Sets (MH3/M3C) Modern Horizons 3 Testing and Includes Thread
- Thread starter TrainmasterGT
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Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
I ended up including…
Of those, I expect Shadow of the Second Sun to be cut again soon, potentially for Season of Weaving. It got drafted and fit the drafter’s deck perfectly, but they cut it from their final list regardless because it felt like too much of a slow and expensive win more card.
The Apprentice played as well as expected, it’s really great! I don’t know how good the Pteramander is yet, I regularly swap out my one mana ninja enablers, and this one happens to also bolster the artifact matters aggro decks.
Colossal Dreadmask was an unexpected delight at the prerelease for me. It’s really, really good at upgrading inconsequential threats, forcing villain to deal with one beatstick after another. Collective Resistance is a less glamorous sidegrade, but it’s super useful. Good car!
Last but not least, Horrid Shadowspinner is Psychatog’s replacement. The tog had the problem that it was a bit too explosive at times, and do-nothing at others. I like the Shadowspinner a lot more, because it’s more proactive, has lifelink (which is another tool to help the discard matters deck stabilize while setting up), and has a nice mini game going on where you can try to boost its power to increase the effect. I love it!
Of those, I expect Shadow of the Second Sun to be cut again soon, potentially for Season of Weaving. It got drafted and fit the drafter’s deck perfectly, but they cut it from their final list regardless because it felt like too much of a slow and expensive win more card.
The Apprentice played as well as expected, it’s really great! I don’t know how good the Pteramander is yet, I regularly swap out my one mana ninja enablers, and this one happens to also bolster the artifact matters aggro decks.
Colossal Dreadmask was an unexpected delight at the prerelease for me. It’s really, really good at upgrading inconsequential threats, forcing villain to deal with one beatstick after another. Collective Resistance is a less glamorous sidegrade, but it’s super useful. Good car!
Last but not least, Horrid Shadowspinner is Psychatog’s replacement. The tog had the problem that it was a bit too explosive at times, and do-nothing at others. I like the Shadowspinner a lot more, because it’s more proactive, has lifelink (which is another tool to help the discard matters deck stabilize while setting up), and has a nice mini game going on where you can try to boost its power to increase the effect. I love it!
Blasphemy!
I'll just say this much: there's a reason we needed Psychic Frog 
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
See, I tested the Frog, and it was busted! Not touching that card with a 10-foot pole for my cube!I'll just say this much: there's a reason we needed Psychic Frog
I'll just say this much: there's a reason we needed Psychic Frog
Power creep over the last five years? Or 15?
Try 20
And now we have Psychic Frog, too : )
I would like to make a guess. If we fast forward 23 years from now to 2046. Exactly the same amount of years since Psychatog from Odyssey.
My guess is people will remember Psychatog more than they will remember Psychic Frog. People will also have more and better memories from Psychatog.
My guess is people will remember Psychatog more than they will remember Psychic Frog. People will also have more and better memories from Psychatog.
Yeah I’m also not a huge fan of the WTWLF Cube
Here to stay:
Cards I'm personally excited about but which weren't quite slam dunks:
Cards that, when I saw what they did to constructed formats, I said 'wow, I actually super want this in my Cube':
As anyone can see, I'm pretty bullish on the MDFC lands and the nonbasic hate. Grist is the hardest of the new flipwalkers to support, but I do support his flip-condition, so I'm happy and excited to run all five of the new flip walkers. Some cards that are otherwise clear Cube wins don't work well enough with my flavour, though - the 'energy package' is too many cards in+out for a minor patch, a couple of the creatures felt off-theme for my version of Tarkir... I thought for a while about Birthing Ritual, too, but I want to see what it does in other cubes first before I buy a copy.
