Well, players didn’t really know what to expect with Wizards of the Coast’s latest installment of the Modern Horizons series. These sets have had an absolutely massive impact on Magic as a whole, with Modern Horizons Two being one of the bestselling sets in Magic’s history. It was only recently beaten out by Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth.
As successful as Modern Horizons Two was for sales, some MTG players hated what the set did to many of Magic’s formats. The introduction of Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, the absurdly powerful Evoke Elementals, and even Urza’s Saga, completely warped Modern, Legacy, Vintage and Commander. This made Modern, in particular, feel like a rotating format, which it was never supposed to be.
Fast forward to Magic Con Chicago, and it looks like Modern Horizons 3 is going to cause yet another massive shift in Magic’s older formats. From insane reprints, to a dreadful new cycle of free spells, here’s what was revealed about Modern Horizons 3 at Magic Con Chicago!
As a quick reminder, Modern Horizons 3 will be appearing on MTG Arena! These insanely powerful cards won’t just be impacting paper Magic.
Fetch Land Reprints
It’s about time! As scared as players may be about a new cycle of free spells (which are coming), these reprints were sorely needed. Fetch Lands are absolutely crucial for players trying to participate in any format that they’re legal in. While you can get away with not playing them in Commander, the power level of your deck will almost certainly suffer.
The enemy Fetch Lands were reprinted in Modern Horizons 2, making these necessary cards a lot easier to access for players. These lands have received a few reprints over the years, but because Modern Horizons 2 was such a popular set, it really transformed how many of these were available, making them drastically cheaper to pick up on the secondary market. That’s not to say that the Enemy Fetch Lands aren’t expensive. They’re just a lot cheaper that they used to be.
The Allied Fetch Lands, on the other hand, have not received a main set printing since 2014. Khans of Tarkir was the last set that these MTG cards appeared in. There have been the occasional Premium printing for the Allied Fetch Lands after Khans of Tarkir, but those will not impact the secondary market value of these cards in a positive way.
As a result, these Allied Fetch Lands have become absurdly expensive. The most expensive Enemy Fetchlands, for non-premium variants, tend to sit at $23 (Misty Rainforest) at the highest. The cheapest Allied Fetch Land printing, Windswept Heath, currently sits at $28. The most expensive Allied Fetch Land’s cheapest variant, Wooded Foothills, sits at $40 at the time of writing. Considering that players generally need 3-4 of each Fetch Land that they’re playing in any given deck, these prices add up quickly.
This reprint should help make the difference in price between Enemy and Allied Fetch Lands shrink, making the barrier to entry to older formats a bit more affordable to enter. This is a fantastic reprint for MTG players everywhere.
As highlighted above, these new Allied Fetch Land printings appear to offer new artwork, and retro bordered printings.
New Free Spells?
A new cycle of free spells have been confirmed for Modern Horizons 3. The free spells released in the past two Modern Horizons sets had absolutely format-shaking effects on Modern, and these cards are likely to be no different. On the bright side, this first free spell doesn’t seem too offensive at first glance.
Flare of Cultivation is quite literally a Cultivate with an alternate casting cost. Even if this card isn’t super popular in constructed formats, it seems like a slam dunk in Commander.
You can either cast this as a Cultivate with a very similar casting cost, or you can sacrifice a nontoken green creature to cast this card for free. The effect is otherwise the exact same as Cultivate, allowing players to search for two basics, putting one in hand and one on the battlefield.
Fixing isn’t really an issue in the Modern format. Between powerhouses like [toooltips]Wrenn and Six and the flexibility of Fetch Lands, Flare of Cultivation is unlikely to solve any fixing issues.
What Flare of Cultivation can do, however, aside from ramping, is give players additional options against Blood Moon. While the rest of your mana base may be locked down by the nasty enchantment, you don’t technically need to spend mana to cast this. You can then find the basic lands you need to play through Blood Moon.
