[Official] IKO Previews in Modern

[ktkenshinx]

IKO preview season starts with a thunderous stomp today, and we're already seeing some zany new mechanics that are sure to please the Timmy in all of us. One card instabanned in EDH/Brawl and we're seeing concepts never before executed in black-bordered Magic. Also, GODZILLA!! Here's the official MN IKO preview page:

previews/ikoria-lair-of-behemoths/

I'm going to be doing a more comprehensive set review later with some "cars grading" to help assess whether any of these new cards are Modern playable. Until then, here are my quick takes from today:

Companion: High potential to be broken if a good one gets printed. Lutri is close but singleton tradeoff maybe too steep.
Mutate: unlikely to be playable due to 2 for 1 potential. May be good enough for Bogles or if a base creature is strong enough on its own. Mutate rules mitigate 2 for 1 potential, but you still lose two creatures (albeit with an upside from the mutation) if they kill the mutated target. Still unlikely to be playable unless there's an excellent payoff.
Luminous Broodmoth: Enduring Renewal-style combo potential. Maybe Solemnity?
Lukka, Coppercoat Outcast: tutors Emrakul off dorks as early as t4 with 1 work or t3 with 2. Nasty with Sylvan Caryatid.

Share and discuss your IKO impressions here!

[The Fluff]

he is an enemy of walls!

[motleyslayer]

I think that sprite dragon could be super good in modern. I think that maybe some kind of UR delver of secrets, young pyromancer and dreadhorde arcanist shell

[The Fluff]

_____________________________

Mothra + solemnity + altar of dementia = infinite mill combo

[idSurge]

Mutate: unlikely to be playable due to 2 for 1 potential. May be good enough for Bogles or if a base creature is strong enough on its own.

They account for this. When you mutate something, if the target dies, the card simply resolves as if you cast it normally. Big disappointment, and just further pushing creatures on us.

I REALLY hope none of them are pushed.

[The Fluff]

new ur dragon looks strong for tempo decks. It's prowess on steroids, because it does not shrink at end of turn.

[Bearscape]

Mutate: unlikely to be playable due to 2 for 1 potential. May be good enough for Bogles or if a base creature is strong enough on its own.

They account for this. When you mutate something, if the target dies, the card simply resolves as if you cast it normally. Big disappointment, and just further pushing creatures on us.

I REALLY hope none of them are pushed.

Really? That is such nonsense, completely counter-intuitive. Really feels like a "because we say so" ruling, a lazy solution to something they should've fixed with card design instead.

[idSurge]

Yeah, I had a feeling they would do something like that, as the mechanic would be extremely weak otherwise.

So I looked up the mechanic article and watched the video of the description.

[izzetmage]

I don't think Bogles wants mutate unless it's super pushed. It has a few pieces that rely on cards having the enchantment/aura type (Ethereal Armor, Daybreak Coronet, Kor Spiritdancer). A creature that acts like an aura is nonetheless still a creature and detracts from the deck's other synergies.

Lukka is a Johnny card. There's two main problems I see with him:
1) he costs 5 mana, so you need some kind of acceleration to get him out. Mana dorks work, but if they get killed then you lose both your acceleration and your fodder. Plus, you can't play mana dorks with Simian Spirit Guide.
Planebound Accomplice is an interesting one to combo with. You don't need to set up anything beforehand. Accomplice and Lukka in hand with 4 mana equals Emrakul if isn't stopped.
2) what's plan B? Polymorph and Indomitable Creativity don't work because you can end up polymorphing a mana dork into another mana dork. Through the Breach sounds great at first, having the same cost as Lukka, but it runs into the problem of Breach requiring Emrakul in hand and Lukka requiring Emrakul in the library.
How many copies of Emrakul/Griselbrand do you run to make both plans consistent without having too many dead draws? Previous decks focused on one or the other, hand or library - for example Grishoalbrand or BR/Grixis Reanimator had Looting+Vengeance or Breach to cheat out creatures, both of which require the target to be in your hand first, so they played 4 Griselbrand + 4 Emrakul/Worldspine Wurm for a total of 8 targets. Decks like Possibility Storm or those utilizing the Madcap Experiment package require the target to be in the library, so they played 2 copies of Emrakul or Platinum Emperion, a middle ground between 1 copy leaving you completely wrecked if you drew it and 3+ copies giving you too many dead draws.
What's it going to look like if you put Lukka and Breach in the same deck? Or, what else can you play alongside Lukka so you still have game when you don't draw him?

