Modern Horizons 3 (MH3) Limited Set Review: Red

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 11^th.  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)

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Aether Revolt

Rating: 4.0/5

I can’t wait to build around this card. I am going to do some revolting things with it.

While it does take some building around it, asking someone to build a deck that makes energy and has stuff go to the graveyard is a pretty small ask. I shouldn’t have to say this, but don’t play it in a deck that doesn’t make a bunch of energy.

This can either control the board or just go upstairs to the dome to finish them off. Imagine if Tune the Narrative dealt four damage to any target on top of what it normally does and you’ll have an idea of what this can do. There are a whole bunch of energy cards in this set and turning them into cheap Flametongue Kavus is going to be pretty sick.

Amped Raptor

Rating: 3.5/5

I’m amped to sick this dino on my opponent. A 2/1 first strike for two that also gives you two energy is already a card that is always going to make the cut. Possibly getting another two drop out of it on turn two is disgusting. Imagine if you already played Tune the Narrative (I keep bringing this card up so that you realize how busted it is in this set) and get to play a four drop off of this. One free trip to bad beatsville for your poor opponent.

Ashling, Flame Dancer

Rating: 3.5/5

Casting two instants or sorceries in a turn will put a serious hurting on your opponent’s side. The looting is a nice way to dig for more and this lets you jump way up on mana if you hit that third one.

Detective’s Phoenix

Rating: 4.5/5

The basic part of this isn’t anything to write home about, it’s just a hasty Wind Drake. Getting to keep bringing it back as a bestow enchantment creature (that also dies right back into that Wind Drake if they kill the target) is where the real value is. It doesn’t take a detective to figure out how good this is.

Eldrazi Linebreaker

Rating: 3.5/5

You’re probably wondering why I have a card that seems this good, this low.

Here is where we have to talk about the big difference between it casting colorless mana and something like this that costs “colorless mana”. You can use any mana to pay for the generic colorless part of this, but the “colorless” part of it requires specifically colorless. That’s a huge difference and you need lands that tap for that or cards that produce it such as Sage of the Unknowable. You can also get that mana from sacrificing an Eldrazi Spawn token.

Now that I’ve gone over all that, you have to usually look at this like you are splashing it because of that. That makes it far less likely that you are going to be casting this on curve. Now if you are loaded up on colorless sources, then this can go way up. If you have no colorless sources, then it is unplayable.

Sigh, I wrote all that and I didn’t even get to put a joke about this being an Eldrazi Linebacker.

Fanged Flames

Rating: 3.0/5

Two mana for a four-damage removal spell is really good even at sorcery speed. Exiling is just a nice bonus.

Flare of Duplication

Rating: 1.5/5

Fork type spells haven’t been all the rage in quite a while. They do have some more upside in a high-powered environment such as this and they often won’t be expecting it since it can be free. I’d still be hesitant to run it.

Frogmyr Enforcer

Rating: 1.0/5

The OG Myr Enforcer was a house back in Mirrodin, this is a straight upgrade that is significantly worse because of the set that it is in. There are no artifact lands running around to make this dirt cheap quickly. There is also the huge difference between a vanilla 4/4 then and now. Even if you have three artifacts out and drop this for four mana, shouldn’t a 4/4 for four have a relevant ability instead of a drawback these days.

Furnace Hellkite

Rating: 3.0/5

Now this is a much better deal on a creature with Affinity for Artifacts. Even having one artifact means that this is a Shivan Dragon which might not dominate like the olden days, but is still a must deal with threat. Once you get this down to five or even four mana, it’s a fantastic deal.

It does drop off fast as you have less artifacts, becoming almost unplayable if you somehow have none.

Galvanic Discharge

Rating: 3.5/5

You really can’t ever go wrong with Lightning Bolt even if it can’t go face. Instant speed with the potential to move up or down the scale is a fabulous deal for one mana.

Ghostfire Slice

Rating: 3.5/5

Now this one can go face and do a whopping four damage. You’ll feel like you got away with something if you ever get to cast this for one mana, but it’s still really good at the full rate.

Glimpse the Impossible

Rating: 2.5/5

This reads really janky, but I feel like it has a lot of potential. Even casting this turn three to make three Eldrazi spawn can lead to a huge next turn especially in an artifact or Eldrazi deck. Later on, you’ll probably end up with a land, a real card, and a spawn which is just fine.

Infernal Captor

Rating: 2.5/5

It’s a Threaten on a stick and while a Hill Giant isn’t a great fall back, it’s better than nothing when you are on the defensive. There are also plenty of tokens running around to sacrifice to this and plenty of ways to sacrifice their creature when you are done with it.

Similar to most Threaten effects, it’ll have times that it is backbreaking and times that it does very little.

Inventor’s Axe

Rating: 1.5/5

I’m not really a fan of a Bonesplitter that requires energy to equip. That’s an actual resource that will usually have way better uses for it then reequipping this.

It is still a cheap artifact that also gives energy if you don’t reequip it. That sort of supports two themes without being great at either. It still does have a place in some decks since the first equip is free.

Mogg Mob

Rating: 1.5/5

Would love this card at R2 and would like it at RR1. At triple red, it’s not my jam unless I am close to mono red. In that case build your mob of mobs and go to town.

Molten Gatekeeper

Rating: 2.5/5

These pings can add up especially when you drop some of the spells that make multiple tokens. It is a bit understatted, but the unearth makes up for it a bit. You won’t be disappointed in a deck looking for a bit of reach to finish the game.

