Modern Horizons 3 Commander Decks: Are They Worth It?

Last updated on July 10, 2024

Dryad of the Ilysian Grove – Illustration by Leanna Crossan

That’s right folks. It’s been a week or two since Magic’s last major set release so that means it’s time to review an entire catalog of Commander precons! The set this time around? Modern Horizons 3! Wait a minute… Commander precons for a Modern Horizons set? Y’all know Commander players will just buy the main set, right…?

Usual criticisms aside, Modern Horizons 3 is likely to shape up every format graced by these new cards, Commander being no exception. With four new decks showcasing themes of the main set, or in some cases just doing completely random stuff that has nothing to do with MH3 at all, there’s plenty to talk about, and I’ll be catching you up on the new offerings, potential value, and strategic gameplay of each deck.

Get that wallet ready! Or don’t; there’ll probably be four new decks a week or two from now.

Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons 3 Commander Deck Bundle - Includes All 4 Decks (Graveyard Overdrive, Tricky Terrain, Creative Energy, and Eldrazi Incursion)

• POWERFUL RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX—Battle your friends with powerful creatures and spectacular spells with four 100-card Commander Decks that are ready to play right out of the box
• GET ALL 4 MODERN HORIZONS 3 DECKS—Fill your graveyard and avenge the dead with Graveyard Overdrive, ramp lands and grow value with Tricky Terrain, use energy counters for powerful payoffs with Creative Energy, or unleash Eldrazi to devour all in your path with Eldrazi Incursion
• INTRODUCING 60 COMMANDER CARDS—With all 4 Modern Horizons 3 Commander Decks, you’ll get a total of 60 never-before-seen Commander cards, with 15 in each deck (including 2 foil Legendary Creatures)
• COLLECT SPECIAL TREATMENT CARDS—Each deck also comes with a 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack containing 2 alt-border cards from the Modern Horizons 3 set, including 1 Rare or Mythic Rare and at least 1 Traditional Foil card
• YOUR NEW FOREVER FAVORITES—Introducing a heaping helping of exciting cards plus the return of competitive favorites, there’s something for everyone to love in Modern Horizons 3 Commander Decks

$279.99

Buy on Amazon

All About Modern Horizons 3

Jyoti, Moag Ancient | Illustration by Brent Hollowell

What Is Modern Horizons 3?

Modern Horizons 3 (MH3) is a supplementary set with the goal of introducing cards directly into the Modern format without having to go through Standard first. The first two Modern Horizons sets are well-known for introducing alarming levels of power creep across all Magic formats, and they’re often cited as some of the most powerful sets ever created.

Modern Horizons 3 Commander is an offshoot of the main set, and includes four Commander precons with their own set symbol and set code (M3C). It’s not exactly clear why there are Commander precons for a set that’s supposedly designed for Modern, but Wizards is clearly trying to appeal to as many audiences as possible here.

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Tricky Terrain - Top Pick

Best Value/Best For cEDH

Most Fun

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Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons 3 Commander Deck - Creative Energy (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories) Blue-Red-White

Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons 3 Commander Deck - Tricky Terrain (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories) Green-Blue

Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons 3 Commander Deck - Graveyard Overdrive (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories) Black-Red-Green

Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons 3 Commander Deck – Eldrazi Incursion (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories) 5-Color

$39.19

$53.68

$49.72

Price not available

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Buy on Amazon

Buy on Amazon

Buy on Amazon

Buy on Amazon

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Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons 3 Commander Deck - Creative Energy (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories) Blue-Red-White

$39.19

Buy on Amazon

Tricky Terrain - Top Pick

Best Value/Best For cEDH

Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons 3 Commander Deck - Tricky Terrain (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories) Green-Blue

$53.68

Buy on Amazon

Most Fun

Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons 3 Commander Deck - Graveyard Overdrive (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories) Black-Red-Green

$49.72

Buy on Amazon

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Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons 3 Commander Deck – Eldrazi Incursion (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories) 5-Color

Price not available

-

Buy on Amazon

Each M3C precon includes the following:

• 100 total cards.
• 13 New-to-Magic cards.
• 1 Traditional foil face commander.
• 1 Traditional foil alternate commander.
• 1 Foil etched display commander (on thicker, non-tournament legal card stock).
• 1 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack.
• 10 double-sided tokens.
• 1 Life wheel, deck box, and strategy insert.

