The 10 Cards Everybody Wants from Modern Horizons 3

Modern Horizons 3 is almost here, and these are the most anticipated cards from the hottest set of the year!

Modern Horizons 3 officially releases this week, where the next entry in the Modern Horizons series looks to offer a fantastic breath of cards for Modern and Commander play. While Modern Horizons 3 doesn’t look quite as powerful as Modern Horizons 2 upon first blush, there are plenty of cards on the move leading up to the release, including Vexing Bauble and Amped Raptor that are looking to be some of the hottest Uncommons that’ll see play in Modern and beyond. While it’s easy to be caught up with competitive play by looking at the new cards, Modern Horizons 3 also sees a fantastic Commander release with four Commander Precons to collect. With Eldrazi, Energy, Counters, and “classic” Jund being the themes, there’s plenty on offer for Commander players of all backgrounds. 

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As Modern Horizons 3 is the biggest Magic release of the year, Wizards of the Coast are going all out with stunning Retro, Extended Art, Borderless, and even Serialized cards to collect upon release! As Modern Horizons 3 is primed to shake up Modern in a massive way, let’s jump into some of the cards you’ll be thrilled to open when cracking Modern Horizons 3 Play and Collector Boosters on release day and beyond.

#10 Necrodominance (Retro Frame)

Necrodominance

Modern Horizons 3, Mythic

A common trait you often see with Modern Horizons releases is how newer cards take influence from iconic, older ones. Necrodominance is one of these from Modern Horizons 3 as if references Necropotence, one of the more-busted Black cards to see print in Magic’s history. And while Necrodominance is a “fixed” version of or the Ice Age card, it’s looking to be an exciting addition to Modern upon Modern Horizons 3’s release.

Market Price: $44.82

Market Price: $69.12

Market Price: $10.74

What makes the card so good is that you can use your life as a resource to draw more cards at the cost of skipping your draw step. Despite your hand size being reduced to five cards, Necrodominance gives you ample ways to find what you need and then discard what you don’t need into exile. Modern already has access to a suite of strong Black cards such as Orcish Bowmasters, Grief, and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, and it won’t be much of a surprise to see a Black Midrange strategy thrive by adding Necrodominance to the mixture. Furthermore, casual and competitive Commander players will be interested in accommodating the Modern Horizons 3 card as it’s just a second copy of Necropotence, which already sees plenty of play in the singleton format. 

#9 Echoes of Eternity

Echoes of Eternity

Modern Horizons 3, Rare

If there’s one thing Commander players love, it’s cards that can double (or triple) the trigger effects of the cards they play. Well, good news! Modern Horizons 3 introduces another of this design. Echoes of Eternity is an exciting card that allows you to trigger a colorless spell or another colorless permanent you control an additional time, meaning those Eldrazi spells will have double the triggers! Cast a Solemn Simulacrum? Great! You now search for two Basic Lands instead of one. Is an opponent targeting your Roaming Throne? Even better! The Ward cost to target The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Rare costs double now! Echoes of Eternity does work with Lands you control as they are colorless permanents, so be careful when tapping City of Brass for mana with the Kindred Enchantment in play!

Market Price: $21.62

Market Price: $28.17

While doubling triggers of colorless spells and permanents you control is impressively strong, Echoes of Eternity also comes with another ability where whenever you cast a colorless spell, you copy the spell, and you may choose new targets for the copy. This is particularly exciting if you happen to cast Zhulodok, Void Gorger with Echoes of Eternity in play, where you will get four Cascade triggers instead of two! While the triple colorless mana is demanding, the Kindred Enchantment is ideal for any colorless Artifact or Eldrazi strategy since you’ll want to double up on these powerful effects as much as possible. With the release of Modern Horizons 3, Kindred is the errata update for Tribal as a card type, so keep this in mind when interacting with the set and beyond.

#8 Phyrexian Tower (Borderless)

Phyrexian Tower

Modern Horizons 3, Mythic

One attractive aspect of the Modern Horizons series is the reprint-to-Modern element that gives older cards a new lease of life in the Eternal format. In Modern Horizons 2, Shardless Agent and Counterspell were some of the break-out cards from the release that continue to see extensive Modern play even today. Phyrexian Tower will likely be one of these reprints that will see extensive play upon Modern Horizon 3’s release. While Phyrexian Tower does feature heavily in Commander, the card is primed to feature in Modern’s Golgari Yawgmoth due to the heavy sacrifice theme the archetype already incorporates. Also, Phyrexian Tower is pretty good with Grief since you can sacrifice the Elemental with the Evoke trigger on the stack to add two Black mana to your mana pool. Gross, right?

Market Price: $10.52

While there’s going to be plenty of Modern brewing with Phyrexian Tower, this does give Commander players another chance to snap up the card for their singleton builds at (hopefully) a more affordable rate. Despite the upshift to Mythic in Modern Horizons 3, there are a couple of different variants, including a gorgeous Borderless printing that should help keep prices honest for a while. Furthermore, Modern Horizons 3 does see Urza’s Incubator and the Medallion cycle reprinted in Modern, meaning these Commander staple cards will be more accessible for casual players upon Modern Horizons 3’s release.

