MH3 Set Review from a Hammer-main's Perspective

Note: I have adjusted my opinion on Nadu, and added a second list to the end of this write-up.

EDIT: As of 6/20/24, this is the list I would be running https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6447228#paper

Hello hello hello everyone, and welcome to a brand new Modern format, courtesy of Modern Horizons 3. As there is no way to know what the format will look like, this month’s update will be predominantly around the cards I am most excited about (both Hammer-related as well as cards that I am just generally excited about potentially playing). I will also provide a couple starting points for Hammer going into MH3, but I expect as new decks crop up, the list(s) will change quite a bit.

As all good content goes, I’ve created a very-objective-and-definitely-not-biased tier list to generally group the cards accordingly. From there I will be commenting on individual cards as I deem relevant and giving my thoughts on the cards with 0 actual competitive matches under my belt.

The tiers go as such:

Hammer Stars: Hammer cards that I believe will either certainly go into any hammer list, and/or have a huge impact on both the construction of the deck as well as its power level. 

New Tools: Hammer cards I believe will potentially give us access to powerful new effects or alternate game plans. Some of these cards are also just ones that I’ve seen people hype up but that I think are kind of garbage.

Hmm…: Hammer cards that are fairly uninteresting but worth mentioning for posterity.

Sweet Non-Hammer Cards: These are cards that I am generally excited to try out and build around in the event that Hammer is not where it’s at post-MH3. This is largely here to help you all see if our interests line up on alternate decks!

Eldrazi: As Eldrazi is actually a deck that I’ve enjoyed in the past, the new printings are very interesting to me. Plus there are so many in this category that I wanted to put them by themselves.

Elves!: Elves are just kinda rad, I’ve enjoyed Elf strategies in the past, and these cards are just very cool.

Big Jerks: Cards that are very good against Hammer by predominantly being big jerks.

Hammer Stars:

Kappa Cannoneer, Vexing Bauble

Kappa Cannoneer is an absolute beating for most decks. Not only is the card is actually a 5/5 in disguise since it triggers itself, but it is fairly trivial to make it unblockable, and Ward 4 is just “Hexproof” spelled differently. Additionally, the card can trigger any number of times on a given turn, meaning that even without a Hammer, it represents an unblockable 6+ power that can come down as early as turn 2. One key thing to note about Kappa though, is that due to its Improvise ability, it heavily incentivizes us to play more 0-drops like memnite and paradise mantle. That being said, the card plays very well with everything else we have going on, and can easily be a killer top-end threat. Oh, and if you have Boots in play, you can equip it to the Kappa and turn it into a 6/5 Ward 1, Ward 4, Unblockable, Haste creature.

Vexing Bauble is an incredible hate piece. Not only does it counter all free spells (pitch elementals, forces, pacts, etc), but also counters cascade spells, as well as potential combos like Primal Prayers. Note that it is symmetrical, so it will also counter any 0-drops you have in hand, so don’t make that mistake. That being said, you can grab it off of Urza’s Saga, and sacrifice it if you no longer want it around to draw a card. Card isn’t the most exciting, but it does a LOT and asks very little of you.

New Tools: 

Consign to Memory, Nadu, Winged Wisdom, Disruptor Flute, White Orchid Phantom, Monumental Henge, Flare of Fortitude

Consign to Memory is my new favorite reactive piece of interaction we can run. The ability to counter both triggers and/or colorless spells is such a big get for us. 

• Here is a mere sample list of colorless spells we care about countering: Amulet, The One Ring, Karn, Most spells from Tron (Oblivion Stone, etc), Engineered Explosives, Agatha’s Soul Cauldron, many spells out of the mirror and Scales, every eldrazi, Pithing Needle, Chalice of the Void, etc.

• As for triggered abilities? Leyline Binding, Solitude, any Saga (Urza’s Saga chapters, Hidetsugu Consumes All, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker), Amulet of Vigor, Primeval Titan, Cascade trigger, Necrodominance draw trigger, Ugin’s Lab imprint, Eldrazi cast triggers.

Fun fact regarding the Replicate ability: It lets you counter chalice of the void triggers by replicating it, countering multiple amulet untap triggers for additional information, and it also lets us cleanly counter both an Eldrazi and the cast trigger for 1 compact card. 

I am positive I missed some use cases for this card, but ultimately its power comes from it’s flexibility and wide range of impacts against most decks for such a low cost.

Nadu, Winged Wisdom is a Simic 3-mana card, so what’s it doing here? Well, since we are already splashing blue, it’s fairly easy to put a single green shockland in your deck if we determine the splash is worth the cost.

That being said, Nadu is not a card that I initially thought was worth considering. But… every time I read it, the better it got.

“Oh, it triggers twice every turn for of your creatures?” 

“Wait, it doesn’t actually draw cards, so it gets around bowmaster?”

“The lands enter UNTAPPED???”

