Eye of Ugin is banned.
It’s safe to go inside and play Modern again.
This news has warmed hearts everywhere. The Eldrazi Winter is beginning to melt and the runoff is mixing with tears of joy from blue players. It’s going to be Summer Blue-mmm.
You see, Eye of Ugin being banned was not the only change.
Blue mages have been waiting patiently for this day.
A day when we could fight back. Modern has consistently given us the short end of the stick as time passed. They even took our one playable deck, Splinter Twin.
It is time to usher in a new era of Modern, colder and bluer than ever before.
Our time is now!
Ancestral Vision and Sword of the Meek are unbanned!
That was unexpected.
We are entering uncharted waters. Since the first Modern Pro Tour, Ancestral Vision and Sword of the Meek have been on Modern’s banned list.
Why unban both these amazing cards at once? Why not just unban one? And why now?
Hey, I’m not going to complain.
This is the type of shake-up I love to see. Not only because I love me some blue cards in Modern, but also because… okay, it’s mostly because I love me some blue cards in Modern.
Unbanning two amazing cards in the same color does seem to go against the Wizards modus operandi of waiting before a Modern Pro Tour to alter things. They’ve seemed to err on the side of bans rather than unbans as well.
For one thing they recently banned what was seemingly the only blue deck in format by getting rid of Splinter Twin. These unbans are certainly going to tip the scales in favor of blue decks, possibly even shooting them from the bottom of the heap straight to the top. This could bring balance to the Force (of Will).
Control decks have been rare in Modern and the format has been getting faster and faster with all-in aggro and combo decks performing very well. At the very least things will change, and unbans are giving us new toys, whereas bans take them away, so I applaud them for trying something new to try to help Modern.
Or maybe they’re just saying, “Sorry we Eldrazi’ed your Modern. Here’s some Ancestral Vision.”
Who knows what Modern will look like? Modern has been in a state of major flux lately and that trend is going to continue. Right now there are predictions flying every which way. That the blue cards will have a minor impact, a medium impact, or completely warp the format. At this point it’s all speculation. But that’s half the fun. So let’s speculate.
How good do you think Ancestral Vision will be?
Very good.
This is not going to be a minor impact like Wild Nacatl, Golgari Grave-Troll, and Bitterblossom being unbanned were.
Blue control decks are going to be a huge threat now, possibly the biggest threat. The unbannings fill two holes blue decks were sorely lacking, card drawing and a win condition. The rest of the cards already exist.
Blue decks now have access to the best card drawing and the best win condition in the format.
When you suspend Ancestral Vision on turn 1, it feels completely unfair. If you manage to keep from falling massively behind and survive to cash in on those cards, it feels like you just got to draw three cards for free. Which you basically did.
The drawback to Ancestral Vision is obviously that it takes time.
But it costs so little to just suspend it whenever you draw it and then go about your business. Drawing Ancestral Vision and suspending it on turn 7 and then cashing in on it on turn 11 is perfectly acceptable if that’s what your deck’s gameplan is.
Investing one card for one mana is not a big deal at any point in the game. It’s like planting a seed that sprouts into a mighty tree that gives you Magic cards. A tree full of Magic cards? What a silly thought.
Do you stick it in every blue deck? No. For example, Affinity still much prefers Thoughtcast.
But I do think you stick it in most blue decks and start building those decks with Ancestral Vision in mind.
What are some decks that might use Ancestral Vision?
Bring to Light Scapeshift might see some more play. It goes over the top of Thopter Foundry and Sword of the Meek and can use Ancestral Vision. Bring to Light even finds and casts Ancestral Vision.
Blue Moon could be a contender again. Faeries could see some play for once.
Sultai, Esper, and Temur Tempo or Control versions all become worth trying. And then, of course, there’s Jeskai:
Creatures (6)
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (26)
Spells (27)
I think Jeskai Control certainly wants to just jam four Ancestral Vision into the deck. It plays nicely into the plan of “kill everything efficiently and refuel your hand.” Goblin Dark-Dwellers is worth trying, since it works with Ancestral Vision and is also nice with Lightning Helix and Electrolyze.
How good do you think Thopter Foundry + Sword of the Meek will be?
Very good.
Thopter Foundry is much narrower and fits in far fewer decks than Ancestral Vision, but if it finds the right home it could be downright unstoppable.
Take a look at this deck:
Creatures (8)
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (24)
Spells (27)
Thopter Depths had access to Jace, the Mind Sculptor and turn 2 indestructible 20/20s, yet the Thopter Foundry + Sword of the Meek combo was still prominently on display. Chrome Mox was a big part of the reason it was so good in the deck, and it’s currently banned, but it still highlights the potential.
The spiritual successor to the deck might look like this:
Lands (25)
Spells (35)
U/W Control gets access to both the new cards and they fill in the gaps of the deck really nicely. Card advantage and inevitability get protected by a shell of removal and counters.
Why is the Thopter Foundry + Sword of the Meek combo so good in a deck like this?
It provides inevitability and incidental lifegain. It converts mana into a battlefield presence and scales as the game goes on. It trumps any creature-based strategy. It’s hard to interact with and can’t be disrupted with creature removal. It gives the deck options and the potential for a proactive gameplan.
Once you have Thopter Foundry out and Sword of the Meek on the battlefield or in your graveyard, it needs to be ignored completely by attacking on a different angle or disrupted.
The power of a control deck with a combo like this is the versatility. Suppose you overload answers, Abrupt Decay and Kolaghan’s Command or Stony Silence and Ancient Grudge, while the control deck just ignores you and doesn’t even cast Thopter Foundry while it grinds out card advantage and then wins at its leisure. This puts the pressure of having the right answers on the aggro deck, which is not how it usually goes.
