Modern Horizons 3: The Best Cards and Reprints

Modern Horizons 3 (MH3) released in June 2024 and reshaped the Modern format overnight. In 2026, the dust has settled enough to see which cards were real format-defining additions and which were pack-opening hype.

The chase mythics

Ral, Monsoon Mage — Izzet planeswalker, immediate Modern staple in Murktide/Ragavan shells. Currently $25–$45, has traded as high as $60.

Grist, Voracious Larva — Golgari planeswalker with escape-hatch recursion. $15–$30. Defines several Modern archetypes.

Nadu, Winged Wisdom — banned in Modern within 30 days of the set. Trades as a collectible only; $8–$15.

Ulamog, the Defiler — new Eldrazi titan. Modern and Commander staple. $30–$60 regular, $80–$120 borderless.

The Modern-defining reprints

MH3 included a few reprints that reshaped Modern prices:

Springleaf Drum — returned for the first time since Lorwyn. Dropped from $8 to $2.

Flooded Strand / Polluted Delta / Bloodstained Mire / Wooded Foothills / Windswept Heath — Onslaught-frame retro reprints. The retro foil versions are $40–$80 each. Regular printings dropped the fetch-land price floor slightly.

Sheoldred, the Apocalypse — third reprint; now stable at $25–$40 down from $80.

The new card types

MH3 introduced several new mechanical concepts:

Energy counters return — with a full suite of energy-producing creatures and sinks. Boros Energy became a top-tier Modern deck.

Eldrazi with new cast triggers — the six new Eldrazi (Ulamog, Kozilek, Emrakul variants) all have powerful cast triggers.

Mono-colour legendary creatures — each colour got a tribal-defining legendary at mythic rarity.

Collector Booster chase cards

MH3 Collector Boosters include several premium treatments that drive pack openings:

Serialised rainbow-foil mythics — 1/500 copies of chase mythics. Ulamog serialised has traded for $2,000+.

Retro-frame rainbow foils — the retro fetches mentioned above, plus other Modern staples.

Showcase frames — manga-influenced illustrations of the new planeswalkers and legendary creatures. $40–$100 each.

What to buy in 2026

Two years after release, MH3 has settled into predictable price patterns:

• Format staples dropped 30–50% from peak — Ral, Grist, Ulamog all cheaper than on release.
• Reprint targets stabilised — fetch lands, Sheoldred, Springleaf Drum all near floors.
• Chase Collector variants held value — serialised, retro-foil fetches kept their prices because supply is genuinely limited.

Buy: retro-foil fetches if you’re building a Modern deck. Ral, Monsoon Mage for Izzet shells. Ulamog regular ($30) for Commander.

Hold: Collector Booster premium-foil mythics. These keep appreciating.

Skip: Nadu (banned), Commander-precon reprints (being reprinted again in other products), and the mono-colour legendaries if you’re not playing their specific tribal deck.

How MH3 affected existing Modern prices

Three knock-on effects worth noting:

1. Older fetch lands dropped — with retro reprints, both Zendikar and Onslaught fetches dropped 20–30%.
2. Older Eldrazi rose — Ulamog’s Crusher, Kozilek’s Command, the earlier Eldrazi titans all bumped up as Eldrazi decks became viable again.
3. Legacy shock lands — Ragavan shells in Modern put pressure on the mana-base, and shock lands (already expensive) added another 15–25%.

Modern Horizons as a product line

MH3 is the third in a series (MH1 in 2019, MH2 in 2021). Each Horizons set specifically includes cards designed to push the Modern format without printing directly in Standard. The Horizons sets are where Magic’s R&D team takes bigger risks — and it shows in both the new designs and the reprints.

Modern Horizons 4 is expected in 2027. Cards that hold value through an MH4 release typically indicate true format staples — we’ll know which MH3 cards are the real deal in about 18 months.

Browse Modern Horizons 3 in Scrytics

Scrytics’ catalog has the full Modern Horizons 3 set indexed by rarity, price, and chase variant. Filter to collector-booster premium prints only to see the actual chase list. The price history per card goes back to release, showing the 2024 peaks and 2026 stabilisations.

Modern Horizons sets are the most impactful product Wizards releases — more than Standard expansions — because they reach every non-rotating format at once. Watch the 2026 meta through early 2027 to see which cards from MH3 are still driving decks.