Spoiler Highlight: Molten Collapse on Eternal Formats!

A big surprise was revealed on Lost Caverns of Ixalan's second previews week, and caused a huge commotion on social media - Molten Collapse.

Due to its flexibility and interaction with Fetch Lands and other effects that place permanent cards into the graveyard, the new spell gained notoriety for its potential in eternal formats, generating a significant amount of hype among players.

In today's article, we will delve deeper into this potential and evaluate where this card could stand out in the Pioneer, Modern and Legacy Metagame!

Molten Collapse is, in essence, an improved version of Dreadbore, with the flexibility we can find in one of Hidetsugu Consumes All's chapters - it is not as comprehensive as the Neon Dynasty saga in dealing with low-cost permanents, but it makes up for it in the flexibility to destroy creatures and Planeswalkers with higher costs - thus being a useful card for differing occasions.

The sorcery-speed makes its viability more restrictive in eternal formats, where the power level is higher and the demand for interaction is recurring. However, due to its potential 2-for-1 effect with Fetch Lands and other effects that put permanents in their owner's graveyard for free (Surveil, Mishra's Bauble, Evoke, among others), it gains the potential to replace some well-established effects in some of the main lists where it can see play.

Even in environments where there are no Fetches, such as Pioneer and Standard, the spell gains potential due to the notoriety of useful one-mana nonland permanents, not to mention that the Dreadbore module still makes it a powerful two-mana removal for these environments.

When we think about eternal formats or non-rotating formats, Pioneer is one of those that least stands out in terms of power levels, and the absence of Fetch Lands, banned since its conception, makes effects like Descend a bit less reliable than in other environments.

Dreadbore is a card that appears quite frequently in Rakdos Midrange lists, which doesn't seem to have the best means of enabling the Descend trigger, as it specifies that a permanent card needs to be placed into the graveyard - that is, Blood and/or Treasure tokens do not count for it.

In this case, the best option for the archetype to trigger this ability is with the second chapter of Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, or in some combination with Bloodtithe Harvester and/or Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger, or also with Channel Lands like Takenuma, Abandoned Mire.

The strategy that can certainly benefit from the new card is Rakdos Sacrifice, and although it doesn't run Dreadbore in its lists, Molten Collapse compensates for the lack of speed with flexibility to, perhaps, be included as a copy or two in the maindeck to deal with larger threats and/or assist in the mirror, or in games where there are important targets for the card.

Of all the non-rotating formats, Pioneer is the one that, today, has the least relevant range of low-cost permanents for us to destroy with Molten Collapse in decks that care about it. Having a clean maindeck answer to Witch's Oven and Chained to the Rocks is the new spell's biggest attraction for lists that would be interested in it today, while being able to deal with Pithing Needle and Portable Hole without compromises are a differentiator, especially for Rakdos Sacrifice!

Things get much more interesting for Molten Collapse in Modern, where the best deck in the format is an archetype in the colors, capable of benefiting from the mana costs of the spell to perform its interactions with free spells, and where there is a wide range of problematic permanents that this card can deal with in a 2-for-1 effect.

Rakdos Evoke, which currently has more than 20% of the Metagame share, plays with two copies of Terminate as an unconditional removal of creatures at instant speed. While it is more efficient for matchups against creature-based combos, Molten Collapse deals with several permanents from some of the format's main archetypes, and also from some lists that are in Modern's Tier 2.

With Hammer Time, Amulet Titan and Hardened Scales being great competitors in the current Metagame, Molten Collapse may deserve its space by offering an efficient trade against them. However, Terminate is also essential in these matches so as not to be "blown out" by a more explosive play, and it works a little better against other decks, given its mana efficiency, and the potential to play spells on your opponent's turn, is a little above flexibility today.

This brings us to the Sideboard, where Molten Collapse's ability to deal with larger threats competes with the scope of cards like Hidetsugu Consumes All and Engineered Explosives. Both have been Rakdos Sideboard staples since last year, and the Metagame still demands its presence among the 15 slots, and as Molten Collapse doesn't seem to replace it, then it would have to gain space in other slots.

In many ways, the new card reminds me of Abrade during the period in which it was released up to the pre-Modern Horizons II era, where the ability to deal with small creatures and destroy artifacts in a single slot made up for its use rather than a more specific answer like Anger of the Gods or Shatterstorm.

In this case, Molten Collapse would compete for space with Kolaghan's Command and other 2-for-1 effects that trade efficiency for flexibility. There are four to five Rakdos Evoke sideboard slots where cards and numbers frequently mix during its construction, and it is in these spaces that the new spell seems to shine.

If the Metagame changes, it is possible that it will become a relevant maindeck piece for lists. But today, the Metagame seems too geared towards certain interactions to the point that giving up Terminate seems like too high a risk, especially when the second most popular deck currently is Golgari Yawgmoth.

In the lower Tiers, Jund Saga seems like one of the few that might want Molten Collapse included in the maindeck, as it already has Unholy Heat to deal with creatures at Instant-Speed, while the list has other means of triggering Descend, such as Spellbombs and Urza's Saga.

Grixis Delver is the current best deck in Legacy since the insertion of Orcish Bowmasters into the format. Today, it has few flexible slots where cards like Unholy Heat, Spell Pierce and Thoughtseize usually fit.

In this archetype, Molten Collapse could gain space in these smaller slots, with its main attraction being its interaction with other permanents, in addition to functioning as a maindeck answer to Chalice of the Void, Carpet of Flowers, Shuko, Grindstone, Chrome Mox, and Aether Vial, while also dealing with Murktide Regent, Death's Shadow and other threats.

The problem is that most of the above artifacts are also dealt with by other cards that don't see as much play in current Delver lists, like the aforementioned Abrade. Furthermore, the mana cost on Molten Collapse is more restrictive in a field where we have Wasteland, and the fact it is a sorcery means fewer opportunities to capitalize on our turn's mana to be proactive.

On the other hand, being a sorcery also means being a good target for one of Storm's main spells: Burning Wish.

With the ease of generating black and red mana, and the equally easy ability to enable Descend with Lotus Petal, Beseech the Mirror, and Lion's Eye Diamond, Storm seems to benefit most from this card, as it allows you to deal with two hate pieces simultaneously, such as Deafening Silence and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben.

Molten Collapse is one of those excellent cards that needs a more favorable environment to work and, therefore, becomes a great example of good card design: at Instant-Speed, even if it didn't deal with Planeswalkers, it would just be too efficient for eternal formats.

As a sorcery, there are concessions to be made to get the most out of it, while the nuances in formats like Modern and Legacy put its automatic inclusion in every list at risk - there are matchups in which it will be the best possible answer, and others where its controller would wish for Terminate or Unholy Heat instead.

Being one of, if not, the most powerful card in the new set so far, Molten Collapse is a safe bet for players who want to secure their copies as long as they don't pay super inflated prices due to social media hype.

Thanks for reading!