Metagame: The Most Played Cards from Edge of Eternities

The Edge of Eternities season is coming to an end. Starting in early October, Magic will bid farewell to the game's space opera expansion after the Pro Tour, which takes place in the Modern format on September 26, the same date as the release of Marvel's Spider-Man.

Despite skepticism about the set's viability in affecting competitive formats, several cards from the set were present in various Magic: The Gathering formats. In this article, we'll highlight the main additions that Edge of Eternities brought to each Metagame, explaining how they stood out!

Standard

Icetill Explorer was an excellent tool for Landfall decks at the start of the Standard season, functioning as extra copies of Traveling Chocobo by allowing you to replay the "fetch lands" from the graveyard. Its addition also marked the beginning of and splashes in the archetype for sideboard answers and the inclusion of Worldsoul's Rage as another finisher.

Ouroboroid has established two archetypes since rotation: Simic Midrange is the most famous of them and, despite its name, is technically closer to a Tempo deck that uses cheap interactions to delay the opponent's game while creating a small army of creatures on the board, which increase dramatically in power each turn Ouroboroid is in play, especially with the card's interaction with another staple from Edge of Eternities: Genemorph Imago.

The second deck was one of the Golgari Midrange variants focused on proactive play, where it's common for Ouroboroid to show up in some lists, sharing space with Elegy Acolyte.

Devastating Onslaught features a combo with Temur Battlecrier, Outcaster Trailblazer, and/or Railway Brawler. The first combo involves using Onslaught on Trailblazer to create copies of it that generate mana when they enter. Each copy and the original Outcaster will then trigger multiple times and draw plenty of cards, often resulting in a second Onslaught.

The other combo involves copying Railway Brawler with Onslaught for X = 2. The original Brawler will check both copies and put five +1/+1 counters on each. At the same time, the copies will check each other, putting ten +1/+1 counters on each, resulting in two 20/20 creatures with Trample and Haste on the board.

The Battlecrier Combo was one of the highlights of Spotlight Series Orlando and has become a potential predator of the current best deck in the format, Izzet Cauldron.

Elegy Acolyte served to replace two important losses from the black Midrange decks in the new season: Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor / Glissa Sunslayer and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse.

While not as strong as either of the other decks, Acolyte has become one of the best sources of card advantage in black decks in the current Standard, and its Void ability is easy to enable in any version of the archetype, making it a complete package for fair strategies.

Without Temporary Lockdown in the format, Pinnacle Starcage makes a good impression as a cheap sweeper against Aggro decks and works in various matchups. However, the current Metagame isn't as favorable to the card because even Mono Red Aggro lists are partially betting on a higher mana curve as the game progresses.

Cosmogrand Zenith has become the star of Esper Bounce decks. Although the archetype lost This Town Ain't Big Enough in the last Banned and Restricted update, it still has ample capacity for reusing cheap spells with Fear of Isolation, Nurturing Pixie, and Sunpearl Kirin, making it easier to trigger Zenith every turn, as well as enabling Tragic Trajectory and Elegy Acolyte.

Seam Rip is very similar to Portable Hole and Fatal Push and has become the format's main removal in white decks, alongside Sheltered by Ghosts. As a bonus, it also works as a spot-on answer against an Agatha's Soul Cauldron in play, but it doesn't have the same ease in dealing with larger creatures in fair matchups.

Consult the Star Charts complements Stock Up in the card advantage package of Control decks, currently mostly in Azorius colors, but occasionally in other variants as well. It should remain a staple for some time, at least until another card is released that can overcome the inherent quality of having a mini-Impulse in the early game and a Memory Deluge in the mid-to-late game.

With limited appearances at the beginning of the season, Nova Hellkite quickly became a staple of Red Aggro decks in the new Standard, even enabling a new variant of this strategy with Sarkhan, Dragon Ascendant. Its popularity is due to the card's effectiveness in offering a powerful clock while also dealing with the many X/1 creatures in the current Metagame, especially against Dimir Midrange.

