Far Out Magic

Unfinity has introduced a card called Far Out, which lets you choose all of the modes on a modal card. Because of this, I wanted to go through all the modal cards in the game and judge how good they are once you get to do all the options.

Starting in Alpha, we have three modal cards.

Healing Salve || W || Instant || Choose one -- || • Target player gains 3 life. || • Prevent the next 3 damage that would be dealt to any target this turn.

So with the ability to do both of these things, you can gain 3 life and prevent 3 damage. This effectively saves you a total of 6 life in the long run if you use damage prevention on yourself. If you instead opt to save a creature or planeswalker, then it still only saves one of your permanents, which is not really much better than if you just cast it normally. So this one doesn’t get that much of a benefit off of choosing both modes. It’s essentially the same as a kicked Pollen Remedy.

Blue Elemental Blast || U || Instant || Choose one -- || • Counter target red spell. || • Destroy target red permanent.

Ah, break the color pie by giving blue access to permanent-kill. Yeah, this is good if it gets it stapled to a counterspell as well. It’s still specifically a sideboard card against a red deck, but that’s still pretty good.

Red Elemental Blast || R || Instant || Choose one -- || • Counter target blue spell. || • Destroy target blue permanent.

This time the counterspell part is the color pie break. And yeah, it’s just as good as the blue one. One mana to counter something AND kill something is good. To be honest, these two are good cards even without being able to choose both modes.

That’s it for Alpha. Moving on to Magic’s first expansion... Arabian Nights.

Pyramids || 6 || Artifact || {2}: Choose one -- || • Destroy target Aura attached to a land. || • The next time target land would be destroyed this turn, remove all damage marked on it instead.

This costs SIX MANA!? That’s absolutely absurd. This should be, like, 2 mana. It’s a really stupid card. And even being able to choose both modes doesn’t really help. There’s very few situations where you want to do either of these things, and even fewer when you need to do both.

Let’s just move on to the next set, Antiquities.

Oh. I guess Antiquities didn’t have any modal cards. Okay, well, that makes my job easier. Next up is Legends!

Alabaster Potion || XWW || Instant || Choose one -- || • Target player gains X life. || • Prevent the next X damage that would be dealt to any target this turn.

This is just a Healing Salve that you can scale up with a ton of mana. Unless you have an infinite mana combo, I don’t think it’s worth it. Even if you get both modes.

Flash Flood || U || Instant || Choose one -- || • Destroy target red permanent. || • Return target Mountain to its owner’s hand.

One mana to destroy any type of permanent? Hell yeah. You don’t even need the second mode there. But if you get it... oh boy. Sucks to be the guy playing against you. Though it is still narrow in that you’d only use this if your opponent is playing red.

Relic Bind || 2U || Enchantment -- Aura || Enchant artifact an opponent controls || Whenever enchanted artifact becomes tapped, choose one -- || • Relic Bind deals 1 damage to target player or planeswalker. || • Target player gains 1 life.

Yeah, this seems solid. Being able to get a two-point swing (effectively) every time the opponent uses their mana rock is solid. Or you could put this on an artifact creature and watch as its swings become ineffective.

Active Volcano || R || Instant || Choose one -- || • Destroy target blue permanent. || • Return target Island to its owner’s hand.

This is just the red version of blue-hate similar to the blue version of red-hate we saw earlier. All the things I said there apply here too.

Triassic Egg || 4 || Artifact || {3}, {T}: Put a hatchling counter on Triassic Egg. || Sacrifice Triassic Egg: Choose one. Activate only if there are two or more hatchling counters on Triassic Egg. || • You may put a creature card from your hand onto the battlefield. || • Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield.

Wow. Okay, now that’s incredible. You get to cheat out a creature for free and reanimate one!? Yikes. The downside is that it does take ten mana spent over the course of multiple turns. But still. If your opponent can’t find artifact removal, you could get this effect on turn six, and still have mana to be casting spells in the turns when you tap it.

The Dark is up next, and it too featured no modal cards. So... let’s move on to Fallen Empires.

Balm of Restoration || 2 || Artifact || {1}, {T}, Sacrifice Balm of Restoration: Choose one -- || • You gain 2 life. || • Prevent the next 2 damage that would be dealt to any target this turn.

I don’t think that’s a good effect. Even if you get both effects. It seems to be no different than Healing Salve, until you remember that Healing Salve is an instant, and thus, your opponent won’t see it coming. This requires you to have the card on the board to use it. So I think this is even worse. It also costs more mana and heals less. At least it’s colorless so it can go into any deck...

Next up... Ice Age.

Hydroblast || U || Instant || Choose one -- || • Counter target spell if it’s red. || • Destroy target permanent if it’s red.

The thing that makes this different from Blue Elemental Blast is that, rather than targeting a red spell/permanent, it can target any spell/permanent, and it just won’t do anything unless that spell/permanent is red. This matters for if you try to change the color of something while Hydroblast is on the stack. Given that this is such a niche corner-case... I think it’s best to just treat this as the same as Blue Elemental Blast, and thus, I’ve already given my thoughts on it.

Pyroblast || R || Instant || Choose one -- || • Counter target spell if it’s blue. || • Destroy target permanent if it’s blue.

This is just a red version of Hydroblast, affecting blue cards. My thoughts still haven’t changed.

The next set is Homelands, but it doesn’t have any modal cards, so next up is Alliances.

Library of Lat-Nam || 4U || Sorcery || An opponent chooses one -- || • You draw three cards at the beginning of the next turn’s upkeep. || • You search your library for a card, put that card into your hand, then shuffle.

So this is our first modal card where the choice falls onto the opponent. What’s interesting is that Far Out replaces the choice with “choose one or more”, so now you make the choice. It doesn’t really matter, since you’re obviously gonna choose both. So five mana to tutor for a card and then draw three cards... yeah, that’s good. An effect like that should be in the 8-10 mana range. Getting it for five is insane.

Fatal Lore || 2BB || Sorcery || An opponent chooses one -- || • You draw three cards. || • You destroy up to two target creatures that player controls. They can’t be regenerated. That player draws up to three cards.

So this card can either let you draw three cards (essentially being a black Concentrate), or it can allow each player to draw three cards and you kill two of their creatures. That flexibility is nice. Assuming, that is, that this is how it works. The card requires you to choose an opponent to make the choice, and then the second mode refers to “that player”. If you never chose a player, then would that mode just not function? I would house-rule that this mode, if activated by Far Out, would say “Destroy up to two creatures controlled by the same player. They can’t be regenerated. That player draws up to three cards.” But I totally get if you want to just make this a black Concentrate. But even so, that’s still pretty good.

Feast or Famine || 3B || Instant || Choose one -- || • Create a 2/2 black Zombie creature token. || • Destroy target nonartifact, nonblack creature. It can’t be regenerated.

So this is a Terror for two extra mana, but in return, you get a Zombie token. Two mana for a 2/2? That’s okay (at the time, that was really good for black, now it’s just kinda average). And really, that’s how I feel about the card as a whole. Without Far Out, it’s a bad card. With Far Out, it’s elevated all the way up to average.

Misfortune || 1BRG || Sorcery || An opponent chooses one -- || • You put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control and gain 4 life. || • You put a -1/-1 counter on each creature that player controls and Misfortune deals 4 damage to that player.

This is absurdly good. Four mana to permanently buff your whole team, debuff your opponent’s team, hit them for 4 damage, and gain 4 life? Heck yeah. It does require a three-color deck to use it, but still. This is a game-ending card.

Next we get to Mirage, and the first cycle of Charms. Charms are modal cards that give you three options instead of just two. There’s one Charm of each color in this set, so let’s take a look at them.

Ivory Charm || W || Instant || Choose one -- || • All creatures get -2/-0 until end of turn. || • Tap target creature. || • Prevent the next 1 damage that would be dealt to any target this turn.

For one mana... this is... okay. The middle ability is clearly the best one, but I think in most realistic scenarios, even giving you all three modes at once makes this just a Holy Day. And in some cases, not even that. I am not impressed here.

Sapphire Charm || U || Instant || Choose one -- || • Target player draws a card at the beginning of the next turn’s upkeep. || • Target creature gains flying until end of turn. || • Target creature an opponent controls phases out.

That’s solid for one mana, but not over-the-top like you’d expect a three-choice modal card to be when you get all three choices.

Ebony Charm || B || Instant || Choose one -- || • Target opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life. || • Exile up to three target cards from a single graveyard. || • Target creature gains fear until end of turn.

This is pretty good. As a modal card, I think this is great. Each of those modes is worth slightly less than one mana, and then the ability to choose whichever you want bumps it up to be a one-mana card. Being able to do all three... yeah, this is about a two-mana card now. And you can cast it for 1 mana. We’ve seen better cards that Far Out can abuse, but this is still solid.

Chaos Charm || R || Instant || Choose one -- || • Destroy target Wall. || • Chaos Charm deals 1 damage to target creature. || • Target creature gains haste until end of turn.

Meh. This doesn’t really do a whole lot, even if you get all the options. There’s probably not often going to be a target for the first mode, and the latter two modes are situational. You’d only want the second mode if it would be enough to kill a creature, and you’d only want the third mode if you just cast a creature (and still had mana left over to cast the Chaos Charm itself). So yeah, kinda unimpressed. Now before we move on to the next card, let me explain how I’m ordering the cards within the expansions. I’m going by collector’s numbers (or, for sets that predate collector’s numbers, I’m going by what their collector’s numbers would have been if the set had collector’s numbers). This means that I list all the white cards alphabetically by English name, then do the same for the blue cards, then the black cards, red cards, green cards, multicolored cards, artifacts, nonbasic lands, and then basic lands (though obviously basic lands will never be modal). I bring this up because we’re going to take a quick break from the charm cycle now, since red got another modal card in the set. (Note: Technically the colorless cards that are neither artifacts nor lands go before the white cards, but few sets have those.)

Reign of Chaos || 2RR || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Destroy target Plains and target white creature. || • Destroy target Island and target blue creature.

Ooooof. If you’re playing an Azorius deck... ouch. This is a four mana kill spell that kills FOUR things. Now, in a lot of instances, you will probably only choose one mode, since you need targets for all four things, and that’ll only happen if your opponent is playing both white and blue. That makes this a sideboard card, but still... that’s back-breaking to an Azorius deck.

Seedling Charm || G || Instant || Choose one -- || • Return target Aura attached to a creature to its owner’s hand. || • Regenerate target green creature. || • Target creature gains trample until end of turn.

This one is probably the best of the charms, since being able to hit all three modes can greatly mess with the combat math that your opponent just did. Now your big creature has trample, your medium creature that was trading is now just killing their dude since you can regenerate it, and their big thing blocking your little thing isn’t so big anymore, since its Aura is now gone. All for just one mana. Maybe that’s a fantasy scenario and this is unlikely to come up in a real game, but still... this has the potential to really shake things up.

Energy Bolt || XRW || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Energy Bolt deals X damage to target player or planeswalker. || • Target player gains X life.

With both modes, this is just a Lightning Helix that can be scaled up. Though given that it costs more mana, I think I’d rather just have a normal Lightning Helix.

The next set is Visions, which also has a cycle of Charms. Let’s see if they’re any better.

Hope Charm || W || Instant || Choose one -- || • Target creature gains first strike until end of turn. || • Target player gains 2 life. || • Destroy target Aura.

That’s... not bad. It’s not over-the-top (even with all three modes), but it’s good. I’d run it if I could use all three modes.

Vision Charm || U || Instant || Choose one -- || • Target player mills four cards. || • Choose a land type and a basic land type. Each land of the first chosen type becomes the second chosen type until end of turn. || • Target artifact phases out.

Meh. The first mode is not that great, really. The second mode just lets you color-screw an opponent or get out of your own color-screw. The third mode is just... meh. Doing all three together isn’t really that particularly exciting.

Funeral Charm || B || Instant || Choose one -- || • Target player discards a card. || • Target creature gets +2/-1 until end of turn. || • Target creature gains swampwalk until end of turn.

Now that’s a good card. One mana, three great effects. Doing all three? Yes please.

Hearth Charm || R || Instant || Choose one -- || • Destroy target artifact creature. || • Attacking creatures get +1/+0 until end of turn. || • Target creature with power 2 or less can’t be blocked this turn.

So... this is a bad card, since modal cards with multiple modes chosen (i.e. anything that says “choose two” or whatever) always resolve in the order that they are written on the card. This means that you’ll pump your team first, and then whatever you targeted for the last mode may not be a valid target anymore, thereby stopping that mode from resolving its effect. So because of that anti-synergy, I don’t like this. I think it would, however, be a very good design if you swapped the order of those two. That would be fun. Sadly, that’s not what the card is.

Emerald Charm || G || Instant || Choose one -- || • Untap target permanent. || • Destroy target non-Aura enchantment. || • Target creature loses flying until end of turn.

I think the first mode is the only relevant one, but that’s good enough. Once in a while, you can get a bonus by using the other modes.

The next set after Visions is Weatherlight, which has a single modal card in it.

Thunderbolt || 1R || Instant || Choose one -- || • Thunderbolt deals 3 damage to target player or planeswalker. || • Thunderbolt deals 4 damage to target creature with flying.

Huh. That’s a good card. 3 damage to the opponent and 4 damage to one of their creatures, provided it flies. Yeah, that’s a good two-mana spell.

The next block is Tempest, Stronghold, and Exodus. After that, we have Urza’s Saga, Urza’s Legacy, and Urza’s Destiny. There’s also the Portal sets, which were released after Visions, after Exodus, and after Urza’s Legacy, respectively. And Unglued also came after Exodus. Following the Urza’s block was the Mercadian Masques block, featuring Mercadian Masques, Nemesis, and Prophecy. That’s a total of THIRTEEN sets that feature new cards in them, and of these new cards, guess how many are modal? One. It’s a single card from Urza’s Legacy and that’s it. Guess this was an era of the game when they were trying to get rid of modal cards for some reason? Anyways, let’s look at that one card...

Parch || 1R || Instant || Choose one -- || • Parch deals 2 damage to any target. || • Parch deals 4 damage to target blue creature.

So this is just a two-mana Shock in most instances. If the opponent is playing blue, then it can also remove an additional creature. That’s decent.

All right, so after that drought of no modal cards besides a single one, we finally get our next modal card in Invasion.

Atalya, Samite Master || 3WW || Legendary Creature -- Human Cleric || 2/3 || {X}, {T}: Choose one -- || • Prevent the next X damage that would be dealt to target creature this turn. Spend only white mana on X. || • You gain X life. Spend only white mana on X.

This is just a Healing Salve that you can scale up. We already saw that in the form of Alabaster Potion from Legends. The only new thing that this card offers is being a creature as well, and also restricting you to solely white mana (which wouldn’t be an issue if it’s your commander - note that it is legendary). I still think this effect isn’t really worth it, even if you get both modes.

The next set in Invasion block is Planeshift, which offers another cycle of charms, and these ones are multicolor!

Crosis’s Charm || UBR || Instant || Choose one -- || • Return target permanent to its owner’s hand. || • Destroy target nonblack creature. It can’t be regenerated. || • Destroy target artifact.

That’s really good if you can get all three modes. Of course, you need to be playing three colors, but still. Three mana to kill a creature and an artifact and bounce a thing? Yes please. Sign me up.

Darigaaz’s Charm || BRG || Instant || Choose one -- || • Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand. || Darigaaz’s Charm deals 3 damage to any target. || • Target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn.

A Lightning Bolt and a Giant Growth glued together!? That alone would be worth it, and then you also get that first mode as well. Heck yeah!

Dromar’s Charm || WUB || Instant || Choose one -- || • You gain 5 life. || • Counter target spell. || • Target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.

A counterspell and a removal spell in one! I love it! The lifegain is also there, so yay.

And now we take a break from the cycle to show off another modal card that was in this set.

Hull Breach || RG || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Destroy target artifact. || • Destroy target enchantment. || • Destroy target artifact and target enchantment.

So this just straight-up kills four artifacts and enchantments. For two mana. I like it. It’s also flexible for if you don’t have enough targets. All right, back to the Charm cycle.

Rith's Charm || RGW || Instant || Choose one -- || • Destroy target nonbasic land. || • Create three 1/1 green Saproling creature tokens. || • Prevent all damage a source of your choice would deal this turn.

This seems like a good-but-not-great defensive card. It’s acceptable.

Treva’s Charm || GWU || Instant || Choose one -- || • Destroy target enchantment. || • Exile target attacking creature. || • Draw a card, then discard a card.

Pretty good. Three mana to exile an attacker and then draw a card is pretty solid. If they have an enchantment in play, you can also kill that enchantment. Not bad.

All right, now we move on to Apocalypse, which has a single modal card.

Putrid Warrior || WB || Creature -- Zombie Soldier Warrior || 2/2 || Whenever Putrid Warrior deals damage, choose one -- || • Each player loses 1 life. || • Each player gains 1 life.

Hahahahahahahaha. This is so great. With Far Out... this card does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. I’m literally laughing as I’m typing this, it’s so funny. Of course, you’d only want one of the two modes, so you wouldn’t even need Far Out at all. Far Out just changes this to be a vanilla creature. In which case, congratulations - you just made a Glory Seeker or Walking Corpse that’s harder to cast.

The next block is Odyssey, Torment, and Judgment. This block has zero modal cards. So we move on to Onslaught, Legions, and Scourge. Starting with Onslaught, we get another cycle of charms.

Piety Charm || W || Instant || Choose one -- || • Destroy target Aura attached to a creature. || • Target Soldier creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn. || • Creatures you control gain vigilance until end of turn.

That’s good in Soldier tribal. Not much else.

Trickery Charm || U || Instant || Choose one -- || • Target creature gains flying until end of turn. || • Target creature becomes the creature type of your choice until end of turn. || • Look at the top four cards of your library, then put them back in any order.

That’s okay. The last mode is really only good if you have a way to shuffle your library after using it (like cracking a fetchland), to get rid of unwanted cards. The other modes are just incidental benefits that you get for free when you cast it, but it’s really just the last mode that you care about.

Misery Charm || B || Instant || Choose one -- || • Destroy target Cleric. || • Return target Cleric card from your graveyard to your hand. || • Target player loses 2 life.

Note that you can’t use the first two modes combined to make a self-bounce, since each would need a target when the spell is put on the stack. So because of that, there’s not really anything clever you can do with this. It seems like combining the modes is only relevant in a Cleric tribal mirror match, but how often is that realistically going to happen?


Fever Charm || R || Instant || Choose one -- || • Target creature gains haste until end of turn. || • Target creature gets +2/+0 until end of turn. || • Fever Charm deals 3 damage to target Wizard creature.

Giving a creature +2/+0 and haste is strong. It’s essentially the “Fame” half of Claim // Fame, but for one less mana. Additionally, if the opponent has a Wizard, you can Lightning Bolt it. Pretty good.

Vitality Charm || G || Instant || Choose one -- || • Create a 1/1 green Insect creature token. || • Target creature gets +1/+1 and gains trample until end of turn. || • Regenerate target Beast.

The middle mode is the most relevant one, I think. It’s a neat combat trick. If you have a Beast, you also get a free regeneration shield. And regardless, it makes you a little insect friend as well. Not bad for one mana.

The second set of the block, Legions, has no modal cards. So moving on to Scourge, which is the last of the old-bordered sets... we have just one modal card.

Recuperate || 3W || Instant || Choose one -- || • You gain 6 life. || • Prevent the next 6 damage that would be dealt to target creature this turn.

So, if this were like a double Healing Salve, I’d say that this one is actually solid. Four mana to undo a total of 12 damage is really strong. But unfortunately, the second mode can’t prevent damage dealt to planeswalkers or players. This weakens it immensely, because very rarely will a creature be taking 6 damage. Usually it’s a lot less than that.

