Modern Day Magic #1: The Grave Mistake of Modern Horizons
In today’s “Modern Day Magic,” we talk about Hogaak and why it needs to leave the format.
Morning everyone, it’s Blue again, here today with our first Modern Day Magic article! Today we’re to discuss the card that’s been terrorizing modern since it got printed a few months ago. That’s right ladies, gents, and everything in between. We’re talking about Ayula, Queen among Bears! Before we begin, remember to check us out on Twitter @MTGOracle and follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, and YouTube! Now let’s jump in!
Haha! Gotcha! Not really, we’re actually talking about Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis. As many of you may already know, Hogaak is a very powerful card. It’s a free 8/8 with trample, so how do we stop it? Well, the obvious answer is graveyard hate, but we need more than literally over 800 copies of Leyline of the Void to bring it to its knees. This card needs to be banned, and here’s why. In an ideal game with the deck, Your turns will look very similar to this:
T1: Blackcleave Cliffs, Stitcher’s Supplier, mill 3
T2: Blooming Marsh, Satyr Wayfinder, mill 4, maybe hit a land, Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis.
Turn 2, you have an 8/8 with trample for the low, low cost of 0 mana, and that’s not even magical Christmas land. To make things worse, you can’t use the “dies to removal” argument because he dodges almost all of the most played removal spells in the format. Lighting Bolt, Fatal Push, Abrupt Decay, Dismember, etc. In case you weren’t already convinced, it’s super resilient. Even if you do manage to get this monstrosity off the battlefield, it has that ever-so-important text, “You may cast this card from your graveyard.” Without a T0 Leyline of the Void, you will very likely be dead before the game even begins.
Clearly banning Bridge From Below wasn’t enough; we need to cut off the head of the beast. If Hogaak isn’t banned by the next B&R announcement, there will almost certainly be riots. This isn’t healthy for the modern format, and it’s the reason I’ve almost completely stopped playing modern for the time. I hope for everyone’s sake that we don’t have to deal with it for much longer.
Well guys, it looks like that’s it from me for now. Don’t forget that we are partnered with TCGPlayer! Click the link and any purchases made from that visit go to help support us! As always, check us out on Twitter @MTGOracle and me @TwoBlueUntapped to keep up with everything Magic. This is Blue, Signing out!