Note that this card isn’t limited to 2 total triggers each turn. Because it grants that ability to each of your creatures, it means that it can be triggered 2 times for every creature you control. Since Hammer is exceptionally good at targeting its own creatures, it means we are a natural fit. Additionally, it triggers when your opponents target any of your creatures as well. Plus, the lands come into play untapped meaning you can keep “going off”. 

The obvious combo with Nadu is Shuko since it equips for 0 on its own, it lets you generate incredible value with Nadu by itself. As Hammer also has minimum 8 additional ways to grab Shuko between Urza’s Saga and Stoneforge Mystic, it is also highly reliable to find it once you’ve found Nadu.

Paladin giving your equipment equip 0 also means that it is very easy to “go off” with the bird. Finally, Lavaspur Boots, Paradise Mantle, and Shadowspear are all great ways to trigger Nadu on the cheap even if you don’t have Paladin. (Oh, and don’t forget about Giver of Runes and/or Blacksmith’s Skill.)

I take it back. After playing a bit with Nadu, this card is S-Tier, Hammer all star. Card is hella broken. I've added a Nadu list as well.

Disruptor Flute looks like just another pithing needle for 2 mana, there are significant upsides to this card. “Flash” means that we can use it reactively against key cards like Yawg, Ring, Urza’s Saga, Teferi, Karn, etc. Also you can respond to a summoner’s pact and name Titan to keep them from casting it that turn, and you can even respond to a cascade trigger by naming Living End or Crashing Footfalls. Unless they have 3 extra mana, they won’t be able to cast their cascade payoff.

Playing it proactively means that you can also make key cards cost 3 more mana to play (keep in mind that this taxing effect stacks with multiples, so 2 Flutes naming the same card make it cost 6 more to cast). 

The reality is that in Hammer, if you want this card as a pithing needle, you should stick with Needle since you can grab it off of Saga and it only costs 1.

White Orchid Phantom is a pretty nifty little guy. A 2/2 flying first strike creature for WW is a reasonable rate, and it carries a Hammer pretty well. Note a couple things about this card though. Unlike Ghost Quarter/Field of Ruin, the opponent’s land comes into play tapped. Unlike Boseiju, the land must be a BASIC land. This means that you can help suppress domain effects for cards like leyline binding quite effectively. Additionally, this card blows up bounce lands out of Titan to set them back, and blowing up tron lands are also very nice. The card is very solid, so keep it in mind for the sideboard in case people’s manabases become susceptible to it. Great sideboard tool.

Monumental Henge is very likely to come into play untapped as long as you cut the seachrome coasts. A mana sink in your land that can find Urza’s Saga or any artifact in the top 5 cards is a really nice effect. Pretty straightforward, but if you have room in your manabase, the card is likely worth the slot.

Flare of Fortitude

So… about this card… .
Look, don’t get me wrong; I want this card to be good. I really do. With that in mind, the thing costs FOUR mana, or you have to sacrifice a white non-token creature. We’ve got like… 12-15 of those max, and it isn’t like you want to sacrifice Paladin, Sentinel, or SFM.

“But we played Solitude before!” Yes, we did play solitude… but that thing’s alternate cost of “having an extra white card in your hand” is miles easier to pay than reliably having your other creatures sticking around. Don’t get me wrong, this could be a very powerful sideboard tool if the format turns into a bunch of sweepers like Meltdown and Wrath of the Skies, but even then you are probably better served with good ol’ Spell Pierce. I will not be playing this card if I can help it.

New Tools (continued):

***As a quick note, the previous 6 tools ranged from “incredible” to “medium” I think these “tools” range from “mediocre to bad”:

Winter Moon, Orim’s Chant, Strix Serenade, Recruiter of the Guard

Winter Moon is, in my opinion, pretty terrible. It’s “good” against very specific decks, impacts our own mana development (especially if we are splashing), gets hit by every piece of hate people already have for us, and with how cheap the casting costs of cards are in modern, is largely ineffectual.

“But what if our OP taps their 4 non basics to play the ring?? We could basically Armageddon them!” Well… you should probably just cast Pierce/Consign and move on rather than letting them have the Ring and just tap their lands. There may be some spots where this card is worth some number of slots, but I am skeptical of this one.

Orim’s Chant is like… the best Silence ever printed. The card is good against cascade and Titan (since it can also prevent attacks), but we simply have better tools in those matchups now, so we don’t have to play narrow and/or mediocre cards. I am very unlikely to register this one.

Strix Serenade is pretty interesting and can fill very specific roles. Obviously countering the artifacts, creatures, and planeswalkers is pretty powerful, but giving your opponent a 2/2 flier is a real cost. That downside coupled with the reality that we have mostly better alternatives means that I am unlikely to register this one. That being said, the effect is fairly unique, and as such it’s worth keeping in mind as a tool.

Recruiter of the Guard is a card I absolutely love… in Death and Taxes in Legacy. Yes, the card can find Paladin, Stoneforge, Solitude, etc. That being said, a 3 mana 1/1 to not relevantly impact the board is simply not where we want to be. Even Forge Anew is a tough sell at 3 mana, but that thing is a repeatable equipper and sometimes gets a free card and mana by rebuying Coat, Kaldra, Hammer, Boots, or Spear. Recruiter is gonna be a nope from me in Hammer dawg.

