This is my first post about Magic: The Gathering, which I’ve been playing for years. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, I highly recommend this New Yorker article about the history and culture of the game or if you prefer audio, this episode of Planet Money from NPR, about how the game has managed to stay popular for over 25 years.

Ever since Rivals of Ixalan came out about a year ago, Path of Mettle has been my favorite card to try to build around. It’s a finicky card that requires your deck to be stacked with the specific types of creatures it needs, but the payoff is that, once transformed into Metzali, Tower of Triumph, it’s “a one-card, synergistic game-ender,” as Craig Krempels put it. I can’t resist trying to make a card like that work. You see Field of Ruin rarely these days, Teferi, Hero of Dominaria can’t touch it, and it can take down a Carnage Tyrant (since its ability doesn’t target). The one damage spread across the board by Path of Mettle entering the battlefield is also highly relevant in the current metagame, with a lot of one toughness creatures running around in mono-blue, white aggro, and token decks (it also hits Llanowar Elves in Sultai and Pteramander in Drakes). Of course the trick is, any competitive deck can’t rely on one card – you still need to be able to win without it, and I’ve been getting good results with this build, which I’ve been iterating on for a while.

Path of Mettle

Metzali, Tower of Triumph