Flare of Cultivation can, notably and thankfully, only be cast at Sorcery speed. Honestly, this free spell doesn’t seem too overwhelmingly powerful, and sacrificing a nontoken creature is a real resource. That said, free spells have traditionally been absurdly powerful, making Flare of Cultivation difficult to assess.
What many players may be worried about with this Modern Horizons 3 free spell cycle is what the blue card inevitably ends up looking like. For now, however, we do not know what this is as of yet.
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New Eldrazi Titans!
New Eldrazi Titans appear to be coming in Modern Horizons 3! Previewed today is Emrakul, the World Anew! These Titans are even getting a serialized treatment!
In terms of how effective Emrakul is in function, the card certainly has potential. On cast, Emrakul steals your opponent’s creatures and turns them against their owner. The downside is that, once Emrakul dies, all your creatures go with it.
Considering that Emrakul has protection from anything that was cast that turn, this creature is going to be very difficult to deal with. Some bizarre tools with delayed effects will need to be used to deal with this Eldrazi Titan, which could significantly warp the Modern meta if it ends up being popular.
Will Emrakul see play? 12 mana is certainly a lot to cast a creature, but this Eldrazi Titan happens to have an alternate casting cost. If you can discard your Emrakul, you can cast it using its Madness cost of six colorless mana. If that is not playable in Tron, I don’t know what is.
Of course, if Eldrazi Titans are making a return, so are their minions. Eldrazi fans should get excited for some new support releasing in Modern Horizons 3. It That heralds the End should also hint that colorless mana will be returning as a theme in the set.
MDFC Planeswalkers!?
Revealed in this first look at Modern Horizons 3 were the return MDFC Planeswalkers! Originally found in the Magic Origins set, these creatures, once a certain requirement is met, transform into their Planeswalker counterpart featured on the back of the card.
Like the other MDFC Planeswalkers, these transformations tells the story of how fan-favorite characters ignited their Planeswalker sparks. Only after seeing his brother Jazal Goldmane die does Ajani ignite his spark. When another cat dies, Ajani can exile and return as a Planeswalker. Ajani also happens to spawn in another cat on entry, making this a decent turn two play.
2024 Psychatog
Many players nowadays may not be familiar with the terrifying strength of Psychatog but back in the day, the creature won an MTG World Championships with its awe-inspiring power. Psychic Frog is an interesting callback to the infamous creature, hosting similar abilities to it. For two mana, having the ability to become evasive, draw cards, and grow at the cost of your hand makes this an interesting puzzle for Modern players to solve. Will it be good enough to see play? It’s tough to tell!
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Energy Returns
Energy also appears to be present in Modern Horizons 3. Originally appearing in Kaladesh, this player-counter-based resource ended up dominating its Standard format. Notably, Energy will also be returning in the MTG Fallout Science! Commander deck.
As far as the spoiler goes, Scurry of Gremlins has potential, but this effect is incredibly expensive for four mana, likely relegating it to Limited and Commander.
Scary Reprints
To round out the quick taste of Modern Horizons 3 offered to fans at MTG Con Chicago, we have a few very scary reprints. Priest of Titania is an Elf Ball staple that could allow the Typal deck to make a resurgence in the Modern format. While the card has been around for quite some time, it has never before been Modern legal.
Laelia, the Blade Reforged, up to this point, is a Commander card that has been a fan-favorite in high power formats like Vintage Cube. This card’s prowess in those formats prove that it can be an incredible powerhouse, even at three mana. The ability to both grow exceptionally quick, while providing card advantage, forces opponents to answer Laelia quickly before getting rolled over.
Oh, by the way, Laelia is very scary alongside the problematic Cascade mechanic. This card will get a +1/+1 counter for each card exiled in Cascade sequences, meaning that it can easily one-shot the opponent in the incredibly popular Temur Rhinos deck. This likely means that Laelia will see some experimentation, at least.
This is Just the Beginning
Four MTG sets all got previewed today, which means that there’s a lot more to come. If you want to see all of the incredible MTG spoilers revealed in MTG Con Chicago, keep your eyes tuned here for more updates.
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