This release also has alternate “Collector’s Edition” Commander decks, similar to those released for Warhammer 40,000. The individual cards in these decks are all the same, with a few alterations:

• All 100 cards have a new “ripple foil” treatment.
• The face and alternate commanders use the “profile art” treatment.
• All 13 new-to-Magic cards have extended art.
• The foil etched display commander also uses ripple foiling.
• The 10 double-sided tokens are half ripple-foiled on the front, with no foiling on the back.

How Does Modern Horizons 3 Compare to Other Commander Products?

Much like Commander Masters from 2023, the name of the set alone sets a certain expectation for these precons. In players’ minds, “Modern Horizons” is synonymous with “powerful,” and therefore the Commander precons should be sufficiently stronger than the typical offerings. Does that actually pan out? That’s what we’re here to find out.

I can say upfront that the decks are sufficiently complex, and like many modern-day Commander precons, these aren’t exactly new-player friendly (I’ve kind of given up on this front lately; they’re all complex now). There’s also the price issue, with one of these decks being price-gouged to the Eldritch Moon and back. There’s a correlation between price and power for a Commander precon, and none of these decks is worth $100.

Aside from price, you’re getting all the usual precon contents. If you splurge on the Collector Editions, you’ll get some alternate versions of the cards, but there’s no need to buy those unless you’re a diehard collector. Otherwise, you’re getting slightly more new Magic cards per deck than you typically get, and everything else is pretty much the same.

Should I Buy Modern Horizons 3?

Yes, under two conditions: You’re paying for a deck that appeals to your playstyle, and you’re paying a reasonable price for it. I can never recommend paying $100+ for a Commander precon.

Is this a must-have collection of precons that you should snag before they disappear from shelves? No, absolutely not. Don’t let the Modern Horizons tagline fool you: These are mostly just ordinary precons, in-line with what we get in every Standard set now.

Without spoiling too much from each individual deck, I will preface this review by saying some of these decks introduce really cool new cards to Magic, but half-deliver on an exciting precon experience. If you're here to buy a precon and preserve it for later precon vs. precon Magic, you might want to skip out on these decks.

Creative Energy

Commander, Theme, and Strategy

Creative Energy is a Jeskai () energy deck, which is either genius or a total goof given the Doctor Who Jeskai energy deck that released not even a year ago. It’s cool that those decks can pull pieces from one another, but they definitely tread on each others’ toes in terms of a novelty precon experience.

Creative Energy‘s Jeskai commander is Satya, Aetherflux Genius, a legendary Flamerush Rider that lets you spend energy to keep the token around.

Cayth, Famed Mechanist is the alternate commander, who leans into the artifact half of the deck, but still plays into the energy themes with proliferation. This half-energy half-artifact dynamic was strangely the exact structure of the Doctor Who deck.

Energy’s the name of the game. Accumulate as much energy as possible, and filter it into your payoffs. There’s a satisfying strategic element here, since there are quite a few places to spend your energy, and only so many ways to produce it. That means you’ll have to prioritize which payoffs you’re using. Will you spin Aetherflux Marvel, or are you trying to build an army of 6/12s with Stone Idol Generator? That’s the fun of the deck!

Notable Cards: Reprints and $$

Let’s knock out the typical “deck review” stuff first. For financial analysis, I’m ignoring the 13 new-to-Magic cards per deck. They usually have absurdly high pre-sale prices and most of them settle for a couple of dollars, so it doesn’t make sense to factor them into the overall prices.

I once again find myself harping on the mana bases. Casual Commander mana bases are getting better, and precon mana bases are hardly even attempting to keep up. You’d think tacking on a set of precons to a Modern Horizons set means you could juice the mana bases a little, even if that means there’s just a single fetch land, shock land, or triome in each deck. But nope, it’s yet again all Furycalm Snarls and Prairie Streams here. I’m all for functional budget mana bases, but precons really need to step it up.

Okay, usual riff-raff out of the way, let’s see what Creative Energy has for us.

This precon includes five cards in the $2-5 range, two cards in the $5-10 range, and four big-hitters above $10. Remember this comes with the caveat that reprinting expensive cards sometimes causes the prices to drop significantly. You’re also walking away with some excellent EDH staples, like Goldspan Dragon and Akroma's Will, so it’s not all parasitic energy cards like Aetherworks Marvel. Factor in whatever prices the new-to-Magic cards end up at, and I’d say this looks like a great purchase. Creative Energy’s bringing the heat!

