Last updated on June 28, 2024
Hydra Trainer | Illustration by Ryan Pancoast
The Modern Horizons sets have been contentious since their very inception, printing cards directly into Modern while bypassing Standard. You now have three and a half of them (if you count The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth at all).
A game-changing set much like Modern Horizons and Modern Horizons II is here in Modern Horizons III. Let’s take a look at the third installment of the Modern Horizons trilogy.
Modern Horizons 3 Basic Information
Shilgengar, Sire of Famine | Illustration by Chris Rallis
Set Details
| Set Symbol |  |
| Set Code | MH3 |
| Hashtag | #MTGMH3 |
| Number of Cards | 261 (80 Commons, 101 Uncommons, 60 Rares, 20 Mythic Rares) |
| Rarities | Common, Uncommon, Rare, Mythic |
| Mechanics | Adapt, Affinity, Afterlife, Annihilator, Ascend, Bestow, Collect Evidence, Connive, Cycling, Devoid, Devotion, Dredge, Emerge, Energy, Entwine, Escalate, Escape, Eternalize, Evoke, Evolve, Extort, Fabricate, Flashback, Imprint, Improvise, Kicker, Kindred, Lieutenant, Living Weapon, Madness, Mentor, Morbid, Modified, Outlast, Overload, Proliferate, Prototype, Reconfigure, Reinforce, Shield Counters, Storm, Support, Transform, Umbra Armor, Unearth |
Important Dates
| Event | Date |
|---|---|
| First Look | February 23, 2024 |
| Previews start | May 21, 2024 |
| Full gallery available | May 31, 2024 |
| Prerelease week | June 7, 2024 |
| Available on Draftsim's Draft Simulator | Right now! |
| Digital release date | June 11, 2024 |
| Paper release date | June 14, 2024 |
| Open House Weekend | June 14, 2024 |
| Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3 at MagicCon: Amsterdam | June 28-30, 2024 |
About the Set: The Story
Solitude | Illustration by Evan Shipard
Sets like Modern Horizons are format-specific expansions that deliver a diverse and unique set of cards. They aren’t limited to any specific plane or even any particular time. They can contain cards from any point in history and from any of Magic’s many worlds, or even hint at new planes and characters.
For Modern Horizons III, the eldrazi titans are always a big deal when they come to visit! The stories come in from many different places and times. Wizards chose to add fresh imagery and reshare 30 stories from their library. Binge read three “seasons” of eldrazi stories with The Eldrazi Awaken, Battles at the Brink, and Zendikar's Last Stand.
Set Mechanics
There are a ton of mechanics with cameos in MH3 and only enough space to feature a few here. Let's start with energy, the ways you gain and spend energy come in fresh interesting ways, as with Volatile Stormdrake. Then eldrazi emerge with mechanics that are tied to them like annihilator and devoid cards. Wizards printed kindred instead of tribal and umbra armor to overwrite totem armor. These changes were already in place, but now there are reprints to show for it. There are about 50 mechanics, virtually all of which can be found in Draftsim's articles, so here are some standout mechanics:
Annihilator
With many eldrazi, the scariest part is the annihilator ability. Nulldrifter has the smallest value of annihilator, but sacrificing one permanent going into the declare blockers step is always tough for an opponent.
Bestow
You bestow upon your creature the powers of an enchantment creature. Basically, you have the option to play a bestow creature as an aura, you get a bit of insurance from being 2-for-1'd since if the target creature you would enchant is removed, you still get the creature with bestow.
Double-Faced Cards
Double-faced cards are a big inclusion in a Horizons set for the first time, including a cycle of exciting transforming planeswalkers like the ones in Magic: Origins.
Emerge
The Herigast, Erupting Nullkite gets to emerge sooner if you sacrifice a creature. It gives an equal emerge cost to that creature's mana cost which means you're conserving the mana you spent on the sacrificed creature. Very efficient and no aristocrat themes are necessary to maximize this.
Energy
Energy returns, and it is on numerous commons and uncommons in MH3. It’s a mechanic that’s difficult to do in small quantities, so it is good to see the resource primarily in three colors, , , and and a Commander deck to go alongside it.
Escape
The graveyard play is strong with this one and escape is a big part of a couple of mythics. Escape allows you to play the famous lhurgoyf multiple times a game, but the exiling side of escape will affect the stats on Nethergoyf. Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury brings back Theros Beyond Death vibes, and will come back like a Lightning Helix.
