One aspect of MH3 that separated it from previous Modern Horizons sets was the inclusion of Commander decks. Despite the fact that the main set is clearly designed for the Modern format, these Commander Precons feature new cards and reprints that are, in fact, not Modern legal.
These Commander cards are legal in Eternal formats, however, and one card in particular has quickly made a name for itself in Legacy. Recently, a strange mono-green shell with a land toolbox package emerged victorious in a Magic Online Legacy Challenge.
There are a multitude of cards in the deck from the MH3 main set, but the most important addition is none other than
Planar Nexus
Planar Nexus
This land is every nonbasic land type. (Nonbasic land types include Cave, Desert, Gate, Lair, Locus, Mine, Power-Plant, Sphere, Tower, and Urza's.)
{T}: Add {C}.
{1}, {T}: Add one mana of any color.
. Planar Nexus is a strange card with some neat applications, and this deck takes full advantage. This deck relies on land synergies to obtain a major mana advantage, and Planar Nexus is the glue that holds everything together.
The Role of Planar Nexus
While a large portion of the manabase is made up of tutor targets, three particular four-of lands contribute heavily to the deck’s explosive nature. These lands are none other than
Cloudpost
Cloudpost
This land enters tapped.
{T}: Add {C} for each Locus on the battlefield.
,
Urza’s Tower
Urza’s Tower
{T}: Add {C}. If you control an Urza's Mine and an Urza's Power-Plant, add {C}{C}{C} instead.
, and Planar Nexus. You won’t see any other Tron lands in the decklist. Meanwhile, only two copies of
Glimmerpost
Glimmerpost
When this land enters, you gain 1 life for each Locus on the battlefield.
{T}: Add {C}.
are included. This may seem unusual at first glance, but thanks to Planar Nexus, these decisions make a lot of sense.
Planar Nexus is quite interesting in the sense that it does very little on its own. The goal is to pair Planar Nexus with other non-basic lands that reward you for playing lands of a specific type. For instance, Planar Nexus functions as a Desert, so you can sacrifice it to
Scavenger Grounds
Scavenger Grounds
{T}: Add {C}.
{2}, {T}, Sacrifice a Desert: Exile all graveyards.
in Commander when applicable. Here, though, the relevant land types are Locus, Urza’s, Mine, and Power Plant.
The objective is to combine copies of Planar Nexus with Cloudpost or Urza’s Tower. For Cloudpost’s sake, Planar Nexus counts as a Locus, enabling Cloudpost to tap for additional mana. In the case of Urza’s Tower, because Planar Nexus has the Urza’s, Mine, and Power Plant types all rolled up in one, you can tap Urza’s Tower for three mana!
This opens the door for you to play some potent spells ahead of schedule. Playing
The One Ring
The One Ring
Indestructible
When The One Ring enters, if you cast it, you gain protection from everything until your next turn.
At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life for each burden counter on The One Ring.
{T}: Put a burden counter on The One Ring, then draw a card for each burden counter on The One Ring.
on turn two off Planar Nexus and Urza’s Tower, for example, can let you quickly run away with the game. Your mana advantage will continue to grow as you find more copies of Urza’s Tower and Cloudpost, and this deck plays ample ways to find your important lands.
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Tutors and Unique Lands
Obviously, when you have access to Planar Nexus, the world is your oyster. The problem is that, in some games, you won’t always draw it. Urza’s Tower and Cloudpost are not impressive cards without support. Luckily, this deck features plenty of ways to tutor up the lands you want.
At the top of the list,
Crop Rotation
Crop Rotation
As an additional cost to cast this spell, sacrifice a land.
Search your library for a land card, put that card onto the battlefield, then shuffle.
gives you the luxury to search for whatever you need in an efficient manner.
Sowing Mycospawn
Sowing Mycospawn
Devoid (This card has no color.)
Kicker {1}{C} (You may pay an additional {1}{C} as you cast this spell.)
When you cast this spell, search your library for a land card, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle.
When you cast this spell, if it was kicked, exile target land.
is a fantastic new addition that accomplishes the same task. Importantly, Sowing Mycospawn doesn’t even have to resolve for you to get access to the land you want. A full playset of
Once Upon a Time
Once Upon a Time
If this spell is the first spell you've cast this game, you may cast it without paying its mana cost.
Look at the top five cards of your library. You may reveal a creature or land card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
makes an appearance as well, which can dig for specific lands and offers a high degree of flexibility.
Similar to
Primeval Titan
Primeval Titan
Trample
Whenever this creature enters or attacks, you may search your library for up to two land cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.
strategies in Modern, this deck also showcases a plethora of unique lands to grab depending on the situation. Playing against Reanimator? Get
Bojuka Bog
Bojuka Bog
This land enters tapped.
When this land enters, exile target player's graveyard.
{T}: Add {B}.
. Facing a go-wide creature deck? Find
The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
All creatures have "At the beginning of your upkeep, destroy this creature unless you pay {1}."
.
