Yesterday, the Modern Horizons 3 debut stream took place, giving us a good glimpse at what we can expect from the upcoming set. Up to this point, we’ve seen a lot of leaks, but not actually a ton of official spoilers. Beyond card previews, the debut stream also went over a lot of the ideas that the design team put into action to make this set feel as nostalgic and unique as possible.
In doing so, one of the clear points of emphasis within the set was the focus on booster fun treatment. Over the past few years, booster fun treatment has become a major priority. In play boosters, players can find all sorts of different art layouts among their cards. Many rares and mythic rares boast multiple art styles that can make collecting the set an enjoyable experience.
Speaking of which, there are also some intriguing foil patterns that are exclusive to collector boosters. If you’re looking to enhance your collection or add some pizzazz to your Commander decks, this set has you covered. Today, we are going to take a deep dive into the different types of booster fun treatment you can expect and where to find cards in each category. Let’s start with a classic standby: borderless treatment.
Borderless Variants
Modern Horizons 3 is bringing back a large number of different borderless styles for players to utilize. Unsurprisingly, regular borderless cards make an appearance. These cards are rather simple in design but still quite beautiful. In this set, there are 27 borderless cards total for players to obtain. This includes the five double-faced Planeswalkers, 12 Lands, and the 10 Special Guest cards. Of the Lands, we know that the various Fetchlands as well as Ugin’s Labyrinth will be available in borderless.
Each borderless card will feature alternate art separate from their bordered counterparts. While these cards have a chance to show up in play boosters, their odds are greatly increased in collector boosters. In fact, collector boosters have two slots dedicated to non-foil rares or mythic rares boasting either borderless, extended art, or retro frame treatment. For more information on the odds of opening borderless cards compared to alternate art or retro frame ones, take a look here.
Beyond your typical borderless cards, there are multiple other borderless styles with fancy features. In my opinion, the coolest of the bunch are borderless profile cards, like the Kaalia shown above. Borderless profile cards focus directly on the face of the character being highlighted. There are 12 rares and seven mythic rares from the main set given this treatment, as well as the eight Commanders from across all four MH3 Commander Precons (which can surprisingly be found in play boosters, too).
Next, we have borderless frame break cards. Each of these cards display artwork that is meant to literally jump off the page. To help showcase this vintage look, classic artists such as Richard Kane Ferguson gave their all to make the artwork pop. Richard Kane Ferguson in particular is a master when it comes to borderless cards. He designed the artwork for many in Double Masters and Commander Masters. There are 30 rares and mythic rares given this treatment.
Finally, the three Eldrazi Titan shown above feature concept art different from the traditional artwork. While the foil serialized versions you see are quite rare and only appear in collector boosters, non-foil variants featuring the same concept art can be found in play boosters and collector boosters alike.
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Foil Variants
Moving on to foils, there are a multitude of different foil variants that are exclusive to collector products. Clearly, the foil serialized cards are in a class by themselves, but many of these foils may be worth significantly more than the non-foil alternatives.
For instance, textured foils initially introduced in Double Masters are back with a vengeance. While it is only a recent commodity in the world of MTG, many players enjoy the similar look that some Pokémon cards have. In MH3, the borderless double-faced Planeswalkers and Special Guest cards are available in collector boosters, each with roughly a 1.9% appearance rate.
This percentage is rather low, so these cards will almost certainly go for large sums of money. This is quite common for textured foils of the past, too. A regular Jeweled Lotus from Commander Masters, for example, is worth around $100 according to TCGPlayer market price. Borderless versions go for a little bit more at $139, which is comparable to the price of a traditional foil Jeweled Lotus. Textured foils, on the other hand, boast a whopping price tag of $589! This highlights the massive price disparity that’s possible with textured foils that will almost certainly continue in MH3.
Next, you can find the eight Commander mythic rares and other select cards in collector boosters showing off etched foil treatment. Etched foils are typically grainier than traditional foils. Each collector booster comes with a slot dedicated to MH3 Commander cards. In this slot, a foil-etched mythic rare Commander appears roughly 3.3% of the time.
Finally, we have ripple foils. These foils have a halo-like pattern that makes them unique compared to other cards. This is a brand-new treatment only available in each of the Collector’s Edition MH3 Commander decks. All 100 cards in each deck have this foiling. To get a better view at how each foil looks, you can check them out here.
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Other Booster Fun Treatments
Outside of borderless and foil cards, there are a few other booster fun treatments to go over. First up, we have retro frame cards. This style if meant to be rather nostalgic, giving off old-school vibes. 58 cards from MH3 including Fetchlands, as well as a select group of cards from MH1 and MH2, are available in retro frame.
Extended art cards are also featured, with 67 MH3 cards in total receiving this treatment. The ally-colored Fetchlands from this set have retro frame as well as extended art versions available. These extended art cards show up in collector boosters, with a handful also appearing in the Collector’s Edition Commander decks.
Lastly, full-art basic Lands with vivid Eldrazi-themed backgrounds show up in both play boosters and collector boosters. Roughly one in six play boosters have these Lands either in non-foil or traditional foil. Every collector booster has one full-art basic Land.
As you can tell, booster fun treatments have become a massive part of recent MTG sets. Modern Horizons 3 takes this to the next level, especially with the introduction of ripple foils. Make sure to keep your eyes peeled for spoilers over the next week that show off these cool layouts.
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