From Alara to Zendikar, we've seen plenty of interesting wildlife across the planes of Magic: The Gathering, but none embrace their wild side quite as much as MTG Bloomburrow.

One of MTG's best card game rivals, Pokemon TCG, has long been cashing in on the appeal of having cute critters fight for your entertainment. So, it's about time we saw a set where 'creature' really means creature. Even planeswalkers like Jace Beleren will have to undergo a furry transformation to make an appearance in Bloomburrow.

I think we've spent long enough just "aww"-ing at the promo art. Let's start burrowing through all the important details about MTG Bloomburrow like the set's release date, product range, story, mechanics, and more. Once you've set your heart on adding these fuzzy little guys to your collection, we're also here to help you find the best MTG Bloomburrow deals too.

What is MTG Bloomburrow?

MTG Bloomburrow is the 101st Magic: The Gathering set released in the game’s 30-year history and yet it's also the first time ever we’ve visited the plane of Bloomburrow. Following in the cowboy boot footsteps of Outlaws of Thunder Junction, this new plane deviates from a traditional fantasy setting –  the world of Bloomburrow is one entirely inhabited by anthropomorphic creatures known as Animalfolk. 

MTG Bloomburrow release date

Moving on from our first look at Bloomburrow, the accompanying Magic Story releases July 2, giving a greater insight into the set’s story and characters. A week later, on July 9, debuts and card previews begin. These continue until July 19.

With all that hype sufficiently built, Bloomburrow finally releases August 2. Bloomburrow will not only be making an appearance on your tabletop but will also be available on MTG Arena – four days early on July 30. We’re even set to see the addition of a super cute Bloomburrow Pet that’ll watch over your battlefield (and silently judge your every misplay).

Here are the key dates to keep track of:
Magic Story releases: July 2
Debut and previews begin: July 9
Card image gallery and previews complete: July 19
MTG Arena release: July 30
Tabletop release: August 2

MTG Bloomburrow products

As a standard set, MTG Bloomburrow will consist of play boosters and collector boosters that can be bought as single packs, booster boxes, bundles, and pre-release packs. Bloomburrow’s product range also includes a two-deck Starter Kit directly geared towards those who are new to Magic: The Gathering or just want a low-cost point of entry to Bloomburrow. 

MTG Bloomburrow story

MTG Bloomburrow is set in Valley, an area of the plane where itty bitty Animalfolk live and work in peace. That is until this serenity is threatened by the emergence of huge elemental predators who begin to sow darkness across Valley. From the avian power of Maha to the grizzly strength of Lumra, these Calamity Beasts are a fearsome opponent for the tiny inhabitants of Valley, yet they are prepared to fight to protect their home.

One of these heroes is the set’s protagonist, Mabel. This mother mouse wields a magical sword called the Cragflame, which also appears in a token equipment card of the same name. There’s also an outsider of Bloomburrow who will assist them in their fight: Ral Zarek of the Izzet League. He’ll appear very differently in this set however – through the process of planeswalking to Bloomburrow, Ral was transformed into an Otter.

It’s worth noting that Bloomburrow is also the first set of the new Dragonstorm arc. Although, until we see this arc progress further, it’ll be difficult to know about Bloomburrow ties into this larger story.

MTG Bloomburrow mechanics

The game systems at play in MTG Bloomburrow include as of yet unexplained Offspring mechanic, typal buffing, artifacts, and land matters. That’s all we know so far but this list is certain to know as we learn more about the set and gain access to new cards.

Though MTG Bloomburrow as a whole also has a typal focus, with each two-color pairing having a Animalfolk variant associated with it. 

MTG Bloomburrow spoilers

As part of Booster Fun, we’re set to receive some gorgeous seasonal variants of full art land cards, raised foil anime cards, illustrative ‘Field Note’ art treatments, and a storybook-inspired Woodland Showcase. Among these very special cards are contributions from prolific Pokemon artist, Mitsuhiro Arita and David Petersen, the creator of Mouse Guard. Another Showcase treatment featured in Bloomburrow’s boosters is Imagine: Courageous Critters, which will be of particular interest to long-time MTG fans given it transforms Planeswalkers like Jace Beleren into Animalfolk. 

