What Happens after Hogaak?

Writer’s Note: Before we begin today’s article, I’d first like to apologize for the lack of content over the last week. I was going through some personal stuff and needed time away from everything, on top of my computer just not wanting to work for some reason. I’m doing better now though and my computer is running smoothly, so let’s get to it!

Edit: I write most of my articles the day before, and this one was no different. I was anticipating Hogaak to be banned, but I wasn’t expecting anything else that happened to modern. This article will have no changes made to it directly; instead I’ll be adding an additional article later today discussing the B&R update across all affected formats, but most notably modern. My thoughts and opinions discussed in this article are still standing with the additional bannings in mind, but some list-tweaking will be needed for at least two of the decks discussed below. Faithless Looting, you will be missed, Hogaak, not so much.

Today’s the day! Hogaak is gone from modern and now we can finally get on with a healthier, fairer, and more diversified format, but Hogaak dominated since it’s conception, so we’re left unsure what decks will be good going forward. There are the obvious decks that were still putting up top tier results even through Hogaak, so we’re going to ignore those decks (sorry Arclight Phoenix.) Instead we’re talking about my top five picks for what will rise to the occasion because they were buried under the massive 8/8. Before we get going, remember to check us out on Twitter @MTGOracle and follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, and YouTube! My name is Blue, let’s get started.

#5: Elementals

M20 came in with a ton of new elementals, like Risen Reef pictured above, Omnath, Locus of the Roil, and Thunderkin Awakener. Modern Horizons even brought in a few with Lightning Skelemental and Vesperlark. Combine these very powerful cards with some of the elemental support from Lowryn-Shadowmoore block, and we could see them go from just another janky tribe to a force to be reckoned with. I’ve seen a few people playing around with lists here and there and the deck really looks like it has legs. Below is my own version of a 5-color list I’ve been messing around with myself and so far, it’s been doing pretty well. Clicking the image will pull up the full decklist on MTGGoldfish.com.

Unlike most tribal decks in modern, like Elves, Goblins, Spirits, Merfolk, and a few others, we don’t have a ton of lords with elementals. Instead, it tries to win by providing tons of value that the other tribes don’t have a lot of access to. None of the tribes I listed have on-tribe removal like elementals, nor does it have the absurd amount of card advantage we get with Risen Reef and our reanimation package. I’ve been testing this deck for a few weeks and it’s been doing really well and I expect it to do great things in a world without Hogaak.

#4: Mardu Pyromancer

Believe it or not, Modern Horizons included more than just Hogaak (who knew,) and that’s going to be a recurring theme. One incredibly powerful card to come alive that hasn’t seen a lot of play yet is Seasoned Pyromancer. Mardu pyromancer has been bad in the modern meta for a while because fair, interactive strategies like that don’t have a chance where everyone is dying on turn three. Without Hogaak lurking about, fair decks have a fighting chance again I think. Mardu Pyro has gotten a lot of new toys lately, such as Dreadhorde Arcanist, Unearth, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, and the aforementioned Seasoned Pyromancer. I personally played this deck for a bit when it was still good and it would be nice to see it shine in the spotlight again, and I think it can.

#3: Humans

Humans, like most linear aggro decks in the format, got really bad after Modern Horizons. but that’s mostly due to the oppressive nature of HogVine lately. Humans can, and likely will become popular again when the meta shifts to a fairer, more midrange-y style. I don’t think humans will return to its former glory like when it was first built a couple years ago, but it has the potential to be a solid tier 1 contender again going forward.

#2: Urza Thopter-Sword Combo

The thopter-sword combo has always floated around modern, but with the addition of Urza, Lord High Artificer, it became a powerful force. Before, the combo just made a bunch of thopters and gained a bunch of life, occasionally took an extra turn or two with Time Sieve. With Urza added to the mix, however, the combo now generates infinite tokens, infinite life, and more importantly, infinite mana to activate Urza’s second ability an infinite number of times to play your whole library. Even though the deck has been around about as long as Hogaak, it’s capabilities have been dwarfed by main deck graveyard hate to fight Hogaak and many players playing tons of main deck artifact hate, including Karn, the Great Creator combos. I expect Urza Thopter-Sword Combo to rise in the rankings now that graveyard hate will likely go way down and it only needs to defend against minimal artifact hate and minimal graveyard hate.

#1: Traditional Dredge

To the surprise of either everyone or no one, dredge is an incredibly powerful deck that will most likely reign supreme as the mainstay graveyard deck now that Hogaak is gone. Though not as explosive and less resilient through Rest in Peace affects, it’s still a strong deck and will likely continue to be in the coming months of modern, so I’d hold on to your Leyline of the Void‘s. I don’t expect them to drop any time soon.

I think giving Hogaak the boot was the healthiest thing to happen to modern in a long time and I hope it does great things for the format. If there’s a deck I missed that you think will be good in the coming times, let me know below or on twitter! 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!