Modern Times - Even More Meta Updates

Happy Wednesday, all!

Today on Modern Times, we're taking a deep dive into some bigger movers in the market in light of Wilds of Eldraine’s release, as well as the lingering impact the Pro Tour has had on the Modern meta. Consider this a companion piece to my article from a couple weeks back.

Without wasting any time, let’s dig in!

Agatha's Soul Cauldron

Agatha's Soul Cauldron and Up the Beanstalk are the most impactful single cards in the Modern meta from a Standard-legal set that we’ve seen since Throne of Eldraine brought us Oko, Thief of Crowns and Once Upon a Time. Wilds certainly did not skip a beat in keeping Eldraine’s reputation as a powerhouse alive.

Last week I talked about Up the Beanstalk and its synergies. There are many of them, but they're all relatively simple - Evoke your Modern Horizons 2 (MH2) Elementals, namely Grief and Fury, play your Leyline Bindings, and draw lots of cards. Agatha’s Soul Cauldron, on the other hand, is the most flexible combo combustion engine in Modern since Birthing Pod. 

Giving all creatures you control with +1/+1 counters access to activated abilities of creatures exiled by the Cauldron presents a myriad of possibilities to capitalize on cards that already present strong synergies, and pushes some synergies that might not otherwise have been feasible (I’m looking at you, Walking Ballista).

$2.09$3.49

$5.80$7.49

Don’t believe me? Consider some of the most basic combo lines this artifact enables: 

• Yawgmoth, Thran Physician in exile + two Undying creatures = Draw X cards, lose X life

• Yawgmoth, Thran Physician in exile + two Undying creatures + Blood Artist = Draw X cards, your opponent loses X life

• Walking Ballista in exile + Yawgmoth Thran Physician + one Undying creature = Draw X cards, lose X life, your opponent loses X life

• Walking Ballista in exile + Grist, the Hunger Tide in exile + one Undying creature = infinite 1/1 Insects

• Walking Ballista in exile + Grist, the Hunger Tide in exile + one Undying creature + Chord of Calling = infinite 1/1 Insects, find Blood Artist, your opponent loses infinite life 

And this is just scratching the surface. Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin, Spike Feeder, Triskelion, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Fatestitcher, Pili-Pala, and so many interesting Modern-legal pieces went from having a pretty well-known cap for their competitive potential to having a ceiling that’s up in the clouds, and still rising. 

Because of this card, many competitive decks, especially Hardened Scales and Golgari Yawgmoth can capitalize on synergies otherwise impossible and expand their breadth of win conditions at very little cost to their mainboard’s construction (again, looking at you, Walking Ballista. We have only just begun to see what Cauldron will do to the format. More importantly, as more Modern-legal cards get printed in Standard, and with new Modern Horizons sets on the horizon (wink, wink… pun fully intended), this card’s upward potential will only continue to grow as long as new cards with interesting activated abilities continue to be printed.  

Cauldron’s market price is around $41, and I’m honestly surprised that it’s this low. It also sees plenty of play across formats outside of Modern, most notably Commander, and has just as much upward potential as more unique products and singles hit the market. Assuming there are no reprints of Cauldron in the near future, I could easily see it reaching the $50 to $60 range, if not higher. If you play Modern, this is definitely a card to buy sooner rather than later if you’re even remotely inclined to play Hardened Scales or Golgari Yawgmoth. If you play Commander, this is a staple that you should also snag as soon as justifiable. 

Fury

It feels like the Evokable Elementals from MH2 are just different flavors of the week. Some weeks Solitude is the best and most in-demand, and then another week it’s Grief, and then a month later it's Subtlety, and then Endurance, and so on and so forth. Today’s flavor of the week is Fury.  

Fury has very slowly and steadily been climbing up in price as its demand has grown within the Modern format. Only within the past couple months has Rakdos Scam finally pushed it over the edge, eclipsing all other Evoke Elementals from MH2 in average price at around $40. Interestingly, when looking at all its Elemental brethren, you find that their market prices have largely stagnated.  

In many ways, we’ve kind of reached an equilibrium on how many Solitudes and Griefs the market is willing to pay for and play with in today’s meta. On the other hand, Fury’s demand is still well on the rise.  