And now we come to Mirrodin, which offers Entwine as a mechanic. This mechanic lets you choose all the modes of a modal spell if you pay the entwine cost. Far Out essentially just turns every entwine spell’s entwine cost to be {0}. But notably, these cards were designed with the intention of letting you entwine them. This means that the modes should have synergy together. Let’s take a look.

Blinding Beam || 2W || Instant || Choose one -- || • Tap two target creatures. || • Creatures don’t untap during target player’s next untap step. || Entwine {1}

Not bad. Of course, you need to have two targets for this to work, but still... pretty nice.

Roar of the Kha || 1W || Instant || Choose one -- || • Creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn. || • Untap all creatures you control. || Entwine {1}{W}

Two mana to untap your dudes and make them bigger? Yes please. That’s a nice surprise for the opponent when they swing in because all your creatures are tapped. Seems good.

Solar Tide || 4WW || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Destroy all creatures with power 2 or less. || • Destroy all creatures with power 3 or greater. || Entwine--Sacrifice two lands.

This one’s not that great. It’s just a Day of Judgment (which is Wrath of God without the can’t-be-regenerated clause) for two additional mana. The flexibility of only being able to choose one mode or the other is appreciated, but I don’t think it’s worth two mana.

Dream’s Grip || U || Instant || Choose one -- || • Tap target permanent. || • Untap target permanent. || Entwine {1}

This is a solid utility card. To be honest, it’s kinda underwhelming. I feel like this should just be a “Choose one or both” card normally, without entwine. But meh.

Temporal Cascade || 5UU || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Each player shuffles their hand and graveyard into their library. || • Each player draws seven cards. || Entwine {2}

Timetwister, one of the Power Nine, combines both these effects, so you may as well just run that one instead. That’s half the mana cost (3 mana instead of 7) for the same effect. The only difference is that it costs more than 5000 dollars. But, I mean, that’s what proxying is for. Even if you’re not cool with that, you can pick up Time Reversal for 3 dollars, and that’s this same effect for 5 mana (except that it exiles itself after resolving). Seven mana... just isn’t worth it.

Betrayal of Flesh || 5B || Instant || Choose one -- || • Destroy target creature. || • Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. || Entwine--Sacrifice three lands.

I’m confused about why this has entwine. The two modes aren’t really synergistic. It would be better if the second mode said “a” graveyard instead of “your” graveyard. But I digress. As a Far Out card, this is six mana to kill a thing and reanimate a thing. Yeah, that seems acceptable.

Promise of Power || 2BBB || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • You draw five cards and you lose 5 life. || • Create an X/X black Demon creature token with flying, where X is the number of cards in your hand. || Entwine {4}

That’s really good, although the mana cost requires triple-black mana, meaning that you’re unlikely to be able to pull this off in a multicolor deck. But assuming you do pull it off? That’s game-ending. Even in the worst-case scenario of you having no cards in your hand when you cast this, you still get a 5/5 flyer and a fresh hand of cards. And more realistically, you’d have one or two cards in your hand. Heck, if you manage to hold onto a decent-sized grip... your flyer will be enormous.

Wail of the Nim || 2B || Instant || Choose one -- || • Regenerate each creature you control. || • Wail of the Nim deals 1 damage to each creature and each player. || Entwine {B}

That’s fun. You get to ping their whole board while yours doesn’t care. That said... this seems rather weak for 3 mana.

Grab the Reins || 3R || Instant || Choose one -- || • Until end of turn, you gain control of target creature and it gains haste. || • Sacrifice a creature. Grab the Reins deals damage equal to that creature’s power to any target. || Entwine {2}{R}

That’s solid synergy. I imagine it typically kills two creatures, or kills your opponent. Either way, that’s very strong for 4 mana. I approve.

Incite War || 2R || Instant || Choose one -- || • Creatures target player controls attack this turn if able. || • Creatures you control gain first strike until end of turn. || Entwine {2}

That’s a really good effect. You force your opponent to make attacks that are unprofitable for them. It works very well as a normal card. Adding Far Out to it to make its entwine cost free is even better.

Journey of Discovery || 2G || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Search your library for up to two basic land cards, reveal them, put them into your hand, then shuffle. || • You may play up to two additional lands this turn. || Entwine {2}{G}

The problem with ramp is that you eventually hit the point where you don’t need it. For six mana, ramping up further isn’t really that big of a deal, you can already cast everything in your deck. Allowing Far Out to exist simply lets this get its entwine effect off for just three mana, which is much better. It’s a good card.

One Dozen Eyes || 5G || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Create a 5/5 green Beast creature token. || • Create five 1/1 green Insect creature tokens. || Entwine {G}{G}{G}

Six mana for six dudes. I honestly expect better than this from green...

Tooth and Nail || 5GG || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Search your library for up to two creature cards, reveal them, put them into your hand, then shuffle. || • Put up to two creature cards from your hand onto the battlefield. || Entwine {2}

Seven mana is a lot. At that point, you can basically just make your card do anything and it’ll be acceptable. Even if it’s overpowered, at seven mana, it’s allowed to be. Tutor for any two creatures and put them into play? Yeah, that’s fine. I don’t think that allowing you to entwine for free makes this card that much better.

And now onto the one MIrrodin modal card that DOESN’T have entwine.

Power Conduit || 2 || Artifact || {T}, Remove a counter from a permanent you control: Choose one -- || • Put a charge counter on target artifact. || • Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.

There’s got to be some weird infinite loop you can do with this, given that you can turn one counter into two. I have no idea what that would be, but I’m sure it’s possible to break this somehow.

Anyways, next set in the block is Darksteel. Here’s what we got.

Stir the Pride || 4W || Instant || Choose one -- || • Creatures you control get +2/+2 until end of turn. || • Until end of turn, creatures you control gain “Whenever this creature deals damage, you gain that much life.” || Entwine {1}{W}

For the trivia buffs out there, the reason this doesn’t say “lifelink” is because the keyword didn’t exist at the time. Anywho, this card is just a Moment of Heroism that affects your whole board. For five mana? Sign me up. That seems like a good card.

Second Sight || 2U || Instant || Choose one -- || • Look at the top five cards of target opponent’s library, then put them back in any order. || • Look at the top five cards of your library, then put them back in any order. || Entwine {U}

This is really not a good card, and Far Out doesn’t change that.

Shriveling Rot || 2BB || Instant || Choose one -- || • Until end of turn, whenever a creature is dealt damage, destroy it. || • Until end of turn, whenever a creature dies, that creature’s controller loses life equal to its toughness. || Entwine {2}{B}

This is a risky card, because it applies to your own creatures as well. But if you have none (or few), then yeah, go for it. This would combo insanely well with a Pyroclasm effect.

Barbed Lightning || 2R || Instant || Choose one -- || • Barbed Lightning deals 3 damage to target creature. || • Barbed Lightning deals 3 damage to target player or planeswalker. || Entwine {2}

Two bolts for three mana seems decent. The basic Lightning Bolt effect is too powerful at 1 mana, but whether 2 mana or 3 mana is appropriate is debatable. I think giving you a second Lightning Bolt is enough to push it to 3 mana, and still remain solid.

Savage Beating || 3RR || Instant || Cast this spell only during your turn and only during combat. || Choose one -- || • Creatures you control gain double strike until end of turn. || • Untap all creatures you control. After this phase, there is an additional combat phase. || Entwine {1}{R}

Wow. If your opponent casts this for five mana... and gets both modes, you’re probably dead. Or at the very least, you’re not gonna last much longer. This is the over-the-top brokenness that I’m looking for!

Reap and Sow || 3G || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Destroy target land. || • Search your library for a land card, put that card onto the battlefield, then shuffle. || Entwine {1}{G}

I already talked about how ramp sucks once it gets expensive, and I think four mana is over the line. Even if you want to argue that the landkill is essentially a double-ramp (since you set your opponent back a turn), I don’t think it’s worth four mana to ramp twice. But what’s interesting about this is that it can use ANY lands, not just basics. For both modes. That means that if you or your opponent have lands that produce multiple mana... oh boy. In this circumstance, then it becomes very much worth it to run this card.

All right, now the last set of the block: Fifth Dawn.

Abuna’s Chant || 3W || Instant || Choose one -- || • You gain 5 life. || • Prevent the next 5 damage that would be dealt to target creature this turn.

No. Lifegain and damage prevention are not good.

Spectral Shift || 1U || Instant || Choose one -- || • Change the text of target spell or permanent by replacing all instances of one basic land type with another. || • Change the text of target spell or permanent by replacing all instances of one color word with another. || Entwine {2}

Note that this doesn’t say “until end of turn” anywhere on the card. These changes are permanent. But ultimately, this effect doesn’t do much.

Plunge into Darkness || 1B || Instant || Choose one -- || • Sacrifice any number of creatures. You gain 3 life for each sacrificed creature. || • Pay X life, then look at the top X cards of your library. Put one of those cards into your hand and exile the rest. || Entwine {B}

There’s not really much point to the first mode. Most of the time, you’d rather have creatures than cards. As for the second mode, it just lets you dive deeper and deeper into your deck the more life that you have. It doesn’t even let you get more cards, you still only get one. Not great. At least its mana cost is cheap.

Rain of Rust || 3RR || Instant || Choose one -- || • Destroy target artifact. || • Destroy target land. || Entwine {3}{R}

Wait, the entwine cost is HOW MUCH!? Why would you ever bother to entwine this? Is it really worth it to pay nine mana to just kill two things? Not really. Well, now you can do it for five mana, which is a lot more reasonable. But sadly, artifacts and lands are (usually) not creatures, which are the main things that you want to be killing.

Rude Awakening || 4G || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Untap all lands you control. || • Until end of turn, lands you control become 2/2 creatures that are still lands. || Entwine {2}{G}

I like this one a lot. Especially if you’ve been ramping. Good job.

Energy Chamber || 2 || Artifact || At the beginning of your upkeep, choose one -- || • Put a +1/+1 counter on target artifact creature. || • Put a charge counter on target noncreature artifact.

That’s pretty solid, especially if you have lots of ways to use charge counters in your deck. But even if you don’t, the first mode alone is worth two mana.

The next set is Champions of Kamigawa, which has no modal cards. So then we come to Unhinged.

Save Life || W || Instant || • Choose one -- Target player gains 2½ life. || • Prevent the next 2½ damage that would be dealt to target creature this turn. || Gotcha -- If an opponent says “save” or “life,” you may say “Gotcha!” When you do, return Save Life from your graveyard to your hand.

Ah, Gotcha. One of Magic’s worst-ever mechanics. Anywho, this is yet another Healing Salve, and this one is reusable cause it has Gotcha. I’ve run out of ways to say that I don’t think life gain and damage prevention is very good. So... let’s just move on to Betrayers of Kamigawa.

Umezawa’s Jitte || 2 || Legendary Artifact -- Equipment || Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage, put two charge counters on Umezawa’s Jitte. || Remove a charge counter from Umezawa’s Jitte: Choose one -- || • Equipped creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn. || • Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn. || • You gain 2 life. || Equip {2}

Well, this is absolutely nuts. If you can get all the modes, then this is one of the most powerful cards ever printed. I mean, it’s that way even with only one mode. It gets charge counters even if it’s blocked. And you can use the effect multiple times if it has multiple charge counters. If each charge counter gives you ALL of the modes... oh good god. This is a four-of in every deck that has Far Out in it. Just the potential output is worth the possible dead draws that you get if you have multiples of them (remember, it’s legendary). Because wow, is this insane.

Moving on to the final set of the block, Saviors of Kamigawa, we have this one card.

Aether Shockwave || 3W || Instant || Choose one -- || • Tap all Spirits. || • Tap all non-Spirit creatures.

Eh... for four mana, I’d rather just cast a Wrath of God.

Our next block is Ravnica block. We start with Ravnica: City of Guilds, which has a single modal card.

Consult the Necrosages || 1UB || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Target player draws two cards. || • Target player discards two cards.

Holy card advantage, batman! Well, sort of. Yes, getting a swing of four for card advantage is stupidly powerful, especially for just three mana, but the multicolor nature of the card means that you can only run it if your deck specifically has both blue and black in it. And to run Far Out, you need white (well, assuming it’s your own Far Out - I suppose you could always just gain control of one that isn’t yours). That’s a bit of an ask.

Next set in the block is Guildpact.

Invoke the Firemind || XUUR || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Draw X cards. || • Invoke the Firemind deals X damage to any target.

At X = 1, this is bad. At X = 2, this is still bad. At X = 3, it’s okay. At X = 4, it’s good-but-not-great. At X = 5, this becomes superb. But at that point, you’re paying eight mana, which is quite pricey.

Orzhov Pontiff || 1WB || Creature -- Human Cleric || 1/1 || Haunt || When Orzhov Pontiff enters the battlefield or the creature it haunts dies, choose one -- || • Creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn. || • Creatures you don’t control get -1/-1 until end of turn.

That’s absolutely amazing, I definitely like it.

Ulasht, the Hate Seed || 2RG || Legendary Creature -- Hellion Hydra || 0/0 || Ulasht, the Hate Seed enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it for each other red creature you control and a +1/+1 counter on it for each other green creature you control. || {1}, Remove a +1/+1 counter from Ulasht: Choose one -- || • Ulasht deals 1 damage to target creature. || • Create a 1/1 green Saproling creature token.

That’s amazing. Being able to ping and make a Saproling at once for just one mana and one counter? Yes please. The problem is that, as a commander, it wouldn’t let you run Far Out. So you’d need to run a tricolor deck. And doing that makes this enter with less counters, since your white creatures are useless (unless they’re multicolor with red or green).

The final set of the Ravnica block is Dissension. It has no modal cards. Okay, let’s move on to Coldsnap.

Thermal Flux || U || Instant || Choose one -- || • Target nonsnow permanent becomes snow until end of turn. || • Target snow permanent isn’t snow until end of turn. || Draw a card at the beginning of the next turn’s upkeep.

This seems awfully niche. No thank you.

Blizzard Specter || 2UB || Snow Creature -- Specter || 2/3 || Flying || Whenever Blizzard Specter deals combat damage to a player, choose one -- || • That player returns a permanent they control to its owner’s hand. || • That player discards a card.

Wow, that’s actually synergistic. I like it.

The next set is Time Spiral, which has only a single modal card.

Fortify || 2W || Instant || Choose one -- || • Creatures you control get +2/+0 until end of turn. || • Creatures you control get +0/+2 until end of turn.

Three mana to give your whole board +2/+2? At instant speed? Yes please.

After that, we have Planar Chaos, so get ready for some color pie breaking! This has a whopping eight modal cards, which is more than any other set up until now, except for Mirrodin (which is a significantly bigger set). Among them is a new cycle of charms, so let’s take a look.

Dawn Charm || 1W || Instant || Choose one -- || • Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt this turn. || • Regenerate target creature. || • Counter target spell that targets you.

This kinda sucks. Individually, each of the modes are fine (though they’re really worth 1 mana, not 2). But letting you have multiple doesn’t really do a whole lot, since each one has a very different situation where you’d want to use it.

Timebender || U || Creature -- Human Wizard || 1/1 || Morph {U} || When Timebender is turned face up, choose one -- || • Remove two time counters from target permanent or suspended card. || • Put two time counters on target permanent with a time counter on it or suspended card.

Time counters were used for both vanishing and suspend. This makes them extremely prevalent in the Time Spiral block. This means that Timebender itself is really good in Limited, but really bad in Constructed. You’d be unlikely to have a situation where both you and your opponent have cards that use time counters in a Constructed format. And in Limited, you wouldn’t be able to have Far Out.

Piracy Charm || U || Instant || Choose one -- || • Target creature gains islandwalk until end of turn. || • Target creature gets +2/-1 until end of turn. || • Target player discards a card.

This is literally the same card as Funeral Charm from Visions, except colorshifted into blue. All the things I said before apply here too.

Midnight Charm || B || Instant || Choose one -- || • Midnight Charm deals 1 damage to target creature and you gain 1 life. || • Target creature gains first strike until end of turn. || • Tap target creature.

That’s pretty strong for 1 mana. Getting all three modes here is really good.

Fury Charm || 1R || Instant || Choose one -- || • Destroy target artifact. || • Target creature gets +1/+1 and gains trample until end of turn. || • Remove two time counters from target permanent or suspended card.

This is meh. That last ability is gonna be useless in a lot of circumstances.

Timecrafting || XR || Instant || Choose one -- || • Remove X time counters from target permanent or suspended card. || • Put X time counters on target permanent with a time counter on it or suspended card.

This is useless in 95% of games. And getting both modes doesn’t change that. Basically the way I feel about Timebender, I feel that way here too.

Evolution Charm || 1G || Instant || Choose one -- || • Search your library for a basic land card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle. || • Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand. || • Target creature gains flying until end of turn.

Yeah, getting all three of these modes is pretty strong. Not as game-breaking as the blue or black ones though.

Healing Leaves || G || Instant || Choose one -- || • Target player gains 3 life. || • Prevent the next 3 damage that would be dealt to any target this turn.

Colorshifted Healing Salve. I still feel the same way about it as I did when it was white.

Anyways, now it’s time for Future Sight.

Dust of Moments || 2W || Instant || Choose one -- || • Remove two time counters from each permanent and each suspended card. || • Put two time counters on each permanent with a time counter on it and each suspended card.

Remember what I said about Timebender and Timecrafting? Rinse and repeat.

Shivan Sand-Mage || 2RR || Creature -- Viashino Shaman || 3/2 || When Shivan Sand-Mage enters the battlefield, choose one -- || • Remove two time counters from target permanent or suspended card. || • Put two time counters on target permanent with a time counter on it or suspended card. || Suspend 4--{R}

I have run out of things to say about this.

Quiet Disrepair || 1G || Enchantment -- Aura || Enchant artifact or enchantment || At the beginning of your upkeep, choose one -- || • Destroy enchanted permanent. || • You gain 2 life.

Well this barely changes at all from having to choose both modes.

Moving on to Lorwyn, we have our first Commands. Much like Charms are three modes and you choose one, Commands are four modes and you choose two. We’ve never before had a modal card with four modes, so being able to choose all the modes will be extra-powerful on these ones. Let’s take a look at Lorwyn’s modal cards.

Austere Command || 4WW || Sorcery || Choose two -- || • Destroy all artifacts. || • Destroy all enchantments. || • Destroy all creatures with mana value 3 or less. || • Destroy all creatures with mana value 4 or greater.

This is just a six-mana board wipe, of all nonland nonplaneswalker permanents. The modality of it allows it to be flexible if you think you would benefit from not choosing a particular mode. I approve.

Cryptic Command || 1UUU || Instant || Choose two -- || • Counter target spell. || • Return target permanent to its owner’s hand. || • Tap all creatures your opponents control. || • Draw a card.

That seems really strong, but not as back-breaking as I thought. That’s a twenty-dollar card, and yet I honestly don’t think it’s over-the-top. For a card with four modes... being able to do all of them, I would expect to be a game-winning move. This really isn’t.

Final Revels || 4B || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • All creatures get +2/+0 until end of turn. || • All creatures get -0/-2 until end of turn.

This is a card that is marginally better with the ability to choose both, but it’s still nothing to write home about. I feel like five mana is a bit much.

Profane Command || XBB || Sorcery || Choose two -- || • Target player loses X life. || • Return target creature card with mana value X or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. || • Target creature gets -X/-X until end of turn. || • Up to X target creatures gain fear until end of turn.

As with a lot of cards with X in them, this doesn’t really do much unless you set a high number for X. In this case, I think you need X to be 3 or more for this to be worth it. At X = 2, it’s borderline, depending on how big the creatures that you have to gain fear are. But ultimately, I’m kinda unimpressed with these commands so far.

Consuming Bonfire || 3RR || Tribal Sorcery -- Elemental || Choose one -- || • Consuming Bonfire deals 4 damage to target non-Elemental creature. || • Consuming Bonfire deals 7 damage to target Treefolk creature.

