Modern is a little hungover after the most recent banning of Violent Outburst. Living End is in a state of relative disrepair and Temur Rhinos is surprisingly nowhere to be found, while Goryo's Vengeance Reanimator and Indomitable Creativity builds are popping up left and right as the Modern metagame sorts itself out. Of course, Yawgmoth, Amulet Titan, Murktide, and Tron players are happy to move forward like nothing of consequence occurred. So, with this in mind, I figured I’d write a more light-hearted article in the spirit of hypotheticals and wishes that will likely never come true. Today, we’re discussing my top five cards from Universes Beyond: Fallout that I wish were Modern-legal, and where they’d fit in. Spoiler: they don’t, at least not in the top-end of the meta. But their hypothetical potential in lower-tier builds certainly warrants the wishful thinking at the heart of this article.
Two words: Split Second. There are two words no more compelling in Magic than these two… Aside from Black Lotus, and Ancestral Recall… And Time Walk… and the Moxes… Okay, I digress. Split Second is a wonderful mechanic that is used very sparingly in its applications, although when it is utilized in card design, it produces some absolutely terrific cards, like the more recent Legolas's Quick Reflexes (Borderless), for example. Inventory Management, for the same mana cost as a Lightning Helix, allows you as the player to instantaneously move all your Equipment and Aura permanents from any number of your creatures to any number of your creatures. You can do one big swap or go Voltron model and move everything onto just one creature.
The potential with this is sky-high in Commander. So how would it fit into Modern? Well, if Bogles were still a thing, this card could have a place in some version of the build. More realistically, however, this card feels super good in Hammer Time archetypes, wherein one can use Inventory Management at instant speed to cheat Colossus Hammer (and whatever other Equipment cards are in play) onto your desired creature, while simultaneously limiting your opponent’s ability to respond. Financially speaking, this is one of the more in-demand cards in Fallout. It’s also one of the few cards to get a Pip-Boy showcase frame treatment, which in surge foil runs for about $24 as of today’s market prices. If you’re so inclined to get your hands on a couple of these for speculation’s sake, or just plain ol’ fun, it’ll cost you around two whole dollars. Not too shabby for an effect this potent.
| Inventory Management | | |
| Inventory Management (Showcase) | | |
Not to be confused with MacReady from John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982), although perhaps we’ll get a Universes Beyond: John Carpenter’s Filmography in the future with the iconography of Kurt Russell as R.J. MacReady, Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, Sam Neill as John Trent, and James Hong as the evil sorcerer Lo Pan in card form… I definitely let loose there, and I apologize sincerely for using this article as an excuse to recite my love of John Carpenter’s films (and music). Back to Magic! MacCready is a fascinating “little guy” who makes your small creatures less-blockable by bigger creatures via the Skulk mechanic. Beyond this, he punishes your opponents for attacking with big creatures, and compensates you with lifegain, too.
Or… Hear me out… Or… You build Abzan Infect (not a deck as far as I know) so that you can swing with your measly low-powered Glistener Elf and pump before damage to capitalize on Skulk. Is this strategy good? No. Is Infect playable? No. Is this a problem in my eyes? Yes. Perhaps I’m too nostalgic, but the lack of Infect in the meta (aside from Hammer Time, wherein Infect is more an incidental means to speed up the clock, rather than its primary goal) really does bum me out. Perhaps MacCready in all his glory can make small creatures great again, including the oft-forgotten Abzan Token decks of old. Best part of this hidden gem? He’s well under $0.50 per copy for the base precon version.
| MacCready, Lamplight Mayor | | |
| MacCready, Lamplight Mayor (Extended Art) | | |
If I’m being honest, I have no clue how to “break this” in Modern (hypothetically, of course). Having said that, artifact synergies in Modern like Urza Thopter-Sword are at an all-time low in representation with decks like Hardened Scales and Tron acting as the forefront of even playing non-Equipment artifacts in the format. Having said that, I’m a sucker for the Improvise mechanic. I’ve loved it ever since playing Whir of Invention in Krark-Clan Eggs many moons ago. Improvise is more-or-less just artifact Convoke, which means, in theory, it’s possible for Synth Infiltrator to enter into play as early as turn two for as cheap as two blue mana.
Now this is all great, but there are better two-mana clones legal in Modern already, in that they cost two mana without any drawbacks… Specifically, I’m referring to Phantasmal Image, which on its own doesn’t see much play… And by much play, I mean no play.
So what makes Synth Infiltrator more interesting? The fact that its card type includes the word “artifact” in it, which means you can target it in your grave with Emry, Lurker of the Loch’s activated ability, enabling you to cast it from your grave with Improvise once more. You could copy Emry and mill four more cards to advance whatever game-ending combo you’re aiming to accelerate (likely Underworld Breach). In Hardened Scales or Affinity, this card fits right at home with many easy ways to Improvise it into play with many terrific targets to copy.