#7 Grief (Special Guests- Textured Foil)

Grief

Special Guests, Mythic

Speaking of Grief, the polarizing Modern Horizons 2 card is part of the Special Guests in Modern Horizons 3. Special Guests is a Masters-style reprint subset that debuted in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan and can deliver some exciting value! What makes these Special Guests cards so interesting is that you can open them in Play Boosters, meaning you can play these in Sealed or Draft. But to make Modern Horizons 3’s release a memorable one, you can open stunning Textured Foil variants in Collector Boosters, including Grief! This is true for the other Elemental Incarnations that are part of the Special Guests, such as Endurance, Subtlety, Solitude, and Fury, and look to command reasonable value upon Modern Horizons 3’s release. Most of these see extensive Modern, Commander, and Legacy play outside of Fury, which is (rightly) banned in Modern.

Market Price: $15.52

Market Price: $10.21

What makes Grief such a popular card in competitive Modern play is its ability to enter play on turn one (through exiling a Black card from your hand) and taking the best card from the opponent’s hand. If that isn’t enough, you can cast Not Dead After All or Malakir Rebirth with the Evoke trigger on the stack to do it all again! But the best part of doing all of this is Grief gets to stick around as a creature, which is just disgusting. And while opening any of the Special Guests cards is an exciting booster-opening experience, hitting any of the Elemental Incarnations will definitely be a wish for competitive Magic players due to their extensive play in Eternal formats. At worst? You’ve opened some solid value that can go towards other Modern Horizons 3 cards. It’s a win-win!

#6 Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student (Borderless)

Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student 

Modern Horizons 3, Mythic

Flip-Planeswalkers return in Modern Horizons 3, where we see the Tamiyo, Sorin, Ral, Grist, Sorin, and Ajani in their pre-spark iterations in the upcoming set. However, if you can meet a particular criteria on any of these cards, they flip into Planeswalkers with powerful effects! In particular, Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student is one of the more-hyped cards from this cycle due to competitive play. A one-mana Blue creature that can flip into a Planeswalker in the early turns is ideal, especially if you have access to Mishra’s Bauble or two. What makes Tamiyo such an exciting option because of her Planeswalker abilities. Flipping Tamiyo comes with a mixture of options, such as reducing the damage from opposing creatures, returning instant or sorcery cards from your graveyard to hand, or drawing an incredible amount of cards as the ultimate! Magic Origins first debuted flip-planeswalkers and became massively popular amongst players, so it will be interesting to see if we have another Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy on our hands upon Modern Horizons 3’s release.

Market Price: $25.16

And while there’s plenty of competitive buzz around Tamiyo due to her potential as a turn-one play, Ral, Monsoon Mage is blowing up Modern due to the initial success of Ruby Storm, a Legacy-esque strategy that uses the recently printed-into-Modern Ruby Medallion to discount spells such as Grapeshot and other effects. It’s worth noting that Ral is also a variant of Goblin Electromancer, discounting those instants and sorcery spells you control by one generic mana. But wait, there’s more! Sorin of House Markov looks to be the best Orzhov Extort Commander printed in quite some time, and Ajani, Nacatl Pariah is an exciting option for any Cat or Lifegain strategy in Commander! Oh, and there’s Grist, Voracious Larva, which also pairs with her Modern Horizons 2 printing in Grist, the Hunger Tide. If there’s one thing Magic players love opening, it’s Planeswalkers. They’re cool, exciting, and you run the chance of playing some of your favorite characters in Magic! What’s not to love?

#5 Emrakul, the World Anew (Borderless Concept)

Emrakul, the World Anew

Modern Horizons 3, Mythic

The Eldrazi Titans return in Modern Horizons 3, where Emrakul, the World Anew looks the most promising and powerful out of the three. What makes the latest iteration of Emrakul so good is the ability to cast the card for six colorless mana by discarding it for its Madness cost and still receiving a suite of game-ending effects. From taking control of all creatures a player controls to being a 12/12 flying threat, there’s a lot to like about the new Emrakul, where it will likely see Modern and Commander play upon release.

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In particular, the Borderless Concept treatments of the Eldrazi Titans from Modern Horizons 3 will be popular amongst collectors and Eldrazi enthusiasts. The Eldrazi have seen a ton of Commander love over the last year with the Eldrazi Unbound Precon from Commander Masters and the more recent Eldrazi Incursion Precon from Modern Horizons 3, meaning there’s going to be plenty of demand for these Eldrazi Titans as players look to flesh out their spaghetti-themed builds. One aspect about these Borderless Concept cards (that first debuted in Phyrexia: All Will Be One) is that they tend to keep their value as they’re unique and classically-Magic-themed, and having the complete set with Kozilek, Emrakul, and Ulamog would look fantastic on the battlefield. 

#4 Ugin’s Labyrinth (Borderless)

Ugin’s Labyrinth

Modern Horizons 3, Mythic

One of the first previews from Modern Horizons 3 and one with the highest ceiling is Ugin’s Labyrinth, a card that does its best Ancient Tomb impression if you can successfully exile a seven mana (or greater) colorless spell as the Mythic Rare enters play. If you successfully do this, you have access to two colorless mana as early as your first turn! This is particularly strong if it’s something like a Karn Liberated, Devourer of Destiny, or even a Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger is tucked underneath Ugin’s Labyrinth, allowing you to cast these haymaker threats at a later stage when you don’t need the two colorless mana anymore.