Cards I'm personally excited about but which weren't quite slam dunks:
Cards that, when I saw what they did to constructed formats, I said 'wow, I actually super want this in my Cube':
As anyone can see, I'm pretty bullish on the MDFC lands and the nonbasic hate. Grist is the hardest of the new flipwalkers to support, but I do support his flip-condition, so I'm happy and excited to run all five of the new flip walkers. Some cards that are otherwise clear Cube wins don't work well enough with my flavour, though - the 'energy package' is too many cards in+out for a minor patch, a couple of the creatures felt off-theme for my version of Tarkir... I thought for a while about Birthing Ritual, too, but I want to see what it does in other cubes first before I buy a copy.
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Alright, it's been nearly a year since MH3 released. I finally had my first cube draft in a while over the weekend (write-up coming at some point in the next month) and had a number of cards perform pretty well.
I'll cover my MH3 performers in depth as I remember things while writing up the draft re-cap, but what have people tested out and decided to keep/cut since MH3 came out?
I'll cover my MH3 performers in depth as I remember things while writing up the draft re-cap, but what have people tested out and decided to keep/cut since MH3 came out?
For my unpowered, low curving, synergy cube, there are a ton of goodies that are likely staples for a long time.
I decided to omit the MDFC lands from the cube, but there are some really strong ones if that's your thing.
White aggro
Slam dunk card at my power level. You can disrupt blockers or more often, blink your stuff while growing itself. Being able to flash it in at EOT to then blink a prototype card or an noncreature card is really strong.
I don't quite have enough +1/+1 counters stuff going on in my cube, but if I did, this guy would be insane. For your human theme, this will lead to some crazy turns.
These two together form a very strong combination, allowing you develop your board both wide and tall. Ocelot is a beast by itself and with any equipment/counter/aura it's even more ridiculous. Guide is a life buffer in racing situations and also provides buff + evasion for very little work.
Decided to cut them because
1. Energy
2. Snowballs too hard for one drops, putting too much pressure on the format and making it tough to go for the synergy decks I want to promote.
Sacrifice stuff
These two cards have made Black sacrifice strategies much less narrow and more interesting.
Fantastic glue card for artifacts, sacrifice, blink, counters and humans.
Might be my favorite card from MH3. Having a Phyrexian Altar on a body greatly diminishes how narrow it can be. It's a lot more than that though as you get an artifact for every sacrifice allowing a host of synergies. And it's a zombie for Gravecrawler for an obvious combo.
Might be a pet card of mine. I love how open ended it is as sacrificing something as unassuming as a fetch will generate mana or board presence. Crazy with stuff like Balance or Wildfire or alongside another sacrifice outlet for double triggers. The base body is a 3/3 menace for 3 which is perfectly reasonable.
Another pet card. "Draw" 3 for 3 is a great rate, but this can also be a ramp spell or a token producer. I need more instants/sorceries for Young Pyromancer and friends and I have liked this one quite a bit.
Complexity
I haven't tested any of the other flip walkers in this set (even though Ajani, Nacatl Pariah is an absolute beast), but this is great. It's a one mana creature that produces artifacts and flips into a reasonable walker for slower decks. I might cut it because it's a double face card, but I think it's one of the fun ones.
Great in theory, rough in practice. A 2 drop with GY hate and reanimation potential seems great. So is the fact that if you have counter synergies you can trigger it multiple times. However, with no reminder text for Adapt and Finality counters it gets confusing really fast.
Goyfs
I'm on the fence with this one. It's clearly good enough, it's just a question of what I want to support. Also annoyed that it only checks your GY whereas most other Goyfs check both, leading to some potential confusion.
The Goyfs in this set are insane. This one does everything Black wants with lifelink, selfmill and recursion. In fact it's a little too insane for my tastes as a 3/4 for 3 that fuels itself and gets something back while providing an 6 point life swing is too much. And that is with just creature/land/artifact or something. It can be considerably worse!
Another one I am avoiding for being too dominant for too little work even at higher power level. If it didn't have the last line of text about other Goyfs triggering it, I would enjoy it a lot more. With that line, a clone becomes bullshit IMO, another Goyf is BS too. I lump it with Gut, True-Soul Zealot and Broadside Bombardiers as Red threats that will just take over the game if answered.
