10 Cards I Wish Were Modern Legal

Today’s Modern Times article is a particularly special one.

Very simply, I'm picking 10 cards that I wish were legal in the Modern format. My selection criteria is primarily based on two factors:

1. The card could realistically be printed in a Modern-legal set

2. The card’s inclusion in the format would not make the meta more concentrated on the top decks in the format

Why have this criteria? Because the spirit of this article is such that the cards discussed aren’t simply pipe dreams. It’s always fun to dream of a reality where Force of Will and Sylvan Library could be legal in Modern, but in all likelihood, they will never see the light of the day in the format. 

Furthermore, Reserved List cards are also not applicable to this. In a sense, I’d like to think I’m doing best to ground this wish list in reality to the extent possible. That being said, there are a few stretches on this list, so take my words with a grain of salt. 

With this in mind, let’s jump in!

Innocent Blood

Cheap, symmetrical removal is an underrated card design. Innocent Blood epitomizes this perfectly. Modern has become a “creatures matter” format more than other eternal options, so the symmetrical sacrifice that both players have to make necessarily balances this card out. That being said, it can be a no-drawback, one-mana kill spell if you have no creatures in play. Even then, your opponent picks their poison if they have more than one creature in play, making it relatively fair even in the most “unfair” scenarios. 

It’s already been reprinted in multiple sets, and feels like an easy include in any Modern Horizons set, especially for draft play or other limited environments.  

Innocent Blood	CardKingdom $0.59	TCGPlayer $0.40
Innocent Blood	CardKingdom $0.39	TCGPlayer $0.28
Innocent Blood	CardKingdom $0.35	TCGPlayer $0.30

Everybody Lives!

If I could bring one card over from Universes Beyond: Doctor Who or Universes Beyond: Warhammer 40,000 to Modern, it would have to be Everybody Lives! This is a less potent The One Ring combined with the evasiveness that Teferi's Protection provides. Realistically, this card is two mana to save your life from lethal damage in the context of Modern. The fact that it’s in white makes it accessible to every deck in the format that’s not already at the top of the meta. While cards like The One Ring may be contentious, I’m generally for slowing the format down and giving other decks more room to breathe and compete, and this enables such possibilities to occur. 

The question is: if you bring this over into Modern, would it still be called “Everybody Lives!” or would it get some out-of-universe name to match Magic lore?

Everybody Lives!	CardKingdom $18.99	TCGPlayer $21.22
Everybody Lives! (Extended Art)	CardKingdom $27.99	TCGPlayer $21.70

Orim's Chant

Make Silence great again! That’s Orim’s Chant in a nutshell. It’s functionally Silence with an added Kicker ability to prevent combat. Generally speaking, white and blue tend to be the weakest colors in Modern, while black and green tend to be the most powerful. Cards like Orim’s Chant, much like Everybody Lives!, act as a nice additional tool for white decks to pull from to give them more of a fighting chance against an aggressively concentrated meta. 

Again, this card has gotten a few reprints, including a Judge Gift reprint, but it would be nice to see it make its way into Modern. 

Orim's Chant	CardKingdom $14.99	TCGPlayer $15.90
Orim's Chant	CardKingdom $89.99	TCGPlayer $100.03
Orim's Chant	CardKingdom	TCGPlayer $9.58

Allosaurus Shepherd

In so few words, this card feels like it’s already a Modern card. It’s not, but it’s one of the few cards from Jumpstart that would make a great addition to the format. Making green spells uncounterable might be the only reservation WotC has with regards to moving this card into the Modern card pool. 

Having said that, Shepherd doesn’t feel oppressive and can be a nice sideboard piece for decks that are predominantly green, or a main deck piece in Elves, which is a typal deck that I wish would make a comeback in the format. 

Allosaurus Shepherd	CardKingdom $21.99	TCGPlayer $19.58
Allosaurus Shepherd	CardKingdom $22.99	TCGPlayer $20.94
Allosaurus Shepherd (Foil Etched)	CardKingdom	TCGPlayer $35.66
Allosaurus Shepherd (Borderless)	CardKingdom $27.99	TCGPlayer $21.32

Punishing Fire

I’ve written an article partially on this card as well as Preordain. In the article, I argued that both Punishing Fire and Preordain were safe to unban in Modern - thankfully, WotC clearly read it and took my advice (wink wink) and at least unbanned Preordain. 

All the same, I still stand by the argument for a Punishing Fire unbanning and will shamelessly plug that card on my wish list in hopes that one day it makes a return to the format. 

Punishing Fire	CardKingdom $0.35	TCGPlayer $0.39
Punishing Fire	CardKingdom $0.39	TCGPlayer $0.43
Punishing Fire	CardKingdom $0.99	TCGPlayer $0.50

Entomb

Dredge and similar graveyard-oriented decks have seldom seen the light of day ever since Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis left this world for the banned list - at light speed, no less. Nevertheless, with some cards like Persist, Priest of Fell Rites, and Archon of Cruelty making their way into the format through the Modern Horizons sets, the occasional reanimator brew has popped up. But they very seldom manage to be as efficient as they need to be to hold their own in the meta. Enter Entomb, a simple card with a powerful effect. 