MTG Bloomburrow Deals

Earlier this month, the top 300 finalists of this year's Pokemon TCG Illustration Contest were revealed. The results have been a long time coming – entries were submitted between October 12 last year and the end of January this year – and you can imagine the wait for the artists competing has felt even longer. The prizes are huge – alongside cash prizes for the top spot as well as a select number of runners-up, the grand prize winner and those who submit the best standard card and 'EX' card illustrations will have their entries turned into real-life promo cards. 

However, while the top 300 was full of impressive submissions, it seems not all of them should have been accepted in the first place. A statement posted on the official Pokemon TCG Twitter account reads: "We are aware that select entrants from the top 300 finalists of the Pokemon TCG Illustration Contest 2024 have violated the official contest rules. As a result, entrants in violation of the rules have been disqualified from the contest. 

"Furthermore, additional artists participating in the contest will soon be selected among the top 300 finalists."

It's not been confirmed which rules have been broken by the entrants in question. However, when the top 300 were revealed, many fans alleged that some of the submissions appeared to be AI-generated. This was met with severe backlash since it seemed that some may have used programs to generate their work rather than create it from scratch like the rest of the entrants. On this, however, it's worth pointing out that the rules don't seem to directly make any specific mention of artificial intelligence. The main rules were that contestants could only submit artwork that's never been published or submitted to other contests, they could only enter three illustrations, and whatever they submitted couldn't include any inappropriate content or violate any rights such as copyright, privacy, or intellectual property rights. 

If it was determined that AI was used for any of the artwork submitted, there's an argument to be made that it could be considered to potentially be in violation of copyright since AI programs learn from examples of other artists' work. That aside, there's an extra point in the rules that states sponsors have the right to disqualify entries "not consistent with the spirit or theme of the Contest." Regardless, it's not been officially confirmed that this is the case or if it's the reason certain entrants have been removed from the Contest, so it might be a different issue entirely.

In addition, the statement doesn't outline which submissions have been disqualified or state how many have been pulled. It adds, "We're committed to upholding the integrity of the Pokemon TCG Illustration Contest and appreciate fans' continued support as we celebrate the artistic abilities of the talented Pokemon community."

Be sure to check out our ranking of the best Pokemon games to find your next RPG adventure. If you're looking for something new to play, on the other hand, don't miss our guide to the best card games.

Skaventide reminds me of that.

I'm no stranger to wargaming, and have been dabbling in all things Games Workshop since I was around seven years old. Coming back after a lengthy break threw me for a loop, though; the old-school Warhammer Fantasy of my youth was six feet under, replaced with Age of Sigmar. Learning this new system and digging into a vast, alien world with years of lore to digest gave me the cold sweats, so I put it into a 'maybe later' pile at the back of my mind. However, going hands-on with the Skaventide boxset early makes me regret not diving in sooner. While this introduction to the game may seem intimidating, it's anything but once you get your hands dirty. Like so many of the best board games, you've just got to screw up your courage and dive in.

The gnarly and the grim

'Straightforward' is Skaventide in a word, with a bow on top. For anyone new to wargaming, this enormous box – crammed as it is with multi-part sprues and weighty tomes that are probably as heavy as my newborn – is likely to be alarming. Yet it's actually quite approachable. That's Age of Sigmar's new fourth edition all over, and this box (which launches the revamp) epitomizes the idea. 

For starters, those models aren't nearly so formidable as they appear. Despite being cut up into many pieces, they slot together easily thanks to being push-fit. No glue is needed here; all you'll use are pliers and a miniature sanding file for smoothing rough edges, if you have one. (Though some Green Stuff putty for filling a couple of gaps will come in handy.) The models I've built so far are expressive and dynamic in spite of this apparent simplicity, getting across what makes the factions tick purely through poses and clothing.