GY stuff
Ok baseline, with the enchantment type helping with delirium. Granting haste and evasion for a single mana is very good, especially when you can play this from the GY. I have the LoTR one mana cyclers to help with the Bestow 6 among others which helps.
Probably the best threat in my cube. Grows big (++ with draw 7s), generates card advantage and can have evasion while stocking the GY. Could see this being cut for being too strong.
A plant for more controlling Boros decks. Helps stabilize and close games. While tough to get any GY action in White, Red is really good at it and some colorless cards help.
Took me a while to find a slot, but getting back any permanent and ramping in the process does a lot of work. Especially when the ramp is in creature form. One of the best self-mill options at that mana in Green.
This one I do not run, but can't really say why. Blocks all day, provides a lot of mana and can be cast from the GY.
Lands stuff
Love this guy because who knows what you are going to do with it. I made a few adjustments for Six (like Seal of Fire for a build your own Molten Vortex), but cycling away dead lands for gas is very strong while also filling the GY.
What a 2 drop for landfall. Makes tokens on the cheap, but also has the option of protecting it behind another creature and potentially getting some stupid boards.
Big two drop that tutors some of your best cards. Bloodghast makes it trivial to use the ability, but you can usually find fodder to sacrifice.
Ended up cutting this guy because I like other options more, but in a double fetchland format, it is plenty strong.
Utility lands
Really cool utility land. Looks like an expensive creature land, but then you copy a Bolas's Citadel you discarded and go off.
Included it, but haven't tested. Looks good on paper though as granting haste without going down on mana means you are hitting hard and surprising the opponent. Very good in Modern alongside Phlage for what it's worth and fun to be able to give two creatures haste with the one activation.
Haven't tested either, but this ties discard, counters and sacrifice. Tough to find room at 360(ish).
Whew! Forgot how many I had in the cube and somehow missed a few even then.
I decided to omit the MDFC lands from the cube, but there are some really strong ones if that's your thing.
White aggro
Slam dunk card at my power level. You can disrupt blockers or more often, blink your stuff while growing itself. Being able to flash it in at EOT to then blink a prototype card or an noncreature card is really strong.
I don't quite have enough +1/+1 counters stuff going on in my cube, but if I did, this guy would be insane. For your human theme, this will lead to some crazy turns.
These two together form a very strong combination, allowing you develop your board both wide and tall. Ocelot is a beast by itself and with any equipment/counter/aura it's even more ridiculous. Guide is a life buffer in racing situations and also provides buff + evasion for very little work.
Decided to cut them because
1. Energy
2. Snowballs too hard for one drops, putting too much pressure on the format and making it tough to go for the synergy decks I want to promote.
Sacrifice stuff
These two cards have made Black sacrifice strategies much less narrow and more interesting.
Fantastic glue card for artifacts, sacrifice, blink, counters and humans.
Might be my favorite card from MH3. Having a Phyrexian Altar on a body greatly diminishes how narrow it can be. It's a lot more than that though as you get an artifact for every sacrifice allowing a host of synergies. And it's a zombie for Gravecrawler for an obvious combo.
Might be a pet card of mine. I love how open ended it is as sacrificing something as unassuming as a fetch will generate mana or board presence. Crazy with stuff like Balance or Wildfire or alongside another sacrifice outlet for double triggers. The base body is a 3/3 menace for 3 which is perfectly reasonable.
Another pet card. "Draw" 3 for 3 is a great rate, but this can also be a ramp spell or a token producer. I need more instants/sorceries for Young Pyromancer and friends and I have liked this one quite a bit.
Complexity
I haven't tested any of the other flip walkers in this set (even though Ajani, Nacatl Pariah is an absolute beast), but this is great. It's a one mana creature that produces artifacts and flips into a reasonable walker for slower decks. I might cut it because it's a double face card, but I think it's one of the fun ones.
Great in theory, rough in practice. A 2 drop with GY hate and reanimation potential seems great. So is the fact that if you have counter synergies you can trigger it multiple times. However, with no reminder text for Adapt and Finality counters it gets confusing really fast.
