Legacy: Strongest Cards per Set - Modern Horizons (1, 2, & 3) and LOTR!

Happy 2025! As I'm waiting for the meta to settle before I bring you a conclusive review of what happened to Legacy after the recent bans, I'd like to discuss a meme I've seen maybe a thousand times since I've started playing this format: "In Legacy, half your deck is from the Reserved List, and the other half is from Modern Horizons!"

Of course, this is a bit exaggerated, but we can't deny that all Modern-focused sets (MH1, 2, & 3, and Lord of the Rings) impacted Legacy more than all other sets. Let's take a look at how these sets are still affecting Legacy decks today.

Modern Horizons 1 left its mark on Legacy immediately with 2 cards that are banned today: Wrenn and Six and Arcum's Astrolabe.

Considering Wrenn is already great in Modern, which only has fetch lands, in Legacy, when you played it with Wasteland, it ended the game immediately for just 2 mana. Astrolabe, in turn, completely went around one of the most fundamental rules of this format: if you want to play a greedy mana base, you'll be punished by cards like Blood Moon, Back to Basics, and Wasteland. However, at the time, we mostly saw Blood Moon in 4 or 5 color decks, which is the opposite of what you expect. Nowadays, Modern Horizons 1 is still quite relevant in Legacy, though not in the same way as a few years ago. The top 10 Modern Horizons 1 cards in Legacy today are:

10 – Ice-Fang Coatl

Decks with Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath often use this card like a Baleful Strix, but it hasn't shown up a lot lately. Nonetheless, it definitely deserved a spot in our list, particularly because of Bant Nadu decks.

9 – Plague Engineer

This card, one of the biggest Kindred hates around, has seen better days, but it still shows up every once in a while.

8 – Collector Ouphe

Green Sun's Zenith decks, please don't forget your greatest answer for Mystic Forge decks! This card is also great against any Storm and Red Stompy lists you might stumble upon.

7 – Canopy Lands

Considering this format is dominated by dual and fetch lands, any land considered viable has to be incredibly powerful. These cards offer you an answer for mana flood in drawn-out games. They are particularly interesting in decks that can play land recursion.

6 – Crashing Footfalls

Footfalls was one of the few cards from MH1 that originated a new archetype in Legacy. It wasn't that popular when Vexing Bauble was dominating the format, but now it is free to create Rhynos again!

5 – Force of Vigor

Force of Vigor, Blood Moon's and Leyline of the Void's unparalleled nightmare, is very efficient in decks that need to get rid of these problematic 0-cost permanents.

4 – Echo of Eons

Alongside Lion's Eye Diamond, this card is still a popular card draw engine in combo decks.

3 – Prismatic Vista

Fetch lands dominate Legacy. Vista is a fetch land for control decks, which want to play basic lands to punish the opponent with Blood Moon or Back to Basics.

2 – Goblin Engineer

This card is essential in Painter. In them, it is a tutor and a reanimator.

1 – Force of Negation

Force of Negation, Force of Will's younger sister, is incredible. Together, they're the best counterspells in the format, particularly now that Vexing Bauble is gone.

Honorable Mentions

Modern Horizons 2 doubled down on what Modern Horizons 1 brought us, and added even more firepower to Legacy. Four of the Five Elemental Incarnations (Fury, Endurance, Solitude, and Grief, currently banned) became a critical part of the format. Subtlety, however, definitely faded into the background.

Urza's Saga has seen play in countless decks since it was released. Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer was the best creature in the game until it was banned. Let's see the top 10 Modern Horizons 2 cards in the current meta:

10 – Kaldra Compleat

Stripping the title of "best target for Stoneforge Mystic" from Batterskull wasn't easy, but here we are.

9 – Unholy Heat

Lightning Bolt set the standard for damage-focused red cards. This card is actually just as great as the original in the right decks.

8 – Dress Down

This card is an answer for broken triggered abilities and enables Stiflenought. In the worst-case scenario, it is fuel for Force of Will, or simply draws a card for you.

