If Modern Horizons 3 was a ship, it would’ve sunk long ago. Such is the sheer volume of leaks it’s experiencing. Another batch of MH3 leaks has pulled into port today, and within it there’s a bit of a land theme going on. If you’re the kind of player who enjoys a good
Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
This land enters tapped.
Whenever a Mountain you control enters, if you control at least five other Mountains, you may have this land deal 3 damage to any target.
{T}: Add {R}.
combo, then today’s your day!
We’ve got three cards to look at here, including a couple of legendary creatures. One of which will look very familiar to anyone even passingly familiar with the Modern format. Land synergies are often some of the most undervalued in all of Magic, as the surprise success of Temur Analyst in Standard will attest. These new cards may just have similar levels of success in Modern.
Read More: Unique Thunder Junction Crime Payoffs Add New Twist to Valakut Strategy!
The Prodigal Tree Returns
Let’s kick things off with the man of the hour. Six, best known for being half of the immensely powerful Planeswalker
Wrenn and Six
Wrenn and Six
+1: Return up to one target land card from your graveyard to your hand.
−1: Wrenn and Six deals 1 damage to any target.
−7: You get an emblem with "Instant and sorcery cards in your graveyard have retrace." (You may cast instant and sorcery cards from your graveyard by discarding a land card in addition to paying their other costs.)
, is embarking on a solo career in MH3. He’s a three mana Treefolk with 2/4 stats and Reach. When he attacks, he mills you for three and can maybe grab you a Land card. So far, so mediocre, but things thankfully pick up in Six’s last line of text. As long as it’s your turn, Six grants all nonland permanent cards in your graveyard Retrace.
This is an old mechanic, seen only sparingly in supplemental products since its debut in Lorwyn block. It also appeared as part of Wrenn and Six’s ultimate, so clearly Six was the one handling that side of things in their partnership. In case you’re unfamiliar, Retrace lets you recast a card from your graveyard by discarding a Land in addition to its other costs.
Retrace is only on a few cards for a reason; it’s extremely breakable. This is especially true on cheap, high-impact cards. As long as you have Lands to pitch, you can cast cards with Retrace again and again. Since Six can get you those lands once he starts attacking, their solo debut definitely seems powerful. Thankfully this is limited only to permanents, or Burn decks would have a field day with this one.
Six definitely has the potential to enable broken synergies, especially when cheated out with the likes of
Aether Vial
Aether Vial
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may put a charge counter on this artifact.
{T}: You may put a creature card with mana value equal to the number of charge counters on this artifact from your hand onto the battlefield.
or the new Primal Prayers. At first glance, though, he looks a bit too fair to take Modern by storm.
Read More: “Uncommon Power Level” Mythic Breaks Out In Multiple Formats!
A Legendary Field Of The Dead?
Next up is another legendary creature, and one that channels one of the very best Lands in Magic history. The Necrobloom is four mana, one and Abzan colors, for a 2/7 Plant with Landfall. Most of the time, this Landfall ability will create 0/1 Plant tokens. Once you have seven or more Lands, though, it creates 2/2 Zombies instead.
Sound familiar? That’s because this exact text, more or less, was what made Field of the Dead such a menace in multiple formats. The idea is typically to use an effect like
Scapeshift
Scapeshift
Sacrifice any number of lands. Search your library for up to that many land cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.
or Sudden Reclamation to bring seven or more Lands in at once. This will trigger the effect for all of them, thus creating upwards of seven 2/2 Zombies, enough for a lethal swing.
As if that wasn’t enough, The Necrobloom also gives every Land card in your graveyard Dredge 2. That means that, instead of drawing normally, you can mill two cards and recur a Land from your graveyard. This is great for making Landfall triggers or reusing the likes of Fetch Lands and the Kamigawa Channel Lands.
Now, of course, Creatures are much easier to remove than Lands, so this is unlikely to be as problematic as Field was. It’s also four mana, which is pricey for Modern. For these reasons, this looks more like a Commander card than a Modern one. That being said, the Dredge mechanic is always worth worrying about, so don’t rule it out just yet.
Read More: MTG Players Frustrated By Failed Format Update
A Fungus Among Us
Finally, rounding out our MH3 Land leaks for today, we have Sowing Mycospawn. This is one of the many new Eldrazi we’re getting in Modern Horizons 3, with a fun fungal twist. At a baseline, it’s a four mana 3/3 that puts any Land from your deck into play when cast. You can also Kick it for one and a colorless, and exile a Land if you do.
It’s easy to look at the Kicker cost here and count the card out for being too expensive. Four mana for a 3/3 and any Land from your deck, untapped might I add, is a solid deal in its own right. Getting to exile an opposing Land is just a fun bonus. Of course, it’s worth noting that the card fuels future copies of itself. Play one of these on four, in fact, and if you hit another Land drop on five you can exile a Land right then and there.
Since the Land fetching trigger only occurs on cast, this card is probably a bit too balanced to see play in most Modern decks. That said, the fact that it can grab any Land you want may give it a home in the likes of Domain Zoo, or a new variant thereof. Alternatively, it could also slot into the Mono-Green Tron lists that seem to be cropping up lately.
For better or worse, neither of these scenarios is particularly likely. What is likely is this card becoming a Commander staple for the rest of time, more so than the other MH3 land leaks we’ve seen today, at least.
Read More: Recent MTG Bans May Spell the End of Black-Bordered Un-Sets