[worldsaverinc]

The other side is that if you kill the creature AFTER they mutate...it all goes to the bin or exile. It counts as one creature ONCE it mutates. They still get an effect if there is an effect to be had though which isn't the greatest.

[The Fluff]

fiend artisan looks like another attempt at birthing pod variant. Easily killed since it's a creature.. but the upside is the artisan itself can be a threat once enough creatures are in the yard.

[AvalonAurora]

2) what's plan B? Polymorph and Indomitable Creativity don't work because you can end up polymorphing a mana dork into another mana dork.

Since it's a 5 drop, you could be only getting other creatures by generating tokens, and getting your mana acceleration from a 2 or 3 drop that isn't a mana dork, but something that drops down an extra land or boosts what a land gives or the like.

[ktkenshinx]

Shark Typhoon seems playable in Ux decks. Per my quick card search, there has never before been an uncounterable flash/flyer of any kind in Modern, let alone one that scales P/T, let alone again one that cantrips. Typhoon is also decent against T3feri, producing a 1/1 flyer to kill a 1 loyalty T3feri even through the static, and cantripping to keep you even on cards against his bounce.

I'm not super high on other cards at this time because they don't really compare favorably to existing Modern playables. For instance, think about sorceries (everyone wants some of the Mythos cards to be good). The only widely playable 4+ CMC sorceries in Modern have cost reductions/cheat mechanics (Creeping Chill), win the game on their own (Scapeshift, Bring to Light, Empty the Warrens, Past in Flames, Time Warp), or sweep things (Verdict, All Is Dust). There are a few oddball exceptions like Acid Moss in Ponza, but the 4+ CMC sorcery slot is extremely limited. This suggests basically all other 4+ CMC sorceries will probably be unplayable too.

[izzetmage]

Seems like you'd want Ice-Fang Coatl if you're in the market for fliers that cantrip. They each have their strengths and weaknesses, I think Coatl is better because it comes out earlier. I would also be wary of playing an expensive beatstick that dies to Fatal Push (even it if draws a card, comparing mana spent, your opponent is way ahead).

[Bearscape]

I find it to be incredibly annoying they're revealing commander product together with Ikoria, constantly double-checking the set symbol

Compared to previous sets, Ikoria seems very Timmy-targeted which generally means it's too expensive for Modern. I haven't really seen any real stand-outs, which I'm honestly kind of glad about.

[idSurge]

This, LURRUS OF THE DREAM-DEN is going to do bad things to the game. Push that mechanic any further, and we get our next Oko.

[Bearscape]

It's some poetic irony that the first card that rings alarm bells for eternal formats in the Timmy-set, has an anti-Timmy Companion requirement.

Lurrus seems absurd in Legacy, where it is just essentially free for storm. I can see other decks definitely adapting to run it as well for very little cost. In Modern I'm not sure where the home is, as any deck that would want to run it purely for value has to give up on planeswalkers, so you're kind of suck with either some kind of combo deck or very low to the ground aggro. Burn comes to mind but that's a pretty rough splash.

