Hello everyone! I'm Levi from the Thought Vessel Show, and today we're going to look at some of my favorite cards from the strongest Magic set of 2024, Modern Horizons 3. This set is loaded with format-shifting powerhouses and the return of some of our favorite creature types, like Eldrazi and Lhurgoyf. In this article, I'm focusing on the non-mythic rares, but don't worry, I'll cover the mythics later. Let's begin with the elephant-sized bird in the room, Nadu.

Nadu, Winged Wisdom - We all knew that Nadu would be on this list. Infamously taking five of the top eight finishes at the most recent Modern Pro Tour, Nadu has made quite the entrance. Utilizing cards like Shuko and Lightning Greaves, this card abuses targeting on every single creature twice per turn. Displacer Kitten and other blinking effects allow this effect to reset, while Field of the Dead, Scute Swarm, and Springheart Nantuko keep the creatures flowing, making this a very long-winded Simic value engine. I could see this card getting banned in Modern, and there could be an argument for a ban in Commander as well due to the extreme amount of time a Nadu turn can take. As problematic as this card may be, the number of turn actions this deck can produce is incredibly fun.

Fanatic of Rhonas - One of, if not the best, mana dorks to come out in recent times, Fanatic of Rhonas has a floor of tapping for one Green mana. But like the late, great Billy Mays always said, "But wait, there's more!" If you have a creature with power four or greater on the field, Fanatic of Rhonas now taps for four mana. This rate can go infinite with cards like Staff of Domination, Umbra Mantle, and Sword of the Paruns. If combos aren't your thing, the rate of ramp can also get you to those finishing spells like Eldrazi and dragons much faster. If Fanatic of Rhonas ever hits your graveyard, it can come back eternalized as a 4/4 creature, which conveniently satisfies its own requirement to tap for four mana. It may not be the most powerful card in this set, but it sure is neat!

Flare of Cultivation, Flare of Denial, Flare of Duplication, Flare of Fortitude, Flare of Malice - Free spells can be very strong in Magic due to the minimal mana investment. Kudos to making the alternate casting cost of these spells a little less broken than previous iterations, requiring you to sacrifice a nontoken creature spell in their color to cast them for free. Of these five, I think they are all very strong. I believe Flare of Cultivation will see the most play in Commander since it is a strict upgrade over Cultivate, and I personally think Flare of Denial is the strongest since it is a free counterspell that isn't limited to just non-creature spells or anything of the sort.

Shifting Woodland - More of a late-game bomb for your deck with the potential to utilize the ability earlier with the proper deck construction. This card allows you to effectively recur one of your strongest permanents in your graveyard for the turn. This could be a strong creature, a staxy artifact, or even a protective enchantment like Asceticism. The only opportunity cost for your deck? Remove one basic forest. I'm sold on this card as well as the rest of the cycle. I think they're great.

Six - Six, aka Mini Muldrotha, is a watered-down version of Muldrotha, the Gravetide. Six also comes with the benefit of filling up the graveyard to have more options to choose from. It also has the benefit of only costing a total of 3 mana and requiring only one color. As far as recursion goes for green, this is pretty great.

Springheart Nantuko - Though I mentioned this card earlier with Nadu, this card has earned some attention in its own right. By bestowing it onto a creature, you can make a copy of that creature with every land drop, an action that will happen throughout the game without much thought of deck-building effort on your part. In the event that the bestowed creature is destroyed, Springheart Nantuko gets another life and falls off, allowing 1/1 insects to be made instead. Not bad for a total two-mana investment.

Strix Serenade - Effectively the opposite of Swan Song, this is one of the most efficient creature counterspells we have. On top of countering a creature spell, it can also hit artifacts and planeswalkers. Strix Serenade also brought us what might be my favorite token of all time with the new 2/2 Blue bird token. As an owl enthusiast, I was overjoyed to see it.

The Necrobloom - One of the most busted lands in all of Commander is Field of the Dead, which has seen a ban in Modern already. Now, we have a Field of the Dead in the command zone that also allows you to dredge two with your lands, loading up your graveyard to take advantage of later and reuse your fetch lands over and over again. This is an incredibly powerful card.

Volatile Stormdrake - A more fair version of Gilded Drake, which usually sees price tags around $180 or more. This card also can provide you the option to destroy the creature you're taking if you don't want to or can't spend the energy on it. Put this with a commander like Roon of the Hidden Realm, and you'll have a very annoying card for your opponents to deal with.

Warren Soultrader - This card is an aristocrat masterpiece. Taking a free sacrifice outlet and giving the player a treasure token as a payoff is crazy good and can often lead to infinite combos if you can find a way to offset the life loss. I imagine you will be seeing this card often when playing against your aristocrat players at the LGS.

And there you have it! These are my favorite rares from Modern Horizons 3. Be on the lookout soon for my breakdown of the mythic rares. Until next time!