I was trying out some stuff with the new set to see what would work and what wouldn't. My one true love in Modern is bad Izzet decks, so I decided to sleeve some Blue Moon to see if I could get the new lands to work.

I figured I should try and work them all into a list. I played exactly one game with a Blue Moon deck that had Jwari Disruption, Valakut Awakening, Shatterskull Smashing, Sea Gate Restoration and Silundi Vision in it.

I played one game because I knew I had struck gold when I played the Silundi Vision after bouncing it to my hand with a Cryptic Command and then flashing it back with a Snapcaster Mage. My land drop got me 12 cards deeper into my deck. Please read that again; my land drop got me through 1/5th of my entire deck. That is insane. Oh, and it also made a bit of a Dig Through Time impression while it was at it.

After that, I just went back to the deck editing screen and came up with a list.

This is the list I played:

Blue Moon

 

4 Bonecrusher Giant 3 Brazen Borrower 4 Snapcaster Mage 4 Thing in the Ice 4 Archmage's Charm 2 Cryptic Command 2 Force of Negation 4 Lightning Bolt 3 Mana Leak 4 Opt 2 Serum Visions 2 Blood Moon 2 Flooded Strand 7 Island

1 Mountain 4 Scalding Tarn 2 Steam Vents 2 Riverglide Pathway 4 Silundi Vision

Sideboard: 2 Abrade 2 Aether Gust 2 Mystical Dispute 2 Surgical Extraction 2 Anger of the Gods 3 Relic of Progenitus 2 Cleansing Wildfire

This list didn't feel perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but that's not a thing you can get to the core of after just a few matches. However, I did find out that my deepest, darkest desire is to cast as many Silundi Vision as I can. The card is fantastic. One of the biggest problems Blue Moon used to have was flooding out and running out of gas to do stuff with. But when you can cast your land drop to look at the top 6 cards and take something sweet like Archmage's Charm or Cryptic Command, it's a lot harder to run out of gas.

I know that these decks were already running Mystic Sanctuary, but I honestly think this card is better. Especially now. Between the new Oops- All Spells deck and Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath there isn't a single person on the planet not prepared for Graveyard shenanigans in Modern. Silundi Vision handily dodges the Graveyard and fits into Blue Moon very naturally by being an Instant. One other thing that Silundi Vision does on its own that Mystic Sanctuary doesn't do is that it gets you the card in your hand straight away. No questions asked; it just goes to your hand. It also plays a lot nicer with Snapcaster Mage. And don't forget that you can bounce Silundi Isle with Cryptic Command in the late game.

To be fair, it isn't all just win-win and more win. In my list, I was running a four of tapland, in Modern. My 8Whack opponent was probably very grateful for that while they were murdering my face on turn 3 with 2 Steppe Lynx, an Akoum Hellhound a Lightning Bolt, and a Reckless Bushwhacker on turn 3. Not gonna lie. That game wasn't incredibly close by any stretch of the imagination.

However, in another match, my 8rack? 12Rack? 16Rack? I don't know how many we are up to these days. During a topdeck war – against 8 rack, what a surprise - they put a Shrieking Affliction on the battlefield. We were both at 0 cards, so that thing was going to murder my life total. I then topdecked a Silundi Vision, found an Archmage's Charm, promptly took control of the Shrieking Affliction with it, and watched them squirm for a while because of their own enchantment. It was great. It even had the awkward pause where you know your opponent realizes that even though they got so far, it didn't even matter as they just hit the concede button. You know the awkward pause, I mean. You throw something on the stack, they read it, they reread it. Nothing happens for a while. Their clock ticks down. They don't get it and let you do your thing. Horror sets upon them as it dawns on them what just happened and what is going to happen.

I can see Silundi Vision making it into all sorts of other decks as well. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see this pop-up in some kind of Bring to Light based Scapeshift deck where it's either a land drop or a very potent way to dig for your win condition.

Delver of Secrets Is another card that I think very much wants to become friends with Silundi Vision. Even though making a tapped land drop in a Delver deck definitely isn't great, it's a lot better than not making one at all. Having a land drop that flips everyone's favorite Fugitive Wizard is a neat way to finally get to more than a 50/50 chance to flip the little Wizard and make it the little Wizard that could.

Storm probably wants this as well. To spitball another deck that has never been broken before out there. Storm is always just one toy away, and while I don't think this is it, it could help out to have your turn four land drop be a mini Dig Through Time instead. It does get Gifts Ungiven and Past in Flames after all.

Speaking about Storm. I just realized this is Pieces of the Puzzle that digs one deeper, at instant speed, and is a land. The trade-off being that it only gets you one card. I'm not well-versed enough in Storm to know if that is a thing they want or if it's not worth it in the grindier matchups. But well, there is only one way to find out truly. Let's play those games and figure it out!

Oh, and Azorius Control Mages are also pretty happy about this probably. I'm just not one of them.

Who knows, this might even make it possible to make a decent Simic spell-based ramp deck. All kidding aside, I wouldn't be surprised at all to see this pop-up in Azorius and Dimir decks. Probably not as a 4-off, but just a land that digs 6 is worth the occasional awkwardness.

Izzet mages all around should be very happy with their newest toy. I don't think I've even scratched the surface of what is possible with this. And I will enjoy finding out what degenerate nonsense I can do with this inconspicuous little card. I know I'll at least enjoy the journey to find out.