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Far Wanderings: Modern Masters 2017, a Critical Review

Well, we’re back with another episode of Far Wanderings! Where I talk about a certain format/topic/deck in the game, this week or two has all been about Modern Masters 2017-which I hoped many of you had the chance to open a box with your friends or just sit down at your local game store for a simple draft.

Well...MM17 was a blast! I wrote a small article back then with a slight tinge of ranting, in which I was disappointed about the lack of good reprints in the set when it is very close to it’s release date. With much fear among stores around the world dumping pre-order boxes of the set. Not only did MM17 prove me and many others wrong, it smashed through everyone’s biggest hopes and dreams, had an awesome draft environment and the box design was ~Amazing~. 

But first, how good was my box?

I did have a good chance to draft MM17, when a fellow lecturer of mine could get a box around SGD250(around USD178), a few of us decided to chip in seeing it was bought at a cheaper price. This was the “notable results” of our box:

The box overall was not as bad as I have though it would be, having hit both Goyf, Lili and Voice aside from the other jank mythics was extreme luck on the box’s part, I also pulled myself a foil Venser which was something I really wanted( besides Snapcaster of course :] ). However, the biggest letdown was 1 Fetch and the fact there were no Damnations, Blood Moons or even Goblin Guides. Considering that we bought the box for cheap, we still broke even and manage to keep the remaining rares, commons and uncommons for free.

Seeing other box openings though, especially on Youtube such as Alpha Investments, Boogie, Tolarian and many others have done. The whole topic on box openings seems to me like a big hit or miss. Some boxes can have 1 or 0 fetches, whereas others have all 5 fetches and 3 solid Mythics. Considering they all of them have opened at MSRP/Net Price, I would consider myself to be very lucky where I had someone who could pre-order for a considerably cheaper price.

The draft environment 

This is what I clearly like about this set, the fact that there is strong support pushing 2, 3 or 4 color draft archetypes. The fact that all 10 Signets, all 10 Guildgates as well as the 5 Tri-Lands from the Shards of Alara clearly is not only helpful support for the draft environment but also provides a strong welcome challenge towards draft, going 3 or more colors. Something which has not been open or encouraged to do in draft, is now possible and could very well be playable.

Some of the archetypes I felt were well supported, often could do better with the addition of a 3rd color, such examples would include:

UW Blink to Bant Blink (Thragtusk and Vital Splicer are strong additions together with Stoic Angel/Rhox War Monk)

BG Sacrifice to Jund Sacrifice (Holy crap Red/Jund offers some really strong value creatures that would LOVE to be sacrificed)

RG Aggro to Naya Aggro (Thornscape Battlemage gives more reach and GW provides all the beatdown any aggro fan would love in draft)

UB Control to Grixis Control (Not sure about you, but if you picked Cruel Ultimatum at any 1 point, changing the deck to Grixis Control is worth the try with access to Terminate, Falkenrath Aristocrat or even Sedraxis Specter)

If you really couldn’t have more fun drafting a strong 2 color archetype, the set is quite forgiving at giving players the reach they need for a 3 color manabase, at the same time providing more powerful options for their 3rd color.

I managed to draft twice, my first time trying out a spicy Jund aggro deck featuring Broodmate Dragon and Desecration Demon, my 2nd attempt however was UW Blink with 2 Vensers, Restoration Angel and Deadeye, together with an unruly crew of creatures having an ETB I could grab at that point.

Let’s talk about Rarity

Many would have known by now, a bunch of cards having their rarity downgraded, most possibly to allow an easier/much forgiving draft environment or to help Pauper out(Pauper players unite!). As me being quite a Pauper man at heart, I was extremely excited to see some cards finally getting a downshift to common. I’ll just make a small section of the top 5 MM17 Pauper Cards here.

#1: Burning-Tree Emissary

Everyone’s dream card that was in Pauper has finally finally printed as a common. Burning-Tree Emissary might finally be the final piece that Pauper Zoo or any RGx Shenanigans need. The 2 drop previously from Gatecrash is a very sick card, effectively a 2/2 for 0 that can follow up with a tempo play. Whether you decide to use the RG it produces for removal or another creature, Burning-Tree Emissary is one of those cards that is sure to shake up the Pauper metagame.

#2: Mortician Beetle

This little beetle got turned from Rare to Common :/ . Not something we see everyday in a reprint set but it seems to be another new toy for Pauper to play with. Pauper already has a BG Aristocrats/Sacrifice deck, that features Carrion Feeder, Bloodthrone Vampire and a bunch of other creatures that produce value when they die, Mortician Beetle not only fits perfectly in that deck, but it is scary with the already favored sac outlet/win-con Carrion Feeder, having 2 one-drops that are sure to grow big when the engine of the deck starts going makes GB  Aristocrats a deck to be reckoned with sometime in the future.

#3: Magma Jet

Magma Jet is probably one of my favorite red instants in the whole game, though cards like Lightning Strike and Searing Spear do 3 damage for the same cost. What has made Magma Jet an Uncommon all this while before MM17 was the fact that it had Scry 2. I could see this played in almost any Aggro shell, Burn or even a spicy UR Tempo build anytime soon. Overall, I’m very impressed with Wizards’s decision to push Magma Jet down to a common.

#4 Augur of Bolas

Augur of Bolas has only been printed 2 times, both at uncommon. With it now at common, control decks in Pauper finally look like they have a solid choice of dig in the form of a 2 drop. Augur will die to a bolt and any other removal, but it does provide a solid body early game. Generating card advantage for 2 mana is quite strong at any stage of the game. Thumbs up to Wizards again :)

#5 Dinvora Horror

Instead of playing the Chittering Rats/Archaeomancer combo in UB control, that deck sure has a new toy to play with. It sure is large and really reminds me of Capsize. Dinvora Horror is more than Capsize though, being a 4/4 for 6 isn’t really amazing but the fact that blinking it multiple times is ridiculously powerful. This might be a very big piece of the UB control deck already smashing results in the Pauper meta or it could also give rise to UBx control decks in the format. I was definitely not expecting this to show up in the set at common but I’m quite happy it is!

There were a bunch of other cards that were downshifted in rarity too, making the draft environment more exciting and the cards themselves easier to get as well as making them legal in certain formats/cubes. A few of the noteworthy ones include:

Placing Obzedat at Rare is pretty rude though >_<

A score for the set?

Every set needs a rating, I really find it hard to put a fair score on MM17 though. I did enjoy the set very much, the reprints and draft environment were very well designed by R&D team, for this, I feel we have to compare this to...

The Original!

Modern Masters 2013 probably has a special place in everyone’s hearts, the set was just sick. Like literally sick, it was filled with raw power at every level of rarity, the reprints were awesome and the set in today’s standards is brimming, if not overflowing with value~.

Modern Masters 2017 was good, wayyy better than 2015′s and slightly edging over Eternal Masters if I say so myself. It was a very special set with meaningful reprints and strong color support in draft. I would say it’s quite close to the original but not really what the original Modern Masters would bring. Overall, it was a solid set that definitely took many people by surprise. We will never know when we will see cards like these getting reprinted again:

I guess the reprints really speak for the set :D

Conclusion

I do believe that MM17 deserves to be one of the higher, more respected Masters sets in time to come, Wizards really put the ace in the hole on this one, fair credit to them. With the increasing prices of cards, I do believe MM17 is helping the playerbase in one way or another, which is clearly what the community wants. If Wizards could keep such a trend with their upcoming sets, I’m sure much good is sure to come for most formats. Until next time!