Heya! Happy day to you and your peoples! I hope you are well. Enjoying the spoilers for Modern Horizons? I hope so. One of the most exciting parts of the set to me aren't the new cards made for Modern, but the reprints that bring new cards, such as Fact or Fiction or Regrowth into the format!

I enjoy that this set feels a lot like some of my favorite sets in the past, such as Time Spiral. That set was a gift that was handmade for me, and I had moments playing it that were amazing. I still remember opening it up at the prerelease weekend, and the timeshifted sheet hadn't been leaked or spoiled. I had this moment where my first pack I cracked featured a foil Sol'Kanar the Swamp King with its original border and art. It was a majestic feeling, and still one of my favorite moments in the game.

I have played this game continuously since 1994. I am 42. All of my adult life. That sort of brand loyalty and fidelity was rewarded by the powers that be once in Time Spiral Block, and then occasionally in sets like Dominaria or cards from Commander sets that make classic characters, such as Urborg's own Lord Windgrace.

I have that feeling with Modern Horizons as well. This feels like a set that tweaks my Abe-dar. There are little pieces of art, flavor text, and more that resonate with me.

Now that I've seen much of the set in spoilers, but we have a ways to go, I wanted to pause and look at reprints, that I hope will still make the cut, or that I am sad if they don't make the cut!

So why are these specific cards here? How do they make my list? My main criteria for cards here isthreefold -

And this is a difficult balancing act. I suspect that there aren't that many cards could safely play into three lines at the same time. I suspect that future Modern Horizons sets would be increasingly poor and disappointing, such as later Modern Masters sets were after the 1st was so good. In order to prove the theory that a 100% reprint set would work and sell it conceptually to us payers, they didn't keep any bullets in the gun after they fired it. What else are you going to do? I don't see this working every other year moving forward. You won't be able to do more new cards over and over again nor find reprints that'll work. You get the Masterpiece disappointment of cracking one, only to find it was Boil.

I mean, sure, some rogue deck-builders may be happy that cards like Conquer, Order of Leitbur, Soul Burn, Seer's Visions or Puffer Extract were made legal. But there are only so many Fact or Fictions out there that are sexy enough to draw folks in. Shoot, we've already seen Genesis in the set. Are you that excited for Genesis in Modern? I love Genesis for things like Commander! But here?

Today I want to look at cards that I think would give some strong options or open up useful conversations without going down the wrong path. Let's start!

Honorable Mention #1 - Ice Storm

Don't forget that Green already has targeted land removal in Modern with effects like Creeping Mold and the instant, three-mana Beast Within, as well as nearby cards in Red with Stone Rain, Avalanche Riders, and now Pillage, but no one runs them much - Modern's speed has improved past three-mana land destroyers. I initially had Winter's Grasp in this spot, but you know what? Ice Storm has a cachet that few other cards you could print would, and giving Green a faster, easier to cast, answer to lands without splashing another color, and without the Beast giving weakness of Beast Within should prove to be pretty solid as a potential sideboard card. Plus, see card #2 on my list below if you are scared of someone targeting your lands.

What really sells me on this card though is that it was never re-printed. It's been a great choice for sets like Iconic Masters, Ultimate Masters, Masters 25or Eternal Masters. As well as a Masterpiece, From the Vault option, or anything else. We've never seen it since its initial printing. This feels like the best potential home, adding it to Modern!

Either...

Honorable Mention #2 - Grim Tutor OR Cruel Tutor

I suspect that Grim Tutor is very Modern-able, but I am not sure, and I suspect that play-testing would be needed to ensure it. In Legacy, few play Grim Tutor any more, other Tutors that are also Modern legal tend to be preferred. If it's not that desired in Legacy, then I doubt that Modern would be harmed by it. Also, giving it a black-border printing with foils would be a big hit to help sell a set, should play-testing deem it to be fine. Should play-testing prove it untenable, then something like Cruel Tutor or another Tutor that's not legal might prove interesting, although Cruel is probably the weakest that's not legal right now. You could also play-test the sorcery speed Imperial Seal, if you wanted something cheap, but card advantage and not with the instant abusability of Vampiric Tutor. Although I suspect that Grim is the best and most iconic choice.

Honorable Mention #3 - Chaos Warp

I would be very surprised if this was not coming in Modern Horizons. I get why it wouldn't necessarily be the easiest thing to print in a Standard legal set, and I suspect that if it were printed today, it would read "nonenchantment." But the fact that you could wind up giving your opponent serious gas limits it. It's a good answer for Red!

Honorable Mention #4 - Swords to Plowshares

We have Path to Exile already. Is this really that much worse? Both are one-mana exiling spells. The reason why this hits back in my honorable mention section is that is obviously such a high-profile card, that it would have been tested. If it's not here, it's got to be because It can't be, someone fears it too much. Because we all know that this had to have been heavily tested.