This is just a Flame Slash in most instances. Except that it costs five mana. No thanks.

Hurley-Burly || 1R || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Hurly-Burly deals 1 damage to each creature without flying. || • Hurly-Burly deals 1 damage to each creature with flying.

So this is just a worse Pyroclasm now? Yeah... I’ll pass.

Incendiary Command || 3RR || Sorcery || Choose two -- || • Incendiary Command deals 4 damage to target player or planeswalker. || • Incendiary Command deals 2 damage to each creature. || • Destroy target nonbasic land. || • Each player discards all the cards in their hand, then draws that many cards.

Well, I was talking crap about the command cycle and then this guy showed up. This is what I was expecting. Burn the opponent’s face, their creature, their land, and their hand. And you get a fresh hand of cards as well. Yes please.

Primal Command || 3GG || Sorcery || Choose two -- || • Target player gains 7 life. || • Put target noncreature permanent on top of its owner’s library. || • Target player shuffles their graveyard into their library. || • Search your library for a creature card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.

That’s amazing. I love how the third mode can combo with either the second or the fourth, your choice. Definitely a strong card. I’m sorry I spoke badly about the command cycle.

Nothing in Morningtide. Shadowmoor does have one modal card though.

Splitting Headache || 3B || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Target player discards two cards. || • Target player reveals their hand. You choose a card from it. That player discards that card.

That is brutal to be on the receiving end of. Discarding three cards for four mana? Yikes.

Nothing new in Eventide either, so we move on to Shards of Alara, where we get new charms.

Bant Charm || GWU || Instant || Choose one -- || • Destroy target artifact. || • Put target creature on the bottom of its owner’s library. || • Counter target instant spell.

This can work, but it’s tricky to pull off a situation where all three modes are good. Still, it could happen. We’ve seen worse.

Branching Bolt || 1RG || Instant || Choose one or both -- || • Branching Bolt deals 3 damage to target creature with flying. || • Branching Bolt deals 3 damage to target creature without flying.

Well, this doesn’t change at all with Far Out, since it is our first “Choose one or both” card.

Esper Charm || WUB || Instant || Choose one -- || • Destroy target enchantment. || • Draw two cards. || • Target player discards two cards.

Three mana for a four-card swing in card advantage? Yes please. The enchantment kill is just a nice lucky bonus that you get if there’s a valid target.

Grixis Charm || UBR || Instant || Choose one -- || • Return target permanent to its owner’s hand. || • Target creature gets -4/-4 until end of turn. || • Creatures you control get +2/+0 until end of turn.

Now that’s powerful. Three mana to remove two threats and then pump your whole team? Yeah. Your opponent will likely die on the turn you play this. Or at the very least, be in a very bad position.

Jund Charm || BRG || Instant || Choose one -- || • Exile target player’s graveyard. || • Jund Charm deals 2 damage to each creature. || • Put two +1/+1 counters on target creature.

If only these were written in reverse order, there would be actual synergy here. Choose a creature to pump, kill the rest, and then exile the stuff that you just killed. As-is, though, that doesn’t work. It’s a fine card, but not as good as it could have been.

Naya Charm || RGW || Instant || Choose one -- || • Naya Charm deals 3 damage to target creature. || • Return target card from a graveyard to its owner’s hand. || • Tap all creatures target player controls.

Seems good.

Nothing new in Conflux, so onwards to Alara Reborn!

Soul Manipulation || 1UB || Instant || Choose one or both -- || • Counter target creature spell. || • Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand.

This is another “choose one or both” card, so it is unaffected by Far Out.

Etherwrought Page || 1WUB || Artifact || At the beginning of your upkeep, choose one -- || • You gain 2 life. || • Look at the top card of your library. You may put that card into your graveyard. || • Each opponent loses 1 life.

Yikes, that’s a powerful artifact. Puts the opponent on a clock and enhances your resources. I love it.

The next set is Magic 2010, which is our first Core Set since Alpha/Beta to have new cards. None of the cards are modal though, so we get to just move on to the next block.

Zendikar gives us...

Grim Discovery || 1B || Sorcery || Choose one or both -- || • Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand. || • Return target land card from your graveyard to your hand.

Well, it says “choose one or both”, so we’re done here.

Worldwake has no modal cards. Rise of the Eldrazi time.

Reality Spasm || XUU || Instant || Choose one -- || • Tap X target permanents. || • Untap X target permanents.

That actually seems quite good with both modes. I like it.

Fissure Vent || 3RR || Sorcery || Choose one or both -- || • Destroy target artifact. || • Destroy target nonbasic land.

Meh.

Before we move on, I want to address another modal... thing. It's not a modal card, since it's technically not a card, but...

Introductions Are In Order || Scheme || When you set this scheme in motion, choose one -- || • Search your library for a creature card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle. || • You may put a creature card from your hand onto the battlefield.

This is an Archenemy Scheme. I don't really have any easy way to evaluate it, since it's not a thing in "real" Magic. But yeah, it seems powerful with both modes.

Magic 2011 has no new modal cards, so we move on to Scars of Mirrodin... which also has no new ones. Okay, so now we hit Mirrodin Besieged.

Steel Sabotage || U || Instant || Choose one -- || • Counter target artifact spell. || • Return target artifact to its owner’s hand.

Pretty good sideboard card against artifact-heavy decks. Being able to use both modes will really hurt an artifact deck.

Slagstorm || 1RR || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Slagstorm deals 3 damage to each creature. || • Slagstorm deals 3 damage to each player.

I honestly don’t get why this is modal. I feel like allowing both effects is fine even under normal circumstances. It’s just a Sulfurous Blast at sorcery speed.

New Phyrexia is up next, and it features a cycle of cards called the exarchs, which are creatures with a modal enters-the-battlefield effect, with the two choices usually being opposites (as best as possible). Let’s take a look.

Inquisitor Exarch || WW || Creature -- Phyrexian Cleric || 2/2 || When Inquisitor Exarch enters the battlefield, choose one -- || • You gain 2 life. || • Target opponent loses 2 life.

Decent. It’s a Highway Robber for two less mana.

Remember the Fallen || 2W || Sorcery || Choose one or both -- || • Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand. || • Return target artifact card from your graveyard to your hand.

It’s another “choose one or both” card, so it is unaffected by Far Out.

Deceiver Exarch || 2U || Creature -- Phyrexian Cleric || 1/4 || Flash || When Deceiver Exarch enters the battlefield, choose one -- || • Untap target permanent you control. || • Tap target permanent an opponent controls.

Wow, that’ll mess with your opponent’s combat math. I like it.

Entomber Exarch || 2BB || Creature -- Phyrexian Cleric || 2/2 || When Entomber Exarch enters the battlefield, choose one -- || • Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand. || • Target opponent reveals their hand. You choose a noncreature card from it. That player discards that card.

That seems quite good if you get both modes.

Tormentor Exarch || 3R || Creature -- Phyrexian Cleric || 2/2 || When Tormentor Exarch enters the battlefield, choose one -- || • Target creature gets +2/+0 until end of turn. || • Target creature gets -0/-2 until end of turn.

Not bad, kill something, and then pump one of your guys. I like it.

Brutalizer Exarch || 5G || Creature -- Phyrexian Cleric || 3/3 || When Brutalizer Exarch enters the battlefield, choose one -- || • Search your library for a creature card, reveal it, then shuffle and put that card on top. || • Put target noncreature permanent on the bottom of its owner’s library.

That seems awfully weak for six mana.

Next up is Commander 2011. No new modal cards. So then we have Magic 2012, which has one.

Skinshifter || 1G || Creature -- Human Shaman || 1/1 || {G}: Choose one. Activate only once each turn. || • Until end of turn, Skinshifter becomes a Rhino with base power and toughness 4/4 and gains trample. || • Until end of turn, Skinshifter becomes a Bird with base power and toughness 2/2 and gains flying. || • Until end of turn, Skinshifter becomes a Plant with base power and toughness 0/8.

This does not work with Far Out, since the modes are mutually-exclusive. Doing more than one would give Skinshifter multiple power/toughnesses. I would argue that if you were to use Far Out with this, then it would just give you the best of each option, meaning you’d end up with a 4/8 flying trample that’s a Rhino Bird Plant. Admittedly, though, my reasoning for that comes from a completely different card game. In Hearthstone, Fandral Staghelm is a card that enables modal cards to get all of their effects, and this is how it works in that game. That said, in Magic, you could make the argument that, because these effects resolve in order, each one will overwrite the power/toughness of the previous one, effectively making this card no different than normal when Far Out is in play (except that you can give trample to the bird and plant, and flying to the plant). It’s unclear reasons like this that is why the card is acorn-stamped. If we go with my interpretation, then this is quite good, as it gives you a 4/8 flying trample on turn 3. But if we go with the alternative interpretation, then the card is pretty worthless.

Next up is Innistrad.

Ghoulcaller’s Chant || B || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand. || • Return two target Zombie cards from your graveyard to your hand.

Pretty good in Zombie tribal, since you can get three cards back from your graveyard with this.

Dark Ascension is the next set, and it has...

Crushing Vines || 2G || Instant || Choose one -- || • Destroy target creature with flying. || • Destroy target artifact.

Huh. So this card is a sideboard card that you bring in if they have a lot of artifacts or a lot of flying creatures. What’s interesting is that if you’re able to choose both modes, then I think this is worth maindecking.

After that, we come to Avacyn Restored with...

Rain of Thorns || 4GG || Sorcery || Choose one or more -- || • Destroy target artifact. || • Destroy target enchantment. || • Destroy target land.

While we have had “choose one or both” before, this is our first instance of “choose one or more”. Just as “choose one or both”, it is completely unaffected by Far Out.

The next set to feature new cards was Planechase 2012, followed by Magic 2013. None of these new cards are modal though, so we move on to Return to Ravnica, with a new cycle of charms.

Azorius Charm || WU || Instant || Choose one -- || • Creatures you control gain lifelink until end of turn. || • Draw a card. || • Put target attacking or blocking creature on top of it’s owner’s library.

That’s quite powerful for two mana if you get all three modes. I like it.

Golgari Charm || BG || Instant || Choose one -- || • All creatures get -1/-1 until end of turn. || • Destroy target enchantment. || • Regenerate each creature you control.

This one’s a lot weaker. The fact that the first and third modes don’t synergize with each other is a big mark against it.

Izzet Charm || UR || Instant || Choose one -- || • Counter target noncreature spell unless its controller pays {2}. || • Izzet Charm deals 2 damage to target creature. || • Draw two cards, then discard two cards.

That’s pretty good with all three modes. Sign me up.

Rakdos Charm || BR || Instant || Choose one -- || • Exile target player’s graveyard. || • Destroy target artifact. || • Each creature deals 1 damage to its controller.

This one is very meh. None of the modes are that interesting.

Selesnya Charm || GW || Instant || Choose one -- || • Target creature gets +2/+2 and gains trample until end of turn. || • Exile target creature with power 5 or greater. || • Create a 2/2 white Knight creature token with vigilance.

Wow. That’s superb for two mana. Pump a dude and make a dude. And if your opponent has a big threat, it’s gone now. Yes please.

After that is Gatecrash, where we get to see the other five guilds.

Boros Charm || RW || Instant || Choose one -- || • Boros Charm deals 4 damage to target player or planeswalker. || • Permanents you control gain indestructible until end of turn. || • Target creature gains double strike until end of turn.

YES PLEASE. Oh my gosh, this is absurd. The fact that it’s versatile enough to be used either offensively or defensively (and at instant speed) definitely makes this one of the best charms for Far Out to abuse.

Clan Defiance || XRG || Sorcery || Choose one or more -- || • Clan Defiance deals X damage to target creature with flying. || • Clan Defiance deals X damage to target creature without flying. || • Clan Defiance deals X damage to target player or planeswalker.

This doesn’t change at all from Far Out, since it’s already a “choose one or more” card.

Dimir Charm || UB || Instant || Choose one -- || • Counter target sorcery spell. || • Destroy target creature with power 2 or less. || • Look at the top three cards of target player’s library. Put one back and the rest into that player’s graveyard.

All three of those modes are just sorta... not that good. So yeah, I think I’ll pass on this one.

Gruul Charm || RG || Instant || Choose one -- || • Creatures without flying can’t block this turn. || • Gain control of all permanents you own. || • Gruul Charm deals 3 damage to each creature with flying.

Not bad, but not as good as some of the others. The first and third modes synergize well. You blow up all the flyers, and then make the rest of the stuff not be able to block you. Then swing with big creatures on the ground. The middle mode is kinda not great, but hey, it’s there if you need it.

Merciless Eviction || 4WB || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Exile all artifacts. || • Exile all creatures. || • Exile all enchantments. || • Exile all planeswalkers.

So, this is just a Planar Cleansing that is easier to cast, or alternatively, a Play of the Game that is harder to cast. The difference is that you don’t HAVE to choose every mode, so if you’re leading on one axis, then you can just not choose that mode.

Orzhov Charm || WB || Instant || Choose one -- || • Return target creature you control and all Auras attached to it to their owner’s hand. || • Destroy target creature and you lose life equal to its toughness. || • Return target creature card with mana value 1 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield.

None of these modes seem particularly strong, so I’m inclined to say that this isn’t very good, even if you get all three modes.

Simic Charm || GU || Instant || Choose one -- || • Target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn. || • Permanents you control gain hexproof until end of turn. || • Return target creature to its owner’s hand.

That’s a great card. Yes please. With all three modes, you can get a Giant Growth and an Unsummon in a single card, plus the added bonus of protecting your board a bit. I love this.

So, next up is Dragon’s Maze, which offers no new modal cards. So we move on to Magic 2014, which also has no modal cards. So then we move on to Theros, which has one.

Bow of Nylea || 1GG || Legendary Enchantment Artifact || Attacking creatures you control have deathtouch. || {1}{G}, {T}: Choose one -- || • Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. || • Bow of Nylea deals 2 damage to target creature with flying. || • You gain 3 life. || • Put up to four target cards from your graveyard on the bottom of your library in any order.

Now that’s over-the-top broken. Two mana to get four effects (all of which are effects that are “okay” at worst) is pretty good, and this gives all your attackers deathtouch on top of that! And the effect is repeatable every turn! The downside is that it’s legendary, and it’s vulnerable to both enchantment removal and artifact removal.

Anyways, after that we get Commander 2013, and one of the new commanders is modal.

Marath, Will of the Wild || RGW || Legendary Creature -- Elemental Beast || 0/0 || Marath, Will of the Wild enters the battlefield with a number of +1/+1 counters on it equal to the amount of mana spent to cast it. || {X}, Remove X +1/+1 counters from Marath: Choose one -- || • Put X +1/+1 counters on target creature. X can’t be 0. || • Marath deals X damage to any target. X can’t be 0. || • Create an X/X green Elemental creature token. X can’t be 0.

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK. Even without being able to use multiple modes... surely they realize that this can get infinite counters with the first mode as long as you have Doubling Season or Primal Vigor in play, right? How did this make it through playtesting!? Getting all three effects is stupidly good, with or without Doubling Season.

Next up, Born of the Gods. Its only modal card is this...

Dawn to Dusk || 2WW || Sorcery || Choose one or both -- || • Return target enchantment card from your graveyard to your hand. || • Destroy target enchantment.

It’s already a “choose one or both” card, so we can move on to Journey into Nyx, which has...

Reviving Memory || 2G || Sorcery || Choose one or both -- || • Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand. || • Return target enchantment card from your graveyard to your hand.

Yet again, we have “Choose one or both”. Moving on...

Next up is Conspiracy. There are no new modal cards here. After that is Magic 2015. Again, no new modal cards. So we move on to Khans of Tarkir. This is where modal cards started being listed as bullet points. Of course, I’ve been listing all of them that way, because I list Oracle text, not printed text. Anyways, we got some new charms.

Abzan Charm || WBG || Instant || Choose one -- || • Exile target creature with power 3 or greater. || • You draw two cards and you lose 2 life. || • Distribute two +1/+1 counters among one or two target creatures.

With all three of these modes, that is indeed quite powerful.

Jeskai Charm || URW || Instant || Choose one -- || • Put target creature on top of its owner;s library. || • Jeskai Charm deals 4 damage to target opponent or planeswalker. || • Creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain lifelink until end of turn.

Now that’s a back-breaking card. Removal, burn, and pump your team. Really good if you get all three modes.

Mardu Charm || RWB || Instant || Choose one -- || • Mardu Charm deals 4 damage to target creature. || • Create two 1/1 white Warrior creature tokens. They gain first strike until end of turn. || • Target opponent reveals their hand. You choose a noncreature, nonland card from it. That player discards that card.

Removal and discard in one spell? Yes please. And you get two 1/1s out of it as well.

Sultai Charm || BGU || Instant || Choose one -- || • Destroy target monocolored creature. || • Destroy target artifact or enchantment. || • Draw two cards, then discard a card.

Not bad, but not the best. The middle mode is only sometimes relevant, but the first and last are quite nice.

Temur Charm || GUR || Instant || Choose one -- || • Target creature you control gets +1/+1 until end of turn. It fights target creature you don’t control. || • Counter target spell unless its controller pays {3}. || • Creatures with power 3 or less can’t block this turn.

This one is very bad. The second mode is something that you usually want to use on your opponent’s turn, but the third mode is something that you want to use on yours. This means that you’ll rarely pick both of those modes. That said, the first mode is quite powerful for three mana, all on its own (though being multicolor hurts it, since it’s hard to cast). The fact that you can use it with either the second or third mode is solid.

Winterflame || 1UR || Instant || Choose one or both -- || • Tap target creature. || • Winterflame deals 2 damage to target creature.

The next set is Commander 2014, which has no new modal cards. After that comes Fate Reforged, which is the first set to feature modal cards as a set theme.

Citadel Siege || 2WW || Enchantment || As Citadel Siege enters the battlefield, choose Khans or Dragons. || • Khans -- At the beginning of combat on your turn, put two +1/+1 counters on target creature you control. || • Dragons -- At the beginning of combat on each opponent’s turn, tap target creature that player controls.

Heck yeah. That’s powerful if you get both modes.

Sandsteppe Outcast || 2W || Creature -- Human Warrior || 2/1 || When Sandsteppe Outcast enters the battlefield, choose one -- || • Put a +1/+1 counter on Sandsteppe Outcast. || • Create a 1/1 white Spirit creature token with flying.

So this is a 3/2 for 3 mana that comes with a 1/1 flying? Yes please. Even better, that +1/+1 counter being there synergizes with quite a few cards, both from within this set, as well as outside of it.

Valorous Stance || 1W || Instant || Choose one -- || • Target creature gains indestructible until end of turn. || • Destroy target creature with toughness 4 or greater.

I feel like only one of those modes would be relevant at any given time. I think it’s rare that you’d need both. But still, for the situations where you do need both, this is nice to have.

Aven Surveyor || 3UU || Creature -- Bird Scout || 2/2 || Flying || When Aven Surveyor enters the battlefield, choose one -- || • Put a +1/+1 counter on Avem Surveyor. || • Return target creature to its owner’s hand.

Honestly? This feels very average. If this were four mana, then I would say it’s fine, and getting both modes makes it great. But for five mana? It feels on-curve to get both modes.

Fascination || XUU || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Each player draws X cards. || • Each player mills X cards.

Seems great in a mill deck, and not much anywhere else. Getting to draw cards is great, but this gives that ability to your opponent as well, which is bad unless you’re trying to mill them.

Monastery Siege || 2U || Enchantment || As Monastery Siege enters the battlefield, choose Khans or Dragons. || • Khans -- At the beginning of your draw step, draw an additional card, then discard a card. || • Dragons -- Spells your opponents cast that target you or a permanent you control cost {2} more to cast.