7 – Soltitude

This "Force of Swords to Plowshares" still sees a lot of play - either in Death & Taxes, Bant Beans, or even Boros Initiative.

6 – Archon of Cruelty

This card is the third most popular target for reanimation after Atraxa, Grand Unifier and Troll of Khazad-dûm.

5 – Fury

This card is definitely of the greatest reasons why Red Stompy is so popular. Decks that swarmed the board usually were a problem for this archetype, but not anymore. The fact you can sacrifice it with Broadside Bombardiers to deal 7 damage to anything is certainly a plus.

4 – Prismatic Ending

This is the most efficient generic removal for permanents in Legacy. Creatures? Exiled. Chalice of the Void? Exiled. A random enchantment that you weren't prepared to deal with, like Exploration, Sylvan Library, Up the Beanstalk? Exiled!

3 – Murktide Regent

This is the big threat that changed the late game for blue tempo decks.

2 – Dragon’s Rage Channeler

Now that Psychic Frog's reign of terror is over, this is the best 1-mana creature in Legacy. Dragon's Rage Channeler has returned to the top of the tiers.

1 – Urza’s Saga

I often say that I'm most likely to lose to this card than anything else in your deck, including your main strategy. This card can win the game by itself with Construct tokens, or find you the combo pieces you need without giving your opponent a way to counter it. Urza's Saga does a lot for no mana at all, and doesn't occupy a space in your deck you'd rather use on anything else.

Honorable Mentions

A Ring to Rule Them All. Just like Modern Horizons 1 & 2, this Modern-focused set shook Legacy. However, unlike those sets, none of its cards have been banned - so far. These are the top 10 Lord of the Rings cards in Legacy right now:

10 – Stern Scolding

This is, indeed, another 1-mana counter, but it is a bit limited.

9 – Borne Upon a Wind

This is the card that makes Turbo-Necrodominance work.

8 – Flame of Anor

This card used to be a bit unpopular, but it started seeing play in control lists with Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student and Snapcaster Mage.

7 – Samwise the Stouthearted

The great Samwise Gamgee works overtime alongside Aether Vial and Wasteland.

6 – Lórien Revealed

1-mana Landcycling has become much better than we thought. Lórien fixes your mana early on, gives you more blue cards so you can (well, it's Legacy, so you already know) play Force of Will, and is a great topdeck when the game turns into a war of attrition.

5 – Forth Eorlingas!

This one has a special place in my heart. After all, I won an important tournament with a Boros Initiative that focused on this card! Besides doing a lot in this deck (Imprinting on Chrome Mox, paying for Solitude, creating tokens so you can fight for the board), this sorcery has been a finisher in many Jeskai Control lists.

4 – Delighted Halfling

Do you know what's worse than a Nadu, Winged Wisdom? An accelerated and uncounterable Nadu!

3 – Troll of Khazad-dûm

This Troll quickly became critical in Reanimator decks; it fixes your mana and is a great body for reanimations.

2 – Orcish Bowmasters

Before Modern Horizons 3 was released, many players thought these Orcs would be banned. They ended up losing space in the meta before that happened, but they're regaining it rather quickly.

1 – The One Ring

This card, which is, after all, the most striking card in this set, has been banned in Modern and is also one of the most important cards in Legacy. It is a combo engine in Mystic Forge decks, and creates a lot of value in Stompy decks (Eldrazi and Red. It also protects you against enemy damage in these matchups.) and Cloudpost Ramp. Before Modern Horizons 3, it also saw a lot of play in control lists - it might return to them soon.

