Pick Up These Cheap Modern Horizons 3 Cards Now

The Modern Way

Welcome back for another History, Restapled, a Commander-focused column that attempts to validate a newer card’s status as a staple by looking at how cards that are similar, synergistic, or competing have fared in the past financially. Prices of Modern Horizons 3 cards have been settling, which is great news for us cheapskates. Now is the golden hour when most of the attention and value are focused on the big money players making huge splashes in the Modern metagame. Here are four cards with significant potential that are sitting quite low in price.

Chthonian Nightmare

Recurring Nightmare is busted, but there’s a nonzero chance some Commander players haven’t encountered a wild one in the cardboard and may not grasp how truly busted the card can be. Even setting aside the backbreaking amount of recursion it offers, bouncing Recurring Nightmare is part of the cost to activate the ability, meaning opponents never receive priority if you resolve Recurring Nightmare and activate it right away.

Chthonian Nightmare is an attempt to fix Recurring Nightmare and usher it into a powered-up Modern. The card now runs on energy and contains an ETB to which opponents can respond and destroy Chthonian Nightmare outright. Fair enough, though I don’t think Wizards of the Coast neutered it as effectively as they’d hoped. The card plays out like the original so long as you recur a 1-2 mana value creature first, bouncing Chthonian Nightmare so it can start accumulating energy beyond the initial three. Griselbrand isn’t returning to the battlefield anytime soon, but plenty of combo pieces are on their way back.

Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if Chthonian Nightmare is banned in Modern in the foreseeable future, but it can slot into plenty of Commander decks without breaking the format wide open—or so it would seem. Grab one for $2 before the rest of the player base wises up to its true strength.

STATUS: New black staple

Chthonian Nightmare	CardKingdom $3.99	TCGPlayer $2.73
Chthonian Nightmare (Retro Frame)	CardKingdom $6.99	TCGPlayer $5.41
Chthonian Nightmare (Borderless)	CardKingdom $8.49	TCGPlayer $8.35

Wight of the Reliquary

This new Golgari handsome lad ticks all the boxes of what that color combination wants to do: sacrifice creatures, put lands onto the battlefield, grow swole from death, and delight in a deliciously punny name, all with vigilance to boot, unlike its spiritual predecessor, Knight of the Reliquary. All for two mana, one less than Knight.

Wight of the Reliquary is fantastic, but likely won’t live far outside dedicated aristocrats-type strategies. It offers a repeatable ramp source at the cost of tokens, sure, but requires a turn cycle to get going, slowing its roll significantly. I’d imagine most decks want something like a mana dork or a Nature's Lore instead. Still, the card is well worth the $1.50 it costs; file it away for your next graveyard deck with the knowledge that the card is likely on its way up, price-wise.

STATUS: New Golgari staple

Wight of the Reliquary	CardKingdom $3.99	TCGPlayer $2.04
Wight of the Reliquary (Extended Art)	CardKingdom $3.49	TCGPlayer $2.25

Siege-Gang Lieutenant

Unfussy and uncomplicated, Siege-Gang Lieutenant does its thing with little hassle, paying homage to its Siege-Gang Commander lineage (again, for less mana) and pumping out easy tokens every turn to be sacrificed at will. The card is priced at $1.50 and would be well on its way to becoming a bulk rare if printed in a Standard-legal set and drafted ad nauseum, but it appears in a Modern Horizons 3 Commander precon, and it’s not yet clear how generously they will be printed. If your deck has a commander and is red, get a Lieutenant.

STATUS: Red token staple

Siege-Gang Lieutenant	CardKingdom $2.29	TCGPlayer $4.65
Siege-Gang Lieutenant (Extended Art)	CardKingdom $3.49	TCGPlayer $1.96

Copy Land

The Nitpicking Nerds YouTube channel made a great point about Copy Land, a new Modern Horizons 3 Commander card: in a roundabout way, it’s a blue Cultivate. Three mana gets you an Island or a copy of the best land on the battlefield. Is this a great rate? Absolutely not. In blue, though, sometimes we take what we can get, especially for a measly $1. I’ll be running Copy Land in most blue decks without green.

STATUS: Blue staple

Copy Land	CardKingdom $1.49	TCGPlayer $1.37
Copy Land (Extended Art)	CardKingdom $2.49	TCGPlayer $1.68

The Nightmare is Over?

So, is the horror of Recurring Nightmare never to be repeated, and Chthonian Nightmare a fair substitute? Am I overestimating its impact on the format? I hope I’m wrong and the card becomes a fun role-player, but I have my suspicions. Let me know what you think!

Further Reading:

Checking in on the Modern Meta After Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3