Imprint
When you play Ugin's Labryinth, the exiled card is what is imprinted on the land. This is fast mana and an interesting way to set aside one of your best colorless cards.
Improvise
Can you say Blastoise in Magic? Improvise is convoke with artifacts, so while you want to play artifacts after Kappa Cannoneer, playing some of your best artifacts beforehand can help reduce the mana cost greatly.
Lieutenant
That Commander format sure is popular, and controlling your commander is usually an achievement players strive for each time they play. The lieutenants give you great payoffs for playing your commander and with Siege-Gang Lieutenant, you get a pair of sweet hasty goblins for each of your declare attackers steps.
Modified
What is really great about modified is that if it shows up as just one triggered ability you control, it lets you care about a lot of other pumps and buffs a little more. It's quite widespread and easy to modify a permanent, give it a +1/+1 counter, the worst (or best) equipment in your deck, and of course those cheap auras.
Full Card Gallery
White
Blue
Black
Red
Green
Multicolored
Colorless
Lands
Notable Cards
Eldrazi
You want Emrakul, Kozilek and Ulamog, you got 'em. They've got out-of-this-world powers that are well worth their mana investment. You're also introduced to a legendary eldrazi dragon, Herigast, Erupting Nullkite which wants all your creatures to emerge onto the battlefield in glorious fashion. Kindred is used to add the eldrazi-type the instant Kozilek's Command and enchantment Echoes of Eternity.
Emrakul, the World Anew, Kozilek, the Broken Reality, and Ulamog, the Defiler brought about another winter upon a plane, and it's like there's not enough resources to feed them or something. At any rate, they are some of the best Commanders printed in Modern Horizons 3.
Going alongside the eldrazi are Snow-Covered Wastes, so who knows what that’s going to mean, or even if it’s just a seed for yet another future set.
Free Spells
There’s also Flare of Cultivation, and the rest of the Flare free-spell cycle, which are among the best cards from MH3.
Fetch Lands
Reprints-wise you’re looking at the allied fetch lands like Polluted Delta, which grew in value over the last nine or so years since they last had a substantial reprint. They go in mana bases not only in Modern, but also Commander, Legacy, and Vintage. They’re constantly in demand, and although the enemy-colored ones were reprinted in MH2, they each go for $15-$30.
Evoke Elementals
Check out the evoke elementals back again from MH2. You might find Solitude, Fury, or Grief in the special guest slot. These won’t show up in a lot of boosters, but are certainly notable!
Available Products
Play Boosters
Like the recent Standard sets, Modern Horizons 3 has play boosters instead of draft and set boosters. These boosters contain 14 cards with the following, each with a chance of being more valuable than your default common treatment:
- 1 New-to-Modern card that is uncommon, rare or mythic
- 1 foil wildcard of any rarity
- 1 nonfoil wildcard of any rarity
- 1 rare or higher card
- 3 uncommon cards
- 6 common cards
- 1 land or common
- YOUR NEW FOREVER FAVORITES—Introducing a heaping helping of exciting cards for Modern, one of Magic’s most celebrated formats, plus the return of competitive favorites, there’s something for everyone to love in Modern Horizons 3
- POWERFUL CARDS FOR MODERN CONSTRUCTED, LIMITED & COMMANDER PLAY—Spice up your deck with powerful New-to-Modern cards, host a supercharged Booster Draft with friends, or discover Legendary Creatures with striking special treatments to inspire your next Commander Deck
- MODERN’S NEVER BEEN MORE MARVELOUS—Expand your horizons with novel twists on classic mechanics and more cards for beloved Modern strategies
- FUN TO OPEN. FUN TO PLAY—Get the best of Draft and Set Boosters, combined into one! Play Boosters are great for Limited play and fun to open, with a possibility of Art cards, striking alt-frame cards, and more
