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Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3 Wraps Up
This past weekend saw Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3 take place at MagicCon Amsterdam! The major competitive event saw a showcase of both MH3 Limited as well as Modern Constructed showcasing the awesome new cards from the set! Most of the cards at play, however, were centered around Nadu, Winded Wisdom as Nadu-based decks dominated the event. The Bant Nadu archetype specifically took up 20% of the overall meta, saw a 59.3% win rate per Frank Karsten's data, and absolutely crushed everyone. I'll be covering the winner and talking a bit more about the deck at the end of this article!
Despite being dominated by the almighty bird, one of the biggest talking points of the event was Kai Budde, the world renowned German Juggernaut who dominated pro play in the game's earlier years. William "Huey" Jensen came on stage to announce that Kai has been battling cancer for the past few years and unfortunately, it seems to have taken a turn for the worse. In an effort to honor Kai and his achievements, Wizards is renaming the annual Player of the Year award to the Kai Budde Player of the Year award. Kai then came on stage to say a few words as well, noting he still planned to play as much as he could, proving this by immediately winning a PTQ the following day. Everyone wishes Kai the best of luck in his battle with cancer and that we're blessed with his presence as a part of this game's community.
MagicCon Amsterdam Preview Panel Wrap-Up
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Amsterdam wasn't just home to the Pro Tour last weekend, it was also host to the full MagicCon experience! As is usual for these events these days, this also includes a preview panel dedicated to showing off the latest and greatest of cards in upcoming releases. This time focused on three sets: Duskmourn: House of Horror, Bloomburrow, and an all-new unannounced one titled Foundations.
While Bloomburrow got some love, it played third wheel to the other sets thanks to its upcoming preview season beginning on Tuesday. Instead, all eyes were fixed on the true first look at Duskmourn, which showed that the early impressions of a Ghostbusters-esque environment weren't quite accurate. Instead, they're going all-in on the 80s horror aesthetic, which has many horror aficionados (myself included) extremely excited for what the set is going to bring with it.
Last but not least, the big talking point for many was actually the new release that hadn't been announced before titled Foundations. Early leaks suggested this was actually Jumpstart 2025, and while it does have some Jumpstart packs associated with it, that couldn't be less accurate. Instead, it's much more akin to the Core Sets of old, only instead of rotating and changing annually, this one is sticking around until 2029 - at least! Many fan favorites like Llanowar Elves, Day of Judgment, and Omniscience are confirmed to return, and several new cards were shown off as well. The set is bound to be tremendously impactful for Standard players the world over going forward.
Massive Article Repository Compiled
Earlier this week, Twitter user @AzoriusI posted a Google Sheet that compiled together a massive collection of articles from all over the net into one singular source! This document brings together over 1600 pieces from over the last several decades to help players level up their game. You might even find one from yours truly in there! If you're interested in having access to some of the best Magic strategy articles around, I cannot recommend checking out this document, which you can find right here.
Magic Online Ends Foil Set Redemptions
At the tail end of last week, Daybreak Games - the company currently running Magic Online - announced that they would be ending foil set redemptions going forward. Starting with Bloomburrow, the client will no longer allow you to redeem a foil digital set to receive foil paper cards. Despite this, however, they will instead allow you to continue redeeming full foil digital sets in order to receive non-foil sets in physical form. Daybreak also announced prices for set redemptions will be increasing due to the costs of offering this service, with set redemption tokens now costing $45 as opposed to the previous $35. These numbers don't include shipping and handling, which is a flat $10 per set redeemed.
Decklist of the Week
Bant Nadu | Modern | Simon Nielsen, 1st Place Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3
- Creatures (23)
- 1 Dryad Arbor
- 1 Endurance
- 1 Noble Hierarch
- 1 Outrider en-Kor
- 1 Sylvan Safekeeper
- 2 Bristly Bill, Spine Sower
- 2 Haywire Mite
- 2 Wall of Roots
- 4 Delighted Halfling
- 4 Nadu, Winged Wisdom
- 4 Springheart Nantuko
- Instants (6)
- 2 Summoner's Pact
- 4 Chord of Calling
- Artifacts (6)
- 2 The One Ring
- 4 Shuko
As mentioned above, Nadu completely dominated Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3, absolutely obliterating the field with a truly monumental showing. Not only did five Nadu lists make the Top 8, but the Top 4 was made up exclusively of Nadu decks. Longtime favorite pro player Simon Nielsen took home the trophy after a long grueling weekend of complex Magic! The deck wins by combining Nadu with the likes of Shuko and Outrider en-Kor to create a massive amount of triggers which can go infinite if you have a Springheart Nantuko on the board. The deck is full of all kinds of crazy loops that's left players finding the deck unfun to play, unfun to watch, and almost certain for a ban on August 26, if not sooner. Congratulations Simon on the incredible victory!
Paige Smith
Twitter: @TheMaverickGal
Twitch: twitch.tv/themaverickgirl
YouTube: TheMaverickGal