The two sides that have been chosen here are equally evocative. At one end we have the Stormcast Eternals, holy warriors that have been reincarnated by the god-king Sigmar to fight battles mortals can't. At the other, Skaven – mutant ratman who want to see the world burn – skitter into combat. Yet these Stormcast are far more nuanced than the (literally) good as gold knights we've seen before. This particular group includes members of the Ruination chamber, a band of soldiers who've been revived so many times that their souls have been chipped away into nothingness. Plus, the army used for most art and photography here is the dour Hallowed Knights – a group of grim zealots that I'd argue are much more compelling than their squeaky-clean compatriots. 

Similarly, the Skaven have enjoyed a long overdue revamp that renders them as even more gnarly than before. In contrast to previous versions, these ones are quite unnerving; they still have touches of goofiness to them (they are unapologetic cowards, after all), but the faction is much more rabid on the whole. Take the Clawlord general, for example – its monstrous mount is disgusting. As someone who's always fancied collecting a Skaven army because of how unsettling and simultaneously ridiculous they are, that's exactly what I wanted from this update.

Stripped down skirmishing

Much like the models, Skaventide's rulebooks are much easier to penetrate than I'd been expecting. The hefty Core Book (which weighs in at an impressive 274 pages) actually spends most of its runtime getting you up to speed on the Age of Sigmar world, its factions, and everything that's happened in the broad-strokes narrative so far. The actual rules don't appear until the final quarter, and it's a similar story with the book that covers the game's new Spearhead mode – Fire and Jade.

Speaking of, this is the thing that excites me most about 4th Edition. Spearhead is a stripped-down take on Age of Sigmar that should only run for an hour or so, uses smaller armies, and plays on a smaller board overall. As someone who recently had a baby so is chronically short on time, this is exactly what I need. I'd struggle to dedicate an entire afternoon to sprawling sessions of the full Age of Sigmar, so bitesize snapshots are right up my street. 

From initial inspection, it delivers. It strips back the more advanced mechanics for something simpler, so newcomers can be shown the ropes with a speed that surprised me. Indeed, the rules only make up 27 pages… and a decent chunk of that is given over to examples and a terms glossary. It's Age of Sigmar, distilled to the core of what makes it appealing. There's flavor here, but many of the layers have been peeled back.

I've yet to hit the table for a match, but I feel as if I could run it without many issues after an hour spent poring over the rules. It's why I'd actually be happy to recommend Skaventide to greenhorns instead of telling them to wait for the inevitable starter sets, unlike the Warhammer 40K 10th Edition equivalent, Leviathan (which offered incredible value for money, but had us wondering who it was for). It's a comprehensive intro to the hobby that armed me with everything I need for two-player games other than dice, and it leaves over extra models to use in your army for full, 'classic' Age of Sigmar games should you choose to dive deeper. 

That's because the box contains two Spearhead armies (premade forces you use out of the box, no army lists needed) along with bonus miniatures for larger matches. Leviathan also did this, and I suspect the not-yet-confirmed-but-definitely-coming starter sets will follow 40K's example by just giving you the Spearheads. As such, Skaventide is pretty great value for money. 

Is it odd that dice aren't included? Absolutely. But because Age of Sigmar uses standard D6s, those aren't a struggle to come by.  

Anyway, those are just my initial impressions. I'll have more on Skaventide and Age of Sigmar 4th Edition as a whole in the coming weeks, so watch this space. In the meantime, you'll be able to pre-order your own copy of Skaventide from June 29, 2024.

For some recommendations on what to play before then, check out these must-have board games for adults or the best tabletop RPGs. 

We’ve had plenty of hot tabletop releases and some of these are ready to have their first big discount – Prime Day should provide the perfect opportunity for just that. Outside of Black Friday, Prime Day is one of the best opportunities to nab great deals on some of the best board games. So, you can expect to see price reductions on everything from silly party games to complex strategy titles.

While we at GamesRadar+ will be on hand tallying up all of the best Prime Day board game deals when the time comes, I do have a couple of early suggestions for tabletop RPG books, TCGs, and board games to keep in your sights as Prime Day approaches. Ready, set, add to cart!

Looking to continue your Prime Day prep? Check out our guide to the best Prime Day lego deals, or these great Prime Day 3D printer deals. If you fancy picking up something to explore virtual realms with, swing by Prime Day Steam Deck deals for big handheld savings.

