For those who weren’t playing during Kaladesh, the Energy mechanic probably doesn’t look like anything too special. A secondary resource you can build up between turns and spend on various effects? Seems reasonable enough. For those who played through it, however, the mechanic’s return in Modern Horizons 3 is a cause for concern. And, as the recent wave of MH3 leaks all but confirms, Energy is back in a big way.
As always, we’ll be discussing leaked cards in this article, so click away now if you want to avoid early spoilers. It’s also worth noting that all of these cards are unconfirmed. They all look fairly legit, and in line with the themes of the set, but it’s worth mentioning regardless. With those disclaimers out of the way, let’s charge up and check out some of the new Energy cards (probably) coming in MH3!
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Wonders In White
It’s rare that white gets the best part of any cycle in Magic. That said, it has the best crop of Energy cards in this batch of Modern Horizons 3. First of all, let’s look at Guide of Souls.
Guide of Souls
W – Creature – Human Cleric
1/2
Whenever another creature enters the battlefield under your control, you gain 1 life and get an Energy counter.
Whenever you attack, you may pay three energy counters. If you do, put two +1/+1 counters and a Flying counter on target attacking creature. It becomes an Angel in addition to its other types.
This Soul Sisters variant is the best one we’ve received in quite some time. Generating Energy so easily is extremely powerful, as we’ll see with some of the Energy payoffs later. It can also put your opponent on a serious clock single-handedly with that ability. Most of the time, you’ll be using that Energy for something else, however.
Next up we have Jolted Awake:
Jolted Awake
W – Sorcery
Choose up to one target Artifact or Creature card in your graveyard. You get two Energy counters. Then you may pay an amount of Energy counters equal to that card’s mana value. If you do, Return it from your graveyard to the battlefield.
Cycling two generic mana (Two generic mana, discard this card: Draw a card.)
On its own, this card is like a color-shifted, slightly worse version of Unearth; a great card in its own right. With any kind of additional Energy support, though, it can quickly become a Reanimate that can also hit Artifacts. Despite being a one-mana Common, this has an extremely high ceiling and could enable some disgusting early game plays in the right shells. Keep an eye on renewable Energy sources, such as Chthonian Nightmare; their power will likely rocket up with this card in the mix.
The last white card from today’s MH3 Energy leaks is Wrath of the Skies.
Wrath of the Skies
XWW – Sorcery
You get X Energy counters, then you may pay any amount of Energy counters. Destroy each Artifact, Creature, or Enchantment with mana value less than or equal to the amount of Energy counters paid this way.
In Modern, this should only cost five mana to clear the entire board. If you have existing Energy, though, it can scale up higher, or come down cheaper. You can also pay no Energy at all, and use this purely as a ‘get X Energy’ card.
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Blue Cards
Among the leaked cards, blue got some very interesting new Energy pieces. We’ll start with Tune the Narrative.
Tune the Narrative
U – Instant
Draw a card. You get two Energy counters.
This one is very simple but potentially very powerful. Immediately it bears comparison with Attune with Aether, one of the very best Energy cards from the original Kaladesh block. So much so that it ended up getting banned in Standard. Tune the Narrative is better in almost every scenario than its green cousin, which may give it a serious shot in Modern. Drawing a card for one mana at Instant speed is solid, and we’ve seen before what tacking Energy on to a decent effect can do.
Continuing the theme of ‘Staple blue effect with Energy attached,’ we have Aether Spike.
Aether Spike
1U – Instant
Choose target spell. You get two Energy counters, then you may pay any amount of Energy counters. Counter that spell unless its controller pays one generic mana for each Energy counter spent this way.
This is essentially an Energy-based Mana Leak, if slightly less potent at a base level. Unlike most of the cards so far, Aether Spike likely isn’t very good outside of a dedicated Energy shell. In such a deck, though, it could be a solid Counterspell, and play nicely alongside Tune the Narrative and Wrath of the Skies in a Control build.
Last up for blue is Tempest Harvester.
Tempest Harvester
1U – Creature – Merfolk Wizard
2/1
When Tempest Harvester enters the battlefield, you get two Energy counters.
Tap, Pay one Energy counter: Draw a card, then discard a card.
This is a Merfolk Looter that comes with two Energy and one extra power, with the tradeoff that using its loot ability costs one Energy each time. Unlike Jolted Awake, this is a Common that looks to have playability befitting its rarity. Even in dedicated Energy decks, or Merfolk decks, this looks much too fair to do anything in Modern. It will undoubtedly be a solid pick in Limited, however, whether you grab any other Energy cards or not.
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Mixed MH3 Energy Leaks
To round things out, let’s look at some MH3 Energy leaks that don’t fall neatly into one color group. By far the most exciting of these is Primal Prayers.
Primal Prayers
2GG- Enchantment
When Primal Prayers enters the battlefield, you get two Energy counters.
You may cast Creature spells with mana value three or less by paying one Energy counter rather than paying their mana costs. If you cast a spell this way, you may cast it as though it had Flash.
You read that right: Primal Prayers lets you play your cheap Creatures for a single Energy, not Energy equal to their costs. This may be a little slow for fair decks, but playing creatures with Energy instead of mana has real combo potential. Cheap energy generators, like Greenbelt Rampager, will likely gain a lot of stock thanks to this one.
Next up, there’s a fairly interesting one. Emissary of Soulfire.
Emissary of Soulfire
1WU – Creature – Djinn Monk
1/4
When Emissary of Soulfire enters the battlefield, you get three Energy counters.
Pay two Energy counters: Put an Exalted counter on target Creature you control. Activate only as a Sorcery. (Whenever a creature you control attacks alone, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn for each instance of Exalted among permanents you control.)
This is the first time we’ve seen Exalted counters, so a quick recap. Exalted grants +1/+1 to a creature for each instance of the ability across your board when a creature you control attacks alone. You can stack multiple instances of the ability with Emissary and do it as soon as he comes down if you have the Energy for it. This may allow for some sneaky finishes, especially with Emissary’s high toughness, but it feels more like a Limited piece than anything.
Finally, we have a red card, Thriving Skyclaw.
Thriving Skyclaw
2RR – Creature – Cat Dragon
3/2
Flying
When Thriving Skyclaw enters the battlefield, you get three Energy counters.
Whenever Thriving Skyclaw attacks, you may pay three Energy counters. If you do, put a +1/+1 counter on it.
Like the other Thriving creatures from the original Kaladesh, this is a basic Creature that grants energy when it comes in and can pay the same amount to gain a +1/+1 counter when it attacks. It does have Flying, which is nice, but for four mana this is a ways off from seeing Modern play. Outside of the kind of Primal Prayers loops mentioned above, that is.
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