I’ll be highlighting a handful of new-to-Magic cards from each precon, ones that sparked my interest or have a chance of become new hit staples:

Salvation Colossus: This white creature might not get there if you can’t unearth it, but at face-value this artifact creature is close to an End-Raze Forerunners in white, and it triggers every combat.

Silverquill Lecturer: Has nothing to do with this deck theme, but demonstrate is a cool ability to throw on creatures. Phage the Untouchable anyone?

Hourglass of the Lost: A 3-cost mana rock that you can cash in later to reanimate a bunch of small creatures. Kind of like a white Midnight Clock.

Blaster Hulk: Energy-specific, but I’m not going to ignore a potential 2-mana 8/8 red creature with haste.

Legion Loyalty received new art in this precon.

The Verdict

There’s some good and bad here. The value’s great, offering around $100 in reprints. Assuming you can pick this up for a reasonable price, you’re getting your money’s worth and then some. However, it’s hard to overlook how much this overlaps with the Doctor Who energy deck from last year. It again highlights one of the downsides of pumping out Commander precons with every set – it’s hard for precons to feel unique when they tread on each other so obviously.

This feels like a “Copy my homework, but don’t make it too obvious” situation, but at least it gives energy players more tools to work with. Also be aware that most of these energy cards don’t translate well to other strategies, so don’t expect to disassemble the precon and get too much to add to your other decks.

Sale

Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons 3 Commander Deck - Creative Energy (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories) Blue-Red-White

• POWERFUL RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX—Battle your friends with powerful creatures and spectacular spells with a 100-card Commander Deck that’s ready to defeat your opponents right out of the box
• BECOME AN ARCHITECT OF DESTRUCTION—Crank up the kill-o-watts and generate energy counters for powerful payoffs with this supercharged Blue-Red-White deck
• INTRODUCES 15 COMMANDER CARDS—This deck introduces 15 never-before-seen Commander cards to Magic: The Gathering, including 2 foil Legendary Creature cards
• COLLECT SPECIAL TREATMENT CARDS—Each deck also comes with a 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack containing 2 alt-border cards from the Modern Horizons 3 set, including 1 Rare or Mythic Rare and at least 1 Traditional Foil card
• YOUR NEW FOREVER FAVORITES—Introducing a heaping helping of exciting cards plus the return of competitive favorites, there’s something for everyone to love in Modern Horizons 3 Commander Decks

$39.19

Buy on Amazon

Tricky Terrain

Commander, Theme, and Strategy

The aptly named Tricky Terrain is a Simic () ramp deck with a pretty interesting gimmick: Combine cards that reference non-basic land types like deserts, caves, gates, etc.

I was extremely excited about the Tricky Terrain EDH precon when the first few cards got leaked. The concept is entirely novel, it’s unexplored precon territory, and it gives a home to a bunch of otherwise unplayable Draft chaff. Then I saw the decklist. It’s just a Simic landfall/ramp deck. The mana base has some awesome gems floating around, but the rest of the deck just feels uninspired. Typical Simic fair with ramp and control elements atop a fresh and diverse mana base with very little that capitalizes on it. Huge letdown in my opinion.

I’ll give the Simic commander credit, though. Omo, Queen of Vesuva showcases an intriguing new “everything counter,” which doesn’t do anything outside of working with Omo’s ability. The commander’s one of the only elements that actually pulls everything together.

There’s also the objectively stronger alternate commander, Jyoti, Moag Ancient. This elemental’s part ramp, part wincon. It’s really strange, but Omo plays better with the precon’s mana base, and Jyoti plays better with the non-land portion. Such a weird structure; the deck truly feels like two different ideas unsuccessfully mashed together.

As far as strategy, it’s pretty unexciting. I mean, if you’ve ever played a Simic landfall deck you already know what to do. Ramp a bunch, draw a bunch of cards, win with whatever top-end creatures you happen to draw. You could probably ignore the land subtypes of the deck altogether and do just fine. That subtype theme feels more like a textural thing than something front-and-center, though you can still dig up some pretty sweet synergies here. I just wish they’d leaned into the novel aspects of the deck a little more. I’m also not ignoring the fact that you’re selling me a deck with absolute junkers like Poison Dart Frog and Floriferous Vinewall.