If your party is anything like mine, you likely spend far more time tormenting NPCs and waxing poetic about your character backstory than you do doing anything that actually requires a skill check, but when the DM wants to see those dice a-rolling, you better be ready. 

Still, even some of best tabletop RPGs can fail at making key gameplay information quick and easy to access. One of the major shifts in the recently revealed 2024 D&D character sheets appears to be done in an effort to change that. In these new designs, each of your skills is categorized by the ability that governs it. 

On the face of it, this seems like an excellent idea. However, it might not be that simple. 

To understand what I mean, imagine you have a table full of players of varying levels of experience playing D&D – what happens, for example, when their DM asks them all to make an animal handling check? Sure, a seasoned player who knows their stats like the back of their hand can just roll a D20 and add their modifier as they remember it, but the rest of us mere mortals will probably want to double-check our character sheet first.

If you’ve been playing long enough to know that animal handling is a skill governed by Wisdom, the new character sheet majorly streamlines locating that modifier. Instead of going through a full list of all of your skills, your eyes can shoot straight to the list of Wisdom-based ones. This redesign may only save you a second or two, but it’s little things like this that count when making a TTRPG system feel intuitive to play with. 

On the other hand, the new 2024 design nixes the alphabetization of skills on your character sheet, which poses a problem for those playing Dungeons & Dragons for the first time. Besides, separating skills by ability doesn’t offer anything of use to those who aren’t yet familiar with those systems. While lots of what we’ve seen so far from the updated D&D core rulebooks leans hard into upping the game’s approachability, this is one of the first additions that seems to directly prioritze the experience of established players. Does that mean Wizards of the Coast shouldn’t have made this change to the new D&D character sheets? Well, that depends. 

Do you dare make something that is technically better at the expense of possibly alienating new players? It reminds me of the story behind the QWERTY keyboard layout. By all accounts, QWERTY isn’t the optimal arrangement, but it’s a cultural holdover from the age of typewriters and holding onto it made the transition to using computers far easier for an entire generation of people. Sure, we could change it now but ugh … change is hard. 

I’d argue that from a design perspective, the whole issue is just something of a catch-22. It’s part of why there’s such a flourishing community of player-generated D&D resources. At a certain point, you’re going to want something bespoke that’s more geared towards your needs, experience, and play style. 

All that said, what I’m really interested in seeing when the new Player Handbook releases September 17 is how it goes about introducing skills and abilities to first-time players and how effectively it will be able to funnel that new knowledge into what is ostensibly a less beginner-friendly character sheet.

Wondering which adventure to play through once the new core rulebooks come out? Check the best D&D books for some inspiration (pun totally intended).

If you’re looking for something else to play while you’re waiting, give one of our best board games picks a try. You’ll also want to keep an eye on Prime Day board game deals to score some savings on your tabletop faves.

We’ve known for a couple of years now that the D&D brand was moving away from the problematic term ‘race’ and embracing a more neutral ‘species’ for the many fantastical creatures – elves, dwarves, tieflings – that you can play in the game. And since 2020’s excellent supplement, Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, players have been able to choose which ability scores (Strength, Intelligence, etc) get a boost from their choice of creature, so that orcs aren’t struck in stereotypes of dim, hulking brutes, and even gnomes have a chance at giving a dragon a black eye.

But the new Player’s Handbook, which got its own series of deep-dive video reveals this week on the official Dungeons & Dragons YouTube channel, goes one giant step further, flipping character creation in one of the best tabletop RPGs on its head. At the heart of that change is the Character Origin: what casual players might refer to as backstory. 

In the 2014 Player’s Handbook, character backgrounds are something of an afterthought. They’re listed on page 127, long after you’ve made your way through a choice of races and classes, and consist of a small set of additional skills and proficiencies, maybe another language, alongside minor features – connections to nobility, an affinity with pirates, or more vaguely an epiphany only you have received – that at many tables might not even come up at all, depending on the setting and characters you encounter.

In the new Handbook, you’ll actually choose your class first, and then choose a character background before a species even rears its head – which entirely flips around the order from the 2014 sourcebooks. And there’s a much larger emphasis on what impact your background – your previous profession, location, and community – has on your abilities, rather than the type of species you are.

