Now that we’ve had almost a week with Secrets of Strixhaven, the quality of the cards on offer here is becoming clear. Newcomers from this set are already impacting a wide range of MTG formats, impacting all kinds of different decks. In particular, several Combo lists have received notable upgrades in Secrets of Strixhaven, making them faster and more consistent than ever before. If you enjoy popping off outside of your Commander pod, then this is a set you’ll want to take seriously.
Exhibition Tidecaller In Modern Dredge
Dredge hasn’t had a massive presence in Modern for a while, but Secrets of Strixhaven could well change that. Exhibition Tidecaller gives the deck a hugely impressive one-drop, capable of filling your graveyard lightning fast. Between Faithless Looting, Burning Inquiry, and Lava Dart, the deck has no shortage of cheap ways to trigger this early game.
This, in turn, lets you set up your Arclight Phoenixes, and your Dredgers like Stinkweed Imp, far faster than usual. Since Modern Dredge is essentially a Burn deck that works from the graveyard, this pushes your clock forward significantly, increasing your odds of hitting Creeping Chills and reaching lethal damage. That it comes on a 0/2 body is relevant, too, as it can hold off Ocelot Prides and Guide of Souls’ against Boros Energy while also absorbing Orcish Bowmasters pings.
While it’s early days for Exhibition Tidecaller in Dredge, initial results are promising. A version of the deck running a full playset of the card made the top 4 in an MTGO Modern Challenge earlier this week, and it’s seeing plenty of League play too.
Page, Loose Leaf In Pauper Cycle Storm
For the uninitiated, Cycle Storm is a deck all about setting up a Drannith Stinger, then Cycling a ton of creatures with the help of rituals like Songs of the Damned. The Storm part comes from Reaping the Graves, which lets you recur all of your Cycling creatures on your pop-off turn to keep the chain going. While this was already a powerful archetype before Secrets of Strixhaven, Page, Loose Leaf just gave it a massive upgrade.
Thanks to Grandeur, Page has become a cheap multi-tool for Cycle Storm that serves several of the deck’s needs. While it’s a fine mana dork for the deck in the early game, Page’s Grandeur ability also helps you find your key combo cards. Whether you hit Reaping the Graves or Songs of the Damned, Page can both accelerate your combo and increase its consistency.
As a result, many Cycle Storm players are already running Page as a full four-of. The card is mainly seeing League success so far, with multiple 5-0 finishes in the bag. That said, with how much it adds to the deck, we could see it creeping up into Challenges before long.
Flashback In Modern Ruby Storm
Though Ruby Storm is definitely one of the best decks in Modern, it still ranks below powerhouses like Boros Energy and Jeskai Blink for consistency reasons. While it’s incredible when it pops off, bad draws and disruption can totally ruin the deck’s day. Flashback addresses both issues, adding extra redundancy and resilience to round out the deck.
For starters, essentially getting an extra copy of any spell in your graveyard is a massive deal. Whether you need more mana to start your Storm turn, or more card draw to keep it going, Flashback has you covered. That it’s a cheap spell itself, and therefore helps up your Storm count, is excellent too.
The other big advantage Flashback adds to Ruby Storm is extra resilience. The deck only tends to run a single copy of Grapeshot and a couple of Wishes as win conditions, which makes it very vulnerable to countermagic from prepared opponents. Flashback gives you a way to buy back your win if you run into this issue, either on the same turn or after you’ve Stormed off again later.
Thanks to this powerful utility, Flashback is quickly becoming a staple in Ruby Storm. The card has appeared as a full playset in high-ranking Challenge lists, as well as League decks aplenty. Given how perfectly-suited the card is to Ruby Storm, it’s hard to see the deck parting ways with its new toy any time soon.
Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer In Pioneer Greasefang
While Izzet Prowess and Golgari Midrange are very much contesting its crown, Orzhov Greasefang is still one of the best decks in Pioneer. With the addition of Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer, however, it could gain an edge over its many competitors.
For the most part, Ral Zarek is another way to get Parhelion II into the graveyard to set up your Greasefang, Okiba Boss reanimation turn. If you have it in your hand, Ral can discard it with its -1 while attacking your opponent’s hand to boot. Otherwise, you can Surveil with the +1 instead and hope to find it that way.
Beyond this, Ral’s -2 ability is actually highly relevant here as well. If your opponent manages to deal with Parhelion II and Greasefang somehow, then this gives you a way to bring both back for a second round. It can also resurrect your discard outlet two-drops, like Guardian of New Benalia, if you find yourself with excess loyalty in a long game.
Currently, players are only trying Ral Zarek out in small numbers, but these decks are seeing regular League results. If things continue along this road, I could easily see this becoming a staple two or three-of in Greasefang decks going forward.
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