Modern Horizons, as many know, intends to be a love letter to Modern players. One of the most important parts of this involves helping to boost up old decks for the format, like the Slivers we saw earlier in spoiler season. The latest spoiler of Nether Spirit also gives life to a couple of very popular decks.
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Breakdown
Nether Spirit is a reprint of a 2/2 Spirit creature for two black and one generic mana. The rules text on the card reads, “At the beginning of your upkeep, if Nether Spirit is the only creature card in your graveyard, you may return Nether Spirit to the battlefield.”
Many Black decks, especially in Modern and Legacy, focus on abusing the graveyard to win the game. This allows Nether Spirit to push these decks up in the meta. Some of the biggest beneficiaries of its return are Dredge Decks.
Dredge is an older mechanic from the game. If a card in your graveyard has dredge, instead of drawing a card on your draw step, you may put cards from the top of your deck into the graveyard to add that card into your hand. Some of the biggest dredge cards in the format include Life from the Loam and Dakmor Salvage.
How to utilize Nether Spirit
While the Dredge trigger goes on the stack during your draw step after the upkeep, you can still work around the upkeep trigger on Nether Spirit. It works well in a lot of Dredge Decks, though some might pass it up for another, stronger creature.
If you don’t want to play dredge to use this card, another good use for it is as a sacrifice for other effects. Cards like Severed Strands and Bone Splinters require you to sacrifice a creature as part of the cost. If you can keep other creatures out of the graveyard, Nether Spirit will recur itself every turn.
The Verdict
Nether Spirit is a very intriguing card for the set. It creates the opportunity to boost many decks within the format. While it could be overshadowed by other cards within the format, it probably still sees play in Sacrifice Decks and Smallpox decks.
What do you think of this card getting a reprint? Will you use it in your own decks, or do you have a better alternative already? Let us know down in the comments below! And stay tuned to Daily Esports for more Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons spoilers!
