The Most Exciting Cards from Modern Horizons 3 (So Far)

Mason worked on Modern Horizons 3, so which cards is he most excited about leading up to the release?

Earlier last week, Wizards of the Coast officially kicked off the previews for Modern Horizons 3, and today, we’ll dive into some of the cards I love that have been officially revealed so far.

We’re in a really exciting spot because I worked on Modern Horizons 3 as part of the playtest team, so these cards are cards I have worked on, and some I even created from the get-go. So today, we will be exploring these cards and where you’ll want to play these upon Modern Horizons 3’s release.

With that disclaimer out of the way, let’s jump right into the cards!

Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury

Modern Horizons 3, Mythic

Let’s start with Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury, and if can be really indulgent for a moment, this is my favorite card from Modern Horizons 3. The reason? This card is my design and one that was unchanged from start to finish.

From the beginning, I pitched the lore, mana value, and the ability of Phlage. When it comes to designing Magic cards, it’s often a massive collaborative process, but in this case, it was all me! I can’t explain how happy that makes me feel as someone who was involved in Modern Horizons 3. It’s truly special to me in that way, and if you want the whole story about Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury, you can check out my video below breaking it all down!

Okay, back-patting aside, is Phlage any good in Modern?

This is a reasonable question to ask as Phlage has some pretty giant-sized shoes to fill as Uro and Kroxa are both excellent at attacking at life totals and resources in the opponent’s hand. While it’s clear Uro is the best of the “cycle”, Kroxa is no slouch as he often appears in a mixture of Rakdos archetypes in multiple as an approach to close games out quickly.

But with Phlage, the first thing to note is how the card doesn’t interact with the hand. You won’t be getting ahead on raw cards due to the enter-the-battlefield ability, however, you do have a decent chance to go up a card using Phlage’s ability as removal. If your opponent’s creature dies to this Lightning Helix-esque ability, you’ll get that one-for-one that these cards are traditionally good at doing but also going up on mana spent in a more meaningful way. This is one of the reasons Kroxa, Titan of Death’s Hunger is worse than Uro because spending two mana to perhaps deal some damage and force them to discard the card they are okay with discarding isn’t always ideal. At least Uro would help mitigate life totals and enact your plan by drawing cards, and Phlage does this similarly. The Boros Elder Giant comes down, removes a creature, and gives you a life buffer that you’re going to have much more time to bring her back with the Escape cost at a later point.

Market Price: $30.44

So, where will Phlage see play upon Modern Horizons 3’s release? Well, first and maybe most likely is in Four / Five-Color Control since having a removal spell that doubles up as a win condition is something Control archetypes are always interested in. Being able to use Phlage as a spot removal for an opposing Dragon’s Rage Channeler and create space for Omnath, Locus of Creation to come down and stabilize life totals is ideal. We’ve already discussed how Phlage is just so good at stabilizing life totals, but she’s also able to deal tons of damage in a short space of time. Being able to deal three damage upstairs is relevant, and if she’s attacking (and unblocked) that’s nine damage! This is nothing to sneeze at and it’s also worth noting that the life gain will mitigate the burden damage from The One Ring in these Control builds.

Another home for the Boros Giant is in Burn and is admittedly, an expensive way to deal three damage, but the damage is repeatable. So while I don’t expect Phlage to always make the cut, I can definitely see a few copies between the main and sideboards going forward. Maybe just as an answer versus archetypes where the games go long enough and having a way to overwhelm the opponent may be relevant. Phlage also may create new archetypes as Boros is a color pair that doesn’t see a massive amount of play outside of Burn, so hopefully, Phlage can ignite some brewing upon Modern Horizons 3’s release!

Shifting Woodland

Modern Horizons 3, Rare

Shifting Woodland is a really cool card. It demands a lot from you when deckbuilding, but not so much that it’s unfeasible where the payoff is very attractive. We’ve seen players go through hoops to make Unholy Heat work, and while I don’t think Shifting Woodland is that ubiquitous, it’s still a strong card. At base, the use of this card is that it becomes a copy of a good-rate creature, where Jund Sagavan could easily take advantage by perhaps copying their own Tarmogoyf, Nethergoyf, or even Kroxa, Titan of Death’s Hunger. These are all fair examples of using Shifting Woodland, but what if we wanted to dream bigger?

Primeval Titan archetypes (such as Amulet Titan) aren’t fantastic at turning on Delirium, but in the kind of games where you’ll want it, it’ll become relevant. Urza’s Saga and Dryad of the Ilysian Grove are already halfway to meeting Delirium, so there may need to be some minor deckbuilding changes to accommodate Shifting Woodland, but Amulet Titan is already an-incredibly versatile deck so this shouldn’t be a problem. Given the right conditions, Shifting Woodland could easily slot in there, and no doubt Amulet Titan players will be experimenting upon release.

