Modern Horizons 3’s release is coming up on us awfully fast. Over the course of the last week, a ton of intriguing and powerful spoilers were officially revealed. From strong reprints set to make their Modern debuts to elite utility Lands that can take over games, this set is chock full of awesome cards.
Today, we have even more neat MH3 cards to discuss, including a wild
Counterspell
Counterspell
Counter target spell.
variant that utilizes the coin-flipping mechanic. Of note, while some of these cards were officially previewed, others were simply leaked. As such, those cards could turn out to be fake.
We will make sure to highlight which cards are official, but for the sake of this article, we will be assessing all cards under the assumption that they are indeed real. If you’d like to wait for official reveals, consider this your spoiler warning. With that out of the way, let’s take a closer look at what our next round of MH3 cards has to offer.
Invert Polarity
First, we have an exciting card previewed by Skulk, the Skulking. As you might expect from a card that involves flipping coins, Invert Polarity can range from mediocre to game-breaking depending on the situation. At minimum, Invert Polarity will function like a
Cancel
Cancel
Counter target spell.
for Izzet decks. Cancel isn’t awful, but it’s certainly too inefficient for a format like Modern.
However, Invert Polarity has massive upside if you’re able to win the coin flip. Countering a bomb like
The One Ring
The One Ring
Indestructible
When The One Ring enters, if you cast it, you gain protection from everything until your next turn.
At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life for each burden counter on The One Ring.
{T}: Put a burden counter on The One Ring, then draw a card for each burden counter on The One Ring.
or
Primeval Titan
Primeval Titan
Trample
Whenever this creature enters or attacks, you may search your library for up to two land cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.
is nice, but gaining control of it may spell doom for the opponent. Not only did your opponent waste their mana in these scenarios, but you now get to untap with their top-end permanent under your control.
Invert Polarity will almost certainly be a staple for Izzet Commander decks across the board. Whether it will actually meet the bar for Constructed play awaits to be seen. Some players are confident the card isn’t good enough for Modern, while others believe it will be a powerful addition to the format. We’ve seen high variance cards see play in Modern before (take
Burning Inquiry
Burning Inquiry
Each player draws three cards, then discards three cards at random.
in
Hollow One
Hollow One
This spell costs {2} less to cast for each card you've cycled or discarded this turn.
Cycling {2} ({2}, Discard this card: Draw a card.)
shells, for example), but many of them fall short. We will just have to wait and see how it performs.
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Monumental Henge
Next, we have a Land previewed by Magic: The Gathering JP in the form of Monumental Henge. Monumental Henge was not originally revealed in English, but through translation, we have a good sense of what the card does:
Monumental Henge enters the battlefield tapped unless you control a Plains.
{T}: Add {W}
{2}{W}{W}, {T} : Look at the top five cards of your library. You may reveal a historic card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
Monumental Henge appears to be the white variant from the cycle of MH3 “Checklands” with unique activated abilities. Recently we talked about how immensely powerful
Shifting Woodland
Shifting Woodland
This land enters tapped unless you control a Forest.
{T}: Add {G}.
Delirium — {2}{G}{G}: This land becomes a copy of target permanent card in your graveyard until end of turn. Activate only if there are four or more card types among cards in your graveyard.
is, and while Monumental Henge isn’t quite as exciting, it does have some potential.
In control decks with enough Historic cards present, Monumental Henge provides great flood protection.
Castle Vantress
Castle Vantress
This land enters tapped unless you control an Island.
{T}: Add {U}.
{2}{U}{U}, {T}: Scry 2.
fills a similar role in Pioneer, but Monumental Henge has the ability to actually generate card advantage.
Currently, Azorius control decks in Modern utilize
The One Ring
The One Ring
Indestructible
When The One Ring enters, if you cast it, you gain protection from everything until your next turn.
At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life for each burden counter on The One Ring.
{T}: Put a burden counter on The One Ring, then draw a card for each burden counter on The One Ring.
,
Narset, Parter of Veils
Narset, Parter of Veils
Each opponent can't draw more than one card each turn.
−2: Look at the top four cards of your library. You may reveal a noncreature, nonland card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
,
Teferi, Time Raveler
Teferi, Time Raveler
Each opponent can cast spells only any time they could cast a sorcery.
+1: Until your next turn, you may cast sorcery spells as though they had flash.
−3: Return up to one target artifact, creature, or enchantment to its owner's hand. Draw a card.
, and a few one-of Lands like
Minamo, School at Water’s Edge
Minamo, School at Water’s Edge
{T}: Add {U}.
{U}, {T}: Untap target legendary permanent.
as Historic cards. As such, there aren’t a ton of hits, but Henge digs pretty deep with each activation. Of course, in more dedicated Historic-themed Commander decks, Monumental Henge is a slam dunk. Getting to use your Land drop to dig for your strongest cards is a great option to have, and Henge delivers.
