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Brewer's Minute: MM3—Five Cards and Decks: The IRL Impact


Hey, everyone. It's time for another Brewer's Minute. For the past week, we've been talking about Modern Masters 2017, which looks like one of the best Masters series sets of all time. That said, when it comes to reprint sets, we often get stuck on the abstract ideas and somewhat meaningless price decreases. While Scalding Tarn going from $80 to $40 is a great thing, I'm just not sure how many people who refused to pay $80 will be willing to pay the new lower (but still expensive) price. So, for our Brewer's Minute this week, we are going to look at five Modern Masters 2017 reprints that will have a significant impact on the real world by making some really sweet decks cheaper and more accessible. While none of these decks are "budget" (at least, in the way we define budget for Budget Magic, with a max of $100), all are cheap compared to other competitive options and are getting cheaper with the reprintings from Modern Masters 2017!

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Decks

Supported by the reprinting of not only Gifts Ungiven (which has dropped from $12 to closer to $4) along with Serum Visions, Past in Flames, Scalding Tarn, and Blood Moon (which often shows up in the sideboard), Baral Storm (or Gifts Storm) looks like one of the most competitive budget-friendly options in the Modern format at the moment. The deck had risen to prominence with the printing of Baral, Chief of Compliance in Aether Revolt, and if you like killing opponents by goldfishing on Turn 3, this might be the perfect entry deck to get you into Modern. Keep in mind that you can shave more money off the cost by replacing Scalding Tarn with Khans fetches. While you lose a tiny bit, it usually won't matter (there have been several high-placing lists that have not played Scalding Tarn, presumably for budget purposes). 

With Goblin Guide dropping from over $30 to closer to $15, there are a ton of new possibilities for people looking to play Modern on the cheap. The Mono-Red Burn list above is just one example, and the archetype gets a huge bump in power from the addition of the best aggressive red one-drop of all time. It's also helpful for decks like 8 Whack Goblins (which is much better with Goblin Guide) along with everything from Zoo to less budget friendly Naya Burn decks. 

Blood Moon being cheaper actually helps several archetypes as well. Maybe the most important (and fun) is GR Ponza, which not only benefits from cheaper Blood Moons, but reprintings of Bonfire of the Damned, Primal Command, and Thragtusk as well. While the deck isn't tier one, it has proved to have enough power to 5-0 leagues on Magic Online and occasionally show up at Grands Prix and the SCG Tour as well. Apart from GR Ponza, the Blood Moon reprinting also helps Skred Red, Free Win Red, and various janky brews.

While Esper Zur is far from tier one, it is an interesting semi-competitive option. Apart from getting Zur the Enchanter himself for less than half of his pre-reprinting price, maybe the best benefit of the deck is that it makes use of all of the important uncommon reprints from Modern Masters 2017, running Path to Exile, Inquisition of Kozilek, and Lingering Souls. While Zur the Enchanter only goes into one archetype, the rest of the cards are great ones to own for Modern in general because they are some of the most played staples in the format. 

Last but not least we have Soul Sisters, which benefits from the reprinting of not only Flickerwisp but Restoration Angel, Ranger of Eos, and Stony Silence as well. Better yet, these reprintings fuel multiple archetypes, including a fringe Mono-White Death and Taxes list that uses many of the same cards but plays very differently from Soul Sisters, which means you almost get two decks for the price of one, with both being on sale thanks to Modern Masters 2017.

Conclusion

Anyway, that's all for today. Hopefully, these decks will give you some ideas as to where you can put your new MM3 cards into action. If you've been waiting to get into Modern, getting in while prices are low thanks to the reprintings is a great idea. There are a ton of competitive and semi-competitive decks you can get for between $200 and $400, which means getting into Modern isn't considerably more expensive than getting into Standard at the moment, and you'll get to use your cards for a lot longer! So, what about you? What decks are you excited to build with new MM3 reprints? What archetypes benefit the most?

As always, leave your thoughts, ideas, opinions, and suggestions in the comments, and you can reach me on Twitter @SaffronOlive or at SaffronOlive@MTGGoldfish.com.



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