The Most Important Cards in Modern in 2025
As we round out the year, it only makes sense for today’s article to recap the ten most impactful cards in Modern this past year. Let’s waste no time and dig in!
Underworld Breach
We should start this simple year-end Top 10 by acknowledging the elephant in the room: Underworld Breach. Grinding Breach was the bane of the format earlier this year capping off its infamy with a first-place finish at RC Charlotte. While the winner of the RC, Jesse Robkin, was also the pioneer of the shell insofar as its place in the Modern meta goes, its success would not be long for this world.
Breach made a large splash, particularly due to a specific unbanning that we’ll be discussing later down this list, and then the ripples stopped. While its ban was all but inevitable, it was a format-defining card, if only for a brief moment. Ironically, since its ban, the card has continued to climb steadily upward in price and still sits at $11, perhaps reflecting its use in other eternal formats, most notably cEDH.
| Underworld Breach | ||
| Underworld Breach (Borderless) | ||
| Underworld Breach (2040) | ||
| Underworld Breach (Future Sight) |
Mox Amber
Between Grinding Breach and Affinity, Mox Amber (and its companion Modern-legal Mox) has seen renewed interest and cemented itself as a format staple, rather than a fringe mana rock that seemingly only synergized with Emry.
While Grinding Breach is no longer a part of the meta, Affinity got some new toys in
Amber has arguably seen more play this year in Modern than it has in any other format at any other period in time. Sitting just shy of $70 a pop, Mox Amber looks to be the next-best Mox for all intents and purposes in the Modern landscape–one that has significant upward potential as well.
| Mox Amber | ||
| Mox Amber (Schematic) | ||
| Mox Amber |
Amulet of Vigor
Amulet of Vigor has arguably made more of an impact on the meta as far as raw numbers go–even more so than Underworld Breach. As mentioned in previous articles, Amulet Titan remains one the last of the old guard: a long-lasting presence across the history of the Modern format that still endures, and is looking better than ever.
Obviously, the two primary pieces of the Amulet Titan recipe are Amulet of Vigor and
Keep an eye on this artifact going into the New Year.
| Amulet of Vigor | ||
| Amulet of Vigor (Borderless) | ||
| Amulet of Vigor |
Green Sun's Zenith
Perhaps dwarfed by Mox Opal’s unban (more on that later), Green Sun's resurgence in the format is both noticeable and highly impactful. Seeing play in Amulet Titan most notably, Green Sun's represents potentially the best creature tutor in the Modern format.
While the announcement of its unban drove its price up to record-highs of over $50 a piece, it’s since settled for a couple reasons: firstly, while its widely used in a couple specific shells, its widespread use across the format is much fewer and farther between. Secondly, we got a Special Guest reprint of Green Sun's in the Edge of Eternities set, which greatly increased its supply in the market, causing prices to fall and subsequently stabilize around $15 a piece.
| Green Sun's Zenith | ||
| Green Sun's Zenith (Foil Etched) | ||
| Green Sun's Zenith (Showcase) |
Mox Opal
Arguably the most impactful unban in Modern in the past half-decade. The unbanning of Mox Opal alone caused its market price to skyrocket and opened up the door for Grinding Breach and Affinity to explode in meta relevance in a remarkably short span of time.
Alongside Mox Amber, Mox Opal brings to the forefront of the format artifact synergies once more–an archetype and set of synergies that has been missed and absent ironically since Opal’s original banning way back when.
With this unban, Mox Opal has seen more demand in the past nine months than it has in any other format, at any other period in the history of its legality (or lack thereof). Sitting at just under $200, Mox Opal sits as the single most expensive card in the Modern format and doesn’t look to be going anywhere any time soon.
| Mox Opal | ||
| Mox Opal (Borderless) | ||
| Mox Opal (Retro Frame) (Foil Etched) | ||
| Mox Opal |
Cori-Steel Cutter
While
A standout card in Izzet Prowess and Affinity, Cutter looks to be a staple that’s here to stay. After its ban in Standard, its price crashed and bottomed out, but its resurgence in Modern is giving it some new life. Sitting at just under $7 a pop, and still slowly trending upward, Cutter is certainly worth keeping an eye on in 2026.
| Cori-Steel Cutter | ||
| Cori-Steel Cutter (Borderless) |
Ketramose, the New Dawn
Ketramose is far and away the standout from
Ketramose singlehandedly created a new archetype: Blink. Orzhov Blink with the engine that is Ketramose is a real Modern deck with play patterns somewhat reminiscent of Esper Griefblade, but with a significantly more varied game plan and better game-ending cards that also act as sizable value engines.
Ketramose peaked at around $75, but now sits at just under $7. I do find Ketramose to be slightly undervalued, but all the same, it alone has had the most outsized impact of any Aetherdrift single on the Modern meta, which alone is commendable and worthwhile for inclusion in this list.
| Ketramose, the New Dawn | ||
| Ketramose, the New Dawn (First-Place Foil) | ||
| Ketramose, the New Dawn (Borderless) | ||
| Ketramose, the New Dawn (Borderless) (First-Place Foil) |
Scapeshift
This classic piece in the Modern meta has seen a resurgence in Amulet Titan shells, in no small part due to
Scapeshift is sitting at a near-record high price around $60 a copy. This steep price (as mentioned in my previous articles) has less to do with demand and more to do with short supply. Printed originally in
Perhaps this single is primed for a reprint in the coming year?
| Scapeshift | ||
| Scapeshift | ||
| Scapeshift (Borderless) |
Goblin Charbelcher
Seeing intermittent success throughout the turbulence of the meta from this past year is Goblin Charbelcher. An “oops, all spells” deck that takes advantage of the myriad of MDFC cards from
Supported by cards like Mox Opal and other forms of fast mana, this one-card combo is unlike any other in the meta and unlike any deck we’ve seen in some time. It’s a little less resilient than most other decks in the meta, especially post-sideboard in tournament matches, but still is a relevant component of the meta going forward.
While Charbelcher was a bulk rare once upon a time, today it’s sitting at just under $3 and trending upward. The ceiling for this deck is seemingly sky high as more MDFCs and free spells are introduced to the format.
Overall, the room for improvements in this shell makes it really compelling as far as speculation goes. Keep an eye on Charbelcher!
| Goblin Charbelcher | ||
| Goblin Charbelcher | ||
| Goblin Charbelcher (Schematic) |
Pinnacle Emissary
To be fair, the unbanning of Mox Opal certainly helped to revitalize this shell, too, but it’s the value that Pinnacle Emissary provides in a vacuum that really gave the Affinity shell the adrenaline shot it needed to start putting up results again.
Conveniently, its price is also less than two bucks, making it ripe for financial speculation and long-run potential depending on the trajectory of Affinity going forward.
| Pinnacle Emissary | ||
| Pinnacle Emissary (Extended Art) |
Closing Out the Year
That just about wraps things up (pun intended). It’s been a wild year of bannings, unbannings, and the resurgence of some familiar faces. Happy Holidays, and looking forward to the year ahead!
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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.