Modern: First Modern Horizons 3 Results
Two weeks ago I went over my favorite new cards from MH3. This set has tons of great cards for a variety of archetypes. The first results are out now. The SCGCon 5k was the weekend of MH3 release so, while availability was limited, some players were able to get their hands on cards and the set will soon be widely available on MTGO. (The first couple of days are difficult as rental programs typically don’t have a ton of cards) I will only be selecting decks from the top 16 for the purposes of only using decks that showed a strong performance. The event itself was won by Dimir Mill sporting a full zero new cards but two separate variants of Nadu combo showed up one in top 8 and one in top 16.
Nadu, Winged Wisdom is a crazy powerful combo piece with a minuscule restriction of triggering twice per creature per turn. Nadu with Shuko effectively looks at the top X cards of your library and puts all lands onto the battlefield and the rest into your hand, where X is twice the number of creatures you control. With a Springheart Nantuko as long as you have reasonable luck, this will draw your deck as the lands entering the battlefield will trigger the Nantuko and create another creature to continue comboing until you draw your deck and then cast Thassa’s Oracle to win. The version in the top 16 looked to combo with these two cards and win as a result or play a general value game plan with cards like Teferi, Six, and Cryptic Coat.
The top 8 version goes for a different approach. This deck is all in on comboing Nadu with 0-mana creatures and Shuko. Even playing four Summoner’s Pact and four Chord of Calling to consistently find Nadu (or Sylvan Safekeeper for Protection). The deck runs four Ornithopter, four Memnite, and even three Dryad Arbor as a land and creature put into play off of Nadu’s ability. This deck killed with the Thassa’s Oracle aswell.
Overall, Nadu seems like a great card that will be an incredibly powerful creature combo card. However, I predict that the sorcery speed restriction to comboing with Nadu may prove it to be a worse Yawgmoth. I will acknowledge that, as a longtime Yawgmoth player and the cards being new, could mean that Nadu’s increased speed makes the sorcery speed comboing not enough of a drawback.
Amulet Titan also achieved yet another top 16 with 2 key upgrades.
Disciple of Freyalise is a land that can be found off of Summoners Pact. Springheart Nantuko, when bestowed on a Dryad or Grazer with an Amulet and Bounceland will produce infinite copies, with two Amulets the combo produces infinite mana and infinite copies of the creatures. Infinite Arboreal Grazers doesn’t kill your opponent very well but certainly isn't bad. I think Nantuko won’t prove to be worth it in a deck where slots are so valuable that Dominic Harvey, the expert on Amulet Titan, has popularized lists running 61 cards. However, the fact that it is such a cheap creature and tutorable off of Summoner’s Pact Means it may be worth it as an easy infinite combo as opposed to Titan which, while incredibly powerful, can only produce a finite amount of value.
Monoblack Scam with Tower and Winter Moon
Monoblack Scam has been doing well in the last couple of months, and Modern Horizons 3 may have given the deck even more powerul cards. Winter Moon is a Winter Orb for decks with greedy mana bases, and Phyrexian Tower is very valuable as it increases mana thanks to tokens from Orcish Bowmasters and produces extra mana from an evoked Grief. The two cards work great with the strategy. Winter Moon slows down the opponent when the deck often poses a 4/3 menace threat on turn one. Phyrexian Tower increases the speed of the deck allowing a turn one Dauthi Voidwalker or Bowmasters (or Winter Moon but turn one Winter Moon isn’t when its at its best).
The deck also runs Disruptor Flute! This is the card I believe has gone under the radar the most from the set as it is an incredibly powerful sideboard card. It can shut down key pieces with its needle text or it can prevent it from landing in the first place by adding a three-mana tax!
Lastly, and the deck I obviously am most excited to talk about is the Yawgmoth list that top 16d with 4 Birthing Ritual.
Birth Ritual is another attempt at a fair Birthing Pod card. A two mana enchantment that allows you to look at the top seven cards at your endstep then choose to sacrifice a creature for another creature of mana value +1 or less. The deck only runs three Chord of Calling and a ton of three drops to enable ritual. The list runs tons of new MH3 cards such as Boggart Trawler, a great maindeck card going forward for the deck as it is both a land and maindeck graveyard hate! In this list specifically, it is even better as a three-mana creature to bridge towards four drops off of Birthing Ritual! The deck played a lot of different creatures in low quantities. One Endurance, one Boggart Trawler, one Geralf’s Messenger, a card not seen in a long while, two Honest Rutstein as three drop creatures (and technically one Grist, the Hungertide) but there are plenty of one and two-ofs in other spots aswell. One of the new Grist, Grist, Voracious Larva. There is one Generous Innkeeper, one Blood Artist, two Strangleroot Geist, 2 Ignoble Hierarch, and one Sheoldred the Apocalypse. As another new addition from Modern Horizons 3, there is also one Phyrexian Tower in the mana base.
I think this list looks great and I will be excited to try it once I can get my hands (mtgo account) on cards from the new set. Another card I am excited to try is Flare of Cultivation but those cards and that discussion is for another article.
What are the lists you are excited to play on MH3 release? Let me know in the comments!
