While MTG Modern Horizons 3 is primarily designed to inject a powerful shake-up to the Modern format, that doesn’t exclude it from delivering four Commander decks that are designed specifically for EDH play. After all, these 100-card precons are pretty much a mainstay of any Magic: The Gathering set now and it turns out even Modern-focused releases aren’t an exception.
Many of these premium-styled Commander pre-cons are rocking a heftier price tag than you might expect, so it’s all the more important that you know exactly what you’re about to pick up. You want to be certain that when you’re parting with your cash, you're getting a deck that’s great value, well-constructed, and – most importantly – fun to play.
With that in mind, we’ve rounded up the strengths and weaknesses of all four precons to determine which is worth a place in your cart and at your table. Of course, what makes for the best MTG Modern Horizons 3 Commander deck will vary a little depending on your own personal playstyle and preferences, but hopefully, this will help put you on the right path to finding your favorite of the set.
4. Graveyard Overdrive
Jund’s black-red-green combo is usually one of my favorite color trios to play. Unfortunately though, Graveyard Overdrive manages to be the least appealing deck of Modern Horizons 3 Commander precon lineup.
Sure, it still has some great singles. For example, Final Act is a hateful little showstopper which is particularly useful against opponents with Energy decks. As well as that, Coram, the Undertaker is arguably a better fit for your Command Zone than the face Commander, Disa, the Restless. If we’re embracing the Jundian archetype of graveyard matters, Coram’s three-fold interaction with the graveyard is a serious boon and a great backbone for a Commander deck.
However, even with that change, the deck overall is lacking sufficient reliable self-milling engines to really heft up that graveyard. This is important, as it’s only a prerequisite for beefing up Coram but also to bolster the deck’s secondary theme of Lhurgoyfs. Disa, the Restless is at the center of this light Lhurgoyf theme with her ability to put graveyard-bound Goyfs onto the battlefield, provided they weren’t placed into the graveyard from the battlefield in the first place. Though, the deck is unfortunately lacking in key pieces to pull this off.
Throw in some integral game pieces like Buried Alive, and this strategy starts to make a little more sense. Although it doesn’t satisfy the problem that there are only six Lhurgoyfs creatures in the deck itself (Tarmogoyf, where are you?). It goes without saying that a deck with even a partial tribal theme that lacks creatures of that tribe is a major pitfall. The face Commander Disa does have the ability to create Lhurgoyf Tokens … but when have you ever been in a situation where you’ve put a Token into your graveyard? Exactly.
All in all, Graveyard Overdrive feels thematically patchy and mechanically unfocused, so it should really only be your pick for an MH3 Commander if you have plans to retool it into custom decks or are ready to do some serious heavy lifting in upgrading it.
3. Creative Energy
Say hello to the second Jeskai Energy deck released this year. Like Science! from MTG Fallout, this red-blue-white deck includes the secondary resource of Energy to spend on a whole new set of abilities. Unlike Science!, Creative Energy actually does this well.
Science! came with plenty of fun, flavorful cards but they really flopped when it came to generating Energy. Which is, needless to say, an absolutely integral part of playing an Energy deck. Meanwhile, by reprinting Kaladesh-era cards like Decoction Module and introducing new picks like Stone Idol Generator, Creative Energy gives players ample opportunity to send a jolt through the battlefield.
As well as its core Energy focus, this precon has a mix of other gameplay systems like proliferate, artifacts, and token generation. These extra mechanics, while having the potential to produce great flashes of synergy, do ever so slightly muddy the waters around what exactly the deck’s winstate is supposed to be. That’s not to say it can’t hold its own with the other decks in this set (it definitely can), but the moments when everything ‘clicks’ are slightly fewer and further between.
Another one of Creative Energy’s sins is the fact that it has 20 basic lands – significantly above what one would expect from a precon of this standard. The ratio of Plains is an opening hand killer too as so many of the lower-mana-value creatures in this deck require blue and red mana to get the ball rolling.
