The Magus cycle takes some of Magic's most iconic enchantment and artifact effects and reprints them onto creatures, trading resilience for a cheaper cost and an attacking body. Magus of the Moon is the cycle's take on Blood Moon, and it has carved out its own real niche in Modern and Legacy despite the obvious downside of being far easier to remove.
Printed in 2008's Morningtide, Magus of the Moon reads simply: as long as it is untapped, nonbasic lands are Mountains. That single line turns an opponent's carefully constructed manabase into a pile of red-producing lands, often locking them out of casting anything requiring another color.
Despite dying to virtually any removal spell in the format, the card remains a Modern and Legacy staple precisely because of how disruptive its effect is when it lands and survives even a single turn.
This guide covers exactly how the ability works, what makes it different from Blood Moon, and where the card fits in the current metagame.
Magus of the Moon's ability is a type-changing effect: every nonbasic land, regardless of what it would otherwise produce, becomes a Mountain in addition to its other types for as long as the creature remains untapped. This means dual lands, shocklands, and utility lands all lose their normal abilities and simply tap for red mana instead.
Basic lands are entirely unaffected, since the ability specifically targets nonbasic lands only. A deck built on a heavy basic land count feels almost nothing from an opposing Magus of the Moon, while a deck relying on nonbasics for color fixing can be locked out of casting spells outside red entirely.
The effect only applies while Magus of the Moon remains untapped, meaning attacking with it, or having it tapped by any other effect, temporarily turns off the ability entirely. This is a meaningful difference from Blood Moon, which applies its effect continuously regardless of any tap state.
Players running the creature version need to weigh whether attacking with it, and briefly disabling the lock, is worth the additional damage output in a given game state.
Blood Moon is an enchantment that costs two mana and applies its Mountain-conversion effect continuously with no tap-state restriction. Magus of the Moon costs one less mana at just one colorless and one red, but comes with the significant downside of dying to any removal spell, unlike an enchantment that generally requires dedicated enchantment removal.
The trade-off is straightforward: a cheaper cost and a body that can attack, in exchange for a much larger removal pool that answers it. Many decks run both cards together rather than choosing one over the other.
Even a single turn of an active Magus of the Moon can lock an opponent out of casting their nonbasic-land-dependent spells, buying enough time for an aggressive deck to close out the game. In fast Modern and Legacy archetypes, a single disruptive turn is often all that is needed.
The card's low cost also means it can be replayed relatively cheaply if removed, and decks running it often have enough redundant threats that losing one copy to removal is not a crippling setback.
Decks built around a heavy basic land count themselves benefit the most from playing Magus of the Moon, since they suffer little to no self-damage from their own copy while still locking out an opponent's nonbasic-dependent manabase. Mono-red and red-based aggressive or prison strategies are the most natural home for the card.
Decks that themselves rely heavily on nonbasic lands or fetch lands generally avoid running Magus of the Moon, since its effect would hamper their own manabase just as much as an opponent's.
Magus of the Moon has been reprinted several times since its original Morningtide release, appearing in various Modern-legal supplemental products over the years. Each printing functions identically, so the choice between them typically comes down to collection preference or budget.
Given how often the card gets played and subsequently removed across a game, keeping a playset in good condition matters for players who run it as a maindeck staple rather than a sideboard tech card.
No, its ability only turns nonbasic lands into Mountains, leaving basics untouched.
No, the ability requires it to be untapped to function, unlike Blood Moon.
Yes, as a creature it dies to any removal spell, while Blood Moon needs dedicated enchantment removal.
It was first printed in Morningtide in 2008.
Magus of the Moon's fragility is a real cost, but its cheaper mana cost and attacking body make it a genuinely competitive alternative to Blood Moon in the right shell. Keeping a maindeck playset protected through repeated games matters, and something like the EVORETRO penny sleeves handles that kind of regular use well.
For organizing a full set of Modern staples between events, a binder with a secure elastic closure keeps everything in place during transport. The EVORETRO 9-pocket binder with elastic is a practical choice for exactly this kind of collection.
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