- MODERN MIGHT THAT SHINES BRIGHT—Both powerful and flashy, every MH3 Play Booster includes 1-5 cards of rarity Rare or higher and 1-2 shining Traditional Foil cards
Collector Boosters
Modern Horizons 3 Collector Boosters are your place for the blingiest foils. This is where the big money cards are, and contains 15 cards in the following breakdown:
- 4 foil commons
- 3 foil uncommons
- 1 foil, full-art Eldrazi land
- 1 nonfoil common or uncommon retro frame card with 2.6% chance of a full-art Snow-Covered Wastes
- 1 foil common or uncommon retro frame card with 2.6% chance of a full-art Snow-Covered Wastes
- 1 foil rare or mythic
- 1 foil etched Commander rare/mythic
- 2 nonfoil rares or mythics
- 1 foil rare or mythic with alternate art
- 1 foil double sided token
- MODERN’S NEVER BEEN MORE MARVELOUS—Introducing a heaping helping of exciting cards for Modern, one of Magic’s most celebrated formats, plus the return of competitive favorites, there’s something for everyone to love in Modern Horizons 3
- BEAUTY AND BRAWN—Crush with a deck full of gorgeous special treatments; every Collector Booster contains 7 alt-frame cards, including the possibility of Retro-Frame, Borderless Profile, Borderless Frame Break, Borderless Concept Eldrazi, and Borderless Fetch Land cards
- MODERN MIGHT THAT SHINES BRIGHT—Both powerful and flashy, every pack contains 10-12 Traditional Foil cards and may contain Collector Booster exclusive, like Foil-Etched cards, a Textured Foil card, or even a foil Serialized card
- POWERFUL CARDS FOR LIMITED, CONSTRUCTED & COMMANDER PLAY—Spice up your deck with powerful New-to-Modern cards or discover Legendary Creatures with striking special treatments to inspire your next Commander Deck
- GET DIRECT ACCESS TO THE COOLEST CARDS—Collector Boosters give you direct access to the most desirable Modern Horizons 3 cards, including 5 cards of rarity Rare or higher in every pack
Commander Decks
You get the standard four Commander precons with Modern Horizons 3, which came as a bit of a surprise for some. The Modern Horizons 3 Commander precons include: Eldrazi Incursion, a 5+1 color Eldrazi deck; Creative Energy, a Jeskai Energy deck; Tricky Terrain, a Simic lands-matter deck; and Graveyard Overdrive, a Jund graveyard-matters deck.
Each deck contains:
- 1 ready-to-play deck of 100 Magic cards (2 foil legendary cards)
- 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack
- 1 foil-etched display commander
- 13 new-to-Magic cards
- 10 double-sided tokens
- 1 deck box
- 1 life wheel
- 1 strategy insert
- 1 reference card
- POWERFUL RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX—Battle your friends with powerful creatures and spectacular spells with four 100-card Commander Decks that are ready to play right out of the box
- GET ALL 4 MODERN HORIZONS 3 DECKS—Fill your graveyard and avenge the dead with Graveyard Overdrive, ramp lands and grow value with Tricky Terrain, use energy counters for powerful payoffs with Creative Energy, or unleash Eldrazi to devour all in your path with Eldrazi Incursion
- INTRODUCING 60 COMMANDER CARDS—With all 4 Modern Horizons 3 Commander Decks, you’ll get a total of 60 never-before-seen Commander cards, with 15 in each deck (including 2 foil Legendary Creatures)
- COLLECT SPECIAL TREATMENT CARDS—Each deck also comes with a 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack containing 2 alt-border cards from the Modern Horizons 3 set, including 1 Rare or Mythic Rare and at least 1 Traditional Foil card
- YOUR NEW FOREVER FAVORITES—Introducing a heaping helping of exciting cards plus the return of competitive favorites, there’s something for everyone to love in Modern Horizons 3 Commander Decks
Collector's Edition Commander Decks
Not only are you getting EDH precons, but you can drool over Collector's Edition versions of Modern Horizons 3 Commander Decks. They are exactly the same as the normal versions, except that they contain a brand new ripple foil treatment on each card and two borderless profile cards.
