A Shadow looms on Modern this weekend!

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Newsletter
Thursday, June 8th

Could #SCGCHAR be the last event for Death's Shadow in Modern? What about Aetherworks Marvel in Standard? No matter what happens with the June 14th banned and restricted announcement, #SCGCHAR is sure to be a big influence! Gerry Thompson has scouted the Modern format's current top tier for powerful innovations this week! We've also got Cedric Phillips analyzing the first exciting cards we've seen from the upcoming Hour of Devastation! And if Standard is still your focus, Sam Black is providing a detailed guide to piloting his one-of-a-kind rogue brew! If you're on your way to #SCGCHAR this weekend, have fun (and steer clear of Brad Nelson!)

— Danny West, Content Coordinator

Death's Shadow, Collected Company, And The Rest
By Gerry Thompson  

Having a combination of Tribal Flames, Lightning Bolt, Mutagenic Growth, and Temur Battle Rage is also really nice, as it means your opponent is never safe. At twenty and you think you stabilized? Guess again.

There's also the low, low land count of seventeen. I don't think we've ever seen a pure Zoo deck with that few lands before. Can you imagine curving out to three and then mostly stopping? That's Wild Nacatl's dream! Maybe we should be experimenting with Street Wraith and Mishra's Bauble in decks that don't play Serum Visions? Why do we keep having to learn this lesson over and over again?

Even if they aren't pretty, Mishra's Bauble and Street Wraith lead to some very consistent draws, even with only seventeen lands. Filtering with Mishra's Bauble plus fetchland helps, but so does cantripping in general, especially for zero mana. There will obviously be points where the life loss from Street Wraith matters, but right now, that doesn't seem to be the case.

June 30 - July 2
Modern/Standard

July 15-16
Standard

July 22-23
Team Constructed

The Hour Of Devastation
Starts Now!
By Cedric Phillips  

Hmmm. A three-mana wrath is what people are calling Bontu's Last Reckoning. But, as with most things in Magic, it just isn't that straightforward.

Lands you control don't untap during your next untap step.

That's a real cost, folks! The question is can that cost be overcome? Even though Bontu's Last Reckoning costs 1BB, I think it's better to look at it as a five- or six-mana spell in most situations. Ideally, you play Bontu's Last Reckoning with two or three mana left over to be able to protect yourself from whatever your opponent's follow up is with something like a Negate or Disallow.

It's possible that simply casting this on turn 3 to clear away a few creatures is acceptable, much like we see with Radiant Flames and Sweltering Suns, but leaving yourself at your opponent's mercy to resolve whatever they want in the early turns of a game is fairly terrifying.

Lastly, it's important to note that Bontu's Last Reckoning isn't mopping up any Vehicles or Planeswalkers, so if your opponent has a Heart of Kiran or one of many Planeswalkers that are playable in Standard, you're gonna have a bad time.

The Guide To Piloting Abzan Tokens
By Sam Black  

Your most important tools for playing around sweepers, especially Chandra, Flamecaller, are Blisterpod and Ulvenwald Mysteries. Both of these let you rebuild before you even untap so that you can attack or tap creatures for mana again right away and not miss a beat. When you have Cryptolith Rite and Ulvenwald Mysteries, it's very easy to have incredibly explosive turns where you churn through Clues and cast more spells and pass with twice as many permanents on the battlefield.

Exercise some restraint in these spots. Don't use all of your mana. If you pass with four or six mana up, if your opponent does something to kill all of your creatures, you can float mana, let their effect resolve, and sacrifice three or four Clues to get creatures. Similarly, you'll often get a big explosion of value when Blisterpod dies, getting multiple Clues and Eldrazi Scions. It can be tempting to cash in on that, but it's often best to sacrifice a token instead and keep Blisterpod around. You'll only get more from it later if you find more Anointed Processions or Ulvenwald Mysteries, and your opponent's sweepers are a lot worse while it's on the battlefield. Similarly, if you have enough life, you might want to leave your Anointer Priests in the graveyard.