Summary
The Modern Horizons sets have historically been pretty power collections of cards, aimed at giving the Modern format a little (or a huge) boost in power. With the release ofMagic: The Gathering’sModern Horizons 3, you can pick up a few premium Commander decks to go alongside all the new Modern decks you can build.
There are four new Commander preconstructed decks to pick from, each one expanding on some cool mechanics and themes that are prevalent in Modern and giving them a Commander punch-up. If you’re wondering which deck you should pick up, look no further, as we have them ranked for you.
4Eldrazi Incursion
An Eldritch Disaster
Okay, so off the bat, the Eldrazi Incursion deck isverystrong. But that makes sense given the incredible power that the Eldrazi pack. Being the second preconstructed Commander deck designed around the Eldrazi, there’s a ton of great cards in here that can be used to quickly swing a game in your favor.
As opposed to the Commander Masters Eldrazi Unbound preconstructed deck, which was the first completely colorless preconstructed deck that Wizards of the Coast has ever released, the Eldrazi Incursion deck is a five color deck and has a focus on Eldrazi creatures with the Devoid ability, effectively making them all colorless while still giving you accesses to colored spells.
What’s holding this deck back from being an absolute powerhouse is its slow start and a lack of some of the big mana enablers that the deck needs. You’ve got an Eldrazi Temple in the 99, butyou’re still missing staple landslike Eye of Ugin or the Tron lands, big mana generating artifacts, and any of the main Eldrazi Titans themselves.
Eldrazi Incursion will still no doubt be an absolute powerhouse and a ton of fun to play, but you will likely have to pick up quite a few pieces if you want to be even somewhat competitive with it.
3Creative Energy
Power In A Small Package
Energy is a tricky mechanic to balance. Give it too many powerful cards and it ends up dominating the format. Hold back a little too much and you won’t have enough to do anything, which seems to be where Creative Energy falls into unfortunately.
The Creative Energy deck suffers a little bit like the Eldrazi Incursion deck, where it’s just a little bit too unfocused to be at its full potential. You’ve got lots of energy enablers, some token generation, a light Treasure sub-theme, all while being a combat focused deck, which can be a little odd for a Jeskai deck.
To help balance the deck a bit, you do get access to some big impact spells like Farewell and Akroma’s Will, but it would have been nice to have seen some cool artifact tutors to snag your key energy pieces like Aetherworks Marvel and the new energy doubler, Aether Refinery.
2Graveyard Overdrive
What Dies Grows The ‘Goyf
The second Kindred preconstructed deck in Modern Horizons 3 is a super unique take on one of Modern’s staple creatures, the Lhurgoyf. These creatures are something of an anomaly in Magic, they’re not based on tradition fantasy creatures and only pop up in a few sets across Magic’s history. First introduced back in 1995’s Ice Age set, the original Lhurgoyf grew in power and toughness based on the number of creatures in all graveyards.
Since then, the Lhurgoyf creature type went on to become a Modern all-star with the release of the Tarmogoyf. With the Graveyard Overdrive, you get to run rampant with all sorts of Lhurgoyf creatures, with a special focus on Tarmogoyf thanks to a few special cards including the main commander, Disa the Restless.
Not only does she create Tarmogoyf tokens, something mind boggingly cool for plenty of players, but if a Lhurgoyf creature would hit your graveyard from a zone other than the battlefield, you get to return that card back to you hand.
There are only six Lhurgoyf creatures in the deck, with the Tarmogoyf itself notoriously missing, but if you add some token doublers like Doubling Season, you’ll have yourself an army in no time. Since you also get the Kindred enchantment Tarmogoyf Nest, you have a second way to keep pumping out those tokens.
1Tricky Terrain
Land Ahoy!
One of the most efficient color combinations in Magic is Simic, and it’s easy to see why this duo is so good. Simic tends to excel in ramping up in mana,letting you search your library for landsand putting them directly into play.
This deck has a slew of great cards that adds extra value to your land drops. You get Scute Swarm, Tatyova, and Avenger of Zendikar, all of which are powerhouses in any land-based deck.
There are a few more lands in this deck than what you might normally run in a Commander deck, with a grand total of 44 in the deck, but that makes sense as you’re grabbing extras turn after turn. You get some neat utility lands, including the new Talon Gates of Madara, which can be an instant speed protection effect slapped on a land. Mana bases are generally a little clunky in most of the preconstructed Magic decks, and even with the premium statues of the Modern Horizons 3 decks, it can be a little rough, but with a few tweaks, the Tricky Terrain can be a huge threat to be reckoned with.