Goyfs
I'm on the fence with this one. It's clearly good enough, it's just a question of what I want to support. Also annoyed that it only checks your GY whereas most other Goyfs check both, leading to some potential confusion.
The Goyfs in this set are insane. This one does everything Black wants with lifelink, selfmill and recursion. In fact it's a little too insane for my tastes as a 3/4 for 3 that fuels itself and gets something back while providing an 6 point life swing is too much. And that is with just creature/land/artifact or something. It can be considerably worse!
Another one I am avoiding for being too dominant for too little work even at higher power level. If it didn't have the last line of text about other Goyfs triggering it, I would enjoy it a lot more. With that line, a clone becomes bullshit IMO, another Goyf is BS too. I lump it with Gut, True-Soul Zealot and Broadside Bombardiers as Red threats that will just take over the game if answered.
GY stuff
Ok baseline, with the enchantment type helping with delirium. Granting haste and evasion for a single mana is very good, especially when you can play this from the GY. I have the LoTR one mana cyclers to help with the Bestow 6 among others which helps.
Probably the best threat in my cube. Grows big (++ with draw 7s), generates card advantage and can have evasion while stocking the GY. Could see this being cut for being too strong.
A plant for more controlling Boros decks. Helps stabilize and close games. While tough to get any GY action in White, Red is really good at it and some colorless cards help.
Took me a while to find a slot, but getting back any permanent and ramping in the process does a lot of work. Especially when the ramp is in creature form. One of the best self-mill options at that mana in Green.
This one I do not run, but can't really say why. Blocks all day, provides a lot of mana and can be cast from the GY.
Lands stuff
Love this guy because who knows what you are going to do with it. I made a few adjustments for Six (like Seal of Fire for a build your own Molten Vortex), but cycling away dead lands for gas is very strong while also filling the GY.
What a 2 drop for landfall. Makes tokens on the cheap, but also has the option of protecting it behind another creature and potentially getting some stupid boards.
Big two drop that tutors some of your best cards. Bloodghast makes it trivial to use the ability, but you can usually find fodder to sacrifice.
Ended up cutting this guy because I like other options more, but in a double fetchland format, it is plenty strong.
Utility lands
Really cool utility land. Looks like an expensive creature land, but then you copy a Bolas's Citadel you discarded and go off.
Included it, but haven't tested. Looks good on paper though as granting haste without going down on mana means you are hitting hard and surprising the opponent. Very good in Modern alongside Phlage for what it's worth and fun to be able to give two creatures haste with the one activation.
Haven't tested either, but this ties discard, counters and sacrifice. Tough to find room at 360(ish).
Whew! Forgot how many I had in the cube and somehow missed a few even then.
Lots of good choices there, of the cards you've highlighted I'm currently running the following:
Yeah, I think I'm out on the two white drops for the exact reasons you've mentioned. I just hate Energy as a mechanic and Ocelot Pride is just really dumb to see in action with how quickly it snowballs. At least Ragavan is pretty much neutralized with any blocker on the ground that can trade. Pride just accrues value so quickly and I don't really want even more token variety if I can help it.
Marionette Apprentice is awesome, it finally supplanted Blood Artist in my list. I still think it's the best overall for what it can create in certain boardstates, but with the proliferation of these effects including the likes of Vraan, Executioner Thane and already having Zulaport Cutthroat it felt like it was about time. An 0/1 with a non-relevant creature type is pretty dinky. Apprentice having a more relevant creature typing and branching into artifact pings (wombo combo with Gravecrawler and Warren Soultrader also!) makes it very appealing to try out.
The Goyfs have been pretty sweet, saw Nethergoyf in action the other day where I had to fire off an early Red Sun's Zenith to deal with it before it chunked in for 6+ damage. This updated suite of recursive creatures has me looking back into more burn options that can exile as well. What I really want is an instant speed Incendiary Flow. Pyrogoyf will be on a watchlist because I am wary of something that can go to the face for 4-5 consistently.
