Modern: 10 Best Cards of 2024 for the format

The end of 2024 is approaching, and with it, we begin our retrospective on how this year was for Magic: The Gathering. In addition to the changes that occurred in the game, we can also evaluate which were the most important cards that the new releases brought to each competitive format.

Today we will talk about Modern. As expected, Modern Horizons 3 completely changed the competitive structure of the format, even if other cards from other expansions appeared occasionally.

The result was one of the worst years Modern has ever experienced: Nadu, Winged Wisdom broke the format and created one of the most miserable Metagames we have ever seen, followed by a format polarized around Boros Energy and the high popularity of The One Ring - two problems that were only addressed at December.

10 - Devourer of Destiny

Devourer of Destiny was a powerful tool in the success of Big Mana and Eldrazi decks in Modern in 2024. Its ability, if in the starting hand, offers an important filtering for archetypes that usually just want to find the right pieces to speed up the game and cast their bombs, in addition to being a core piece both for Ugin’s Labyrinth and for the general game plan of these decks since its casting works as a removal.

9 - Abhorrent Oculus

Abhorrent Oculus has replaced Murktide Regent in Dimir Tempo decks, which is a historic milestone in itself, given that Regent has been a key part of these strategies since Modern Horizons 2.

The reason for this replacement is linked to the interactions with Psychic Frog and Unearth, which allows reanimating Oculus earlier to generate card advantage while protecting it with Counterspell, in addition to the ease of playing with it in an archetype that naturally puts plenty of cards in the graveyard to execute its game plan.

Currently, it has no place in Izzet versions, but it is possible that, without Boros Energy in the way, Dimir variants will have a clear path to become the Metagame's regulator next year.

8 - Kozilek’s Command

Kozilek’s Command completes a famous cycle of cards that began in Lorwyn and now has its colorless version. Removal, ramp, top filtering, and graveyard hate: this spell does a bit of everything a deck needs to compete in Modern and has a guaranteed spot in any Big Mana deck that has easy access to colorless mana, such as the various iterations of Eldrazi and other The One Ring decks that permeated Modern in 2024.

7 - Consign to Memory

With the growth of archetypes with colorless cards and the widespread popularity of The One Ring in Modern, which reached 60% of the Metagame share and leveraged several variants of Ramp and Eldrazi, an assertive response was needed to prevent the predominance of these archetypes.

Consign to Memory was this card. It performed as well as it could, but blue decks eventually lost ground against Boros Energy and The One Ring archetypes, making it the last bastion against this artifact's complete domination before its ban.

6 - Ral, Moonsoon Mage

With Ruby Medallion, Ral, Monsoon Mage revitalized Storm in Modern and made it a competitively viable deck in a Mono Red version with the support of several “draw 2” effects that have been released in the last few years in that color, which by itself is a huge feat given how long has Storm been away from the format.

5 - Ajani, Nacatl Pariah

Ajani, Nacatl Pariah was perhaps the most powerful Planeswalker to come out in 2024 due to a major design mistake: two copies of it instantly transform it and generate so much value that it puts its controller far ahead in the game.

In terms of flavor, Ajani's card makes perfect sense, as his spark was ignited with the death of his brother, Jazal Goldmane, and his MH3 version tries to reinterpret that event, but in practice, Ajani is very easy to extract value from and, consequently, found space rapidly in Boros Energy and in some other decks in the Metagame, becoming a pillar of Modern in a few months alongside Ocelot Pride.

4 - Surveil Lands

The Surveil Lands left a lasting mark on the formats with Fetch Lands for the way they allowed decks to filter their top for “free” when fetching a land.

Its interaction with archetypes like Dimir Murktide, Jund Creativity, and Goryo’s Vengeance were just a few of the important steps this cycle took in the format, and it was also a preferable target in archetypes like Temur Rhinos before Violent Outburst was banned, or other archetypes that simply needed an extra way to dump useless cards into the graveyard searching for a combo piece.

Despite not offering the same color flexibility, Surveil Lands were just as important to Modern as Triomes, and should remain in the format for a long time.

3 - Guide of Souls

Boros Energy would never have become what it is if it didn't have a way to keep Energy counters flowing through the interactions between its cards. And at the heart of them is Guide of Souls.

An improved version of Soul Warden didn't seem that relevant when Modern Horizons 3 came out, but gaining an Energy for every creature that comes into play interacted directly with cards that fed into the mechanic like Static Prison and Amped Raptor, and its activated ability turned any creature into an immediate threat, being lethal with Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury.

In addition, Guide of Souls was the core of the interaction between Ajani, Nacatl Pariah and Ocelot Pride, ensuring a constant flow of creatures that made Boros Energy one of the most powerful Aggro decks in Modern history.

2 - Psychic Frog

Psychic Frog became an instant staple of Modern and Legacy due to its mix of feeding the graveyard, growing quickly, generating card advantage, and being in the right color combination. In addition to being one of the motivators for Murktide Regent lists to switch from to . It also found a home in Goryo’s Vengeance lists, which have become more midrange-oriented, similar to how we saw Reanimator transform in Legacy.

In a vacuum, Psychic Frog is a powerful enabler and perhaps the most flexible card of 2024, with a huge amount of potential for the next year.

1 - Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury

Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury is a distant memory of another card still banned from Modern: Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath. Instead of generating card advantage and ramp, Phlage is in the right colors to be an aggressive bomb that ends games in a few turns. When played, it is a Lightning Helix. When it attacks, it is a two or three turn clock that can be extended by support from other cards like Guide of Souls.

This power level has not only made it one of the most important cards in Boros Energy and a staple in Domain Zoo, but it has also made it a win condition for Jeskai Control and an alternative game plan for Ruby Storm.

That's all for today!

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

Thanks for reading!