Notable Cards: Reprints and $$

Let’s see if the value makes up for my initial disappointment. Here we have 12 cards in the $2-5 range, one in the $5-10 range, and six cards above $10. Okay, Tricky Terrain, you’re forgiven. These are good value reprints too, including Dryad of the Ilysian Grove, Apex Devastator, Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath, and Mana Reflection, plus two great lands in Vesuva and Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth. These are all universally playable in a bunch of different decks.

It's also very cool to see the Dark Depths + Thespian's Stage combo in a Commander precon. As unexcited as I am about the main deck, the mana base is sick. This deck’s also likely to have the most expensive new-to-Magic cards of the bunch.

Speaking of which, some new goodies to gush about:

Trenchpost: The first locus land printed since Scars of Mirrodin. Could be important for 8-Post (12-Post?) decks in Legacy.

Talon Gates of Madara: New gates are always welcome, and this can temporarily protect/remove a creature at instant speed. Super cool.

Lazotep Quarry: Just a fantastic sacrifice outlet on a land. Easily competes with lands like Phyrexian Tower and High Market.

Horizon of Progress: Strong multi-color fixing that can tag out for a new card and has a Terrain Generator ability. Very versatile.

Planar Nexus: Pretty absurd, given its ability to turn on Tron alongside just one of the Tron lands like Urza's Mine. Clearly inspired by the Unfinity card Nearby Planet.

Dryad of the Ilysian Grove, Magus of the Candelabra, Skullwinder, and Basilisk Gate all received new art in this precon.

The Verdict

I’m conflicted. Tricky Terrain is an easy A+ on value, but the actual strategy and card selection feels like it fumbled the ball somewhere. Like it was a really cool concept on paper, and they just didn’t follow through in the execution.

There’s enough here to make the non-basic land type theme work, but it’s more of an afterthought in an otherwise run-of-the mill ramp deck. I mean, do you really want another precon where you’re trying to win with Avenger of Zendikar and Rampaging Baloths? We’ve been doing that since 2013. I love the new stuff here, but I find the rest tired and uninspired. Pick this up for value or to disassemble for parts, but as an out-of-the-box experience, I’m not a fan.

Sale

Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons 3 Commander Deck - Tricky Terrain (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories) Green-Blue

• POWERFUL RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX—Battle your friends with powerful creatures and spectacular spells with a 100-card Commander Deck that’s ready to defeat your opponents right out of the box
• SOW THE SEEDS OF DEVASTATION—Ramp up with Lands, then send your mightiest monsters out swinging with this deadly Green-Blue deck
• INTRODUCES 15 COMMANDER CARDS—This deck introduces 15 never-before-seen Commander cards to Magic: The Gathering, including 2 foil Legendary Creature cards
• COLLECT SPECIAL TREATMENT CARDS—Each deck also comes with a 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack containing 2 alt-border cards from the Modern Horizons 3 set, including 1 Rare or Mythic Rare and at least 1 Traditional Foil card
• YOUR NEW FOREVER FAVORITES—Introducing a heaping helping of exciting cards plus the return of competitive favorites, there’s something for everyone to love in Modern Horizons 3 Commander Decks

$53.68

Buy on Amazon

Graveyard Overdrive

Commander, Theme, and Strategy

Graveyard Overdrive is a Jund () graveyard deck featuring a lhurgoyf subtheme.

Wait, what?

I went on a bit of a journey with this deck. When they announced the name “Graveyard Overdrive,” I was out faster than Hans when Saffi Eriksdotter encountered the Lhurgoyf. “Another graveyard precon, oh joy.” But then I saw the lhurgoyf theme weaved into it and they pulled me back in. But then I saw the decklist, and I was right back out.

Graveyard Overdrive‘s Jund commander is Disa the Restless, which reads like one of the coolest and weirdest commanders I’ve ever seen head a precon. This textbox is full gimmick territory, especially given that existing lhurgoyf creatures aren’t exactly Commander all-stars.

Alternatively, you have Coram, the Undertaker, a much more traditional graveyard commander, and realistically the stronger card. Not cooler, just better.

