Today is the last day of Modern Horizons spoiler season. This means that Wizards wants to really impress players today with the last spoilers of the set. The first of many outstanding spoilers today comes from The Vorthos Cast in the form of Marit Lage’s Slumber.
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The history of Marit Lage
For newer players, Marit Lage may be an unknown name or something they have only heard stories about. During the Coldsnap set, a legendary snow land called Dark Depths was printed. Dark Depths was an extremely powerful card that could create a token called Marit Lage. Marit Lage is a 20/20 Avatar creature with flying and indestructible. This token could single-handedly win games due to its power being equal to a player’s starting life total (excluding some formats like Two-Headed Giant and Commander).
Dark Depths turned out to be an extremely slow win condition, though. If the player wanted Marit Lage, they had to pay a total of 30 mana to remove all the ice counters from the land first. It wasn’t until seven years later when Gatecrash was released that Dark Depths would see its time in the sun. In that set, another land by the name of Thespian’s Stage was created which could turn into any land on the field. This meant that instead of paying 30 mana to create Marit Lage, you only had to spend 2 mana. That pushed Dark Depths decks into a new form of power.
Breakdown
Fast-forward to today, when Wizards reveals Marit Lage’s Slumber. During spoiler season, many players noticed that Snow Tribal looks to be one of the themes of Modern Horizons. Marit Lage’s Slumber completes this theme by being another snow permanent that checks for other snow permanents. Firstly, this enchantment (which only costs one blue and one generic mana) allows its controller to scry one card every time it or another snow permanent enters the battlefield. This ability not only gives the player a peek at upcoming cards in their deck, but it also lets them filter that card to the bottom if it isn’t what they want.
The second ability is what many players are excited about. Marit Lage’s Slumber checks how many snow permanents you control at the beginning of your upkeep. If that number is ten or more, you sacrifice the enchantment and create the 20/20 Marit Lage token.
How to utilize Marit Lage’s Slumber
Marit Lage’s Slumber boasts a powerful effect while maintaining a low mana cost. By creating a mana base of all snow lands, the enchantment can enter the battlefield as the third or fourth snow permanent on your field. This will also give you at least one scry per turn, with each snow land triggering the enchantment’s first ability. Building a Snow-themed deck with Frostwalk Bastion and Dead of Winter looks to be the best way for you to get Marit Lage as quick as possible. With Boreal Druid and Arcum’s Astrolabe, the earliest a player can get Marit Lage is turn four.
The Verdict
It’s finally Marit Lage! With the overwhelming amount of focus on snow permanents in Modern Horizons coupled with all the snow permanents from the Ice Age block, Marit Lage’s Slumber might just reawaken the sleeping avatar. This could definitely turn into a powerful card in the right decks.
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