Ever since the release of Modern Horizons and Modern Horizons Two, the landscape of Modern has changed drastically. Cards are significantly more efficient than they used to be. With cards like
Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
Whenever Ragavan deals combat damage to a player, create a Treasure token and exile the top card of that player's library. Until end of turn, you may cast that card.
Dash {1}{R} (You may cast this spell for its dash cost. If you do, it gains haste, and it's returned from the battlefield to its owner's hand at the beginning of the next end step.)
able to take over a game as a one-drop, cheap interaction is at a premium. On top of that, power creep has escalated over the years. Powerful cards like
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
+2: Look at the top card of target player's library. You may put that card on the bottom of that player's library.
0: Draw three cards, then put two cards from your hand on top of your library in any order.
−1: Return target creature to its owner's hand.
−12: Exile all cards from target player's library, then that player shuffles their hand into their library.
that were once on the Modern banned list barely see any play today. Despite being a strong, value-oriented card, Jace is simply too slow in most matchups in the format.
Another card that was heavily affected by power creep was none other than
Snapcaster Mage
Snapcaster Mage
Flash
When this creature enters, target instant or sorcery card in your graveyard gains flashback until end of turn. The flashback cost is equal to its mana cost. (You may cast that card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)
. Back in the days of
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."
and various full-on control decks, Snapcaster Mage was an elite threat. It was quite easy to get value out of the card, and the ability to give Flashback to
Lightning Bolt
Lightning Bolt
Lightning Bolt deals 3 damage to any target.
and attack for two for a few turns was enough to close out games on its own. Nowadays, it’s more difficult to utilize the card effectively. Snapcaster Mage isn’t super efficient, and the body of Snapcaster Mage is much less relevant than it used to be.
Luckily for Snapcaster Mage fans, however, one Lord of the Rings card has helped revitalize the powerful Creature. The combination of Snapcaster Mage,
Flame of Anor
Flame of Anor
Choose one. If you control a Wizard as you cast this spell, you may choose two instead.
• Target player draws two cards.
• Destroy target artifact.
• Flame of Anor deals 5 damage to target creature.
, and some cheap Counterspells and removal has proven to be a solid gameplan. Two different Izzet decks made top eight of various Magic Online Modern Challenges this weekend maximizing Flame of Anor and Snapcaster Mage, so let’s take a look at what makes this combination so strong.
Wizard is a Potent Creature Type
Much like
Archmage’s Charm
Archmage’s Charm
Choose one —
• Counter target spell.
• Target player draws two cards.
• Gain control of target nonland permanent with mana value 1 or less.
, Flame of Anor is a versatile, three-mana Instant with the ability to draw two cards as one of its modes. In the case of Flame of Anor, you also have the option to deal five damage to a Creature or destroy an Artifact. This card saw some play at Pro Tour Lord of the Rings in
Crashing Footfalls
Crashing Footfalls
Suspend 4—{G} (Rather than cast this card from your hand, pay {G} and exile it with four 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.)
Create two 4/4 green Rhino creature tokens with trample.
sideboards, as it could remove problematic hate cards like
Chalice of the Void
Chalice of the Void
This artifact enters with X charge counters on it.
Whenever a player casts a spell with mana value equal to the number of charge counters on this artifact, counter that spell.
while still being a decent card in other situations. At three mana, it also didn’t mess with the deck’s plan to cast a three-mana Cascade spell to hit Crashing Footfalls. In most decks, however, the spell is pretty inefficient.
Of course, that is unless you can get multiple modes out of the card at once. Luckily, Flame of Anor can do just that if you control a Wizard. This is where Snapcaster Mage comes into play. Despite having slightly different gameplans, both of the Izzet decks from the Challenges that utilized these two cards made sure to play cheap cantrips as well as cheap removal like Lightning Bolt and
Unholy Heat
Unholy Heat
Unholy Heat deals 2 damage to target creature or planeswalker.
Delirium — Unholy Heat deals 6 damage instead if there are four or more card types among cards in your graveyard.
. This would help stave off opposing threats in the early turns and provide efficient cards to Flashback with Snapcaster Mage.
