Summary
When it comes to a premierMagic: The Gatheringlike Modern Horizons 3, you know there are going to be some powerful legendary creatures to build some new decks around. There are 28 legendary creatures to pick from in Modern Horizons 3, though some are much better than others.
With a slew of new Commanders and some returning favorites, Modern Horizons 3 has all sorts of great cards to brew around. Let’s take a look at some of the strongest legendary creatures in the set and see what Commander reigns supreme.
10Kaalia Of The Vast
Angels, Demons, And Dragons, Oh My!
One of the original commanders from the Commander 2011 set, Kaalia of the Vast is an exceptionally powerful Commander, though one that will paint a huge target on your back as soon as you sit down at the table.
The threat comes from Kaalia’s exceptionally powerful attack trigger, which lets you take an Angel, Demon, or Dragon creature from your hand and put it directly into play, tapped and attacking the same opponent as Kaalia. Building a deck around her takes some work, you can’t just jam every huge creature you want and expect Kaalia to cheat them into play every time, but when it works, she can quickly take over a game.
9Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student / Tamiyo, Seasoned Scholar
Give Your Clues Extra Value
Any commander that can come down on turn one is worth taking a look at, and one with as much potential as Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student is bound to be a ton of fun. As a creature, Tamiyo is rather weak, being a 0/3 creature with flying. She does make a Clue token every time she attacks, which is a great start in getting her to transform.
Once you draw three cards in a turn, you get toflip her into her planeswalker side, which in reality, just takes one Brainstorm to flip as early as turn two. Now that she’s transformed, she protects herself in the early game with her first ability, lets you bring back spent spells from your graveyard with her second, and can grant you one massive hand with her final ability.
8Ashling, Flame Dancer
Burn Them All With Your Mana
A new take on a classic Elemental, Ashling, Flame Dancer is all about giving you the most of your instants and sorceries. The first key thing about Ashling is that they cause it so you don’t lose unspent red mana between phases and turns, letting you stockpile all the red mana you desire.
That’s where Ashling’s Magecraft ability comes into play. Anytime you cast an instant or sorcery, or copy one of those spells, you first get to discard a card and then draw on. On the second resolution, Ashling deals two damage to each opponent and each creature your opponents control, and then, on the third, you get to add four red mana. Build up all the mana you can, and you’ll be ready for a massive spell a few turns later.
7Eladamri, Korvecdal
Legends Never Die
An Elf leader from the plane of Rath and immensely tragic hero in the fight against Yawgmoth, Eladamri is a very cool throwback to the older days of Magic.This legendary Elflets you look at the top card of your library anytime you want, and then cast creatures from the top of your library. Not even just Elves, but any creature you may find there, making him not restricted to being just another Elf Kindred deck.
Since you’re peeking at the top of your deck, you might as well put that to use. You can pay one green mana, tap Eladamri and two other creatures to reveal the top card of your deck or one from your hand. If that card is a creature, you get to put it directly into play. Since you can do it at instant speed, but only on your turn, you can set up some sneaky combat tricks to pull ahead in a game.
6Nadu, Winged Wisdom
Use Those Wings To Explore
A rather unique legendary creature, Nadu, Winged Wisdom is a low-cost commander that grants a powerful effect to all your creatures. With Nadu in play, all creatures you control basically get an explore trigger anytime they’re targeted by a spell or ability, minus the +1/+1 counters.
The unique thing about Nadu, is that it takes the somewhat recent limitation of triggers only happening once per turn, and doubles it, letting the ability trigger twice a turn. Keeping track of everything might be a bit of a pain, but with all the cards you’ll be drawing, it’s worth the extra mental work.
5Sorin Of House Markov / Sorin, Ravenous Neonate
Make Sengir Jealous
Gaining life has never been a problem in Commander, and if you’re going to be pumping your life total up, you might as well get some bonus benefits from it. Sorin of House Markov is the brooding Human version of the powerful vampire planeswalker that you fell in love with. All you have to do to ascend him to planeswalker status is gain three life before your postcombat main phase, which you can hit easily thanks to his extort ability.
Once you do, he becomes Sorin, Ravenous Neonate, the white and black planeswalker that rewards your lifegain shenanigans. His first ability creates a Food token, so while it doesn’t naturally gain you life, you can still gain life with a little mana commitment. Then, you can start blowing up your opponent’s creatures and life totals with his minus ability. If you gain a substantial amount of life in a turn, you can take an opponent out in a single turn.
4Arna Kennerud, Skycaptain
An incredibly powerful equipment and aura commander, Arna Kennerud, Skycaptain has a lot going for it. With both flying and lifelink, as well as a fairly balanced ward effect, Arna is loaded with keywords to keep it around for a few turns.
The real power comes from her ability. Anytime a modified creature attacks, which means it has either a counter on it or has some type of aura equipment attached to it, you double the counters and create a copy of the aura or equipment so long as it isn’t already a token. So if you have a Sword of Feast and Famine on a creature, you’ll now have two attached to it.
3K’rrik, Son Of Yawgmoth
Join The Phyrexians
The self proclaimed son of Yawgmoth, K’rrik has always been a powerful monoblack commander, acting as both an engine and win condition all in one creature. While he technically costs seven mana to cast, which is slightly on the higher end, you’ll realistically only be paying four mana on the first cast since the other three are phyrexian black mana, letting you pay two life per pip instead of the full mana commitment.
Once in play, K’rrik grants all your black spells or ability activation costs this same effect, letting you pay life for black mana costs. You can offset this loss of life with his growing power, since he gains a +1/+1 counter anytime you cast a black spell, and he has lifelink, helping you recoup any losses.
2Breya, Etherium Shaper
Combo Machine In The Command Zone
At her core, Breya is a combo machine, capable of enabling all sorts of game winning sequences to help secure a win. The easiest route is just throwing together Krark Clan Ironworks and Nim Deathmantle along with the two tokes Breya makes when she comes into play, for your choice of infinite life, damage, removal, and mana.
Apart from that, Breya generates a ton of value from her abilities alone, even if you don’t go the combo route. Not to mention, she’s four colors, so you can play practically any artifact-based cards you want from any color except green, which traditionally doesn’t play well with artifacts anyway.
1Ulamog, The Defiler
Cast Triggers Are Hard To Beat
In a set where all the Eldrazi Titans make a return, you know you’re going to want to build a deck around one of them. While Emrakul is the big draw, Ulamog, the Defiler might inch out in terms of longevity. When you cast Ulamog, you exile half of an opponent’s library, rounded up, completely out of the game.
Once they’re in play, Ulamog gets a bunch +1/+1 counters, equal to highest mana value among all cards in exile. Ulamog also gets annihilator equal to the number of +1/+1 counters on it. you’re able to assume you’re going to get at least one high mana spell in exile, especially if you plan your targets right, so you’ll likely have five or more counters on it.
