---

---

Overview

A new standard set brings new possibilities to Modern Death and Taxes. Unlike the past set, M19, Guilds of Ravnica does not offer as many powerful cards for Death and Taxes. Since Death and Taxes is traditionally a one color deck, it makes sense that the set focused on multicolor cards does not cater well to Death and Taxes. Nonetheless, a couple "playable" cards for Death and Taxes did come from the newest Ravnica set, with some having significantly more potential than others.

---

Specific Cards:

Honorable Mentions:

The one card that deserves a brief shout-out from the new set is perhaps the most powerful card in the set: Assassin's Trophy. A two-mana instant that removes almost any card in Modern is immensely powerful, even if it grants the opponent a basic land. There are decks in Modern, mainly Jund and BG Midrange, that will become more viable utilizing Assassin's Trophy. However, this new removal spell does not easily slot into a Death and Taxes deck. Going three colors is not an issue for the majority of Modern decks, but Death and Taxes is an exception. Due to Leonin Arbiter, Death and Taxes cannot run a large number of fetch lands. Without a significant number of fetch lands, playing three colors in Modern is very inconsistent. One of the reasons I am not a fan of Black-White Eldrazi and Taxes is that the deck is essentially a three-color deck due to Eldrazi requiring colorless mana, resulting in games being lost to not finding all three colors. While Aether Vial does help with splashing, it would not be as useful in an Assassin's Trophy build. Assassin's Trophy lacks white in its mana cost and is not a creature spell, making it very difficult to cast in a white deck splashing green and black. While the Assassin's Trophy and Leonin Arbiter/Aven Mindcensor combo is cute, the mana constraints are too high of a cost to justify building an Abzan Death and Taxes deck. But that does not stop the brewing...

Abzan Taxes (list by CalebD)

---

Bounty Agent

Bounty Agent is an interesting candidate for Death and Taxes. A two-mana 2/2 with vigilance is nothing to laugh at. In addition to the decent stats, the creature can tap and sacrifice itself to destroy a legendary artifact, creature, or enchantment. I really wished it said legendary nonland permanent, but alas Teferi, Hero of Dominaria will continue to live. Still, the ability is very powerful. The question is, how good is Bounty Agent's ability in Modern?

Bounty Agent Hits

Overall, there are not many Bounty Agent targets in the current Modern format. Looking at the top decks in the metagame, only a few have valid targets for Bounty Agent. In Humans, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is the only hit, which is not an ideal target in the majority of games. In UWx Control, Search for Azcanta and a post-board Lyra Dawnbringer are decent targets for Bounty Agent. Affinity and KCI have Mox Opal as a target, while some BR Hollow One and Grixis Death's Shadow lists run a Tasigur, the Golden Fang or two. Gifts Storm runs Baral, Chief of Compliance as a solid target as well. Otherwise, there are not many other targets. Bounty Agent lacks game against Titan Shift, Boggles, Mardu Pyromancer, Burn, Jund, and even Mono-Green Tron. Looking at decks that are less popular, the main one that Bounty Agent is strong against is Elves. While Bounty Agent can hit an Emrakul, the Aeons Torn or Griselbrand, often the game is lost if either is on the battlefield.

The Card's Future

As discussed above, Bounty Agent does not have enough worthwhile targets to justify running it in Modern Death and Taxes. If the meta were to shift in a way to make Bounty Agent more relevant, however, then I can see the card seeing play. But as it stands, there are simply too little targets, and of those targets, only a fraction are cards that are worth removing. If you wanted to try Bounty Agent in Death and Taxes, I'd recommend a build that plays more one-ofs, such as Green-White Taxes with Collected Company and decks with Militia Bugler.

---

Conclave Tribunal

Overview

Conclave Tribunal is an interesting removal spell. Four mana for an Oblivion Ring is terrible in Modern, but the Convoke keyword on Conclave Tribunal can make it a free Oblivion Ring best-case scenario. Having a spell in the sideboard that can answer any nonland permanent is very good for Death and Taxes. In many Death and Taxes builds, removing an enchantment, planeswalker, or artifact is very difficult even post board. While Stony Silence and Phyrexian Revoker are sometimes answers to artifacts, they are not very effective at removing an Amulet of Vigor or Ghostly Prison. On the other hand, Oblivion Ring is not played in traditional Modern Death and Taxes sideboards, so why would Conclave Tribunal be any different?