First, some background...

“Background has far more weight for your character than it did in the 2014 rules,” says lead rules designer Crawford. “In addition to giving you proficiencies, as backgrounds previously did, backgrounds also now give you a feat at level one. They also determine ability score bonuses for you when you create your character.”

Those ability score bonuses are quite different from what we saw in Tasha’s – or even the playtests last year, where backgrounds came with set ability score bonuses, something that Crawford says “hard-locked the backgrounds to specific classes [when] we wanted people to feel free to mix and match.”

Now, each background comes with a set of three scores you can share those bonuses between: whether you want to put 1 point in each score, or split 2/1 across two options. An Acolyte, for instance, can place points freely between Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma.

It’s also a big change from the ‘racial modifiers’ seen in the game previously – shifting the focus away from what elves might generally be good at, and towards what you’ve learned in the process of growing up and entering the world: “Not only what you did prior to becoming an adventurer, but where you did it. Were you a sailor, were you a criminal, were you an acolyte in a temple, were you a sage?”

From what glimpses of the Player’s Handbook we’ve seen, there’s a big emphasis on art as an entry point to imagining each option in the book. The backgrounds, which in the 2014 books have a small handful of character sketches, now are accompanied by a literal background: an image of a landscape or setting, a place to imagine your character living and working, like a circus tent or a port leading out to sea. 

As teased by the Unearthed Arcana playtest last year, these 16 backgrounds offer what’s called an ‘origin feat’, which Crawford calls a good way for players to “sample” the feat system with a curated list of entry-level options. A level one feat is a semi-common ‘house rule’ for many D&D groups, helping to make low-level play feel more varied, and it’s encouraging to see designers make it an official part of the game – as with the option to use healing potions as a bonus action, which is a house rule enjoyed in the D&D actual play Critical Role (and my own campaign).

After choosing your background, you look even further back to the birth of your character, and what species they are. In the 2024 Handbook, gone are the ‘half’ races (half-elf, half-orc) and in their place are a handful of new fully-fledged options: the orc, the giant-descended goliath, and the celestial-inspired aasimar. And other species have been tweaked to lean more into their specific fantasies: dwarves having tremorsense to feel vibrations under the ground, orcs and dwarves having better low-light vision than other species, and dragonborn being able to sprout wings for short periods.

But while this is still broadly the D&D 5E we know and love, designers seem to have realized how important the character creation process really is, and found a way of putting a neglected system at the forefront of who you are, and how you’ll play the game.

The 2024 Player’s Handbook releases on September 17, 2024. You can pre-order it at D&D Beyond.

Looking for something to play before the Player's Handbook arrives? You can always try a 5e adventure, and we've listed our favorites in this roundup of the best D&D books. Alternatively, you can take a break with the best board games. 

Should you buy Jurassic World: The Legacy of Isla Nublar?

If you love games like Planet Zoo but want the stakes dialed all the way up to eleven, you’ll have a hell of time with the chaos of managing your own dinosaur park. Together you and your fellow players will embody characters from across the Jurassic Park franchise, breed new species of dinosaurs, shape Isla Nublar into a tourist hot spot, and hopefully avoid too many visitors turning into dino dinner.

Prior to this, the designers at Prospero Hall hadn’t released a legacy board game but I’d say they knocked it out of the jurassic park first try. Not only does Legacy of Isla Nublar plot out a satisfying path of progression throughout its 12 legacy missions but it allows for plenty of opportunity for replay thereafter. No worries about one-and-done game pieces here – you can really get your money’s worth by keeping this bad boy in your collection and coming back to it over time. 

Don’t be fooled by the ‘Funko’ branding either – there are none of those divisive, bobble-headed vinyl figures anywhere to be seen. Instead, you have dynamic, detailed dino miniatures and a pile of stylish 1950s comic book-inspired adventure booklets. The whole affair has a really cool retro feel that I really appreciate.