As mentioned, the body of Snapcaster Mage isn’t as impactful as it once was, but the Creature type certainly is. The ability to use Flame of Anor as both a removal spell and a card advantage spell all in one is extremely powerful. Once you get to five mana, you can even cast Snapcaster Mage and Flashback Flame of Anor all in one turn at Instant speed. Importantly, once you cast Flame of Anor with a Wizard in play, you get the two modes no matter what, even if an opponent removes Snapcaster in response. Given how powerful casting Flame of Anor is with a Wizard in play, one of the Izzet players went even further on the Wizard subtheme.
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Wizards Beyond Snapcaster Mage
Rather than take on a more controlling role, Magic Online user xfile decided to put together a more tempo-oriented gameplan. In addition to Ragavan, this deck makes use of a playset of
Delver of Secrets
Delver of Secrets
At the beginning of your upkeep, look at the top card of your library. You may reveal that card. If an instant or sorcery card is revealed this way, transform this creature.
. Delver hasn’t had much of a home in Modern, especially in recent years, but in a deck full of Instants and Sorceries, it hits hard. Notably, Delver of Secrets is a Wizard to start with, but it transforms into a Human Insect, meaning it doesn’t synergize with Flame of Anor once transformed.
Another Wizard this deck utilizes is
Vendilion Clique
Vendilion Clique
Flash
Flying
When Vendilion Clique enters, look at target player's hand. You may choose a nonland card from it. If you do, that player reveals the chosen card, puts it on the bottom of their library, then draws a card.
. Clique is a decent Flash threat but has largely been pushed aside by
Brazen Borrower
Brazen Borrower
Flash
Flying
This creature can block only creatures with flying.
since its printing in Throne of Eldraine.
The fact that this deck is playing all of these Wizards shows just how strong Flame of Anor really is. Between Flame of Anor, Snapcaster Mage, and
Expressive Iteration
Expressive Iteration
Look at the top three cards of your library. Put one of them into your hand, put one of them on the bottom of your library, and exile one of them. You may play the exiled card this turn.
, this deck can generate a ton of value. Thanks to Delver and Ragavan, it can also end games rather quickly. Add in removal and Counterspells, and this deck can play a quick or long game, depending on the matchup. Perhaps the biggest weakness of this shell, however, is that it plays a ton of one-toughness Creatures and card draw, making it very vulnerable to
Orcish Bowmasters
Orcish Bowmasters
Flash
When this creature enters and whenever an opponent draws a card except the first one they draw in each of their draw steps, this creature deals 1 damage to any target. Then amass Orcs 1.
. If you’re less worried about closing out the game quickly and more worried about getting blown out by Bowmasters, consider playing a more controlling shell.
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Tempo and Control
Rather than running a ton of different Wizards, Magic Online user WaToO took a slower approach. The only Creatures they are running are Snapcaster Mage and
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.
as a way to help close out the game. This deck opts to play almost entirely at Instant speed, playing a playset of
Archmage’s Charm
Archmage’s Charm
Choose one —
• Counter target spell.
• Target player draws two cards.
• Gain control of target nonland permanent with mana value 1 or less.
in addition to Flame of Anor. From there, this deck fills out some of the other non-Creature slots with
Dress Down
Dress Down
Flash
When this enchantment enters, draw a card.
Creatures lose all abilities.
At the beginning of the end step, sacrifice this enchantment.
,
Fire//Ice
Fire//Ice
Fire deals 2 damage divided as you choose among one or two targets.
, and
Shark Typhoon
Shark Typhoon
Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, create an X/X blue Shark creature token with flying, where X is that spell's mana value.
Cycling {X}{1}{U} ({X}{1}{U}, Discard this card: Draw a card.)
When you cycle this card, create an X/X blue Shark creature token with flying.
.
This deck also plays more Lands and a playset of
Lorien Revealed
Lorien Revealed
Draw three cards.
Islandcycling {1} ({1}, Discard this card: Search your library for an Island card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.)
to help guarantee the ability to get to five mana and use Snapcaster Mage alongside Flame of Anor and Archmage’s Charm. While this deck is definitely better against Bowmasters and opposing Creature decks, it is rather slow, which can be more problematic against decks like mono-green Tron. Both versions have their tradeoffs, but one thing’s for sure: Snapcaster Mage is back and, at least, somewhat viable in the Modern format. Spell slingers rejoice!
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