Hey everyone! Are you prepared to broaden your horizons before crushing some dreams in the newest set? That’s right, it’s somehow already new set time with Modern Horizons 3 preparing to drop on MTG Arena on June 11th. I’m not getting much time outside of the content creation dungeon with this crazy release schedule, but at least my wife promised to slide food under the door every time I finish an article.
Per usual, I’ll be grading the entire set for limited purposes. Maybe one day I’ll get to see sunlight again, but today is not that day.
Here’s the usual grading scale:
- 5.0: Disgustingly powerful and basically unbeatable. Either answer it the turn it comes down or just pack up your cards. (Gruff Triplets, Virtue of Persistence, The Eternal Wanderer)
- 4.5: Incredible bomb that still gives your opponent a slim chance. (Virtue of Loyalty, Imodane's Recruiter, Realm-Scorcher Hellkite)
- 4.0: Great rare or the absolute best uncommons and removal. (Faunsbane Troll, Gumdrop Poisoner, Talion's Messenger)
- 3.5: Great role filler or removal that you never cut. (Candy Grapple, Hearth Elemental, Torch the Tower)
- 3.0: Good playable that I’m basically never cutting. (Shrouded Shepherd, Spellscorn Coven, Sharae of Numbing Depths)
- 2.5: Decent playable and the bar I hope nearly every card in my deck to reach. (Evolving Wilds, Archon's Glory, Flick a Coin)
- 2.0: Mediocre filler that normally is your 20-23rd card(s). (Mintstrosity, Ice Out, Grabby Giant)
- 1.5: Replaceable, overall bad filler. Could also be decent sideboard cards. (Titanic Growth, Scarecrow Guide, Territorial Witchstalker)
- 1.0: Bad filler. Gets cut most of the time. (Dark Tutelage, Kindled Heroism, Impact Tremors)
- 0.5: Very unhappy to main deck this, but maybe it has fringe sideboard applications. Cards that “could” be situationally decent, but bad in most situations. (Smothering Tithe, Rhystic Study, Mana Flare)
- 0.0: Unplayable in every possible situation. They rarely print cards this bad these days. (Hew the Entwood, One with Nothing)
Powerful cards to MTG Arena releases on June 11, 2024 for Timeless and Historic formats! Learn all about Modern Horizons 3 and find all our related articles in our hub.
Aether Spike
Rating: 2.5/5
Quench does play better in a powerful format so I’m down to spike someone in the middle of nowhere. I just don’t want to load up on too many of them.
You even get an extra energy out of the deal if they happen to tap out. It’s not even dead late in the game since you can generate enough other energy to still pick something off or even just use this to make two energy if it comes down to that.
Amphibian Downpour
Rating: 3.5/5
The flash is what really makes this card tick. It means that you can use your opponent casting spells to really make it pour down on their side turning their army into a pile of Kermits. Add in a cheap cantrip such as Tune the Narrative and it’s looking awfully froggy over there.
For those of us with back problems, just picture the scene from Willow but replace the pigs with frogs.
Bespoke Battlewagon
Rating: 3.5/5
No need to pimp this ride because it comes pre-tricked out. That sentence shows exactly how old I am…
Seriously this does so many different things so well. It produces energy and spends it profitably across multiple effects. It can even be a massive creature. It’s got everything you need already built in.
Brainsurge
Rating: 2.5/5
A slightly bigger Brainstorm gets much better if you have oh let’s say a Sac Land (which coincidently enough are in the set) to shuffle away the cards you’re not that interested in. If you lack any way to take advantage of that, then you’re running an amped up Divination.
Consign to Memory
Rating: 1.0/5
Solid out of the sideboard against a deck with multiple Eldrazi and Devoid spells. Not something you want to be running in the main though.
Copycrook
Rating: 3.5/5
I’m down to play a Clone that can hit anything on either side of the field. It ensures you are always at least tied for the best thing going. Throwing on the connive ability means that your new model is even a step up from the previous iteration.
Corrupted Shapeshifter
Rating: 2.0/5
A significantly better version of Primal Clay, but I’d expect some serious power creep by now. None of these options are cards you’d be thrilled about playing, but having choices is a good thing (for some of us).
Deem Inferior
Rating: 3.0/5
Casting this for only a blue mana is an insane tempo play and that’s not that difficult to pull off with some of the card draw floating around. The base for it is three mana so this is usually a better Time Ebb since it puts it down two.
Depth Defiler
Rating: 3.5/5
I love both options on this card especially when I can potentially get both. Make sure you pick up a colorless source so that you can double dip.
Dreamtide Whale
Rating: 3.0/5
As long as your deck can support this then you’ll be living the dream while smashing in hard. You were probably planning on double spelling anyway so you’ll be able to keep this around. It even triggers off of your opponent double spelling so it limits them a bit as well.
Electrozoa
Rating: 2.0/5
Even in a dedicated energy deck, having to pay an energy whenever you want to attack with this is a bit much. It’s a nice option to have though when you’re on the offense. I see this more likely as flashing in to trade with a creature while leaving you two energy behind.
Emrakul’s Messenger
Rating: 3.0/5
I’ve never had a problem with dropping a two-power flyer for two mana. I’ve also never had a problem drawing extra cards in a blue deck so this will probably get you a couple of triggers as well. Combine both and this has a plenty going for it.
