If you ask us, Ketramose, the New Dawn is the clear frontrunner for MTG Aetherdrift overall. The card offers an insane amount of card draw, combos with infamously powerful creatures, and has enough synergies to see play in formats even as old as Modern.
MTG Aetherdrift is getting its first digital appearances today, and Ketramose is clearly one of the best cards to come out of the set. The card saw tons of play across formats in a variety of different decks.
Ketramose in Standard
Considering that MTG Aetherdrift is a tentpole Standard set, you might expect Ketramose to do some work in the format. So far, Twitch streamer Meowodic climbed up to rank 2 on the MTG Arena ladder with Ketramose Insidious Roots. The deck has been a rogue one in the Standard format, but it has been around for quite some time.
It may be a bit difficult to see, but this deck assembles an infinite combo. The end result involves a massive board of plants that can tap for mana on entry and a Voldaren Thrillseeker that chucks your biggest plant at your opponent’s head. More often than not, this is enough to end the game.
Insidious Roots cares about you removing creatures from your graveyard. Ketramose just so happens to work incredibly well with this strategy. Osteomancer Adept is a big part of making this combo work, and Insidious Roots wants you to both cast and exile creatures from the grave with the Squirrel. Not only will Ketramose draw bucketloads of cards with this synergy, but the card also helps fight against the hate that works best against you. Cards like Ghost Vacuum work best against this deck when used during your turn, but Ketramose punishes that strategy by drawing cards.
While the deck will struggle with cards like Rest in Peace and Temporary Lockdown, Ketramose does seem to add something to Insidious Roots. If you’re a fan of the archetype like I am, this could be a fun evening spent.
Ketramose in Modern
Ketramose may have been released in a Standard set, but it’s doing a ton of damage in Modern too. Not only is Ketramose showing up in multiple top archetypes in Modern, but it even seems to have created an entirely new archetype.
Firstly, Ketramose seems to be right at home in the Orzhov Sewers and Dimir Murktide strategies. Considering Dimir Murktide’s recent results being poor at best, the archetype certainly needed a boost, and Ketramose just might be good enough.
Dimir Murktide splashing for Ketramose had a top-eight finish in yesterday’s Modern challenge. This was one of the first larger events held with Aetherdrift cards being legal in the format. Ketramose happens to have some absolutely ridiculous synergies with Psychic Frog. Thanks to its exile effect, Psychic Frog can draw a ludicrous amount of cards when coupled with Ketramose. Between that and the ability to Unearth a Ketramose into play, it certainly seems strong enough to cause a potential resurgence in Murktide strategies.
Outside of Murktide, another deck is taking advantage of Psychic Frog and Ketramose. This brew is still in the works, but combining Psychic Frog and Ketramose with Dredge creates some infinite combo shenanigans. Darkblast, in particular, seems to be the Dredge card of choice.
The strategy goes as such: exile three cards with Psychic Frog to trigger Ketramose. Replace the Ketramose draw with Darkblast’s Dredge. Discard Darkblast to Frog, and repeat the process. The result? An infinitely large Psychic Frog with Flying ready to take your opponent out.
Andrea Mengucci piloted an early brew of this in a Domain Zoo shell to a 5-0 finish in an MTGO league. The combo certainly has potential. Expect to see it more in the coming days.
Ketramose in the Sewer
Ketramose’s last appearance, so far, is in Orzhov Sewers lists, which are sone of the best in Modern. Many players expected Ketramose to appear in this archetype because of how well it synergizes with the overall strategies involved. Multiple Blink effects like Ephemerate and Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd abuse powerful ETB effects to create tons of value. Since all this Blink effects exile, Ketramose can draw lots of cards.
The list above is an example of what a Ketramose Sewers deck may look like. Piloted to a 5-0 finish, it is very easy to draw an unsettling amount of cards with Ketramose. You don’t even need to untap with the God to gain value from it thanks to Phelia and Solitude.
I do suspect that 4 Ketramose might be too many. Not only does the Legend Rule pose a bit of a problem, but Ketramose can struggle to make an immediate impact on the board state if its Devotion mechanic is not turned on. This could make it a bad topdeck in situations where you already have a Ketramose in play, or you cannot take advantage of Ketramose’s draw effect immediately.
Ketramose Should Continue to Perform
Ketramose making such a big impact immediately just confirms its massive potential. It would be a stretch to say that this was a shocking result since everyone’s eyes were on the God in spoiler season, but many MTG players may not have expected Ketramose to come swinging out of the gate quite as hard as it did.
Ultimately, this is just the beginning of Aetherdrift’s effects on Magic’s various formats. The set hasn’t even been legal for a week yet, and it is already starting to sway the effects of decade-old formats.
