Modern Horizons 2
Modern Horizons 2 | |||||
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[[File:{{#setmainimage:Modern Horizons 2 logo.png}}|250px]] | |||||
Set Information | |||||
Set symbol | |||||
Symbol description | Two Modern Horizons symbols overlapping each other | ||||
Design |
Ethan Fleischer (lead[1]) Aaron Forsythe Emily Teng Allison Steele Dan Musser | ||||
Development |
Aaron Forsythe (lead[1]) Corey Bowen Jadine Klomparens Michael Majors Dan Musser Ken Nagle Ryan Printz Adam Prosak Reggie Valk | ||||
Art direction | Cynthia Sheppard | ||||
Release date | June 18, 2021 | ||||
Plane | Various | ||||
Themes and mechanics | Modern power level, +1/+1 counters, Dakkon Blackblade, multicolor | ||||
Keywords/ability words | Madness and multiple other | ||||
Set size | 303 + 189 + 40 | ||||
Expansion code | MH2[2] | ||||
Development codename | Decadent[3] | ||||
Straight-to-Modern sets | |||||
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Magic: The Gathering Chronology | |||||
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Modern Horizons 2 is a Magic booster set which was released on June 18, 2021.[4][5][6][7][8] Like the first Modern Horizons, this straight-to-Modern set was print-to-demand.[4]
Set details
Like Modern Horizons before, this set introduced new cards into Modern and eternal formats without them ever being legal in Standard.[7] It features a host of powerful new toolbox cards, strong themes to try out, and several throwbacks. The set was unique in its development in that it brought in four high-profile Magic personalities (Zac Elsik, Sam Black, Brian Braun-Duin, and Brad Nelson, the latter two of whom were in the Magic Pro League at the time) to consult;[9][10] Normally, those who have seen card files of future releases are forbidden from competitive play lest they gain an advantage by having foreknowledge of those cards.
This set contains 303 regular cards (101 commons, 100 uncommons, 78 rares, 24 mythic rares) and includes randomly inserted premium versions of all cards.[11] New cards and in-Modern reprints are numbered #001-#261, while the New-to-Modern reprints are numbered #262-#303. Alternate card frames have another card number than the original version. Borderless planeswalkers are numbered #304-306, followed by the other borderless cards #307-326. The (54) showcase "sketch cards" are numbered #327-380. The (61) retro frame cards are #381-441 and cards with extended artwork are numbered #442-480 and Bundle basic lands are #481-490[12], the Buy-a-Box card is #491 and the Bundle promo is #492. MH1 retro frame cards (only found in Collector Boosters) are numbered separately #1-40 with no set code.
All five enemy colored fetch lands appear at rare in the set and can be found in regular Draft Boosters.[4] The Set - and Collector Boosters include extended art versions and retro (pre-Modern) card frame treatments for the fetch lands and many other cards.[8][13] Another frame treatment is seen on the showcase "sketch cards". These feature the artist's sketch of the main card artwork, and only is featured for new cards.[8][13] Instead of flavor text, they feature fragments from the art description that was sent to the artists when creating each card's artwork if space provides.
Modern Horizons 2 is also released on Magic Online, but not on MTG Arena. However, 128 cards of Jumpstart: Historic Horizons were reprints from Modern Horizons 2.
Storyline
There is no storyline associated with this set, but there are several Dakkon Blackblade-related cards.[3]
Marketing
In addition to Draft Boosters, Modern Horizons 2 is sold in Set Boosters and Collector Boosters.[6][7] As such, this is the first supplemental set to feature Set - and Collector Boosters. Each Set Booster contains a guaranteed traditional foil, an art card, a New-to-Modern reprint and a guaranteed rare/mythic rare.[12][14] Collector Boosters feature foil-etched, retro frame and sketch cards cards.[12][14] Another first for a supplemental set is that it features a Modern Horizons 2 Bundle.[12]
The Draft Boosters feature artwork from Dakkon Blackblade (key art), Geyadrone Dihada and Svyelun of Sea and Sky. The Collector Booster features artwork from Graceful Restoration, and the Set Booster from Chatterfang, Squirrel General.
With the release of Modern Horizons 2, 50 cards were rotated into The List, many of which were thematically or mechanically linked to the set.
