Finally, we’ve reached the last section of this month’s watchlist. While the original plan was to add the “one or two” Modern playables from Midnight Hunt when spoiler season hit, I was blown away by the sheer quantity of cards that might make the cut. Check out part one and part two to see all of the MID cards I think can see play. Regardless, despite the three months we’ve had with MH2, several powerful cards in the set sit unloved and neglected.
Forgotten Realms made less of a splash, although it did give us Tasha’s Hideous Laughter, Portable Hole, and Battle Cry Goblin (for all you 8 Whack lovers out there). However, there’s one little common in AFR with some serious potential that only increased thanks to Midnight Hunt. Before we discuss the tribe you probably thought I’d forgotten in the first two parts, let’s go over one of my favorite cards from Modern Horizons 2.

1. Titania, Protector of Argoth
While Titania got a brief shoutout in last month’s watchlist thanks to Naya Lands, I haven’t seen that deck much since the format has started settling. The biggest problem with Titania is that she’s a midrange finisher style of card, and none of the current midrange decks want her. While there’s clear value to be had running Flagstones of Trokair in the Zuran Orb + Elvish Reclaimer deck, that honestly might just be “too cute,” since there’s not enough value to make up for the speed and mana consistency you’re sacrificing.
My first thought was that Titania pairs nicely with Crucible of Worlds, and the best land to pair with Crucible is Ghost Quarter, since many Modern decks play few to no basics. However, getting the Ghost Quarter + Crucible game plan online is slow, and even slower if you want to get your Titania into play with that engine set up. That pushes the deck towards a prison strategy, which RG is famous for with Ponza. You could also cut the Elvish Reclaimers in favor of Chalice of the Void, since the deck is already light on one drops.
If you did go a Ponza route, there’s a bit of tension between wanting both Urza’s Saga and Blood Moon in the same deck, but perhaps there’s a RG Prison deck that could make it work. You could also go an Azusa, Lost but Seeking route, maybe splashing blue to get Growth Spiral as well. Perhaps Titania would pair well with Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar as a way to really slam the door shut with Food and Saga tokens, but maybe that’s just win-more. Maybe there’s a Titania Goryo’s Vengeance Reanimator deck out there, since she’s expensive and the best way to get expensive cards into play is to cheat them there. I’ve run into Ramunap Excavator looping Saga as well, so there might be a Mono-Green Value build or Green-Black to get The Gitrog Monster as well.

Yes, Shambling Ghast combos beautifully with Liliana, Untouched by Death. Yes, I’ve seen the Rakdos Zombardment list SaffronOlive put together. No, I don’t think Ghast has been fully broken or zombies fully explored. While I’ve had my eye on Ghast since AFR released, Midnight Hunt has made it even more attractive, giving us Champion of the Perished, Bladestitched Skaab, and Tainted Adversary. Modern already had such great one-mana zombies as Carrion Feeder, Gravecrawler, and Cryptbreaker, and the new Midnight Hunt cards add serious momentum to the tribe’s potential success. Time will tell if the fair sac outlet Goblin Bombardment is better than the combo finisher Altar of Dementia, but I expect to see some incarnation of Zombies in the format.

3. Gaea’s Will
I’m really surprised this card hasn’t been broken yet. A Modern-legal Yawgmoth’s Will? On paper, that sounds absurd. Sadly, there’s a lot of graveyard hate running around right now and having to wait five turns for Gaea’s Will to come off suspend, assuming you got to suspend it on turn one, sounds like a tall ask. You’re telegraphing what’s coming and giving your opponent plenty of time to answer it. What for? A supercharged Past in Flames? Gaea’s Will really needs to hit hard when it comes down.
But perhaps naturally suspending it isn’t the best way to take advantage of this card (spoilers: It’s not). How do we cheat this card onto the stack? Cascade seems like a reasonable option, but then you’re restricting your deck to high mana value cards, since the lowest Cascade option in Modern is Bloodbraid Marauder. Then you’d need Delirium online for that one, and the rest of the efficient Cascade cards are all hanging with rhinos. Further, Gaea’s Will seems poised to take advantage of cheap and hyper-efficient cards, and none of those go well with high mana costs. As a result, Cascade just isn’t worth it.
Okay, what about As Foretold? With As Foretold, Restore Balance has remained the most efficient thing to be doing with that deck. You’re trying to get ahead on resources with As Foretold, and Gaea’s Will doesn’t easily slot into current builds of the deck. Not to mention Gaea’s Will won’t let you recast your suspend cards from the yard. You might be able to recur a land you lost to Restore Balance, but is it really worth bending the deck around?
It seems like the remaining options are either Electrodominance or the Expertise cards, Yahenni’s Expertise and Kari Zev’s Expertise. While I’d thought about Isochron Scepter, sadly, it’s not an option because it can only imprint instants and Gaea’s Will is a sorcery. Maybe there’s a whacky Panoptic Mirror build out there, but my hope is slim.
Now, Electrodominance might be good in some kind of Gruul Storm list, since Storm pushes you towards Red and Gaea’s Will towards Green. Maybe there’s a First Day of Class + Chatterstorm list that could use Gaea’s Will, and then again maybe not, since Past in Flames does the ritual-rebuying effect but better.
The Expertise cards make me think there might be some kind of “Suspend Tribal” control deck that could use Gaea’s Will to enable a recursive control element. The exile clause on Will brings Karn, the Great Creator to mind, since you could abuse exiled artifacts with his minus 2 ability. Maybe Hardened Scales could splash Gaea’s Will to help in the late game. Perhaps there’s a Paradoxical Outcome + Mox Amber list hiding in the bushes. Ultimately, there just might not be a good enabler for Gaea’s Will yet, but it’s that “yet” that holds the most promise. With how WotC has been pushing the limits lately, it’s only a matter of time before this glossed-over rare finds its big break.

