10 best cards in MTG Modern Horizons 3

Now that the MTG Modern Horizons 3 cards have been revealed, it’s time to look at the best of the best. This could be the most powerful Magic: The Gathering set I’ve ever seen and includes some truly horrifying cards. It was hard to find the cards that I thought were just the absolute, top-tier picks and may see a lot of play. However, I understand that some people might not agree with me, and that’s totally fine.

Everyone has a different approach to MTG, and Modern Horizons 3 has something for almost everyone. Control fans? Graveyard nonsense? Big, mean creatures? There’s all kinds of ridiculous stuff. I tried to pick something for a wide assortment of gameplay types and assessed based on Mana Value, the card's overall strength, versatility, and personal preference.

Note: Some aspects of this article are subjective and reflect the writer's opinions.

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The best cards in MTG Modern Horizons 3

1) Harbinger of the Seas

Harbinger of the Seas says "goodbye" to all those fancy lands (Image via Wizards of the Coast)

I don’t think there’s going to be much discussion about Harbinger of the Seas. It is definitely one of the best cards in MTG Modern Horizons 3. I never thought we’d see “Blood Moon, but another color” in my lifetime, but here we are. There may be some who might not understand why this card is so devastating, though.

This Merfolk turns all non-basic Lands into Islands. It doesn’t say “in addition to its other types”, indicating it loses all powers and becomes a plain, basic Island. Doesn’t matter if it was a Dual Land, if you have Dark Depths in play, or what. Sorry, all those cool lands with awesome powers? Islands.

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2) Primal Prayers

Don't cast creatures on your turn - that's a sucker's move (Image via Wizards of the Coast)

I wrote about Primal Prayers recently, and I stand by it. I think it’s going to be an incredibly powerful card and one of my favorites in MTG Modern Horizons 3. Primal Prayers gives you free energy counters while allowing you to cast your creatures as though they had Flash and for energy instead of mana.

There are so many ridiculous ways to get energy in Modern Horizons 3, that I think this could become a real threat - not sure whether it will be a bomb in Modern, but I think Commander decks will probably enjoy this card quite a lot. It has great potential, and I hope to see it used.

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3) Grist, Voracious Larva // Grist, the Plague Swarm

Insect decks, rise up! (Image via Wizards of the Coast)

Grist, Voracious Larva // Grist, the Plague Swarm is a fascinating Modal Planeswalker. It starts off as a larva, and can swiftly become a terrifyingly powerful Insect planeswalker. All you have to do to transform it is cast a creature from your graveyard, and have 1 green mana to tap.

Insect/graveyard decks have lots of tech already, but nothing quite like Grist, the Plague Swarm. What makes this one of the best cards in MTG Modern Horizons 3 is its final ability - that -6. “For each creature card in your graveyard, create a token that’s a copy of it, except it’s a 1/1 black and green insect.” It gets all the insect synergy, and you don’t have to exile cards for it. You can keep triggering it, each time you have the Loyalty points.

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4) Ugin's Binding

Ugin's Binding sends all those annoying cards back to people's hands (Image via Wizards of the Coast)

Another entity that can be considered the best MTG Modern Horizons 3 card is Ugin’s Binding, which is a much better Cyclonic Rift. Once this card is in the graveyard, you can trigger its effect by casting a creature that costs 7 or more mana, which is quite convenient.

Then you trigger this card's secondary effect, and all nonland permanents you don’t control go to their owner’s hands. Tokens are gone forever, and if you have a game-winning board in play, you can just wrap things up. I’m such a huge fan of this card, and I know it will be useful going forward.

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5) Shifting Woodland

It's anything you want it to be - almost (Image via Wizards of the Coast)

What an absolutely bonkers land! Who cares if it does or doesn’t come into play tapped? That part is nice, but let's look at that Delirium effect! If you have four or more types of cards in your graveyard – incredibly easy to do – you can transform this land into something. For 4 mana (2GG), this can become permanent in your graveyard.