Version | Treatment | Draft Booster | Set Booster | Collector Booster |
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Non-foil | Regular | |||
Non-foil | Borderless | |||
Non-foil | Showcase sketch art | |||
Non-foil | Showcase retro frame | |||
Non-foil | Extended art | |||
Non-foil | Card from The List | |||
Non-foil | Art card | |||
Traditional foil | Regular | |||
Traditional foil | Borderless | |||
Traditional foil | Showcase sketch art | |||
Traditional foil | Showcase retro frame | |||
Traditional foil | Extended art | |||
Traditional foil | Showcase retro frame (MH1 reprint) | |||
Traditional foil | Art card (stamped) | |||
Traditional foil | Buy-a-Box promo | |||
Traditional foil | Bundle promo (alternate art) | |||
Foil-etched | Regular basic land | |||
Foil-etched | Regular | |||
Foil-etched | Showcase retro frame | |||
Foil-etched | Showcase retro frame (MH1 reprint) |
Events
- Magic Online release: June 3, 2021
- Tabletop Prerelease: June 11–17, 2021[15]
- MH2 is the first non-Standard set with Prerelease Packs.[6]
Promotional cards
- Prerelease promo: One random foil-stamped card out of a total of 60 rares and 20 mythic rares, including all of the new Modern Horizons 2 rares and mythic rares as well as the enemy fetch lands.
- Buy-a-Box: exclusive foil alternate art Sanctum Prelate with retro frame.[8]
- Isn't found in any other Modern Horizons 2 product.[16]
- Bundle promo: foil alternate art Yusri, Fortune's Flame[12]
Tokens
Modern Horizons 2 features 21 tokens.[17]
- 1/1 Bird creature with flying, for Scour the Desert and Soul of Migration
- 0/3 Crab creature, for Hard Evidence, Scuttletide, and Specimen Collector.
- 0/0 Phyrexian Germ creature, for Batterbone, Kaldra Compleat and Nettlecyst.
- 4/4 Eternalized Timeless Dragon.
- 4/4 Eternalized Timeless Witness.
- 2/2 Zombie creature, for Magus of the Bridge.
- 0/0 Zombie Army creature, for Lazotep Chancellor.
- 1/1 Goblin creature, for Goblin Traprunner.
- 4/4 Beast creature, for Combine Chrysalis, Herd Baloth, and Hunting Pack
- 5/3 Elemental creature, for Titania, Protector of Argoth.
- 1/1 Squirrel creature, for Chatterfang, Squirrel General, Chatterstorm, Chitterspitter, Drey Keeper, Nested Shambler, Scurry Oak, Specimen Collector, Squirrel Sanctuary, Underworld Hermit, and Verdant Command.
- 4/4 Golem artifact creature, for General Ferrous Rokiric.
- 1/1 Insect creature, for Grist, the Hunger Tide.
- Clue artifact, for Academy Manufactor, Fae Offering, Floodhound, Funnel-Web Recluse, Hard Evidence, Lonis, Cryptozoologist, Search the Premises, and Wavesifter
- Clue artifact.
- 0/0 Construct artifact creature with "This creature gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control," for Urza's Saga.
- Food artifact, for Academy Manufactor, Fae Offering, Late to Dinner, Orchard Strider, Tireless Provisioner, and The Underworld Cookbook.
- Food artifact.
- 1/1 Thopter artifact creature with flying, for Barbed Spike, Breya's Apprentice, Etherium Spinner, Fairgrounds Patrol and Sweep the Skies.
- Treasure artifact, for Academy Manufactor, Burdened Aerialist, Crack Open, Fae Offering, Jewel-Eyed Cobra, Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, Strike it Rich, Tavern Scoundrel, and Tireless Provisioner.
- Treasure artifact.
Themes and mechanics
The set was announced to have a higher power level and greater complexity with even more of what players loved in Modern Horizons.[7][3] It had access to more mechanics, eventually featuring 59 named non-evergreen mechanics (listed here).[18][19] Some of the are mixed and matched. In addition, it makes more use of legendary creatures, and leans a little heavier into multicolor.[3]
A new variant on an evergreen mechanic is Trample over planeswalkers (This creature can deal excess damage to the controller of the planeswalker it’s attacking).
With Caprichrome, the set also introduced the keyword variant Devour artifact, that changes the type that can be devoured from creatures to artifacts.
Junk Winder is the first card to feature Affinity for tokens.
Modern Horizons 2 features the following limited archetypes:[20]
- : "Artifacts matter" (including Affinity) (Ethersworn Sphinx)
- : "Self-discard" matters (Lazotep Chancellor)
- : Madness aggro (Rakdos Headliner)
- : Storm (Road // Ruin)
- : +1/+1 counters (Arcus Acolyte)
- : Reanimator (Graceful Restoration)
- : Delirium (Prophetic Titan)
- : Sacrifice, Squirrel tribal (Ravenous Squirrel)
- : Modular artifact aggro (Arcbound Shikari)
- : Number of token types matters (Combine Chrysalis)
- : Converge[9]
Card types
- Modern Horizons 2 introduces the Dakkon, Dihada and Grist planeswalker types, and reintroduces the Ranger creature type.
- Modern Horizons 2 introduces the first black-bordered enchantment land (Urza's Saga). It functions both as a Saga and a land until it is sacrificed.
- The set also sees the first new tribal card since Rise of the Eldrazi (Altar of the Goyf),[18] and the first new Incarnations since Lorwyn.
