After what is certainly the biggest batch of leaks we’ve ever seen for a Magic set, official Modern Horizons 3 previews are now underway. Many exciting cards we’ve seen in their blurry glory before are now available in crisp high definition. Some other surprises have been revealed too, including serialized versions of the MH3 Eldrazi Titans.
Serialized cards are a relatively new phenomenon in Magic, first appearing in a 2021 Secret Lair drop. Despite this short history in MTG, serialized cards have been a part of other CCGs since the very beginning. Thankfully, unlike many other TCGs and CCGs, Magic’s serialized cards are almost always incredibly expensive, regardless of the power level of the card itself.
When a serialized MTG card is both powerful and playable, unsurprisingly the prices tend to skyrocket. As a result, the new serialized Eldrazi Titans in MH3 are easily some of the most exciting cards in the set. They even have the potential to be record-breakers!
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The MH3 Serialized Eldrazi Titans
So which cards, exactly, are getting serialized versions in Modern Horizons 3? Those would be the three Eldrazi Titans: Emrakul, the World Anew, Ulamog, the Defiler, and Kozilek, the Broken Reality. Emrakul was one of the very first official spoilers for the set that was revealed during the First Look. The other two have only just been confirmed today.
Unfortunately, while only officially previewed today, the other two Titans were leaked before, so we have seen their powerful abilities. What we haven’t seen are these slick new serialized variants. As covered in the Modern Horizons 3 Debut Video, these variants use art that was originally concept art for the three Titans, meaning they carry a nice bit of history.
On top of having some nice flavorful art, these serialized variants could be worth a great deal. Unfortunately, if you’re hunting for these cards, you’ll only be able to find them in Modern Horizons 3 Collector Boosters. Additionally, there are only 250 versions of each serialized card available, so they’ll be more scarce than usual.
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Potential Playability
When it comes to serialized Magic cards, as we’ll get to later, a card doesn’t need to be playable to command a high price tag. These cards are more likely to be slabbed than sleeved up, after all. That said, there can be a correlation in some scenarios. For this reason, it’s worth looking at how good each Eldrazi Titan will be in actual games of Magic.
Emrakul is, by most metrics, the clear frontrunner here. Not only does it have a very powerful cast trigger and a difficult-to-penetrate Protection ability, but it can also come down for as little as six mana via Madness. Discard outlets are plentiful in Modern, and six mana isn’t hard to come by, especially with Eldrazi Temple and Ugin’s Labyrinth in the mix. Emrakul tends to be the best member of each Eldrazi Titan cycle, and that’s no different here.
While we’ve yet to see all the Titans in play, Ulamog likely comes in second. It’s just a huge, dumb threat that will almost certainly end any game in which it actually gets to swing. Its Ward effect is also tough to get around for some decks, so it may end up surviving to do so more often than you think. Ten mana is a steep cost, though, so he may end up relegated to Commander for the most part.
For better or worse, Kozilek, the Broken Reality is likely to share the same fate of being relegated to Commander. He’s a big board and card advantage swing, but with no protection he’ll end up eating a removal spell immediately 90% of the time.
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Pricing Precedent
With all of that said, there’s no universe in which these cards don’t end up being absurdly expensive. Prices on serialized cards in the past have varied wildly. The Brother’s War Retro artifacts hover around the $1-300 mark, while the Elvish Sol Ring go for as much as $4,000. Interestingly, the serialized March of the Machine Praetors and Murders at Karlov Manor Legends are up there as well. Many are at or above the $1,000 mark.
Searching for a correlation, the appeal of the character on the card seems to be the biggest factor. The Praetors are iconic legendaries, and so are the Ravnican legends. The Elvish Sol Rings also hold a lot of appeal for Lord of the Rings fans, of which there are many.
The Eldrazi Titans are some of the most iconic villains in Magic. Their past incarnations have all seen some degree of play, and they’re very popular with fans. This is despite them being fairly straightforward ‘force of nature’ type spaghetti monsters. For this reason, and because they’re part of a set with a premium price tag, it’s not hard to imagine these joining the Praetors and Sol Rings at the top of the serialized tree.
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