Every year, it feels like more and more MTG products are getting released. It’s very natural to feel the FOMO urge you to keep up with the avalanche. Otherwise, you may regret not taking advantage of your opportunities to immerse yourself in all that MTG has to offer.
Funnily enough, in a strange series of events, Duskmourn has presented us with a card named “Fear of Missing Out” that is actually even more flavorful than you might think. While it’s only been a couple of days since Duskmourn cards became available on Magic Online and MTG Arena, Fear of Missing Out has quickly made its presence felt in Standard, Pioneer, and Modern! If you’re looking to stay ahead of the curve in Constructed, it’s time to embrace this Fear of Missing Out before it’s too late!
A Strong Discard Outlet
- 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 are four or more card types among cards in your graveyard, untap target creature. After this phase, there is an additional combat phase.
Fear of Missing Out is a very strong card. Part of what makes it so appealing is that it has an incredibly high floor. What we mean by this is that even before you manage to enable Delirium, you’ve got a perfectly reasonable 2/3 body that lets you rummage when it enters.
This alone has helped the card prove its worth in Pioneer Rakdos Tree of Perdition decklists. These Rakdos variants utilize a lot of the same elements as classic Rakdos midrange shells, such as Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and Bloodtithe Harvester. These decks, however, also make use of the “combo” of Agatha’s Soul Cauldron and Tree of Perdition. Once you discard Tree of Perdition, you can exile it with Agatha’s Soul Cauldron, putting a +1/+1 counter on one of your small creatures. From there, you can activate Tree’s ability and bring your opponent to a very low life total.
Fear of Missing Out acts as a nice upgrade to Voldaren Epicure. Just like the Vampire, Fear of Missing Out lets you discard Tree of Perdition early and set up your synergies. On top of that, though, Fear of Missing Out is a much better midrange card in its own right. Once you get Delirium, you can start getting multiple attacks in and threatening the opponent’s life total by traditional means.
Some players are also trying the red two-drop out in Reanimator brews in Standard. Once again, Fear of Missing Out serves as a low-cost way to get a huge haymaker like Valgavoth, Terror Eater into the graveyard, and you can recur it with Rite of the Moth. Creatures like Raffine’s Informant see play to fulfill a similar purpose, so it’s not unreasonable for Fear of Missing Out to get the nod in certain strategies.
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Going Bigger
- Mana Value: 5
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 4/4
- MTG Sets: Hour of Devastation, Time Spiral Remastered, Mystery Booster 2
- Card Text: Hollow One costs 2 less to cast for each card you’ve cycled or discarded this turn. Cycling 2 (2, Discard this card: Draw a card.)
Where things start to get really interesting is when you can reliably turn on Delirium. Then, Fear of Missing Out becomes a very threatening card that your opponent will feel pressured to deal with. Well, this is exactly what makes Rakdos Hollow One a great archetype for Fear of Missing Out to slot into.
Fear of Missing Out does everything this deck wants. Not only does it fill your graveyard to empower, Nethergoyf, but it lets you discard Detective’s Phoenix for value and to Bestow it later. If Fear of Missing Out ever dies, it adds the enchantment type to your graveyard to help further maximize Nethergoyf and Dragon’s Rage Channeler.
Of course, with access to Fetchlands, Mishra’s Bauble, and Street Wraith, setting up Delirium isn’t too hard. Then, Fear of Missing Out lets you get an extra attack in with one of your massive threats. In some games, it’ll even be worth suiciding Fear of Missing Out in an attack simply to untap your Nethergoyf, that’s suited up with Detective’s Phoenix, and gain an additional big swing. This deck has access to enough big creatures that Fear of Missing Out’s final ability becomes that much scarier.
Interestingly, Fear of Missing Out has the sweet bonus of working really well in multiples. Think about the scenario where you have one large, evasive threat and two copies of Fear. You can attack with the flier and one copy of Fear to untap your flier and gain an additional combat phase. Then, in your next combat phase, you can attack with the flier and the other copy of Fear. This guarantees yet another crack with the flier in a third combat phase.
This Nightmare is the real deal and deserves a lot of respect. As its name suggests, you better be prepared for its arrival, or you risk ending up on the wrong side of history. FOMO is coming, and it’s not slowing down!
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