As with Tricky Terrain, the new stuff here is truly awesome and inspired. The ‘goyf subtheme is novel stuff, but then the rest of the decklist loses me, devolving into early 2010’s slop.

Seriously, the decklist reads like something a first-time Magic player would’ve built in 2013, with things like Deadbridge Chant, Garruk, Apex Predator, and Yavimaya Elder floating around. Yesterday’s trash in a 2024 precon. But then the deck only half-commits to the ‘goyf subtheme. You’d think they’d toss in a battle here (yes, I know double-faced cards are problematic in Commander precons), and none of the enchantments really end up in the graveyard. This is squandered potential, with the overall deck feeling like “Jund Graveyard Stuff” and a glimmer of inspirational design with the face commander and the theme it promotes.

Strategically, play cards that fill your graveyard and just try to win with whatever top-end you draw. If that sounds familiar it’s because it’s the same basic gameplan as Tricky Terrain with a different path to get there. I wish I could say there’s more strategic depth since you want to get different card types in your graveyard for the lhurgoyfs, but yet again I think you can treat that as a textural subtheme rather than actually focus on it during gameplay. Just try to get an Archon of Cruelty into play and ride that to victory.

Notable Cards: Reprints and $$

These precons continue to deliver on reprint value, with four cards in the $2-5 range, six in the $5-10 range, and three big-ticket cards above $10, including a much-needed reprint of The Reaver Cleaver. Selvala, Heart of the Wilds is among the strongest green commanders and Archon of Cruelty is a big player in Commander, too.

Unfortunately, the mana base is a steaming pile of ‘goyf doodoo. Not a single land worth value, low-impact Temples and Tainted lands, and the most basic dual land suite you can imagine for a precon. Functional, but extremely underwhelming.

I did praise the new cards though, so let’s take a look at a few:

Final Act: It isn’t quite Farewell, but that’s a good thing, and this black board wipe will see plenty of play on its own merit.

Sawhorn Nemesis: Pick an enemy and everything deals double damage to them. Plus dinosaur is a popular creature type these days.

Siege-Gang Lieutenant: Not sure what this is doing here, but it says goblin on it so some Krenko player is losing sleep over it.

Tempt with Mayhem: This red sorcery is the first card with the tempting offer ability word since Commander 2013. Remember, never be tempted!

Bloodbraid Challenger: Bloodbraid Elf’s all grown up and looking poised for action in Commander, maybe even other Eternal formats.

Polygoyf: We love the LGBTQIA+ representation in this house.

Stitcher's Supplier and Forgotten Cave received new art in this deck.

The Verdict

Graveyard Overdrive falls exactly in line with Tricky Terrain. It’s a mixed bag of sweet new designs and an isolated strategy I’d like to port over to a different deck entirely, with the remnants offering nothing new or inspiring to brag about. The reprint value’s a saving grace, with a rock solid roster of heavily-played goodies. This deck gets exactly one thumb up and one thumb down, and I’m looking forward to seeing what people do with the lhurgoyf package outside of this precon.

Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons 3 Commander Deck - Graveyard Overdrive (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories) Black-Red-Green

• POWERFUL RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX—Battle your friends with powerful creatures and spectacular spells with a 100-card Commander Deck that’s ready to defeat your opponents right out of the box
• NO REST FOR THE RESTLESS—Fill your graveyard, then let the fallen fuel your counterattack and watch your foes run with this relentless Black-Red-Green deck
• INTRODUCES 15 COMMANDER CARDS—This deck introduces 15 never-before-seen Commander cards to Magic: The Gathering, including 2 foil Legendary Creature cards
• COLLECT SPECIAL TREATMENT CARDS—Each deck also comes with a 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack containing 2 alt-border cards from the Modern Horizons 3 set, including 1 Rare or Mythic Rare and at least 1 Traditional Foil card
• YOUR NEW FOREVER FAVORITES—Introducing a heaping helping of exciting cards plus the return of competitive favorites, there’s something for everyone to love in Modern Horizons 3 Commander Decks

$49.72

Buy on Amazon

Eldrazi Incursion

Commander, Theme, and Strategy

Eldrazi Incursion brings back the Eldrazi again, and they’re just as squiggly as before, just a little more colorful this time. The same thing’s going on with Creative Energy here: I can’t help but lose some excitement over an “Eldrazi precon” when that was the literal tagline for a precon we got less than a year ago. I do appreciate that it’s taking the distinct 5-color commander approach instead of fully-colorless, though the Eldrazi well has officially run dry after this one.