- Squirrels is a strongly supported tribe in MH2.
- Tokens created by Living weapon are errataed into Phyrexian Germs.
Counter types
- The set introduces Corruption counters and Void counters.
- The set introduces Acorn counters on a non-acorn card.
Cycles
Modern Horizons 2 has at least nine cycles, including four double cycles and one vertical cycle, and a pair.
Double cycles
Cycle name | ||||||||||
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Rare spells | Moderation | Master of Death | Asmoranomardica-daistinaculdacar | Territorial Kavu | Sythis, Harvest's Hand | Priest of Fell Rites | Yusri, Fortune's Flame | Carth the Lion | General Ferrous Rokiric | Lonis, Cryptozoologist |
Ten rare spells. | ||||||||||
Uncommon signposts | Ethersworn Sphinx | Lazotep Chancellor | Rakdos Headliner | Road // Ruin | Arcus Acolyte | Graceful Restoration | Prophetic Titan | Ravenous Squirrel | Arcbound Shikari | Combine Chrysalis |
Ten uncommon spells, each one a signpost for its respective draft archetype. | ||||||||||
Common signposts | Chrome Courier | Dihada's Ploy | Terminal Agony | Goblin Anarchomancer | Captured by Lagacs | Breathless Knight | Storm God's Oracle | Drey Keeper | Foundry Helix | Wavesifter |
Ten common spells, each one a signpost for its respective draft archetype. | ||||||||||
Bridges | Razortide Bridge | Mistvault Bridge | Drossforge Bridge | Slagwoods Bridge | Thornglint Bridge | Goldmire Bridge | Silverbluff Bridge | Darkmoss Bridge | Rustvale Bridge | Tanglepool Bridge |
Ten common artifact taplands with indestructible.[21] |
Pairs
Mirrored Pair | Description | |
---|---|---|
Out of Time (Modern Horizons 2) () | Suspend (Modern Horizons 2) () | Rare temporary creature removal spells that utilize time counters and the associating mechanics with them, vanishing and suspend respectively, in opposite ways. Out of Time is a board wipe while Suspend targets only a single creature. |
Said // Done (Modern Horizons 2) () | Fast // Furious (Modern Horizons 2) () | Split cards with a sorcery in one half and an instant in the other. |
Vertical Cycles
Cycle name | |||
---|---|---|---|
Living Weapons | Batterbone | Nettlecyst | Kaldra Compleat |
3 living weapon artifact equipment cards that are callbacks to other cards. |
Mega-mega cycles
The Mirran swords mega-mega cycle gets an allied colored addition.
Reprints
48 of the cards in the set are reprints, of which 43 are new to Modern. The latter all have a watermark of their original printing's set symbol, similar to Masters 25; except for Sanctum Prelate, which is only printed in the retro frame. These reprints occupy a unique slot in boosters.
MH1 reprints
There are also 40 retro frame reprints of MH1 favorites: they are reprinted with the MH1 set symbol and aren't part of MH2 proper. These are only available through Collector Boosters as foils or etched foils, and all commons are upshifted to uncommon.
- Archmage's Charm
- Ayula, Queen Among Bears
- Changeling Outcast
- Deep Forest Hermit
- Defile
- Ephemerate
- Etchings of the Chosen
- Faerie Seer
- Force of Negation
- Force of Vigor
- Generous Gift
- Giver of Runes
- Goblin Engineer
- Hall of Heliod's Generosity
- Ice-Fang Coatl
- Ingenious Infiltrator
- King of the Pride
- Lavabelly Sliver
- Llanowar Tribe
- Magmatic Sinkhole
- Plague Engineer
- Prismatic Vista
- Ranger-Captain of Eos
- Scale Up
- Shenanigans
- Sisay, Weatherlight Captain
- Soulherder
- Sword of Sinew and Steel
- Sword of Truth and Justice
- Talisman of Conviction
- Talisman of Creativity
- Talisman of Curiosity
- Talisman of Hierarchy
- Talisman of Resilience
- The First Sliver
- Tribute Mage
- Undead Augur
- Universal Automaton
- Urza, Lord High Artificer
- Weather the Storm
Changes in rarity
- Mythic rare to rare
- Rare to uncommon
- Rare to common
- Uncommon to mythic rare
- Uncommon to rare
- Common to rare
- Common to uncommon
Notes
- ^* MH1 reprint
Notable cards
- Aeve, Progenitor Ooze is the first creature with storm.
- Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar is the first creature spell with no mana cost, due to its name being too long.[23]
- Dermotaxi is the first vehicle without crew.
- Fast // Furious may be seen as a nod to the series of movies of the same name.
- Imperial Recruiter's new borderless art depicts Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Pestermite, a well known combo with the recruiter.
- Parcel Myr is the first nontoken Clue.
- Power Depot is the first non-creature artifact with modular.
