In some ways, Modern Horizons 3 was the worst MTG set of 2024. Nadu, Winged Wisdom left a deep scar on many MTG players. Whether you played Modern, Legacy, or Commander, Nadu has helped make your format a worse place for a period of time.
Should you ignore Nadu, however, Modern Horizons 3 is an amazing set. Sure, it released a ton of incredibly powerful technology into the MTG ecosystem, but many of these cards help enrich the gameplay of many formats. Whether you love or hate them, Modern Horizons 3 created exciting new strategies for two-player and four-player formats.
Even Modern Horizons 3 commons are seeing consistent play across formats. Thanks to the set being so successful, Modern Horizons 3 is the best sealed MTG product you could open right now.
Insane Uncommon Value
Every MTG set will have its chase rares and Mythics that can 10x the value of your Play Booster, but few sets have uncommons that can match, or even outscale, the value of a pack. Modern Horizons 3 has this rare feature. The most expensive uncommon in the set, Sink Into Stupor, is worth about $9.50 on its own. MDFCs from Modern Horizons 3 play pivotal roles in Modern, Legacy, and Commander. Commander players, in particular, have little to no reason not to run Sink Into Stupor in any blue deck. Thanks to demand from all three formats, this bounce spell is incredibly desirable.
Consign to Memory is another uncommon seeing similar levels of play. Thanks to the card being one of the best ways to counter the looming Eldrazi threat, Consign to Memory sees ample play in Modern and Legacy. The card can also be a popular Commander commodity thanks to its ability to counter triggered abilities like Thassa’s Oracle. Consign to Memory is worth about $6.50.
Fell the Profane is another powerful MDFC for Commander and constructed, alike. No one wants to make room for removal in Commander, but Fell the Profane lets you take a land out to do so. This flexibility grants the card a $5.50 price tag.
It may be easy to miss but don’t forget that Ocelot Pride‘s Cat Token is worth about $6. The cat itself remains one of the most expensive cards in the set, worth about $45-$50. Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student is the only card that rivals this.
Otherwise, Retro Frame commons and uncommons are generally worth at least a dollar each. Add this all together, and it’s possible to recoup the price of your pack before you even get to the rare slot.
How Much Can You Get Ahead?
The current price for a Modern Horizons 3 Play Booster is about $8. There are 26 different MTG cards in the set that are worth at least this amount. About 65 different cards hold above the $2 mark, with multiple tokens being included in this count. 74 cards in the set are worth at least $2.
In other words, there is a very good chance of opening something valuable in your Modern Horizons 3 Play Booster pack. While variance is still going to affect single pack openings, it makes opening a booster box of Modern Horizons 3 a consistently lucrative experience.
According to MTGStocks, the expected value of a Modern Horizons 3 Booster Box is $297, about $90 over its asking price. This is an incredible premium, but it’s tough to know if this valuation is accurate or not. Notably, commons are taken out of the equation for this expected value amount.
While getting ahead $90 in opened cards in a $200+ booster box may not seem very good, this is a very high rate compared to the industry. Sure, anyone can open an incredible box and earn more than this, but a $90 average is very difficult to come across. This means a good box could earn you even more. A bad box, on the other hand, according to MTGStocks, will only have you down $10-$30.
This is the Box to Open
At the end of the day, opening an MTG box for value is… a questionable decision. A majority of the time, you aren’t going to end up enough ahead to justify opening the product at all. Selling singles also takes time and rarely gets you the maximum amount that the card is worth. So, if you’re opening MTG product in an attempt to make money, there are better ways to go about doing this. That said, if you’re going to do this anyway, Modern Horizons 3 is the way to go.
If you’re willing to take a shot at an expensive card or are hunting for MTG cards that you need, opening MTG product makes a lot more sense. At that point, just open whatever cards you’re interested in acquiring, but if you’re simply looking for powerful cards to improve your Commander deck, it’s hard to go wrong with Modern Horizons 3.
