Summary
2024 saw the release of multiple well-receivedMagic: The Gatheringsets, with some of the most recent being Bloomburrow and Duskmourn. Very different in terms of themes and setting, Bloomburrow is a very successfulMagic: The Gatheringset that sold so much that its cards started losing value due to too much offer and too little demand, and it takes place on a plane where only animals live in Valley. At the other end of the spectrum is Duskmourn, a set that takes classic horror concepts and imagery, including multiple cards based on real-world fears. One of them saw a sudden increase in price due to its popularity in Modern, and it’s ironically true to its name now.
Magic: The Gathering’s December 2024 bans and unbanshit Modern most of all other formats, finally taking action against the all-powerful The One Ring that had been dominating the format for a long time. Thanks to the various banned and unbanned cards, Modern is rapidly shifting in terms of meta, and one of the biggest changes is coming thanks to an entirely new deck rising to prominence - Rakdos Delirium. As the name implies, this is a Black and Red deck revolving around the Delirium mechanic, and it’s the reason why Duskmourn’s Fear of Missing Out spiked from $3 to around $10.
Since Fear of Missing Out is named after the anxiety that one may not be able to experience something that is out of their reach for whatever reason, and it is now selling for three times its cost until recently, those who don’t have the card are aptly missing out on this deck archetype.
Why Fear of Missing Out is Shaking Up MTG’s Modern Meta
After Modern’s big bans and unbans, the so-called Rakdos Delirium deck immediately started showing up, often with the freshly unbanned Faithless Looting or even another Duskmourn card,MTG’s Overlord of the Balemurk. The purpose of the deck is to quickly add at least four card types to the player’s graveyard in order to have Delirium active on cards like Fear of Missing Out and Dragon’s Rage Channeler to go for big combat phases each turn and then repeat them for more damage.
Cards like the Nethergoyf also help with this strategy, as this Creature has power equal to the number of card types in the player’s graveyard and toughness equal to that number plus one. As such, playing four copies of Fear of Missing Out helps to have multiple combat phases and to untap big hitters in order for them to attack again.Rakdos decks inMagic: The Gatheringoften have combos like this, and there are even new “one-turn-kill” strategies in Standard. This particular deck doesn’t require a lot of setup, however, and it’s great into some of the biggest threats in Modern.
How MTG’s Rakdos Delirium Deck Works
Because Fear of Missing Out’s text reads “Whenever Fear of Missing Out attacks for the first time each turn, if there are four or more card types among cards in your graveyard, untap target creature. After this phase, there is an additional combat phase.”, players can use its ability multiple times in a turn, provided it’s tied to different copies of the Creature each time. Fear of Missing Out is also a great card to activate Delirium faster, as it counts as twoMagic: The Gatheringcard types- Echantment and Creature. Thus, milling it with Overlord of the Balemurk or discarding it via Faithless Looting already grants two card types in the graveyard.
Another big Rakdos staple that fits nicely into this deck is Kroxa, Titan of Death’s Hunger, which won’t stay on the battlefield unless it’s played for its Escape cost from the graveyard. Other powerfulMagic: The Gatheringcards likeLord of The Rings' Orcish Bowmasters or Modern Horizons 3’s Detective’s Phoenix are also often in the deck and pair nicely with Fear of Missing Out. Classics like Lightning Bolt and Thoughtseize help take the win with extra damage and small mana costs, making Rakdos Delirium a powerful deck that can win within just a few turns.
It’s unclear if Fear of Missing Out will spike again or if this is its final price for a while, so those interested in trying out Rakdos Delirium can avoid the actual fear of missing out by purchasing the card now or trading for it at their local game stores. For now, thisMagic: The GatheringDuskmournrare has quickly risen in popularity and will likely remain in the meta.