Those lands look like good options for me to toss into the Utility Land Draft, should be fun to see in action next draft. I'm definitely going to keep the Evangel in mind but man white 2 and 3 drops have gotten so tight in recent years. Making those cuts is always tough unless I'm swapping in a similar piece for greater synergies (ala Apprentice for Blood Artist). Horizon sets in general are so difficult to account for since it feels like there's always 12-14 cards that I want to try out.
Yeah, I think I'm out on the two white drops for the exact reasons you've mentioned. I just hate Energy as a mechanic and Ocelot Pride is just really dumb to see in action with how quickly it snowballs. At least Ragavan is pretty much neutralized with any blocker on the ground that can trade. Pride just accrues value so quickly and I don't really want even more token variety if I can help it.
Marionette Apprentice is awesome, it finally supplanted Blood Artist in my list. I still think it's the best overall for what it can create in certain boardstates, but with the proliferation of these effects including the likes of Vraan, Executioner Thane and already having Zulaport Cutthroat it felt like it was about time. An 0/1 with a non-relevant creature type is pretty dinky. Apprentice having a more relevant creature typing and branching into artifact pings (wombo combo with Gravecrawler and Warren Soultrader also!) makes it very appealing to try out.
The Goyfs have been pretty sweet, saw Nethergoyf in action the other day where I had to fire off an early Red Sun's Zenith to deal with it before it chunked in for 6+ damage. This updated suite of recursive creatures has me looking back into more burn options that can exile as well. What I really want is an instant speed Incendiary Flow. Pyrogoyf will be on a watchlist because I am wary of something that can go to the face for 4-5 consistently.
Those lands look like good options for me to toss into the Utility Land Draft, should be fun to see in action next draft. I'm definitely going to keep the Evangel in mind but man white 2 and 3 drops have gotten so tight in recent years. Making those cuts is always tough unless I'm swapping in a similar piece for greater synergies (ala Apprentice for Blood Artist). Horizon sets in general are so difficult to account for since it feels like there's always 12-14 cards that I want to try out.
WHAT WAS I SMOKING?? - AN MH3 RETROSPECTIVE
Many magic the gathering players have complicated opinions about the Modern Horizons sets in general and MH3 specifically. Designs like Tamiyo and Psychic Frog lost a bit of their luster once they started impacting "real" formats like Legacy and Vintage.
Cards in my cube rn:
Cards I've since cut for reasons of rate: Phelia, Phlage, Tamiyo, Psychic Frog, Ajani, Nethergoyf
Cards whose play pattern I recognize is dogshit but which I adore anyway: Nadu
Dodged bullets: the energy package
Flavour misalignment on an A+ design: Malevolent Rumble
Highlighted set mechanics:
The evoke elementals: A. This is how you push free spells. By comparison with the Flare cycle, these weren't even in the same conference room as the idea of 'restraint'. Grief is nuts, Solitude is nuts, Fury is nuts, Endurance steals wins, Subtlety is nuts. But unlike instant or sorcery free spells, these have the buyout of getting a creature AND the effect if you pay MSRP, and that leads us to ending the game and shuffling up again, and I think that's good. I'm a noted free spells enjoyer though.
Flip walkers: B. They're there on rate, and there's enough of a power band between them that one could convincingly cut Ajani and Tamiyo while having pleasant games of Magic where Sorin of House Markov is on the table. I started with all five and now run none of them; Tamiyo is a scourge in the formats I adore and Ajani is, like, some bullshit. My decision to cut all of them on rate (for various rationales) speaks for my impression of their ability to slot into a random Cube and be fine. HOWEVER they are a thrilling return to the Magic Origins flip-walker mechanic, and the card designs themselves shine in isolation.
Ascend: D. a mediocre mechanic meets its match in MH3 misery: Ocelot Pride. What a piece of shit.
Energy: This is an S or a D, I think. In a cube built around all the energy enablers and role-players, it's a compelling additional resource to manage and exploit. But that's not really how it plays out - instead, we get Guide of Souls going wide and tall at once, for one mana, anothing Lightning Bolt variant, but in the cube where it's omnipresent, there's the dizzyingly cheap wrath. Since the cards are self-contained, to some degree, I couldn't give this an F, but I want to.