For just three mana? Sign me up. Getting both of these modes is insane, especially if your opponent is playing blue/red, and therefore doesn’t have access to enchantment removal.

Crux of Fate || 3BB || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Destroy all Dragon creatures. || • Destroy all non-Dragon creatures.

So, this is just a Damnation, but for one additional mana. Meh.

Hooded Assassin || 2B || Creature -- Human Assassin || 1/2 || When Hooded Assassin enters the battlefield, choose one -- || • Put a +1/+1 counter on Hooded Assassin. || • Destroy target creature that was dealt damage this turn.

Solid removal on a decently-sized body. I like it.

Palace Siege || 3BB || Enchantment || As Palace Siege enters the battlefield, choose Khans or Dragons. || • Khans -- At the beginning of your upkeep, return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand. || • Dragons -- At the beginning of your upkeep, each opponent loses 2 life and you gain 2 life.

That’s a very powerful enchantment. I think this is a great card.

Defiant Ogre || 5R || Creature -- Ogre Warrior || 3/5 || When Defiant Ogre enters the battlefield, choose one -- || • Put a +1/+1 counter on Defiant Ogre. || • Destroy target artifact.

This costs six mana!?

Mob Rule || 4RR || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Gain control of all creatures with power 4 or greater until end of turn. Untap those creatures. They gain haste until end of turn. || • Gain control of all creatures with power 3 or less until end of turn. Untap those creatures. They gain haste until end of turn.

Combining these, you just get Rowan, Fearless Sparkmage’s ultimate. This costs one more mana, but you don’t have to bother with the in-between steps of building up to the ultimate. It’s very powerful.

Outpost Siege || 3R || As Outpost Siege enters the battlefield, choose Khans or Dragons. || • Khans -- At the beginning of your upkeep, exile the top card of your library. Until end of turn, you may play that card. || • Dragons -- Whenever a creature you control leaves the battlefield, Outpost Siege deals 1 damage to any target.

That’s good but not great. I like these abilities, and I feel that they are powerful, even together, but there’s a lot of modal cards where, if you get both abilities, it’s back-breaking for the opponent. And I wouldn’t go that far for this one.

Ainok Guide || 1G || Creature -- Dog Scout || 1/1 || When Ainok Guide enters the battlefield, choose one -- || • Put a +1/+1 counter on Ainok Guide. || • Search your library for a basic land card, reveal it, then shuffle your library and put that card on top.

Meh. It would be so much better if it put the land in your hand (or, even better, onto the battlefield). As-is, this is pretty forgettable.

Frontier Siege || 3G || Enchantment || As Frontier Siege enters the battlefield, choose Khans or Dragons. || • Khans -- At the beginning of each of your main phases, add {G}{G}. || • Dragons -- Whenever a creature with flying enters the battlefield under your control, you may have it fight target creature you don’t control.

The Khans ability is insane. You get two main phases per turn, so you get to ramp up FOUR mana. That’s absolutely insane! I guess the idea is that you then get to cast expensive stuff to try and trigger the Dragons ability, but that doesn’t really work too well, since green is not the color of flying, and the mana you get from the Khans ability is green. In all of Magic’s history, there are only 42 mono-green flying creatures, and only 18 of them are Modern-legal (which shows how many of them are just really obscure old cards). On top of that, one of those cards is Patagia Viper, which is only mono-green on a technicality.

Ruthless Instincts || 2G || Instant || Choose one -- || • Target nonattacking creature gains reach and deathtouch until end of turn. Untap it. || • Target attacking creature gets +2/+2 and gains trample until end of turn.

Well that’s awful. There’s zero situations in which you would want both of these modes.

Next up is Dragons of Tarkir, which features another cycle of commands, but those are multicolored, so we have to get through all the monocolor modal cards first.

Ojutai Exemplars || 2WW || Creature -- Human Monk || 4/4 || Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, choose one -- || • Tap target creature. || • Ojutai Exemplars gains first strike and lifelink until end of turn. || • Exile Ojutai Exemplars, then return it to the battlefield tapped under its owner’s control.

I think that most of the time, you’ll just pick the first two modes, but that’s still a very solid card.

Vandalize || 4R || Sorcery || Choose one or both -- || • Destroy target artifact. || • Destroy target land.

This is another “choose one or both” card. Meh.

Display of Dominance || 1G || Instant || Choose one -- || • Destroy target blue or black noncreature permanent. || • Permanents you control can’t be the targets of blue or black spells your opponents control this turn.

That’s a sideboard card against blue decks and black decks, but hey, that works. I like it.

Atarka’s Command || RG || Instant || Choose two -- || • Your opponents can’t gain life this turn. || • Atarka’s Command deals 3 damage to each opponent. || • You may put a land card from your hand onto the battlefield. || • Creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain reach until end of turn.

For two mana, getting all four effects is pretty strong.

Dromoka’s Command || GW || Instant || Choose two -- || • Prevent all damage target instant or sorcery spell would deal this turn. || • Target player sacrifices an enchantment. || • Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. || • Target creature you control fights target creature you don’t control.

This also seems quite good. The last two modes do have synergy with one another, though that’s pretty clearly by design. Even without Far Out, you can still choose two modes.

Kolaghan’s Command || 1BR || Instant || Choose two -- || • Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand. || • Target player discards a card. || • Destroy target artifact. || • Kolaghan’s Command deals 2 damage to any target.

The second and fourth modes are good in any circumstance. The first is usually good as well. The third is decent in certain circumstances. So yeah, I like this.

Ojutai’s Command || 2WU || Instant || Choose two -- || • Return target creature card with mana value 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. || • You gain 4 life. || • Counter target creature spell. || • Draw a card.

This one is okay. Not as good as the others.

Silumgar’s Command || 3UB || Instant || Choose two -- || • Counter target noncreature spell. || • Return target permanent to its owner’s hand. || • Target creature gets -3/-3 until end of turn. || • Destroy target planeswalker.

That’s back-breaking. Counter a spell, bounce a thing, kill a thing, and then blow up a planeswalker if they have one. The only downside is that this is more expensive than most counterspells, costing five mana to use.

Moving on to Magic Origins, we have...

Disciple of the Ring || 3UU || Creature -- Human Wizard || 3/4 || {1}, Exile an instant or sorcery card from your graveyard: Choose one -- || • Counter target noncreature spell unless its controller pays {2}. || • Disciple of the Ring gets +1/+1 until end of turn. || • Tap target creature. || • Untap target creature.

I like this. Going from doing one thing to doing four things is absolutely insane.

Demonic Pact || 2BB || Enchantment || At the beginning of your upkeep, choose one that hasn’t been chosen -- || • Demonic Pact deals 4 damage to any target and you gain 4 life. || • Target opponent discards two cards. || • Draw two cards. || • You lose the game.

So there are two ways to interpret this. If you interpret “choose one or more” to replace “choose one that hasn’t been chosen”, then this is absolutely broken. You just never choose the last mode, and then you get three INSANELY powerful modes every single turn for as long as Demonic Pact remains in play. Alternatively, you could argue that the restriction of “you can only pick those that haven’t been chosen” still remains. In which case, the only thing that would be accomplished by choosing multiple modes is hastening your demise. In which case, Far Out makes no difference, and this card just plays the same. Except for one corner-case, and that’s if you have a “you can’t lose the game” effect in play. In that case, you just get to reap all of the benefits at once, rather than spreading them out over three turns (but then you still never get them again). As such, however this card works greatly impacts how good it is. And since acorn cards don’t really have official rules, that’s just up to your playgroup.

All right, the next set is Battle for Zendikar, which has an entire cycle of modal cards.

Retreat to Emeria || 3W || Enchantment || Landfall -- Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, choose one -- || • Create a 1/1 white Kor Ally creature token. || • Creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn.

That sounds like it’ll get out of hand quickly. If this triggers on EVERY landfall trigger...

Retreat to Coralhelm || 2U || Enchantment || Landfall -- Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, choose one -- || • You may tap or untap target creature. || • Scry 1.

This one’s a lot more tame, since scry 1 isn’t a very powerful effect. It’s just a nice little add-on.

Retreat to Hagra || 2B || Enchantment || Landfall -- Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, choose one -- || • Target creature gets +1/+0 and gains deathtouch until end of turn. || • Each opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.

Seems like this one is middle-of-the-road. Not as good as the white one, but better than the blue one.

Retreat to Valakut || 2R || Enchantment || Landfall -- Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, choose one -- || • Target creature gets +2/+0 until end of turn. || • Target creature can’t block this turn.

Being able to get both modes here is indeed very powerful, since they synergize with each other. I like it. Definitely the best one yet.

Retreat to Kazandu || 2G || Enchantment || Landfall -- Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, choose one -- || • Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. || • You gain 2 life.

This reminds me of the blue one. The second mode is just a “would be nice” thing, but you’re really just using the first mode, and getting the second mode as a small bonus.

Brutal Expulsion || 2UR || Instant || Devoid || Choose one or both -- || • Return target spell or creature to its owner’s hand. || • Brutal Expulsion deals 2 damage to target creature or planeswalker. If that creature or planeswalker would die this turn, exile it instead.

“Choose one or both”, so it doesn’t change at all with Far Out in play.

So then we move on to Commander 2015, which has our first cycle of Confluences. Confluences are modal spells that give you three options and let you choose three, but you are allowed to choose the same mode more than once. What’s fascinating here is that these cards get WORSE when you have Far Out in play, because Far Out stops you from choosing the same mode more than once. This makes them more restrictive.

Righteous Confluence || 3WW || Sorcery || Choose three. You may choose the same mode more than once. || • Create a 2/2 white Knight creature token with vigilance. || • Exile target enchantment. || • You gain 5 life.

I have nothing to say here, since I already explained that the card is worse when Far Out is in play.

Mystic Confluence || 3UU || Instant || Choose three. You may choose the same mode more than once. || • Counter target spell unless its controller pays {3}. || • Return target creature to its owner’s hand. || • Draw a card.

Again, Mana Leak + Unsummon + draw a card, is pretty good. But the card could do that and more if you don’t have Far Out in play.

Wretched Confluence || 3BB || Instant || Choose three. You may choose the same mode more than once. || • Target player draws a card and loses 1 life. || • Target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn. || • Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand.

All are solid options, but less flexibility when you can’t double-up on one.

Fiery Confluence || 2RR || Sorcery || Choose three. You may choose the same mode more than once. || • Fiery Confluence deals 1 damage to each creature. || • Fiery Confluence deals 2 damage to each opponent. || • Destroy target artifact.

Of all the cards that are in this cycle, this one I feel gets the most gypped by Far Out. The first two modes synergize well with other copies of themselves, and the third will often not have a target. It really helps to be able to choose the same mode multiple times, and sadly, Far Out does not allow that.

Verdant Confluence || 4GG || Sorcery || Choose three. You may choose the same mode more than once. || • Put two +1/+1 counters on target creature. || • Return target permanent card from your graveyard to your hand. || • Search your library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.

For six mana? This is awful. It’s really powerful if you choose the same mode three times (regardless of which one of the three you choose), since these effects are very powerful when stacked. But to just get each one once each? No thank you.

Well, that was disappointing. Let’s move on to Oath of the Gatewatch.

Warping Wail || 1C || Instant || Choose one -- || • Exile target creature with power or toughness 1 or less. || • Counter target sorcery spell. || • Create a 1/1 colorless Eldrazi Scion creature token. It has “Sacrifice this creature: Add {C}.”

I feel like the first two modes are situational, so there’s not gonna be a lot of situations where you can use both of the modes. But still, there’s a nonzero number of situations. The other thing that has me not liking this is the mana cost. Colorless costs are tricky to work with unless you build your deck specifically to do so.

Consuming Sinkhole || 3R || Instant || Devoid || Choose one -- || • Exile target land creature. || • Consuming Sinkhole deals 4 damage to target player or planeswalker.

The first mode is only relevant if the opponent has a manland, which is by no means a guarantee. So, for the most part, this is just doing that last mode. Once in a while, you get a bonus landkill effect.

The next set is Shadows over Innistrad, which has this.

Triskaidekaphobia || 3B || Enchantment || At the beginning of your upkeep, choose one -- || • Each player with exactly 13 life loses the game, then each player gains 1 life. || • Each player with exactly 13 life loses the game, then each player loses 1 life.

This doesn’t really do a whole lot. The one thing that Far Out does is essentially make this an optional trigger, since the two modes cancel each other out. But that’s still useful in some situations, just not enough to make a big enough difference.

So then we move on to Eldritch Moon, which features a new mechanic for modal spells: Escalate. This is a keyword that appears on modal spells with “choose one or more”, and you must pay the escalate cost for each mode chosen beyond the first. How exactly this works with Far Out is unclear. One way to interpret it is that, much like Entwine, this simply reduces the Escalate cost to {0}. However, I would argue that since the cards with Escalate already say “Choose one or more”, then they, like all “choose one or more” cards, are unaffected by Far Out. The fact that there’s a cost to pay for each mode chosen beyond the first is irrelevant. It isn’t like Entwine, which replaces “choose one” with “choose all”. So yeah, I’m inclined to state that the escalate cards are unaffected by Far Out. However, that’s boring to analyze, so despite me disagreeing with it, I will be analyzing them as though this did make the escalate cost free.

Blessed Alliance || 1W || Instant || Escalate {2} || Choose one or more -- || • Target player gains 4 life. || • Untap up to two target creatures. || • Target opponent sacrifices an attacking creature.

Pretty strong for two mana if you get all the modes.

Borrowed Grace || 2W || Instant || Escalate {1}{W} || Choose one or both -- || • Creatures you control get +2/+0 until end of turn. || • Creatures you control get +0/+2 until end of turn.

This is literally the same card as Fortify from Time Spiral, except that it has an escalate cost now. All the things I said there apply here, I guess.

Collective Effort || 1WW || Sorcery || Escalate--Tap an untapped creature you control. || Choose one or more -- || • Destroy target creature with power 4 or greater. || • Destroy target enchantment. || • Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature target player controls.

Not bad at all. The last mode is the only one that I think you always want. The others are situational, but if your opponent has the necessary targets, then yeah, pretty good.

Borrowed Malevolence || B || Instant || Escalate {2} || Choose one or both -- || • Target creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn. || • Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.

For one mana, that’s insane. This is either a kill spell with an added bonus of buffing one of your creatures, or it’s a way to get in a two-point swing in combat between two creatures. Pretty solid.

Collective Brutality || 1B || Sorcery || Escalate--Discard a card. || Choose one or more -- || • Target opponent reveals their hand. You choose an instant or sorcery card from it. That player discards that card. || • Target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn. || • Target opponent loses 2 life and you gain 2 life.

The name fits the card. When you collectively get all three modes, this is brutal.

Borrowed Hostility || R || Instant || Escalate {3} || Choose one or both -- || • Target creature gets +3/+0 until end of turn. || • Target creature gains first strike until end of turn.

That’s solid synergy, especially for one mana.

Collective Defiance || 1RR || Sorcery || Escalate {1} || Choose one or more -- || • Target player discards all the cards in their hand, then draws that many cards. || • Collective Defiance deals 4 damage to target creature. || • Collective Defiance deals 3 damage to target opponent or planeswalker.

This falls into the “good, but not game-breaking” category.

Savage Alliance || 2R || Instant || Escalate {1} || Choose one or more -- || • Creatures target player controls gain trample until end of turn. || • Savage Alliance deals 2 damage to target creature. || • Savage Alliance deals 1 damage to each creature target opponent controls.

That’s VERY strong synergy between all three modes. Sign me up. I definitely think that this spell, more than any other escalate card, would benefit from having escalate {0}.

The next set is Conspiracy: Take the Crown, which has only one modal card.

Grenzo, Havoc Raiser || RR || Legendary Creature -- Goblin Rogue || 2/2 || Whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to a player, choose one -- || • Goad target creature that player controls. || • Exile the top card of that player’s library. Until end of turn, you may cast that card and you may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to cast that spell.

That seems like a solid commander if you get both modes. Of course, in Commander, you can’t use Far Out without a white color identity, so that’s out. In just normal casual kitchen-table play, though, it’s fine. Just a shame that you won’t always have access to it on turn 2.

All right, next up is Kaladesh.

Insidious Will || 2UU || Instant || Choose one -- || • Counter target spell. || • You may choose new targets for target spell. || • Copy target instant or sorcery spell. You may choose new targets for the copy.

I find this to be unaffected by Far Out in most circumstances. I don’t think there’s many instances where you’ll want multiples of these.

Saheeli’s Artistry || 4UU || Sorcery || Choose one or both -- || • Create a token that’s a copy of target artifact. || • Create a token that’s a copy of target creature, except it’s an artifact in addition to its other types.

It says “or both”, so this one is unaffected by Far Out.

Fortuitous Find || 2B || Sorcery || Choose one or both -- || • Return target artifact card from your graveyard to your hand. || • Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand.

Again, we have a “choose one or both” card.

Subtle Strike || 1B || Instant || Choose one or both -- || • Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn. || • Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.

This one is unaffected by Far Out.

Take Down || G || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Take Down deals 4 damage to target creature with flying. || • Take Down deals 1 damage to each creature with flying.

I mean... this is good in some cases, but for the most part, one of these two modes is sufficient.

Engineered Might || 3GW || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Target creature gets +5/+5 and gains trample until end of turn. || • Creatures you control get +2/+2 and gain vigilance until end of turn.

That’s absurdly powerful. Yeah, it costs five mana... but... damn. Getting both these effects is nuts. Even if all you’ve got are four Saprolings, that’s still an 8/8 trample vigilance and three 3/3 vigilance creatures. The opponent will struggle to deal with this. Guaranteed. And that’s an extremely tame scenario. More likely, you have an army of, you know, actual decent creatures. And now they’re even better. The opponent is almost certain to lose half their life here, if not more.

And then we come to Commander 2016, with a single modal card.

Breya, Etherium Shaper || WUBR || Legendary Artifact Creature -- Human || 4/4 || When Breya, Etherium Shaper enters the battlefield, create two 1/1 blue Thopter artifact creature tokens with flying. || {2}, Sacrifice two artifacts: Choose one -- || • Breya deals 3 damage to target player or planeswalker. || • Target creature gets -4/-4 until end of turn. || • You gain 5 life.

I think this one speaks for itself. Sacrificing two artifacts is trivial if you fill your deck with artifacts (not to mention that Breya herself is an artifact that brings two more artifacts with her upon being cast). And she can live in your command zone to boot! Being able to do all these things makes Far Out a must-have in any Breya deck.

The next set is Aether Revolt, which has a few modal cards.

Alley Evasion || W || Instant || Choose one -- || • Target creature you control gets +1/+2 until end of turn. || • Return target creature you control to its owner’s hand.

Meh. I’m sure there’s some situations where having both modes is relevant. But for the most part? This isn’t worth the mana spent to cast it.

Destructive Tampering || 2R || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Destroy target artifact. || • Creatures without flying can’t block this turn.

This is good, but nothing to write home about.

Invigorated Rampage || 1R || Instant || Choose one -- || • Target creature gets +4/+0 and gains trample until end of turn. || • Two target creatures each get +2/+0 and gain trample until end of turn.

After that, we have Amonkhet. Which has no modal cards. So on to Hour of Devastation!

Supreme Will || 2U || Instant || Choose one -- || • Counter target spell unless its controller pays {3}. || • Look at the top four cards of your library. Put one of them into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.

Seems decent. More expensive mana leak, but you get a nice little bonus card out of it.

Doomfall || 2B || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Target opponent exiles a creature they control. || • Target opponent reveals their hand. You choose a nonland card from it. Exile that card.

That’s brutal. They lose a creature and a card in their hand. A bit of a shame that you don’t get to pick which creature they exile, but still. This is pretty good.

Abrade || 1R || Instant || Choose one -- || • Abrade deals 3 damage to target creature. || • Destroy target artifact.

Lightning Bolt and Shatter all in one card, for two mana. Not bad. I like it.