The Eldrazi Incursion EDH precon has a commander who's an absolute nuisance on so many levels. Ulalek, Fused Atrocity has a color identity and therefore provides a home for all those devoid Eldrazi that didn’t fit in 2023’s Eldrazi Unbound precon. Ulalek also has a ridiculous ability in terms of complexity and power level. It’s meant to work with all the Eldrazi cast triggers, but it’s got some fiddly timing.

There’s also Azlask, the Swelling Scourge, a.k.a. the Gaping Dragon from Dark Souls 1. It takes advantage of those smallball Eldrazi tokens you’ll be creating, but it also serves as a potential 5-color experience counter commander, if that’s something you’ve wanted.

Eldrazi strategies can be a bit braindead, and that’s true here. Play big dumb Eldrazi creatures and make your opponents hate you because WotC put annihilator on new cards in 2024. You can pop off and do things in this deck that none of the other precons can do, and even though it’s treading on the heels of another pretty recent precon, I’d guess this’ll be the most popular of the bunch. Hey, I get it, I’m a fan of the spaghetti monsters myself.

Notable Cards: Reprints and $$

Quick note: This deck is preordering at an insanely high price, either sold out in many places or reaching over $100 elsewhere. I can’t recommend spending that much on a precon no matter how much you want the new cards, so just be cautious of the price gouging on this one. That said, let’s see what reprints we’ve got.

Eldrazi Incursion has 13 cards in the $2-5 range, two in the $5-10 range, and three at or above $10, including Morophon, the Boundless, Eldrazi Monument, and Eldrazi Conscription. Something doesn’t add up though. This deck offers the same or lesser value than the other decks, but people are charging twice as much for the precon. That’s almost entirely off the back of the highly sought-after new cards. Shame too, because at a base level, the contents here aren’t significantly different from the other decks.

The mana base is also pretty janky. It’s full of pain lands, which are useful for casting certain colorless spells, but your mana’s gonna hurt. They also snuck in Reliquary Tower for some reason, and I’m not sure what hole they dug Tendo Ice Bridge out of. Outside a copy of Eldrazi Temple, this mana base is pretty bad, and it needs a lot of work and restructuring.

All that aside, who’s excited for some new Eldrazi? This deck’s got some spicy tentacle monsters floating around:

Eldritch Immunity: Inefficient mass-protection that can save a single creature in a pinch.

Angelic Aberration: A sweet way to upgrade all those Spawn tokens and Scion tokens into 4/4s, though this Eldrazi angel probably sees play in normal token decks.

Mutated Cultist: Um, hello? This horror combos with things like Regenerations Restored or Dark Depths to get a massive mana discount on a big spell that same turn. Busted.

Hideous Taskmaster: I still see Molten Primordial on occasion, what if it threw around annihilator, too?

Crib Swap received new art in this deck.

The Verdict

On one Eldritch hand I’m docking this deck points for being released so close to the Eldrazi Unbound precon from Commander Masters. Again, two decks with similar themes that close to one another makes both feel less unique, though I appreciate that they’re approaching different color identity angles. Otherwise, the value’s here, and the new offerings are sufficiently powerful. People just love their Eldrazi, and that’s what they’re gonna get.

Big Eldrazelephant in the room though: The price gouging is far from justified for this precon and might hurt its availability and long-term reputation. I don’t hold that against the deck itself, but just note that you might actually not be getting your money’s worth here unless the price drops significantly.

Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons 3 Commander Deck – Eldrazi Incursion (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories) 5-Color

• POWERFUL RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX—Battle your friends with powerful creatures and spectacular spells with a 100-card Commander Deck that’s ready to defeat your opponents right out of the box
• BRING THE PAIN TO ANY PLANE—Ramp from small Eldrazi Spawns and Scions up to towering monsters and devour all in your path
• INTRODUCES 15 COMMANDER CARDS—This deck introduces 15 never-before-seen Commander cards to Magic: The Gathering, including 2 foil Legendary Creature cards
• COLLECT SPECIAL TREATMENT CARDS—Each deck also comes with a 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack containing 2 alt-border cards from the Modern Horizons 3 set, including 1 Rare or Mythic Rare and at least 1 Traditional Foil card
• YOUR NEW FOREVER FAVORITES—Introducing a heaping helping of exciting cards plus the return of competitive favorites, there’s something for everyone to love in Modern Horizons 3 Commander Decks

Buy on Amazon

The Best Modern Horizons 3 Deck

For Value

Solely going by reprint value, Tricky Terrain wins in a landslide. Six highly-played $10+ cards is phenomenal value in a Commander precon, especially when some of those cards are actual lands. All the decks fare well in this category, assuming you’re snagging them for the usual $40-50.