- Urza's Saga is an enchantment land and another in the line of cards with the name of a set. Its subtypes create a stealthy pun that also forms the name of the set and refers to the Urzatron lands.
Banned and restricted cards
- Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer was banned in Legacy for its cheap ramp and card advantage that had the power to snowball. This ban was quick and heavy-handed, however, and many players have called for it to be revisited.
Callbacks
Many cards in Modern Horizons 2 reference older cards.[24]
Card | Inspired by | Notes |
---|---|---|
Abundant Harvest | Abundance | A single triggering of Abundance in sorcery form. |
Aeromoeba | Aquamoeba | A larger, flying Aquamoeba, with a similar flavor text scheme and abilities. |
Altar of the Goyf | Tarmogoyf, Akroma's Memorial | A tribal Lhurgoyf card, which boosts it for most of Tarmogoyf's stats. It's also an artifact that grants creatures the ability of a popular card, similar to how Akroma's Memorial grants creatures the abilities of Akroma, Angel of Wrath. |
Arcbound Javelineer | Icatian Javelineers | Javelineers who enter with a counter that can be removed to deal 1 damage with similar artwork. |
Arcbound Slasher | Slash Panther | 4M, 4-power red artifact cat creatures with haste. The Slasher can trade haste for an extra +1/+1 counter. |
Arcbound Whelp | Furnace Whelp | An artificial Furnace Whelp. |
Archfiend of Sorrows | Drown in Sorrow | A Demon that casts Drown in Sorrow at your opponents. Color scheme is similar. |
Archon of Cruelty | Cruel Ultimatum, Grave Titan | A 6/6 Archon that casts a portion of Cruel Ultimatum with a "Titan trigger." |
Batterbone | Batterskull | Both are living weapons with vigilance and lifelink. The new card is a cheaper and smaller version of the older card. |
Blacksmith's Skill | Karametra's Blessing | pump spells that are identically powerful for particular dual-typed creatures, but with the primary and secondary effects inverted. |
Blazing Rootwalla | Basking Rootwalla | Both are one-mana 1/1 Lizards with madness and a once-per-turn pump ability. |
Blessed Respite | Fog, Gaea's Blessing, Respite | A merging of Fog and Gaea's Blessing, both in art and abilities; also takes the name from Respite, which also has a fog effect. |
Bloodbraid Marauder | Bloodbraid Elf | Another Bloodbraid creature that can cascade, if you have delirium. |
Blossoming Calm | Blossoming Defense | Effectively casts Blossoming Defense on a player, the 2 life mirroring the +2 toughness. |
Bone Shards | Bone Splinters | A more versatile Bone Splinters. |
Bottle Golems | Bottle Gnomes | 3-toughness artifact creatures that gain life upon death with similar art, flavor text and abilities. |
Brainstone | Mind Stone and Brainstorm | A Mind Stone for Brainstorm. |
Breya's Apprentice | Breya, Etherium Shaper, Loyal Apprentice | An apprentice who is Breya, but is smaller, mono-red (ironically, the color that's not present in Esper, Breya's birthplace), and does less. The way Breya's Apprentice makes tokens is similar to the similarly-named Loyal Apprentice. |
Break The Ice | Sinkhole | land destruction spells. |
Cabal Initiate | Putrid Imp | Black creatures that can discard cards for a keyword and gain stats when Threshold is achieved. |
Calibrated Blast | Erratic Explosion, Explosive Revelation | An Erratic Explosion that swaps the choosing and revealing, allowing it to be calibrated to the appropriate target - ironically, the new version randomizes the revealed cards whereas the previous template allowed selection. Same mana cost as Erratic Explosion and the card advantage of the flashback ability is reflected in the flashback cost being the same as Explosive Revelation, which drew the revealed card. |
Captain Ripley Vance | Vance's Blasting Cannons | Both triggering after the third spell, with the Captain's damaging effect similar to Spitfire Bastion's activated ability. |
Caprichrome | Atog and its family | A more conventional play on the urban legend of goats eating tin cans - this rumor was the inspiration of the Atog mechanical lineage. |
Captured by Lagacs | Saddleback Lagac | Green spells that Support 2 upon entry. The name was intended to semi-rhyme like the original, but the playtest name ended up sticking[25]. |
Chatterstorm | Chatter of the Squirrel and Crow Storm | A storm version of Chatter of the Squirrel, similar to Crow Storm |
Chef's Kiss (Modern Horizons 2) | Wild Ricochet | Spells that copy and reselect the targets of a spell. Given the blowout potential, it seems to be named after the memetic phrase of when something goes perfectly. |
Dakkon, Shadow Slayer | Dakkon Blackblade | The number of loyalty counters Dakkon, Shadow Slayer enters with is determined by the number of lands you control, like the original Dakkon Blackblade's power/toughness. |
Damn | Damnation, Wrath of God | A smaller version of Damnation, which can overload into Wrath of God.[26][27] |