MDFC lands: S. Not only are they in my cube still, two years out, these designs were selected immaculately. The conditional removal is relevant when you need it; the double strike granter has a higher floor than any other berserkers style buff ever printed; Waterlogged Teachings is a one-card Constructed wincon (with Sublime Epiphany in Omnitell) that ETB's as a tapped land in the 98% of games it isn't critical to. That's just where I want my modal spells to be, and I'm buoyed by my bullish evaluation of them during spoiler season.
Ugin's Labyrinth: A. This is how you do it.
The rest of the Eldrazi package: B. Kozilek's Command and Sowing Mycospawn are messed up rectangles, and Writhing Chrysalis remains a Pauper powerhouse. With a broad toolbox of options, MH3 revitalized the Eldrazi scourge in Constructed. Do I enjoy getting turn two Mycospawn'd and Strip Mine'd? Not quite! But I really like what this set did for our colourless guys par excellence. The Titans are sick. HOWEVER. Devoid. What a stinker of a mechanic. Devoid gets an F.
AffinityKappa Cannoneer: F. "Blastoise" is one of the shittiest designs ever handed off to the printers. The numbers are a mess, this thing is a broken affinity threat that gets Commander sized at a 60-card mana cost. Ward 4 is high enough as to read Hexproof - except it's even more insulting against red removal; you're already two-for-one'ing yourself to burn down this big/big asshole and now you get taxed eight fucking mana for the privilege. The templating is a mess, too: why does the creature with summoning sickness grant itself unblockable? Why does it get unblockable? Absurd. Why does it give itself a counter for free? Even if you like Affinity you must hate this piece of shit for homogenizing your faves into Blastoise Slop Pile.
Harbinger of the Seas: While I'm handing out F's, here's another one.
Vexing Bauble: D. Expectations were that this was going to save us from force of will-backed combo decks in the broken formats; it immediately led to the dominance of combo decks running 4 Vexing Bauble to turn off Hero's Force of Will. Nightmare design, initially unassuming, and the minigame of saccing it on your own turn so you can evoke Grief and then play another one is, to put it kindly, tedious.
The Flare cycle: C. These see some quite niche play in Constructed, far less than we initially expected. It's a free spell, how fair could it be? It turns out remarkably so, and I definitely respect the designers' restraint.
Emerge: B. Crabomination is a joy; Herigast sparks joy; you didn't even remember that there's a third one. Alternate casting costs rule, discounting mana fucking rules, and the payoffs are exciting.
Two years later, what's your read on MH3?
Many magic the gathering players have complicated opinions about the Modern Horizons sets in general and MH3 specifically. Designs like Tamiyo and Psychic Frog lost a bit of their luster once they started impacting "real" formats like Legacy and Vintage.
Cards in my cube rn:
Cards I've since cut for reasons of rate: Phelia, Phlage, Tamiyo, Psychic Frog, Ajani, Nethergoyf
Cards whose play pattern I recognize is dogshit but which I adore anyway: Nadu
Dodged bullets: the energy package
Flavour misalignment on an A+ design: Malevolent Rumble
Highlighted set mechanics:
The evoke elementals: A. This is how you push free spells. By comparison with the Flare cycle, these weren't even in the same conference room as the idea of 'restraint'. Grief is nuts, Solitude is nuts, Fury is nuts, Endurance steals wins, Subtlety is nuts. But unlike instant or sorcery free spells, these have the buyout of getting a creature AND the effect if you pay MSRP, and that leads us to ending the game and shuffling up again, and I think that's good. I'm a noted free spells enjoyer though.
Flip walkers: B. They're there on rate, and there's enough of a power band between them that one could convincingly cut Ajani and Tamiyo while having pleasant games of Magic where Sorin of House Markov is on the table. I started with all five and now run none of them; Tamiyo is a scourge in the formats I adore and Ajani is, like, some bullshit. My decision to cut all of them on rate (for various rationales) speaks for my impression of their ability to slot into a random Cube and be fine. HOWEVER they are a thrilling return to the Magic Origins flip-walker mechanic, and the card designs themselves shine in isolation.
