In the ever-evolving landscape of Magic: The Gathering, each new set release brings with it a wave of excitement, anticipation, and often, a shift in the metagame. Modern Horizons, hailed as a game-changer upon its release, promised to inject fresh energy and breath new life into older archetypes in the Modern format. However, beneath the surface, some players have noticed an unexpected consequence: a paradoxical reduction in diversity within deck construction.

Magic: The Gathering’s Modern format has long been celebrated for its diverse array of viable decks. From aggressive Burn strategies to intricate control decks, to aggro decks, to combo related strategies, there has historically been a place for almost every playstyle. However, the introduction of the Modern Horizons sets have disrupted this delicate equilibrium.

One of the primary reasons for this disruption lies in the power level of the cards introduced in Modern Horizons, especially Modern Horizons 2. While the sets undoubtedly introduced exciting new mechanics and archetypes, it also brought with it a handful of cards that have significantly warped the format. Cards like Urza, Lord High Artificer and Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis quickly become dominant forces among others, overshadowing many previously viable strategies. But, this wasn’t too bad once Hogaak, was banned, although many viable cards were banned for the sins of Hogaak, until Wizards finally banned the correct card… Still left the others out to dry. Dont get me started on Yawgmoth…

The much worse offender though, is by far Modern Horizons 2. With the 5 Free Elementals, to Shardless Agent Addition, to Ragavan, to Urza’s Saga, to Imperial Recruiter, to this cutsie childish card Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar, and more… Many of these cards just decimate what used to be viable deck archetypes, and render them unplayable as no one makes their own decks anymore. Its all just copy and paste from whatever some “pro” top 8ed with this week. The Modern meta has become the Modern Horizons 2 “Modern”… God only knows what Modern Horizons 3 will bring, like the first cards that you cast for free and they net you mana? Dont laugh, look at the ridiculousness they have come up with…

The dominance of certain decks and archetypes has created a “best deck” mentality within the Modern community. Players are now incentivized to gravitate towards a couple strategies in order to remain competitive. This has led to a homogenization of deck construction, with a smaller pool of archetypes rising to the top while others fall by the wayside and end up in that fun void of “isn’t that cute”…

Furthermore, the rapid pace at which the Modern metagame evolves has exacerbated this issue. As players attempt to adapt to the dominant strategies, the metagame becomes increasingly polarized, with decks either aligning with or directly countering the prevailing archetypes. This creates a feedback loop wherein diversity is stifled as players flock to the most effective decks in response to the metagame shifts.

Additionally, the financial barrier to entry has become more pronounced in the wake of Modern Horizons. With certain cards from the set commanding premium prices due to their dominance in the format, as is the way of Magic for years, but the % has gone insane. With the power creep 3 or 4 cards are insane priced, then the rest of the set is bulk garbage kindling. Aspiring players may find themselves priced out of competing with top-tier decks. There is no longer a middle ground, its top tier, or loose your ass. This further narrows the pool of viable options and contributes to the decline in diversity within deck construction.

The health of the format has been in question for some time now. The sets that come out now are very weakly assembled. There is very little R&D put into them. A few cards are created to be the bombs and format warping, the rest is just filler (bulk). Sadly that really goes for “Standard” sets as well. “Standard” sets have no rhyme or reason anymore, cards made directly into modern, commander, even legacy…

Gone are the days of a flourishing diverse format where everyone has different strategies to pick from. Gone are the days of sitting down at a big tournament and seeing something you didnt expect, and smile at the cleverness of the player who created it, hell, gone are the days of sitting down at a big tournament and smiling at all…. Now, you enter a big tournament with a dab of vics vapo rub under your nose and a scowl because you know its going to be a miserable day of sweaty stank mirror matches.

R.I.P. Affinity, Dredge, Infect, Deaths Shadow, Storm, Goblins, Burn, Elves, Jund, Merfolk, so on so on so on so on….. Who wants to play Crashcade, Living End, or Tron? I’ll Pass…