Edge of Eternities Boosting Modern Archetypes
The Modern meta is churning up a storm in recent weeks with several pieces from
Alongside these newer pieces from Edge of Eternities, a classic and a sleeper hit from
Let’s dig in!
Pinnacle Emissary
Where to start with this little guy… Well, since unbanning [card]Mox Opal[/card] wasn’t enough to completely return Affinity as an archetype to the top of the meta, Pinnacle Emissary (I keep wanting to type “Pinnacle Monk”) absolutely pushes the archetype back into relevance.
The keyword that makes Pinnacle Emissary so powerful is its warp alternative casting cost for either one blue or one red pip. In theory, Pinnacle Emissary in an opening hand with one land and a bunch of zero-mana rocks can enable some insane play patterns.
Consider being on the play with an opening hand of:
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[card]Spirebluff Canal[/card]
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[card]Mox Opal[/card]
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[card]Mishra's Bauble[/card]
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[card]Kappa Cannoneer[/card]
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[card]Thought Monitor[/card]
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[card]Pinnacle Emissary[/card]
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[card]Mox Opal[/card]
Play your Spirebluff, and warp in your Pinnacle Emissary. Cast Mox Opal, trigger Pinnacle Emissary and make a 1/1 Drone. Tap Mox Opal for a blue mana, and play the second Mox Opal, which will trigger Pinnacle and make another 1/1 Drone. Play Mishra's Bauble and trigger Pinnacle again, once more making a 1/1 Drone. With three drones, Pinnacle, Bauble, and a floating blue mana, you can Improvise all your artifacts and play Kappa Cannoneer, which will trigger Pinnacle and make a fourth 1/1 Drone. With your untapped Mox Opal, you can tap for a blue and cast Thought Monitor to reload your hand with a couple cards, make another Drone and put two +1/+1 counters on Cannoneer (one for the Drone, and one for the Monitor).
Once you pass the turn, Emissary will warp out, but you’ll have five 1/1 Drone tokens, a 2/2 Thought Monitor, and a 6/6 Kappa Cannoneer. Going into your second turn with 13 damage presented on-board, an additional card draw through Mishra's Bauble, and a draw for turn, you’d find yourself in a position so commanding that most meta decks would simply concede at that point.
Pricewise, where does this leave us? Around $3 and climbing. The win rate early in the month overall for Affinity as an archetype in Modern is around 52%, which is actually pretty solid and right up there around Boros Energy and Amulet Titan. The deck also boasts considerable win rates against Eldrazi Ramp and Dimir Frog.
Overall, Pinnacle represents a huge boost to Affinity as an archetype and really pushes the deck into the top-end of the meta. Keep an eye on this single! There’s a world where this card continues to climb as Affinity rebounds like never before.
| Pinnacle Emissary | ||
| Pinnacle Emissary (Extended Art) |
Shadowspear
While perhaps not as extensive of a discussion is necessary for Shadowspear as Pinnacle Emissary, this old-school single from
As a one-mana artifact, Shadowspear slots nicely into most Affinity builds, and synergizes exceptionally well with Pinnacle Emissary. On top of this, as a one-of in most Affinity decks, it can be easily fetched straight into play with the third chapter of [card]Urza's Saga[/card].
Overall, given the dearth of reprints for this card and its swift uptick in play, we’re seeing a price surge like no other with Shadowspear sitting at a whopping $40 a pop. Bear in mind, this uptick has more to do with a short supply and a mild uptick in demand.
Inevitably, there will be an excuse to reprint this card at some point, which will bring its price down to something more accommodating and reasonable.
| Shadowspear | ||
| Shadowspear (Extended Art) | ||
| Totec's Spear | ||
| Morgul-Knife |
Quantum Riddler
Another sleeper from Edge of Eternities that’s made its way to the forefront of one of the best shells in the meta. Riddler is yet another card that capitalizes on the warp mechanic in a deck that can take advantage of it particularly well with its existing cardstock.
So what does Riddler do for you? It specifically enables you to draw a card upon entering and then allows you to draw an additional card at any time you would draw a single card with one or fewer cards in hand.
Where does Riddler fit in? Esper Frog or Esper Blink (depending on your preferences) is the perfect shell. Esper Blink is functionally a Reanimator deck that wants to reanimate either [card]Griselbrand[/card] or [card]Atraxa, Grand Unifier[/card] and use [card]Psychic Frog[/card] as a means to plant these cards in the yard.
The typical problem with Frog reanimator is assembling an engine sufficient enough to plant a reanimator target in your yard, while also finding [card]Goryo's Vengeance[/card] – your primary means of reanimating Atraxa (usually). Riddler is terrific in that it draws you a card upon entering for its warp cost, but can be blinked with [card]Ephemerate[/card] to then stay in play permanently, reentering and drawing you an additional card. Then you can discard all but one card in your hand with Frog, swing with Frog, and instead of drawing one card, you’ll draw two cards.
Riddler in so many ways represents a meaningful value engine outside of Psychic Frog that can accelerate the deck’s game plan more consistently towards a win. The fact that it synergizes with Frog as well is just a terrific bonus.
So where does the market stand on Riddler? Pretty bullish. Very seldom do rares rise after pre-release hits, but it would appear Riddler (which was preordering at around $15) is well on its way to being one of the most expensive cards in the format, and currently sitting close to $30. It does look like its price has stagnated in recent weeks, and it doesn’t seem ready to decline yet. Though, depending on where the winds of the meta blow, it’s possible that it could start to fall (or rise) accordingly.
| Quantum Riddler | ||
| Quantum Riddler (Borderless) |
Ugin, Eye of the Storms
Right out of the gate this planeswalker was commanding a pretty hefty price. A few weeks after release, as with most cards, Ugin started a slow financial decline that bottomed out in July at around $30 – a steep fall from around $80 at the time preorders were live for the set.
Since July, however, Ugin has been seeing an uptick in price, climbing back to around $35 and change.
What’s reversing this trend? The continued re-adoption of Eldrazi Tron in the meta. Both an all-star draw and removal engine, this Ugin has replaced [card]Karn Liberated[/card] and [card]Ugin, the Spirit Dragon[/card] in all manners of speaking, making it the premier top-end drop in the deck once it hits its critical threshold of seven colorless mana.
As of the beginning of this month, Eldrazi Tron seems to be sitting at around 7% of the Modern meta, making it the third-most represented deck in the format. Is it possible for Ugin to rise back up to its preorder price? Likely, no. But at this point, Eldrazi Tron is established as a deck to beat, and Ugin is no small component of that shell.
Keep an eye on this one, as it’s the most likely to continue rising going forward.
| Ugin, Eye of the Storms | ||
| Ugin, Eye of the Storms (Borderless) | ||
| Ugin, Eye of the Storms (Showcase) |
Looking Forward
Modern continues to evolve in the aftermath of Edge - not with a shakeup of the meta, but by empowering existing archetypes, specifically Affinity and Esper Blink. Looking forward,
Stay tuned!
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Corey Williams
Corey Williams is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Shippensburg University in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. He considers himself a macroeconometrician with his research body reflecting work in applied macroeconomics and econometrics. Corey is an L1 Judge who started playing Magic around Eighth Edition. He enjoys Modern, Commander, cEDH, and cube drafting. Outside of Magic, he loves running, teaching, and the occasional cult movie.