Dauthi Voidwalker | Dauthi Slayer, Leyline of the Void | An aggressive shadow creature coupled with a graveyard hate ability. |
Diamond Lion | Lion's Eye Diamond | Both artifacts that force the controller to sacrifice the permanent and discard their hand to add three mana of one color. References Afari, author of the Tales of Jamuraa, for the first since Visions. The lion's pendant matches the earring in the original art. |
Disciple of the Sun | Sun Titan | Sun Titan's disciple with lifelink and a cheaper cost but a downgraded ability from the titan itself. |
Drey Keeper | Deranged Hermit | Both create Squirrel tokens and pump Squirrels. |
Dress Down | Snakeform, Turn to Frog | Reverses the trope where a polymorphed person no longer fits their clothing from the change in size, in that the creature doesn't change size but loses its "clothing" all the same. Has Flash as a pun regarding the exposing of oneself in a quick manner. |
Echoing Return | Echoing Decay et al | Another spell dealing with cards of the same name, a first to target off the battlefield. |
Endurance | Gaea's Blessing[28] | A graveyard-removing pitch spell that affects all the cards in target player's graveyard, instead of just three. |
Esper Sentinel | Ethersworn Canonist, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben | A new hatebear modelled after two of the most iconic; an artifact creature with conservative Esper leanings, and a Human Soldier that taxes noncreature spells. |
Etherium Spinner | Thopter Foundry | Almost an anti-reference in flavor text: Etherium Spinner encourages expensive spells to make thopters, while Thopter Foundry encourages cheap, expendable artifacts. |
Faithless Salvaging | Faithless Looting | A draw-and-discard spell, but rearranged to fit Red looting, or rummaging. Salvaging trades Looting's cheaper cost by being an instant and the Rebound ability mimics Flashback. |
Flame Blitz | Curse of Opulence et al | Depicts The Unluckiest. |
Flametongue Yearling | Flametongue Kavu | A young Flametongue Kavu who can pump itself to deal higher damage when it enters the battlefield. The picture matches the original art. |
Flay Essence | Parting Thoughts | 3-mana black sorcery removal spells with a bonus based on the target's counters. |
Fodder Tosser | Fodder Cannon | Damaging artifacts that (directly or not) cost cards, with instructions to use cousins as fodder. |
Foundry Helix | Warleader's Helix, Sacred Foundry | A cheaper Warleader's Helix if an artifact is sacrificed; name refers to the Boros shockland, whose name generally has little to do with the Boros. |
Fractured Sanity | Sanity Grinding, Decree of Justice et al | A card that if cycled has a similar but lesser effect than if it was hardcast, like the decrees. The spell takes the mana cost, name, and effect (milling) from Sanity Grinding. |
Fury | Forked Lightning[28], Pyrokinesis | Pyrokinesis on a cheaper, Evoke stick. One of two in the cycle to directly mimic a pitch spell. Just like Forked Lightning, Fury divides 4 damage among multiple targets. |
Gaea's Will | Yawgmoth's Will | A green suspended Will with updated templating, referencing the Time Spiral costless suspend cycle.[28] |
Gargadon | Greater Gargadon, Lesser Gargadon | A smaller Greater Gargadon in name, art, and suspend ability. The lack of adjective makes it comes off as entirely average, given the lack of drawback or combo potential. |
Garth One-Eye | Black Lotus, Disenchant, Braingeyser, Terror, Shivan Dragon, Regrowth | A character from the lore in 1994, shown to master five colors of magic - and so, has six iconic spells from all colors plus artifacts. Foreshadowed by Growth Charm and Tibalt the Chaotic. |
General Ferrous Rokiric | Hero of Precinct One | A powered-up Hero, also from Ravnica. The art style is similar; a figure flanked by its summoned tokens. |
Ghost-Lit Drifter | Shinen of Flight's Wings, Ghost-Lit Warder, Arashi, the Sky Asunder | A composite of all three channel designs - the purpose of the common, the name of the uncommon, and the single/X-to-all of the rare. |
Glimmer Bairn | Gilder Bairn, Atog | Both Ouphes have art by Nils Hamm. Glimmer Bairn's token-sacrificing self-pump ability is similar to Atog's artifact-sacrificing self-pump ability. |
Glimpse of Tomorrow | Warp World, Ancestral Vision | A one-sided Warp World[28], with suspend cost and art direction similar to Ancestral Vision. |
Goblin Anarchomancer | Goblin Electromancer | Ravnican Goblins that make two distinct categories of cards cheaper. Both are important Storm enablers. |
Grief | Coercion[28], Unmask | Unmask on an Evoke stick. One of two in the cycle to directly mimic a pitch spell. Like Coercion, Grief reveals target player's hand and has its controller to choose a card to discard from the revealed hand. |
Healer's Flock | Healer's Hawk, Llanowar Tribe | Three Healer's Hawks stuck together, with all that entails. Unlike the previous "triple" creature, the abilities are not cumulative. |