So the next set is Commander 2017, which does have a new modal card.

Vindictive Lich || 3B || Creature -- Zombie Wizard || 4/1 || When Vindictive Lich dies, choose one or more. Each mode must target a different player. || • Target opponent sacrifices a creature. || • Target opponent discards two cards. || • Target opponent loses 5 life.

This is unaffected by Far Out. Unless you believe that Far Out somehow removes the restrictions. In which case, this is just “choose a player and that player can’t win the game anymore”.

The next set to feature new cards is, technically, the HASCON 2017 promo cards. But there’s nothing modal in there, and even if there were, I’d hardly call that a set.

So we move on to Ixalan, the final Magic block. It has two modal cards in its first set.

March of the Drowned || B || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand. || • Return two target Pirate cards from your graveyard to your hand.

This is extremely similar to Ghoulcaller’s Chant, which I already talked about back in Innistrad. The only difference is that they replaced the word Zombie with the word Pirate. So, yeah... this is good in Pirate tribal.

Crushing Canopy || 2G || Instant || Choose one -- || • Destroy target creature with flying. || • Destroy target enchantment.

A little expensive for a Plummet and Naturalize. I feel that this should be two mana, not three.

The next set is Unstable. Its modal cards are:

Oddly Uneven || 3WW || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Destroy each creature with an odd number of words in its name. || • Destroy each creature with an even number of words in its name.

So this is just a more expensive version of Day of Judgment now.

So, um, remember how Unstable had variant cards? Well...

Very Cryptic Command || 1UUU || Instant || Choose two -- || • Switch target creature’s power and toughness until end of turn. || • Target creature can’t be blocked this turn. || • Draw a card. If that card’s art is by Wayne England, you may reveal it and draw another card. || • Assemble a Contraption.

Very Cryptic Command || 1UUU || Instant || Choose two -- || • Untap two target permanents. || • Tap each permanent target player controls with exactly one word in its name. || • Discard all the cards in your hand, then draw that many cards. || • Return target instant or sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand.

Very Cryptic Command || 1UUU || Instant || Choose two -- || • Draw a card from an opponent’s library. || • Copy target instant or sorcery spell. You may choose new targets for the copy. || • Until end of turn, target creature loses all abilities and becomes a blue Frog with base power and toughness 1/1. || • Create a 1/1 colorless Gnome artifact creature token.

Very Cryptic Command || 1UUU || Instant || Choose two -- || • Return target permanent to its controller’s hand. || • Draw two cards, then discard a card. || • Change the target of target spell with a single target. || • Turn over target nontoken creature.

Very Cryptic Command || 1UUU || Instant || Choose two -- || • Counter target black-bordered spell. || • Return target creature to its owner’s hand. || • Untap each permanent you control with a watermark. || • Roll two six-sided dice. Target player mills X cards, where X is the total of those results.

Very Cryptic Command || 1UUU || Instant || Choose two -- || • Scry 3. || • Create a 2/2 black Rogue creature token with menace. || • Add or subtract 1 or one from a number or number word on target spell or permanent until end of turn. || • Return all artifacts target player controls to their owner’s hand.

Well... that sure is... a lot. I don’t even know where to begin. Well, I guess with the mana cost. Requiring triple-blue basically restricts these to mono-blue decks. Which pretty much means that Far Out is a no-go. If you do allow Far Out, how good are they? Honestly... pretty good. Four effects for four mana is pretty solid. I wouldn’t mind any of these. (And of course, you could make an argument that you get all twenty-four modes, but that’s a VERY weak argument, so it will not be considered.)

Ineffable Blessing || 1G || Enchantment || As Ineffable Blessing enters the battlefield, choose Flavorful or Bland. || • Flavorful -- Whenever a creature with flavor text enters the battlefield under your control, draw a card. || • Bland -- Whenever a creature without flavor text enters the battlefield under your control, draw a card.

That’s very strong, especially for just two mana. Being able to draw off of any of your creature spells? Yes please. By the way, Ineffable Blessing does have variant cards as well, so there’s many different versions of it. But this is the only one that’s modal, so that’s all that we care about today.

Shellephant || 1GG || Creature -- Turtle and/or Elephant || ?/? || {0}: Choose one. You may activate this ability while Shellephant is in any zone. || • Shellephant has base power and toughness 1/4. || • Shellephant has base power and toughness 3/3.

So that’s contradictory. We already ran into this issue with Skinshifter. So, my personal ruling would be that this is a 3/4 if you use both modes. You get the best of each. I think the official Magic rules would say, however, that you resolve them in order, so the second one would override the first. Meaning it’s just a 3/3, and is unaffected by Far Out. Either way, an extra point of toughness doesn’t make THAT big of a difference. It’s still a good body for three mana regardless.

Buzzing Whack-a-Doodle || 4 || Artifact || As Buzzing Whack-a-Doodle enters the battlefield, you and an opponent each secretly choose Whack or Doodle. Then those choices are revealed. If the choices match, Buzzing Whack-a-Doodle has that ability. Otherwise, it has Buzz. || • Whack -- {T}: Target player loses 2 life. || • Doodle -- {T}: You gain 3 life. || • Buzz -- {2}, {T}: Draw a card.

So, how this one works with Far Out is... unclear. I’m inclined to say that it doesn’t work at all. If it does work, then the versatility of being able to choose any option you like is nice, though you’re still limited to just one per turn unless you find a way to untap it.

All right, time for Rivals of Ixalan!

Cleansing Ray || 1W || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Destroy target Vampire. || • Destroy target enchantment.

That’s... really niche. No way. Don’t use it.

Mastermind’s Acquisition || 2BB || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Search your library for a card, put it into your hand, then shuffle. || • Put a card you own from outside the game into your hand.

Wow. Double-tutoring for four mana!? Yes please. The fact that the second mode isn’t even limited to what’s in your deck is pretty nuts.

Buccaneer’s Bravado || 1R || Instant || Choose one -- || • Target creature gets +1/+1 and gains first strike until end of turn. || • Target Pirate gets +1/+1 and gains double strike until end of turn.

Not bad. If you have a Pirate deck, this seems like a great card to have.

Dominaria is up next.

Fiery Intervention || 4R || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Fiery Intervention deals 5 damage to target creature. || • Destroy target artifact.

Honestly? This is kinda underwhelming for five mana.

The next set is Battlebond. It has no modal cards. So then we move on to Global Series: Jiang Yanggu & Mu Yanling. It also has no modal cards. So then we move on to Core Set 2019.

Cleansing Nova || 3WW || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Destroy all creatures. || • Destroy all artifacts and enchantments.

Nice boardwipe. I like it.

Suncleanser || 1W || Creature -- Human Cleric || 1/4 || When Suncleanser enters the battlefield, choose one -- || • Remove all counters from target creature. It can’t have counters put on it for as long as Suncleanser remains on the battlefield. || • Target opponent loses all counters. That player can’t get counters for as long as Suncleanser remains on the battlefield.

This is not relevant for 99% of games.

After that, we have Commander 2018. No new modal cards. So then we move on to Guilds of Ravnica.

Crush Contraband || 3W || Instant || Choose one or both -- || • Exile target artifact. || • Exile target enchantment.

Meh.

Goblin Cratermaker || 1R || Creature -- Goblin Warrior || 2/2 || {1}, Sacrifice Goblin Cratermaker: Choose one -- || • Goblin Cratermaker deals 2 damage to target creature. || • Destroy target colorless nonland permanent.

This seems bad. I mean, sure. If your opponent is playing with a bunch of morphs or Eldrazi or something, great. But otherwise? This is shock plus artifact-kill. Not too good.

Sprouting Renewal || 2G || Sorcery || Convoke || Choose one -- || • Create a 2/2 green and white Elf Knight creature token with vigilance. || • Destroy target artifact or enchantment.

So this is Naturalize for an extra mana, but with the added bonus of getting a 2/2 vigilance out of it. I like it.

Artful Takedown || 2UB || Instant || Choose one or both -- || • Tap target creature. || • Target creature gets -2/-4 until end of turn.

It’s another “choose one or both” card, so it is unaffected by Far Out.

Deafening Clarion || 1RW || Sorcery || Choose one or both -- || • Deafening Clarion deals 3 damage to each creature. || • Creatures you control gain lifelink until end of turn.

That’s good for three mana. But it’s hard to cast due to being multicolor. Because of that, I kinda expect more than just “good”.

Knight of Autumn || 1GW || Creature -- Dryad Knight || 2/1 || When Knight of Autumn enters the battlefield, choose one -- || • Put two +1/+1 counters on Knight of Autumn. || • Destroy target artifact or enchantment. || • You gain 4 life.

A 4/3 for 3 mana is very good, independently of the rest of the card. The fact that it also gives you a free Naturalize and a bit of lifegain? Yes please.

The next set with new cards is technically Game Night, but that doesn’t really count since there’s only five new cards in the whole set. It’s mostly just a reprint set. Not that it matters, as none of its cards are modal. So we get to skip ahead to the next set in the “block”, which is Ravnica Allegiance.

Swirling Torrent || 5U || Sorcery || Choose one or both -- || • Put target creature on top of its owner’s library. || • Return target creature to its owner’s hand.

I guess I never realized how many “choose one or both” cards there are.

Deface || R || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Destroy target artifact. || • Destroy target creature with defender.

Meh. Neither of those effects are very good.

Applied Biomancy || GU || Instant || Choose one or both -- || • Target creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn. || • Return target creature to its owner’s hand.

That’s... honestly not as good as I’d expect for GU. It’s an Unsummon and one-third of a Giant Growth. For the same mana, you could do an Unsummon and a full Giant Growth. But that’s the case even without Far Out, since this is a “choose one or both” card.

Captive Audience || 5BR || Enchantment || Captive Audience enters the battlefield under the control of an opponent of your choice. || At the beginning of your upkeep, choose one that hasn’t been chosen -- || • Your life total becomes 4. || • Discard your hand. || • Each opponent creates five 2/2 black Zombie creature tokens.

So, this is a weird one. Because your opponent gets it, your own Far Out won’t affect it. If you have a Far Out when your opponent casts this on you, though, then it would work. Though, given that these effects are all negative, you’d still only want to do one of them at a time. Technically, I suppose the first mode CAN be a positive effect if your life total is below 4, but at that point, it’s just lifegain, which is a bad effect.

Ravager Wurm || 3RGG || Creature -- Wurm || 4/5 || Riot || When Ravager Wurm enters the battlefield, choose up to one -- || • Ravager Wurm fights target creature you don’t control. || • Destroy target land with an activated ability that isn’t a mana ability.

For 6 mana, a 4/5 riot is pretty good. Getting both of those effects is nice, but unnecessary. This is just a “win more” card, really.

The next set is War of the Spark, which has seven modal cards.

Aid the Fallen || 1B || Sorcery || Choose one or both -- || • Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand. || • Return target planeswalker card from your graveyard to your hand.

Well, it says “or both”.

Planewide Celebration || 5GG || Sorcery || Choose four. You may choose the same mode more than once. || • Create a 2/2 Citizen creature token that’s all colors. || • Return target permanent card from your graveyard to your hand. || • Proliferate. || • You gain 4 life.

This is another card that is made WORSE by Far Out, since you now have less flexibility. You can no longer choose the same mode more than once. And as for just getting one of each mode... I really don’t think that’s worth seven mana. The thing that makes it worth seven mana is the versatility of it. Assuming I did the math right (and admittedly I am bad at that nCr combination/permutation nonsense), there’s 35 different options that you can get from this card. Lowering that to just 1 really hurts it.

Pollenbright Druid || 1G || Creature -- Elf Druid || 1/1 || When Pollenbright Druid enters the battlefield, choose one -- || • Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. || • Proliferate.

That’s actually pretty good synergy. Yes please.

Return to Nature || 1G || Instant || Choose one -- || • Destroy target artifact. || • Destroy target enchantment. || • Exile target card from a graveyard.

This isn’t too good. The thing that makes it great is that it’s every single sideboard option all in one card. Your opponent’s playing an artifact-heavy deck? Choose mode one. Enchantment-heavy? Choose mode two. Graveyard shenanigans? Choose mode three. In a two-player game, they’ll only have one of these decks, so Far Out isn’t too helpful. But if you have multiple opponents, then this can be really good.

Angrath’s Rampage || BR || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Target player sacrifices an artifact. || • Target player sacrifices a creature. || • Target player sacrifices a planeswalker.

That’s good for two mana. A lot of the time, all you’ll hit is a creature, but you do occasionally get to hit multiple things. The problem is that it’s multicolor, so it’s difficult to cast.

Casualties of War || 2BBGG || Sorcery || Choose one or more -- || • Destroy target artifact. || • Destroy target creature. || • Destroy target enchantment. || • Destroy target land. || • Destroy target planeswalker.

Six mana to blow up five things, but in a difficult-to-cast way. That sounds nice... until you remember that this card just does that anyways, given it’s a “choose one or more” card. Plus, for six mana, you may as well just run a boardwipe.

Tyrant’s Scorn || UB || Instant || Choose one -- || • Destroy target creature with mana value 3 or less. || • Return target creature to its owner’s hand.

Not bad. It’s double-removal for two mana. I like it, even if one of the “removals” is just a bounce.

All right, now let’s see what Modern Horizons gives us.

Settle Beyond Reality || 4W || Sorcery || Choose one or both -- || • Exile target creature you don’t control. || • Exile target creature you control, then return it to the battlefield under its owner’s control.

This costs FIVE MANA!? Jeez.

Archmage’s Charm || UUU || Instant || Choose one -- || • Counter target spell. || • Target player draws two cards. || • Gain control of target nonland permanent with mana value 1 or less.

The triple-blue mana cost makes this tricky to cast, but if you can pull it off, it seems good. A counterspell and a divination stapled together, with an occasional bonus extra if the opponent has a little thing that you want.

Mirrodin Besieged || 2U || Enchantment || As Mirrodin Besieged enters the battlefield, choose Mirran or Phyrexian. || • Mirran -- Whenever you cast an artifact spell, create a 1/1 colorless Myr artifact creature token. || • Phyrexian -- At the beginning of your end step, draw a card, then discard a card. Then if there are fifteen or more artifact cards in your graveyard, target opponent loses the game.

Well, that’s an auto-include in every artifact deck ever.

Twisted Reflection || 1U || Instant || Choose one -- || • Target creature gets -6/-0 until end of turn. || • Switch target creature’s power and toughness until end of turn. || Entwine {B}

With both modes, this gives mono-blue access to straight-up creature-kill. That’s pretty insane. Especially since it would only cost two mana. Of course, to use Far Out, you can’t be in mono-blue, you’d need to be in Azorius at minimum, unless you gain control of an opponent’s Far Out.

Return from Extinction || 1B || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand. || • Return two target creature cards that share a creature type from your graveyard to your hand.

Not bad, you get two creatures back, and if you have multiple of a creature type in your graveyard, then you get three.

Shatter Assumptions || 1BB || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Target opponent reveals their hand and discards all colorless nonland cards. || • Target opponent reveals their hand and discards all multicolored cards.

I love how they have to reveal twice. Hahaha. Sadly, I think this is still just a sideboard card. You only use this if they have a lot of multicolored and/or colorless cards. Most Magic cards are monocolored, so this doesn’t work out too well. That’s what makes it a sideboard card.

Umezawa’s Charm || 1B || Instant || Choose one -- || • Target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn. || • Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn. || • You gain 2 life.

I feel like Umezawa’s Jitte is just a better version of this.

Goblin War Party || 3R || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Create three 1/1 red Goblin creature tokens. || • Creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain haste until end of turn. || Entwine {2}{R}

That’s a solid synergy. Four mana to get 6 power on the board is pretty nice. I like it.

Ayula, Queen Among Bears || 1G || Legendary Creature -- Bear || 2/2 || Whenever another Bear enters the battlefield under your control, choose one -- || • Put two +1/+1 counters on target Bear. || • Target Bear you control fights target creature you don’t control.

That’s VERY good if you have a Bear tribal deck. But not as good anywhere else. I suppose in a worst-case-scenario, Ayula can just be a 4/4 for 2 mana, which is still stupidly good.

Kaya’s Guile || 1WB || Instant || Choose two -- || • Each opponent sacrifices a creature. || • Exile all opponents’ graveyards. || • Create a 1/1 white and black Spirit creature token with flying. || • You gain 4 life. || Entwine {3}

That’s pretty good.

Next up is Core Set 2020, which has this.

Masterful Replication || 5U || Instant || Choose one -- || • Create two 3/3 colorless Golem artifact creature tokens. || • Choose target artifact you control. Each other artifact you control becomes a copy of that artifact until end of turn.

That’s pretty solid syngery. You can either transform your Golems into whatever artifact you want, giving you two more copies of it. Or you can make all your artifacts into 3/3 Golems. Seems pretty good. (Edit: I misread this. You can’t do the latter, since you need to choose a target for the second mode at the time Masterful Replication goes on the stack.)

Dread Presence || 3B || Creature -- Nightmare || 3/3 || Whenever a Swamp enters the battlefield under your control, choose one -- || • You draw a card and you lose 1 life. || • Dread Presence deals 2 damage to any target and you gain 2 life.

Note that state-based actions are NOT checked in between the two modes, so you can still use both modes even if you have 1 life remaining, and you will not die. So this is essentially a Shock that cantrips and also gains you a life. For every Swamp you play. Yes please.

Reckless Air Strike || R || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Reckless Air Strike deals 3 damage to target creature with flying. || • Destroy target artifact.

Not bad. There will be a few times when you’ll want to use both modes. For the most part, only one of them will be sufficient, but there’s always a chance you’ll need both, especially common if you have multiple opponents.

Voracious Hydra || XGG || Creature -- Hydra || 0/1 || Trample || Voracious Hydra enters the battlefield with X +1/+1 counters on it. || When Voracious Hydra enters the battlefield, choose one -- || • Double the number of +1/+1 counters on Voracious Hydra. || • Voracious Hydra fights target creature you don’t control.

For four mana, you get a 4/5. For five mana, you get a 6/7. For six mana, you get an 8/9. All with trample, and all with a removal spell attached. I like it.

Commander 2019 comes next, and it has a few new modal cards.

Nightmare Unmaking || 3BB || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Exile each creature with power greater than the number of cards in your hand. || • Exile each creature with power less than the number of cards in your hand.

Damnation for one extra mana. Seems pretty solid.

Road of Return || GG || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Return target permanent card from your graveyard to your hand. || • Put your commander into your hand from the command zone. || Entwine {2}

I... honestly don’t know how to evaluate this one. The second mode is format-specific, which is... dumb.

Scaretiller || 4 || Artifact Creature -- Scarecrow || 1/4 || Whenever Scaretiller becomes tapped, choose one -- || • You may put a land card from your hand onto the battlefield tapped. || • Return target land card from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped.

This seems like an insane ramp card, until you realize that both of those modes are finite resources. You eventually will run out of lands in your hand and your graveyard. It isn’t like it gets them from your library. Also, ramp becomes less good once you’re at four mana already, which you’d need to be to cast Scaretiller in the first place. And then you’d probably have to wait a turn before you can even tap it.

Throne of Eldraine comes next, featuring five modal cards.

Charming Prince || 1W || Creature -- Human Noble || 2/2 || When Charming Prince enters the battlefield, choose one -- || • Scry 2. || • You gain 3 life. || • Exile another target creature you own. Return it to the battlefield at the beginning of the next end step.

All of those abilities are merely okay. Getting all three of them at once pushes it up to good. Still not over-the-top though.

Rankle, Master of Pranks || 2BB || Legendary Creature -- Faerie Rogue || 3/3 || Flying, haste || Whenever Rankle, Master of Pranks deals combat damage to a player, choose any number -- || • Each player discards a card. || • Each player loses 1 life and draws a card. || • Each player sacrifices a creature.