Flare of Denial
Rating: 2.5/5
It’s time to look at the usual Cancel variant of the format. I like counters in higher powered formats (which this happens to be) so I’d be running this anyway. Being able to play a key counter without any mana up is a great bonus even if it involves sacrificing a creature.
Harbinger of the Seas
Rating: 0.5/5
Not a limited card, but not completely unfathomable if your options are a nineteenth land or a hard to cast Grey Ogre. Alright, pretty close to unfathomable.
Hope-Ender Coatl
Rating: 3.5/5
It’s going to feel hopeless when you get donked with this on turn three. Seriously, it’s probably going to be the most demoralizing thing to happen in the format. A wind drake with flash might just be ok, but the possibility of completely wrecking them makes this great.
Hydroelectric Specimen
Rating: 3.0/5
I am once again telling you that MDFCs are great cards because they are taking up land spots. This also has a lot of utility by making them target this with a removal spell instead of a much better creature. It can even surprise eat something with one toughness that thought it has a clear path to poke in some damage.
Petrifying Meddler
Rating: 3.0/5
Someone might want to test Frost Lynx for PEDs cuz they showed up to training camp looking jacked with a few noticeable side effects. Shutting down another creature for a couple of turns while adding a massive body to the field feels great. I’m just sad that they changed the reach animation on Arena or this would have been eating creatures like the rent was due.
Roil Cartographer
Rating: 3.5/5
A cheap energy generator that gives you it for doing something you were going to be doing anyway. Depending on your deck, you might even be using this as a card advantage machine. This will be a key card for a deck focused on energy.
Sage of the Unknowable
Rating: 2.0/5
I really want this card if I am in a deck based around dropping Eldrazi and casting devoid spells. It’s pretty janky in any other deck so you should be able to pick them up later if that’s your game plan.
Serum Visionary
Rating: 3.0/5
This is certainly exciting for a common. It combines a bear with a Serum Visions which is going to be insane in limited.
I wonder if this will be one of those cards that people don’t realize is nuts right away and you end up with six in a deck week one. It certainly won’t be happening later in the format.
Shadow of the Second Sun
Rating: 3.0/5
This is kind of pricy, but getting an extra untap and draw step every turn can pull you ahead insanely quickly. Just make sure you are packing plenty of instant speed stuff to make it worthwhile.
Sink into Stupor
Rating: 3.0/5
Another MDFC that has a perfectly reasonable card on the front. Step one: take these Step two: profit
Strix Serenade
Rating: 1.0/5
This is a constructed plant. Giving your opponent a 2/2 flying creature isn’t a winning play in limited unless it is doing something ridiculous in return. This ain’t it.
Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student
Rating: 4.0/5
This is pretty insane when you drop it on turn one to start stacking a pile of clues. There are even enough bestow cards or +1+1 counters running around to make her an actual threat in the air. Even late in the game she can still help you get a clue about winning.
You may have noticed that I haven’t even discussed her backside. It’s actually not too difficult to flip since you can either pop a couple of clues or just play Brainsurge (interestingly enough you can do that at instant speed to protect her from removal). Nothing personal against the planeswalker, but there are going to be plenty of times that you don’t want to flip it.
Tamiyo Meets the Story Circle
Rating: 2.0/5
A slow card advantage machine that a hard-core control deck would love.
Tempest Harvester
Rating: 2.5/5
I look at a lot of these cards as a great source of energy for my bigger energy shenanigans. That means that I will drastically adjust my value on them mid draft based on what I have going on. Bump it up if most of your deck is based around that. If it’s just a 2/1 that can loot twice, it’s a bit lower.
Triton Wavebreaker
Rating: 2.5/5
I’ve already talked about how bestow creatures outperform their expectations and this one is no exception. As expected with any prowess creatures, this is at its best with multiple cheap instants to wreak havoc in combat with.
Tune the Narrative
Rating: 3.0/5
This might seem a little high for a one mana cantrip, but the possible synergies with this card are off the charts. Getting two energy thrown in basically for free is a huge deal. Trust me, you should probably be taking this higher than you were planning to.
Ugin’s Binding
Rating: 1.5/5
I won’t be playing this if I don’t have a way to trigger the second part, but the value goes up drastically as soon as you have two or three ways to do it.
Unfathomable Truths
Rating: 2.5/5
This being instant speed is a huge deal since you don’t have to give up blocking with Sage of the Unknowable to cast it. The little chump blocker or mana ramper thrown in is the cherry on top.
Utter Insignificance
Rating: 2.5/5
This can be a removal spell that is either expensive or tricky to use. It’s cheap enough and flashy so I’m still going to be happy to be running this.
Volatile Stormdrake
Rating: 3.0/5
You really need other energy generators to make this do some real work. Giving them a 3/2 flyer isn’t high on my list of things to do so you need to snag a real winner to make it worth it.
Wrap Up
Blue looks like an interesting color with lots of energy-based cards to do crazy things with. You can also go the devoid/eldrazi route with it. While there are a lot of generically powerful cards, it feels like you want to make sure you are sticking to your side of the blue lane to maximize your profits.
Thanks for reading! I’ll be back soon with my limited review of the black cards from Modern Horizons 3. Until then, stay classy people!
If you have any questions, let me know in the comments below.
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