Death & Taxes is a well-established strategy in Magic: the Gathering with a long history. But recently released cards have inspired players to experiment with new variations of the deck. In fact, a new legendary land from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty might change Death & Taxes recipes for good.
What is Death & Taxes?
Death & Taxes (D&T) decks aim to hinder their opponents from efficiently executing their own strategies. There are many ways to restrict our opponents from their resources, such as making certain cards more expensive to play (a.k.a. “taxing”) as seen on Thalia, Guardian of Thraben.
Thalia impacts most other Modern decks, taxing Control decks, Storm decks, and all other spell-heavy decks like Burn.
Leonin Arbiter impacts some of the most played cards in Modern: fetch lands.
Scalding Tarn
Scalding Tarn
{T}, Pay 1 life, Sacrifice this land: Search your library for an Island or Mountain card, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle.
s and
Bloodstained Mire
Bloodstained Mire
{T}, Pay 1 life, Sacrifice this land: Search your library for a Swamp or Mountain card, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle.
s will cost your opponent mana to activate. Additionally, Arbiter combines well with
Ghost Quarter
Ghost Quarter
{T}: Add {C}.
{T}, Sacrifice this land: Destroy target land. Its controller may search their library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle.
because you can destroy an opponent’s land with no downside.
Archon of Emeria is a direct counter to Storm-style decks that try to cast multiple spells in a turn. But it also slows down opponents by causing their lands to enter the battlefield tapped.
Once you’ve sufficiently drowned your opponent in taxes, it’s time to move in for the kill. Stoneforge Mystic is the general go-to way of beating down your opponent’s life total. It can tutor impressive equipment from your deck such as Kaldra Compleat and Sword of Fire and Ice.
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Classic Death & Taxes Modern Decks
Modern Death & Taxes decks are usually mono-white. But the traditional D&T decklist has undergone many changes as it gained many new toys in recent years.
Lion Sash
Lion Sash
{W}: Exile target card from a graveyard. If it was a permanent card, put a +1/+1 counter on this permanent.
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 for each +1/+1 counter on this Equipment.
Reconfigure {2} ({2}: Attach to target creature you control; or unattach from a creature. Reconfigure only as a sorcery. While attached, this isn't a creature.)
is a fancy new target for Stoneforge Mystic that acts similar to
Scavenging Ooze
Scavenging Ooze
{G}: Exile target card from a graveyard. If it was a creature card, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature and you gain 1 life.
.
Skyclave Apparition
Skyclave Apparition
When this creature enters, exile up to one target nonland, nontoken permanent you don't control with mana value 4 or less.
When this creature leaves the battlefield, the exiled card's owner creates an X/X blue Illusion creature token, where X is the mana value of the exiled card.
is a versatile removal spell that works well with the Death & Taxes staple,
Flickerwisp
Flickerwisp
Flying
When this creature enters, exile another target permanent. Return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control at the beginning of the next end step.
, which can recycle Apparition’s ability.
Some D&T lists even expand to playing 80 cards to use
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.
, as a companion.
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The New Kamigawa Tech
In addition to
Lion Sash
Lion Sash
{W}: Exile target card from a graveyard. If it was a permanent card, put a +1/+1 counter on this permanent.
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 for each +1/+1 counter on this Equipment.
Reconfigure {2} ({2}: Attach to target creature you control; or unattach from a creature. Reconfigure only as a sorcery. While attached, this isn't a creature.)
, Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty gave D&T a good reason to play a second color.
Boseiju, Who Endures, can devastate opponents is a hyper-efficient removal spell that hits artifacts, enchantments, and nonbasic lands. Normally, Boseiju lets your opponent play a land from their deck in exchange for killing one of their permanents. But with
Leonin Arbiter
Leonin Arbiter
Players can't search libraries. Any player may pay {2} for that player to ignore this effect until end of turn.
in play, Boseiju and
Ghost Quarter
Ghost Quarter
{T}: Add {C}.
{T}, Sacrifice this land: Destroy target land. Its controller may search their library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle.
will whittle away your opponent’s mana, giving them nothing in return.
Selesnya Death & Taxes
By splashing green, Death & Taxes gets access to a few more interesting cards. Noble Hierarch is a good mana accelerant you can play on Turn 1 when you don’t have
Aether Vial
Aether Vial
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may put a charge counter on this artifact.
{T}: You may put a creature card with mana value equal to the number of charge counters on this artifact from your hand onto the battlefield.
. Plus, you can play impactful Selesnya sideboard cards like Gaddock Teeg and Knight of Autumn.
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