Ascend: D. a mediocre mechanic meets its match in MH3 misery: Ocelot Pride. What a piece of shit.
Energy: This is an S or a D, I think. In a cube built around all the energy enablers and role-players, it's a compelling additional resource to manage and exploit. But that's not really how it plays out - instead, we get Guide of Souls going wide and tall at once, for one mana, anothing Lightning Bolt variant, but in the cube where it's omnipresent, there's the dizzyingly cheap wrath. Since the cards are self-contained, to some degree, I couldn't give this an F, but I want to.
MDFC lands: S. Not only are they in my cube still, two years out, these designs were selected immaculately. The conditional removal is relevant when you need it; the double strike granter has a higher floor than any other berserkers style buff ever printed; Waterlogged Teachings is a one-card Constructed wincon (with Sublime Epiphany in Omnitell) that ETB's as a tapped land in the 98% of games it isn't critical to. That's just where I want my modal spells to be, and I'm buoyed by my bullish evaluation of them during spoiler season.
Ugin's Labyrinth: A. This is how you do it.
The rest of the Eldrazi package: B. Kozilek's Command and Sowing Mycospawn are messed up rectangles, and Writhing Chrysalis remains a Pauper powerhouse. With a broad toolbox of options, MH3 revitalized the Eldrazi scourge in Constructed. Do I enjoy getting turn two Mycospawn'd and Strip Mine'd? Not quite! But I really like what this set did for our colourless guys par excellence. The Titans are sick. HOWEVER. Devoid. What a stinker of a mechanic. Devoid gets an F.
Harbinger of the Seas: While I'm handing out F's, here's another one.
Vexing Bauble: D. Expectations were that this was going to save us from force of will-backed combo decks in the broken formats; it immediately led to the dominance of combo decks running 4 Vexing Bauble to turn off Hero's Force of Will. Nightmare design, initially unassuming, and the minigame of saccing it on your own turn so you can evoke Grief and then play another one is, to put it kindly, tedious.
The Flare cycle: C. These see some quite niche play in Constructed, far less than we initially expected. It's a free spell, how fair could it be? It turns out remarkably so, and I definitely respect the designers' restraint.
Emerge: B. Crabomination is a joy; Herigast sparks joy; you didn't even remember that there's a third one. Alternate casting costs rule, discounting mana fucking rules, and the payoffs are exciting.
Two years later, what's your read on MH3?
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Great cards
Still playing but could be cut at any time
Overrated
Even when I played with fetchlands, this dude just never worked how I wanted them to. The sacrifice trigger is just too annoying along with non-token, and red rarely cares about accelerating mana so the 0/1s usually just delayed the inevitable. (Anax, Hardened in the Forge meanwhile has been a bit stronk in comparison.)
Still playing but could be cut at any time
Overrated
Even when I played with fetchlands, this dude just never worked how I wanted them to. The sacrifice trigger is just too annoying along with non-token, and red rarely cares about accelerating mana so the 0/1s usually just delayed the inevitable. (Anax, Hardened in the Forge meanwhile has been a bit stronk in comparison.)
Honestly I think MH3 has gotta rank as one of the worst sets of all time if you grade on the "they should've known better by now" curve. An absolute deluge of busted threats that are now ubiquitous in every format and make every game about themselves. I played in my first ever Legacy event some time over the summer and going in I was like "oh no there's probably gonna be a bunch of cards and interactions I don't know" but actually nevermind it's fine because its just MH3 block constructed featuring Swords to Plowshares. Tamiyo is miserable, Ajani is miserable, Guide is miserable, wall of text cards that snowball out of control from the word go and now I have to play with them in every other game of Magic I sit down for. And to top of it off we got features for some of corniest mechanics of the 2010s that nobody* was asking for. Welcome back Devoid and Energy. Wow awesome.
