Yawgmoth, Thran Physician is revealed in Modern Horizons spoilers
Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons absolutely amazed many people last week. We saw the return of the Swords of X/Y cycle, Urza’s first ever creature card, and so much more. After a one-day break following the preview of Sword of Sinew and Steel, Modern Horizons spoilers are back and they are starting with a bang! Check out the latest preview card: Yawgmoth, Thran Physician.
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Spoiler evaluation
Yawgmoth’s first ever card is quite something. Off the bat, he has protection from humans. This is a very relevant ability since humans are by far the most represented creature type in MTG. He also allows you to pay 1 life and sacrifice a creature to put a -1/-1 counter on any creature and draw a card. This ability is both a removal ability and card draw for a pretty cheap price if you build around it. In addition to the above, he also allows you to pay 2 black mana to discard a card to proliferate, which can allow you to kill targets with -1/-1 counters on them, boost Planeswalker loyalty counters, and/or increase the number of Infect counters on an opponent.
Overall, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician is a very strong card. He could easily be the top-end of a Modern Aristocrats deck, an archetype that has needed bolstering for some time now. He also has a neat synergy where the -1/-1 counters from his ability can reset creatures with Undying such as Geralf’s Messenger. In fact, he can infinitely loop two Geralf’s Messengers until you run out of life! Yawgmoth, Thran Physician is powerful and could definitely see some Modern play if the format slows down a bit with the addition of Force of Negation.
Who is Yawgmoth?
Yawgmoth was a morbidly curious medical practitioner on Dominaria, long before Urza’s time. His disregard for the sanctity of life and constant lust for “perfection” led to his curating a disease called Phthisis on Dominaria. Eventually, he became so obsessed with what he could do with this disease and how he could control it that he convinced a Planeswalker friend of his to take him to a plane he could call his own. This plane was Phyrexia, and Yawgmoth bound himself to its core so that he was effectively a god as long as he was on it. On Pyrexia, he learned how to drain away the sickness from Phthisis patients… but the result left them as grotesque mutations with superhuman strength and speed.
After some time, Yawgmoth ended up being trapped on Phyrexia with no way back to Dominaria. That is — until Urza and his brother Mishra accidentally reopened the portal that had been closed between the two planes. This let Yawgmoth send secret agents into Dominaria where they influenced the Brothers’ War between Urza and Mishra. After the disastrous end of the war and the death of his brother, Urza’s spark ignited and he learned of Yawgmoth’s influence. This led to a long, long war with Yawgmoth and Phyrexia, eventually leading to Yawgmoth’s death. But can a god really, truly die?
Stay tuned!
Daily Esports is here to keep you up to date on all things MTG, so keep an eye on our news page for more Modern Horizons spoilers! This week’s spoilers have just begun, and we’re going to be here every step of the way to keep you informed!