- COLLECT ALL 4 COLLECTOR’S EDITION DECKS—Get a bundle of 4 Modern Horizons 3 Collector’s Edition Commander Decks (Graveyard Overdrive, Tricky Terrain, Creative Energy, and Eldrazi Incursion)
- EXCLUSIVE COLLECTOR’S EDITION FOIL TREATMENT—All 100 cards in each Collector’s Edition deck feature a special foil treatment introduced for the very first time—Ripple Foil cards that gleam in a pattern like ripples in a pool of water
- BORDERLESS PROFILE COMMANDERS—Meet the new stars of your collection with an up-close, profile view of your commanders. Each deck includes 2 Legendary Creature cards featuring a striking Borderless Profile alt-art treatment and dressed to impress in Ripple Foil
- INTRODUCING 60 COMMANDER CARDS—These decks introduce a total of 60 never-before-seen cards to Magic: The Gathering, with 15 introduced in each deck
- POWERFUL RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX—Win with style with powerful all-foil decks that are ready to defeat your opponents right out of the box
Bundle
A Modern Horizons 3 Bundle is the way to go if you’re looking for something a little smaller than a full box of boosters. Much like the bundles you see for Standard-legal sets, they contain:
- 9 Modern Horizons 3 play boosters
- 1 traditional foil card with bundle-exclusive alternate-art
- 15 traditional foil basic land cards (5 with full-art)
- 15 nonfoil basic land cards (5 with full-art)
- 1 oversized spindown life counter
- 1 card storage box
- 2 reference cards
- YOUR NEW FOREVER FAVORITES—Introducing a heaping helping of exciting cards for Modern, one of Magic’s most celebrated formats, plus the return of competitive favorites, there’s something for everyone to love in Modern Horizons 3
- NOW WITH PLAY BOOSTERS—Get the best of Draft and Set Boosters, combined into one! Play Boosters are great for Limited play and fun to open, with a possibility of multiple Rares and at least 1 shining foil card in every pack
- FULL-ART LANDS & SPECIAL ALTERNATE-ART CARD—Every Bundle also comes with 1 Traditional Foil promo card featuring Bundle-exclusive alternate art, and 10 of the 30 included Land cards feature stunning Full-Art (5 foil, 5 nonfoil)
- EXCLUSIVE ACCESSORIES—In addition to cards from the set, each MH3 Bundle comes with exclusive accessories, including a special die to track your life total and a sturdy box to store everything in
- POWERFUL CARDS FOR MODERN CONSTRUCTED, LIMITED & COMMANDER PLAY—Spice up your deck with powerful New-to-Modern cards, host a supercharged Booster Draft with friends, or discover Legendary Creatures with striking special treatments to inspire your next Commander Deck
Gift Bundle
You can also splurge on someone with a Modern Horizons 3: Gift Edition Bundle. This is like most versions of gift bundles, and essentially normal bundles with a bonus collector booster. For a full breakdown, they contain:
- 9 Modern Horizons 3 play boosters
- 1 Modern Horizons 3 collector booster
- 1 Powerbalance foil card with bundle-exclusive alternate-art
- 15 traditional foil basic land cards (5 with full-art)
- 15 nonfoil basic land cards (5 with full-art)
- 1 oversized spindown life counter
- 1 card storage box
- 2 reference cards
- GIVE THE GIFT OF MAGIC—The perfect present for any Magic fan, this Gift Bundle is full of exclusive accessories and the coolest cards from Modern Horizons 3, including a Collector Booster packed with Rare cards, shiny foils, and alt-art, alt-frame cards
- MODERN’S NEVER BEEN MORE MARVELOUS—Introducing a heaping helping of exciting cards for Modern, one of Magic’s most celebrated formats, plus the return of competitive favorites, there’s something for every fan to love in Modern Horizons 3
- A COLLECTOR BOOSTER FULL OF TREASURES—Both powerful and flashy, the included Collector Booster is packed with only the coolest cards and is the only place fans may find Foil-Etched cards, Textured Foil cards, or Serialized cards printed with a unique number
- BOOSTERS FOR PLAYING & BUILDING DECKS—Play Boosters are the best packs for playing Magic with friends and are fun to open, with a possibility of multiple Rares and at least 1 shining foil card in every pack
- FULL-ART LANDS & SPECIAL ALTERNATE-ART CARD—Every MH3 Bundle: Gift Edition also comes with 1 Traditional Foil promo card featuring Bundle-exclusive alternate art, and 10 of the 30 included Land cards feature stunning Full-Art (5 foil, 5 nonfoil)
Gazing to the Horizons
Modern Horizons 3 Key Art | Illustration by Pindurski
Does Modern Horizons III satisfy? Do you hate what it's done to your favorite format? Was the impact on Modern, Commander, and Legacy a positive one? Have you drafted it yet? If you haven't, you may want to check our Modern Horizons 3 Limited Set Review before you do. Make sure to also give our Ultimate MH3 Draft Guide a read as well!
I know there’s more discourse to be had about this one. Did it miss one of the reprints you sought? What showed up that you did not want to see? Let me know your thoughts in the comments or over in the official Draftsim Discord. And while you’re watching, stay tuned here for all the latest news!
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