There were many takeaways from last Monday’s historic Modern bans, but one of the clearest concerned Jegantha. Eating a ban because of the homogenizing effect it had on deckbuilding, the Elk shone a light on the issues with the Companion mechanic as a whole. In a development tinged with wonderfully unintentional comic timing, some Four-Color Keruga lists are now putting up results in the MTG modern format.
While Ixalan’s Dinosaur Hippo is a far cry from many of its banned siblings, it’s still powerful enough to have a whole deck built around it. A pretty good one too, based on the results. Seeing offbeat decks like this do well is typically a great sign after big changes, but here it also raises questions about the Companion mechanic, and whether it should really exist in Magic at all.
Four-Color Keruga In MTG Modern
Before we get into its deeper implications for MTG, let’s take a look at the Four-Color Keruga deck itself. The version we’ll be looking at today comes via RespectTheCat, a longtime fan of the archetype. They piloted the list to a 5-0 finish in a Modern League just yesterday.
As Modern lists go, this one is a bit of a doozy. Keruga’s Companion condition demands you play with cards that cost three or more, so the deck is largely made up of three drops. This pushes it into the role of a Control deck, such is the speed of the Modern format.
That’s not to say the deck can’t do anything until turn three. Split cards like Dead/Gone and Fire/Ice technically cost three and four mana, respectively, since the mana values of each half are combined in the deck. Cards like these give you options early on, to get you to your three drops.
Once you get there, it should be smooth sailing. Four-Color Keruga plays some of the best three-mana cards Magic has ever seen. I’m talking Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Teferi, Time Raveler, and Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury. These cards have been all-stars in different formats before, and they play just as nicely here.
Where the ‘Four-Color’ aspect of the deck comes in is Omnath, Locus of Creation. Despite its incredibly specific mana cost, this card has led countless decks to victory in its time. You’re unlikely to hit its third ability with this deck, but turning a Fetchland into four life and a huge mana boost is more than enough to earn Omnath its four slots. Some versions of the deck actually go by ‘Omnath Control’ instead of ‘Four-Color Keruga,’ as a result.
Elemental Energy
Omnath is also a natural segway into discussing the deck’s other big facet: its Elemental subtheme. If you glanced over the deck, you’d be justified in thinking it was an Elemental Typal list. Omnath is joined by stellar draw engine Risen Reef, as well as some of the notorious Modern Horizons 2 Evoke Elementals in Endurance and Solitude.
Risen Reef can draw you a ton of cards to keep you in the game while also occasionally providing additional land drops for Omnath. The Evoke Elementals, like the split cards we covered earlier, give the deck action in the early game while still being valid with Keruga.
Speaking of Keruga, it actually does a fair bit of work here. Unlike Jegantha, which was mostly just a vanilla 5/5 that players included out of convenience, Keruga can legitimately win you games. It’s not just a body: it can easily draw you multiple cards when it comes down. A five-mana 5/4 isn’t great, admittedly, but you’ll still take it, no question, in a grindy game.
Throw in a couple of copies of Force of Negation, and that’s the deck, flex slots aside. It essentially plays a grindy value game, dealing with opposing threats while staying ahead in card advantage. It then leverages Keruga to close things out. There are some nifty lines in here, but mostly, it’s just an excuse to play with some of the best cards printed across all colors in recent Magic. As Boros Energy has shown, good stuff piles can pull their weight in Modern.
Another Head Of The Hydra?
While Four-Color Keruga is definitely delivering results in the post-ban MTG Modern meta, it’s a bit too early to call it a problem. It’s still very much an off-meta deck, and a pet project for players like RespectTheCat, who has been trying to make it work for ages.
That said, the fact that another Companion deck is rising up immediately after the Jegantha ban is slightly worrying. Wizards just finished addressing a problematic instance of the mechanic, and here’s another ready to take its place. Keruga isn’t alone, either. The past week has also seen new Boros Energy variants running Obosh, the Preypiercer come into contention. In such cases, it appears the bans were ineffectual on two levels.
The restrictions that Keruga and Obosh apply are much more limiting than Jegantha’s, but I could still see them causing similar issues going forward. Jegantha proved that players are willing to slightly tweak their decks even for a mostly-vanilla 5/5. Companions with actual abilities, therefore, have the potential to be much more widespread.
We’ve known how good this mechanic is for a while now, but the recent rise of Jegantha really feels like a ‘genie out of the bottle’ moment for Magic. Players seem much more willing to just jam a Companion in their decks now, and the sheer card quality these days invalidates the restrictions in many cases. For that reason, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Keruga and Obosh reach a similar status before long.
Right now, decks like Four-Color Keruga are just fun novelties, and I genuinely hope they stay that way. Having an entire mechanic banned would make for a great headline, but it would be terrible for Magic.