This could be a fun way to trigger Dark Depths, or you could use it to ditch a huge creature in the graveyard and make a copy of it. This card has so much potential, that I can scarcely think of all the possibilities. It becomes almost any combo piece you want it to be. All you need is a little green mana and a dream. This might be the best land out of all in MTG Modern Horizons 3.

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6) Vexing Bauble

Free? In this economy? (Image via Wizards of the Coast)

Are you tired of people casting spells and not paying mana for them? That’s a thing of the past with this card! You can even sacrifice it, to force your own spells through, adding another layer of strategy to this card. It’s amazing, it’s frustrating, and it can stop a nice, wide assortment of deck strategies by itself.

It’s wild to me that one of the best cards in MTG Modern Horizons 3 is an Uncommon artifact, but here we go. I think this one will almost definitely see play, if not in mainboard, then as a sideboard option to stop a wide variety of decks.

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7) Null Elemental Blast

Put a halt to those multi-colored game-enders (Image via Wizards of the Coast)

Null Elemental Blast is a throwback to the earliest days of Magic: The Gathering - the Blue (and Red) Elemental Blast cards. They could counter a spell of the opposite color, or destroy a permanent of the opposite color. Now we have what is essentially, the Eldrazi or Ugin version - it’s focused on multi-colored spells.

There’s not a lot to say about this, other than that it’s an incredible, low-cost, high-value card in the Uncommon range (again). For 1 mana, you can counter multi-colored spells or simply destroy them! What’s not to like about this amazing card?

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8) Flare of Denial

Is it worth the price? I'd say so (Image via Wizards of the Coast)

Speaking of stopping things dead in their tracks, some people have said they don’t like the “Flare” cards. Each color has a “Flare” card in MTG Modern Horizons 3, and I think this one is the best. You can choose to sacrifice a non-token Blue permanent instead of paying its casting cost.

In exchange, you essentially get a free counterspell. While it’s not a new thing in the Blue color, free counterspells tend to be pretty rare. Force of Will, Force of Negation, and a handful of others. It’s a card that’s easy to understand why you’d want to run a few in your MTG decks.

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9) Ugin's Labyrinth

Ugin's gonna give you a little extra mana to work with (Image via Wizards of the Coast)

If you imprint a 7+ cost colorless card to this land when you play it, it taps for 2 mana instead of 1, which is great. I also think it’s one of the best MTG Modern Horizons 3 cards for its ability to hide one of your best cards away, as an Imprint, and pull it back later. If you draw into an Emrakul, Ulamog, or Ugin, you can keep it safe from forced discard.

Not to mention, having turn 1 2 colorless mana is nothing to sneeze at in the right MTG deck. Most of the lands in this set are incredible, but it’s a toss-up between this one and Shifting Woodland for my favorite. I’m a big fan of colorless/Eldrazi decks, so it’s probably this one, frankly.

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10) Emrakul, the World Anew

One of the big three, it's one of the best MTG Modern Horizons 3 cards (Image via Wizards of the Coast)

It was hard to pick between the Big 3 Eldrazi, but Emrakul is honestly my favorite. When I play MTG, it’s so often against swarms of creatures - but what if I want those creatures for myself? I can just cast Emrakul, the World Anew. It is a 12/12, flying, protection from spells and from permanents that were cast this turn - so you aren’t stopping it from coming into play most likely.

The way its ability reads, that “protection” clause is sticking around from turn to turn. You have to use copies of spells and similar things to get to it - or cast something that has an effect that resolves in a future turn (Seal of Doom). You can even cast it for less, via Madness. That means, you exile it, pay 6, and cast it even faster! Is it a meta-breaker? No. Is it fun and devastating? Oh yes.

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MTG Modern Horizons 3 launches on June 14, 2024, with booster packs, and a series of Commander decks that players can purchase.