Modryn Oreyn – Uses and Synergies

Modryn Oreyn is here: get your Rage Control decks ready to rumble!

Modryn Oreyn and the Blackwood Company in The Elder Scrolls Lore

The Blackwood Company in TES IV: Oblivion

The Blackwood Company is a minor faction based in Leyawiin. It mostly consists of Khajiit and Argonians and is the main rival of the Fighters Guild. The company takes jobs the Fighters Guild cannot or will not handle. It is reputed to accept any contract offered, to act recklessly and indiscriminately in their tactics, and to lack any screening process for new members. They are much more than just a nuisance to the champion of the Fighters Guild, Modryn Oreyn, however.

Modryn Oreyn

Modryn Oreyn is a dunmer knight located in the city of Chorrol. He serves second in command to Vilena Donton. In TES: IV Oblivion, Modryn is a central character, as he hands out the quests for the Fighters Guild. He is hostile and harsh to new members of the Fighters Guild, but also extremely loyal and dedicated to the guild. He is no different when the Hero of Kvatch comes to work for the guild.

Modryn’s hatred for the Blackwood Company began when Vilena Donton’s son, Vitellus Donton, was killed along with twenty men who tried to retrieve the sword Sinweaver from Azani Blackheart to complete a contract. After the fighters guild party was slaughtered, the Blackwood Company appeared and finished off Azani, establishing themselves as an alternative to the guild, shaming the Guild in the process. However, Sinweaver went missing, leading Modryn to suspect that had they never killed Azani, and instead made a deal with him. If you want to get nostalgic, you can find more information about Modryn and the Fighters Guild Quests and the Blackwood Company on UESP.net.

Modryn Oreyn in The Elder Scrolls Legends

In Legends, Modryn Oreyn is a unique legendary in the red Strength attribute from the Jaws of Oblivion set. When you spend four magicka to summon the 4/4 Dark Elf with breakthrough, your opponent summons a Blackwood Hoodlum in each lane. Each Blackwood Hoodlum is a neutral 1/1 Khajiit that gives Modryn Oreyn +2/ +2 when it dies. Note: the Blackwood Hoodlum cannot be collected, but is only spawned as a token when Modryn is summoned.

Card Evaluation using Quadrant Theory

Modryn Oreyn during Opening

During the opening phase, you are getting a red 4/4 body, while your opponent gets two neutral 1/1’s. As a consequence, you will take more face damage your opponent’s following turn unless you have guards in both lanes.

Your opponent can easily use items to increase their damage output. Let’s assume they play a Sentinel Reclaimer the turn before and have a Steel Dagger and Steel Sword in hand. That’s six points of damage from the Blackwood Hoodlums alone. Also, what if they removed Modryn with hard removal? Hmmm. Hearing this, you might say, well, why play Mordryn at all in this phase? Aren’t I making things easier for my opponent?

Let’s assume you are playing a deck that has significant healing power during turns 5-8. In this case, the rune breaks give you card advantage. Similarly, if you are playing a prophecy deck, you might appreciate that your opponent is breaking more runes. Yet still, those additional points of damage could push you over the edge. Modryn Oreyn is a risky play during opening. It’s a double-edged sword that can even lose you games.

When things go well, however, and the hoodlums trade into your guards, you are left with an 8/8 body for four magicka, something which can effectively deal with your opponent’s Bleakcoast Troll or Belligerent Giant. This is something you’ll only accomplish easily when your deck runs a lot of low-cost guards, however.

Modryn Oreyn at Parity

At parity, when both players are relying on their top deck, you can play Mordryn to the shadow lane to trade into one of the hoodlums. With no further buffs, you’ll deal 3 points of breakthrough damage on your following turn and keep a 6/5 body on board to trade with your opponent’s Hive Defender, Phalanx Exemplar, or other medium-sized threat.

Modryn Oreyn when Winning

When you are winning, the hoodlum summoned to field lane can be killed immediately by one of your other creatures. Ideally, you should use one with breakthrough or one with low attack to turn Modryn turns into a 6/6 for a big swing your following turn.

The hoodlum in shadow lane won’t be a considerable threat unless your opponent equips an item or a keyword like lethal to it. With creatures in both lanes, you should be able to kill it the following turn to buff Modryn to his maximum size.

Modryn Oreyn as a Turnaround

When you need a turnaround, Modryn Oreyn is somewhat problematic. The two tokens he gives your opponent adds damage to their assault. Therefore, Modryn Oreyn is a dead card when you are losing the game unless you can play an Unstoppable Rage from hand that can help Modryn to clear a lane.

