Cards to Watch In Modern Right Now - June 2025

Modern is growing more diverse and interesting by the week. Today we have four cards worth paying attention to – not only for their relevance in the Modern meta, but for their financial potential, too (obviously). Let’s dig in!

Cori-Steel Cutter

While this card may be getting the attention of Standard-players, and negative attention at that, Cori-Steel Cutter also is picking up traction in Modern. To be very specific, Izzet Prowess decks are resurfacing in no small part thanks to this interestingly-templated artifact. 

While Steel Cutter is an Equipment artifact, it will likely never be manually equipped unless there are no other game actions worth taking. Steel Cutter’s value is its triggered ability, wherein wherever you cast your second spell each turn, you may create a 1/1 token with prowess and attach Steel Cutter to said token, enabling the token to get +1/+1 and haste. 

Shocking to no one, it’s very easy for Izzet Prowess decks to cast two spells a turn, almost every turn, meaning that Steel Cutter is kind of an engine for the deck that allows you to go wider, and synergizes incredibly well with game actions you’re already taking as you advance towards a win. 

To illustrate this point, suppose you play Monastery Swiftspear turn one, and swing for one damage. On turn two, you play Steel Cutter, and trigger prowess on Swiftspear, and then you cast a Mutagenic Growth by paying two life targeting Swiftspear, triggering both prowess and Steel Cutter. You now make a 1/1 Monk that will be equipped with Steel Cutter, thereby making it a 2/2, and Swiftspear will now get +4/+4 from both prowess triggers and the Mutagenic Growth. Now let’s suppose you cast a Mishra's Bauble. The Monk and Swiftspear will now get an additional prowess trigger, making the Monk a 3/3 and Swiftspear a 6/7. You can now swing for nine total damage. Recall that Swiftspear in our hypothetical attack for one on turn one, which means by the end of turn two that your opponent’s life has been halved. 

Understandably, Cori-Steel’s impact on the game snowballs with each passing turn. This card alone has really helped to catapult Izzet Prowess back into meta relevance, which it hasn’t seen since the limbo between Violent Outburst’s banning and The One Ring’s banning. While there’s potential for it to eat a ban in Standard, it has a lot of upward potential in Modern, making its current price point still relatively undercapitalized on paper. Keep an eye on this one!

Cori-Steel Cutter	CardKingdom $15.99	TCGPlayer $11.39
Cori-Steel Cutter (Borderless)	CardKingdom $14.99	TCGPlayer $12.05

Lotus Bloom

In the interest of full disclosure, my first Modern deck ever was Krark-Clan Eggs, a deck that was reviled by many, but also one of the few that could adequately capitalize on Lotus Bloom thanks to cards like Reshape and Faith's Reward. Abstracting from the historical context of this Lotus, the value that Lotus Bloom provides is quite simple: for no cost to you other than time (if you suspend it), you gain access to three mana of any color, which is powerful no matter what format you play in. The fact that you have to suspend Lotus Bloom for three turns or cheat it into play has typically been its downside, making its spot in the meta a little more precarious. 

Typically the decks that benefit the most from this are ones where either the resolution of this card simply provides you enough mana to win the game (on turn four, usually) or decks where Bloom can be recursively looped in and out of your graveyard in such a way to net you mana. 

So what deck capitalizes on this the best? Well, Goblin Charbelcher combo decks centered around the eponymous artifact are seeing a slight resurgence in play. These shells are kind of comical. The “schtick” with this deck is that you can’t run any lands in your deck in order for a Charbelcher activation to deterministically kill an opponent. In Modern, this wasn’t tenable for years. However, the density of MDFC cards, especially since Modern Horizons 3’s release, has enabled this shell to find viability. Ultimately, this deck needs only to count to seven: four mana to play Charbelcher, and three to activate its ability.

