Marit Lage’s Slumber – Modern Horizons MTG Review

David
Fanany
Player
since
1995

Yog-Sothoth knows the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the key and guardian of the gate.
— H.P. Lovecraft, “The Dunwich Horror”

Marit Lage’s Slumber is an interesting alternate look at the little piece of Dominaria’s history that was also represented by Dark Depths. It’s never actually been revealed for certain what Marit Lage really is, and the fact that there apparently exist at least two ways to summon her just raises further questions.

The enchantment version lacks the instant-payoff combo potential of Dark Depths, but it is still a very solid card and there are things you can do with it. Scrying about once every turn or so – assuming a steady supply of snow cards, like the full-art lands you get in every Modern Horizons booster – is a good deal that will help a lot of decks keep moving. It actually becomes a little faster if you happen to draw it late and cast it when you already have a bunch of snow cards in play, and presumably enough mana to back it up with a counterspell or some such. I think there are control decks out there that will seriously look at this, alongside switching to snow basics, as an alternate win condition.

Constructed: 3/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 2/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
EDH/Commander: 3/5

The re-tentacling has commenced, or something. 100% less prone to abuse than Dark Depths, Marit Lage’s Slumber offers you a way to awaken the beast while accruing value over the time.

The idea, of course, is that Marit Lage’s Slumber offers steady value over time (scry 1, and scry 1 again whenever you bring in a snow permanent), cashing into a tentacled abomination that flies and attempts to bring about swift death. 10 snow permanents is not an easily-done accomplishment, particularly since no token generators exist for snow permanents, and there’s generally a dearth of snow permanents in terms of variety (63, most of which are nothing to write home about). That said, snow basic lands are a thing for a reason, and if you have a steady supply of them, you can scry your way to tentacles.

Marit Lage’s Slumber offers a pretty nice fallback option for the endgame, but you can usually find a way to win without it. If you need it, it’s nice to have, and I can approve of any way to win that involves tentacles.

Constructed: 3
Casual: 4
Limited: 2
Multiplayer: 3
Commander: 3.5