Card Evaluation Summary

In summary, this leaves us with a unique legendary that will need a good number of synergies to take it from okay to strong during opening, parity, and when you are winning.

Rating Scale: 1 – Very Weak. 2- Weak. 3- OK. 4- Strong. 5- Very Strong.

Synergies

Fighters Guild Theme Deck

Since Modryn was a champion in the Fighters Guild, it makes a lot of sense to search the card base for this term. Voila: Fighters Guild Steward and Fighters Guild Hall have good synergy. If you summon Modryn and kill one hoodlum on your following turn, you can use Fighters Guild Steward to battle the second hoodlum for a total of 8 points of breakthrough damage (or less if your opponent buffed the hoodlums).

If you’ve played TES: IV Oblivion, you might remember that one of the quests that Modryn gives out to the Hero of Kvatch is called Unfinished Business. And, indeed, we can see Modryn in that brawl. When Modryn kills a Hoodlum, and you have another friendly wounded creature in play, you can play Unfinished Business to unsummon one of your opponent’s creatures and even unsummon another friendly creature (perhaps Fighters Guild Steward or a card that buffs your creatures on board?).

Self-Ping Decks

Self-Ping decks also enjoy fighting the Blackwood Hoodlums. With Fetcherfly Golem, you get 2/2 Fetcherfly Swarms when he takes damage. Gristlehide Dreugh draws you cards, and the Fearless Northlander gets stronger fast when he takes damage. Fighters Guild Hall will also find its way into your deck.

Rage Decks

Modryn Oreyn might find a place in control decks with Unstoppable Rage as their win condition. With Unstoppable Rage in hand, Modryn on turn seven summons at least one additional token for your opponent as a target. If Modryn sticks, you can use Night Mother, Strategist’s Map (both of which can be tutored with Worldly Wanderer) or Morag Tong Assassin/Nightblade to summon additional targets to the shadow lane. Swing with Modryn to kill the hoodlum and play Unstoppable Rage on a 6/5 with breakthrough. With a Nord Firebrand in hand to kill the other hoodlum in field lane, you might even rage with an 8/7 Modryn.

Modryn Oreyn played on turn 11 can reduce the number of creatures your opponent pulls from their Conscription. On your next turn, kill the hoodlums with Forked Bolts or Firebolts and rage for victory.

Dragon decks

Having 1/1 hoodlums in play can also be fun if you combine Modryn with Flamespear Dragon, Wildfire Dragon, Frostscale Dragon or Mulaamnir. Flamespear Dragon will only kill a hoodlum if your opponent does not summon any other creatures during their following turn. But Wildfire Dragon, Frostscale Dragon, and Mulamnir will get the job done with pleasure, allowing Modryn to swing for eight points of damage.

Slay and Pilfer Synergy

The hoodlums also present as slay targets. When you play Modryn, any slay creature in field lane will enjoy the payoff. Even the Fork of Horripilation and Dawnfang come in handy.

Thieves’ Den

Modryn also enjoys the presence of Thieves’ Den in your pilfer deck. Ashlander Punisher deals nicely with the hoodlums and Crusader’s Assault is always a great card to show the Blackwood Company some manners.

Modryn, the Ice Storm-Protector?!

This last idea is a bit wild. If you are running a yellow token crusader deck, and the meta is full of blue decks that run Ice Storm, you typically give your opponent a good fight for the first few turns and get their health low. But then comes turn six: you have several tokens and a Pit Lion on board. Now, if you play Modryn right before your opponent’s Ice Storm turn, they can clear the tokens, but not Modryn, nor the Pit Lion. But, by playing the board sweep, they will also kill the hoodlums, and you’ll retain 13 points of damage on board. Situational? Yes. A wow-moment? Absolutely!

Summary

Modryn Oreyn is a card with upsides and downsides. In a synergistic control deck that can trigger the upsides more consistently, you might find a few uses for him, particularly in self-ping decks, red dragon decks, slay or rage decks. As much as the card has upside potential, it also comes with downsides that cannot be neglected. It’s certainly a card that requires a lot of knowledge about your matchups, and skilled players will be able to use it much more effectively than less experienced players.

There are lots of scenarios where you don’t want to summon additional tokens for your opponent. For example, when they

• are running a lot of items in their deck,
• are playing a token deck and can easily buff the creatures,
• run Necromancer’s Amulet to gain health as their creatures die,
• have Flesh Atronach or Journey to Sovngarde as their win condition,
• and there are a lot more.

The Fighters Guild theme synergy is exciting to explore, and who knows; maybe we will be getting some additional cards in Jaws of Oblivion to support the Fighters Guild against the Daedra.