Modern Horizons 3, or “Commander Horizons 3”, as some MTG players have called it, is loaded with upgrades for the Commander & EDH format.
There’s a cycle of free spells called “Flares”, a cycle of common and uncommon modal double-faced lands that can enter untapped if you pay 3 life, and tons of powerful unique cards for multiple archetypes.
In this list, we focus only on the 99 cards you’ll put in your main deck. That means no legendary creatures that could be your Commander.
Honorable mentions that didn’t quite make it to this list include new Eldrazi cards such as Ugin’s Binding and Ugin’s Labyrinth. If you’re interested in the best Eldrazi cards from the set, we have an upgrade guide here.
With those disclaimers out of the way, get your wallet ready for the Magic: The Emptying! Here’s our list of the 10 Best MH3 Cards for Commander:
#1 Flare of Cultivation
At its base power, Flare of Cultivation is Cultivate. At its best, this card is nuts!
Flare of Cultivation turns every 1 mana green creature you play into the equivalent of a Llanowar Elves. Turn 2, your probability of having access to 3 mana is very high.
#2 Ocelot Pride
Ocelot Pride may become the best card in a token-based deck.
It’s a one-mana token doubler that makes tokens, with a life-gain caveat. That’s pretty easy to achieve with an attack early game. You may already be running cards like Dolmen Gate too, so the lifelink will happen every turn in combat. And, it’s pretty much guaranteed you’ll be Ascending in a token-based deck, since the whole strategy involves going wide.
#3 Necrodominance
What’s better than one Necropotence in your Commander deck? How about two!
Hand size reduction is irrelevant. You can draw 14 cards a turn with this to get exactly the combo you need to win the game.
#4 Fell the Profane
The land side of this card says you can have it enter untapped if you pay 3 life. Otherwise, it enters tapped. That’s a big upgrade to Hagra Mauling, which is already a very popular Commander card.
#5 Sink into Stupor
An untapped land that can temporarily counter a spell or bounce a permanent is a big deal. Untapped lands rarely offer you a way to prevent losing the game. This can stop a combo, delay a board wipe, and much more. I expect to see a lot of blue decks run this card in their land slot.
#6 Flare of Malice
For zero mana, every player sacrifices their best creature. Except for you. You sacrifice your worst black creature. That’s an amazing deal, especially when black tends to have creatures they want to sacrifice.
#7 Urza’s Cave
Urza’s Cave is an uncountable tutor for any land in your deck at instant speed. And it puts the land into play! Most mono-colored decks are going to want to run this, and any deck that has important utility lands or combos will too.
#8 Harbinger of the Seas
For those you who don’t like fun (just kidding, but not really), there is Harbinger of the Seas. Mono-blue based decks can punish everyone at the table now, just like Mono-red can with Magus of the Moon.
The effect is even better for blue decks versus red because there are quite a few cards that care about whether an opponent has islands in play in mono-blue.
#9 Birthing Ritual
Green based creature decks are going to love Birthing Ritual. Every turn, you get a new chance to put the best creature in your top 7 into play.
Birthing Ritual works best in creature-based combo decks and decks with ETB triggers. Elfball decks can benefit a lot from this too, and you will almost always hit something you want to put into play. Upgrading a Llanowar Elves into a Priest of Titania is huge.
#10 Powerbalance
The problem with Counterbalance is stopping your opponent from doing things doesn’t end up getting you ahead. Powerbalance gives you something, potentially, every time an opponent casts a spell. That’s a big difference.
In order to maximize the value of Powerbalance, use cards like Sensei’s Divining Top that manipulate the top of your library. It also works best in a deck that has a fair amount of cards in the 1, 2, and 3 mana range, since that is the most common mana value of cards in the Commander format.
These have been our top 10 Best MH3 Commander Cards for MTG & EDH! If you liked this list, you may be interested in our article on the best board wipes in Commander.
READ MORE: Commander Damage MTG Rules Every Player Should Know
