Modern: The 10 Best Cards of 2025

2025 was quite an eventful year for Modern.

From the impact of unbanning old staples at the end of 2024 to the need to ban Underworld Breach, the format underwent a dozen changes, and there wasn't a set during this period that didn't bring at least one new addition to the format—from cards that had great relevance in a specific archetype, such as Voice of Victory, to cards that boosted emergent strategies and placed them in a privileged position in the Metagame, with clear examples being Ketramose, the New Dawn and Quantum Riddler.

In this article, we list the ten best cards released in 2025 for Modern, considering how much they contributed to the format and the competitive Metagame!

10 - Badgermole Cub

The most recent addition to the "potential multi-format staple" corral hasn't been left out of Modern: Badgermole Cub has found a home in the (few) archetypes that still use a high concentration of mana dorks in their lists, these being mostly creature-based combos, such as Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Samwise Gamgee or Devoted Druid.

It's still too early to define the card's final position in the Metagame, but the potential is there, and some players have even tried using the card in other lists, but without much success — however, its potential is evident as a possible staple in specific decks, guaranteeing it tenth place.

9 - Icetill Explorer

Icetill Explorer was an ostensibly tested addition to Amulet Titan decks until players concluded that it didn't do enough for the archetype's core game plan to warrant maindeck slots, but it was still a good target for Green Sun's Zenith or Summoner's Pact to have a copy in the sideboard.

Today, the card is also a frequent inclusion in Eldrazi Ramp decks, where it protects the archetype from interaction against LD while possessing a "pseudo-lock" with Ghost Quarter against archetypes with a greedy mana base.

8 - Weapons Manufacturing

This year has been especially generous to Affinity for a dozen reasons, including the unbanning of Mox Opal at the end of 2024, but Edge of Eternities leveraged the archetype in the competitive Modern scene, and one of the reasons is further down the list, but we can't ignore the potential of Weapons Manufacturing to add redundancy to your game plan while also interacting with Arcbound Ravager to finish games.

7 - Ketramose, the New Dawn

Despite having recently disappeared, Ketramose, the New Dawn was the driving force behind the establishment of one of the most interesting Modern archetypes this year.

Orzhov Blink was treated during the first quarter as a response to the Underworld Breach Metagame and, in fact, did a good job of establishing an efficient contender to the format, but eventually, Ketramose was no longer needed for Blink decks to succeed, and the format has since then been left out of the competitive landscape.

6 - Ugin, Eye of the Storms

When Ugin, Eye of the Storms was revealed, dozens of speculations arose about the card's potential in colorless decks like Tron and Eldrazi, and they proved feasible: the new version of the Planeswalker became a staple in both archetypes and today occupies a position where most lists run around two copies of it.

And it's no wonder: Ugin does a little bit of everything these archetypes desire and possesses an interaction with colorless spells that Karn Liberated wouldn't even dream of having in the last decade.

5 - Clarion Conqueror

Clarion Conqueror was the best sideboard piece for Modern this year. The ability to lock down the activation of Mox Opal, Goblin Charbelcher, and also activated abilities of Planeswalkers and creatures made it one of the best "hatebears" the format has had in a long time, granting it slots on the sideboards of decks like Boros Energy, Domain Zoo, Blink, and Living End.

4 - Pinnacle Emissary

Pinnacle Emissary was the card that restructured Affinity and established it as one of the best archetypes in the Metagame by the end of 2025. Combined with Mox Opal, the new creature can take advantage of the deck's various cheap artifacts to consistently "go off" into a Kappa Cannoneer on turn two—a playstyle that made Kappa a staple in Legacy upon its original release.

Emissary was also a card present in other strategies with Emry, Lurker of the Loch and Cori-Steel Cutter, sometimes seeking to "revive" the Breach decks it was banned during the year. Today, these versions have abandoned the creature in favor of other more attrition-oriented playstyles with Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student and Quantum Riddler.

3 - Voice of Victory

Voice of Victory became an instant staple in Boros Energy a few weeks after its release and hasn't left since. The card does a little bit of everything the deck needs: it creates tokens to trigger Guide of Souls, fuels Ocelot Pride, exerts decent pressure on its own, and, most importantly, blocks opposing interactions during your turn.

This "lock" is essential for several other synergies in Energy. First, it allows you to "spend" Energy on Guide of Souls more safely or use Ajani, Nacatl Pariah's abilities without so much fear of an opponent's response, and the last, but most important, role of the card is how well it interacts with Goblin Bombardment, one of the archetype's main tools for holding the opponent's board and finishing games.

2 - Cori-Steel Cutter

Perhaps the most controversial card of the year, Cori-Steel Cutter shook the competitive Metagame in all formats in which it was legal, even leading to a ban in Standard in the process.

In Modern, the artifact established its own archetype, but as elsewhere, it succeeded in proactive Prowess lists capable of easily sequencing two spells per turn, leveraging Izzet Prowess back into the format and, as a bonus, offering a cheap and efficient deck option to start playing Modern.

1 - Quantum Riddler

Perhaps no one expected a glorified Mulldrifter to reach the heights Quantum Riddler has reached in Modern, but the creature from Edge of Eternities expanded the space for all Blink decks in the format and gave rise to the new “Goodstuff” model alongside Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Consign to Memory, and Teferi, Time Raveler.

Its potential was so remarkable that Riddler directly influenced the way archetypes were built in different tiers. Decks with Goryo's Vengeance began to use it as a complementary threat, while Orzhov Blink lists started to splash blue just for the card, and beyond them, the Cori-Steel Cutter lists, mentioned above, also included copies of the blue staple in most versions, and even Jeskai Energy saw no reason not to play with it if they already ran Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd and Consign to Memory.

Other cards had their playability peaks during the year; some reached many archetypes, and others certainly became staples in established strategies, but Quantum Riddler definitely exceeded all expectations and began to shape the format, permeating several of the most dominant strategies in the competitive scene today — therefore, it is the most important Modern card released this year.

That's all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thank you for reading!