Marvel Super Heroes cards are finally here, and players are quickly testing out the new designs. While this set didn’t look the most powerful on the surface, it hasn’t taken long for a few standout cards to make their mark. Loki, God of Mischief, for example, is already showing up in both Modern and Legacy.
Mono-Blue Loki in Modern
Of all the places Loki has started showing up in, none quite harness its power like this new Mono-Blue Modern deck that just 5-0d a League. Using a full playset of Shuko, you can consistently draw cards with Loki. Then, on your opponent’s turn, using Minamo, School at Water’s Edge or Mishra’s Bauble will keep the card advantage flowing. With Emry, Lurker of the Loch, you’ll have access to Bauble every turn cycle.
While two extra cards per turn may not seem like a lot, this mono-blue deck maximizes it beautifully. With Quantum Riddler to help, flipping Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student to its Planeswalker side is trivial. Considering that all the extra fodder can offset Force of Negation and Subtlety‘s costs, you should also be able to interact rather aggressively.
With this in mind, in the event that Riddler and Urza’s Saga Construct tokens can’t cross the finish line, Thassa’s Oracle serves as a legitimate win condition. Backed up by your free interaction, you should be able to keep the opponent off-balance long enough to close things out.
As cool as this deck is, though, it does have some major weaknesses. Primarily, the lack of removal can come back to bite you if your opponent has a fast aggressive draw. Given how reliant this deck is on drawing tons of cards, Orcish Bowmasters can also be extremely difficult to navigate through. That said, in the current Modern meta, this looks like quite an interesting choice.
Popping Up Elsewhere
Beyond giving rise to new decks, Loki is also making a splash in some well-established archetypes. Sewer-Veillance Cam Combo in Modern, for example, seems like a solid home for this type of effect. After all, Loki’s potential to turn Sewer-Veillance Cam and Grinding Station into a cantrip increases your chances of finding your combo pieces.
Loki is even appearing in Legacy Cephalid Breakfast shells, once again taking advantage of Shuko. This time, though, you also get access to Nomads en-Kor, which can trigger Loki during each player’s turn with no effort. By drawing tons of cards, you should have no problem eventually finding Cephalid Illusionist to help end the game.
All in all, Loki’s competitive appeal shows that even a fixed version of Nadu, Winged Wisdom can still be incredibly powerful. Don’t be surprised if this powerhouse continues to pop up in more and more archetypes in the near future.
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