What is the best card in Modern Horizons 3? We’re sure this question is a commonly asked one in the community right now. In Modern, that question is a hotly debated one, as there are certainly some hot contenders. Nadu, Winged Wisdom may be the card closest to winning this debate at the moment.
In Legacy, this debate may have already been solved. One Modern Horizons 3 card looks absurdly broken in comparison to the others. The deck it has created can mulligan to oblivion while presenting turn-one wins that get through free counterspells like Force of Will. If you’re playing Legacy, or are planning to play it, and not playing Necrodominance, you’re probably going to lose to it.
A New Menace
There was early talk of Necrodominance being problematic in the Legacy format. Necropotence, the card’s referenced powerhouse from ancient times, is banned in Legacy for good reason. Necrodominance will probably just serve as a reminder as to why Necropotence is banned. Generally, turn one kills that can have protection semi-consistently is a line that cannot be crossed in the format. Worryingly, this card is crossing that line.
This deck, while popularized by YouTuber Tonyscapone, is not a deck made just by him. A whole group of players worked on bringing this to life, and it really shows.
The card that unlocks the true potential of Necrodominance is a card from Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth. Borne Upon a Wind allows you to play everything at instant speed for the turn. This is pretty good considering the card itself is an instant and replaces itself.
This allows Necrodominance to be used in a way that was not intended, which is generally how these cards become broken. Instead of using Necrodominance as a tool to keep your hand full, you can draw a ton of cards and use them all before passing the turn. This supersedes the hand limit imposed by Necrodominance.
Winning the Game
So, your goal is to set up a turn-one Necrodominance, draw a bunch of cards, and win the game. You generally do this by generating three mana with Dark Ritual and casting Necrodominance off of it. You can also use a variety of other fast mana like Lotus Petal, Simian Spirit Guide, and Elvish Spirit Guide combined with Manamorphose to do this.
Manamorphose plays a key role in the deck, mainly because the fast mana provided by the two Spirit Guides comes in the wrong colors. You need blue to cast Borne Upon a Wind, and you need black to cast your various Dark Ritual and Cabal Ritual cards. It’s not an exaggeration to say that, in the list’s current state, the deck would not work without this uncommon.
Notably, you do need to cast Borne Upon a Wind to win the game. Without this, you have no way to cast your Tendrils of Agony at instant speed, which is how you ultimately kill your opponent. Remember, most of your turn is taking place in your end step. Casting Borne Upon a Wind will also unlock some fast mana on your end step in the form of Lotus Petal.
Obviously, you’re not always going to draw 19 cards and find Borne Upon a Wind. Fortunately, this deck is designed to help. Valakut Awakening can shuffle back a ton of cards you don’t want and draw to find the Borne Upon a Wind. Beseech the Mirror could theoretically help here, but because the card is sorcery speed, you can only use it in your end step after you cast Borne itself.
It is very rare to not win the game after Necrodominance goes off. The amount of turn one wins this deck produces is absurd. All you need to do is resolve Necrodominance and make it to your endstep.
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Weaknesses
While this deck is incredibly powerful, there’s also a lot that can stop it. Force of Will is the equalizer of the Legacy format, and while this deck comes prepared to deal with it, your attempt to win can still be stopped cold. Depending on how many resources you used to attempt, you may be left stranded.
Otherwise, discard effects can also hurt a fair bit. Grief is omnipresent in the Legacy format, and it is capable of ripping your hand apart.
This means that the top dog of the format, Rescaminator, likely has a decent matchup against you. Between Grief, a powerful reanimation combo, and eight free counterspells mainboard, this deck has the tools to take you out. Because this deck commonly sideboards Force of Negation, they can even go up to past ten free counterspells post board.
That said, you can always open a protected turn one hand, which will not give your opponent very many options. Siding into Veil of Summer can also help to protect from both of these threats.
Finally, Chalice of the Void and Trinisphere are common hate pieces that can really slow you down. This deck does come prepared with artifact destruction in the sideboard to help, but I have personally won through a Chalice on one with this deck. All the card did was slow me down a turn.
Is Necrodominance too much for the Legacy format? We’re not sure yet. The deck definitely looks like a powerful contender and is capable of some ban-worthy play patterns, but it hasn’t put up any explosive results. Some time will tell whether this is just another deck to worry about, or if it’s the real deal. Like Modern, Nadu, Winged Wisdom is also making an impact on this format. That may end up being the real problem card.
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