Modern might to have to push back against this combo hard if it takes off.
There are plenty of decks that run artifacts that the combo fits into naturally as well.
Creatures (3)
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (25)
Spells (31)
Here the Thopter combo slots in nicely without much work and gives the deck an additional and powerful angle of attack and lifegain. Using all that extra mana to make Thopters and gain life is very appealing.
What about the rest of the format? Which decks get better or worse?
Traditional Tron seems quite dead to me. The format was already speeding up in a way that punished Tron, and the loss of Eye of Ugin seems like a big hit. Eldrazi Tron might still exist with Eldrazi Temple.
Abzan and Jund are up in the air. Can they adapt to keep up with the card advantage and end-game of blue decks? It seems like an uphill battle but they certainly have some tools to do so.
Burn may have a bit of a comeback by going right underneath the slower blue cards.
Artifact decks still present a major threat.
Affinity and Lantern Control were both strong against Eldrazi decks.
Affinity might get a little worse.
Etched Champion is likely going to make a comeback. It was terrible against the colorless Eldrazi, but it should be good against the blue Thopter tokens and removal drawn from Ancestral Vision-fueled control decks.
Lantern Control seems like it might be a winner yet again as it may just destroy the blue control decks. It doesn’t care about Ancestral Vision if the deck doesn’t have many ways to deal with its permanents anyway. The Thopter tokens are going to be slow and shut down by Abrupt Decay, Ensnaring Bridge, or Pithing Needle. Another plus would be the reduction of Tron decks, which was previously a tricky matchup.
This is unfortunate, since there is no way you want Lantern Control in Modern as a Tier 1 deck. It is slow, yields non interactive games where the game is often decided based on one card, and just not fun to play with or against (for most).
The Banned and Restricted article mentions Sword of the Meek being a potential role-player in Lantern Control:
“It could be used as an alternate win condition in Lantern Control, which is powerful when unexpected but not currently a large part of the metagame.”
Huh? Why are you trying to give Lantern Control more good cards? It’s not going to suddenly start playing nice if you feed it a win condition. Especially when the win condition you’re giving it is also slow and obnoxious. It’ll just devour everything.
The fact that they’re mentioning “Lantern Control” not immediately followed by shrieking the words “Kill it with fire!” suggests something is very wrong to me.
It’s not entirely clear if the combo will even be playable in Lantern Control. It doesn’t really help the deck’s game plan at all, but it might be powerful enough anyway. Ghirapur Aether Grid at least clears out problem creatures and dodges Stony Silence.
I hope that they take a good hard look at Mox Opal, Ensnaring Bridge, and Lantern of Insight for the next Modern Banned and Restricted changes. (Assuming these cards are seeing decent play.)
Old Cards, New Interactions
Academy Ruins is insane for returning Thopter Foundry after an opponent has destroyed it.
Remand is great against Ancestral Vision and Mana Leak is bad against it. Spell Snare is great against Remand and Thopter Foundry and the format should get faster, which also raises its stock.
Darksteel Citadel is a great sacrifice outlet for Thopter Foundry when Sword of the Meek is in your graveyard.
Gifts Ungiven can search for Thopter Foundry, Sword of the Meek, Academy Ruins, and Crucible of Worlds to find the combo no matter how your opponent splits the piles. It can also just get Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and Unburial Rites, which keeps Thopters off the battlefield. (They can’t even use the combo to gain life, since the 1/1s are shrunk by Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and won’t return Sword of the Meek.)
Curse of Death’s Hold, Night of Souls’ Betrayal, Virulent Plague, and Illness in the Ranks are good against Thopter tokens (and the combo won’t work to gain life at all, the same as with Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite).
Muddle the Mixture tutors for either half of the combo.
Jace, Architect of Thought neuters attacking Thopters by shrinking their power.
Goblin Dark-Dwellers casts Ancestral Vision for free.
Rest in Peace and Leyline of the Void exile Sword of the Meek. Things like Relic of Progenitus or Surgical Extraction can also work, but they’re much less reliable, since the opponent can sacrifice another artifact in response to return Sword of the Meek before you exile it.
Sword of Fire and Ice or Sword of Body and Mind could be a trump in blue Thopter battles.
Pithing Needle and Suppression Field disrupt the combo.
Engineered Explosives is good against the combo.
Tolaria West can search for Ancestral Visions, Academy Ruins, Engineered Explosives, or even Pact of Negation. That’s one heck of a versatile and powerful card for a land.
Wasteland Strangler and Blight Herder process Ancestral Vision.
Abrupt Decay, Kolaghan’s Command, and Scavenging Ooze are all Jund cards that naturally disrupt the combo.
Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas and Thirst for Knowledge are now cards again.
Tezzeret the Seeker tutors for either half of the combo.
Voice of Resurgence might see a, well, resurgence if counters pick up in popularity.
Bitterblossom and friends might make a comeback.
Stony Silence and Ancient Grudge are more necessary than ever and still the best sideboard cards.
Modern Time
This is the dawning of a new age of Modern and I’m excited.
Blue decks surging into the format is going to have effects beyond the obvious. Blue decks will start to see play, but then there are ripple effects from that and then ripple effects from those ripples. There are many different new strategies that could become viable in the immediate future.
Is the Eldrazi archetype completely dead, mostly dead, or still a threat? Will Ancestral Vision dominate the format? Or will it be Thopter Foundry and Sword of the Meek? There’s only one way to find out for sure, and I look forward to discovering those answers.