Sale

Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons 3 Commander Deck - Tricky Terrain (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories) Green-Blue

• POWERFUL RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX—Battle your friends with powerful creatures and spectacular spells with a 100-card Commander Deck that’s ready to defeat your opponents right out of the box
• SOW THE SEEDS OF DEVASTATION—Ramp up with Lands, then send your mightiest monsters out swinging with this deadly Green-Blue deck
• INTRODUCES 15 COMMANDER CARDS—This deck introduces 15 never-before-seen Commander cards to Magic: The Gathering, including 2 foil Legendary Creature cards
• COLLECT SPECIAL TREATMENT CARDS—Each deck also comes with a 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack containing 2 alt-border cards from the Modern Horizons 3 set, including 1 Rare or Mythic Rare and at least 1 Traditional Foil card
• YOUR NEW FOREVER FAVORITES—Introducing a heaping helping of exciting cards plus the return of competitive favorites, there’s something for everyone to love in Modern Horizons 3 Commander Decks

$53.68

Buy on Amazon

For Competitive EDH

None of these precons are equipped to compete at cEDH tables, so it’s a bit of a toss-up. Tricky Terrain has all the makings of a ramp/control deck, and with enough adjustments might come close to competitive. Creative Energy feels like a close second with the support from Modern Horizons 3, but it remains to be seen how competitive an energy deck can really be.

Sale

Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons 3 Commander Deck - Tricky Terrain (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories) Green-Blue

• POWERFUL RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX—Battle your friends with powerful creatures and spectacular spells with a 100-card Commander Deck that’s ready to defeat your opponents right out of the box
• SOW THE SEEDS OF DEVASTATION—Ramp up with Lands, then send your mightiest monsters out swinging with this deadly Green-Blue deck
• INTRODUCES 15 COMMANDER CARDS—This deck introduces 15 never-before-seen Commander cards to Magic: The Gathering, including 2 foil Legendary Creature cards
• COLLECT SPECIAL TREATMENT CARDS—Each deck also comes with a 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack containing 2 alt-border cards from the Modern Horizons 3 set, including 1 Rare or Mythic Rare and at least 1 Traditional Foil card
• YOUR NEW FOREVER FAVORITES—Introducing a heaping helping of exciting cards plus the return of competitive favorites, there’s something for everyone to love in Modern Horizons 3 Commander Decks

$53.68

Buy on Amazon

For Fun

I normally have a slam dunk pick for this category, but these decks waffled around too much. The energy deck rehashed a theme we literally just got, Eldrazi are polarizing with the player base, and the other two decks half-delivered on their novel themes.

Graveyard Overdrive sparked some amount of joy when I saw the lhurgoyf package, so this one wins the fun category, though I’m pretty unenthused by everything that’s not the lhurgoyf stuff. I bet you could pull that handful of cards from the precon and shape a more thoughtful deck around it, and that seems fun to me. Close second on Tricky Terrain’s “non-basic land types matter,” though that too fell short on its promise.

Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons 3 Commander Deck - Graveyard Overdrive (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories) Black-Red-Green

• POWERFUL RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX—Battle your friends with powerful creatures and spectacular spells with a 100-card Commander Deck that’s ready to defeat your opponents right out of the box
• NO REST FOR THE RESTLESS—Fill your graveyard, then let the fallen fuel your counterattack and watch your foes run with this relentless Black-Red-Green deck
• INTRODUCES 15 COMMANDER CARDS—This deck introduces 15 never-before-seen Commander cards to Magic: The Gathering, including 2 foil Legendary Creature cards
• COLLECT SPECIAL TREATMENT CARDS—Each deck also comes with a 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack containing 2 alt-border cards from the Modern Horizons 3 set, including 1 Rare or Mythic Rare and at least 1 Traditional Foil card
• YOUR NEW FOREVER FAVORITES—Introducing a heaping helping of exciting cards plus the return of competitive favorites, there’s something for everyone to love in Modern Horizons 3 Commander Decks

$49.72

Buy on Amazon

Where to Buy Modern Horizons 3

Modern Horizons 3 Commander decks are available on Amazon.com in both normal and Collector's Editions. You can buy them as a bundle deal, though the Eldrazi Incursion deck is currently driving up the price of the bundles. You can also buy the non-Eldrazi decks individually for around $50-$60 each.

Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons 3 Commander Deck: Collector’s Edition Bundle - Includes All 4 Decks (Graveyard Overdrive, Tricky Terrain, Creative Energy, and Eldrazi Incursion)

• COLLECT ALL 4 COLLECTOR’S EDITION DECKS—Get a bundle of 4 Modern Horizons 3 Collector’s Edition Commander Decks (Graveyard Overdrive, Tricky Terrain, Creative Energy, and Eldrazi Incursion)
• EXCLUSIVE COLLECTOR’S EDITION FOIL TREATMENT—All 100 cards in each Collector’s Edition deck feature a special foil treatment introduced for the very first time—Ripple Foil cards that gleam in a pattern like ripples in a pool of water
• BORDERLESS PROFILE COMMANDERS—Meet the new stars of your collection with an up-close, profile view of your commanders. Each deck includes 2 Legendary Creature cards featuring a striking Borderless Profile alt-art treatment and dressed to impress in Ripple Foil
• INTRODUCING 60 COMMANDER CARDS—These decks introduce a total of 60 never-before-seen cards to Magic: The Gathering, with 15 introduced in each deck
• POWERFUL RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX—Win with style with powerful all-foil decks that are ready to defeat your opponents right out of the box

Buy on Amazon

You can also check with your local game store for preorders or wait until release. Most LGSs carry some quantity of new Commander precons, though hot decks like the Eldrazi precon will either sell out fast or already be sold out from preorders. Check with your LGS sooner than later to see if they’ll have any extra precons in stock upon release.

Commanding Conclusion

Coram, the Undertaker | Illustration by Kai Carpenter

It’s pretty clear that Commander precons didn’t need to exist for Modern Horizons 3, a set that’s supposedly serving the needs of, you know, Modern. I can’t help but feel like this product line-up is a bit of a miss. There’s certainly powerful stuff, even new staples and great reprints, but the themes either felt repetitive or half-baked.

I really feel like Tricky Terrain and Graveyard Overdrive could’ve taken their novel ideas and ran with them a bit more. That’s how Commander precons stick out when we get 4-5 new precons every few months. Instead, it feels like their novel subthemes got lost in all the usual precon slop we see set-in, set-out. But hey, the new cards are awesome, and the reprint value’s great, so I can’t hate too much. And by the way: if you'd like some ideas on how to tweak them, check our full guide on how to upgrade Commander precons.

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Tricky Terrain - Top Pick

Best Value/Best For cEDH

Most Fun

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Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons 3 Commander Deck - Creative Energy (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories) Blue-Red-White

Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons 3 Commander Deck - Tricky Terrain (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories) Green-Blue

Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons 3 Commander Deck - Graveyard Overdrive (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories) Black-Red-Green

Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons 3 Commander Deck – Eldrazi Incursion (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories) 5-Color

$39.19

$53.68

$49.72

Price not available

-

Buy on Amazon

Buy on Amazon

Buy on Amazon

Buy on Amazon

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Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons 3 Commander Deck - Creative Energy (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories) Blue-Red-White

$39.19

Buy on Amazon

Tricky Terrain - Top Pick

Best Value/Best For cEDH

Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons 3 Commander Deck - Tricky Terrain (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories) Green-Blue

$53.68

Buy on Amazon

Most Fun

Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons 3 Commander Deck - Graveyard Overdrive (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories) Black-Red-Green

$49.72

Buy on Amazon

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Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons 3 Commander Deck – Eldrazi Incursion (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories) 5-Color

Price not available

-

Buy on Amazon

Where are you at on M3C precons? Did any of them strike your fancy, and how do you plan to use some of the interesting new cards we got? Let me know in the comments below or over in the Draftsim Discord.

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