Convoke

Convoke is a very powerful mechanic, especially in a creature-heavy deck like Death and Taxes. Often, the deck does not attack with all of its creatures, as Blade Splicers and Leonin Arbiters do not attack well into the vast majority of creatures in the format. Therefore, the cost of tapping creatures is not very high for most Death and Taxes lists. In token-heavy lists, like the majority of Mono-White Death and Taxes lists, it is quite easy to cast Conclave Tribunal for two or less mana. I would 100% play a two mana Oblivion Ring in a Death and Taxes sideboard. However, there are plenty of scenarios where Death and Taxes lacks a board. Between board wipes, trading/chumping in combat, and eating removal, Death and Taxes's creatures are very vulnerable to dying. Simply put, Conclave Tribunal sucks when behind (lacking creatures on the battlefield), which is the opposite of what you want from a removal spell. On the other hand, there are also times where Death and Taxes has several creatures out but is not necessarily ahead- this can happen against decks such as Elves, Humans, and prison strategies. Having a cheap removal spell can break board stalls or help us get through a lock piece like Ensnaring Bridge. Overall, while Convoke does not help when behind, the upside is definitely there.

The Card's Future

In conclusion, Conclave Tribunal has a lot of under-the-radar potential. An Oblivion Ring that can cost up to zero mana is very powerful in theory. Mono-White Death and Taxes is a deck that especially lacks ways of cleanly answering artifacts/enchantments. Leonin Relic-Warder is vulnerable to removal, while Disenchant is very narrow and is often overshadowed by Stony Silence. Conclave Tribunal, on the other hand, can be brought in against not only artifact strategies such as KCI and Affinity but also against creature decks like Humans, Elves, and even Jund. I am doubtful this card will become a staple for Modern Death and Taxes, but it will certainly be played.

---

Knight of Autumn

Overview

Goodbye Reclamation Sage! Knight of Autumn is a very versatile card, giving it more merit to be present in the main deck, unlike Reclamation Sage. To no surprise, the mana cost of the card compared to Reclamation Sage is of no hindrance to Green-White Death and Taxes, as the additional white is meaningless in a deck that's main color is white. Since Reclamation Sage is a viable sideboard card for Green-White Death and Taxes, Knight of Autumn will certainly find a home in some sideboards. The question is, is the card good enough for the main deck of Green-White Taxes?

Knight of Autumn's Three Abilities

In order to properly discern this card, all three abilities must be analyzed. The first choice, getting two +1/+1 counters, is the weakest of the three options. Simply put, a three-mana 4/3 is bad. You are not playing Knight of Autumn as a three-mana 4/3. In order for the knight to be playable, the other two choices must justify the drawback of using the first ability. On the other hand, the first ability is not too big of an issue if the other two abilities are powerful enough or are used enough. In this case, the two other choices are prevalent enough to mitigate the downside of putting a vanilla 4/3 in the deck. Many Modern decks run artifacts and enchantments other than the decks that are based around artifacts like Lantern, Affinity, and KCI. Decks such as Humans, Burn, BR Hollow One, and UWx Control all have relevant artifacts/enchantments in their pre-board deck for Knight of Autumn to destroy. The last ability of the card, gaining four life, is a lot better than it looks. In fact, with Knight of Autumn in the main deck, cards like Kitchen Fink and Burrenton Forge-Tender are not needed as badly, as your burn matchup is heavily improved with a blinkable life gain engine. The life can also be used to help stabilize against other aggressive decks, like Humans. All in all, the worst-case scenarios of Knight of Autumn are outweighed by its best-case scenarios, making the card an ideal addition to the main deck of Green-White Taxes.

The Card's Future

In conclusion, Knight of Autumn is an excellent card for Green-White Taxes. While the deck was not necessarily needing another option for artifact/enchantment hate due to Qasali Pridemage and Reclamation Sage, Knight of Autumn is often better than either of those cards. Its flexibility and viability without an artifact or enchantment to destroy make it better than Reclamation Sage and its synergies with Flickerwisp and Restoration Angel put it ahead of Qasali Pridemage. Of course, Knight of Autumn will be played in every Green-White Taxes build. More specifically, I'd hedge that the card will prosper best in a shell with Militia Bugler. Since the knight has two power, it can be found off of a Militia Bugler. Below is what a Green-White Taxes list with Knight of Autumn and Militia Bugler decklist could look like:

Green-White Bugler Taxes

---

Closing Thoughts:

All in all, Guilds of Ravnica's large pool of sweet cards do not include many that can port into Modern Death and Taxes builds. While there are gems, like Knight of Autumn, the majority of possibilities are not suitable for Death and Taxes presently. That being said, I am hopeful to see and maybe even cast some Bounty Agents!