Hell Mongrel | Wild Mongrel | Dogs who discard cards to pump themselves. Hell Mongrel's Madness ability is a reference to how Wild Mongrel enabled instant-speed discard and allowed cards with Madness to be played at instant speed. |
Ignoble Hierarch | Noble Hierarch | Jund's answer to Noble Hierarch, the other shard where Green is off-center. The art forms a mirror in the staff, as does the flavor text. |
Inevitable Betrayal | Bribery, Mahamoti Djinn | A cheaper costed Bribery[28], also referencing the costless suspend cycle, depicting the Djinn. |
Jade Avenger | Chub Toad, bushido | A Frog Samurai playing off the joke that Chub Toad had bushido 2 long before it was keyworded (and so should be a Samurai).[29] Similar flavor text. |
Kaldra Compleat | Helm of Kaldra, Shield of Kaldra, Sword of Kaldra | A mockery of the Avatar Kaldra, with a Germ inhabiting the entire equipment rather than the 4/4 Avatar. |
Legion Vanguard | Viscera Seer, Tomb Robber | Like Viscera Seer, a Vampire who sacrifice a creature to manipulate the top of the library, both using the entrails (guts in flavor text, viscera in name). Also a Dusk Legion counterpart to the pirate Tomb Robber, that also explores by expending cards. |
Lightning Spear | Searing Spear, Lightning Javelin | Plays off the tendency for red burn spells to be named like weapons, now being actual equipment. All of them can be "thrown" for 3 damage. |
Liquimetal Torque | Liquimetal Coating | Same mana value, art style, and ability to turn nonland permanents into artifacts. |
Magus of the Bridge | Bridge from Below | Bridge from Below on legs.[30] |
Marble Gargoyle | Granite Gargoyle | A colorshifted version (and also made an artifact) of the original Gargoyle, which was a color bend of Alpha, as Red does not get small fliers nor the toughness pumping ability. A second paragraph on gargoyles from Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar's Underworld Cookbook makes up the flavor text. |
Mine Collapse | Cave-In, Thunderclap | A mixing of the free spell costs from Mercadian Masques. |
Monoskelion | Serrated Biskelion, Triskelion | A smaller Triskelion, only having 1/3 the counters and 1/3 the mana cost.[28] The name follows suit of previous -skelion artifact creatures. |
Necrogoyf | Lhurgoyf, Necrogen Mists | A Lhurgoyf that feeds itself and others like it with its discard ability similar to Necrogen Mists. |
Nested Shambler | Nested Ghoul | A zombie that keeps other creatures inside its chest cavity. |
Nettlecyst | All That Glitters, living weapon | An equipment version of All That Glitters. |
Nykthos Paragon | Heliod, Sun-Crowned, Spear of Heliod | Gives an anthem effect (like the Spear) whenever its controller gains life, like Heliod's second iteration. |
Ornithopter of Paradise | Ornithopter, Birds of Paradise | The two combined into one. |
Out of Time | Parallax Wave | Enchantments that removes creatures until itself later expires, but with opposite purposes: Parallax Wave is a precision tool for creature decks, while Out of Time is a board wipe with downside. |
Parcel Myr | Gingerbrute, Investigate | Much like how Gingerbrute is the first creature that is Food-typed, Parcel Myr is the first Clue spell, both with the ability on the associated token. |
Phantasmal Dreadmaw | Colossal Dreadmaw (Rivals of Ixalan), Phantasmal Dragon | An Illusion version of Colossal Dreadmaw that sacrifices itself upon being targeted. Captain Storm supplies similar quotes of its terrifying visage. |
Persist | Persist, Animate Dead | Akin to the return of a creature with Persist after its first death, plus the -1/-0 that the reanimated creature has with Animate Dead. Part of a new trend of mechanic-named cards. |
Piru, the Volatile | Legends Elder dragons cycle (Chromium, etc.) | Another of the Elder Dragons of Dominaria, with the same styled mana cost and upkeep cost, who was the life partner of Chromium Rhuell and slain by Dakkon Blackblade. The template used for the elder dragon cycle in Legends is updated to modern power level standards to give players a reason not to pay the upkeep cost of the costly creature. In Piru's case, is to cause a board wipe to nonlegendary creatures, making the downside a way to gain access to the upside. |
Profane Tutor | Demonic Tutor, the costless suspend spells from Time Spiral | A spell with no mana cost and both a suspend cost and effect that mirrors Demonic Tutor.[28] |
Prophetic Titan | Prophetic Bolt | If you have delirium, the Titan is Prophetic Bolt on a stick. |
Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer | Kari Zev, Skyship Raider | Kari's pet, striking out on their own: the dash ability resembles Kari's ability to have Ragavan enter only for combat. |
Raving Visionary (Modern Horizons 2) | Epiphany Storm, Prophetic Ravings | Raving Visionary's first activated ability is the blue variant of the two rummaging auras, one for Therosian flavor and lightning-eyes artwork and one for the name reference. |
Resurgent Belief | Replenish | Replenish as a costless Suspend spell.[28] |