This card is actually WORSE when you have Far Out in play, because it gets overridden with a “Choose one or more”, meaning that it’s no longer possible to choose zero options.

Return of the Wildspeaker || 4G || Instant || Choose one -- || • Draw cards equal to the greatest power among non-Human creatures you control. || • Non-Human creatures you control get +3/+3 until end of turn.

Awwww, if only they were written in the other order. This is still a pretty good card. It pumps your whole team by a significant amount, and you get a ton of card draw. Hopefully you draw a way to grant trample to your whole team, since that combos well with high power/toughness increases.

Drown in the Loch || UB || Instant || Choose one -- || • Counter target spell with mana value less than or equal to the number of cards in its controller’s graveyard. || • Destroy target creature with mana value less than or equal to the number of cards in its controller’s graveyard.

Quick mini-rant. I hate how so many people mispronounce the word “loch”. That “ch” at the end is supposed to be a voiced velar fricative, but a lot of people pronounce it as a voiceless velar plosive. But I digress. As a card on its own, this is pretty good. It’s a counterspell and a removal spell all-in-one. The fact that you need to fill your opponent’s graveyard would be a problem for any other color combination, but Dimir are the colors of milling, so that works.

Outlaws’ Merriment || 1RWW || Enchantment || At the beginning of your upkeep, choose one at random. Create a red and white creature token with those characteristics. || • 3/1 Human Warrior with trample and haste. || • 2/1 Human Cleric with lifelink and haste. || • 1/2 Human Rogue with haste and “When this creature enters the battlefield, it deals 1 damage to any target.”

So, it’s unclear whether this would create three separate tokens, or create one token with all the characteristics. If the former, then that’s great. Three free creatures per turn? Yes please. If the latter, then you get a 3/2 trample lifelink haste that pings a thing when it ETBs. (And it’d be a Human Warrior Cleric Rogue.) Getting one of those every turn isn’t too shabby either. By the way, fun fact: this card was cited by Rules Manager Jess Dunks as a reason why Far Out can’t work in black-border Magic rules, and why it was relegated to silver-border.

Next up is Ponies: The Galloping, which... has no modal cards. Then is Game Night 2019, which also has no modal cards. Note that I’m skipping over Mystery Booster, because playtest cards are not real Magic cards. So we can move on to Theros Beyond Death.

Heliod’s Intervention || XWW || Instant || Choose one -- || • Destroy X target artifacts and/or enchantments. || • Target player gains twice X life.

This is the first of a cycle of cards that are X-costed cards that do two different modes, the latter of which references “twice X”. In this case, the white one is... not that great. Lifegain just isn’t what wins you games. The first mode is okay, but artifacts and enchantments are often not nearly as problematic as creatures and planeswalkers.

Thassa’s Intervention || XUU || Instant || Choose one -- || • Look at the top X cards of your library. Put up to two of them into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. || • Counter target spell unless its controller pays twice {X}.

Not bad, a counterspell with a Divination attached. I like it.

Erebos’s Intervention || XB || Instant || Choose one -- || • Target creature gets -X/-X until end of turn. You gain X life. || • Exile up to twice X target cards from graveyards.

Honestly? Meh. This just seems like a Murder that gets more and more expensive the bigger the creature that you’re trying to kill is. The lifegain and the graveyard hate isn’t really enough to save it.

Pharika’s Libation || 2B || Instant || Choose one -- || • Target opponent sacrifices a creature. || • Target opponent sacrifices an enchantment.

Taking a break from the cycle for a bit, here’s a solid bit of removal. It’s not the best removal, but it’s pretty decent, especially if you can get both modes. Note that if an opponent uses this on you, you don’t actually make the sacrifices until the whole thing resolves, so you would be able to sacrifice both a creature and an Aura on that creature in order to fulfill both modes.

Irreverent Revelers || 2R || Creature -- Satyr || 2/2 || When Irreverent Revelers enters the battlefield, choose one -- || • Destroy target artifact. || • Irreverent Revelers gains haste until end of turn.

This is pretty good. A 2/2 haste for 3 mana is acceptable, and it can sometimes blow up an artifact.

Purphoros’s Intervention || XR || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Create an X/1 red Elemental creature token with trample and haste. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step. || • Purphoros’s Intervention deals twice X damage to target creature or planeswalker.

That’s quite powerful. Of all the cards in this cycle, I believe this one to be the strongest.

Tectonic Giant || 2RR || Creature -- Elemental Giant || 3/4 || Whenever Tectonic Giant attacks or becomes the target of a spell an opponent controls, choose one -- || • Tectonic Giant deals 3 damage to each opponent. || • Exile the top two cards of your library. Choose one of them. Until the end of your next turn, you may play that card.

Four mana for a 3/4 is pretty good on its own (though the double-red casting cost does sting a bit). But then the fact that it gets two great abilities EVERY TIME it attacks and every time that it is targeted? YES PLEASE. This is absolutely broken with Far Out.

Nylea’s Intervention || XGG || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Search your library for up to X land cards, reveal them, put them into your hand, then shuffle. || • Nylea’s Intervention deals twice X damage to each creature with flying.

Meh. The first mode isn’t really that great, since, as I’ve said multiple times now, ramp gets so much worse when you have to pay a lot of mana for it. And this doesn’t even put the lands onto the battlefield! The second mode is good against a white weenie or blue/white flyers deck, and that’s about it.

Rise to Glory || 3WB || Sorcery || Choose one or both -- || • Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. || • Return target Aura card from your graveyard to the battlefield.

It’s good synergy with itself, but it already says “choose one or both”, so that doesn’t come as too much of a surprise.

The next set to be released is Unsanctioned, which is also known as “the last set that Wizards of the Coast released before the Covid-19 pandemic hit”. It has no modal cards in it. So then we move on to Commander 2020, which also has no new modal cards. So then is Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths, where we have these...

Fight as One || W || Instant || Choose one or both -- || • Target Human creature you control gets +1/+1 and gains indestructible until end of turn. || • Target non-Human creature you control gets +1/+1 and gains indestructible until end of turn.

That says “or both”, so it’s unaffected by Far Out. Next!

Light of Hope || W || Instant || Choose one -- || • You gain 4 life. || • Destroy target enchantment. || • Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.

Well, that’s a one-drop. Doing all three modes for just one mana is nuts. I definitely approve.

Heartless Act || 1B || Instant || Choose one -- || • Destroy target creature with no counters on it. || • Remove up to three counters from target creature.

Aw man, if only they were in the other order. As it stands, the anti-synergy kinda hurts it. But still, both modes are fine.

Shredded Sails || 1R || Instant || Choose one -- || • Destroy target artifact. || • Shredded Sails deals 4 damage to target creature with flying. || Cycling {2}

This is great. Even though neither of these modes are abilities that you’ll always want (maybe there are no artifacts or flying creatures around), you can still make use of the card anyways, and just cycle it if you encounter a situation where you don’t need it. That’s why cycling is such a good mechanic.

Survivors’ Bond || 1G || Sorcery || Choose one or both -- || • Return target Human creature card from your graveyard to your hand. || • Return target non-Human creature card from your graveyard to your hand.

That’s a nice card, but it already says “or both”, so Far Out doesn’t affect it.

Now we move on to Core Set 2021.

Read the Tides || 5U || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Draw three cards. || • Return up to two target creatures to their owners’ hands.

I like it. Two Unsummons and an Ancestral Recall. Yeah, yeah. You could argue that this should cost three mana then, since each of those cards are one mana apiece, but we all know that Ancestral Recall is grossly undercosted.

Sublime Epiphany || 4UU || Instant || Choose one or more -- || • Counter target spell. || • Counter target activated or triggered ability. || • Return target nonland permanent to its owner’s hand. || • Create a token that’s a copy of target creature you control. || • Target player draws a card.

Five modes. That’s more than any other card we’ve seen thus far. But it says “Choose one or more”, so Far Out isn’t even necessary in order to make this card a good card.

Pestilent Haze || 1BB || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • All creatures get -2/-2 until end of turn. || • Remove two loyalty counters from each planeswalker.

I suppose this gets slightly improved by Far Out, yeah. Though only slightly. I bet there’s going to be no planeswalkers in play more often than there are planeswalkers in play.

Elder Gargaroth || 3GG || Creature -- Beast || 6/6 || Vigilance, reach, trample || Whenever Elder Gargaroth attacks or blocks, choose one -- || • Create a 3/3 green Beast creature token. || • You gain 3 life. || • Draw a card.

Holy moly. That’s over-the-top broken with all three effects. Heck, it’s even broken with just one mode! Getting a 3/3 beast each time you attack OR block!? Yes please. The extra lifegain and card draw are also nice, but not even necessary. And heck, a 6/6 for five mana is already pretty good, and that’s before you add THREE fantastic keywords! What the hell!? I have no idea what they were thinking with this card, cause this seems absurd in Kitchen Table Magic.

Trufflesnout || 2G || Creature -- Boar || 2/2 || When Trufflesnout enters the battlefield, choose one -- || • Put a +1/+1 counter on Trufflesnout. || • You gain 4 life.

That’s pretty good. A 3/3 for 3 mana that gains you some life when it ETB’s. I approve.

The next set is Jumpstart. Despite offering a wide variety of cards, only one of the new cards is modal. Here it is:

Trusty Retriever || 3W || Creature -- Dog || 2/3 || When Trusty Retriever enters the battlefield, choose one -- || • Put a +1/+1 counter on Trusty Retriever. || • Return target artifact or enchantment card from your graveyard to your hand.

This honestly doesn’t seem that great. A 3/4 for 4 is pretty good, but with Far Out, I expect a bit more payoff than artifact/enchantment recovery.

Anyways, next up is Zendikar Rising. Note that at this point, Wizards started releasing Commander decks alongside nearly every set, so I will just be counting those as cards in the same set. So this section will cover both Zendikar Rising and Zendikar Rising Commander. Though it doesn’t matter in this particular case, since Zendikar Rising Commander has no new modal cards. But Zendikar Rising itself does, so let’s take a look!

Felidar Retreat || 3W || Enchantment || Landfall -- Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, choose one -- || • Create a 2/2 white Cat Beast creature token. || • Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control. Those creatures gain vigilance until end of turn.

Nice. Each landfall makes you a Cat token AND makes all of your creatures bigger AND gives them vigilance. That’s quite a lot, and this happens with EVERY landfall trigger. I approve.

Inscription of Insight || 3U || Sorcery || Kicker {2}{U}{U} || Choose one. If this spell was kicked, choose any number instead. || • Return up to two target creatures to their owners’ hands. || • Scry 2, then draw two cards. || • Target player creates an X/X blue Illusion creature token, where X is the number of cards in their hand.

With Far Out, this essentially just gets Kicker {0}. And with that, this card becomes quite powerful. I like it.

Inscription of Ruin || 2B || Sorcery || Kicker {2}{B}{B} || Choose one. If this spell was kicked, choose any number instead. || • Target opponent discards two cards. || Return target creature card with mana value 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. || • Destroy target creature with mana value 3 or less.

Pretty good. It’s a Mind Rot with extra stuff attached. Yes please.

Kargan Intimidator || 1R || Creature -- Human Warrior || 3/1 || Cowards can’t block Warriors. || • {1}: Choose one that hasn’t been chosen this turn -- || • Kargan Intimidator gets +1/+1 until end of turn. || • Target creature becomes a Coward until end of turn. || • Target Warrior gains trample until end of turn.

So... there’s two ways to interpret this. One is to say that Far Out overrides the “that hasn’t been chosen this turn” clause, replacing it with just “choose one or more”. In that case, the ability to stack these effects becomes pretty powerful. The other is to say that Far Out only overrides the “Choose one”, so it becomes “Choose one or more that hasn’t been chosen this turn”, effectively just giving you a two-mana discount. That’s still pretty good, but not as much as the other interpretation. Also, I love how Cowards can’t block Warriors. That’s really funny.

Molten Blast || 2R || Instant || Choose one -- || • Molten Blast deals 2 damage to target creature or planeswalker. || • Destroy target artifact.

This seems bad. Abrade is a modal card for 1 less mana that does 1 more damage and is otherwise identical (okay, okay, it can’t hit planeswalkers, but that’s a minor thing). Alternatively, you can use Kolaghan’s Command, which is a modal card for three mana that lets you do 2 damage to any target, blow up an artifact, and do two other modes as well. The downside is that it’s slightly harder to cast, requiring both black and red mana. But still. It feels like Molten Blast is getting outclassed here.

Inscription of Abundance || 1G || Instant || Kicker {2}{G} || Choose one. If this spell was kicked, choose any number instead. || • Put two +1/+1 counters on target creature. || • Target player gains X life, where X is the greatest power among creatures they control. || • Target creature you control fights target creature you don’t control.

That’s a pretty good card for just two mana. Getting all three modes is great, and the order they’re written in gives you the optimal effect.

Commander Legends is up next, and it has a cycle of modal cards.

Akroma’s Will || 3W || Instant || Choose one. If you control a commander as you cast this spell, you may choose both. || • Creatures you control gain flying, vigilance, and double strike until end of turn. || • Creatures you control gain lifelink, indestructible, and protection from all colors until end of turn.

Well that’s a game-winning card. All you need is a small army of creatures, and suddenly they become quite powerful. Probably best in a token-making deck, or in white weenie.

Sakashima’s Will || 3U || Sorcery || Choose one. If you control a commander as you cast this spell, you may choose both. || • Target opponent chooses a creature they control. You gain control of it. || • Choose a creature you control. Each other creature you control becomes a copy of that creature until end of turn.

Ehhhh... I’m not that big of a fan of this one. The first mode is unfortunate. Having the opponent choose which creature to give you makes this so much worse than if you had chosen it. The second mode is also lacking. It seems like it’d only be worth it if you simultaneously go big and go wide, and few decks do both - most do only one or the other.

Szat’s Will || 4B || Instant || Choose one. If you control a commander as you cast this spell, you may choose both. || • Each opponent sacrifices a creature they control with the greatest power. || • Exile all opponents’ graveyards, then create X 0/1 black Thrull creature tokens, where X is the greatest power among creature cards exiled this way.

Ugh, this is so dang close to being good. The first mode is great, removing the biggest threats on the board. The second mode is great, exiling them to prevent graveyard shenanigans and giving you a ton of tokens. But why do they have to be 0-power tokens!? I suppose if you had an anthem effect, then sure, this would be nice. But otherwise... it feels like you’d want better creatures than this.

Jeska’s Will || 2R || Sorcery || Choose one. If you control a commander as you cast this spell, you may choose both. || • Add {R} for each card in target opponent’s hand. || • Exile the top three cards of your library. You may play them this turn.

That’s straight-to-the-point. You get access to three extra cards this turn, and you get the mana to cast them. I like it.

Kamahl’s Will || 3G || Instant || Choose one. If you control a commander as you cast this spell, you may choose both. || • Until end of turn, any number of target lands you control become 1/1 Elemental creatures with vigilance, indestructible, and haste. They’re still lands. || • Choose target creature you don’t control. Each creature you control deals damage equal to its power to that creature.

Wow, now that is brutal for whoever is on the receiving end of it. Kill their biggest threat, and then swing with a bunch of vigilant indestructible hasty lands. I like it. Anyways, that’s it for this cycle, but Commander Legends does have one additional modal card outside of this cycle...

Gnostro, Voice of the Crags || 1URW || Legendary Creature -- Chimera || 3/3 || {T}: Choose one. X is the number of spells you’ve cast this turn. || • Scry X. || • Gnostro, Voice of the Crags deals X damage to target creature. || • You gain X life.

This isn’t that great. X isn’t gonna be a big number unless you’re playing a storm deck. And if you are playing a storm deck, then... one, you’re a bad person. And two, you probably have better things to cast for four mana.

Anyways, let’s move on to Kaldheim!

Run Ashore || 4UU || Instant || Choose one or both -- || • The owner of target nonland permanent puts it on the top or bottom of their library. || • Return target nonland permanent to its owner’s hand.

It says “or both”, so we can just move on.

Blood on the Snow || 4BB || Snow Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Destroy all creatures. || • Destroy all planeswalkers. || Then return a creature or planeswalker card with mana value X or less from your graveyard to the battlefield, where X is the amount of {S} spent to cast this spell.

I mean... it’s six mana. For a board wipe. Pretty standard, really.

Raise the Draugr || 1B || Instant || Choose one -- || • Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand. || • Return two target creature cards that share a creature type from your graveyard to your hand.

This is a near-functional reprint of Return from Extinction, which I’ve already talked about. The only difference is that this one is at instant speed, so it’s better.

Skemfar Shadowsage || 3B || Creature -- Elf Cleric || 2/5 || When Skemfar Shadowsage enters the battlefield, choose one -- || • Each opponent loses X life, where X is the greatest number of creatures you control that have a creature type in common. || • You gain X life, where X is the greatest number of creatures you control that have a creature type in common.

That’s a good card. It’s a decent swing in a tribal deck. And given its creature types, you’d be either Elf tribal or Cleric tribal, both of which are tribes with plenty of support for you to build a deck around.

Open the Omenpaths || 2R || Instant || Choose one -- || • Add two mana of any one color and two mana of any other color. Spend this mana only to cast creature or enchantment spells. || • Creatures you control get +1/+0 until end of turn.

Nice ramp. Three mana gives you four mana. I like it. The second mode is just a nice little bonus.

Koma, Cosmos Serpent || 3GGUU || Legendary Creature -- Serpent || 6/6 || This spell can’t be countered. || At the beginning of each upkeep, create a 3/3 blue Serpent creature token named Koma’s Coil. || Sacrifice another Serpent: Choose one -- || • Tap target permanent. Its activated abilities can’t be activated this turn. || • Koma, Cosmos Serpent gains indestructible until end of turn.

This is over-the-top powerful. But for seven mana, in multicolor, and with double-colors on two colors... it’s allowed to be. This just seems like an awfully difficult card to cast, really. If you can pull it off, you deserve to have it.

Thornmantle Striker || 4B || Creature -- Elf Rogue || 4/3 || When Thornmantle Striker enters the battlefield, choose one -- || • Remove X counters from target permanent, where X is the number of Elves you control. || • Target creature an opponent controls gets -X/-X until end of turn, where X is the number of Elves you control.

Note that the reason this card has a higher collector’s number than the others (remember, I go in collector’s number ordering) is because it cannot be found in Draft Boosters. It is exclusive to Set Boosters and Theme Boosters. Anywho, this is great in Elf tribal, not really good anywhere else though.

Shall we move on to Commander 2021?

Perplexing Test || 3UU || Instant || Choose one -- || • Return all creature tokens to their owners’ hands. || • Return all nontoken creatures to their owners’ hands.

With both modes, this is just a functional reprint of Evacuation. But Evacuation is a pretty decent card. It’s the best boardwipe you can get in blue.

The next set is Strixhaven: School of Mages, which has quite a few modal cards.

Academic Probation || 1W || Sorcery -- Lesson || Choose one -- || • Choose a nonland card name. Opponents can’t cast spells with the chosen name until your next turn. || • Choose target nonland permanent. Until your next turn, it can’t attack or block, and its activated abilities can’t be activated.

Pretty okay for two mana.

Defend the Campus || 3W || Instant || Choose one -- || • Creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn. || • Destroy target creature with power 4 or greater.

The second mode honestly seems better than the first. But getting both is nice.

Callous Bloodmage || 2B || Creature -- Vampire Warlock || 2/1 || When Callous Bloodmage enters the battlefield, choose one -- || • Create a 1/1 black and green Pest creature token with “When this creature dies, you gain 1 life.” || • You draw a card and you lose 1 life. || • Exile target player’s graveyard.

3 mana for a 2/1 is below the curve. The ETB effect pushes it to be right on curve. Getting multiple modes would push it above the curve.

