Splinter Twin is one of the most baffling MTG cards on the Modern banlist. The card has a history that’s almost as iconic as Tarmogoyf’s but remains on the banlist to this day. Splinter Twin isn’t going to do much in the current Modern Horizons 3 climate, but the card presence on the banlist seems cemented anyway.
Back in the days of old, Splinter Twin was a force to be reckoned with. Creating controlling strategies with a sudden combo finish, Splinter Twin was used in combination with cards like Deceiver Exarch and Pestermite to create infinite attackers.
Now, thanks to a rather popular rare from Duskmourn, players can once again experience the glory days of the Splinter Twin combo!
No More Missing Out
- Mana Value: 1R
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 2/3
- MTG Sets: Duskmourn
- Card Text: When Fear of Missing Out enters, discard a card, then draw a card. Delirium – Whenever Fear of Missing Out attacks for the first time each turn, if there re four or more card types among cards in your graveyard, untap target creature. After this phase, there is an additional combat phase.
There’s some poetic justice in considering that Fear of Missing Out is the card that allows players to experience some serious Splinter Twin Nostalgia. The bad news is that in order to experience that nostalgia, you do need to have Delirium set up. The good news is that Fear of Missing Out is a decent card even without Delirium.
Allowing you to rummage on entry, Fear of Missing Out allows you to naturally work towards Delirium. The card also has two card types, so extra copies can make hitting Delirium even easier. From personal experience, it’s not too hard to assemble Delirium with a focused strategy in 3-4 turns. In the Modern format, this can happen even quicker.
Once Delirium is unlocked, Fear of Missing Out can untap a creature and trigger an extra combat step. Basically, you get to attack with one creature an additional time. Well, what happens when you use this ability to untap a creature with a Splinter Twin effect?
Your Splinter Twin Options, By Format
- Mana Value: 2RRR
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Stats: 2/2
- MTG Sets: Secret Lair, Jumpstart 2022, The List, Time Spiral Remastered, Iconic Masters, Modern Masters 2015, Modern Masters, From the Vault: Legends, Champions of Kamigawa
MTG Modern guru Aspiringspike was the first to point out the return of the Splinter Twin combo. Using Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Fear of Missing Out results in infinite combat steps. Each combat step will have one attacker, but that’s all you need.
In order to pull this off, have Fear of Missing Out untap Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker with its effect. Then, use Kiki-Jiki’s tap effect to create a copy of Fear of Missing Out. That token copy will attack, untapping Kiki-Jiki and creating another combat step. Rinse and repeat.
As pointed out by Aspiringspike, this combo can go off rather quickly. This combo also appears to slot into the popular Boros Energy shell seeing tons of play at the moment.
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker is likely the most powerful option that players can execute this combo with. Yes, the card costs five mana to cast, but Kiki-Jiki does not need any mana to activate its ability, allowing you to create an infinite number of Fear of Missing Out. Other formats can also execute this combo, but the activated ability costs mana, which limits things somewhat.
In Pioneer
In Pioneer, we have Fable of the Mirror-Breaker. For what it’s worth, this also works in the Modern format. Fable of the Mirror-Breaker is one of the best cards printed in recent years. Capable of ramping, creating multiple threats, and fixing your hand, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker does everything.
Once the Saga hits its third phase and flips, you get Reflection of the Mirror-Breaker. Similar to Kiki-Jiki, Reflection can make copies of your creatures. The catch is that this card needs a mana to activate its ability.
Because of this, unless you can generate infinite mana, you cannot generate infinite copies of Fear of Missing Out. More often than not, you should be able to either finish an opponent off or pull absurdly far ahead with this combo, but you may not be able to deal 20 damage in one go. Sadly, dealing that amount of damage would require ten mana.
Unlike Kiki-Jiki itself, Reflection of the Mirror Breaker also needs to shrug off some summoning sickness. This creates a larger window for your opponent to disrupt the combo. The upside is that both Fear of Missing Out and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker are powerful cards in their own right. These two cards are commonly found together in Pioneer decks as a result.
Sadly, while The Jolly Balloon Man appears to be capable of something similar in the Standard format, a line of text holds back the creature, causing it to miss out on this combo. The Jolly Balloon Man can only be activated at Sorcery speed.
Considering that the copies of Fear of Missing Out it would create would only be 1/1s, and that it costs a mana to activate the ability, this combo wouldn’t be too powerful without infinite mana anyway. Still, players wanting to execute this combo in the Standard format may have to miss out after all.
How Strong is the Combo?
Despite this combo hitting the nostalgia factor, it’s simply not that good in the Modern format. It is incredibly easy to disrupt this combo with a Lightning Bolt, and Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker does need support to be worth its five mana investment.
The Pioneer combo pointed out is a lot more viable. Both Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and Fear of Missing Out fill your graveyard, allowing you to both fuel Delirium and fuel strategies that care about the graveyard. As a result, you commonly see this duo in Mardu Greasefang decks, as well as in Rakdos Cauldron decks.
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