Modern Cards to Watch: August 2021

The last direct-to-Modern supplemental set, Modern Horizons 2 (MH2), introduced many powerful cards to the format. With how many new options became available, it can be hard to keep track of all the cool ideas to be explored. When the set was released, I had over 25 decks I wanted to build, upgrade, or test, and while that number has shrunk in the succeeding weeks, I’ve also added several more to the pile.

So far, Dragon’s Rage Channeler, Urza’s Saga, and Shardless Agent decks have come to dominate, but I don’t think the format is anywhere near fully explored. As of this writing, four of the top decks on Goldfish are playing zero copies of any of those cards: Elementals, Mill, Velomachus, and Jeskai Control. Some of my previously-watched cards, like General Ferrous Rokiric and Profane Tutor, have also popped up in decks without Darcy, Saga, or Shardless. Ferrous has found a home in a 4c Niv-style deck, and the Ad Nauseum players have latched onto Profane Tutor. 

Then there are decks still seeking to utilize these “big three” cards in shells outside the current top decks. Decks like Naya Titania Lands and Eldrazi Tron have added Saga to their arsenal, Burn and Prowess have commandeered Darcy, and the midrange players have tried to port Shardless BUG to Modern. Aspiringspike even had an “Izzet” Faeries list that looked to pair Darcy and Ragavan with Spellstutter Sprite, a card that’s seen an uptick in play with the lower curve of the current meta, and splashing white for sideboard cards and Lurrus.

With how powerful and versatile the cards from MH2 have proven to be, it’s impossible to say that the format is even remotely solved. Despite the existence of clear shells that support these heavy hitters from the set, new strategies are still popping up over a month after the set’s release. So here are my top 5 cards to keep an eye on as we continue to innovate in Modern.

Five Cards to Explore this Month

1. Harmonic Prodigy

Prodigy is a card waiting to be broken. Part of why it’s been ignored thus far is that it’s a red card competing with Dragon’s Rage Channeler and Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer for attention, and both of those one-drops do far more on their own than Prodigy. As a build-around support card, Prodigy will take more theory-crafting and effort than the two poster children aggro creatures from the set, but a Prowess creature that doubles the triggers of certain tribes is just screaming to be broken.

Cards that immediately spring to mind for abuse with Prodigy are Snapcaster Mage and Burning-Tree Emissary, a wizard and shaman, respectively. Double Snapcaster triggers sounds busted and making Shaman a “free” spell that ramps could be heavily abused in an 8-Whack style deck. Sadly Hidden Herbalists isn’t a shaman or a wizard, but its effect is still powerful enough that I could see running it in a Prodigy-Shaman deck anyways.

2. Abundant Harvest

The justification for this one is a little harder to articulate than the rest of this list. This isn’t to say that I think the reasons aren’t there, but they’re far more abstract. Harvest is a very strong cantrip. It’s not a tutor exactly, but it’s guaranteed to be the card type you need. When you need mana, it’s a land. When you need gas, it’s a spell. 

The theory behind the card reminds me a lot of Once Upon a Time and look where that ended up. Hyperbole aside, Harvest does have the drawback of not being free and having less control over what you hit, but that randomness hasn’t stopped other similarly powerful cards like Collected Company or Burning Inquiry from seeing play and being competitive. It’s a cantrip, so while I agree you should tweak your deck to make it better, I don’t think specifically building around it is how it’s going to shine. 

3. Persist

I’ve wanted Reanimator to be both good and ‘a thing’ ever since this card was spoiled. In the weeks since MH2’s release, all-in Reanimator has occasionally made the league dumps, but overall the strategy doesn’t seem to be resilient enough to have long-term staying power. Decks like Esper Reanimator Control and BW Griefblade have looked to leverage the card as an aspect of their strategy instead of the core, and they’ve had more success. 

I’m still interested in keeping an eye on the Reanimator archetype, and as Modern shifts and new cards get added we might see a shift that allows a dedicated Persist deck to shine. While one Reanimator pilot took 6th with this list in the most recent Sunday Modern Challenge, this only demonstrates that the archetype has the power to spike a tournament. We’re a long way from a fully-optimized Reanimator build, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see even drastic changes from that list to whatever the “stock” variant becomes. I do also think Persist can also be leveraged as a pure value card, like how some black decks play a one-of Unearth, but we haven’t really seen a lot of experimentation along those lines yet.

4. Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar

With the popularity of Urza’s and Hell’s Kitchen, it may sound strange to put Asmo on this list, but I think she deserves a spot because I’m not convinced Urza is necessarily the best shell for her. The mere presence of Orzhov, Esper, and Rakdos Asmo decks in the 5-0 dumps (and a Challenge) speaks to the fact that we’re far from done figuring out all the “restaurant chains” Asmo can run. In addition to these variants, I’ve liked both Asmo Reanimator and HollowVine, decks that can easily abuse the free discard outlet of The Underworld Cookbook. Just the other day I saw a tweet from d00mwake about three other Asmo variants he was going to play on stream: Jund, Gruul, and Golgari. And we had a spicy Jund variant top 8 the most recent Saturday Modern Challenge.

At this point, it’s almost better to ask which color variants haven’t tried to play Asmo. Is there a Mono-Red Hollow Phoenix or Karn Prison deck that wants Asmo? What would a Boros Asmo deck look like? Does Jeskai or Bant bring anything to the table? What about Abzan or Naya? Is there a 4-color/5-color Asmo value pile hiding out there somewhere? Which Kitchen is the best? Only time will tell.

5. Thrasta, Tempest’s Roar

Call this a pipe dream, but I truly feel that Thrasta has a home in Modern. Coming down as early as turn 2, dodging the most common removal currently in the format, and having trample with some massive stats—there’s a lot here that’s appealing. I’ve seen Thrasta played in Squirrel Storm and 8-Whack-adjacent builds (I even found a spicy Thrasta Affinity deck) and while it might ultimately just be a cheesy meme I still think it merits exploration. Mana reduction is a very powerful effect, and this dino is no joke. Plus, slamming Thrasta is just fun. What’s the point of playing if you don’t enjoy yourself?

Parting thoughts:

Innovating new decks is the lifeblood of Modern. While this set and its impact do have detractors, I’d argue that now is probably the most open that Modern has ever been to brewing. MH2 single-handedly brought tier almost-dead and actually-dead decks like Delver, Affinity, Merfolk, Lantern Control, and Hardened Scales back into the format, while also giving us new engines, like Asmo and Shardless Agent, to play with. The meta is far from settled, with a broad spectrum of playable and viable decks to explore. This new frontier of cards is still waiting to be further explored. Innovation is the lifeblood of Modern. Let’s get those brewing minds going, and I look forward to seeing what new and exciting decks the future brings.