Because running a deck full of MDFC cards substantially lowers your card quality, mana acceleration and card advantage have to come from elsewhere; this is where Lotus Bloom comes into play. Mulliganing explicitly for this card, and a way to dig for a Charbelcher, is usually enough to win the game once the last time counter is removed from Lotus Bloom. Add onto this the fact that most Charbelcher decks play Tameshi, Reality Architect as a four-of, and you have a built-in advantage engine that allows you to recursively return Lotus Bloom to play, while bouncing your MDFC lands simultaneously. This synergy on top of the mana Bloom provides make it a centerpiece in Charbelcher, which, much like many of the decks we’re mentioning today, is seeing a resurgence in popularity, thereby causing some interesting price movement in Bloom itself. 

Stagnating at about $6, Bloom seems like a worthwhile speculation, especially as Charbelcher continues to carve out its role in the meta. 

Lotus Bloom	CardKingdom $6.99	TCGPlayer $5.60
Lotus Bloom	CardKingdom $4.99	TCGPlayer $4.00

Force of Negation

Introduced in Modern Horizons, Force of Negation is Modern’s premier “free” counterspell to rival Legacy’s Force of Will. Now, while this is all good and fine, Modern has never been a format where Force of Negation felt as powerful as Force of Will in its companion format – in no small part due to the importance of creatures in Modern, and Force of Negation’s inability to freely counter creature spells. Having said that, the current meta has offered enough breathing room for tempo-style shells to return in fighting form, and Force of Negation is an integral part of said shells. 

Which shell capitalizes on Force of Negation the best? Well, that would be Dimir Murktide (and other Murktide decks to a lesser extent). With newfound help from Kaito, Bane of Nightmares and Psychic Frog, this archetype is better situated than ever and arguably the best deck to capitalize on Force of Negation overall.

This uptick in play has put some mild, but still observable upward pressure on Force. Now sitting comfortably at $55 with no sign trending downward anytime soon, Force represents a fair bit of financial potential, especially as shells like Murktide make their way back into the meta. 

Force of Negation	CardKingdom $57.99	TCGPlayer $54.04
Force of Negation (Borderless)	CardKingdom $74.99	TCGPlayer $65.18
Force of Negation (Foil Etched)	CardKingdom	TCGPlayer $69.96

Arena of Glory

This Modern Horizons 3 utility land has largely flown under the radar, given the prominence of its peer Shifting Woodland from the same land cycle. However, Arena is starting to find itself a home in Boros Energy shells. Why? In the absence of The One Ring, advantage must simply come from other sources - namely creatures. Beyond this, Energy has to compensate a little bit going into this new meta to stay afloat. Going all-in – or at least farther in – on Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury has allowed for cards like Seasoned Pyromancer to flourish in an Energy shell. Being able to pitch Phlage to a Pyromancer ETB trigger, and then escaping it with Arena of Glory, makes for a one-turn hasty Phlage capable of presenting a minimum of nine total damage. 

All this is to say, exerting Arena of Glory is the best way to escape Phlage for maximum pressure on opposing players’ life totals. Similar to Cori Steel-Cutter in Izzet Prowess, Arena of Glory gives an opportunity for Energy to present a massive amount of damage and pressure in a very short window. Sitting stagnant at around $11, Arena feels like a fairly reasonable pickup and speculation as long as Energy continues to reign as the top dog of the Modern meta. 

Arena of Glory	CardKingdom $16.99	TCGPlayer $11.57
Arena of Glory (Borderless)	CardKingdom $18.99	TCGPlayer $15.59

Bringing It Home

Modern mostly feels like it's in a good spot right now. Sure, Energy still occupies a large share of the meta, which will always draw ire, but the decks we’re seeing, and general diversity of play patterns, is encouraging. In the meantime, take a peek under the hood of what makes some of these decks tick like we did today, and speculate safely and accordingly!

Further Reading

Speculating on Upcoming Universes Beyond Sets

When Everything Is Rare...

The Value of the Secret Lair Commander Deck Everyone's Invited