Will Assassin's Creed Affect Modern?
Happy Wednesday, readers! Without wasting much time on a prelude, today’s article is all about
Allow me to caveat this by acknowledging that the Modern meta is still in a state of Nadu-induced limbo, so a lot of cards discussed today are evaluated mostly under the assumption that at some point in the near future there will be a Modern competitive meta where
Okay, with the overview and disclaimer out of the way, let’s jump in!
Black Market Connections
A Commander staple transitioning to Modern is always fascinating, as the design choices between a Commander-oriented card unique to a Commander product versus a card designed for Modern explicitly are very different in nature. More Commander cards slowly flowing into Modern has several implications, with the obvious being that the line blurring Commander from other constructed formats is continuing to erode. The second major implication is that pricey Commander staples can be made cheaper on the supply side through reprints in non-Commander products.
Black Market Connections in particular is a fascinating reprint choice, as it brings into Modern another powerful, three-cost mono-black card into the format in the wake of
With the reprint in ACR, players can pick up the Black Market Connections nagging at their wallet for a little less than $10. A terrific reprint for a terrific card. The million-dollar question of course is whether or not one should spec on Connections given its viability in Modern. Will a potential increase in demand in Modern overtake the raw increase in supply? At this very moment in time, no. With Nadu and Ruby Storm steamrolling the meta - I know, it’s in a weird spot at the moment - a three-mana enchantment that does nothing the turn it enters into play simply can’t compete, which is a shame. In an Esper or Grixis Death’s Shadow deck, this card seems amazing. On turn four, dumping six life into card advantage, mana ramp, and board advantage, while simultaneously setting up your
Beyond this, in Mono-Black Coffers or
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| Black Market Connections (Extended Art) | ||
| Black Market Connections (Foil Etched) |
Reconnaissance
A fun Legacy and Commander gem now seeing the light of day in Modern via Assassin’s Creed. At the very worst, Reconnaissance can “remove” you creatures from combat during the end of combat after damage is assigned, which leaves your creatures untapped as you pass your turn. At its very best, it is a zero mana activated ability that targets your creatures… Hmmm… I wonder what little Simic bird would enjoy an activated ability that targets like that… Oh wait, I do know: Nadu.
Much like
So should one spec on this? No. Again, my strong assumption is that Nadu is not long for this world. In the absence of Nadu, there’s not a ton that Reconnaissance synergizes with in Modern. Funnily enough, the best part about this Reconnaissance reprint is that the reminder text is updated to reflect the correct reading of the ability which was wrong from a rules standpoint in the original Exodus printing. If you play
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| Reconnaissance |
Loyal Inventor
In the history of Modern, we’ve seen some interesting three-mana blue creatures make splashes here or there, such as
What makes this card really fun is how splashable it is. If you have a way to search out creatures, such as
Creature-based tutors are overall really fun card designs, and are always worth some consideration. The big drawback for Inventor is that 99 times out of a 100, what you search for will go to the top of your deck, meaning you won’t be able to access it until your next turn. Since Modern has somewhat become a turn-three format, Inventor is unfortunately too slow for the same reasons as Black Market Connections.
Although, Nadu players might find this gentleman quite interesting. One could imagine variations of Nadu where you play more mana-generating creatures that can enable a turn-two Loyal Inventor to search for Shuko, and then proceed with a turn-three Nadu, and Shuko with three creatures in play. Is that line of play better than the status quo Nadu deck? Probably not, but it’s still worth some small consideration.
Regardless of whether you find blue creature tutors enjoyable or useless, Loyal Inventor is only going for around $0.20 on the market, so picking up a playset is a very low-risk spec. Again, Modern has some issues at the moment that muddle the clarity surrounding the long-run state of the meta, but it’s conceivable that under the right set of conditions (a Nadu ban, really) Inventor could see some play in Blue Tron, Urza Thopter-Sword, or other builds with a general artifact theme or sub-theme.
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| Loyal Inventor (Foil Etched) |
Basim Ibn Ishaq
This two-mana legend is arguably the highest-potential card for Modern from Assassin’s Creed. Imagine casting a
The key aspect of Basim is that his ability triggers whenever you cast any historic permanent. Improvising in a
Speaking of value and appeal, Basim is currently commanding $10 per copy, which is on the high end of the spectrum for Assassin’s Creed, but is otherwise pretty low in expected value. So what’s the ceiling for Basim? Well, in theme with the other cards on this list, it depends on how the value Basim accumulates in the Modern meta compares to the value and the speed by which value is generated in Nadu.
Understandably, Basim is slower than Nadu, but still very powerful in its own right. I’d argue Basim has a higher ceiling than Nadu at the moment if only for its potential in Modern and use in Commander. There is, of course, a limiting factor in that Basim’s effect can only trigger once per turn. That being said, its ability is still quite potent given its low mana value.
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| Basim Ibn Ishaq (Showcase) |
Beyond Assassin’s Creed
Modern is in a funky place right now. The biggest issue is that the meta is somewhat divergent. In paper play, Nadu is far and away the best deck in the format. However, online or on MTGO (which is the proving ground for the paper meta, usually), the meta is actually quite different, in part because playing Nadu online… well… It's not great. Given the chess clock on MTGO, Nadu sets the player piloting up to lose to the clock more often than it can reliably win. As such, there’s some asymmetry between the representation of Nadu online versus in-person.
This asymmetry alongside the different treatment of Nadu in competitive play online versus in-person has left Modern in this odd situation where the best decks in the format for the long-run are not yet known in definitive terms. Prior to
My advice when looking beyond Assassin’s Creed is to look towards format staples regardless of the meta. Understandably, committing to a Modern deck right now feels less-than great, so a reasonable strategy might be to pick up more “evergreen” format staples like the Shocklands and Fetchlands, and then wait for a spell and see what the next banned list brings around Bloomburrow’s release.
Further Reading:
Corey Williams is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Shippensburg University in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. He considers himself a macroeconometrician with his research body reflecting work in applied macroeconomics and econometrics. Corey is an L1 Judge who started playing Magic around Eighth Edition. He enjoys Modern, Commander, cEDH, and cube drafting. Outside of Magic, he loves running, teaching, and the occasional cult movie.
