Urza’s Saga – Modern Horizons 2
Date Reviewed: June 16, 2021
Ratings:
Constructed: 3.00
Casual: 4.00
Limited: 3.25
Multiplayer: 3.50
Commander [EDH]: 3.63
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
David
Fanany
Player
since
1995
If too many Modern Horizons sets had gone by without them doing a Saga named Urza’s Saga, there would have been a lot of raised eyebrows. As it happens, we can now revel in the second non-Tron land with the Urza’s type, and puzzle out how best to use it to make the chancellor of the Tolarian Academy proud. It doesn’t really synergize with Tron as such, though there will undoubtedly be decks that welcome another way to create a Construct token as described on the card. In a properly constructed deck, it’ll be a 5/5 or 6/6 for two mana, even if it’s a little slow for something like Affinity. You might actually be hanging out for the third chapter: a lot of relevant artifacts in Modern have costs that low, starting with graveyard removal like Tormod’s Crypt. Don’t forget that it’s also an enchantment, meaning you can search for it with Sterling Grove and the like, though it might be asking a little much to have both enchantment tutors and a significant artifact theme in the one deck.
Constructed: 3/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 3/5
Multiplayer: 4/5
Commander: 4/5
Urza’s Saga is a unique card in many ways: it shares the name with a notorious set that came out back in the 90s, its typeline is the same as its name, and it’s actually the first enchantment land (which it has to be, since “Saga” is an enchantment subtype and “Urza’s” is a land subtype). Despite being an enchantment, it arguably functions better with artifacts and artifact-heavy decks, thanks to its second ability making a friend and its third ability tutoring out an artifact. Note that the wording on that last ability forces it to find an artifact with one of those exact mana costs, so no finding artifact lands with them!
All the same, Urza’s Saga is interesting; it won’t stick around in most cases, but tutoring out something (like Pithing Needle/Relic of Progenitus in Constructed formats, and Skullclamp/Sol Ring in Commander) means this usually gets value on the way out, and the second ability is nice for presenting a potential clock if you get into a late-game scenario. It can even fire that ability twice, thanks to how the timing of sagas works out. Unlikely though it may be to be a multi-format star, Urza’s Saga is an interesting puzzle piece that can present some fairly fun challenges to be solved for the enterprising deck builder. I doubt Tron wants this, but other decks may have a home for it all the same.
Constructed: 3 (hard to really peg, so I’m being a bit conservative here)
Casual: 4
Limited: 3.5 (mostly good for that second ability)
Multiplayer: 3
Commander: 3.25 (Sol Ring redundancy or another silver bullet? don’t mind if I do)
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