Aetherdrift cards are finally available for tournament use on Magic Online, and players are quickly starting to take advantage of the new goodies. When it comes to more powerful formats like Modern, Ketramose, the New Dawn is drawing a lot of attention. This shouldn’t be too surprising, as the card offers a ton of utility.
However, it isn’t the only creature that’s an exciting new addition to Modern. One potent uncommon is quickly making a name for itself in Hollow One shells. This creature already has a top four finish in a Magic Online Modern Challenge and has revolutionized the archetype. We are, of course, talking about Marauding Mako.
Marauding Mako Adds Power and Redundancy
- Mana Value: R
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Card Type: Creature – Shark Pirate
- MTG Sets: Aetherdrift
- Stats: 1/1
- Card Text: Whenever you discard one or more cards, put that many +1/+1 counters on this creature.
Cycling 2 (2, Discard this card: Draw a card.)
Marauding Mako is a very similar card to Flameblade Adept, which you’ll also find a playset of in this decklist. Not having menace is a big deal, but being able to continuously grow over the course of multiple turns means that Marauding Mako has enormous upside.
Thanks to cards like Burning Inquiry and Faithless Looting, it’s easy to buff Marauding Mako in no time. A single copy of Burning Inquiry automatically gets Marauding Mako out of range of three-damage removal like Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury, which is nice to keep in mind.
A big part of what makes Marauding Mako such a big upgrade for this style of deck is that it adds a ton of redundancy. There is a high likelihood that you’ll have either Flameblade Adept or Marauding Mako to lead the charge, both of which threaten to pile on damage in a short amount of time.
Marauding Mako takes the spot of the popular Nethergoyf in this decklist. Nethergoyf is obviously strong, but Marauding Mako is an excellent replacement that allows you to stay completely mono-red. and play a much less painful manabase.
On top of that, unlike Nethergoyf, Marauding Mako isn’t vulnerable to graveyard hate. If your opponent comes prepared with hate to try to keep your copies of Detective’s Phoenix and such in check, they still risk simply getting run over by your potent one-drops.
Aggression Meets Durability
- Mana Value: 5
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 4/4
- Card Type: Artifact Creature- Golem
- 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.)
Beyond the traditional beatdown starts that Marauding Mako provides, this deck is capable of attacking from a bunch of different angles. Hollow One is obviously an important piece of the puzzle, as Burning Inquiry and Goblin Lore can enable you to get Hollow One into play without needing to invest any mana.
A 4/4 isn’t necessarily the scariest thing in the world. Nonetheless, having a burly threat that can come down early and dodge Fatal Push and Lightning Bolt is great.
In addition to the assertive starts this deck provides, mono-red Hollow One is also fully capable of playing a longer game. First of all, this deck is very good at turning the corner and closing games out of nowhere.
The presence of Detective’s Phoenix and Arena of Glory means that even if your opponent can keep your board clear in the early game, you can deal a ton of damage out of nowhere by jamming a threat or two and attacking with them right away. Add Fear of Missing Out into the equation, and you’ll sometimes end the game in one turn.
On top of that, if the opponent doesn’t have graveyard hate at the ready, Ox of Agonas provides a source of inevitability. Ox is a little slow, but it’s ability to take over the late game makes it a worthwhile inclusion. You can always discard Ox early to Faithless Looting, and if the game goes long, you have a monstrous source of card advantage waiting in the wings.
Strengths and Weaknesses
- Mana Value: 1B
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 1/1
- Card Type: Creature- Orc Archer
- MTG Sets: Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth
- Card Text: Flash. When Orcish Bowmasters enters the battlefield and whenever an opponent draws a card except the first one they draw in each of their draw steps, Orcish Bowmasters deals 1 damage to any target. Then amass Orcs 1.
Overall, this deck’s versatility makes it a real force in Modern. It’s fast enough to race combo decks like Belcher from time to time, while still being robust enough to overwhelm Boros Energy. As mentioned, Marauding Mako makes graveyard hate much less impactful since you can sometimes just run the opponent over before the graveyard hate plays a major role.
This deck does suffer a bit staying mono-red in some matchups, as you don’t have access to some elite sideboard cards like Thoughtseize. This deck is also extremely weak to Orcish Bowmasters. You won’t find anything in the way of removal game one.
Meanwhile, between Faithless Looting, Burning Inquiry, Goblin Lore, and Ox of Agonas, Orcish Bowmasters is well-suited to feast on all of your extra card draw. This means that even if you sandbag Marauding Mako to not leave your one-toughness threat exposed right away, you’re still in a rough spot.
The good news is that Gut Shot out of the sideboard can clean up Orcish Bowmasters for free. Gut Shot is also decent versus Ocelot Pride. As a zero-mana investment, you’re free to continue to build out your board and still react accordingly.
Aetherdrift also brought another neat tool against Boros Energy in the form of Fuel the Flames. Fuel the Flames is great at keeping fast Boros Energy starts with Ajani, Nacatl Pariah in check. Unlike traditional Pyroclasm effects, though, you can always cycle it away in situations where it doesn’t line up well. This is a nice option to have, especially in a deck that rewards you for discarding cards.
Mono-red Hollow One may not be the deck that jumps to mind when you think of strong decks in Modern. Yet, Marauding Mako is an upgrade that cannot be overstated. This deck’s elite performance is nothing to scoff at, so make sure you keep it on your radar if you’re looking to play Modern in the near future.