The year is 2024. You sit down for the first round of your Cube Draft. You drafted Mono-White and have an incredibly low mana curve, so you decide to see if you can get away with only 14 lands. Would you keep this opening hand?

What about this one?

Today, I'm here to talk about the Modal Double-Faced Cards (MDFCs) from Modern Horizons 3. "But Adam," I hear you say. "Modal Double-Faced Cards go all the way back to Zendikar Rising." To put it in the parlance of my Gen Z neighbor who is just getting into Magic: The Gathering, "These cards hit different."

Better Lands

For starters, 10 of these lands tap for two colors, and the 10 that don't give you the option to have them come into play untapped in exchange for 3 life. In a Cube, card slots are limited, and it can be challenging and expensive to include the mana fixing required to make your decks function. The Modern Horizons 3 lands are inexpensive (for now), and the opportunity cost is incredibly favorable.

The difference in utility between Pinnacle Monk // Mystic Peak and Akoum Warrior // Akoum Teeth is astounding, no matter which side of the card we are talking about. In aggressive decks that need to get on the board early, the ability to have your lands come into play untapped is invaluable. Additionally, in an elegant design choice, the cards that tap for two colors of mana have split costs on their front side and can be cast for only one color.

Okay, so the lands are more useful, but what about the spells?

Better Spells

Hero's Downfall is a staple piece of removal in nearly 10% of Cubes appearing on CubeCobra. Despite its recent downshift in rarity, it is still the second most played removal spell of its type, falling only behind Murderous Rider due to its added utility of also being a creature when needed. For exactly 1 more mana than Hero's Downfall, you get the same effect with Fell the Profane // Fell Mire; however, this card also serves as a land when you need it. The primary value of the Modal Double-Faced Cards from Modern Horizons 3 is that they serve as mulligan insurance and flood insurance. They simultaneously let you get the value of playing 41 cards in your draft deck with the increased consistency of running a 39-card deck.

On top of that, the spells are actually playable. Witch Enchanter // Witch-Blessed Meadow is the perfect example of this. Everyone has experienced the frustration of losing Game 1 to a card that you can't interact with. A well-drafted deck with an appropriate sideboard can alleviate this problem, but in most scenarios, you don't want to include cards like Disenchant in your main deck unless you are certain that you are playing in an artifact and enchantment heavy meta. Witch Enchanter solves that by being a completely respectable card in your mainboard that serves as a body with utility or a land that can be played untapped if needed.

Efficient Costs

Lastly, the Modal Double-Faced Cards from Modern Horizons 3 are much more efficient than the cards that came before. The best cards from Zendikar Rising were the cycle of rares like Emeria's Call // Emeria, Shattered Skyclave that all clocked in at seven mana, which generally translated into it defaulting as a land unless you happened to draw it late in a stalled-out game. Modern Horizons 3 provides us with cards that are impactful at all stages of the game and at very efficient costs.

For instance, the going rate for a "Punch" effect like Domri's Ambush is two mana. Stump Stomp // Burnwillow Clearing maintains that cost and can be cast in either a multicolored, Mono Green, or Mono-Red deck; additionally, it also fixes your mana when needed. Pinnacle Monk // Mystic Peak does a great impression of Archaeomancer, and for an additional mana, it comes with an extra point of power and prowess. Modern Horizons 3 gave us near reprints of staples and glued lands to the backside. I honestly couldn't ask for anything more.

Conclusion

Across the board, Modern Horizons 3 has provided players with efficient, flexible, and powerful cards that do everything you want. In some decks, they help certain strategies reach critical redundancy, and in others, they allow you to play sideboard cards in your main deck. This doesn't even begin to touch on their utility when played in conjunction with "bounce" lands like Izzet Boilerworks that allow you to play your card as a land in the early game and transform it into a spell when you need it later.

I'm very excited about these cards, and I think they will slowly increase in popularity over the next year. They add extra utility and allow players to "cheat" on their land counts and play a higher density of spells. That being said, I would love to hear from you. Which ones are you excited to play? Will you include them in your Cube?