Party Thrasher

Rating: 3.5/5

Pitching your worst card to choose the best in your top two with the bonus of being able to convoke it in can help build your board up in a hurry. I am also appreciative that it triggers during mainphase and not upkeep so you can take your drawstep first.

Pinnacle Monk

Rating: 3.0/5

Prowess helps with how tiny this monk starts out, but you also already got an extra card out of playing it. Of course, it can also just be a land so it’s great overall.

Phyrexian Ironworks

Rating: 2.5/5

It is kind of slow to build up energy with this, but it’s better than nothing. Being able to turn your extra energy into 3/3s is the real deal here so this is entirely dependent on your deck being able to do that.

Powerbalance

Rating: 0.0/5

Just don’t. In life I tend to tell people to “Do it for the story!”, this is not one of those times.

Ral, Monsoon Mage

Rating: 3.0/5

I really want to be playing this in an Izzet spells deck. It’s extremely good in that type of deck and pretty mid in generic red decks. That type of deck is the most likely to benefit from the discount and flip it early. You can put the ability on the stack and cast another instant (or two) so that you get to start off with more loyalty when he flips.

Having blue also means that the damage is letting you cast Electrolyze instead of Chandra's Pyrohelix. There is a massive difference in that.

Ral and the Implicit Maze

Rating: 4.0/5

This does a ton for an uncommon, seriously feels more like a rare to me. The potential to mini sweep only your opponent’s side, followed by some card advantage, followed by a Spellgorger Weird is so much out of one card.

I want to call it a mythic uncommon and I’ve spent way too much time going back and forth about the grade. The real concern is how well the sweep will line up against some decks.

Reckless Pyrosurfer

Rating: 3.0/5

There are a bunch of sacrifice lands running around that let you double dip on the battle cry portion of this to let your side get crazy. Outside of that, it is a perfectly reasonable bear with haste. Great card, that is premium for a go wide aggressive deck.

Reiterating Bolt

Rating: 3.5/5

Three damage for two mana is fine even at sorcery speed, but you should drop it down a bit if you can’t replicate it. If you can kick in some energy, this gets real crazy, real quick.

Sarpadian Simulacrum

Rating: 1.5/5

Poor Raging Goblin can’t get a break these days even if it does have a couple things going for it. Being an artifact does matter for some decks, but the price to pop it is a bit too much for something that will be doing almost nothing on the board otherwise.

Siege Smash

Rating: 1.5/5

Split second is interesting on a combat trick to prevent getting wrecked in response. I just feel like I can be doing better than this in this format even if it does give me the fallback to pop off an artifact. I’ll probably be playing one, but not more than that.

Skittering Precursor

Rating: 2.5/5

I’m happy with a 3/3 menace for three in any deck trying to beatdown. I don’t know how often I am going to get to trigger the ability, but it’s not very relevant to the value of this.

Skoa, Embermage

Rating: 2.5/5

Clearly a throwback to Fireblast. (One time I tapped six mountains and sacked them all to quad Fireblast a guy who was at 16 when he tapped out of his Circle of Protection: Red)

It is nice to still be able to do something if you draw a second of this legendary common creature, but you’re probably not running multiples at this cost. A nice top end card to either finish them off or clear the way.

Smelted Chargebug

Rating: 2.5/5

I’m assuming that you’re playing an energy deck with this grade. It’s a way to force through some extra damage, but also a cheap way to get a couple of energy to do some other shenanigans.

Spawn-Gang Commander

Rating: 4.0/5

We all remember how sick Siege-Gang Commander was in limited (at least those of us in the retirement home do) and this is similar.

The big thing holding this back is that you really need colorless sources to take advantage of this. If you’re sacrificing the spawn tokens to pay for the colorless part of the ability, you are losing out on a Shock every time. I’d say that you can bump this up if you already have some colorless sources, but there aren’t many cards you’d pass this for anyway.

Sundering Eruption

Rating: 2.5/5

The destroying a land doesn’t really matter with this since they get to replace it. It’s mostly just a land that can also end games after your opponent thinks they stabilized.

Thriving Skyclaw

Rating: 2.0/5

If you’re the beatdown then this is functionally a 4/3 flyer for four with options built in. You could use this energy for something else or keep pumping up the jams. I like cards that give me options.

Unstable Amulet

Rating: 2.5/5

Keep in mind that this grade is if you are playing it in a deck that can pump out extra energy. I don’t really want this otherwise even if it does “cycle”. I guess it could be in consideration in an artifact deck that leaves something extra after you replace itself.

Voidpouncer

Rating: 2.5/5

I like the versatility this offers as sort of a new age Kavu Titan even though it hits like a Skizzik when it’s kicked. Can you tell I really enjoyed the IPA days?

It is held back by the need for colorless mana. I know there are multiple sources available, but some people have been talking like it’s a guarantee that you get to both draft them and draw them on curve. It is a real cost and you do have to adjust for that.

Wheel of Potential

Rating: 0.5/5

Symmetrical card draw spells are fairly bad in normal limited. This can’t even force them to discard if their hand is great. The only potential this has is to get rare drafted by someone trying to complete their collection.

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Wrap Up

Similar to Black, Red has a ton of very high-quality removal. It is also split up into cards that go into artifact decks and energy-based cards. There is some serious variance in the rare quality with some real stinkers thrown in there.

Thanks for reading! I’ll be back tomorrow with my Prerelease and Sealed guide followed the next day by my limited review of the Green 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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