Given the association with Ancient Tomb, there’s a lot of hype around Ugin’s Labyrinth in Modern, especially in Eldrazi and Affinity-style builds. And while Ugin’s Labyrinth isn’t an artifact, it does a good impression of ramping on mana in Affinity since cards such as Frogmyr Enforcer and Sojourner’s Companion are seven mana colorless spells that can easily meet the Ugin’s Labyrinth’s Imprint ability. Furthermore, there could be a Modern Tron strategy with Ugin’s Labyrinth if there are enough seven-mana value colorless cards to make it work. Cards such as The One Ring and Karn, the Great Creator are some of the best enablers for Tron, and being able to cast these on turn three would be rather strong. 

While it’s unclear if Ugin’s Labyrinth will become the next broken thing in Modern, it’s one of the most valuable cards you can open in Modern Horizons 3 at the time of publication with a multiplier on Borderless copies!

#3 Nadu, Winged Wisdom (Profile Borderless)

Nadu, Winged Wisdom

One of the hottest and most-hyped cards from Modern Horizons 3 is Nadu, Winged Wisdom, which is primed to see extensive Commander, Modern, and Legacy play upon release. While it’s currently the second-most registered Commander after The Necrobloom on EDHREC, Nadu looks remarkably strong as it offers pseudo-card advantage through you (or the opponent) targeting spells and abilities on creatures you control. One thing to note about Nadu, Winged Wisdom is that the effect states twice per turn, but it’s per creature you target, meaning you can sift through so many cards if you have a bunch of creatures in play!

Market Price: $11.30

Market Price: $18.63

What makes it such a strong contender for competitive Modern and Legacy play is how Nadu evades Orcish Bowmasters as you aren’t actually drawing the card from Nadu’s passive trigger; you are simply revealing it and then putting the card into your hand if it isn’t a land. If that wasn’t enough, older cards such as Shuko from Betrayers of Kamigawa and even the Commander staple Lightning Greaves are experiencing heavy sales growth as it a very mana-efficient way to trigger Nadu’s effect across multiple creatures in a given turn. As a result of the competitive and Commander hype for the Bird Wizard, opening any printing of the card will surely command some value upon Modern Horizons 3’s release. However, the Profile Borderless copy will be one of the more desirable printings as the Commander Masters treatment is very popular amongst players. 

#2 The Allied Fetch Lands (Normal, Retro, Extended Art, and Borderless)

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It was a massive hit in Modern Horizons 2, so it’s no surprise to see the Allied Fetch Lands as the other cycle of reprints in Modern Horizons 3, which gives players a fantastic opportunity to snap up these staples for Commander and competitive play. With Modern Horizons 3’s release, Windswept Heath, Wooded Foothills, Polluted Delta, Flooded Strand, and Bloodstained Mire will be available in Play and Collector with a mixture of different treatments available. The fact there are Traditional, Retro, Extended Art, and Borderless printings of these Fetches available in the set should help keep prices somewhat honest despite demand.

Market Price: $13.29

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While many players will be thrilled to open any Allied Fetch Land in Modern Horizons 3, there will be a premium on Retro Foil printings as these tend to be more desirable amongst competitive players and high-end Commander collectors. Stunning Retro Foils aside, these Allied Fetch Lands should begin to trend downwards in price as circulation starts to grow, meaning these should be reasonably affordable upon release and beyond. The reason these Fetch Lands are always in evergreen demand in Magic is due to their effectiveness in multiple formats, where at the cost of one life, you can find a Basic Land or a land card with the correct subtyping and put that card into play. What this means is that you’re slowly filtering out your deck while getting the lands you need to progress your board state. And even though these may not be the highest-value cards to open from Modern Horizons 3, they’re certainly the most in-demand as they see evergreen play in Modern, Legacy, Commander, and more! 

#1 The Serialized Eldrazi Cards

Something that’s common in previous Magic releases but brand new to the Modern Horizons series is the serialized cards, where you run a chance of opening a serialized Eldrazi Titans in the Borderless Concept treatment! Only appearing in Collector Boosters, these stunning Double-Rainbow Foil Eldrazi cards are numbered out of 250 where these are some of the most expensive, sought-after, and rarest cards you can open from Modern Horizons 3. While opening any serialized Eldrazi Titan cards will likely command a modest amount of value, opening a card with the serialization of #001, #002, #003, #069 (nice), or #250 will likely accrue the most value given social media trends.

Regardless of whether you decide to play these gorgeous serialized Eldrazi cards if you open any upon Modern Horizons 3’s release, there is definitely a market for collectors with the original Eldrazi three! As mentioned before, the Eldrazi have seen a lot of attention over the last year to the point there are active Eldrazi collectors in the space who will want a set of these unique cards. As such, these cards are the ones that players and collectors will be ecstatic to open on Modern Horizons 3 release day and beyond.