Mother of Runes has often been heralded as one of the most integral cards in Legacy Taxes deacks. Giver of Runes (while not as powerful) opens up a slew of new decks available to enter the fray in Modern. We've seen decks like Eldrazi or the Mono-White Taxes deck Brian Coval used to win an Invitational but Giver of Runes makes these decks leagues better. While Giver is unable to protect herself, she gives an added bonus of being able to protect from colorless. With the new London Mulligan rule coming into effect it is likely we will see a rise in Eldrazi based decks and being able to attack through or block colorless creatures is a nice little bonus.

Beyond the more obvious homes, I also expect Giver of Runes to give a big bump to Devoted Druid decks who until now have been supremely weak to removal. Adding another 1-drop helps lower the curve while creating tension for opponents trying to balance the threat of a combo while managing your board.

Giver of Runes, while being unable to protect itself, will cause a multitude of issues for fair decks. Though we've seen unfair decks starting to pop up quite a bit, I think the fair decks can be built to be hateful and could line up well against what those unfair decks are trying to do.

Since there are quite a few variations we could play, I wanted to run through what I was thinking and how we could build these decks.

Starting with Mono-White Taxes:

Mono-White Taxes | Modern | Rudy Briksza

• Creatures (29)
• 1 Mirran Crusader
• 4 Blade Splicer
• 4 Flickerwisp
• 4 Giver of Runes
• 4 Leonin Arbiter
• 4 Restoration Angel
• 4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
• 4 Thraben Inspector

• Instants (4)
• 4 Path to Exile

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Aether Vial

• Lands (23)
• 8 Plains
• 1 Cavern of Souls
• 1 Eiganjo Castle
• 1 Horizon Canopy
• 4 Ghost Quarter
• 4 Silent Clearing
• 4 Tectonic Edge

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Burrenton Forge-Tender
• 2 Dusk // Dawn
• 1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
• 2 Surgical Extraction
• 1 Mirran Crusader
• 2 Pithing Needle
• 1 Relic of Progenitus
• 2 Rest in Peace
• 2 Stony Silence

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Silent Clearing is something I'm secretly very happy to add to this deck. Being able to play five cycle lands means that we are less likely to flood out and more likely to be able to move through our deck with ease. Having another 1-drop increases the efficiency of our deck and now there are more premium targets for removal which helps increase the efficacy of the Leonin Arbiter plan. The biggest upside to this deck is how clean the mana base is and the ability to grind with the best fair decks. The massive downside is the power level associated with this kind of strategy. Trying to play medium bears into your opponents flipping Pyromancer Ascension and Hogaaks does not a winning recipe make. While I like the IDEA of this deck I think we have better choices. Let's take a look at a couple splash variants that we could build with starting with the ever maligned Orzhov structure.

Orzhov Taxes | Modern | Rudy Briksza

• Creatures (29)
• 1 Wasteland Strangler
• 4 Eldrazi Displacer
• 4 Flickerwisp
• 4 Giver of Runes
• 4 Leonin Arbiter
• 4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
• 4 Thought-Knot Seer
• 4 Tidehollow Sculler

• Instants (4)
• 4 Path to Exile

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Aether Vial

• Lands (23)
• 1 Swamp
• 2 Plains
• 2 Shambling Vent
• 2 Silent Clearing
• 4 Caves of Koilos
• 4 Concealed Courtyard
• 4 Eldrazi Temple
• 4 Ghost Quarter

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Fatal Push
• 1 Force of Despair
• 2 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
• 1 Cabal Therapist
• 1 Orzhov Pontiff
• 2 Surgical Extraction
• 3 Rest in Peace
• 2 Stony Silence

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With a splash of color and a move to some Eldrazi we add some real power to the deck. Being able to interact early is ideal and Tidehollow Sculler offers ways to slow down combo decks. While we likely have to wait until post board to clean up some matchups, just having things like Thought-Knot Seer and Sculler gives us better ways to impact the board while not putting you far behind in an arms race. In addition, being able to play something like Eldrazi Displacer means that you're likely to be better off at protecting your Giver of Runes which will give any fair decks fits trying to break through. Post board you have tools available to beat combo decks and make fair matchups a tiny bit better. I'm unsure if Cabal Therapist is any good but I think the power level is high enough to try. The potential of the card being able to eat an opponent's hand is not to be ignored against the control decks and the combo decks of the format.