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Party Thrasher
Party Thrasher is our first leak that was found via Whatnot. It’s a bit of a narrow card, but it has some notable synergies with some neat red legends. There are multiple Commanders that benefit whenever you discard cards or play cards from exile, and Party Thrasher works well alongside all of them.
Likely the best Commanders to pair with Party Thrasher are
Prosper, Tome Bound
Prosper, Tome Bound
Deathtouch
Mystic Arcanum — At the beginning of your end step, exile the top card of your library. Until the end of your next turn, you may play that card.
Pact Boon — Whenever you play a card from exile, create a Treasure token.
and
Pia Nalaar, Consul of Revival
Pia Nalaar, Consul of Revival
Thopters you control have haste.
Whenever you play a land from exile or cast a spell from exile, create a 1/1 colorless Thopter artifact creature token with flying.
. In a Prosper shell, Party Thrasher puts even more cards into exile for you to play and generate Treasures in conjunction with Prosper. If you have a wide board, Party Thrasher can also greatly reduce the cost of spells you cast from exile. In the case of Pia, Party Thrasher makes it easy to start flooding the board with 1/1 tokens. From there, those 1/1 tokens can be used to Convoke out large spells from exile.
As for legends that benefit from Party Thrasher discarding cards,
Inti, Seneschal of the Sun
Inti, Seneschal of the Sun
Whenever you attack, you may discard a card. When you do, put a +1/+1 counter on target attacking creature. It gains trample until end of turn.
Whenever you discard one or more cards, exile the top card of your library. You may play that card until your next end step.
immediately comes to mind. When you discard cards to Party Thrasher, you get to exile extra cards thanks to Inti. Once again, Party Thrasher can help pay for non-Creature spells you exile, making it more likely you get your money’s worth from Inti. Ultimately, Party Thrasher seems more like a Commander card than a Modern card, but it’s still a sweet inclusion, nonetheless.
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Consign to Memory
Finally, we wanted to show off a leaked, sweet piece of counter magic. Consign to Memory is a strange hybrid between
Stifle
Stifle
Counter target activated or triggered ability. (Mana abilities can't be targeted.)
and
Ceremonious Rejection
Ceremonious Rejection
Counter target colorless spell.
. Ceremonious Rejection has seen play in the past as a way to combat decks like Tron that focus mostly on colorless spells. However, the card’s narrow applications often led to the card getting cut from sideboards. Consign to Memory solves this problem.
Consign to Memory is definitely not Stifle. Not being able to counter activated abilities means you can’t mess with opposing Fetchlands. Consign to Memory is much tamer as a result but can still come in handy. Getting to counter the enters-the-battlefield effect from Solitude for only one mana, for example, can be quite useful.
With this in mind, Consign to Memory has strong uses outside of matchups like Tron and Affinity. Against control, Consign to Memory counters The One Ring straight up while also messing with triggered abilities from Solitude and
Leyline Binding
Leyline Binding
Flash
Domain — This spell costs {1} less to cast for each basic land type among lands you control.
When this enchantment enters, exile target nonland permanent an opponent controls until this enchantment leaves the battlefield.
. Against Esper
Goryo’s Vengeance
Goryo’s Vengeance
Return target legendary creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. That creature gains haste. Exile it at the beginning of the next end step.
Splice onto Arcane {2}{B} (As you cast an Arcane spell, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay its splice cost. If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.)
shells, countering the triggered ability of
Atraxa, Grand Unifier
Atraxa, Grand Unifier
Flying, vigilance, deathtouch, lifelink
When Atraxa enters, reveal the top ten cards of your library. For each card type, you may put a card of that type from among the revealed cards into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. (Artifact, battle, creature, enchantment, instant, land, planeswalker, and sorcery are card types.)
can be important. When facing Domain Zoo, Consign to Memory can counter
Scion of Draco
Scion of Draco
Domain — This spell costs {2} less to cast for each basic land type among lands you control.
Flying
Each creature you control has vigilance if it's white, hexproof if it's blue, lifelink if it's black, first strike if it's red, and trample if it's green.
or mess with Binding or
Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
Whenever Ragavan deals combat damage to a player, create a Treasure token and exile the top card of that player's library. Until end of turn, you may cast that card.
Dash {1}{R} (You may cast this spell for its dash cost. If you do, it gains haste, and it's returned from the battlefield to its owner's hand at the beginning of the next end step.)
.
Consign can even be Replicated in a pinch. This can come up when a Creature entering play causes multiple abilities to trigger. Replicate may come up against Tron if the opponent casts a haymaker with
Sanctum of Ugin
Sanctum of Ugin
{T}: Add {C}.
Whenever you cast a colorless spell with mana value 7 or greater, you may sacrifice this land. If you do, search your library for a colorless creature card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
in play, too. Consign, along with the other cards we showcased today, seems like a really cool design. Once Mh3 releases, we can’t wait to see how Modern’s metagame unfolds.
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