Modern is a format filled with various combo decks. Whether you’re a fan of Belcher or Ruby Storm, there’s a combo shell for everyone.
Of course, some combos are stronger than others, but that doesn’t mean we don’t see some unique combo archetypes pop up from time to time. In fact, just this past weekend, one player made it to the top eight of a Magic Online Modern Challenge with a combo deck centered around Wilderness Reclamation of all cards!
Wilderness Reclamation terrorized Standard and has been banned in Pioneer for years, and for good reason. Could the card be poised for a resurgence in Modern following this dominant performance? Let’s dig in and see what the deck is all about.
Combos Supporting Other Combos
This Wilderness Reclamation deck is built to take full advantage of all the excess mana the powerful enchantment can provide. The goal behind this deck is to control the game and use your extra mana to draw tons of cards until you can eventually close the game.
Outside of Kaheera, the Orphanguard as a Companion and a one-of Solitude, this shell utilizes no creatures in the maindeck. As such, your primary win condition is not attacking your opponent. Instead, you’re looking to set up a position where you can deck your opponent with Blue Sun’s Zenith.
As long as you can stick Wilderness Reclamation, the card ensures that you’ll have enough mana to advance your gameplan while simultaneously hold up disruption on your opponent’s turn. To help prevent your opponent from being able to run you over in the meantime, the combo of Isochron Scepter and Orim’s Chant is an important piece of the puzzle.
For those unfamiliar, once you Imprint Orim’s Chant onto Isochron Scepter, you can pay three mana during your opponent’s upkeep to prevent them from casting spells or attacking during their turn. Unless they can interact at instant speed, this creates a soft lock that buys you all the time you need to set up a win.
Isochron Scepter also pairs nicely with Auroral Procession, a sweet new card from Tarkir: Dragonstorm. By Imprinting Auroral Procession, you get to keep returning Counterspells from your graveyard to your hand at will and keep your opponent from developing their board. Returning Cryptic Command every turn is an easy way to pull ahead.
Eventually, you can use Auroral Procession and Blue Sun’s Zenith to deck your opponent with no troubles. If for some reason your Blue Sun’s Zenith gets exiled (say, to Force of Negation or Surgical Extraction), Nexus of Fate can come in clutch.
Nexus keeps getting reshuffled into your deck. If it ends up as the last card in your deck, you can just keep taking turns over and over and close the game with Solitude or Kaheera. The world is your oyster, so long as you can get out of the early turns unscathed.
Reacting to Your Opponent
In most cases, you’ll be playing your spells on your opponent’s turn and reacting to what they do. On turn two, it’s common to leave up Counterspell and either Growth Spiral or Planar Genesis. If your opponent plays something problematic, you can counter it. If not, you can ramp and set up your wealth of four-mana plays ahead of schedule.
Once you get to four mana, your opponent has a lot to play around. Cryptic Command is a solid piece of disruption, but you’ll often want to cast Memory Deluge if you can afford it. Memory Deluge does everything you want.
As a four-mana play, it conveniently can be cast the same turn you cast Wilderness Reclamation. From there, Wilderness Reclamation gives you the mana necessary to cast it again via Flashback on your end step by floating a bunch of mana, then letting Wilderness Reclamation untap your lands.
Another neat option at four mana is Waterlogged Teachings. Waterlogged Teachings is inefficient, but that’s not a big deal if you have Wilderness Reclamation out. You can always grab Solitude, too, so you don’t fall too far behind. Orim’s Chant can be pitched to Solitude in a pinch, as can Kaheera once you pay to put the Companion in your hand.
There’s no shortage of ways to spend your mana, which is why Wilderness Reclamation is so scary to face down. The concern, of course, is when you don’t have time to set it up or the enchantment gets countered or removed.
Polarizing Matchups
As a result, your matchups are pretty polarizing, and your games can feel the same. Against Boros Energy, your opponent has a good shot to get under your Counterspells with Ocelot Pride or Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer and make things rather difficult for you. You don’t have much in the way of actual removal, which is awkward.
Boros Energy also commonly plays answers to Wilderness Reclamation, including Thraben Charm in the maindeck. Some Boros Energy decklists even play Voice of Victory, which successfully negates all your Instant speed shenanigans.
Meanwhile, Dimir Murktide has the opportunity to jam a Psychic Frog and then counter your Wilderness Reclamation on the way down. The playset of Veil of Summer in the sideboard is incredible here, but game one can be pretty rough.
On the flip side, though, having a suite of Counterspells alongside Orim’s Chant makes matchups like Ruby Storm significantly simpler. Chances are, if your disruption lines up well, the matchup will feel pretty good.
Given Boros Energy’s chokehold on the Modern format, playing Wilderness Reclamation in this environment is definitely risky. Still, if this deck is up your alley, it’s shown that it can spike an event here and there, so don’t be afraid to give it a whirl at your next event.