Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty turned out to be an incredible addition to Modern! Not a single card from the set has broken anything thus far, but several are good enough to see Modern play, and they add some unique touches too. Here are the three coolest new interactions that we want to try out!
Reanimate Lotus Bloom with Tameshi
Yes, . You've read that right. Once an integral part of the Modern combo deck, it has now become a key piece in this new four-colored combo deck. The combo itself is surprisingly complex, yet easy to implement when understood. The goal is to have on the battlefield, or at least in your hand, and in the graveyard or on the battlefield. That's the reason why some say that the Lotus doesn't even count as a combo piece. Unless you're facing hate, you can keep it in your graveyard long before you acquire the other two pieces. and take care of this part of the business with ease.
Once you do have all these, you first need to pay one white mana and return any land to your hand. That way, you can scavenge your Lotus Bloom. Then you immediately throw it in the bin for three white mana, so you don't even need multiple lands that produce white mana. Rinse and repeat and produce a bunch of green mana too. In fact, unless you have to fear countermagic, you should turn each of your lands into a Lotus activation.
Then you summon and put all of the lands you returned to your hand back onto the board—and any other lands you draw as well. If possible, you should have at least one white mana left over at this point, which enables you to turn your lands into a new swath of Lotus activations, generating even greater amounts of mana. You hopefully drew another Colossus or Wargate or or . Another Colossus means yet more cards and yet more mana, and so on, until a huge Finale ends the game. With the Colossus's trample, this one hit will usually be enough to win the game on the spot.
One issue with the deck is that it's not hard to disrupt the combo, but at least it's somewhat consistent. While our new favorite Moonfolk is quite easy to kill, it can sometimes do enough of its thing at instant speed, and and offer a bit of cover. Last but not least, the deck also has access to some great removal. has been a mainstay for a long time now, but is suddenly also making waves. Here's a 5-0 list to summarize everything.
| Daviusminimus' Four-Color Tameshi Combo, 5-0 in Modern League |
|---|
| Main Deck | Sideboard |
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| - 1
- 1
- 1
- 1
- 1
- 1
- 1
- 1
- 4
- 2
- 2
- 1
- 1
- 1
- 1
- 1
- 4
- 1
| |
Sacrifice Your Synthesizer to Oni-Cult Anvil
The newest Rakdos deck with is a midrange-ish, grindy affair, both surprisingly strong and spicy at the same time. It's rather funny to see a Modern deck that looks like the love child of Standard - combo decks and Pauper Affinity. You usually won't be beating down much—save for the draws—but rather drain your opponent out, slowly but surely. That happens to be the one thing this deck excels at.
It can be a bit slow, but at least it works, and your early-game options are actually quite abundant. The entire deck still follows 's condition, if we dscount the lone . You can play your , Squirrel, Oven, et cetera, all on turn one. If nothing catches your fancy here, you can also run . According to the deck's creator, it's a great budget alternative to Ragavan, especially in this build. Afterward, you're looking to get the Cat-Oven combo into play, or start draining with , or you can just continue looking for key cards with . Cat-Oven is also good because it can blank both enemy's removal and attacking creatures. Just like in Standard, it's a pain to play against.
The Synthesizer is the all star of the entire set. It's a common, sees play in all big constructed formats, and still isn't broken. Its power level is really well suited to accommodate all formats nicely. It is even played in other Modern decks. Jeskai and decks both utilize it to further help filter the deck. Finally, is expectedly huge here. It will likely create a token on each of your turns and help drain even more life from your opponent. That goes for both in-game life and life behind the screen, as the deck can be infuriating to play against.
Although weaker after Lurrus's banning, this is still a fun deck to pilot that also happens to fly under the radar. The list is a true beauty.
| Aspiringspike's Rakdos Anvil |
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| Main Deck | Sideboard |
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| | |
Boost Patchwork Automaton with Hardened Scales
This may be the least interesting interaction here, but it gives the spotlight to the spectacular ! With so much targeted removal in the current metagame, I think ward creatures are potential sleeper hits. may not care for this all that much, but it still does require exiling an extra white card. That extra card could have been used as fuel for or another March. In short, ward is amazing even when it doesn't look so.
Its other ability is of course just as important, if not more in a deck. The Automaton gets a +1/+1 counter—or two, as it may be—whenever you cast a spell. That works well with the whole rest of the deck: , , , you name it. Ward and growth also combine to make more than the sum of their parts. Especially the finishing move where one moves around modular counters for the kill benefits immensely from a creature thus protected.
The rest of the deck looks and works exactly the same as it always did. Here is the updated list.
| LanceG's Hardened Scales, 5-0 in Modern League |
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| Main Deck | Sideboard |
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