Beyond Modern, Synth Infiltrator can also be Tinkered for, making it one of the most accessible clones of all time in the right dedicated build. So what’s the downfall of this card? It competes for space in decks that could also run Phyrexian Metamorph, which at its cheapest costs you three generic mana and two life, making it usable in decks outside the blue part of the color pie. Metamorph can also copy artifacts or creatures, making its versatility much more desirable, despite costing slightly more in practice than Synth Infiltrator. Overall, however, I love a new clone, and this one is inexpensive both in mana cost, and monetary value, sitting at $0.25 currently.
| Synth Infiltrator | | |
| Synth Infiltrator (Showcase) | | |
Okay, this pick might be a little more silly and less impactful (not that my other picks aren’t either). After all, big, bulky creatures not called Primeval Titan or Cultivator Colossus seem to have few opportunities to flourish in Modern. Having said that, Lumbering Megasloth could very easily find a home in Hardened Scales builds, especially with The Ozolith ensuring that all your counters remain permanently accounted for.
The traditional problem with “this spell costs X less to cast if Y conditions are met” is that it becomes very rare to meet the “optimum” condition, wherein you pay only the minimum casting cost possible. Because, and only because The Ozolith exists, and because Lumbering Megasloth’s cost reduction counts any counter, broadly speaking, it’s easy to not only reduce its casting cost to , but ensure it always stays there, making it appealing to run multiple in theory.
Again, this is all silly and hypothetical. And even in this meta, an 8/8 for two mana and with trample seems less impactful than it should be. After all, you can simply trade two 4/4 Rhino tokens with it (thanks for nothing, Violent Outburst ban, other than the collateral damage to Living End). If you aren’t convinced that this card is busted, then check out this Legacy Deck that enables a potential turn zero Megasloth by using Crop Rotation to fetch out a Dark Depths (with ten ice counters on it when it enters) in combination with pitching two Elvish Spirit Guides to exile (or utilizing a Mox Diamond, or both). Oh yeah, don’t sleep on this slow fella!
Financially speaking, this card is a relatively expensive uncommon card with recent TCGPlayer asking prices sitting at around $8. Don’t get me started on the surge foil, though, which has on-and-off asking prices of $100 each. Is it worth that much? No. But the relative scarcity of surge foil commons and uncommons versus rares and mythic rares creates some interesting short-run price disparities.
Who does Academy Manufactor work for? Why, the Nuka-Cola Corporation! In all seriousness, the Samwise Food Combo decks that look really cool on paper but clunky in practice (except for when they work), need more janky, synergistic pieces, and Nuka-Cola Vending Machine is the most needlessly powerful addition I could imagine that fits perfectly into this deck, and in no other deck in Modern. Vending Machine screams “combo piece,” and is already proven to be exceedingly powerful in Commander when paired with Academy Manufactor, Krark-Clan Ironworks (rest in peace, Eggs players everywhere), Peregrin Took, and many, many other cards that benefit from sacrificing ample artifacts or generating ample artifact tokens.
There’s a lot of ongoing debates about what the long-run financial potential of UB: Fallout is. The market has mostly stabilized in the sense that price volatility seems to be minimal with the exception of a few cards (surge foil showcase The Wise Mothman, and surge foil Lumbering Megasloth come to mind). Even while the market seems to have mostly settled in the short-run for now, Nuka-Cola Vending Machine still remains the most in-demand single cards from the preconstructed decks with the non-foil, non-borderless version of it straight from the Science! deck going for around $20. The borderless surge foil version, however, will run you about $80.00 or so–interestingly as well, of the borderless Vault Boy-style cards in the last two slots of the collectors booster packs, Nuka-Cola Vending Machine is the only outright new precon card to have received such a treatment. It’s very clear that WotC recognized the power and potential of this card from the outset in giving it such a treatment right up alongside Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Farewell, Wasteland, Ravages of War, Vandalblast, Crucible of Worlds, and Command Tower.
| Nuka-Cola Vending Machine | | |
| Nuka-Cola Vending Machine (Borderless) | | |
In Summary
If we’re being honest, the heart of this article isn’t so much centered around Modern per se, although it’s a nice fantasy to imagine some of these Universes Beyond products making their way into Modern. Having said that, Fallout is a contemporary Magic product, which makes it modern definitionally speaking, right? In all seriousness, I felt compelled to offer my two cents on the product and some choice cards from it that really strike a chord with the part of me that loves Fallout as a property, and the part of me that looks at cards not only in terms of their value to Commander, but also their potential in Modern, even if only hypothetically. Where do these cards end up in the long run? The trends as I see it point towards the surge foil variants of the borderless Vault Boy cards and surge foil showcase precon cards being the real money makers in the set, and likely the only non-serialized cards to hold real long-term value out.
Notwithstanding this, there’s a striking amount of value nested in the surge foil Bobbleheads, which seem to rotate in “Sold Out” status on TCGPlayer daily, as well as some surprising value in surge foil commons and uncommons, which are really difficult to pull or accumulate relative to surge foil lands, rares, and mythic rares. Of course, the Nuka-Cola Vending Machine will hold value for the reasons described. In a similar vein, I would expect Pip-Boy 3000 to also hold its value over time given the utility and flexibility it provides, as well as its accommodating mana cost–a mana cost so accommodating that it can be put directly into play with Urza's Saga. Finally, of course, there are the serialized Bobbleheads, which are still mostly falling on a day-to-day basis on TCGPlayer, and likely need more time to arrive at an equilibrium price.
Further Reading:
The Best Cards From Fallout and the Secret Lair Winter Superdrop
Commander Staples From Fallout
Hidden Gems for Judith, Carnage Connoisseur
