Top Throne of Eldraine Cards for Modern
Quick disclaimer for this post: I have limited Modern experience, so I'm working mostly off of power level of the cards relative to their casting cost (or ability to be cheated into play).
5. Grumgully, the Generous
Grumgully already has a reasonable cost and a powerful ability by making virtually any creature in your deck stronger is already compelling enough to try out in a deck. But modern? Modern has cards with persist. Grumgully cancels out the -1/-1 counter put on by persist and creates powerful combo potential.
The following creatures show some of the strongest options for Grumgully:
- Glen Elendra Archmage creates a soft lock, allowing you to counter every non-creature spell your opponent casts as long as you have blue mana available.
- Kitchen Finks is unlimited life as long as you have a sacrifice outlet.
- Murderous Redcap is inifinite damage with a sacrifice outlet.
- Puppeteer Clique steals creatures from your opponent's graveyard. River Kelpie lets you draw your deck
- Woodfall Primus can clear all the non-creature permanents from your opponent's board.
4. Brazen Borrower
People were pretty upset when Brazen Borrower was spoiled at mythic rarity and compared it rather negatively to Vendillion Clique. Borrower might be a little worse than Clique but it does let you bounce permanents, something that's highly relevant in a format that cheats permanents into play. Brazen Borrower is a bounce spell attatched to a win condition at instant speed. Both of these effects seem great for just about any control deck in modern.
3. Ironcrag Feat
I'm excited to see what Ironcraft Feat will do in Modern and it's here because of it's potential with Karn Liberated. I expect this card slotting into prison and ponza decks rather easily; a turn 2 Stone Rain into a turn 3 Karn Liberated seems like a pretty easy way to win a game. Running cards normally reserved for Tron with Blood Moon is the sort of thing that could reshape modern, especially after August's banning of Hoogak and Faithless Looting.
2. Robber of the Rich
War of the Spark's Dreadhorde Arcanist quickly made a splash in Modern last spring and Robber of the Rich looks a lot like that card (and maybe even more powerful).
Even with that comparison, a 2/2 haste for two mana that effectively draws card seems great. It's a bit slower than Goblin Guide but this creature is all upside and it should play a fairly large role in burn decks moving forward.
1. Emry, Lurker of the Lock
It shouldn't take much to see why Emry is #1. This format has Moxen, Urza, and Hardened Scales in it and this card fits into all of these decks. She has two relevant creature types (Merfolk Wizard), adds resilience and reach to just about any artifact deck and likely comes down on turn one or two.
Honorable Mentions
Since I kept this list to five, I'm cutting the honorable mentions down to 3 from my normal five. Also with the larger card pool available to modern, it's much harder to break into Modern.
Claim the First Born
Claim the First Born offers a strong, temporary effect in a color that's looking to end the game quickly. Death's Shadow appears to be making a comeback and this lets you either use it or remove it for the exact mana cost it came into play; it fits in well into prowess decks stealing a key block or even another prowess creature to potentially win the game for you.
Charming Prince
Charming Prince has three potentially useful effects on a bear's body. This creature isn't overpowering but I personally like the flicker effect in Bant Ephemerate. It's a human so there's potentially a spot in humans to reset a Reflector Mage, Kitesail Freebooter, or Thalia's Leutenant (and also plays rather nicely with Deputy of Detention).
Mystic Sanctuary
I know, I know... Reclaim isn't a strong effect on it's own, but Mystic Sanctuary is an island (and therefore can be grabbed with fetchlands), it's uncounterable, and can be recurred with cards like Trade Routes, Life from the Loam, and Wrenn and Six. What Else?
I'm expecting to miss a lot with my choices here for top modern cards from Throne of Eldrane; modern is a complex format, afterall.