Modern Horizons 3 (MH3)

In figures

• 767,772 games analysed
• On the play: 58.8% wins, against 51.4% on the draw
• A game lasts 8.4 turns on average

What players think

The format is seen as powerful and complex, slower than usual outside a few very aggressive decks, with excellent fixing (the Landscapes) and splashing common. Players put the Eldrazi deck (Eldrazi and Damage) and the offensive energy deck at the top, then middle-of-the-road archetypes such as Card Drawers; Spawn and Big Eldrazi () is seen as more modest and Artifacts and Sacrifice as the weakest, while opinions differ on energy. Our measured games confirm the top of the ranking: Aggressive Energy and Eldrazi and Damage lead. Spawn and Big Eldrazi sits below the middle and the energy deck is among the last, though both were seen as playable; Artifacts and Sacrifice is in the lower part of the ranking but not alone, with several other pairs at the same level.

Colour pairs

Win rate of the decks of each pair, from real games of online draft players.

Pair	Share of games	Win rate	Strong players	Over time
Aggressive Energy	12.7 %	59.2 %	58.0 %	59.4 → 58.6 → 59.6
Spawn and Big Eldrazi	10.2 %	54.1 %	52.9 %	54.0 → 53.9 → 54.6
Eldrazi and Damage	8.8 %	59.2 %	57.9 %	59.6 → 58.3 → 59.0
Card Drawers	8.3 %	55.2 %	55.2 %	54.7 → 55.6 → 56.0
Artifacts and Sacrifice	6.7 %	53.9 %	53.0 %	53.9 → 53.9 → 53.8
Modified Creatures	6.6 %	56.3 %	54.7 %	56.6 → 55.9 → 56.2
Adapt and Counters	5.7 %	53.6 %	53.5 %	53.5 → 53.1 → 55.0
Skies and Energy	4.6 %	56.5 %	55.8 %	56.7 → 56.6 → 55.5
Modified and Lifelink	4.4 %	53.6 %	52.1 %	53.7 → 53.5 → 53.2
Energy and Spells	4.0 %	53.6 %	55.0 %	53.5 → 53.9 → 53.7

Archetypes: the gold uncommons

• Aggressive Energy

  59.2 % win rate12.7 % of games

  Energy

  • 

    25. Scurry of Gremlins

    7.6
  • 

    107. Legion Leadership // Legion Stronghold

    6.2

• Spawn and Big Eldrazi

  54.1 % win rate10.2 % of games

  Devoid and Eldrazi Spawn

  • 

    191. Planar Genesis

    5.2
  • 

    13. Nadu, Winged Wisdom

    8.4

• Eldrazi and Damage

  59.2 % win rate8.8 % of games

  Devoid and Eldrazi Spawn

  • 

    77. Stump Stomp // Burnwillow Clearing

    6.6
  • 

    45. Titans' Vanguard

    7.1

• Card Drawers

  55.2 % win rate8.3 % of games
  • 

    80. Horrid Shadowspinner

    6.6
  • 

    9. Psychic Frog

    8.7

• Artifacts and Sacrifice

  53.9 % win rate6.7 % of games

  Living weapon

  • 

    216. Pyretic Rebirth

    4.8
  • 

    236. Bloodsoaked Insight // Sanguine Morass

    4.4

• Modified Creatures

  56.3 % win rate6.6 % of games

  Modified creatures

  • 

    282. Golden-Tail Trainer

    2.0
  • 

    159. Strength of the Harvest // Haven of the Harvest

    5.5

• Adapt and Counters

  53.6 % win rate5.7 % of games

  Adapt

  • 

    113. Cursed Wombat

    6.0
  • 

    65. Revitalizing Repast // Old-Growth Grove

    6.8

• Skies and Energy

  56.5 % win rate4.6 % of games

  Energy

  • 

    147. Emissary of Soulfire

    5.6
  • 

    204. Suppression Ray // Orderly Plaza

    5.0

• Modified and Lifelink

  53.6 % win rate4.4 % of games

  Modified creatures

  • 

    250. Ondu Knotmaster // Throw a Line

    4.2
  • 

    167. Glasswing Grace // Age-Graced Chapel

    5.4

• Energy and Spells

  53.6 % win rate4.0 % of games

  Energy

  • 

    170. Rush of Inspiration // Crackling Falls

    5.4
  • 

    270. Izzet Generatorium

    3.8

Mechanics of the set

• Devoid and Eldrazi Spawn

  Devoid: the card is colourless, even if its cost has coloured symbols. An Eldrazi Spawn token is a colourless 0/1 creature you sacrifice to add one colourless mana.

• Energy

  Energy is a kind of counter: many cards give you some, often when they enter, and you remove it to pay for effects.

• Modified creatures

  A counter, an Equipment attached or an Aura you control attached are modifications: a creature carrying one is modified, and several cards give it a bonus.

• Adapt

  Adapt N: if this creature has no +1/+1 counters on it, put N +1/+1 counters on it.

• Living weapon

  When this Equipment enters, create a 0/0 black Phyrexian Germ creature token, then attach this to it.

• Spell // Land

  A double-faced card: the front is a spell or a creature, the back is a land you can play instead.

• Landfall

  An effect triggers each time a land enters under your control.

The best cards

By colour

Rank by our rating, then rank by win rate when the card is in hand.

To remember

• Thirty-six cards in the set mention energy: count your sources (creatures that give it when they enter) and your uses, so Electrozoa does not stay tapped for lack of energy.
• Eleven cards have a colourless mana symbol in their cost: without Eldrazi Spawn tokens, Landscapes or colourless lands, they are hard to cast.
• The ten common Landscapes produce colourless mana, can be sacrificed to fetch a basic land and can be cycled: they fix the colours of a three-colour deck.
• Twenty double-faced cards are also lands: they can replace a land while staying spells, but the two-colour ones always enter tapped.