Bag of Holding – Core Set 2020 MTG Review

David
Fanany
Player
since
1995

When I first looked at M20’s card image gallery, this card leaped out at me. It’s perhaps the most explicit Dungeons and Dragons reference they’ve ever used in Magic, and I was really thinking we were finally getting the ultimate crossover; we were going to sing campfire songs with Tanis and Tasslehoff, or go on a long walk with Drizzt and Minsc and Boo. Not that there’s anything wrong with Throne of Eldraine – quite the opposite, in fact – and I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if we get the crossover another time.

There are a number of ways that things can go wrong for a deck trying to use Bag of Holding, and fewer ways they can go completely right; but if you think about it as just a way to get a Merfolk Looter effect in a color that usually wouldn’t, and occasionally has an additional upside, it looks very good indeed. Often, you’ll be discarding things you didn’t need anyway, and so this effect would be very desirable for a lot of decks. A deck that does try to build around the extraplanar space effect can do some very interesting things, of course. Notice the interaction with Beacon Bolt and Crackling Drake, for example.

Constructed: 3/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer: 4/5
EDH/Commander: 4/5

We generally have not gotten Dungeons & Dragons references this explicit, but this is a charming one with a lot of flavor. It is a cheap way to loot through your deck, but also a good hedge against discard spells and a way to get back discard costs with time. It definitely feels bad if it gets popped, but such is the risk, and I like what this offers white and red decks in particular.

Constructed: 3.25
Casual: 4
Limited: 3.75
Multiplayer: 3
Commander: 3.5