Revolutionist | Anarchist | A larger Anarchist that can also get instants and has madness |
Rift Sower | Search for Tomorrow | The "searcher of tomorrow" as depicted, with the same mana and suspend costs. |
Rise and Shine | Animating Faerie | Bring to Life on its own, and with overload. |
Rishadan Dockhand | Rishadan Port | Rishadan Port on a stick. |
Sanctifier en-Vec | Paladin en-Vec | En-Vecs who hate on black and red. |
Sanctum Weaver | Serra's Sanctum | Both have the similar mana ability that scale with the number of enchantments. |
Scion of Draco | Draco, Scion of the Ur-Dragon | Artifact dragons simliar in name, art, and domain mana value reduction ability. Scion of Draco is Draco's own Scion of the Ur-Dragon. |
Search the Premises | Thraben Inspector | White cards that investigate - the inspector is the right-most of the searchers in the art, holding another gnarled mass of roots. |
Serra's Emissary | Iona, Shield of Emeria | 7/7 Flying Angels with in their cost that both "lock out" entire categories of cards upon entry. |
Sinister Starfish | Sigiled Starfish | Colorshifted from blue to black. 1M 0/3 Starfishes that look at the top card of the library and put them elsewhere if the controller chooses to. |
Skyblade's Boon | Gryff's Boon, Sephara, Sky's Blade | Auras that pump and grants flying with an activated ability that can return them from the graveyard. In a way, Skyblade's Boon is Sephara's own Gryff's Boon. |
Sol Talisman | Mox Tantalite, Sol Ring | A Sol Ring given the Mox Tantalite treatment, in name, art, and suspend ability. |
Solitude | Swords to Plowshares[28] | An Evoke-pitch spell, using Swords as a basis. Because the original spell is an instant, this spell has flash. |
Spreading Insurrection | Insurrection | Mass-stealing spells, both in name, art, and flavor text. |
Squirrel Sovereign (Modern Horizons 2) | Goblin King (Fifth Edition) | Lords with similar flavor texts involving taking the position of authority by force. |
Steel Dromedary (Modern Horizons 2) | Quarry Hauler | Camels who are involved with counters. |
Step Through | Vedalken Aethermage | First reuse of wizardcycling. |
Subtlety | Hinder | Counterspells that put target spell on top of its owner's library. Subtlety only focuses on creature or planeswalker spells, but makes up for that with its versatile Evoke cost. |
Sudden Edict | Diabolic Edict, Sudden Death | Another edict with the naming convention and split-frame art style of the split second spells. Flavor text is vaguely reminiscent of Sudden Death. |
Suspend | Delay, Suspend | Spells that forcibly grant suspend to a target - another in the series of mechanic-named cards. |
Sylvan Anthem | Crusade, Season of Growth | Colorshifted Crusade with the scrying ability of Season of Growth. |
Sythis, Harvest's Hand | Karametra, God of Harvests | Karametra's hand with an ability that triggers upon casting an enchantment spell than a creature spell. |
Tavern Scoundrel | Tavern Swindler | Tavern-residing creatures who flip coins for a reward that's double its activated ability cost. |
Terminal Agony | Terminate | Creature-destroying spells with similar artwork. Terminal Agony's Madness cost is Terminate's mana cost. |
Thought Monitor | Thoughtcast | Thoughtcast on a stick. |
Thraben Watcher | Always Watching | One of the watchers depicted in Always Watching, who also shares the buffing lord-like ability. |
Timeless Dragon | Eternal Dragon | Both creatures are 5/5 Dragons with flying, plainscycling , and an ability that moves the dragon from the graveyard to another zone. The first creature with eternalize to return smaller than the original stats. |
Timeless Witness | Eternal Witness | Similar in art and Regrowth-like ability, the second card to play off the use of Eternal in its name by giving it eternalize. |
Tireless Provisioner | Tireless Tracker | Instead of Clues and a buff ability, produces Food and Treasure tokens from the landfall ability. |
Tizerus Charger | Underworld Charger | 3-power Charger creatures that escape for . |
Tormod's Cryptkeeper | Tormod's Crypt | Tormod's Crypt on a stick. |
Tourach, Dread Cantor | Hymn to Tourach, Order of the Ebon Hand | Tourach himself: the kicker effect is Hymn to Tourach, while his stats as a 2MV 2/1 with protection from white reflects his alliance with the Ebon Praetor. |
Tourach's Canticle | Hymn to Tourach | Another song dedicated to Tourach, also involving random discard. |
Tragic Fall | Tragic Slip | A stronger Tragic Slip that gets stronger with Hellbent. |
Underworld Hermit | Deranged Hermit, Evangel of Heliod | Creates Squirrel tokens equal to your devotion to black. Mana cost, ability and art direction very similar to Evangel of Heliod. |
Unholy Heat (Modern Horizons 2) | Alchemist's Greeting | Burns spells involving alchemists from Innistrad using flames to attack. |
Unmarked Grave | Entomb | An Entomb for nonlegendary cards. Reflects how the most popular reanimation targets (Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Griselbrand, Iona, Shield of Emeria) are all legendary. |
