. If you don’t feel like praying to the Hogaak Altar, then maybe some of these new decks from the MTGO 5-0s and Challenges will pique your interest.
Esper Shadow
Grixis, Jund, four-color, even the occasional five-color Death’s Shadow have all seen play in Modern at some point. One color combination that people often pondered about, but never saw success with, was Esper Death’s Shadow.
Esper Death’s Shadow
Ranger-Captain of Eos fills a really great slot in the deck and gives us a real reason to be in white. It increases the threat density with pseudo-eight copies of Death’s Shadow on top of the Gurmag Anglers. And if you read all the way to the bottom of the card, its sacrifice ability allows you to Time Walk combo decks, or avoid a sweeper from control.
On top of that, you get access to Path to Exile and the powerful white sideboard cards. Rest in Peace is a bit of a double-edged sword, but may be a necessary evil in the current metagame. Definitely give this deck a try if you’re looking to mix it up from the regular Grixis Shadow.
Blue Moon
No, this article isn’t written by my teammate Harlan Firer, but I still have a special place in my heart for blue soup decks. When I saw a deck using Archmage’s Charm and the new powerful removal spell Magmatic Sinkhole, I knew I had to try it.
Blue Moon
| Creatures (9) 4 Snapcaster Mage 4 Thing in the Ice 1 Vendilion Clique Spells (30) 2 Blood Moon 2 Narset, Parter of Veils 4 Serum Visions 4 Opt 4 Lightning Bolt 1 Burst Lightning 4 Remand 3 Cryptic Command 1 Spell Pierce 2 Archmage’s Charm 1 Abrade 2 Magmatic Sinkhole | Lands (21) 4 Scalding Tarn 3 Flooded Strand 1 Prismatic Vista 2 Stem Vents 2 Sulfur Falls 1 Spirebluff Canal 7 Island 1 Mountain Sideboard (15) 2 Anger of the Gods 1 Flame Slash 2 Relic of Progenitus 2 Dispel 1 Spell Snare 1 Ceremonious Rejection 2 Force of Negation 1 Surgical Extraction 1 Abrade 1 Engineered Explosives 1 Ashiok, Dream Render |
My initial inclination, after seeing four Thing in the Ice, was that the deck would just be a worse version of Phoenix. There was a little bit of truth to that. You do lose the nut draws of Phoenix, but it isn’t just a strict downgrade. Actual countermagic, Blood Moon, and Narset give you more game against decks that Phoenix can struggle with, especially game one. It’s more of a matchup tradeoff rather than a downgrade. Regardless, who doesn’t love drawing some cards?
Goblins
I’ll admit, I was a bit of a naysayer at first about a Legacy-esque Goblins deck in Modern. In Modern, Goblins has traditionally been just a burn deck in disguise; it had Goblin Guide, Goblin Grenade, and a much more aggressive slant than its Legacy counterpart.
Goblins
Modern Horizons gave us Goblin Matron, Sling-Gang Lieutenant, Munitions Expert, and a few other tools. Now we’re also getting Goblin Ringleader in Core Set 2020. I’d love to be proven wrong and see a new Goblins archetype in Modern.
Urza Whir
This is one of the first “busted” decks that people envisioned when Modern Horizons was being spoiled. Urza alongside the Thopter Foundry combo allows for infinite life and infinite thopters. In case that isn’t good enough, you can also make infinite blue mana and cast your whole deck.
Urza Whir
I’ve actually enjoyed this deck’s Hogaak matchup. The consistency Whir provides in finding quick access to multiple pieces of hate is important to beat Hogaak. That said, having never played Whir in the past, this deck was a lot to take in. As a toolbox deck you usually have outs to a lot of different situations in Modern, but finding those outs is the hard part.
Wrapping Up
As enjoyable as I found all these decks, the reality is that they all come with the big stipulation of respecting Hogaak Bridgevine. Add graveyard hate to your sideboard until you think you have enough, then double it. That deck is not going anywhere for the time being, and you have to respect it.
There are a lot of new cards and decks to explore with Modern Horizons. Try not to let Hogaak spoil all the fun. If you have any other cool decks I should try, be sure to let me know on Twitter.