Really, having great energy-generating creatures like Whirler Virtuoso or Roil Cartographer in your starting hand along with three Plains feels like cruel punishment from the Magic gods. That said, this does mean you have an obvious (and relatively cheap) first step to take when going about upgrading the deck. Sort out those lands and you’re onto a winner.
2. Eldrazi Incursion
The reputation of Eldrazi creatures precedes them. As a result, we’re seeing some scary pre-order prices on Eldrazi Incursion as it's obvious that – at least based on the deck’s tribal theme - players are ready to drop unbelievable amounts of moola for these interdimensional beasties.
Last year, we saw a similar fervor for the Commander Masters deck, Eldrazi Unbound. Yet the hype around Eldrazi Incursion doesn’t just make it a surefire winner for best Commander precon in the set. No doubt this five-color deck has plenty to offer but it doesn’t quite boast the same strength found in the previous Eldrazi precon.
Still, there’s a lot to appreciate here, from a strong mana base to some absolutely monstrous high-mana-value creatures. The face Commander, Ulalek, Fused Atrocity has the capacity to be total nightmare fuel owing to the fact that it can copy all your spells and triggered abilities on the stack for a mere two colorless mana, every time you play an Eldrazi spell. Given how positively jam-packed this deck is with Eldrazi, you can imagine just how often Ulalek will have your opponents groaning once it hits the battlefield.
Ulamog’s Dreadsire is another highlight. At a hefty cost of 10 mana, it’s not a card that’ll be played every game but once you get it on the battlefield, you can tap it to produce a 10/10 Eldrazi creature token. Not only is this an immensely powerful activated ability, but the fact that Ulamog’s Dreadsire has vigilance means you can stay on the attack while also building up your board.
If you have an appetite for valuable reprints, you’ll be pleased to see Morophon the Boundless (~$16.99) and Eldrazi Conscription (~$12.99) included in Eldrazi Incursion’s deck list too. Maybe that’ll reduce the sting of paying so much for it … though maybe not. Overall, Eldrazi Incursion is a formidable deck with a host of mighty high-value Eldrazi and a supporting cast of midrange monsters that keep things ticking over while you accumulate enough mana to get your titans on the battlefield.
1. Tricky Terrain
Tricky Terrain is probably the least beginner-friendly of the four Modern Horizons 3 Commander precons and yet, it’s also one of the most well-constructed. If you can get to grips with the slightly ‘trickier’ aspects of this deck it has some great potential.
Like many Simic (blue-green) decks we’ve seen before, Tricky Terrain is a lands deck and its high ratio of land cards reflects that. Somewhat uniquely though, it places a particular emphasis on non-basic land types. There are lots of moving parts in this deck but to put it simply, the heavy ramp focus allows you to quickly build your board and Omo’s capacity to tack an everything counter on lands and creatures has plenty of opportunity for payoff.
In this deck’s current state, the everything counters on land comes into play far more than those on creatures as there isn’t a particular large emphasis on typal abilities among the 99. Land-type based abilities are where it’s at. For example, if you can get an everything counter on all your lands to make them all Locuses, Cloudpost basically doubles your mana pool. Sage of the Maze also has powerful rewards for everything lands by treating them like Gates.
Omo would be a total beast of a card if her ability differed ever so slightly. As it stands, the effects of her counters are only in play when she’s on the battlefield. As a result, your opponents will be hungry for any opportunity to wipe her out at the earlier opportunity to undermine your gameplan. Thankfully though, these counters aren’t removed when Omo dies and owing to all the ramping you’ll do, it’s not too hard to fork out Commander tax to return her to the field. So, you should have minimal downtime on this effect.
Besides, Jyoti, Moag Ancient will soothe the pain of getting your Commander killed by producing a Token for each time you’ve cast them from the Command Zone (cheers, Jyoti).
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