Modern: The 10 Best Cards of 2023 for the format!

2023 was intense for Magic: The Gathering. With the culmination of the Phyrexia arc, a journey back into the past with The Brothers' War, and the fateful conclusion of one of the Multiverse's greatest antagonists with the March of the Machine, in addition to recent trips back to Eldraine and Ixalan.

This year was also the year in which competitive Magic formats took their first big step outside the game's universe: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth became the best-selling set in the game's history, and brought staples to all formats where its cards are legal!

In this week of retrospectives, I present the ten best cards released in 2023 for the main competitive formats, and today we will cover Modern!

The selection criteria for this list are based on the impact each card has had on Modern's competitive environment this year, whether by establishing a new archetype, leveraging an old strategy, redefining the way games are played, or by being present in multiple decks.

10 - Creatures with Landcycling

Lord of the Rings' cycle of creatures with Landcycling greatly increased the consistency of Living End in accessing colors and also in not losing land drops necessary to execute the combo at the right time, while each of them also works as a good threat when reanimated by this archetype's namesake card.

9 - Stern Scolding

Stern Scolding didn't have as much presence in the competitive Metagame as expected during the Lord of the Rings preview season, with occasional appearances in the maindeck and sideboard of decks like Izzet Murktide and Merfolks to deal with key pieces, such as Yawgmoth, Thran Physician and Grief, as well as being a one-mana answer to Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer.

Despite its low presence, Stern Scolding is a great safety valve for a Magic where creatures are getting better and better, being a clean and comprehensive answer to them at the lowest possible cost, and has gained more space on Sideboards during the last few months.

8 - Lorien Revealed

Lorien Revealed may not be the staple of multiple archetypes in Modern like it is in Pauper, but its inclusion in the format has increased the consistency of Temur Rhinos and other Cascade decks while increasing the value generated by late-game draws of the archetype.

Its presence was even more impactful in the period when Up the Beanstalk was legal, where casting it generated even more value with the enchantment, while allowing you to establish a mana base with four efficient colors to cast Bloodbraid Elf, Shardless Agent and Leyline Binding in the same deck.

7 - Delighted Halfling

The newest "good mana dork", Delighted Halfling stands out in relation to its predecessors due to its extra point of toughness added to the protection against Counterspells that it guarantees for some key pieces of the main deck where it sees play, Golgari Yawgmoth.

Delighted Halfling also gained prominence in Four-Color Omnath lists, where it accelerates mana and allows casting cards like Teferi, Time Raveler as early as the second turn.

6 - Flame of Anor

Flame of Anor stood out upon its release for its versatility, commonly found in old staples of competitive Magic, such as Esper Charm, but gained popularity as lists that sought to make the most of it emerged after the release of Tishana's Tidebinder, becoming a staple on Temur Rhinos in addition to enabling variants of Izzet Wizards in Modern.

5 - Agatha's Soul Cauldron

Agatha's Soul Cauldron was a pleasant surprise from Wilds of Eldraine for creature-based strategies. Its main function is to turn threats of the decks where it is found into key pieces of these archetypes. For example, turning any Hardened Scales creature into a Walking Ballista and/or Arcbound Ravager greatly hinders the opponent's ability to interact with removals.

Another example is in Golgari Yawgmoth, where any creature in play with +1/+1 counters can copy Yawgmoth, Thran Physician's ability and finish the combo alongside otherUndying creatures. This versatility made Agatha's Soul Cauldron one of the most powerful cards released in 2023 for Modern.

4 - Tishana's Tidebinder

Tishana's Tidebinder didn't even take two weeks to transform into a multi-format staple, with a hype that started in Modern, when the creature entered Temur Rhinos' lists and soon gained the attention due to the scope that its Stifle enables while invalidating some of the format's most important key cards.

Now, the new merfolk is present in some Izzet Murktide lists, has become a staple of Wizards lists, found slots in some Control decks and has even become a staple of Merfolks decks, which has reappeared after its release and the recent ban on Fury.

3 - Up the Beanstalk

The banning of Up the Beanstalk was one of Modern's most notable moments in 2023. After all, no one really expected that a newly released card would be banned alongside one of the main pieces of the archetype in which it stands out, but this only proves how powerful this enchantment was for the format.

In an environment where Fury, Solitude and Leyline Binding were some of the main options for bypassing mana values and extracting value from Up the Beanstalk, it became so impactful to the point where Cascade strategies chose it as target instead of looking for other more explosive spells, such as Crashing Footfalls or Living End, and due to this concession, the enchantment was banned in early December.

2 - The One Ring

The centerpiece of The Lord of the Rings' narrative, The One Ring has made a lasting impact on Magic: The Gathering and Modern. Its launch and the way the card was widely played in Goodstuff and Big Mana lists changed the Metagame and made Indomitable Creativity lists plummet in representation due to the protection that the artifact offers the player, which invalidates Archon of Cruelty as a viable wincondition.

The One Ring was also responsible for the rise of Big Mana archetypes after its release, where it is still present today in Amulet Titan, Mono Black Coffers and Tron, in addition to being a staple of Four-Color Omnath and have occasional appearances in Golgari Yawgmoth and Control decks

1 - Orcish Bowmasters

The only reason The One Ring doesn't define Modern and isn't the most important card of 2023 for the format is because of the impact that Orcish Bowmasters had on the competitive scene.

Orcish Bowmasters leveraged Rakdos Evoke as a broken strategy after many months since its conception. Before its release, archetypes like Izzet Murktide were able to beat Evoke in the top draw war, as they could filter their resources with cantrips.

Its arrival changed the balance of this matchup by punishing the efficient use of cantrips. If that wasn't enough, Bowmasters deals with Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer and Dragon's Rage Channeler without delirium while leaving two bodies on the board to establish pressure, not to mention the possibility of hindering the efficient use of Mishra's Bauble - Single-handedly, it made the former best deck in the format change its mana base to try to accommodate spells that "circumvent" its triggers, such as Questing Druid.

No other card in 2023 has changed Modern as much as Orcish Bowmasters, and there is no indication that it will stop being a staple in the coming years. Therefore, this creature was the most important card of the year for the format!

This year was very busy for Modern, but the power level of the format managed to keep its main archetypes at the top, despite the notable changes that took place in it. The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth was the most impactful expansion and brought excellent staples, but it didn't make an impact to the point of changing the structure of the Metagame.

In 2024, we will have the release of Modern Horizons III, and given the precedence of the last two Horizons sets in eternal formats, we can expect another earthquake in the competitive environment, with the rise of several archetypes and the decline of many others as the Metagame "rotates" around the most huge power level of these expansions.

Thanks for reading