Commander Horizons 3, I mean Modern Horizons 3 is almost here! The next supplemental set promising new powerful cards and refreshed cards from the past is bound to have some goodies for your Commander decks. Just like standard releases, singles are available for pickup at Pre-Release starting June 7th.
Like other top 10 articles we’ve shared, we’ll skip over Legendary Creatures in favor of cards that can be broadly used and enjoyed. Let’s dive right into the exciting new cards that are sure to create some awesome memories.
1. Ocelot Pride
Token decks love to make more tokens, and getting Ascend will be almost guaranteed. Creating an extra copy of each token that entered the battlefield this turn could be a very large amount of tokens. All you need to manage is getting that life gain trigger every turn.
2. Flare of Denial
Flare of Denial (along with Flare of Fortitude, Flare of Cultivation and Flare of Duplicationin this free cycle) are very strong cards. Mostly free versions of Force of Will, Teferi’s Protection lite and Explosive Vegetation are not things to shy away from (yes, the impact of Explosive Vegetation here pales in comparison but ramp is still really good). This cycle will be sure to add quite a bit of Flare to your next game.
3. Strix Serenade
One mana counterspells can usually find a home in Commander, even with stipulations. As a nice call back to Swan Song (even giving the player a 2/2 Bird token), Strix Serenade complements and covers some other spell types. I’m certain we’ll see many more Bird tokens in the near future.
4. Chthonian Nightmare
Have you ever wanted to play Recurring Nightmare, but haven’t been able to come to grips with its solidified place on the Commander ban list?Well with Chthonian Nightmare (and some hoops), you can! This card is a slam dunk in Energy decks (which there will be more of, I’m sure). If your deck isn’t Energy focus it will be more of a moonshot and require some larger changes to make work, but could make for a strong engine in Aristocrats decks, especially if paired with Aetherworks Marvel and Guide of Souls.
5. Marionette Apprentice
Zulaport Cutthroat and Psychomancer without the lifegain, but a friend that comes along is a solid trade for one more Aristocrat Creature. Naturally, you’ll start to see Marionette Apprentice everywhere you see Zulaport Cutthroat and the other usual Aristocrat suspects.
6. Warren Soultrader
Phyrexian Altar is a very powerful card, and even a weaker at home version will still do significant work. Warren Soultrader also creates Treasures instead which synergizes with Marionette Apprentice (and others). You will need to pay 1 life for every sacrifice, but there are many ways to offset that to make this card an all star in your Sacrifice decks.
7. Birthing Ritual
Just like other cards in this Top 10 list, Birthing Ritual is another callback to a great card: Birthing Pod. This Enchantment can come down earlier in the game and gives some added flexibility in getting a lower cost Creature. I’m excited to see what this will do in decks that have a lot of low mana value Creatures.
8. Springheart Nantuko
Springheart Nantuko reminds me of Bramble Sovereign in essence, but functions quite differently. It has to be attached to a Creature via Bestow, so you're limited in what you can copy. But on the other hand, the trigger reactivates on Landfall, meaning you could make an army of, I don’t know, Scute Swarms?
9. Wight of the Reliquary
Knight of the Reliquary was a powerhouse in Modern years ago and now Wight of the Reliquary is posed to be a powerhouse inCommander decks that care about sacrificing Creatures. Even though pairing this Wight with Field of the Dead won’t increase its power, the repeatable Ramp far outweighs that loss. This will be a target for removal, so be ready to equip it with some Lightning Greaves or Lavaspur Boots.
10. Shifting Woodland
Do you have fun Enchantments, Artifacts or big Creatures your pesky opponents keep destroying? Well do we have a land for you, Shifting Woodland gives you a second chance at using your fun cards as long as you have Delirium. This Land is bound to be a Commander staple.
Honourable Mention: Landscapes
The auto fetch lands from Streets of New Capenna were a huge boon to accessibility for multicolor Commander decks. The Landscape cycle from Modern Horizons 3 promises to do the same. They are not more limited in terms of which decks they can be included in with the Cycling ability giving them color identities, but they also have Cycling making them a bit better in the late game. Being at common these will be plentiful and allow for more players to create affordable manabases for 3+ color decks (which are a lot of fun!).
With Modern Horizons 3 right around the corner there are tonnes of new cards to add to our decks! There are even more in the full catalog, so I'd recommend digging in and seeing what other gems you can find for your decks. There are some great MDFCs and interesting new Commanders to build around not covered by this Top 10 list. I hope you found this list helpful and are as excited about Modern Horizons 3 as I am!
Were there any cards you’re excited about that I missed? Let me know in the Chimera Gaming Discord, or reach me directly on Twitter.
Did you know we usually have 20 pods firing for Commander night on Tuesdays? Tables fill up fast and I hope to see you there!
