Modern Horizons 3 will be releasing in just over three weeks on Friday, June 14th and while spoilers don’t technically start till Tuesday, May 21st, there have been a variety of cards that have already been leaked online. From a new counterspell that lets you sacrifice a blue creature to a famous Eldrazi that’s making her return in this set, we’ll be taking a look at some of the powerful cards that have already been shown.
Will Modern Horizons 3 be as divisive and format-warping as its predecessors were or has Wizards of the Coast learned their lesson from the last two Modern Horizons sets?
Flare of Denial
Similar to counterspells like Force of Will and Force of Negation, Flare of Denial is another counterspell with an alternate casting cost that will be coming to MTG. For those who haven’t been playing magic long, an alternate casting cost lets you play the card without paying the card’s Converted Mana Cost or CMC for short. Getting back to Flare of Denial though, I think this particular counterspell would be good in a deck like Merfolk or potentially even Spirits.
Focusing on Merfolk though, the deck already plays Vodalian Hexcatcher which players can sacrifice to try and counter a non-creature spell. With Flare of Denial, instead of sacrificing it to try and counter a non-creature spell, the Hexcatcher could instead be sacrificed to counter any spell as long as it’s a legal target.
Kappa Cannoneer
Kappa Cannoneer was originally released in the Kamigawa Commander Decks back in 2022 and then reprinted in the Karlov Manor Commander decks in early 2024 which made it only playable in Legacy, Vintage, and Commander. Once MH3 releases on June 14th, this cute giant turtle with a giant cannon will also be playable in Modern.
I think once Kappa Cannoneer hits Modern, it’ll find its main home in Affinity. While it doesn’t have the Affinity keyword it does have Improvise which is still good. With 0 cost cards like Ornithopter and Memnite along with 1 cost cards such as Shadowspear and Springleaf Drum in Affinity decks, I wouldn’t be shocked to see Kappa Cannoneer hitting the board as early as turn 2-3.
On top of that, Ward 4 helps protect this turtle in both the early and late game and any other artifacts you cast after playing it pumps it and makes it unblockable. Of course Kappa Cannoneer also synergizes with Simulacrum Synthesizer and playing this big turtle will potentially get you another big creature.
Emrakul, the World Anew
I’ll admit I’m not the best at judging new cards and have been wrong more times than I’ve been right, but one of the fun things about spoilers is guessing which cards will be hits and which are misses. I think Emrakul, the World Anew is going to be a hit in both Tron and could even help bring back Eldrazi Tron. Tron/Eldrazi Tron players use the lands Urza’s Powerplant, Urza’s Mine, and Urza’s Tower to give them access to 7 colorless mana and cast big spells like Wurmcoil Engine, Karn Liberated, and Ulamog, The Ceaseless Hunger.
Even with 7 mana on turn 3, they’d still need 5 more mana to cast Emrakul’s CMC cost but I suspect a combo will arise especially in Eldrazi Tron which halves the mana required. Whenever a card with Madness is discarded it can be played for its Madness cost and paired with the 1 mana artifact The Underworld Cookbook can allow some gross things to happen on turn 3.
If we have all the Tron lands on the field by turn 3 we could play The Underworld Cookbook for 1 mana, discard Emrakul, and then cast Emrakul for its Madness cost with the remaining 6 mana available. Not only would be have a 12/12 Eldrazi flyer but we’d also have whichever creatures target player/our opponent had on the battlefield too. A 12/12 on turn 3 is incredibly strong and it’s making me want to buy a playset of the new Emrakul for my Eldrazi Tron deck.
Will Modern Be Balanced or Broken?
The last two times a Modern Horizons set was released it pretty much caused rotation to happen in Modern which the format is meant to avoid and honestly, I fully expect the same thing to happen when Modern Horizon 3 launches too. While I’d like to think WOTC learned their lesson, I can’t help but feel I’m going to be disappointed. We won’t know what’s in the full set till all the cards are spoiled with WOTC admitting they plan to ban one of the unspoiled cards in Pauper. I eagerly look forward to seeing what cards will be hitting Modern on June 14th.
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