Thanks to its high-quality game components and snappy gameplay loop, Jurassic World: The Legacy of Isla Nublar even wound up being one of the GameRadar+ team’s favorite co-op board games of 2022. Even for $120, I’d definitely recommend Jurassic World: The Legacy of Isla Nublar. So now that its price tag has had a T-rex-sized bite taken out of it, it’s a nigh perfect addition to any board game lover’s Amazon basket. 

For more massive savings on your tabletop faves, make sure to check out our roundup of the best board game deals. As we draw nearer to Prime Day, you’ll want to keep an eye on the best Prime Day board game deals too.

Publisher Wizards of the Coast showed off pages from the new core rulebooks in a press briefing earlier this June, and a lot was made about their accessibility. That carries over to a Target-style catalog of D&D items readers can purchase, including weapons… but it seems there's been a surprise addition to that lineup since the last edition. While the usual swords, daggers, and bows you'd expect take pride of place, guns (specifically muskets and flintlock pistols) also appear in the martial ranged weapons section. This is in direct contrast to previous versions of the Player's Handbook, where firearms were reserved for the Dungeon Master's Guide or campaign settings like Spelljammer.

Here's the page in question.

While this doesn't necessarily mean we're in for a black powder revolution in D&D settings going forward (and I assume they'll be reserved for worlds known for having muskets already), spotlighting these firearms in what's arguably an entry-point to the best tabletop RPGs is an interesting choice. Dungeons & Dragons has clung to its medieval trappings with a degree of fierceness before now, and black powder weapons were very much an addendum to be used at the Dungeon Master's discretion. But by including them front and center in what will be so many players' intro to D&D, the new Player's Handbook is giving them much more legitimacy.

Now, I should clarify that we haven't seen the accompanying text for this section yet. There could be a note saying that guns aren't common in most universes, or to check in with your Dungeon Master (DM) first before equipping one. Plus, they are incredibly expensive for low-level characters. A musket is 500 gold pieces while a flintlock pistol will set you back 250 gold pieces, for example. Yet shining a spotlight on them will almost certainly lead to requests for these weapons from players, particularly those new to the game. How could it not? If you're flicking through the book to find cool gear you can equip or buy at an in-game store, why wouldn't you assume guns are widely available? They're displayed front and center, after all.

This could be deliberate, of course; we might be seeing the introduction of guns to worlds like the Forgotten Realms and Greyhawk, or a slight advancement in the timeline to accommodate. The latter has certainly happened after previous updates. However, prior fifth edition adventures being compatible with the new D&D rulebooks makes that idea less likely. 

Instead, I'd bet on them being mentioned as a "include them in your game if you want, here are some rules" scenario due to D&D's renewed focus on the multiverse. Although OG setting Greyhawk is getting a lot of love in the new Player's Handbook, it generally divides attention between D&D's many worlds. Some of them include guns for sure, so maybe that's the logic behind their inclusion now?

I did ask publisher Wizards of the Coast what this all meant, but have yet to hear back from them. When or if I do, I'll let you know.

You can take a look for yourself when the 2024 Player's Handbook arrives this September 17. 

To see what you should play in the meantime, take a look at our guide to the best D&D books and the best board games.

If this sounds familiar (and not just because it’s the gameplay loop of every survival-crafter game ever), that’s because we first got a glimpse of D&D’s base building back in 2023 as part of an Unearthed Arcana playtest document. In this doc, bases are referred to as ‘Bastions’ and each Bastion can be customized to fit the individual desires of the adventurer who owns it.

From choosing the floor plan to the furniture, players are encouraged to really make their Bastion their own. As well as decking their space out in character-appropriate finery, players can choose to add a number of facilities dictated by their level. This could include a garden to produce food or medicinal herbs, a laboratory for developing potions and poisons, or even a pub for throwing back drinks and picking up gossip from the locals. 

I know that what really caught my eye in the playtest document was all of the different events that can bless (or besiege) your beloved Bastion. While you might only directly interact with your base a couple of times during your campaign, your hirelings can keep the cogs turning while you’re gone. During this period, your Bastion could wind up hosting guests (both friendly and not so friendly), sustaining an attack, or receiving a request for aid from the locals. If you do an especially poor job at managing your homestead, it can even fall, leaving it “quickly vacated, eventually looted, and [maybe] even be burned to the ground”. 