Terrible set.
*I know.
Terrible set.
*I know.
I think the funny/sad thing about MH3 is that there are some pretty cool cards in there, it's just that they're wildly overshadowed by the broken nonsense that they really should've caught.
I like these ones though:
Then there are a few that I like the idea of, but haven't thought of an appropriate context for:
Also, I had forgotten that two of the five planeswalker origin sagas are slow creature cheat cards, with the standout cool guy being
...
I'm honestly a little surprised that there aren't any blue cards that really speak to me from MH3, because that wasn't the case for MH1 or MH2.
I like these ones though:
Then there are a few that I like the idea of, but haven't thought of an appropriate context for:
Also, I had forgotten that two of the five planeswalker origin sagas are slow creature cheat cards, with the standout cool guy being
...
I'm honestly a little surprised that there aren't any blue cards that really speak to me from MH3, because that wasn't the case for MH1 or MH2.
This thread makes me a little sad, because it was the beginning of the end for me in some ways. It's the set that ultimately forced me to de-power my Cube significantly ~18 months ago, and paradoxically, made me lean more towards modern designs to do so while maintaining the kind of gameplay that reflects a souped-up version of modern retail limited. I am still running 28 cards from this set in my Cube (though ten of those are the landscapes), but that includes nearly half of my power outliers.
This was really the biggest issue with the set, for me at least. I was stoked to have more takes on Goyf of all sorts. If this were the only Goyf in my Cube and I removed all copy effects and clones, I could still keep it, as its exactly what I'd want a modern FTK to be today, but it ended up being beyond busted. Barrowgoyf is similarly too strong, but I think it works well thematically as black's premiere creature in my Cube, and limiting its card advantage to hitting a player is a real cost.
But this card was a real awakening for me.
The MDFCs were great, but I'm trying to move away from them, and even normal flip cards wherever possible. I am stubbornly keeping Sorin of House Markov around because I adore that card, despite the absurd number of words and sides it has.
I loved Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury, but it's too punishing and resilient. I loved Kudo and Party Thrasher, but no one I play with did.
From my first takes, I was right about pretty much all of my "instant classics", as the only ones I no longer run were cut for power-level reasons like Ajani or because I never happened to grab a copy like Talon Gates of Madara (which I still want for my Cube......, I just keep forgetting it exists).
I seriously undervalued Emperor of Bones, which has become one of my favorites of the set. Malevolent Rumble was the only other card seriously undervalued.
But wow, tons of great designs. I still run into cards from this set all the time and marvel at how they got away with it (or did they?). Real Time Spiral 4 stuff going on here that I really really liked, but a little too over-designed and pushed.
This was really the biggest issue with the set, for me at least. I was stoked to have more takes on Goyf of all sorts. If this were the only Goyf in my Cube and I removed all copy effects and clones, I could still keep it, as its exactly what I'd want a modern FTK to be today, but it ended up being beyond busted. Barrowgoyf is similarly too strong, but I think it works well thematically as black's premiere creature in my Cube, and limiting its card advantage to hitting a player is a real cost.
But this card was a real awakening for me.
The MDFCs were great, but I'm trying to move away from them, and even normal flip cards wherever possible. I am stubbornly keeping Sorin of House Markov around because I adore that card, despite the absurd number of words and sides it has.
I loved Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury, but it's too punishing and resilient. I loved Kudo and Party Thrasher, but no one I play with did.
From my first takes, I was right about pretty much all of my "instant classics", as the only ones I no longer run were cut for power-level reasons like Ajani or because I never happened to grab a copy like Talon Gates of Madara (which I still want for my Cube......, I just keep forgetting it exists).
I seriously undervalued Emperor of Bones, which has become one of my favorites of the set. Malevolent Rumble was the only other card seriously undervalued.
But wow, tons of great designs. I still run into cards from this set all the time and marvel at how they got away with it (or did they?). Real Time Spiral 4 stuff going on here that I really really liked, but a little too over-designed and pushed.