Magic: The Gathering
MTG Case: Mythos of Nethroi
The Ikoria: Lair of Behemoth Set has been released four days ago. I’m very excited about Mythos of Nethroi and the potential for the rebirth of Abzan control. I will take a close look at potential valuable targets and usage with other cards.
Who is Mythos of Nethroi?
Spend Black, White and Green and destroy target nonland permanent, otherwise destroy target creature.
The art of the card is a masterpiece by Seb McKinnon and represents the power of Mythos of Nethroi in a unique way.
Find a home for Mythos of Nethroi
We want to play Mythos of Nethroi for its full potential. Therefore we want to play this card in Abzan-colored midrange and control decks. This card is one but not the only reason to play Abzan decks.
We have to consider trading rules and timing in the current meta for Mythos of Nethroi.
- We need to be able to play Mythos of Nethroi as early as possible to be able to trade for value.
- We need to make valuable 1-for-1 trades that push our advantage on the board.
Timing
We need to be able to play Mythos of Nethroi as early as possible to be able to trade for value.
This includes a good mana base and mana acceleration. Mythos of Nethroi gets better the longer the game goes. We want to use Mythos of Nethroi in mid and late game rather than trade for weak threads in early game. Therefore we need to pair this card with other outs for early game as well as powerful outs in the late game.
We also need to consider when to play Mythos of Nethroi. Sometimes we need to trade in response, in opponents’ upkeep or at the end of turn. Our timing needs to be impactful, beneficial and unpredictable.
Valuable trading
We need to make valuable 1-for-1 trades that push our advantage on the board.
Mythos of Nethroi can remove everything except nonland permanents or permanents with Indestructible.
Gather information
Trading for value means to trade this spell with the most powerful object on the board. We also need to be able to predict possible objects by our opponent. Mythos of Nethroi is easier to play the more information we get in previous turns or games. Therefore we should consider discard spells like Thouthseize, Thought Erasure, etc besides removals.
Pair with other cards
Mythos of Nethroi should be part of the removal package of our deck. Those could also include creatures that can remove anything.
We need to pair Mythos of Nethroi with answers to low-priority targets or early-game removals. We also need answers to trade 1-for-many rather than trade 1-for-1. Therefore inclusions of sweepers would be useful.
Pre- and Post-Board games
We always play a deck with 75 cards — 60 in Maindeck and 15 in the sideboard. Kind and amount of removals and trading spells depend heavenly on meta and match-up. Therefore we put less important spells into our sideboard, which may include Mythos of Nethroi as well.
Next Steps
I love the power and potential of Mythos of Nethroi. Due to the color restrictions I only expect to see play in Standard format and maybe in some Pioneer brews. In the meantime I’ll brew some control decks with Mythos of Nethroi and tune them for current meta. I got huge inspiration from Ari Lax’s Abzan Midrange who won the Pro Tour Khans of Tarkir in 2014.