Confront the Past || XB || Sorcery -- Lesson || Choose one -- || • Return target planeswalker card with mana value X or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. || • Remove twice X loyalty counters from target planeswalker an opponent controls.

Seems decent. Planeswalker reanimation and planeswalker kill all in one card.

Professor’s Warning || B || Instant || Choose one -- || • Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. || • Target creature gains indestructible until end of turn.

Seems pretty good for one mana. You get a +1/+1 counter and get to protect one of your creatures for a turn. I like it.

Umbral Juke || 2B || Instant || Choose one -- || • Target player sacrifices a creature or planeswalker. || • Create a 2/1 white and black Inkling creature token with flying.

Three mana for a 2/1 flying? Yes please. And you get to kill something? Sign me up.

Start from Scratch || 2R || Sorcery -- Lesson || Choose one -- || • Start from Scratch deals 1 damage to any target. || • Destroy target artifact.

That’s a bad card. Three mana for 1 damage? No thank you. The artifact kill is better, but not enough so to save it.

Tangletrap || 1G || Instant || Choose one -- || • Tangletrap deals 5 damage to target creature with flying. || • Destroy target artifact.

This is much better. Less mana, instant speed, more damage, and still has artifact kill stapled to it. I like this one a lot better.

Decisive Denial || GU || Instant || Choose one -- || • Target creature you control fights target creature you don’t control. || • Counter target noncreature spell unless its controller pays {3}.

This is a harder-to-cast Mana Leak and a harder-to-cast Pounce, put together. That would have been fine. Unfortunately, it loses points because, unlike a Mana Leak, this is unable to target creature spells. I feel that this really holds it back.

Lorehold Command || 3RW || Instant || Choose two -- || • Create a 3/2 red and white Spirit creature token. || • Creatures you control get +1/+0 and gain indestructible and haste until end of turn. || • Lorehold Command deals 3 damage to any target. Target player gains 3 life. || • Sacrifice a permanent, then draw two cards.

Yep, we’ve got another cycle of commands here. This is the Lorehold one. It seems quite powerful for five mana when you’re allowed to get all of the modes.

Prismari Command || 1UR || Instant || Choose two -- || • Prismari Command deals 2 damage to any target. || • Target player draws two cards, then discards two cards. || • Target player creates a Treasure token. || • Destroy target artifact.

This one has a lot weaker of modes, but it is only three mana. And yeah, it’s still pretty good.

Quandrix Command || 1GU || Instant || Choose two -- || • Return target creature or planeswalker to its owner’s hand. || • Counter target artifact or enchantment spell. || • Put two +1/+1 counters on target creature. || • Target player shuffles up to three target cards from their graveyard into their library.

I think the third mode is significantly better than the other three. Most of the time, you’ll probably choose the first and third modes. But hey, if you use Far Out, then you can get all four. That’s neat.

Rip Apart || RW || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Rip Apart deals 3 damage to target creature or planeswalker. || • Destroy target artifact or enchantment.

Disenchant and Lightning Bolt had a baby together... and it’s at sorcery speed. Boo.

Shadrix Silverquill || 3WB || Legendary Creature -- Elder Dragon || 2/5 || Flying, double strike || At the beginning of combat on your turn, you may choose two. Each mode must target a different player. || • Target player creates a 2/1 white and black Inkling creature token with flying. || • Target player draws a card and loses 1 life. || • Target player puts a +1/+1 counter on each creature they control.

Silverquill is the only one of the elder dragons of Strixhaven that is a modal card, and it is quite interesting. It gives you a benefit, at the cost of giving a different benefit to the opponent. But that’s assuming you choose two. With “choose one or more”, you can only choose one, and then ignore the downside of this card, and just get whatever you want for free. If you opt to interpret Far Out as a card that lets you override the “each mode must target a different player” restriction, you can go even further and give yourself all three benefits.

Silverquill Command || 2WB || Sorcery || Choose two -- || • Target creature gets +3/+3 and gains flying until end of turn. || • Return target creature card with mana value 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. || • Target player draws a card and loses 1 life. || • Target opponent sacrifices a creature.

Now that’s over-the-top broken with all four modes. I approve.

Witherbloom Command || BG || Choose two -- || • Target player mills three cards, then you return a land card from your graveyard to your hand. || • Destroy target noncreature, nonland permanent with mana value 2 or less. || • Target creature gets -3/-1 until end of turn. || • Target opponent loses 2 life and you gain 2 life.

This one is probably the worst of the commands. The first mode may not have a target, and the second mode is unlikely to as well.

All right, next up is Modern Horizons 2.

Abiding Grace || 2W || Enchantment || At the beginning of your end step, choose one -- || • You gain 1 life. || • Return target creature card with mana value 1 from your graveyard to the battlefield.

Those effects, even combined, seem to not be worth three mana. You do get them every turn, but still. They’re just too minor to be of any real consequence.

Break Ties || 2W || Instant || Choose one -- || • Destroy target artifact. || • Destroy target enchantment. || • Exile target card from a graveyard. || Reinforce 1--{W}

Huh. I like it. It’s the swiss-army knife of sideboard cards, good against whichever deck you’re facing. We already saw this card for one less mana (in green) in War of the Spark. It was called Return to Nature. The difference is that this one has Reinforce, which is great, since that enables it to be good even if none of its modes are useful. That said... all of the things that I just said were assuming you could only choose one mode. With multiple modes, it honestly doesn’t improve much. But still, it was pretty solid to begin with.

Unbounded Potential || 1W || Instant || Choose one -- || • Put a +1/+1 counter on each of up to two target creatures. || • Proliferate. || Entwine {3}{W}

I like the synergy that they have going here. You could always entwine it, but Far Out lets you get this for two mana instead of six. That discount is pretty substantial. And yeah, this is absurdly powerful. Two mana to pump multiple of your dudes multiple times. That’s nuts. And if your deck is already counter-heavy, you can proliferate even more than that.

Breya’s Apprentice || 2R || Artifact Creature -- Human Artificer || 2/3 || When Breya’s Apprentice enters the battlefield, create a 1/1 colorless Thopter artifact creature token with flying. || {T}, Sacrifice an artifact: Choose one -- || • Exile the top card of your library. Until the end of your next turn, you may play that card. || • Target creature gets +2/+0 until end of turn.

Getting both modes here is nice, though the cost of having to sacrifice an artifact is a steep one. You need a deck with lots of cheap artifacts for this to be worth it.

Flourishing Strike || 1G || Instant || Choose one -- || • Flourishing Strike deals 5 damage to target creature with flying. || • Target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn. || Entwine {2}{G}

Meh. It’s a Plummet that gives you a free Giant Growth after use. I feel like that’s not really worth it and that you’re better off just running the two cards separately. Yes, it costs one more mana in total, but then you don’t have to bother with setting up Far Out.

Verdant Command || 1G || Instant || Choose two -- || • Target player creates two tapped 1/1 green Squirrel creature tokens. || • Counter target loyalty ability of a planeswalker. || • Exile target card from a graveyard. || • Target player gains 3 life.

Honestly? These effects are so minor that I don’t think it’s worth the mana. Adding all four of them together, this would be worth two, maybe three, mana. This card gives it to you for two mana, which is about where it should be. And that’s a problem when a lot of modal spells give you over-the-top broken effects for that mana when you use Far Out. So Verdant Command falls behind the curve compared to everything else you can do with Far Out.

Graceful Restoration || 3WB || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield with an additional +1/+1 counter on it. || • Return up to two target creature cards with power 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield.

Three reanimation effects for five mana is solid, but two of them have to be for little things. Seems very good in an aristocrats deck, but not really much else. Maybe white weenie.

Prophetic Titan || 4UR || Creature -- Giant Wizard || 4/4 || Delirium -- When Prophetic Titan enters the battlefield, choose one. If there are four or more card types among cards in your graveyard, choose both instead. || • Prophetic Titan deals 4 damage to any target. || • Look at the top four cards of your library. Put one of them into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.

Six mana for a 4/4 is pretty bad. But you also get to burn something for 4 damage, and you get to tutor for something four cards deep. That’s good, but not good enough to make up for the low power/toughness-to-mana-cost ratio. It would be a lot better if this wasn’t an ETB and instead triggered whenever it attacked or something. But then that’s probably too good.

Territorial Kavu || RG || Creature -- Kavu || */* || Domain -- Territorial Kavu’s power and toughness are each equal to the number of basic land types among lands you control. || Whenever Territorial Kavu attacks, choose one -- || • Discard a card. If you do, draw a card. || • Exile up to one target card from a graveyard.

Meh. Neither of those effects are particularly strong. Combining them doesn’t actually make too big of a difference.

Now we move on to the worst set that Wizards ever made: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms. Okay, that’s a little harsh. It makes sense to have a product based on D&D, since there is a significant overlap between Magic players and D&D players. But this really should have been a supplemental product, so that non-D&D players could easily ignore it. It should not have gone through Standard. Anywho, in terms of modal cards... this set has more than any previous set, because of flavor words being used to make the choices stand out. So we’ll be here for a while. Let’s take a look.

Dawnbringer Cleric || 1W || Creature -- Human Cleric || 1/3 || When Dawnbringer Cleric enters the battlefield, choose one -- || • Cure Wounds -- You gain 2 life. || • Dispel Magic -- Destroy target enchantment. || • Gentle Repose -- Exile target card from a graveyard.

2 mana for a 1/3 is pretty strong. And then you get some minor ETB effects as well. Seems good.

You Hear Something on Watch || 1W || Instant || Choose one -- || • Rouse the Party -- Creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn. || • Set Off Traps -- This spell deals 5 damage to target attacking creature.

Well that’s devastating if you get both modes. Your blocks become SO MUCH BETTER with this thing. And it’s only two mana!

You’re Ambushed on the Road || W || Instant || Choose one -- || • Make a Retreat -- Return target creature you control to its owner’s hand. || • Stand and Fight -- Target creature gets +1/+3 until end of turn.

These options seem like they’d be mutually exclusive, and there’d be very few situations where you’d want to do both. So yeah, I’m inclined to say that Far Out doesn’t really help too much here.

You Come to a River || 1U || Instant || Choose one -- || • Fight the Current -- Return target nonland permanent to its owner’s hand. || • Find a Crossing -- Target creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn and can’t be blocked this turn.

That seems very strong. The first mode is just an Unsummon for an extra mana (though it can hit noncreatures, which is nice). And for that extra mana, what do you get? An unblockable creature that’s slightly stronger than it was before. Yes please.

You Find the Villains’ Lair || 1UU || Instant || Choose one -- || • Foil Their Scheme -- Counter target spell. || • Learn Their Secrets -- Draw two cards, then discard two cards.

Not bad at all. It’s a Cancel with some extra card filtering attached.

You See a Guard Approach || U || Instant || Choose one -- || • Distract the Guard -- Tap target creature. || • Hide -- Target creature you control gains hexproof until end of turn.

One mana to tap a thing and give one of your creatures an okay-ish ability until end of turn? Ehhh, sure, why not?

Baleful Beholder || 4BB || Creature -- Beholder || 6/5 || When Baleful Beholder enters the battlefield, choose one -- || • Antimagic Cone -- Each opponent sacrifices an enchantment. || • Fear Ray -- Creatures you control gain menace until end of turn.

I mean... it’s a 6/5. Even if it was a vanilla creature, that’s totally worth it. The two abilities are just icing on the cake.

Shambling Ghast || B || Creature -- Zombie || 1/1 || When Shambling Ghast dies, choose one -- || • Brave the Stench -- Target creature an opponent controls gets -1/-1 until end of turn. || • Search the Body -- Create a Treasure token.

It’s a Festering Goblin that also makes a Treasure. Sure.

Plundering Barbarian || 2R || Creature -- Dwarf Barbarian || 2/2 || When Plundering Barbarian enters the battlefield, choose one -- || • Smash the Chest -- Destroy target artifact. || • Pry It Open -- Create a Treasure token.

Not bad at all. A three mana 2/2 with some decent abilities.

You Come to the Gnoll Camp || 1R || Instant || Choose one -- || • Intimidate Them -- Up to two target creatures can’t block this turn. || • Fend Them Off -- Target creature gets +3/+1 until end of turn.

That’s a solid card. Make your dude huge and then swing in without resistance. I like it.

You Find Some Prisoners || 1R || Instant || Choose one -- || • Break Their Chains -- Destroy target artifact. || • Interrogate Them -- Exile the top three cards of target opponent’s library. Choose one of them. Until the end of your next turn, you may play that card, and you may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to cast it.

The second mode is pretty solid. With both modes, you occasionally get to blow up an artifact if your opponent has one. That’s a nice bonus to get.

You See a Pair of Goblins || 2R || Instant || Choose one -- || • Charge Them -- Creatures you control get +2/+0 until end of turn. || • Befriend Them -- Create two 1/1 red Goblin creature tokens.

Not bad. Pump your team so that you can swing out, and then make a couple of blockers to deal with the revenge crack-back at you.

Choose Your Weapon || 2G || Instant || Choose one -- || • Two-Weapon Fighting -- Double target creature’s power and toughness until end of turn. || • Archery -- This spell deals 5 damage to target creature with flying.

That’s nice. The first mode is absurdly powerful in certain circumstances, and the second is just straight-up a kill spell for flyers. All for the low price of three mana. I approve.

Inspiring Bard || 3G || Creature -- Elf Bard || 3/3 || When Inspiring Bard enters the battlefield, choose one -- || • Bardic Inspiration -- Target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn. || • Song of Rest -- You gain 3 life.

Paying four mana for a 3/3 is slightly below average for green. The abilities help bring it back up to be on curve. I like it.

Wild Shape || G || Instant || Choose one. Until end of turn, target creature you control has that base power and toughness, becomes that creature type, and gains that ability. || • 1/3 Turtle with hexproof. || • 1/5 Spider with reach. || • 3/3 Elephant with trample.

Combining these together gives you a 3/5 trample hexproof reach, which is pretty good. If you interpret Far Out to constantly override the power/toughness, then it’s just a 3/3 with those abilities, which is still pretty good. Even though it only lasts one turn.

You Find a Cursed Idol || 1G || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Smash It -- Destroy target artifact. || • Lift the Curse -- Destroy target enchantment. || • Steal Its Eyes -- Create a Treasure token and venture into the dungeon.

That’s nice. Two Naturalizes for the price of one, and then you get a Treasure out of it, and get to venture into the dungeon. Seems quite strong.

You Happen On a Glade || 2G || Instant || Choose one -- || • Journey On -- Search your library for up to two basic land cards, reveal them, put them into your hand, then shuffle. || • Make Camp -- Return target permanent card from your graveyard to your hand.

This is all right. Three mana to get two lands to your hand is good. It guarantees that you’ll hit your next two land drops, and it ensures that there’s less land in your deck, protecting you a bit against a mana flood. The second mode is also a nice thing, allowing you to reuse a card that you previously used up.

You Meet in a Tavern || 2GG || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Form a Party -- Look at the top five cards of your library. You may reveal any number of creature cards from among them and put them into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. || • Start a Brawl -- Creatures you control get +2/+2 until end of turn.

This seems like a good card.

Orcus, Prince of Undeath || X2BR || Legendary Creature -- Demon || 5/3 || Flying, trample || When Orcus, Prince of Undeath enters the battlefield, choose one -- || • Each other creature gets -X/-X until end of turn. You lose X life. || • Return up to X target creature cards with total mana value X or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. They gain haste until end of turn.

As with most X spells, this card’s quality vastly differs depending on how much mana you’re willing to pump into it. Being able to use both modes does not really change that fact at all.

Klauth’s Will || XRRG || Instant || Choose one. If you control a commander as you cast this spell, you may choose both. || • Breathe Flame -- Klauth’s Will deals X damage to each creature without flying. || • Smash Relics -- Destroy up to X target artifacts and/or enchantments.

I mean, this is just a boardwipe of either creatures or noncreatures. Choosing both just turns it into a full boardwipe. But at that point, you may as well just run a full boardwipe instead.

Storvald, Frost Giant Jarl || 4GWU || Legendary Creature -- Giant || 7/7 || Ward {3} || Other creatures you control have ward {3}. || Whenever Storvald enters the battlefield or attacks, choose one or both -- || • Target creature has base power and toughness 7/7 until end of turn. || • Target creature has base power and toughness 1/1 until end of turn.

This seems stupidly overpowered, but it says “or both”, so Far Out doesn’t actually make it any better.

All right, time for Innistrad: Midnight Hunt.

Bloodline Culling || 1BB || Instant || Choose one -- || • Target creature gets -5/-5 until end of turn. || • Creature tokens get -2/-2 until end of turn.

Brutal against token decks, and a decent removal spell against anything else. Pretty good.

Burn Down the House || 3RR || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Burn Down the House deals 5 damage to each creature and each planeswalker. || • Create three 1/1 red Devil creature tokens with “When this creature dies, it deals 1 damage to any target.” They gain haste until end of turn.

That’s a good spell. It’s a boardwipe, but then you get three tokens. Sure, they’re 1/1s, but that’s better than nothing. It’s a good way to help you start rebuilding.

Cathartic Pyre || 1R || Instant || Choose one -- || • Cathartic Pyre deals 3 damage to target creature or planeswalker. || • Discard up to two cards, then draw that many cards.

Honestly? This is middle-of-the-road. The two-mana Lightning Bolt that can’t hit players is okay. The rummage effect is okay. Two okay effects put together is... just okay.

Raze the Effigy || R || Instant || Choose one -- || • Destroy target artifact. || • Target attacking creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn.

I love it. One mana artifact kill, and tied to a pump spell as well.

Drown in Dreams || X2U || Instant || Choose one. If you control a commander as you cast this spell, you may choose both. || • Target player draws X cards. || • Target player mills twice X cards.

That’s very good in a mill deck and pretty mediocre everywhere else.

Shall we move on to Innistrad: Crimson Vow?

Dreamshackle Geist || 1UU || Creature -- Spirit || 3/1 || Flying || At the beginning of combat on your turn, choose up to one -- || • Tap target creature. || • Target creature doesn’t untap during its controller’s next untap step.

Nice synergy. But 3 mana for a one-toughness creature is a bit of a hard sell. This thing dies to literally everything...

Hullbreaker Horror || 5UU || Creature -- Kraken Horror || 7/8 || Flash || This spell can’t be countered. || Whenever you cast a spell, choose up to one -- || • Return target spell you don’t control to its owner’s hand. || • Return target nonland permanent to its owner’s hand.

Getting a free Unsummon attached to all of your spells is pretty neat. But that’s just the second mode. The first mode... meh. It needs you to cast a spell while your opponent already has a spell on the stack. Realistically, how often is that going to happen? I guess the option is nice though.

Aim for the Head || 2B || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Exile target Zombie. || • Target opponent exiles two cards from their hand.

Well, that’s a thing. Mind Rot, but it also potentially kills a thing if your opponent has a Zombie in play. That’s a solid improvement for Mind Rot.

Cemetery Desecrator || 4BB || Creature -- Zombie || 4/4 || Menace || When Cemetery Desecrator enters the battlefield or dies, exile another card from a graveyard. When you do, choose one -- || • Remove X counters from target permanent, where X is the mana value of the exiled card. || • Target creature an opponent controls gets -X/-X until end of turn, where X is the mana value of the exiled card.

That seems pretty good if you get both modes. Especially if the opponent has a hydra or something.

Henrika Domnathi || 2BB || Legendary Creature -- Vampire || 1/3 || Flying || At the beginning of combat on your turn, choose one that hasn’t been chosen -- || • Each player sacrifices a creature. || • You draw a card and you lose 1 life. || • Transform Henrika Domnathi.

Henrika, Infernal Seer || Legendary Creature -- Vampire || 3/4 || Flying, deathtouch, lifelink || {1}{B}{B}: Each creature you control with flying, deathtouch, and/or lifelink gets +1/+0 until end of turn. || [Black color indicator.]