At the moment, it’s unclear how much of the rules around base building in the new Dungeon Master’s Guide will differ from those in last year’s playtest. However, I’m hoping that the option to have a greenhouse and a stable sticks around so I can live out my Stardew Valley fantasy at the tabletop.

We’ll get to fully experience this and all the new additions to the 2024 D&D core rulebooks when they release later this year. The 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide will hit shelves November 12, but you can pre-order it right now on D&D Beyond.

Wondering which adventure to play through once the new core rulebooks come out? Check the best D&D books for some inspiration (pun totally intended).

If you’re looking for something else to play while you’re waiting, give one of our best board games picks a try. You’ll also want to keep an eye on Prime Day board game deals to score some savings on your tabletop faves.

Many of these premium-styled Commander pre-cons are rocking a heftier price tag than you might expect, so it’s all the more important that you know exactly what you’re about to pick up. You want to be certain that when you’re parting with your cash, you're getting a deck that’s great value, well-constructed, and – most importantly – fun to play. 

With that in mind, we’ve rounded up the strengths and weaknesses of all four precons to determine which is worth a place in your cart and at your table. Of course, what makes for the best MTG Modern Horizons 3 Commander deck will vary a little depending on your own personal playstyle and preferences, but hopefully, this will help put you on the right path to finding your favorite of the set.

4. Graveyard Overdrive

 Jund’s black-red-green combo is usually one of my favorite color trios to play. Unfortunately though, Graveyard Overdrive manages to be the least appealing deck of Modern Horizons 3 Commander precon lineup. 

Sure, it still has some great singles. For example, Final Act is a hateful little showstopper which is particularly useful against opponents with Energy decks. As well as that, Coram, the Undertaker is arguably a better fit for your Command Zone than the face Commander, Disa, the Restless. If we’re embracing the Jundian archetype of graveyard matters, Coram’s three-fold interaction with the graveyard is a serious boon and a great backbone for a Commander deck. 

However, even with that change, the deck overall is lacking sufficient reliable self-milling engines to really heft up that graveyard. This is important, as it’s only a prerequisite for beefing up Coram but also to bolster the deck’s secondary theme of Lhurgoyfs. Disa, the Restless is at the center of this light Lhurgoyf theme with her ability to put graveyard-bound Goyfs onto the battlefield, provided they weren’t placed into the graveyard from the battlefield in the first place. Though, the deck is unfortunately lacking in key pieces to pull this off. 

Throw in some integral game pieces like Buried Alive, and this strategy starts to make a little more sense. Although it doesn’t satisfy the problem that there are only six Lhurgoyfs creatures in the deck itself (Tarmogoyf, where are you?). It goes without saying that a deck with even a partial tribal theme that lacks creatures of that tribe is a major pitfall. The face Commander Disa does have the ability to create Lhurgoyf Tokens … but when have you ever been in a situation where you’ve put a Token into your graveyard? Exactly.

All in all, Graveyard Overdrive feels thematically patchy and mechanically unfocused, so it should really only be your pick for an MH3 Commander if you have plans to retool it into custom decks or are ready to do some serious heavy lifting in upgrading it.

3. Creative Energy

 Say hello to the second Jeskai Energy deck released this year. Like Science! from MTG Fallout, this red-blue-white deck includes the secondary resource of Energy to spend on a whole new set of abilities. Unlike Science!, Creative Energy actually does this well. 

Science! came with plenty of fun, flavorful cards but they really flopped when it came to generating Energy. Which is, needless to say, an absolutely integral part of playing an Energy deck. Meanwhile, by reprinting Kaladesh-era cards like Decoction Module and introducing new picks like Stone Idol Generator, Creative Energy gives players ample opportunity to send a jolt through the battlefield. 

As well as its core Energy focus, this precon has a mix of other gameplay systems like proliferate, artifacts, and token generation. These extra mechanics, while having the potential to produce great flashes of synergy, do ever so slightly muddy the waters around what exactly the deck’s winstate is supposed to be. That’s not to say it can’t hold its own with the other decks in this set (it definitely can), but the moments when everything ‘clicks’ are slightly fewer and further between.

