Now that Prerelease weekend has officially begun, Modern Horizons 3 is here at long last! For better or worse, this newly released set is as powerful as expected, with countless insane bombs to gawp at. Unfortunately, this means that Modern, as well as Historic and Timeless, are bound to suffer through a forced rotation very soon.
As if Modern Horizons 3 wasn’t enough to do it on its own, another direct-to-Modern release is happening incredibly soon. On July 5th, Wizards will release Assassin’s Creed, the next 100-card Universes Beyond set. To whet our appetites for this set, IGN has recently revealed a trio of spoilers during their aptly named IGN Live event.
The Spear of Leonidas
Kicking things off, we have The Spear of Leonidas. In Assassin’s Creed, The Spear of Leonidas is wielded by Kassandra, a Spartan mercenary. This weapon specifically grants Superhuman abilities and got its name from Kassandra’s grandfather, King Leonidas I of Sparta. From a flavor standpoint, seeing The Spear of Leonidas reimagined in the world of MTG as a sweet equipment is cool. Unfortunately, though, the card itself is rather tame.
As a three-mana equipment that costs two to equip, The Spear of Leonidas isn’t the most efficient equipment out there. Even after you equip The Spear to a creature, that creature doesn’t get any bonus until it actually attacks. From there, The Spear offers some flexibility, but none of the modes available are that exciting.
Likely the most common mode you’ll choose is the first one. Giving a large attacker Double Strike can threaten a lot of damage, and you might even need to choose this mode to ensure your attacker survives through combat. Still, with no power boost granted from The Spear itself, you ideally want a big creature with Trample already in play before you’re satisfied. On some board states, though, you may decide to either make a legendary 3/2 Horse token or rummage away two cards from your hand when you attack instead.
By Modern standards, The Spear is clearly below the bar. Even in EDH, there are much better equipment to go around. The good news is that The Spear does serve one important purpose in Commander specifically: to help enable Kassandra, Eagle Bearer.
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Kassandra, Eagle Bearer
Next up, we have Kassandra Eagle Bearer. As mentioned, Kassandra is well-known for her ability to utilize The Spear of Leonidas, which makes her rather unique. With the spear getting spoiled, it only makes sense that Kassandra would be, too.
While the spear individually isn’t a strong card, if you build a Commander deck with Kassandra at the helm, playing the spear in your 99 is well worth it. This is because Kassandra tutors up the spear for you when she enters play. Even if the spear previously got destroyed or you happen to draw it during the course of the game, Kassandra can put it right into play for free.
As such, Kassandra adds a lot to the board for only three mana. Once you Equip The Spear to any of your creatures and attack, you get to start generating card advantage, too. Of course, Kassandra also works well in conjunction with any other legendary equipment. Filling your deck with cheap legendary equipment, such as Umezawa’s Jitte, and efficient attackers to suit up is a recipe for success.
Kassandra still doesn’t seem strong enough for Modern, but she’s a really cool legend to build around in EDH. Rewarding players for utilizing legendary Equipment is rather unique, and players seem generally intrigued.
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Conspiracy
Finally, we have Conspiracy. Conspiracy is a bit of an interesting card to see included in MTG Assassin’s Creed, as the card is a reprint that was already Modern legal. This enchantment debuted in Mercadian Masques but was introduced to Modern as a Timeshifted card.
Ultimately, Conspiracy costs a lot of mana, and its abilities are way too niche for Constructed play. This enchantment essentially does the exact same thing as Arcane Adaptation for two more mana, which isn’t too appealing. Regardless, some black Commander decks that are built around historically underrepresented creature types will make use of Conspiracy.
For example, Conspiracy is a nice inclusion in Disa the Restless EDH decks. With Disa on the battlefield and Conspiracy in play naming Lhurgoyf, you can discard or mill over any creatures and get to bring them back regardless of their normal creature types.
From a financial standpoint, Conspiracy doesn’t offer a ton of reprint value. The card currently sits at roughly $3 according to TCGPlayer’s market price.
MTG Assassin’s Creed is coming up on us awfully fast, with the set releasing July 5, 2024. It’s nice to see some more interesting spoilers make their way out of the woodwork. Make sure to keep your eyes peeled as more cards start to get previewed in the coming weeks.