Too powerful for Modern? I’d say no. The current meta doesn’t stand to benefit much from Entomb making an appearance in the format. I see it as a nice addition to decks on the margin of the competitive lines at little cost to the balance of play. 

Entomb	CardKingdom $15.99	TCGPlayer $15.20
Entomb (Borderless)	CardKingdom $7.49	TCGPlayer $6.26
Entomb	CardKingdom $69.99	TCGPlayer $85.64
Entomb	CardKingdom $7.99	TCGPlayer $6.69

Daze

This might be my most contentious pick of the lot here, but I’ll stand by it. This Legacy staple, which was banned in Pauper, seems like a nonstarter for most folks with regards to potential Modern legality. So what’s my argument? A few things. 

Modern is a power-crept format that grows more powerful with each subsequent Modern Horizons release. Currently, Scam-like decks dominate the format with cards like Grief and Fury running rampant. Getting Griefed on turn one sucks, and it sucks twice as much if its Evoke trigger is followed up with a Not Dead After All or similar recursion spell. While I don’t think the evocation elementals are ban-worthy, there should be more answers to these spells early and often than what exists in the format. 

Currently, nothing stops a Scam player from double-Griefing on turn zero. Daze acts, in theory, as a check on the most pervasive cards in the format. Ultimately, there should be some apprehension to going all-in on keeping a one-land with Grief and a recursion spell in your opening hand, but currently there isn’t. Daze fixes this problem and gives the format a better, but still fair, answer to power-crept staples in the format. 

Daze	CardKingdom $1.99	TCGPlayer $2.01
Daze	CardKingdom $2.29	TCGPlayer $2.00
Daze	CardKingdom $149.99	TCGPlayer $140.00

The “Blast” Cycle

Collectively, the “Blast” (not an official term, but it helps for discussion’s sake): Hydroblast, Blue Elemental Blast, Pyroblast, and Red Elemental Blast. Let me qualify this statement by stating that not all of these need to be reprinted. In fact, just printing Hydroblast alone would be perfect. A one-mana blue spell that can quickly defeat anything red seems like the perfect counter to Fury, Omnath, Locus of Creation, Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, and Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer (among others). Scam’s concentration in the meta could be somewhat alleviated by cheaper hate for the “scam” cards… namely Fury. 

Hydroblast, in particular, feels like an ideal sideboard option that can give some life to decks on the margin that struggle to compete against Rakdos Scam. 

Hydroblast	CardKingdom $3.49	TCGPlayer $2.99
Blue Elemental Blast	CardKingdom $1.79	TCGPlayer $0.50
Pyroblast	CardKingdom $5.99	TCGPlayer $4.22
Red Elemental Blast	CardKingdom $6.49	TCGPlayer $5.19

Submerge

The format desperately needs a response to Up the Beanstalk and its synergies that can match how fast it works and punish Beanstalk players (“Beanstalkers,” you might call them). Submerge is the perfect answer. Under very specific conditions it’s zero mana to bounce a creature back to the top of its owner’s library. Against Beanstalk synergies, this card is the answer the format needs sooner rather than later. Incidentally, it’s also effective against Amulet Titan builds. 

Being in blue, Submerge likely wouldn’t see an oppressive amount of format play, but would be a sure-fire sideboard option against a Bean-heavy meta (I’ve used the word “Bean” an exhausting amount of times, I know). 

Submerge

CardKingdom $5.49

TCGPlayer $4.91

Baleful Strix

Once a Legacy staple, Baleful Strix was originally an uncommon unique to Planechase that has since been reprinted a myriad of times…except in a Modern-legal set. To me, this always felt like a Modern card; it never made sense for it not to be. In a format rife with spot removal, it’s not like it’s set up to dominate the format like Ragavan or other staples in the format. 

However, I can imagine a demand for this card in Dimir shells among other archetypes. Built-in card draw and a walking removal spell to boot, Strix is just a well-designed Magic card. In a format dominated by creatures and spot removal, Baleful Strix stands out from the pack in that it’s both a terrific creature that can take any hit from the best creatures in the format and trade with parity thanks to deathtouch, but also acts as a magnet for spot removal. 

Baleful Strix is not only good value in-game, but it also creates more interactive and complicated game states than Modern currently has matchup-to-matchup. I would welcome with open arms this little bird to the format any day of the week.

Baleful Strix	CardKingdom $3.49	TCGPlayer $2.16
Baleful Strix	CardKingdom $2.79	TCGPlayer $2.68
Baleful Strix	CardKingdom $3.49	TCGPlayer $1.91
Baleful Strix	CardKingdom $8.49	TCGPlayer $6.34

Final Thoughts

This has been one of the more fun pieces I’ve had the opportunity to write. I love to Brainstorm, and this was a great thought experiment, however unlikely the chances are that any of these cards make their way into Modern. Even so, these cards are all terrific in their own right - be it in Legacy, Commander, or other eternal formats. Thankfully, they’re all relatively inexpensive, too! Modern Horizons 3 will be here sooner than we know it, so keep an eye on the “horizon” (roll snare) for things to come that undoubtedly will shake the format to its foundations once more! 

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