Depending on your interpretation of Far Out, this could enable you to get all three modes at once, or it could enable you to stall out the transformation to get the first two modes multiple times. Either way, that’s pretty good.

Markov Retribution || 2R || Sorcery || Choose one or both -- || • Creatures you control get +1/+0 until end of turn. || • Target Vampire you control deals damage equal to its power to another target creature.

I mean, it says “choose one or both”, so...

Glorious Sunrise || 3GG || Enchantment || At the beginning of combat on your turn, choose one -- || • Creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain trample until end of turn. || • Target land gains “{T}: Add {G}{G}{G}” until end of turn. || • Draw a card if you control a creature with power 3 or greater. || • You gain 3 life.

Wow. Now that is brutal to go up against. Getting all the modes makes this a game-winning enchantment. Hope you have enchantment removal, cause otherwise... this is not gonna end well for you.

Sawblade Slinger || 3G || Creature -- Human Archer || 4/3 || When Sawblade Slinger enters the battlefield choose up to one -- || • Destroy target artifact an opponent controls. || • Sawblade Slinger fights target Zombie an opponent controls.

A 4/3 for 4 is okay. Artifact kill and Zombie kill is... interesting. I’m not sure it’s good if you get both modes, since you need your opponent to have an appropriate target... how often are they gonna have both?

All right, now let’s talk about stupidity. Wizards of the Coast is making cards appear in Secret Lair products before they’re in normal Magic sets. This should not be a thing. But... it is. And one such card is modal. I feel very bad for having to include this in my list of sets that have modal cards, but... (sigh) here’s Guile from Street Fighter.

Guile, Sonic Soldier || 1URW || Legendary Creature -- Human Soldier || 4/4 || Whenever Guile, Sonic Soldier enters the battlefield or attacks, put a charge counter on him or remove one from him. When you remove a counter this way, choose one -- || • Sonic Boom -- Guile, Sonic Soldier deals 4 damage to any target. || • Flash Kick -- Guile, Sonic Soldier gains lifelink and indestructible until end of turn.

To be clear, I don’t hate Universes Beyond. I dislike it, but I don’t hate it. What I hate is putting the cards in Secret Lairs rather than making them available to purchase in actual products that you can buy from your local game store. Things like the upcoming Warhammer 40000 Commander Decks and the The Lord of the Rings expansion are totally fine. Well, comparatively.

But here we are.

So Guile, Sonic Soldier. He’s... okay. The two modes do combine pretty well (lifelink applies to noncombat damage too). But the fact that he has to juggle counters and can’t just do this every time he attacks is definitely a mark against him. And yes, I am aware that this would be pretty powerful for four mana if you could do both every time that he attacks. However, I counter that argument by pointing out that it’s hard to cast a three-color card.

All right, next up... Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty.

Concord with the Kami || 3G || Enchantment || At the beginning of your end step, choose one or more -- || • Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature with a counter on it. || • Draw a card if you control an enchanted creature. || • Create a 1/1 colorless Spirit creature token if you control an equipped creature.

Well, it already says “choose one or more”, so Far Out does nothing here.

Ao, the Dawn Sky || 3WW || Legendary Creature -- Dragon Spirit || 5/4 || Flying, vigilance || When Ao, the Dawn Sky dies, choose one -- || • Look at the top seven cards of your library. Put any number of nonland permanent cards with mana value 4 or less from among them onto the battlefield. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. || • Put two +1/+1 counters on each permanent you control that’s a creature or Vehicle.

So, let’s start with the obvious. 5/4 flying vigilance for 5 mana. That’s a Serra Angel with 1 extra power. I’m in. And then when it dies, you get two stellar effects. Yes please. Even better, there’s synergy between them, since counters can go on things that you find with the first mode.

Farewell || 4WW || Sorcery || Choose one or more -- || • Exile all artifacts. || • Exile all creatures. || • Exile all enchantments. || • Exile all graveyards.

It already says “choose one or more”.

Kitsune Ace || 1W || Creature -- Fox Pilot || 2/2 || Whenever a Vehicle you control attacks, choose one -- || • That Vehicle gains first strike until end of turn. || • Untap Kitsune Ace.

Pretty good Vehicle lord. It can tap itself to crew, and then untap itself to block later.

Light the Way || W || Instant || Choose one -- || • Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature or Vehicle. Untap it. || • Return target permanent you control to its owner’s hand.

This one isn’t bad, but it isn’t good either. For just one mana, though, that’s acceptable.

Repel the Vile || 3W || Instant || Choose one -- || • Exile target creature with power 4 or greater. || • Exile target enchantment.

Not bad. A double-removal for four mana. I like it. This is very strong.

Kairi, the Swirling Sky || 4UU || Legendary Creature -- Dragon Spirit || 6/6 || Flying, ward {3} || When Kairi, the Swirling Sky dies, choose one -- || • Return any number of target nonland permanents with total mana value 6 or less to their owners’ hands. || • Mill six cards, then return up to two instant and/or sorcery cards from your graveyard to your hand.

6/6 flying ward 3 for 6 mana? Yes please. And then it has some okay abilities on top of that. Seems decent.

Debt to the Kami || 2B || Instant || Choose one -- || • Target opponent exiles a creature they control. || • Target opponent exiles an enchantment they control.

Three mana for a double-removal is good. The fact that the opponent chooses what they want to get rid of does hurt it a bit though. We already saw a near-identical card earlier (Pharika’s Libation), but this one exiles the cards in question, making it slightly better.

Junji, the Midnight Sky || 3BB || Legendary Creature -- Dragon Spirit || 5/5 || Flying, menace || When Junji, the Midnight Sky dies, choose one -- || • Each opponent discards two cards and loses 2 life. || • Put target non-Dragon creature card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control. You lose 2 life.

Five mana for a 5/5 flying menace is decent, and then it does stuff when it dies. Okay. Not really much to say here.

Kami of Restless Shadows || 4B || Creature -- Spirit || 3/3 || When Kami of Restless Shadows enters the battlefield, choose one -- || • Return up to one target Ninja or Rogue creature card from your graveyard to your hand. || • Put target creature card from your graveyard on top of your library.

Five mana to get two creatures back is pretty good. And you get a 3/3 out of it!? Yes please.

Life of Toshiro Umezawa || 1B || Enchantment -- Saga || I, II -- Choose one -- || • Target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn. || • Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn. || • You gain 2 life. || III -- Exile this Saga, then return it to the battlefield transformed under your control.

Memory of Toshiro || Enchantment Creature -- Human Samurai || 2/3 || {T}, Pay 1 life: Add {B}. Spend this mana only to cast an instant or sorcery spell. || [Black color indicator.]

That Saga’s first two chapters become quite powerful with all the modes. Shame that it only lasts two turns before the third chapter exiles itself.

Soul Transfer || 1BB || Sorcery || Choose one. If you control an artifact and an enchantment as you cast this spell, you may choose both. || • Exile target creature or planeswalker. || • Return target creature or planeswalker card from your graveyard to your hand.

Three mana for unconditional removal is great, especially if it also hits planeswalkers. The fact that you get a second mode as well is even sweeter.

Atsushi, the Blazing Sky || 2RR || Legendary Creature -- Dragon Spirit || 4/4 || Flying, trample || When Atsushi, the Blazing Sky dies, choose one -- || • Exile the top two cards of your library. Until the end of your next turn, you may play those cards. || • Create three Treasure tokens.

Four mana for a 4/4 flying trample!? Yes please. I don’t even need to read the rest of the card. The double-red cost is a bit unfortunate, but I’ll take it.

Kura, the Boundless Sky || 3GG || Legendary Creature -- Dragon Spirit || 4/4 || Flying, deathtouch || When Kura, the Boundless Sky dies, choose one -- || • Search your library for up to three land cards, reveal them, put them into your hand, then shuffle. || • Create an X/X green Spirit creature token, where X is the number of lands you control.

I like it.

Season of Renewal || 2G || Instant || Choose one or both -- || • Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand. || • Return target enchantment card from your graveyard to your hand.

It already says “or both” on it.

Storyweave || 2G || Instant || Choose one -- || • Put two +1/+1 counters on target creature you control. || • Put two lore counters on target Saga you control. The next time one or more enchantment creatures enter the battlefield under your control this turn, each enters with two additional +1/+1 counters on it.

Three mana for an extra four power and four toughness is great. And you get to set off your Sagas early too!

Teachings of the Kirin || 1G || Enchantment -- Saga || I -- Mill three cards. Create a 1/1 colorless Spirit creature token. || II -- Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control. || III -- Exile this Saga, then return it to the battlefield transformed under your control.

Kirin-Touched Orochi || Enchantment Creature -- Snake Monk || 1/1 || Whenever Kirin-Touched Orochi attacks, choose one -- || • Exile target creature card from a graveyard. When you do, create a 1/1 colorless Spirit creature token. || • Exile target noncreature card from a graveyard. When you do, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control. || [Green color indicator.]

Huh. So it’s a Saga that lets you reuse its abilities each time it attacks. Yep, that works. Given the order, there’s even synergy, since you can put the counter on the Spirit token. You effectively make a 2/2 for free with every attack, and that’s only if you don’t want to put the counter elsewhere instead. So you’ll often have an even better option available to you.

Satsuki, the Living Lore || GW || Legendary Creature -- Human Druid || 1/3 || {T}: Put a lore counter on each Saga you control. Activate only as a sorcery. || When Satsuki, the Living Lore dies, choose up to one -- || • Return target Saga or enchantment creature you control to its owner’s hand. || • Return target Saga card from your graveyard to your hand.

Not bad. You get to reset a Saga to use again, and also get one back from your graveyard. All for just two mana. And on top of that, you get a 1/3 to use for a bit, until it dies to trigger the aforementioned ability. Its tap ability is also quite handy. The multicolor cost is pretty okay too. Just one of each color. Nothing too color-intensive.

Now it’s time to hit the Streets of New Capenna. This gives us a new cycle of Confluences and a new cycle of Charms (as well as a few miscellaneous modal cards). Let’s take a look.

Brokers Confluence || 2GWU || Instant || Choose three. You may choose the same mode more than once. || • Proliferate. || • Target creature phases out. || • Counter target activated or triggered ability.

As a reminder, the Confluences actually become WORSE when Far Out is in play, since you can no longer choose the same mode more than once.

Cabaretti Confluence || 3RGW || Sorcery || Choose three. You may choose the same mode more than once. || • Create a token that’s a copy of target creature you control. It gains haste. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step. || • Exile target artifact or enchantment. || • Creatures target player controls get +1/+1 and gain first strike until end of turn.

I feel like I’m not gonna have a whole lot to say about this cycle, since all of them just are worse off due to Far Out.

Maestros Confluence || 3UBR || Sorcery || Choose three. You may choose the same mode more than once. || • Return target monocolored instant or sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand. || • Target creature gets -3/-3 until end of turn. || • Goad each creature target player controls.

Next!

Obscura Confluence || 1WUB || Instant || Choose three. You may choose the same mode more than once. || • Until end of turn, target creature loses all abilities and has base power and toughness 1/1. || • Target creature connives. || • Target player returns a creature card from their graveyard to their hand.

Let’s just move on to the next one...

Riveteers Confluence || 2BRG || Sorcery || Choose three. You may choose the same mode more than once. || • You draw a card and you lose 1 life. || • Riveteers Confluence deals 1 damage to each creature and planeswalker you don’t control. || • You may put a land card from your hand or graveyard onto the battlefield tapped.

All right, now for the actual modal cards of the set that get better with Far Out.

Extract the Truth || 1B || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Target opponent reveals their hand. You may choose a creature, enchantment, or planeswalker card from it. That player discards that card. || • Target opponent sacrifices an enchantment.

The first mode is generally more useful in the early-game, while the second mode is generally more useful in the late-game. But still, each could be useful in certain circumstances, so having both is nice regardless.

Exhibition Magician || 2R || Creature -- Human Wizard || 2/1 || When Exhibition Magician enters the battlefield, choose one -- || • Create a 1/1 green and white Citizen creature token. || • Create a Treasure token.


I like it. The Treasure gives you back one of the mana that you spent to cast this, effectively making this a 2/1 for 2, which is slightly below curve (though not much so, especially for red). Adding another 1/1 to it is just what this needs.

Ready to Rumble || 4R || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Ready to Rumble deals 5 damage to target creature or planeswalker. || • Destroy target artifact.

Five mana to remove two things seems strong.

Cleanup Crew || 4GG || Creature -- Human Citizen || 6/6 || When Cleanup Crew enters the battlefield, choose one -- || • Destroy target artifact. || • Destroy target enchantment. || • Exile target card from a graveyard. || • You gain 4 life.

I feel like you’d never need more than one of these effects. Each of the individual effects are sideboard-cards. Putting them together means you can mainboard it and then just use whichever one is relevant to your given matchup. The ability to choose multiple modes, therefore, in this context, is completely irrelevant.

Gala Greeters || 1G || Creature -- Elf Druid || 1/1 || Alliance -- Whenever another creature enters the battlefield under your control, choose one that hasn’t been chosen this turn -- || • Put a +1/+1 counter on Gala Greeters. || • Create a tapped Treasure token. || • You gain 2 life.

That seems superb, if you can override the “once per turn” clause. Even if you can’t, it’s still pretty good, cause you now only need one creature to trigger all three modes.

Titan of Industry || 4GGG || Creature -- Elemental || 7/7 || Reach, trample || When Titan of Industry enters the battlefield, choose two -- || • Destroy target artifact or enchantment. || • Target player gains 5 life. || • Create a 4/4 green Rhino creature token. || • Put a shield counter on a creature you control.

As powerful as this is, and it is game-breakingly good with all four modes, I honestly don’t like it very much. “Reach, trample” is an anti-synergy, since the former only works on blocks and the latter only works on attacks. I think it would be better if it had vigilance, either instead of one of these keywords or in addition to it. Even if the mana cost has to go up a bit to make that happen. As for the actual modal part of the card, yeah, it’s great. All of those are quite powerful effects and easily justify the seven mana mana-cost. The triple-green is a bit hard to swallow though.

Brokers Charm || GWU || Instant || Choose one -- || • Target creature you control gets +1/+0 until end of turn. It deals damage equal to its power to target creature or planeswalker an opponent controls. || • Destroy target enchantment. || • Draw two cards.

Even at worst, this is an instant-speed Divination, so that’s nice. You also get to do a one-sided fight, and blow up an enchantment, if able. The downside is the multicolor cost, but that’s fine.

Cabaretti Charm || RGW || Instant || Choose one -- || • Cabaretti Charm deals damage equal to the number of creatures you control to target creature or planeswalker. || • Creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain trample until end of turn. || • Create two 1/1 green and white Citizen creature tokens.

Man... why couldn’t the token-making come first? That synergizes so well with the other two modes! As-is, it’s good-but-not-great. Reversing the order of the modes would have helped push it over the edge.

Maestros Charm || UBR || Instant || Choose one -- || • Look at the top five cards of your library. Put one of those cards into your hand and the rest into your graveyard. || • Each opponent loses 3 life and you gain 3 life. || • Maestros Charm deals 5 damage to target creature or planeswalker.

Tutor for something, drain an opponent’s life, and kill a thing. Seems pretty good for three mana. I like it.

Obscura Charm || WUB || Instant || Choose one -- || • Return target multicolored permanent card with mana value 3 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped. || • Counter target instant or sorcery spell. || • Destroy target creature or planeswalker with mana value 3 or less.

This one seems a lot worse than the others in the cycle. The fact that the first and last modes are limited by mana value and the middle mode is limited to instants and sorceries is definitely a mark against it.

Riveteers Charm || BRG || Instant || Choose one -- || • Target opponent sacrifices a creature or planeswalker they control with the highest mana value among creatures and planeswalkers they control. || • Exile the top three cards of your library. Until your next end step, you may play those cards. || • Exile target player’s graveyard.

See, this is much better. It’s removal, and it also gives you additional cards to use this turn. No idea why the Obscura got the one charm with such severe limitations.

All right, now we can move on to Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate.

Your Temple Is Under Attack || 2W || Instant || Choose one -- || • Pray for Protection -- Creatures you control gain indestructible until end of turn. || • Strike a Deal -- You and target opponent each draw two cards.

Three mana to protect your board is great. Three mana to draw two cards is great. But you also have to let your opponent draw two cards, which is... unfortunate.

You’re Confronted by Robbers || 3W || Instant || Choose one -- || • Stall for Time -- Tap up to three target creatures. || • Call for Aid -- Create three 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens.

Well, that’ll really mess up your opponent’s combat math. I approve.

Ghastly Death Tyrant || 4BB || Creature -- Beholder Skeleton || 6/5 || When Ghastly Death Tyrant enters the battlefield, choose one -- || • Disintegration Ray -- Destroy target enchantment an opponent controls. You lose life equal to its mana value. || • Death Ray -- Creatures you control gain deathtouch until end of turn.

The modal effect is kinda meh (both halves of it), but getting a 6/5 for 6 mana is pretty good. So I accept this.

Balor || 3RR || Creature -- Demon || 5/5 || Flying || Whenever Balor attacks or dies, choose one or more. Each mode must target a different player. || • Target opponent draws three cards, then discards three cards at random. || • Target opponent sacrifices a nontoken artifact. || • Balor deals damage to target opponent equal to the number of cards in their hand.

I mean, it already says “Choose one or more”, so Far Out is useless here. Unless you want to argue that Far Out overrides the “each mode must target a different player” clause. In which case, it still isn’t that great. Even hitting a single player with all three modes isn’t that back-breaking, since none of the effects are obscenely powerful.

You’ve Been Caught Stealing || 1R || Sorcery || Choose one -- || • Threaten the Merchant -- Each creature blocks this turn if able. || • Bribe the Guards -- You create a Treasure token for each opponent who was dealt damage this turn.

Unless you’re playing a burn deck, the second mode is really only useful post-combat, and the first is really only useful pre-combat. This makes the card not that great in conjunction with Far Out.

You Look Upon the Tarrasque || 4G || Instant || Choose one -- || • Run and Hide -- Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt to you and creatures you control this turn. || • Gather Your Courage -- Target creature gets +5/+5 and gains indestructible until end of turn. All creatures your opponents control able to block that creature this turn do so.

This is a very good card, but it’s that way even without Far Out, since the second mode is just so awesomely powerful. The first mode isn’t necessary, since the second mode grants indestructible, shielding your creature from death via damage.

Astarion, the Decadent || 4WB || Legendary Creature -- Vampire Elf Rogue || 4/4 || Deathtouch, lifelink || At the beginning of your end step, choose one -- || • Feed -- Target opponent loses life equal to the amount of life they lost this turn. || • Friends -- You gain life equal to the amount of life you gained this turn.

Naturally, this is good in decks with a lot of drain effects. And it’s legendary, so it can be your commander. Given this, you can easily build such a deck around it.

Black Market Connections || 2B || Enchantment || At the beginning of your precombat main phase, choose one or more -- || • Sell Contraband -- Create a Treasure token. You lose 1 life. || • Buy Information -- Draw a card. You lose 2 life. || • Hire a Mercenary -- Create a 3/2 colorless Shapeshifter creature token with changeling. You lose 3 life.

It already says “choose one or more”, so Far Out doesn’t affect this one.

Next up is Double Masters 2022, which I’m technically counting as a product with new cards, since it does have one new card. Of course, that card isn’t modal, so we can just move on.

After that, we get Dominaria United, which... isn’t fully previewed yet. And then the Warhammer 40,000 Commander Decks, which is also not yet fully previewed. So I guess I can’t talk about them yet.

And then after that, we get Unfinity, where Far Out makes its debut. Presumably, there will be modal cards here too, so that Far Out can see a nonzero amount of use in Limited games. But, again, this is a set that isn’t fully previewed yet.