Wizards of the Coast has already revealed the entire Modern Horizons 2 set, revealing all the brand new and reprinted Magic: The Gathering cards from the upcoming straight-to-Modern expansion. You can check out our spoiler section for Modern Horizons 2 here, and now let’s take a look at a couple of interesting cycles from the set: the rare cards that you can evoke by exiling a card of the same color, and a cycle of rare uncastable cards that you can only play by suspending.
First, let’s take a closer look at the cycle of rares that you can Evoke without paying mana cost. All you have to do is exile a card of the same color as that rare. As most longtime players would know, Evoke is a mechanic that lets you play the card, but you have to sacrifice it as soon as it comes to play. This still lets you trigger its enter-the-battlefield effect even though the permanent doesn’t stay on the field after you evoke.
Cycle of Evoke Rares
Solitude
Subtlety
Grief
Fury
Endurance
Personally, I think the green and white Evoke rares are the strongest in this cycle. The Swords to Plowshares effect of
Solitude
Solitude
Flash
Lifelink
When this creature enters, exile up to one other target creature. That creature's controller gains life equal to its power.
Evoke—Exile a white card from your hand.
is a reliable ability, and the fact that you can re-trigger it if you bring it back to play somehow could help you remove another threat efficiently. The graveyard hate ability of
Endurance
Endurance
Flash
Reach
When this creature enters, up to one target player puts all the cards from their graveyard on the bottom of their library in a random order.
Evoke—Exile a green card from your hand.
can be useful against graveyard-focused strategies, and in Limited format, this is important since there is a graveyard archetype in the set.
Now, let’s take a closer look at the cycle of uncastable cards with Suspend (They are exiled with time counters on them, and when the last time counter is removed, they are played without paying any mana costs). Since you won’t have to pay mana the turn they come into play, cards like these can help you raise Storm count and have more mana available to cast other spells in the same turn.
Cycle of Uncastable Cards with Suspend
Resurgent Belief
Inevitable Betrayal
Profane Tutor
Glimpse of Tomorrow
Gaea’s Will
Resurgent Belief
Resurgent Belief
Suspend 2—{1}{W} (Rather than cast this card from your hand, pay {1}{W} and exile it with two time counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter. When the last is removed, you may cast it without paying its mana cost.)
Return all enchantment cards from your graveyard to the battlefield. (Auras with nothing to enchant remain in your graveyard.)
,
Gaea’s Will
Gaea’s Will
Suspend 4—{G}
Until end of turn, you may play lands and cast spells from your graveyard.
If a card would be put into your graveyard from anywhere this turn, exile that card instead.
, and
Glimpse of Tomorrow
Glimpse of Tomorrow
Suspend 3—{R}{R}
Shuffle all permanents you own into your library, then reveal that many cards from the top of your library. Put all non-Aura permanent cards revealed this way onto the battlefield, then do the same for Aura cards, then put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
have combo potential, but Invevitable Betrayal is my favorite in this cycle because of its power to control a creature from an opponent’s library.
Profane Tutor
Profane Tutor
Suspend 2—{1}{B} (Rather than cast this card from your hand, pay {1}{B} and exile it with two time counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter. When the last is removed, you may cast it without paying its mana cost.)
Search your library for a card, put that card into your hand, then shuffle.
is nice, and I think all of these cards are viable in Commander, so expect to see some fun games with them.
If you’re excited for Modern Horizons 2, you can now preorder Draft Boosters, Collector Boosters, Set Boosters, and Bundles online .
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Modern Horizons 2 is scheduled to release on June 18, 2021. The official preview season for Modern Horizons 2 is set to begin, and you can check out the list of outlets where you can find them here.