Honorable Mentions

Cycles were definitely the stars of the previous Modern Horizons sets, namely Forces in Modern Horizons 1, and Incarnations in Modern Horizons 2. As a result, many players were dying to see which big cycle Modern Horizons 3 would bring us. In the spoiler season, we were shown Flares (Flare of Cultivation, Flare of Denial, Flare of Fortitude, Flare of Malice, and Flare of Duplication), which honestly couldn't be compared with the other cycles. So, many players feared we wouldn't be able to compare Modern Horizons 3 with the other Modern Horizons sets either…

As we now know, Modern Horizons 3 brought us an even higher power level than its predecessors, and two of its cards have already been banned - Psychic Frog (which many even believe it should have been banned with Grief) and Vexing Bauble. Nadu, Winged Wisdom has escaped for now, but it might still be banned soon. It is certainly the most influential set in Legacy nowadays.

Let's take a look at the top 10 Modern Horizons 3 cards in Legacy right now.

10 – Disruptor Flute

This card didn't exactly stand out when it was released, but it slowly conquered space in sideboards as a flexible answer to many other cards. It is also not as one dimensional as Pithing Needle and Sorcerous Spyglass, its peers.

9 – Sowing Mycospawn

Some players believed this card should have been banned when it was released, and still do to this day. I personally believe this is too much, but it is definitely crucial for both Eldrazi Stompy and Cloudpost Ramp, and was responsible for making them top-tier decks in this format.

8 – Pyrogoyf

This card also didn't stand out when it was released, but it has already become an untouchable piece in Red Stompy. I have seen many players discuss whether they should play Goblin Rabblemaster, Laelia, the Blade Reforged, Caves of Chaos Adventurer, and even Chalice of the Void in this list, but no one has argued against Red Lhurgoyf.

7 – Consign to Memory

This is one of the best sideboard cards nowadays, and is often used proactively in Stiflenought decks.

6 – Nethergoyf

This "lil goyf" stole Delver of Secrets' and Dragon's Rage Channeler's slots when Psychic Frog ruled. However, it is still a threat in black aggro lists even now that Psychic Frog is gone.

5 – MDFC

When the first cycle featuring these cards (two-faced spells whose backside is a land that goes into play untapped, albeit for 3 life) was released in Zendikar Rising, they immediately affected Legacy. Modern Horizons 3 brought us even more of these "lands", which definitely made many interactions in this format a lot more powerful.

Decks that didn't want to use "real" lands became more consistent, like Oops and Belcher. Stompy decks got more fuel for their Chrome Moxes and Incarnations. Force of Will and Force of Negation were glad to see lands that you can exile to pay for their costs. And the most significant difference between these lands and the original cycle (apart from Shatterskull Smashing) is that you can play either face of these MDFCs.

4 – Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student

This 1-mana Planeswalker is the star of practically any blue decks that isn't a combo deck. She adds a lot of value to both aggro and control decks.

3 – Kozilek’s Command

This Eldrazi toolbox does a bit of everything in any deck it sees play. It even wins the game for you when you combine it with the next card on this list. Versatility is definitely the name of the game!

2 – Glaring Fleshraker

Fleshraker is the number 1 Eldrazi. It might be a simple 2/2 for 3 mana, but it is critical for both Eldrazi Stompy and Mystic Forge, and makes them actual forces to be reckoned with in this format. If you manage to play 2 of these on the board, your opponent's life total will simply disappear.

1 – Nadu, Winged Wisdom

Nadu is the MH3 King, no question about it! It escaped the latest banlist, so now we are all determined to stop its infinite interactions as well as Nomads en-Kor's infinite interactions from dominating everything. So far, we have been successful, but that doesn't mean its game pattern (particularly on tabletop) isn't - to put it lightly - annoying for whoever is against it.

You can argue that a few Nadu decks definitely aren't the strongest decks in Legacy, but you can't deny this is the number one card you must consider when building and picking decks to play.

Honorable Mentions

There's a whole lot of them:

Finally, this is the end of this article, which is my 100th article here at Cards Realm! In all honesty, based on the list of cards above, you can tell how much these sets have influenced a format that is known for including cards from Magic: The Gathering's very first sets. I wonder, considering the new philosophy WotC implemented recently (namely, that all sets should be Standard legal), could we see a lower power level in Legacy's future?

Which card above was your favorite? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below!

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!