Obviously, following the price trends can be a safe strategy if they’re consistent. However, following price trends blindly is never the wisest strategy. It looks tempting to buy Fury at its current price, given that it looks like it’ll likely continue to increase. I would caution this rhetoric for two reasons: 

1. Its price is highly attached to its play in two decks (and somewhat to a third that we’ll discuss in a bit), Temur Rhinos and Rakdos Scam. Scam’s prevalence in the meta is the main source of demand at the moment

2. The meta is still adjusting to Wilds of Eldraine and sleeper hits from The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth

You may be asking, “Corey, what if Rakdos Scam continues to grow in popularity? Won’t that just keep pushing Fury’s price along its current upward trend?” You would be correct. However, Rakdos Scam currently sits at roughly 20%, and doesn’t have a lot of wiggle room left. I would argue the saturation of Scam decks across competitive events is not going to move much higher.  

In all honesty, I don’t expect Scam to become Colorless Eldrazi during Eldrazi Winter or Hogaak during Hogaak Summer. Simply put, it’s a lot more likely Scam loses some share of its position in the meta while other decks, particularly Four-Color Omnath, Golgari Yawgmoth, Temur Rhinos, and Hardened Scales pick up shares of the meta, given how disproportionately they’ve benefited from both LTR and WOE in comparison to Scam. 

My advice is to wait a bit before committing to Fury. I would imagine as Modern’s meta starts to settle back down, so too will the demand for Fury. In reality, I see its equilibrium price closer to $35 than where it is now, and maybe even a little lower, too. 

Living End

I’ve saved the best for last. I love Living End, and now Modern finally does, too (once again). This is the other deck that Fury has helped out a wee bit. So has Grief, and so have two cyclers from Lord of the Rings: Oliphaunt, which cycles for Mountains and pumps your attackers while giving them trample, and Generous Ent, which cycles for Forests and makes food tokens when it enters play. 

To think, two seemingly innocuous commons are what brought Living End back into the fold in ways that Grief and Fury have tried but never fully got done. Why do these commons matter so much? Simple, the deck is five colors and cannot play spells with a mana value less than three except for Living End to ensure that its Cascaders, Shardless Agent and Violent Outburst, are guaranteed to hit Living End. These restrictions both enable and constrain the effectiveness of Living End builds. For years, Living End was very much a glass cannon; you had an opening hand with two lands, two Simian Spirit Guides, a Street Wraith, an Architects of Will, a Curator of Mysteries, and a Shardless Agent, and you were pretty much guaranteed a win by the time the turn two or turn three (depending on how greedy you were) Living End resolved off of a Cascade trigger.  

The problem, however, is that ensuring you had the right mana fixings to go off early in the game for Living End to be impactful and maximize value was easier said than done. Even harder once Simian Spirit Guide was banned in the format. Living End since Simian’s ban has kind of been in this “back to square one” state, along with most other Cascade decks. Then Temur Rhinos came on the scene and showed off the shells that make Cascade viable. Rhinos, however, was a little more straightforward to build an efficient mana base for than poor old Living End. The ability to fix your lands and plant giant creatures in your graveyard with Oliphaunt and Generous Ent offers a massive consistency boost to a deck that desperately needed it.  

So where are we today? According to MTG Goldfish, Living End is just above 4% of the meta, which is the highest I can recall it ever being. The current price sits around $12 and seems to be falling, however, the volatility of Living End’s prices over the past couple years suggests that it ebbs and flows like a business cycle, and seems to be more a fad at times than a viable deck. I will admit, as much as I love Living End, it will always be living in the shadow of Temur Rhinos and Crashing Footfalls.  

That being said, Living End is a terrific budget Modern deck that is fairly cheap to build, save the land base and sideboard (which can always be modified at little cost to the deck’s performance). If you want to ease your way into Cascade-style decks, Living End is the perfect place to start, and there’s no better time to give it a whirl than now. 

Closing Remarks

There’s less of an overarching theme to today’s article than usual. In fact, I would say it’s appropriate to call this a “Part Two” to my article from last week. The cards discussed today and last week represent a change in the overall trend of Modern - and a welcomed change at that. Deck diversity at the top of the meta is actually pretty good. Even though Scam seems like it occupies a large share, it’s not an oppressive deck in the least bit, and in fact, it really reminds me of Boomer Jund back in the golden days of the format. It just has solid matchups all around and is straightforward to pilot, making it a popular choice to play.  

Outside of Scam, Agatha’s Soul Cauldron opens up a world of possibilities for new brews, combos, and synergies, and one can only speculate. Older favorites like Living End are starting to rear their ugly heads back around into top tables, and look like they’re here to stay a minute. So pull up a chair, speculate and invest safely, and play a while.

Agatha's Soul Cauldron	CardKingdom $59.99	TCGPlayer $43.61
Fury	CardKingdom $44.99	TCGPlayer $42.00
Living End	CardKingdom $14.99	TCGPlayer $12.14

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