A black mana card releasing in the Modern Horizons 3 set may not be a Legendary Creature, but it’s been cemented as a legend among MTG fans by name alone.
As a 1B Skeleton Noble, Emperor of Bones can be cast in the early game and set up a reliable recursion engine as soon as cards begin to hit the grave.
At the start of combat on your turn, Emperor of Bones can exile a card from any graveyard. It’s best to start this exile stockpile as soon as possible, as it’ll provide you with greater choice later on.
The Adapt mechanic is a great way to trigger Emperor of Bones’ best effect, but you’ll usually get more use out of putting +1/+1 counters on via external sources.
Whenever a +1/+1 counter is put on the Emperor of Bones, you can return a Creature exiled with its effect to the field under your control.
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This effect also isn’t limited to triggering once per turn. So, if you’ve spent the first few turns of the game exiling with this card, you can put all those Creatures back onto the battlefield under your control for a hugely impactful turn.
Unfortunately, Emperor of Bones’ reanimated permanents don’t last for long, as they are sadly limited by the Finality Counter introduced in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan. However, that hasn’t stopped cunning MTG players from brainstorming a way around this drawback.
As explained by Reddit user Bad_M00n: “Power Conduit can remove the finality counter to give Emperor another counter and another buddy.”
Emperor of Bones will work incredibly well in Modern with graveyard-focused recursion and +1/+1 strategies, and of special note to Commander players is Universes Beyond: Fallout’s The Wise Mothman, as it perfectly combines the two themes. If you’re looking for a Commander deck to slot this spectacular Skeleton into, The Wise Mothman is an ideal pick.