We can see all the Modern Horizons 2 cards, and they are a sight to behold. Modern always struck me as the format that would eventually replace Legacy for competitive eternal play—that Modern was the supposed to become the ultimate “Type 1” format. The pandemic has ravaged competitive paper Magic everywhere, so it will be interesting to see which formats come back to life as we return to tabletop matches of Magic.
Modern Horizons 2 adds a lot of juice and excitement for Modern this summer, along with crucial Legacy transplants like Counterspell, Goblin Bombardment, and Braids, Cabal Minion. Legacy archetypes like Reanimator and Merfolk get heavy new Modern support, while formerly fringe decks like Enchantress look suddenly viable. And then there’s a bunch of new Cascade and Suspend cards to race into play. Nobody really wants to play Restore Balance or Living End, so I’m hopeful that New Cascade Summer will be more fun.
But I’ll let others dig into the actual constructed ramifications. Let’s take a look at some of the new cards added to Modern!
Finally!
Finally!
Finally!
Two-mana 6/6 flying dragon that randomly gets bigger from time to time? Reasonable card. I suppose Murktide Regent will trade for Plummet more often than anything else, but you can afford to hold up Counterspell and Force of Negation to protect it.
Spike Jester with tons of upside! Madness decks tend to underperform because discarding your own cards tends to be bad even when it’s what your deck wants to do. But Rakdos Headliner looks very good for a madness deck. Terminal Agony adds another option for beating down with hasty 3/3s, and you can still curve out with Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar on turn three.
New elder dragon! Wedge elder dragon! With the original upkeep cost template! Lifelink! Kills many things on its way out! I know at least one other person who will be excited for Piru, the Volatile. Willing to bet there are many more of you out there as well.
What a beautiful design! I love Threaten effects, and the “creature can’t hit back at Dihada” clause makes the race look winnable. Add on the two-life drain effect and the potential to hit the ultimate, and you’ve got a coherent plan of attack that reduces your opponent’s options at the same time. That’s a good place to be—in the Geyadrone, perhaps.
Captain Lannery Storm piles up the treasure, and Captain Ripley Vance goes off when you do. Better get your Bone Saws ready.
Welcome to Modern. Would you like a free Sol Talisman? Or maybe a two-drop sideboard hoser like Void Mirror or Cursed Totem? Maybe you would prefer Ancestral Vision? What about a free Bribery instead?
As I was saying. Fun for both players: you get to show off your deck, and I get to play your best creature out of it. Everyone can enjoy that!
And then the fun went too far. Looks like Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth isn’t the only fan favorite that got color-shifted into green (on Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth) for Modern Horizons 2. Yawgmoth’s Will is also back on the menu.
Damn, is this a strictly better Wrath of God? I don’t know how to feel about this card. One on hand, it is Wrath of God with Murder tacked on at a discount—an absurdly good deal. On the other hand, not many decks want to generate tons of white and black mana, and many of the ones that do are subpar.
Will Damn finally make Bitterblossom and Intangible Virtue a force in the Modern metagame? What other decks would view this card as anything but interchangeable with existing options? Are we struggling with Meddling Mage effects? Iona, Shield of Emeria? I suppose they did power up Reanimator.
I love Break the Ice. Land destruction mostly makes the game less fun, but decks full of colorless mana-producing lands can get Sinkholed into oblivion, as a treat. Punishing snow lands is an added flavorful bonus.
Now here’s a colorless land! It just got a lot easier to move Cranial Plating mid-combat. If Mox Opal died for Power Depot to live, I can accept that. Maybe.
Speaking of colorless mana-producing lands, what about Urza’s Saga? That’s a good one to pick up after a couple turns. Tendo Ice Bridge? Windbrisk Heights? Halimar Depths? Who needs Primeval Titans and Simic Growth Chambers when you can just jam Sea Drakes and recur value lands? On top of that, you get amazing art. Paging Donny to build a Rebecca Guay Vintage Artist Constructed deck.
Ignoble Hierarch plus Goblin Anarchomancer powers into Siege-Gang Commander pretty easily. Did I mention they also reprinted Goblin Bombardment?
Now here’s a card everyone’s overjoyed to welcome to Modern. Legacy Enchantress fans can be heard congregating in the distance.
I hear commotion building, building, drawing closer.
Okay, okay. It is officially time to make Enchantress the hot Modern deck. I told you to get your Runed Halos before the rush began. Now it may be too late.
“Token creatures you control have flying.” Tell me more. “You can also upgrade a token into a 4/4 on each of your turns.” So what’s the downside? “You have to produce blue and green mana.” That seems doable.
What does this card do, exactly? I’m going to ignore the Vehicle text and assume the main use of Dermotaxi is to exile some recursive threat from your opponent’s yard, and maybe attack with it as an upside if you happen to have some useless creatures to “crew” the Taxi. Aerial Modification exists, if you run out of better things to do with your mana.
Here is a card I can get behind. Blocking and surveiling are two of my favorite hobbies, and I look forward to drafting many dark starfishes this summer.
Oh! My favorite. Welcome back, friend.
Carrie O’Hara is Editor-in-Chief of Hipsters of the Coast.