Wrenn and Six is $90.00 for a reason. It is a busted Magic: the Gathering card. And it just got a big buff from a new land cycle from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty.
Wizards of the Coast already banned Wrenn and Six in Legacy. Now, because Wrenn and Six’s synergies with new Kamigawa cards, there’s a change WOTC will ban it in Modern too.
Wrenn and Six
Two-mana Planeswalkers are dangerous territory when it comes to MTG game design. Planeswalkers in general, are difficult permanents to remove. And when your opponent plays a Planeswalker on Turn 2, before you’ve had a chance to play out creatures to pressure its loyalty, the game will quickly get out of hand.
Multiple top-tier Modern decks, like Jund and
Indomitable Creativity
Indomitable Creativity
Destroy X target artifacts and/or creatures. For each permanent destroyed this way, its controller reveals cards from the top of their library until an artifact or creature card is revealed and exiles that card. Those players put the exiled cards onto the battlefield, then shuffle.
, already play Wrenn and Six. And there are decks that play four colors to play Wrenn,
Teferi, Time Raveler
Teferi, Time Raveler
Each opponent can cast spells only any time they could cast a sorcery.
+1: Until your next turn, you may cast sorcery spells as though they had flash.
−3: Return up to one target artifact, creature, or enchantment to its owner's hand. Draw a card.
, and
Omnath, Locus of Creation
Omnath, Locus of Creation
When Omnath enters, draw a card.
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, you gain 4 life if this is the first time this ability has resolved this turn. If it's the second time, add {R}{G}{W}{U}. If it's the third time, Omnath deals 4 damage to each opponent and each planeswalker you don't control.
together.
All of those decks will only get better with the new lands from Neon Dynasty. And there’s a good chance that new decks will surface, centered around Wrenn and the new lands. So without further ado, let’s take a look at the channel lands from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty.
The Channel Lands of Neon Dynasty
You can discard a card with channel, rather than playing it, to gain an alternate ability. As channel is an activated ability, it gets around traditional
Counterspell
Counterspell
Counter target spell.
s.
Channel also plays well with graveyard-based effects. And that’s where Wrenn and Six comes in. Once you discard a channel land, you can use Wrenn and Six’s +1 ability to return the channel land from your graveyard to your hand.
As long as Wrenn and Six stick on the board, you have consistent access to these effects. Otawara can return an artifact, creature, enchantment, or planeswalker to its owner’s hand. Sokenzan makes tokens that can protect Wrenn and Six. And if Wrenn and Six dies, Takenuma can return it from your graveyard to your hand.
These lands are good for multiple reasons.
While normally drawing two legendary cards is a bad thing, because you can only play one due to the legend rule, channel lets you discard the surplus legendary card for a useful effect.
All of the legendary channel lands come into play untapped. This gives them an extremely low deckbuilding cost, as they can essentially replace a basic land.
Read More: The White Scavenging Ooze From Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty
Boseiju, Who Endures
Boseiju, Who Endures, deserves a special mention, as it is one of the best cards to come out of the new set. It can destroy an artifact, enchantment, or nonbasic land for just 1-2 mana.
In some ways, Boseiju reminds me of
Ghost Quarter
Ghost Quarter
{T}: Add {C}.
{T}, Sacrifice this land: Destroy target land. Its controller may search their library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle.
, in that it can destroy an opponent’s land in exchange for playing a new land out of their deck.
The problem with this, especially in Modern, is that decks don’t play many lands with basic land typings. If a player uses Boseiju enough times, such as looping it back to your hand with Wrenn and Six each turn, it will deplete an opponent’s deck of its basic land typings.
At that point, Boseiju becomes a
Wasteland
Wasteland
{T}: Add {C}.
{T}, Sacrifice this land: Destroy target nonbasic land.
of sorts. It can destroy artifacts, enchantments, and nonbasic lands, and give your opponent nothing in return.
Boseiju, Who Endures, is a massive buff to any Wrenn and Six deck. And it may push Wrenn and Six over the limit of acceptability.
Read More: It’s Time to Buy Shrines Before the MTG Kamigawa Hype