Another one of Creative Energy’s sins is the fact that it has 20 basic lands – significantly above what one would expect from a precon of this standard. The ratio of Plains is an opening hand killer too as so many of the lower-mana-value creatures in this deck require blue and red mana to get the ball rolling.

Really, having great energy-generating creatures like Whirler Virtuoso or Roil Cartographer in your starting hand along with three Plains feels like cruel punishment from the Magic gods. That said, this does mean you have an obvious (and relatively cheap) first step to take when going about upgrading the deck. Sort out those lands and you’re onto a winner.

2. Eldrazi Incursion

 The reputation of Eldrazi creatures precedes them. As a result, we’re seeing some scary pre-order prices on Eldrazi Incursion as it's obvious that – at least based on the deck’s tribal theme - players are ready to drop unbelievable amounts of moola for these interdimensional beasties.

Last year, we saw a similar fervor for the Commander Masters deck, Eldrazi Unbound. Yet the hype around Eldrazi Incursion doesn’t just make it a surefire winner for best Commander precon in the set. No doubt this five-color deck has plenty to offer but it doesn’t quite boast the same strength found in the previous Eldrazi precon.

Still, there’s a lot to appreciate here, from a strong mana base to some absolutely monstrous high-mana-value creatures. The face Commander, Ulalek, Fused Atrocity has the capacity to be total nightmare fuel owing to the fact that it can copy all your spells and triggered abilities on the stack for a mere two colorless mana, every time you play an Eldrazi spell. Given how positively jam-packed this deck is with Eldrazi, you can imagine just how often Ulalek will have your opponents groaning once it hits the battlefield.  

Ulamog’s Dreadsire is another highlight. At a hefty cost of 10 mana, it’s not a card that’ll be played every game but once you get it on the battlefield, you can tap it to produce a 10/10 Eldrazi creature token. Not only is this an immensely powerful activated ability, but the fact that Ulamog’s Dreadsire has vigilance means you can stay on the attack while also building up your board.

If you have an appetite for valuable reprints, you’ll be pleased to see Morophon the Boundless (~$16.99) and Eldrazi Conscription (~$12.99) included in Eldrazi Incursion’s deck list too. Maybe that’ll reduce the sting of paying so much for it … though maybe not. Overall, Eldrazi Incursion is a formidable deck with a host of mighty high-value Eldrazi and a supporting cast of midrange monsters that keep things ticking over while you accumulate enough mana to get your titans on the battlefield.

1. Tricky Terrain

 Tricky Terrain is probably the least beginner-friendly of the four Modern Horizons 3 Commander precons and yet, it’s also one of the most well-constructed. If you can get to grips with the slightly ‘trickier’ aspects of this deck it has some great potential.

Like many Simic (blue-green) decks we’ve seen before, Tricky Terrain is a lands deck and its high ratio of land cards reflects that. Somewhat uniquely though, it places a particular emphasis on non-basic land types. There are lots of moving parts in this deck but to put it simply, the heavy ramp focus allows you to quickly build your board and Omo’s capacity to tack an everything counter on lands and creatures has plenty of opportunity for payoff. 

In this deck’s current state, the everything counters on land comes into play far more than those on creatures as there isn’t a particular large emphasis on typal abilities among the 99. Land-type based abilities are where it’s at. For example, if you can get an everything counter on all your lands to make them all Locuses, Cloudpost basically doubles your mana pool. Sage of the Maze also has powerful rewards for everything lands by treating them like Gates. 

Omo would be a total beast of a card if her ability differed ever so slightly. As it stands, the effects of her counters are only in play when she’s on the battlefield. As a result, your opponents will be hungry for any opportunity to wipe her out at the earlier opportunity to undermine your gameplan. Thankfully though, these counters aren’t removed when Omo dies and owing to all the ramping you’ll do, it’s not too hard to fork out Commander tax to return her to the field. So, you should have minimal downtime on this effect.

Besides, Jyoti, Moag Ancient will soothe the pain of getting your Commander killed by producing a Token for each time you’ve cast them from the Command Zone (cheers, Jyoti).

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