MTG Modern Horizons reveals Nether Spirit and removal cards

Sticking with the theme of playing Moden Horizons in a draft form today, MTG revealed a bomb and several removal cards, boosting Snow permanents and the Legacy format.

Releasing on Magic Online in just over a week and in card form on June 13, Modern Horizons is a set containing around 250 new and reprinted cards designed for formats outside of Standard in Magic: The Gathering. Helping out Pox decks in Legacy is a rare Nether Spirit and several removal cards like On Thin Ice, Endling, and Dead of Winter for Commander and Draft.

Related: Mark Rosewater explains MTG Modern Horizons tribal themes and new direction

Nether Spirit

Throwing some love towards Legacy Pox decks, Nether Spirit is a three mana (double black) spirit creature who returns to the battlefield if its the only card in a player’s graveyard.

Nether Spirit is only a two/two but makes up for its mana cost with its special ability. It’s also a great card to use for a sacrifice when no other cards are in the graveyard, as it’ll come right back onto the battlefield after being sacrificed.

On Thin Ice

Costing only one white mana, On Thin Ice is a removal enchantment worth considering in Snow tribal themed decks.  The enchantment goes on a snow-covered land the player controls and then exiles an opponents creature.

“When On Thin Ice enters the battlefield, exile target creature an opponent controls until On Thin Ice leaves the battlefield.”

Endling

The Modern Horizons Endling is a four mana rare creature removal card with a power of three and defense of three. Its strengths, however, come from its instant mana abilities which can be triggered.

Endling has three separate instant black mana triggers and one colorless.

• One black mana: Endling gains menace until end of turn.
• Single black mana: Endling gains deathtouch until end of turn.
• One black mana: Endling gains undying until end of turn.
• One colorless mana: Endling gets plus one/minus one or minus one/plus one until end of turn.

Dead of Winter

Using Snow permanents to create a board wipe for control decks, Dead of Winter is a rare sorcery card every Snow tribal themed deck should have. It only costs three mana (one black) to cast and can potentially clear an entire board depending on the number of Snow permanents a player controls.

“All nonsnow creatures get -X/-X until end of turn, where X is the number of snow permanents you control.”

With art created by Zack Stella, Dead of Winter could mean a Snow tribal theme is more control-based than creature-based. Especially since only a few creatures in the Modern Horizons spoilers have been revealed.

Related: The state of MTG Modern Horizons: Is it a success or failure?

MTG Modern Horizons is set to release on in card form on June 13. A pre-release weekend, however, is taking place from June 8 to 9. Magic Online players will have full access to Modern Horizons on June 6.