Size: 250/250 cards
Themes: Modern-level power, paying mana is for suckers, tongue firmly in cheek
Mechanics
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Affinity, Battle cry, Bestow, Bloodrush, Bloodthirst, Buyback, Cascade, Convoke, Cycling, Dash, Delirium, Delve, Devoid, Devotion, Devour, Dredge, Embalm, Emerge, Enchantment Creatures, Epic, Evoke, Evolve, Exert, Extort, Fabricate, Flashback, Forecast, Graft, Hellbent, Historic, Imprint, Improvise, Kicker, Landfall, Landwalk, Level up, Living weapon, Madness, Manifest Metalcraft, Miracle, Modular, Ninjutsu, Offering, Overload, Phyrexian Mana, Persist, Proliferate, Provoke, Prowl, Prowess, Raid, Rebound, Regenerate, Replicate, Retrace, Revolt, Shadow, Spectacle, Spell Mastery, Spirit Umbra, Split Second, Storm, Strive, Surge, Transmute, Trap, Tribal, Undying, Unearth, Unleash, Untap Symbol, Vanishing
A Recent History of High Expectations
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On June 14th of 2019, Wizards released 46 reprints (including the BaB promo) and 209 brand new cards through Modern Horizons, infusing new cards directly into the Modern card pool. If you were browsing MTG articles and forums at the time, you might remember the HUGE wave of speculation as everyone was posting what cards they thought would be reprinted. As we could point to specific cards, anticipate what they would do in the meta, and shove their pictures into thumbnails, the reprint speculation was by far the most visible element of the "hype train".
With that said, the very existence of new cards was also driving up hype… and it's not hard to see why. After all, this was the first time that brand new cards were being infused into modern without going through standard. We had been told that the set would be for more enfranchised players and that complexity would be higher, bucking the established "New World Order". Besides, this pack would command a premium price. Wizards didn't charge us extra for the new cards in conspiracy or battlebond so why would they produce useless commons that have no real use outside of overpriced drafts?
When the set was fully spoiled, results were… mixed.
On the one hand, the power level was certainly increased. Resonant themes (ninjas, slivers, blink, snow, etc) were chosen. Complexity increased among all rarities. There were a grand total of 3 vanilla creatures (1 if you count changeling as French vanilla). References and flavor abounded… as did the normal breed of "draft chaff".
Some people were surprised or disappointed to see that cards such as Chillerpillar, Answered Prayers, and Excavating Anurid in this set. After waiting months to get the first set aimed at adding new cards to modern, some people truly expected more of the set (…or most of it… Or all of it) to meaningfully contribute to competitive modern.
Of course, that's just unrealistic. Making 200+ cards for realistic consideration in competitive play isn't something that Wizards would ever do. It would eat up a ton of design space, send the existing meta into chaos, reinforce existing archetypes in a way that makes it harder for new decks to emerge, and would be incredibly hard to follow-up without oodles of power creep. In fact, one call the very idea absurd…
Ground Rules and Defining Terms
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With the big question asked, let's zoom in. Obviously, I could print a bunch of blatantly broken cards, introduce "fixed" versions of key vintage/legacy cards, or make strictly better versions of modern-playable cards to complete this challenge… though those methods are largely uncreative and uninteresting. Instead, let's set myself a couple of basic guidelines.
"Within the realms of modern power": While this is a bit more vague, the short version is that people should be able to imagine most of these cards at least getting a "possible cube inclusion" thread if this set was being released. For a bit more detail, this category refers to cards that possess the general qualities sought in modern but that would not have an established home. Accomplishing necessary tasks (or creating bodies) in a cost-efficient, flexible, and/or reusable manner, accomplishing smaller tasks for free, accomplishing brand new tasks for a reasonable price, having relevant creature types (human, spirit, goblin, elf, merfolk, etc), and having relevant costs (sacrificing or bouncing permanents, self-milling, exiling graveyards, discarding cards, paying life, etc) may all contribute to this. Martyr's Soul, being a possible "free" 5/4 creature with two relevant creature types, is a good illustration of what this might mean. To use a slightly less recent example, Necrotic Wound is a low-cost kill spell with a decently high ceiling that is fed by discard and self-mill and that carries an extra kick by exiling the target.
- I am printing a set of about 250 cards (no basic lands)
- As with Modern Horizon, I can cull out the vanilla creatures and incorporate past mechanics.
- My creatures and noncreatures in each color must have a fairly standard range/curve of CMCs (EX: I can't just keep all creatures to CMC 1-3 because that's that "sweet spot").
- Most common card effects per color must be represented (EX: blue should have bounce, card draw, tapping, etc.)
- The resultant set and the cards within it should be reasonable to draft (EX: I shouldn't create a Skyshroud Poacher if there aren't any elves or changelings to fetch).
- I should avoid making "strictly better" versions of existing modern cards whenever possible, though appropriate color-shifts and situationally better cards are fine.
- Unless cards are being produced specifically for faster archetypes, I should try to keep my cards in line with the 3.5 Turn format.
- As mentioned above, the cards should be "modern playable" or "within the realms of modern power".
"Within the realms of modern power": While this is a bit more vague, the short version is that people should be able to imagine most of these cards at least getting a "possible cube inclusion" thread if this set was being released. For a bit more detail, this category refers to cards that possess the general qualities sought in modern but that would not have an established home. Accomplishing necessary tasks (or creating bodies) in a cost-efficient, flexible, and/or reusable manner, accomplishing smaller tasks for free, accomplishing brand new tasks for a reasonable price, having relevant creature types (human, spirit, goblin, elf, merfolk, etc), and having relevant costs (sacrificing or bouncing permanents, self-milling, exiling graveyards, discarding cards, paying life, etc) may all contribute to this. Martyr's Soul, being a possible "free" 5/4 creature with two relevant creature types, is a good illustration of what this might mean. To use a slightly less recent example, Necrotic Wound is a low-cost kill spell with a decently high ceiling that is fed by discard and self-mill and that carries an extra kick by exiling the target.
Final Notes
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1. 99% of all cards on here were printed in their final form before the Looting/Hogaak ban (formatting all 250 cards for this site just took me a while). Many cards here (such as Vibrant Rootwalla) were designed specifically for synergies with easy and cheap discard effects so I wanted to put that out there.
2. Likewise, I can assure you that my cycle of legendary lands were produced before either cycle of Eldraine lands were spoiled. While the coincidence is great (right down to the abilities of the white and blue entries), I did produce these independently.
3. As this set was designed 100% with a bottom-up mentality, there is probably something that I could say about just about any card in this set. If you're morbid curiosity gets the best of you and you can't tell what a card was going for, feel free to ask.
2. Likewise, I can assure you that my cycle of legendary lands were produced before either cycle of Eldraine lands were spoiled. While the coincidence is great (right down to the abilities of the white and blue entries), I did produce these independently.
3. As this set was designed 100% with a bottom-up mentality, there is probably something that I could say about just about any card in this set. If you're morbid curiosity gets the best of you and you can't tell what a card was going for, feel free to ask.