As for me, I’m a bit of a dreamer, so what was I doing with Shifting Woodland in Modern Horizons 3 testing?

Market Price: $23.08

One thing you may miss upon reading Shifting Woodland at first blush is how the card can be activated at instant speed, meaning it can become a pseudo-copy of Goryo’s Vengeance of sorts. If you can discard Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, you can copy the Eldrazi Titan with the shuffle trigger on the stack, allowing you to attack for a whopping fifteen points of damage and annihilate their board. This gameplan is obviously soft to graveyard hate, but having redundancy in your mana base is huge for these styles of decks.

Another more ambitious idea is to copy Omniscience and this is a nice one for a few reasons. First, it’s an Enchantment, so it helps with Delirium and second, if you’re able to put Omniscience into play, you’re pretty likely to win the game. Sure, it’s a four-mana commitment, but a nice thing here is that it doesn’t need to tap itself for the ability to work so you can play and copy Omniscience on turn four without any issues. The real question is, how do we win? Well, we could combine our last idea and simply hard-cast our Emrakul, the Aeons Torn to get the extra-turn trigger and go off.

I’m really excited to see players try to break Shifting Woodland and survive the eventual wave of graveyard hate that will come with this card’s rise in the Modern format.

Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student

Modern Horizons 3, Mythic

Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student is an interesting card at first glance. How am I going to draw three cards to flip this into a Planeswalker? Drawing three cards seems quite a lot in Modern as it’s much easier in Legacy with cards such as Brainstorm. Brainsurge from Modern Horizons 3 does achieve the criteria on its own, but that’s a turn-three (or making this a turn-four) play. By doing this, you can cast Tamiyo and Brainsurge in the same turn, so is it worth the squeeze to get the Planeswalker half?

Sure, a one-mana Planeswalker isn’t something you should ignore. The trick is the more mana we invest into drawing cards essentially the more cards go up in cost. If you’re familiar with Modern you’d know of Mishra’s Bauble, this card is one of the easiest ways to flip Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student. On turn one, you cast Tamiyo and Mishra’s Bauble, end of the opponent’s first turn you crack the Bauble, draw from the Bauble trigger on your upkeep, and then on your draw step. In your second main phase, you crack the Clue token after attacking, and boom! You now have a Planeswalker!

This is pretty good, but before we get into thinking about how it all plays and what cards we should be adding to our deck, there’s a simple question that needs to be answered first. Is there a way I can do this more efficiently? Well, let’s ignore having multiple Mishra’s Baubles as that is the easiest way to meet Tamiyo’s criteria. So, what are the other ways to flip Tamiyo?

Well, this one is a little unconventional in the Modern format, but Chart a Course can definitely get you there. You attack and cast Chart a Course, draw two cards, and boom! Now you have a Planeswalker through the use of a single card and two mana. This isn’t a bad rate, but Chart a Course doesn’t see any Modern play but this could change if we end up playing some graveyard synergies, where Tainted Indulgence could slot in also.

However, there is one more card that is an easy fit and even works with Tamiyo, Seasoned Scholar – Manamorphose. This card does it all when it comes to Tamiyo as it draws a card while also giving you the mana back to crack the Clue token. When playing with Tamiyo’s Seasoned Scholar, her minus-three ability allows you to rebuy the Manamorphose and fire it off again, while netting you a single mana for your troubles. Something that players glossed over when discussing about Manamorphose is you do have to commit to using the mana, so by getting the one mana back you can fire off Manamorphose as a redraw right away. You may want to consider Abundant Harvest in this shell since you can essentially cast it for free with Tamiyo’s minus-three ability.

Tamiyo’s Clue token generation shouldn’t be ignored either, as it’s great with Urza, Lord High Artificer and Metallic Rebuke. Her 0/3 evasive body means she can also attack and block with impunity. The Planeswalker half having a Jace, Architect of Thought plus-like ability will give awful flashbacks for Standard players from that era. If you can ultimate Tamiyo, you will likely win the game, but your opponent isn’t completely out for good, so it creates some exciting stories of beating this card when playing. It’s also worth noting that you can play another Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student before you ultimate, and the new Tamiyo will flip so that you can plus her again to hold down the battlefield.

Modern Horizons 3 has tons of exciting cards to play and build with, I could write an article every day like this for a few months until we hit the dregs. So, keep an eye out for more Modern Horizons 3 content from someone who worked on the set over the coming weeks! The print-to-Modern set was made with a ton of love, and it’s truly a love letter to the game we all adore, and I really hope this shines through when playing with the cards. With so many exciting cards shown and with it only being one week into the previews, I know a lot of you will be anxiously waiting to see what’s next, and honestly, there are some real bangers coming soon!