Quantum Riddler started as a card that players tried to use in Blink lists due to its Warp ability, but it has recently become a game-ender and an Izzet Cauldron tool for the mirror. The discard-to-draw abilities gain a new layer of value when they're in play. Also, if it has Vivi Ornitier's ability and a +1/+1 counter with Cauldron, Riddler allows for some explosive ramp turns where it generates three positive mana with Warp, or even a sequence with another Riddler cast from hand or exile for five mana.

Annul, while very conditional, has become the blue deck's best answer to a Metagame dominated mostly by Agatha's Soul Cauldron, as it addresses three of the archetype's key cards: Agatha's Soul Cauldron, Proft's Eidetic Memory, and Fear of Missing Out. The card should remain a sideboard staple as long as Cauldron is the best deck, which should be until the next Banned and Restricted update.

In the absence of Cut Down, Tragic Trajectory has become the best one-mana black removal in Standard. Like Elegy Acolyte, the Void condition proved easy to enable by mixing Map tokens from cards like Spyglass Siren or Sentinel of the Nameless City, or by being able to complement Trajectory with other removal and/or early combat trades, making it very consistent in dealing with virtually any creature in the current format.

Timeless staples of almost every format in which they're legal, Shock Lands returned in Edge of Eternities and have become the core of Standard's mana base today, alongside Starting Town, and should remain in that slot throughout their lifespan in the format, or at least as long as interactions with them exist in cards like Duskmourn's Verges.

Pioneer

Sunset Saboteur has made frequent appearances in Mono Black Midrange as a more aggressive opening for the archetype, especially in less interactive games against Combos, or to establish a clock in Control matchups.

Reroute Systems has become a staple in Boros Hammer. Unlike other protection spells, it can also deal with small threats on the opponent's board and hold the clock of Aggro decks when they are more explosive than the Colossus Hammer combo.

Pinnacle Starcage is a new tool for Azorius Control, occasionally appearing in slots that were previously part of Temporary Lockdown. The reason for this change involves Seam Rip, which replaced Portable Hole since the combination of the two allows for both a cheap early-game interaction and a board wipe that doesn't invalidate the archetype's one-mana removal—a common issue between Temporary Lockdown and Portable Hole in previous seasons.

Consult the Star Charts has become a staple of the format's Control decks and complements Memory Deluge and Narset, Parter of Veils in the Azorius Control card selection category. It is currently run in around 80 to 90% of the Azorius lists.

Archenemy's Charm does a bit of everything Mono Black Midrange needs: it's unconditional removal, it slows down the clock in Aggro decks, it returns creatures to the hand in attrition games, and it does all this at a low cost by the archetype's standards, while its high mana requirement makes it a motivator to choose the monocolored version over the Rakdos variants.

Seam Rip has become a sideboard staple and replaced Portable Hole in most lists that used the artifact, except for lists that need artifacts for a specific interaction, such as Metalwork Colossus.

Modern

Starfield Shepherd has made appearances in a few different lists, but mainly starred in the new Azorius Blink variants motivated by the already known combination of Ephemerate with ETBs, including the new Warp creatures and based on Guide of Souls and Ocelot Pride — two essential cards that Shepherd can search for, in addition to also finding Mockingbird, one of the archetype's most flexible tools.

From Abzan Yawgmoth to Samwise Combo, including some Azorius Blink lists and even some testing in Boros Energy, Haliya, Guided by Light has traversed several different Modern decks and has primarily settled into creature-based combo archetypes, where it functions as both a source of card advantage and a tool to offset the life loss costs of some cards like Yawgmoth, Thran Physician.

For a card selection tool to compete with Modern's quality, it needs to stand out and/or fit into the specific Metagame the format has. Consult the Star Charts is good at this point and has become one of the most played cards in Modern's Azorius Control lists as well.

Like Cityscape Leveler, Extinguisher Battleship has become part of the Karn, the Great Creator toolbox in Tron decks, both in traditional and Eldrazi versions, where it operates as both a powerful sweeper and a counter to non-creature permanents, in addition to being an effective win condition.

Quantum Riddler was one of the motivators for the creation of Azorius Blink, and has also permeated other variants of the archetype, being one of the reasons for 's surge in Esper lists. The multi-format staple is also present in Azorius Control, where four copies appear in approximately 50% of lists.

