Historic: Best Cards from Modern Horizons 3

Modern Horizons 3 has come to Magic Arena and brought all of its might to the exclusive eternal formats on this platform. Historic is one of the formats that will be most heavily affected by this set, so I decided to review the cards from MH3 that will impact it the most.

This is an incredibly powerful removal that is now in Historic without fetchland support, but it may still see play in decks with three or four colors, even if they aren't all that popular.

Its effect, which permanently exiles any non-land permanent, is what makes it so exceptional.

Dismember is another incredibly impactful card that will likely see play in practically any deck, as it deals with big creatures quite efficiently. Mono-Green is one of the decks that will most benefit from it, particularly because it doesn't have effective ways to interact with enemy threats. On the other side, losing life can be risky against aggressive decks.

Mardu Reanimator will get an interesting upgrade with Persist because it will bring more consistency to this archetype. However, it is difficult to say if that will be enough to make this deck a real competitor in the new metagame. It is quite fragile against graveyard hate, and this new card might intensify that.

The Energy mechanic will have some interesting payoff with this Dinosaur, which will play next to cards that support this mechanic, like Attune with Aether and Tune the Narrative, also included in this set.

An Amped Raptor on turn 2 with enough Energy counters will put The One Ring, Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes, or Oko, Thief of Crowns on the board.

Galvanic Discharge is also excellent for a deck that focuses on Energy, considering it will not only serve as a removal, but also as a sort of Energy Dark Ritual.

Elves isn't one of the most popular archetypes in the format, but I still believe this is a good addition for this deck. It gives you something to use the massive amounts of mana these creatures create together: cast even more creatures from the top of your deck. Besides, any green deck that focuses on creatures or uses Chord of Calling can benefit from Eladamri, Korvecdal.

Its second ability, which puts a creature from your hand or the top of your deck straight on the board, is another factor that makes this card stand out.

Still on Elves, we have the incredibly important addition of Priest of Titania to this archetype. It can play besides Elvish Archdruid and give you even more synergy.

Wrath of the Skies

Wrath of the Skies basically destroys any aggro deck, like Izzet Wizards, Elves, or Hammer Time, and will also be relevant in Energy decks that may come up in the format. The ability to destroy artifacts and enchantments, besides creatures, makes this card even more interesting, particularly for control decks.

MH3 also gave us a cycle of creatures that transform into planeswalkers. Among them, we can highlight Grist, Voracious Larva, which will most likely see play in Yawgmoth, and fit any graveyard strategy.

Its abilities are extremely relevant; they feed the graveyard while you protect your planeswalker, destroy enchantments and artifacts, and its ultimate can impact any game.

Sacrifice and Treasures together in a single ability is always interesting, even more so considering this creature is a Goblin. Warren Soultrader can see play next to Skirk Prospector as another option to create mana and accelerate a Muxus, Goblin Grandee, and thus make the Goblins deck more consistent.

This is one of the most absurd cards in the entire set. It accelerates your mana curve and cast powerful spells much earlier. This set itself has many cards that make it possible to play Ugin's Labyrinth on turn 1, besides plenty of payoff, like the new Eldrazi Titans.

And as we're talking about powerful lands, I couldn't forget this creature. As Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is a staple in this format, and Ugin's Labyrinth promises to shake up the metagame, it isn't difficult to imagine White Orchid Phantom seeing play. It is a great 2-drop and will also be an answer to these lands.

All these three Titans enable Labyrinth, and are also great bombs to cast on later turns. I believe this new land will be useful as the central piece in a new ramp deck that focuses on colorless bombs.

This is an interesting addition that enables a few interesting combos. You can use Basking Broodscale with Rosie Cotton of South Lane to create an infinite loop of tokens, counters, and mana. Another interesting card that will interact with Broodscale is Heliod, Sun-Crowned, which also enables this loop with Soul Warden.

Modern Horizons 3 will definitely shake up Historic in Magic Arena. It's worth keeping in mind that many cards from this set have already been banned before it was even released: cards like Grief, Harbinger of the Seas, Flare of Denial, and many others were banned beforehand because they're just too powerful or difficult to deal with in Historic.

There are also many other cards to explore in MH3 for Historic. Now we will only have to wait the next few weeks to see how this format will turn out.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!