With Un-sets like Unfinity and Unstable waning in popularity, there’s a clear trend replacing those set’s storied reference game: putting references and puns-a-plenty into Modern Horizons sets. Jacob sits down to argue why Modern Horizons sets are a natural place to put these easter eggs.
THE ORIGINAL JOKESTER
Magic has several joke sets. The first of these was 1998’s Unglued. Since then, we’ve seen additional “Un-sets” in 2004, 2017, 2020, and 2022. These sets (usually) featured silver-bordered cards that weren’t legal in competitive Magic. These cards had wacky effects that would never work in a black-bordered set and also contained many meta references to Magic. In short, “Un-sets” were for highly enfranchised players who would “get” all the jokes on the cards.
For example, “Look at Me, I’m the DCI!” only made sense to people who played competitive Magic, since it’s a self-deprecating card that implies that the DCI (then competitive Magic’s governing body) doesn’t actually know what they are doing when they decide to ban or unban cards.
UN-VOLUTION
However, “Un-sets” are no longer the only place where you can find tons of meta Magic jokes and references. The first two Modern Horizons sets had plenty of them. This is also true of Modern Horizons III, which releases on June 14th. Like “Un-sets” Modern Horizons sets tend to be for more enfranchised players.
After all, the cards in Modern Horizons sets are only legal in Modern, Legacy, Vintage, and Commander. So, while Modern Horizons cards can’t have insane effects since they are tournament legal, the audience for these sets is going to “get” many jokes about Magic. It’s the same enfranchised audience.
Modern Horizons III has tons of cards that make callbacks to older cards. While this article isn’t an exhaustive list of these cards, I do want to highlight the cards that feel particularly silly. In other words, these are the cards that most feel like they could have a silver border.
MH3 IS PUN-BELIEVABLE
The primary way they make jokes and references to older Magic cards is by using funny card names and giving cards similar effects. Wight of the Reliquary is probably the champion when it comes to this type of joke in Modern Horizons III.
It would be pretty obvious that Wight of the Reliquary was a reference to Knight of the Reliquary even without the very similar name. After all, it’s a Zombie Knight and it has a textbox that references the Knight too! I think that in a normal set they wouldn’t have gone so hard on the silly name, but it fits in with Modern Horizons in a way that it wouldn’t in a normal set.
While I think Wight of the Reliquary has the best design and card name combination of the cards in this article, Witch Enchanter probably has the best name.
“Which Enchanter? DisEnchanter.”
Yeah, that’s right. This black-bordered card uses such a well-known pun. In black-border.
Mogg Mob was designed to represent three Mogg Fanatics. The Fanatic was once one of the best Red one drops in a game. If you’re interested in a deep dive on what made the Fanatic so good back in the day, I do have a video where I go deep on the card over on YouTube!
Mogg Mob was designed to effectively be three Mogg Fanatics in one! It costs the same as three Mogg Fanatics would, has the stats of three combined Mogg Fanatics, and has an ability that is equivalent to sacrificing three Mogg Fanatics.
This isn’t the first time they’ve done this in a Modern Horizons set either. The original Modern Horizons had Llanowar Tribe, which was three Llanowar Elves stapled together!
REMEMBER THIS?
Psychatog was once one of the best control deck win conditions in all of Magic, and Psychic Frog looks to carry on that legacy! Not only does its name tread homage, the text box includes effects that allow you to discard cards from your hand and exile cards from your graveyard to enhance it.
Nulldrifter is an Eldrazified Mulldrifter in every way. It even has an Eldrazified text box. Now, instead of drawing cards on ETB you draw two when you cast the drifter. This is how most Eldrazi abilities work. While it managed to hold on to flying and Evoke, it managed to pick up Annihilator, too.
Winter Moon references two of the most beloved cards in the history of Magic: Winter Orb and Blood Moon. Like the Orb, it limits the number of lands that can be untapped. Like the Moon, it hates on nonbasic lands.
This one makes me feel old. Are we really at the point where Ixalan is old enough for it to be nostalgic?
Of course, they may have just included this one because it’s such a good meme. Between 2017 and 2018, Colossal Dreadmaw got printed in four straight sets (Ixalan, Rivals of Ixalan, Masters 25 and Core Set 2019). After that went down, there were lots of jokes about it being in every set from now on.
While that didn’t come to pass, we did get an Equipment referencing the meme in Modern Horizons III. The Dreadmask directly references the Dreadmaw by effectively being a 6-mana 6/6 with Trample, but it doesn’t stop there. Because it’s an Equipment, you can move it around and make any creature into a Dreadmaw. Even the flavor text makes a direct reference to the maw.
In addition to references to old cards, the set also has one card that makes reference to a notable moment in Magic’s competitive history.
This one is the least obvious of the joke cards in this set. But when you really think about this card, it’s very much out of place. Snow is not a supported theme in Modern Horizons III, so why did they bother printing Snow-Covered Wastes?
While it’s true that colorless players can make use of snow-covered wastes in the right constructed deck, there’s more than that going on here. Following the release of Oath of the Gatewatch in 2016, Eldrazi decks began to dominate Modern. This is because the set featured tons of cheap Eldrazi that were easy to ramp into using Eldrazi Temple and Eye of Ugin.
This period in competitive Magic history is called “Eldrazi Winter,” since for that entire season these decks were crushing everything else. Ultimately, Eye of Ugin had to be banned to put an end to Eldrazi Winter. This Snow-Covered Wastes is a reference to that period. Mechanically, it’s also nice that it enables Field of the Dead for colorless decks in EDH.
It will be interesting to see whether Ugin’s Labyrinth results in a resurgence of Modern Eldrazi decks. It would be pretty ironic if they printed a card that broke Eldrazi again in the same set where they made a tongue-in-cheek joke about the last time that happened.
End Step
At this point, Modern Horizons sets have established themselves as not only shaking up Modern as a format, but also making Magic players chuckle when they open booster packs. While that juxtaposition sounds a little bit strange at first, now that we’re on the third Modern Horizons set, we’re pretty used to this being their identity.
Do you think there are any cards in Modern Horizons 3 that humorously reference Magic history? Let me know over on X.
Jacob has been playing Magic for the better part of 24 years, and he especially loves playing Magic’s Limited formats. He also holds a PhD in history from the University of Oklahoma. In 2015, he started his YouTube channel, “Nizzahon Magic,” where he combines his interests with many videos covering Magic’s competitive history. When he’s not playing Magic or making Magic content, he can be found teaching college-level history courses or caring for a menagerie of pets with his wife.