Vectis Gloves (Modern Horizons 2) | Trailblazer's Boots | Equipments that grant a specific nonbasic type of landwalk. |
Verdant Command | Primal Command et al | A modal spell in the vein of the original commands with similar art. |
Vile Entomber | Entomb | Both cards that tutor a card directly into the graveyard. The rising hand in Entomb is in the background of Vile Entomber. |
Void Mirror | Nether Void | A permanent that counters spells symmetrically. The shape of the relic matches the wisps in the void. |
Wavesifter | Mulldrifter | Blue Flying Evoke Elemental piscene creatures that generate two card's worth of card advantage upon entering the battlefield. |
Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth | Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth | A legendary land that causes all lands to be treated as a specific basic land type, in addition to their other types, based on a famous location on Dominaria. |
Young Necromancer | Young Pyromancer, Liliana Vess | A young spellcaster who imitates a famous planeswalker and wears a brooch with her face on it, similar to Young Pyromancer.[31] |
Reception
As of October 2022, Modern Horizons 2 is the best selling Magic set of all time.[32]
References
- ↑ a b Mark Rosewater (March 6, 2021). "You're the head designer of Modern Horizons 2?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Information below the text box
- ↑ a b c d Mark Rosewater (May 24, 2021). "A Modern Approach, Part 1". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ a b c Blake Rasmussen (September 1, 2020). "Zendikar Debut and Announcement Day Recap". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ The Zendikar Adventuring Party (Video). Magic: The Gathering. YouTube (September 1, 2020).
- ↑ a b c WPN (March 8, 2021). "Modern Horizons 2: All the Dates and Scheduling Info You Need". Wizards Play Network.
- ↑ a b c d Wizards of the Coast (March 18, 2021). "Strixhaven News + More". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ a b c d Adam Styborski (May 6, 2021). "Welcome to the Summer of Legend". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ a b Mark Rosewater (May 31, 2021). "A Modern Approach, Part 2". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Sam Black (June 3, 2021). "Cataloging My Work On Modern Horizons 2". StarCityGames.
- ↑ Jess Dunks (Jun 4, 2021). "Modren Horizons 2 Release Notes". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ a b c d e Mike Turian (May 21, 2021). "Modern Horizons 2 Product Overview". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ a b Clayton Kroh (May 21, 2021). "Booster Fun of Modern Horizons 2". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ a b Mike Turian (May 21, 2021). "Collecting Modern Horizons 2". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Gavin Verhey (June 4, 2021). "Modern Horizons 2 Prerelease Primer". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ WPN (May 6, 2021). "Modern Horizons 2: First Look". Wizards Play Network.
- ↑ Clayton Kroh (June 3, 2021). "The Tokens of Modern Horizons 2". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (May 18, 2020). "Sorry, I need to clarify my question a bit.". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Weekly MTG: Modern Horizons 2 Previews on Twitch
- ↑ Dan Musser (May 26, 2021). "Bridges from Limited to Modern". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Previewed in the Mystical Archive Jatis (March 26, 2021). "They announced via the stream [[Abundant Harvest]] will be printed in MH2.". Reddit.
- ↑ Aaron Forsythe (May 26, 2021). "Challenge Accepted!". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ 30 Sneaky References We Put In Modern Horizons 2! (Video). Good Morning Magic. YouTube (June 2, 2021).
- ↑ Andrew Brown (June 1, 2021). "Captured By Lagacs". Twitter.
- ↑ Editors of the Coast (May 28, 2021). "Damn". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Ethan Fleischer (May 29, 2021). "DAMN". Twitter.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Mark Rosewater (June 14, 2021). "On the Horizons, Part 2". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Ethan Fleischer (May 29, 2021). "Every couple of years, we have the same discussion, and it always turns out the same.". Twitter.
- ↑ Adam Styborski (June 1, 2021). "Magus of the Bridge". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Paul Canavan (May 25, 2021). "Young Necromancer for Modern Horizons 2!". Twitter.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (October 22, 2022). "Is Battle For Zendikar still the best selling set of all time? If not, which set currently is?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
External links
- Mark Rosewater (June 21,2021). "Odds & Ends: Modern Horizons 2, Part 1". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- Mark Rosewater (June 28,2021). "Odds & Ends: Modern Horizons 2, Part 2". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.