Modern Horizons 3: New Mechanics and Changes to Names

Hello, everyone!

Modern Horizons 3 is just around the corner! This new Magic: The Gathering set will change all formats and give us several new strategies, besides old reprints that will become legal in Modern itself.

So, let's talk about this set's mechanics and understand the new changes!

Modern Horizons 3 (or, for short, "MH3") will bring to Modern various new and old cards, but, as Wizards of the Coast told us before, this set doesn't feature any "new" mechanics* - or better, "unseen" mechanics.

Of course, this set will develop the mechanics it does feature, or show us how to use them differently from how we have normally used them for decades, but the rules that involve these mechanics themselves haven't changed.

Throughout the last few years, Wizards of the Coast has focused on making Magic: The Gathering an accessible and welcoming game for everyone, even in regard to representation.

In this sense, as explained by head designer Mark Rosewater, the company wanted to adapt some terms in the game to better reflect how the MTG community uses certain expressions. This includes changes to a few words included in the game's rules.

"Tribal" is now "Kindred" and "Totem Armor" is now "Umbra Armor"

The "Tribal" mechanic was renamed to "Kindred". "Totem Armor" was renamed to "Umbra Armor".

Basically, these two name changes won't change anything in the actual mechanics/ability rulings. Both still work in the same way, whatever it is:

How Kindred Works

"Kindred" is a keyword that indicates the card in question has some tie to a "creature type". Cards that interact with a certain type, but not necessarily creatures, are considered cards of their specific "Kindred".

For instance, a card that states, "look in your deck for an Elf and put it in your hand", doesn't necessarily indicate that the card in question has to be a creature. If you have any card in your deck with the ability "Kindred - Elf", you can get it and put it in your hand.

How Umbra Armor Works

"Umbra Armor" is a keyword mentioned in certain auras, that is, cards that enchant creatures, usually granting them some extra buff or ability. If a creature enchanted with an aura that has "Umbra Armor" is destroyed - either through damage or a spell/effect that states "destroy" - you can destroy the "Umbra Armor" aura and save that creature.

However, notice that "Umbra Armor" doesn't protect the creature from effects that would exile it, nor does it protect it from being sacrificed. This keyword only interacts with effects that use the term "destroy".

I'll stress as well that these changes will apply to cards that already exist. This means the official text on these cards (the one in the "Gatherer" database) will now use the terms "Kindred" and "Umbra Armor". Once again, please remember that the way these mechanics work hasn't changed - it is just a change to their names.

And that's all I had for you today!

Happy pre-release, and thank you for reading!

See you next time!