The main set for Modern Horizons 3 has almost been completely revealed! If the unofficial leaks are added to the equation, we have technically seen all of Modern Horizons 3 already. That said, some cards still need confirmation, and a series of these are being confirmed today. Once the day ends, all of Modern Horizons 3 will be revealed.
Today, a new Bestow creature was revealed that has a lot more going on than it may seem. This is only partially thanks to its own abilities, as it threatens an absolutely insane combo. Should everything go to plan, this card enables kills as early as turn three in Modern. So, let’s take a look at Springheart Nantuko, and why it creates a deadly combo with
Nadu, Winged Wisdom
Nadu, Winged Wisdom
Flying
Creatures you control have "Whenever this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability, reveal the top card of your library. If it's a land card, put it onto the battlefield. Otherwise, put it into your hand. This ability triggers only twice each turn."
, and
Shuko
Shuko
Equipped creature gets +1/+0.
Equip {0} ({0}: Attach to target creature you control. Equip only as a sorcery.)
!
Springheart Nantuko
Springheart Nantuko looks eerily familiar to
Scute Swarm
Scute Swarm
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, create a 1/1 green Insect creature token. If you control six or more lands, create a token that's a copy of this creature instead.
, an MTG card that plagues opponents in EDH lands decks everywhere. For one less mana, Springheart Nantuko either creates 1/1 Green Insects on Landfall or can create copies of a Bestowed creature for two mana. While either of these modes definitely has its applications, especially in Commander, the combo focuses on playing Springheart Nantuko as a creature.
Nadu, Winged Wisdom
If you haven’t been keeping up, Nadu, Winged Wisdom has created a ton of buzz lately. The ability to grant two
Coiling Oracle
Coiling Oracle
When this creature enters, reveal the top card of your library. If it's a land card, put it onto the battlefield. Otherwise, put that card into your hand.
effects to each of your creatures that trigger when they are targeted is incredibly powerful. Not only does this make opponents think twice before targeting your creatures with spells or effects but it also has serious combo potential. The best way to do this is to use abilities that can repetitively target your creatures for no cost.
Shuko
Thanks to being tutorable via Urza’s Saga, Shuko is definitely the best enabler for Nadu, Winged Wisdom, at least in competitive formats. Shuko does this with its equip zero cost. This enables Shuko to constantly target your creatures for equips, triggering Nadu, Winged Wisdom as many times as possible.
This interaction has already caused a massive price spike for Shuko. Thanks to this card only being printed in Betrayers of Kamigawa, any interest in Shuko is going to cause a massive spike in price. Just look at how expensive
Sensei’s Divining Top
Sensei’s Divining Top
{1}: Look at the top three cards of your library, then put them back in any order.
{T}: Draw a card, then put this artifact on top of its owner's library.
got!
With Shuko and Nadu assembled you could essentially draw your entire deck and play all of your lands out as long as you have enough creatures. How do we do that? Springheart Nantuko is the answer!
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Devasting Turn Three Combo
Springheart Nantuko is the missing piece to making the Nadu, Winged Wisdom and Shuko combo go infinite. The problem of not having enough bodies is resolved by the ability to create multiple Insect tokens. Since Springheart Nantuko creates Insects on Landfall, and Nadu’s trigger can put them into play from the top of your deck, Springheart Nantuko can create Insects whenever Nadu reveals a land, granting two more triggers for Shuko and Nadu.
Of course, there can be some instances where you simply don’t hit a land with the triggers you have, and the chain stops. The best way to avoid this is to utilize some cheap cantrip effects that can help fix your deck during combo sequences. These can also help find your combo pieces to go off.
Preordain is a recently unbanned Modern card that can do a ton of work in this shell. Not only can it help find your combo pieces, but Preordain can help stack lands on top of your deck for Nadu to put on the battlefield once you have the combo assembled.
In a similar vein,
Serum Visions
Serum Visions
Draw a card. Scry 2.
can also help find combo pieces while making the combo feel smoother. Preordain is better in the early stages of the game when you’re trying to find combo pieces, and Serum Visions is better at setting up lands to allow Springheart Nantuko to keep creating tokens.
An alternative approach to this deck could be using a similar creature toolbox structure to Golgari Yawgmoth combo.
Chord of Calling
Chord of Calling
Convoke (Your creatures can help cast this spell. Each creature you tap while casting this spell pays for {1} or one mana of that creature's color.)
Search your library for a creature card with mana value X or less, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle.
looks like a powerful way to enable the combo and could be quite impressive if there are creatures that can do the Shuko portion of the combo. That said, Shuko is searchable via
Urza’s Saga
Urza’s Saga
(As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after III.)
I — This Saga gains "{T}: Add {C}."
II — This Saga gains "{2}, {T}: Create a 0/0 colorless Construct artifact creature token with 'This token gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control.'"
III — Search your library for an artifact card with mana cost {0} or {1}, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle.
, which encourages a different kind of structure for this deck.
Urza’s Saga alone offers a powerful midrange alternative that the Nadu combo deck can take. Similar to the
Grinding Station
Grinding Station
{T}, Sacrifice an artifact: Target player mills three cards.
Whenever an artifact enters, you may untap this artifact.
decks of the past, you can threaten an infinite combo, an opportunity to gain a ton of value, or a midrange plan to overwhelm your opponents if they plan to attack your deck from one angle.
Will this Combo be Competitive?
There is a good chance that some variant of the Shuko and Nado, Winged Wisdom interaction will become competitive. Shuko being searchable via Urza’s Saga and Nado replacing itself in most situations allows this to be incredibly competitive. The weakest card in this idea of the combo is the new Springheart Nantuko since it doesn’t produce much value on its own.
That said, there are a bunch of different ways to abuse the Shuko and Nado combo. Will this be the one that takes over Modern? Only time will tell. Ultimately, we’re just going to have to wait and see what happens when Modern Horizons 3 launches. Since this set is so jam-packed with power, it’s basically guaranteed that Modern will rotate a fair amount. Once all the dust settles, it’s anyone’s guess whether or not this combo will be competitive or just unique.
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