Modern has a massive card pool spanning almost 20 years of Magic: the Gathering sets. Banning a singular card from the format may not seem like it would have a big impact. But on March 7, 2022, Wizards of the Coast banned Lurrus of the Dream-Den, sending waves across the metagame.
Lurrus is one of many companion creatures from Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths. Funnily enough, after Ikoria’s release, WOTC nerfed the entire companion mechanic, requiring players to pay three mana to add their companion to their hand.
But even in its nerfed state, Lurrus was still too good. Now, WOTC has banned the Cat Nightmare in Pioneer, Modern, and Legacy. Many Magic: the Gathering players wonder if Lurrus should ever have been printed in the first place.
The Modern Metagame Before WOTC Banned Lurrus
As you can see from the above snapshot of the Modern metagame taken before the B&R announcement, 4 out of the top 10 Modern decks used Lurrus as a companion.
In WOTC’s B&R announcement, they revealed that 31% of the top decks in Modern used Lurrus as a companion.
While there are other cards in Modern that hold similarly high play percentages, Lurrus felt like it was extra dominant because you didn’t have to draw it like you would other Magic cards. It was always accessible from the companion zone.
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What Decks Get Better After the B&R?
Because 1/3 of the Modern metagame just got nerfed, any decks not using Lurrus got relatively better. It’s possible that decks like
Murktide Regent
Murktide Regent
Delve (Each card you exile from your graveyard while casting this spell pays for {1}.)
Flying
This creature enters with a +1/+1 counter on it for each instant and sorcery card exiled with it.
Whenever an instant or sorcery card leaves your graveyard, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.
, Amulet Titan, and Azorius Control move to the top of the metagame now that Lurrus is gone.
But none of the decks that used Lurrus are necessarily dead now. They may not be as powerful as they once were, but most of them can make slight modifications and still be competitive.
Will Yorion Replace Lurrus?
The next best companion after Lurrus is
Yorion, Sky Nomad
Yorion, Sky Nomad
Companion — Your starting deck contains at least twenty cards more than the minimum deck size. (If this card is your chosen companion, you may put it into your hand from outside the game for {3} as a sorcery.)
Flying
When Yorion enters, exile any number of other nonland permanents you own and control. Return those cards to the battlefield at the beginning of the next end step.
. It currently sees play in Blink decks, 5-Color Omnath, and Death & Taxes decks.
There is a slight chance that Yorion decks will increase in play after the Lurrus ban. But it is unlikely Yorion will be as egregious as Lurrus was in Modern.
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What Decks Were Affected & How Do They Adjust?
It sucks when your deck gets hit by the ‘ban hammer’. In some cases, like
Splinter Twin
Splinter Twin
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has "{T}: Create a token that's a copy of this creature, except it has haste. Exile that token at the beginning of the next end step."
, banning one card renders a deck unplayable. But that is not the case with Lurrus.
Some decks that played Lurrus are more affected by the B&R announcement than others. For example, Burn decks are relatively unaffected as they can just replace Lurrus with another sideboard card. Other decks, like Jund, may need to rethink their deck compositions more.
But most of the Lurrus decks can make a few adjustments and still be competitively viable.
Hammer Time
Colossal Hammer is here to stay in Modern. Hammer Time gains many interesting options now that the deck no longer has to abide by Lurrus’s companion cost.
Stoneforge Mystic
Stoneforge Mystic
When this creature enters, you may search your library for an Equipment card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
{1}{W}, {T}: You may put an Equipment card from your hand onto the battlefield.
can now tutor for Kaldra Compleat as an additional aggressive strategy. Batterskull acts as counterplay against other aggressive decks like Burn. And Sword of Fire and Ice helps in more grindy matchups.
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Jund
Out of all the Lurrus decks, Jund is probably the one that will change the most going forward. But there are plenty of options Jund can play in Lurrus’s absence.
Players are already talking about long-time Modern staple, Liliana of the Veil making a comeback. In Jund, she’ll likely join
Wrenn and Six
Wrenn and Six
+1: Return up to one target land card from your graveyard to your hand.
−1: Wrenn and Six deals 1 damage to any target.
−7: You get an emblem with "Instant and sorcery cards in your graveyard have retrace." (You may cast instant and sorcery cards from your graveyard by discarding a land card in addition to paying their other costs.)
and Grist in a small ‘super-friends’, planeswalker package. Seasoned Pyromancer is another option as excellent source of card draw.
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Death’s Shadow
Grixis
Death’s Shadow
Death’s Shadow
This creature gets -X/-X, where X is your life total.
was the most played deck before Lurrus was banned. Now that the deck lost access to Lurrus, it will have to lean on other cards.
Street Wraith, a long-time staple of Death’s Shadow strategies, will likely resurgence. Murktide Regent can acts as another cheaply costed card that closes games quickly. And its possible that Death’s Shadow decks look to play another color like white to splash Ranger-Captain of Eos.
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