For the most part, paper and digital MTG formats stay separate. The card pools in a format like Historic and Modern have overlaps, but the digital format rarely influences the larger, and older paper one. Instead, Historic players are more often influenced by Modern, especially in the wake of Modern horizons 3. This time, however, Goblin Bombardment is making its way to Modern thanks to Historic!
Interestingly, for perhaps the first time ever, a deck that was prominent in the Historic format has popped up in Modern. Not only that, but the deck is getting some strong results! Everyone knows that Boros Energy is the thing to do in both Modern and Historic, but there was one card seeing play in Historic that Modern mostly ignored. Now, Goblin Bombardment is a popular addition in both formats.
Energy With a Twist
Anyone who watched the recent Arena Championship knows just how dominant the Boros Energy deck was in the event. Goblin Bombardment was a common inclusion in these strategies, specifically to target Energy decks that decided not to use it. Not only does this allow you to stay ahead of other creature-based strategies, but you also gain access to some unique removal pieces like Claim the Firstborn.
Unlike Historic, Energy decks are not the be-all and end-all of the Modern format, but they are continually taking up larger parts of the metagame. The rise in the price of cards like Ocelot Pride and Ob Nixilis, the Adversary signals this.
As a result, Goblin Bombardment is now beginning to appear in Boros and Mardu Energy lists in the Modern format. Not only can this dish a surprisingly lethal amount of damage alongside cards like Marionette Apprentice, but this gives Ajani, Nacatl Avenger a consistent red permanent to trigger the second half of its zero ability.
Otherwise, the construction of these Boros Energy decks is something that we’ve seen before. Use a combination of Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, Amped Raptor, and Ajani, Nacatl Pride to quickly swarm the board and close the door before your opponents have a chance to stabilize. It’s nice to see a traditional creature deck see some strong results in the Modern format. The synergies between all of these creatures allow this deck to take things to the next level.
Deck Construction Differences
Between Historic and Modern, main deck construction is largely the same. Even though Modern players have access to a larger collection of cards, a lot of the cards empowering the Energy synergies in Historic and Modern remain the same. That being said, there are some differences.
Orcish Bowmasters, for instance, isn’t a card you’ll see too often in Historic. This is thanks to the card being nerfed previously since it was overly dominant in the format. With additional Historic nerfs on the horizon, it may not be long before these two decks diverge even more.
On top of this, the Modern variants will often set themselves apart by running Blood Moon and Damping Sphere. While not every list opts into this strategy, these cards provide valuable counterplay against the fierce Modern meta. When facing Storm strategies, and Tron, these cards will save you sets.
Digital Impacting Paper
Having a digital format like Historic directly impact a paper format like Modern is incredibly rare. This is a great reminder that talented MTG players can be found in every nook and cranny of the game. Some players genuinely prefer the chaos of Historic and Alchemy, utilizing fantastical abilities that simply could not become a reality in paper play.
On top of this, the ability to quickly change problematic cards is rather enticing. That said, these rebalancings don’t happen nearly often enough. Even the recently announced Historic rebalancing happening in a few weeks is long overdue following Modern Horizons 3’s release.
If you’re looking for something different to play in your beloved format, consider trying to take ideas from other existing card pools. You may be surprised with what you can create!
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