10. Capsize

Without being kicked, this is a three-mana Boomerang, which is just too much to spend on a Boomerang reliably without it breaking things. But when you kick it? There is just something special about it. You can kick it and bounce things. For that reason, it's arguably one of the best targeted bounce spells ever printed. But a six-mana recursive single-target Boomerang? I don't think that's broken in the fast environment that Modern enables, thus making this, at best, a tool for the occasional deck as an answer.

9. Loyal Retainers

Loyal Retainers are fun! They are a three-mana creature that can self-sacrifice to bring back one legendary dork. Their ability of when is highly limited. Plus, they aren't very good at surviving removal at the three-mana spot. They require a lot of set-up to work, and thus are easier to disrupt. But they have made the cut, at times, in Legacy, although it's been years since I ran into one of them at a tournament. I think their presence in Modern would benefit the format.

8. Oubliette

Oubliette is basically the first Oblivion Ring style card. They hadn't worked out the wording and details, so the creature you send into the prison is going to come back with the same number and type of counters it went in with, as well as any auras it had. I think that's cool because it's flavor-ful. Whatever you had going in you'll still have coming out. But it's not going to be reprinted in a Standard set because of that. Modern? Sure, let's give Black another tool in the anti-creature shed! It can use it, no doubt. Besides, what Commander player wouldn't want a foil Oubliette?

7. Seedtime

I believe that Magic has always played best when you've had problems, answers, and counter-answers, and then counter-counter-answers and so forth. Nothing should be insurmountable. We are adding in instant Blue card drawing such as Fact or Fiction, instant pitch spells include a Blue hard counter (Force of Negation) and more. Seedtime is a very Green way of telling folks to knock it off. Hey! Did you cast an End of Turn, Fact or Fiction You Lose? Well here's my Seedtime. Now I take another turn while you are all tapped out, so I can cast my stuff! Muahaha. Seedtime is great. It's has a very specific need and use, but it would give a useful sideboard tool to answer the increased Blue instant tools that were added in this set already.

6. Deep Analysis

At the end of the day, Magic players enjoy drawing cards. It's part of our key identity. We love the drawings of the cards. And thus, Deep Analysis enters, as a fair way to do so. It's never going to be banned, it's a tool for some places, and it has value. Now it doesn't crack my top five, because I am not sure if it ever would make the cut anywhere, but at least it would have a bigger presence than cards we already have been spoiled, such as Dismantling Blow.

5. Thran Dynamo

I think this is very Modern-able. It's only one-mana fewer than Gilded Lotus, it's a loss of mana when you cast it, so you won't get a free spell for Storm or free mana for similar builds. I don't see an obvious shell for it in the top ten archetypes of the format, like affinity or humans. I'm not sure legalizing it would make a difference in any deck out there, and thus, it seems to be useful as a tool in certain builds. Maybe a colorless deck with Eldrazi? Maybe? And that's why I think this as a 4-drop is fair.

4. Vindicate

Modern has a big number of Vindicate variants in or such as Maelstrom Pulse, Anguished Unmaking, and others. You might as well commit and make Vindicate and move on. This is the perfect opportunity to do so!

3. Wild Mongrel and Roar of the Wurm

To be fair, I never really enjoyed how dominant this deck was during its heyday. However, everyone preferred to run into this deck than something like, say, Psychatog and Upheaval which was impossible to answer. This was at least fair. It won with a fast 2/2 and 6/6 tokens that cost you four mana. We have four mana 6/6s in Standard right now! I doubt this is too powerful or synergetic. You could easily add in Basking Rootwalla as well. I also think that this could push a new deck archetype in Modern as well. Please note that I did not include the two-mana Buried Alive variant of Quiet Speculation, as I suspect it may be too much. (Although I'd be willing to be proved wrong on that with some Deep Analysis).

2. Teferi's Response

I really love Teferi's Response because it's a specific answer to a specific problem - targeting my lands. The fact that it's a double cantrip is sweet. Destroying the permanent that targets your stuff as well as countering it? Sweeter! I really enjoy this in a deck with man-lands, as you can Response and take out stuff that would kill your lands, such as Lightning Bolts. This is a unique and fun tool for Modern, right? Right!

1. Propaganda

None of the cards on this list hold a candle to Propaganda, and it's my top card by a lot. It gives some fun options for Blue for slowing down attacking, and it can be twinned easily to already Ghostly Prison to optionally add some slowing down to the board. Also, did you know that we've never had a foil Propaganda ever printed? That will make a big chase foil from this set too!

And there we have it! Did you enjoy my list? What about yourself? What reprints do you want to see that you think would toe the line between not too powerful, but powerful enough? Thanks for reading!