Overall, the deck appears to be solid with the new additions and if you're looking for a Taxes style list to start I'd probably go with this one. The next one I'm going to show you is a bit more experimental and I'm completely unsure it's even good.

Azorius Taxes | Modern | Rudy Briksza

• Creatures (28)
• 2 Unsettled Mariner
• 3 Flickerwisp
• 3 Reflector Mage
• 4 Giver of Runes
• 4 Leonin Arbiter
• 4 Meddling Mage
• 4 Spell Queller
• 4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 Teferi, Time Raveler

• Instants (4)
• 4 Path to Exile

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Aether Vial

• Lands (22)
• 1 Snow-Covered Island
• 6 Snow-Covered Plains
• 1 Glacial Fortress
• 2 Flooded Strand
• 2 Hallowed Fountain
• 2 Waterlogged Grove
• 4 Ghost Quarter
• 4 Silent Clearing

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Stony Silence
• 3 Rest in Peace
• 1 Teferi, Time Raveler
• 4 Force of Negation
• 1 Disenchant
• 1 Ethersworn Canonist
• 2 Flusterstorm
• 1 Surgical Extraction

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The best thing about this style of deck is being able to operate at instant speed while providing all these effects to make it harder for your opponent to use removal. Teferi, Time Raveler and Spell Queller take this to the next level and provide ways to interact on the stack, with permanents you might not normally be able to manage, and a way to further protect your creatures. While we don't have the combo elements of something like Infect, Teferi will still play an important role. Being able to get value out of spells like Reflector Mage or Flickerwisp helps strangle opponents. A key note here is that with Teferi in play a dead Queller (or one you bounce back) will stop the spell from being cast. Now that's what I call value. The Phoenix decks have moved toward Finale of Promise which Teferi plays a role against as well. With Teferi in play all your Vialed creatures basically have free reign. If my opponent has Teferi in play and puts in a Giver of Runes off Vial then I guess I'm just going to do this:

Last on my list of decks is the Devoted combo strategy. Lucky for me Edgar Magalhaes has been taking names online with his variant of the strategy. Eldarami's Call has given the deck a much needed boost of consistency and Giver of Runes adds the needed protection to keep opponents off balance.

Devoted Call | Modern | Edgar Magalhaes

• Creatures (25)
• 1 Deputy of Detention
• 1 Scavenging Ooze
• 1 Walking Ballista
• 2 Birds of Paradise
• 2 Duskwatch Recruiter
• 2 Eternal Witness
• 4 Devoted Druid
• 4 Giver of Runes
• 4 Noble Hierarch
• 4 Vizier of Remedies

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Vivien, Champion of the Wilds

• Instants (8)
• 4 Eldarami's Call
• 4 Incubation // Incongruity

• Sorceries (5)
• 1 Postmortem Lunge
• 4 Finale of Devastation

• Lands (21)
• 1 Plains
• 3 Forest
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 Misty Rainforest
• 2 Temple Garden
• 2 Verdant Catacombs
• 3 Razorverge Thicket
• 4 Horizon Canopy
• 4 WIndswept Heath

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
• 1 Vivien, Champion of Wilds
• 1 Remorseful Cleric
• 3 Rest in Peace
• 3 Path to Exile
• 1 Tireless Tracker
• 1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
• 1 Collector Ouphe
• 1 Knight of Autumn
• 2 Unified Will

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Really I just appreciate Edgar making me look smart by playing Finale of Devastation in Modern. That being said, it's the perfect kind of card for this deck. Removal and discard plague fair matchups and Finale operates as a way to keep your hand stocked with options and giving you access to both your deck and your graveyard. With some of the unique bullet targets that opponents will have answers for, being able to return cards without Eternal Witness will come up quite a bit. Vivien, Champion of the Wilds offers another avenue of attack by allowing you to play at instant speed. The loss of Collected Company and Chord of Calling means that your curve is lower but you lose the oomph of being able to play a passive game to create a more impactful board state and instead trade to a faster end game.

Giver of Runes is a fantastic card and is going to make its way into Modern's upper echelon. As decks jockey for position at the top of the food chain, the hybrid combo decks will rise to the top as they are generally the most flexible and most resistant to hate. Even if you want to play a fairer strategy Giver of Runes opens the doors to doing so in colors that provide stellar hate cards.