Notably, unlike Primeval Titan, Sowing Mycospawn and Crop Rotation put lands into play untapped. This can be essential against
Dark Depths
Dark Depths
Dark Depths enters with ten ice counters on it.
{3}: Remove an ice counter from Dark Depths.
When Dark Depths has no ice counters on it, sacrifice it. If you do, create Marit Lage, a legendary 20/20 black Avatar creature token with flying and indestructible.
decks, letting you find and activate
Wasteland
Wasteland
{T}: Add {C}.
{T}, Sacrifice this land: Destroy target nonbasic land.
right away to break up the combo or get
Karakas
Karakas
{T}: Add {W}.
{T}: Return target legendary creature to its owner's hand.
and immediately bounce a Marit Lage token.
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Disruption and Haymakers
Most of the rest of the deck is made up of either disruptive elements to help prolong the game or win conditions to help close the game. Vexing Bauble is an elite piece of interaction. Not only is it strong against
Mox Opal
Mox Opal
Metalcraft — {T}: Add one mana of any color. Activate only if you control three or more artifacts.
strategies, but it makes it trivial to resolve your haymakers in the face of
Force of Will
Force of Will
You may pay 1 life and exile a blue card from your hand rather than pay this spell's mana cost.
Counter target spell.
, too.
Disruptor Flute
Disruptor Flute
Flash
As this artifact enters, choose a card name.
Spells with the chosen name cost {3} more to cast.
Activated abilities of sources with the chosen name can't be activated unless they're mana abilities.
is another cheap MH3 addition that can mess with your opponent. Playing Disruptor Flute proactively can be very strong against a variety of combo decks. Against decks that rely on activated abilities, such as Dark Depths combo, Disruptor Flute absolutely shines.
Once you have built up a sufficient mana supply, there are a few cards that let you end the game in short order.
Karn, the Great Creator
Karn, the Great Creator
Activated abilities of artifacts your opponents control can't be activated.
+1: Until your next turn, up to one target noncreature artifact becomes an artifact creature with power and toughness each equal to its mana value.
−2: You may reveal an artifact card you own from outside the game or choose a face-up artifact card you own in exile. Put that card into your hand.
is a card you can play early that scales with the amount of mana you have. Both
Mycosynth Lattice
Mycosynth Lattice
All permanents are artifacts in addition to their other types.
All cards that aren't on the battlefield, spells, and permanents are colorless.
Players may spend mana as though it were mana of any color.
and
Walking Ballista
Walking Ballista
This creature enters with X +1/+1 counters on it.
{4}: Put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.
Remove a +1/+1 counter from this creature: It deals 1 damage to any target.
out of the sideboard have the potential to win games singlehandedly.
Otherwise, this deck does play singleton copies of
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
When you cast this spell, exile two target permanents.
Indestructible
Whenever Ulamog attacks, defending player exiles the top twenty cards of their library.
and
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
This spell can't be countered.
When you cast this spell, take an extra turn after this one.
Flying, protection from spells that are one or more colors, annihilator 6
When Emrakul is put into a graveyard from anywhere, its owner shuffles their graveyard into their library.
to completely shut the door. These cards easily castable in the late game. When necessary, you can use Crop Rotation or Sowing Mycospawn to find [tooltip]Eye of Ugin[/tooltips], which in turn can tutor up your big Eldrazi.
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Strengths and Weaknesses
This deck’s performance is truly remarkable, and there’s a lot to like about how the deck is constructed. The utility land package combined with the presence of Vexing Bauble and Disruptor Flute gives you a much better shot against a range of combo decks than traditional big mana strategies normally would have. This deck’s ability to assemble a ton of mana quickly makes
Daze
Daze
You may return an Island you control to its owner's hand rather than pay this spell's mana cost.
Counter target spell unless its controller pays {1}.
an irrelevant piece of interaction. Wasteland can certainly be annoying to play against, but unless the opponent has an aggressive start, rebuilding isn’t too tough.
Blood Moon
Blood Moon
Nonbasic lands are Mountains.
, on the other hand, is a bit problematic. The mono-red prison matchup is far from ideal. On top of being vulnerable to Blood Moon, this strategy lacks removal for an early
Broadside Bombardiers
Broadside Bombardiers
Menace, haste
Boast — Sacrifice another creature or artifact: This creature deals damage equal to 2 plus the sacrificed permanent's mana value to any target. (Activate only if this creature attacked this turn and only once each turn.)
. Obviously, this deck has little recourse if your
Doomsday
Doomsday
Search your library and graveyard for five cards and exile the rest. Put the chosen cards on top of your library in any order. You lose half your life, rounded up.
or Storm opponent can go off before you can land Vexing Bauble or Disruptor Flute.
Assuming you can dodge broken starts, though, this deck covers its bases pretty well. It’s really cool to see such a unique Commander card in Planar Nexus have a big impact in Legacy. MH3 is chock full of powerhouses across the board, so keep an eye out for any other innovative archetypes that pop up abusing the new cards.
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