Still, its Companion requirement is very low for an 8th card in your opening hand

[idSurge]

Jund, Wrenn is 2 cmc. :D

[ktkenshinx]

Yeesh. Lurrus and Jegantha are just not well-designed cards when it comes to nonrotating formats. Honestly, they're probably bad designs period. Both of them create virtual 2-for-1s that proactive decks can use at any time to get an on-board advantage with no card investment. Meanwhile, a reactive opponent (or any opponent, really) likely needs to invest a hard-drawn card to actually kill the threat. In Jegantha's case, it's an effective cantripping 5/5 for 5 that you always have in your hand. In Lurrus' case, it's even worse because a removed Lurrus will likely still generate an ADDITIONAL advantage by allowing its controller to get further on-board advantage through a recast 0-2 CMC permanent. Now the Lurrus player has spent zero cards out of their hand to deploy a creature, "remove" an opponent's removal spell, and still get another card back into the fight.

I don't think any of this, especially dumb beatstick Jegs, breaks Modern in any way. Lurrus is a little more questionable because the investment is so low to create either a burst of virtual card advantage, or to stick a major grind engine. But even there, it's probably no more powerful than a lot of the other things Modern decks are doing, and at least it doesn't slot into a lot of top-tier exemplars. But both of these cards continue to push proactive decks in ways that reactive decks will struggle to keep up. They also create additional multi-format risk that Play Design either didn't prevent, doesn't care about, or didn't even notice.

And then, there's this:


CF's newest Companion is the first one we've seen so far that can go in slower, controlling decks. It precludes you from playing basically all traditional control creatures, but it means you can still play PWs, sweepers, Cryptics, etc. There are probably some decent controlling creatures within those other creature types, and I expect this is another companion that could see play. It's also possible the restriction is still too high, as even the grindiest, spell-based Modern decks are playing critical creatures outside of these creature types. There also might be a more aggressive or midrangey tribal deck here (don't forget Changeling!), but I haven't gone through all the creature types to assess payoffs. This doesn't even count token generators, which might be additional payoffs for someone using Kaheera. In the cat's case, I suspect it might not be enough to get Kaheera there, but it's possible a 3/2 vigilance with upside coming down whenever you want it is good enough on its own. More companion nonsense to come!

[idSurge]

The Companion mechanic is a disaster, right up there with London Mulligan.

[idSurge]

OF ONE MIND

Seems pretty nuts.

[The Fluff]

And then, there's this:

My cat deck badly needs another cat lord. Need four of this animal!

edit: realized it is legendary. Now, maybe only one or two..

[Tomatotime]

Can someone help me with a rules question for this set (god knows this set is a walking trainwreck for those). With all the talk of the companion cards, do you have to actually use them as a companion? What if you just put Lurrus in your deck normally and don't meet his companion requirements, is that still okay to treat him as a normal creature just to get that ability of his? Is this actually a strong idea for eternal formats?

[idSurge]

My understanding is the Companion part only applies if you.

1. Build your deck to the restriction.
2. Wish to keep it in your sideboard as a one-of that you can then pull into the main deck during the game as a hidden 61st card.

You could just throw the cards in as normal cards, and draw/cast them normally.

In other news they printed a 1R - Bolt semi/loot card. I was actually thinking of both designs (raw rate) for the draw spell and a burn spell that would be appropriately 'balanced' with all these joke designs earlier today.

U - Draw 2 - Sorc
R - Bolt + Draw - Instant

The fact they even sniffed at being real is actually comical. The game is fully off the rails at this point.

[izzetmage]

Lurrus has a strong effect, but your deck needs to want that effect. Stuff like Burn can play him, but what does bringing back a Monastery Swiftspear on turn 4 do? Something like Vizier combo would be a better fit. It seems a lot better in Legacy/Vintage since they have Lotuses, whereas our Lotus can't be casted.

There is an Elemental deck in Modern, so Kaheera can hang out in the SB as a lord. Two problems are 1) the Phantasmal Images in the main deck and 2) Kaheera is not itself an Elemental, so it doesn't trigger Risen Reef, count for Omnath, Locus of the Roil, use Smokebraider's mana, etc.

Zirda, the Dawnwaker goes infinite with Izzet Guildmage and Manamorphose (before that, the third piece was Training Grounds). Probably not viable since the pieces die to removal and there's no redundancy.

Fire Prophecy hits creatures only, it's fine.