Pinnacle Emissary has boosted Affinity in the Modern Metagame. With it, the archetype becomes even more explosive in reducing the mana costs of its higher-value cards and can consistently play Kappa Cannoneer on the second turn, or even the first.

Emissary is also present in some versions of Emry, Lurker of the Loch decks, which reuse Mishra's Bauble and the combination of Mox Opal and, in some cases, Mox Amber to create an army of 1/1 tokens.

Legacy

Icetill Explorer appeared as a recurring one-of in some Dark Depths and/or Lands lists in Legacy. While this doesn't guarantee the card Staple status, it demonstrates the potential of a Crucible of Worlds with Exploration in an eternal format, especially if coupled with a green creature that can be fetched by Green Sun's Zenith.

Just like in Modern, Haliya, Guided by Light was present alongside Ocelot Pride, Guide of Souls, and Ajani, Nacatl Pariah in Legacy. Some lists are betting on it and Starfield Shepherd as ways to add more consistency to the archetype and/or leverage it in variants that aren't exclusively Mardu, but both still need to show more assertive results to be considered Legacy staples.

Up the Beanstalk is banned from Standard and Modern, but it's not only legal in Legacy but also a staple due to the format's wide range of alternative costs that trigger the card. Quantum Riddler adds another option to the wide range of threats found in Beanstalk Control lists while generating card advantage on its own and even offsetting the negative tradeoffs of Force of Will and Force of Negation in the absence of Beanstalk, as it can turn cheap cantrips into draw 2 for one mana.

Pinnacle Emissary also boosted Affinity decks in Legacy, known in the format as 8-Cast. While it expands the archetype's explosive potential in Modern, it essentially catapults it into the stratosphere in the eternal format, given that it boasts many zero-mana artifacts available for play and was already well-known before the release of Edge of Eternities for its ability to win games for free with a first-turn Kappa Cannoneer.

Tezzeret, Cruel Captain improved an archetype already considered strong and relevant in the current metagame: Mystic Forge. It functions as extra copies of Urza's Saga to mine for cheap artifacts that can end games, reuses mana from Grim Monolith and Basalt Monolith, and can even untap The One Ring to generate card advantage. As a bonus, its ultimate is easy to activate in this archetype and serves as another win line in longer games.

Pauper

Cryoshatter became a sideboard piece in Mono Blue Faeries and offers some significant bonuses compared to other one-mana answers, but it's not the most common choice among most lists in the current Metagame.

Melded Moxite appears in some versions of Synthesizer Burn and Madness Burn in Pauper, where it enables the Madness of some cards with its Looting effect while also counting towards Galvanic Blast's Metalcraft. Just like Experimental Synthesizer, it can be sacrificed to put more pressure on the board later on.

Perigee Beckoner does a bit of everything Pauper Sacrifice decks want: its alternative Warp cost is cheap, and its ETB is a sorcery-speed Supernatural Stamina. In theory, Beckoner offers two creatures for two mana, and this number can increase considerably if its trigger is used on creatures that put tokens into play when they die. It also functions as a pump against empty boards and a means of reusing certain interactions.

Illvoi Galeblade has earned its place in Mono Blue Faeries as another cheap Flying threat, this time with the Flash bonus to match the archetype's more reactive plays, and the ability to sacrifice it to draw cards is a nice bonus. Additionally, it counts as a non-human creature for Of One Mind and is a cheap and versatile enabler for Ninja of the Deep Hours or Moon-Circuit Hacker in the early game.

Cryogen Relic was the most important card from Edge of Eternities for Pauper. It enabled new versions of Affinity in Esper while also bolstering the archetype's Dimir variant. Additionally, versions of Jeskai Wildfire began running the artifact, and even more traditional Grixis Affinity lists tested it frequently throughout the season.

Besides the obvious choices, the new artifact was also present in different Tron variants, both with Ephemerate and Ashnod's Altar, and some Familiar lists even tested and included copies of the card in their lists to take advantage of its interaction with Ghostly Flicker.

That's all for today!

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

Thanks for reading!