Ah, enchantment reanimator, what promises you hold. Unlike Gaea’s Will, Resurgent Belief has plenty of good enablers and holds extreme promise to be exploitable now. While this suspend card is still a little slow on its own, it can still offer a turn four combo win if built properly. Like Gaea’s Will, this is a card you want winning you the game when it resolves, so how do we do that?
There are several potential routes to explore. You could take an Enduring Ideal shell, add some self mill, and go for a white Enchantment Prison deck with Sphere of Safety, Curse of Thirst, and kill with reanimated curses, Overwhelming Splendor + Dovescape, or Form of the Dragon.
If you want to win the turn Belief resolves, you could go for everyone’s favorite EDH combo, Sanguine Bond + Exquisite Blood, and trigger it with something like Oath of Kaya, Omen of the Sun, or Dovin’s Acuity. Authority of the Consuls won’t win you the game the turn Belief resolves, but it’s another lifegain trigger that can tax your opponent in the early game to let you get set up.
You could also start with an Arbor Elf + Utopia Sprawl package and look at a jankier Enchantress build. Or maybe you want to go “Turbo Bogles” and kill people with Eldrazi Conscription and Corrupted Conscience. You could also go more value-oriented with Shark Typhoon, Lay Claim, and Urza’s Saga (surprise, it’s an Enchantment!).
As for enablers, the choice is yours, really. As Foretold fits nicely as an enchantment, and since it nudges you towards blue, then you can add everyone’s favorite self-milling creature, Hedron Crab. Stitcher’s Supplier is also great, and you might toss in a Stinkweed Imp or Golgari Thug for good measure. Dakmor Salvage lets you recoup a lost land while fueling the self-mill strategy, too. Maybe you’ll want the Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth + Cabal Coffers combo to help ramp you into your big black enchantments. Collective Brutality gives you a self-discard outlet that can also, situationally, hit your own Stitcher’s Supplier for even more self-mill. Isn’t this fun?

This card is starting to get picked up as people realize that Delirium isn’t that hard to enable these days, and this really excites me. Marauder was one of the few cards that I saw potential in during spoiler season, because Cascade is busted, and it really surprised me that no one really tested it in the beginning. Now that we’ve had a few weeks with Dragon’s Rage Channeler and realized how easy it is to turn on Marauder’s Cascade ability, the card has started seeing a little bit of play. Fun fact, Urza’s Saga once again counts for two card types and naturally puts itself in the graveyard. The new Sagavan deck is looking to be this week’s hotness, and putting all the busted red cards together along with Saga and Esper Sentinel for extra artifact count seems really absurd. Tack on Lurrus of the Dream Den as a companion and Marauder giving you that sweet, sweet Cascade value, and we might just have something.
While I’ve seen complaints about not being able to consistently Cascade on turn 2 with Marauder, players tend to focus on the “feels bad” of their card not hitting its “ceiling” every time. For example, playing Marauder as a 3/1 and then getting Delirium online the next turn leads to this feeling of, “Aww, my 3/1 didn’t get me the value I wanted.” No, but it’s still applying pressure in your aggro deck. If it dies, you have Lurrus. Marauder can always Cascade later. While this berserker might not end up proving good enough for the current format, it’s worth keeping an eye on in case some new cheap, powerful card breaks it.
Parting Thoughts:
Wizards has given us an absurd amount of cards to experiment with in these past few sets. While the good cards have remained good, the format has also stayed receptive to new decks and iterations on previously established ones. Just recently we saw Mill switch from its traditional black splash to a white version, and Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer and Wrenn and Six are playing tag in deck lists. With all this fluidity, it’s no wonder players are coming up with all sorts of wonderful new ideas and making them work. It’s been sweet watching people start playing more Persist and Abundant Harvest, although I’m still waiting for Thrasta, Tempest’s Roar to make its debut (check out my watchlist from last month!). With all these fun new toys to play with, I look forward to seeing what the 5-0 dumps will look like in the coming month.