Hmm…

Witch Enchanter, Razorgrass Ambush, Static Prison, Jolted Awake

Witch Enchanter and Razorgrass Ambush are both great tools to play in some number in Mono-White Hammer. We played Emeria’s Call in the past, but these are much more reasonably castable, and as such would be the pick if we went back that direction. Otherwise I wouldn’t worry too much about them.

Static Prison is… honestly hard to evaluate. The lack of flash is a pretty big downside, and unless you have other ways to generate money, this card doesn’t actually buy you much time. 

Jolted Awake kinda sucks. It can reanimate basically any nonland permanent in our deck, but we are typically better served by simply protecting the thing that they blew up. Note that so much of the best removal in the format is exile based anyway (Binding, Ending). As such, I’m not about it.

Sweet Non-Hammer Cards

Phyrexian Tower, Necrodominance, Ugin’s Labyrinth, Primal Prayers, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Chthonian Nightmare, Birthing Ritual, Guide of Souls, Nethergoyf, Amped Raptor

Phyrexian Tower is a card that I’ve enjoyed playing a lot in different formats, and obviously slots into B/x Scam shells as well as a slew of other decks. The card does come at a cost of a colorless land, but the ability to add BB for the cost of a creature is a huge upside, and I look forward to exploring the options. 

Necrodominance is an incredibly powerful card, and I would be silly to not want to try something this proactive and powerful. Necropotence is one of the most powerful cards every printed, and the new Necro isn’t as far off of it’s ancestor as some people would have you believe.

Ugin’s Labyrinth also makes 2 mana (with some deckbuilding costs), so I am also excited to try playing some large colorless monsters at some point. 

Primal Prayers - Aluren is a super rad card, and this is as close as modern is ever going to get to it, so I will enjoy seeing if someone builds a great shell. 

Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Chthonian Nightmare, Birthing Ritual, Guide of Souls, Nethergoyf, Amped Raptor are all sweet cards that can either fit into shells as powerful tools, or in the case of Nightmare and Ritual, may end up creating powerful archetypes with them as the centerpieces.

Eldrazi  

Kozilek’s Command, Ulamog, the Defiler, Emrakul, the World Anew, Kozilek, the Broken Reality, Devourer of Destiny, Nulldrifter, Null Elemental Blast

Yeah, these cards are all very powerful, and I’m excited to see how they can break thing. Most of these slot into new Eldrazi shells or Tron, but I expect Null Elemental Blast to be a nice tool that some decks can take advantage. Ulamog in particular seems potent in a goryo’s vengeance shell if you get to pitch Atraxa/Griselbrand to a grief and then using Goryo’s to attack for 14+ damage with annihilator 7+. Seems deece.

Nulldrifter also seems sweet with something like strict proctor since you’ll draw 2 cards off the cast trigger, then don’t pay for the evoke trigger. Boom, 4/4 flying annihilator that drew 2 cards for 3 mana. (This deck is probably bad though, not gonna lie).

Elves!

Eladamri, Korvecdal, Priest of Titania, Wirewood Symbiote

I don’t know, I just like tribal decks, and I played a lot of elves throughout my more casual magic-playing years. Priest is a huge upgrade as it’s a huge burst of mana that comes at a lower cost than Archdruid, Symbiote acts as a way to protect your dudes and generate value. Eladamri can also generate a ton of advantage very quickly, and potentially put a big ol’ dummy into play with his ability. Will elves be good? Probably not. Will I play them anyway? Probably not... BUT MAYBE!!

Big Jerks

Meltdown, Wrath of the Skies

I feel like I don’t need to explain why these cards are beatings for us. Meltdown lets people sweep a ton of artifacts for a mere 2-3 mana, and Wrath of the Skies is a true beating. Assuming the opponent isn’t playing any other energy cards, for WW the card destroys every Urza’s Saga, Construct, and 0 mana artifact like Mantle, Memnite, and Thopter, and gets a lot worse for us each additional mana they spend. 

With that said, Meltdown is still a sorcery, and doesn’t kill any non-artifacts. This means that Saga, Aid, SFM, and Paladin all stick around. Additionally, this card is a sorcery. In my opinion, better hate pieces for Hammer already exist (Force of Vigor, Brotherhood’s End, Hidetsugu Consumes all, and even EE all seem more powerful). Meltdown is still a powerful card, but as long as you are cognisant of it, the card remains beatable.

Wrath of the Skies however, is just an absolute house, and the only real ways to play around it are with cards like Spell Pierce and potentially Flare of Fortitude. My hope is that neither of these cards see much play, but we shall see.
One thing to note about both of these sweepers is that they are both focused around the mana value of our cards. This is one of the big reasons I like Kappa Cannoneer, since if you are able to stick one before they deploy these, you are likely set up to just run them over.

Decklist: Finally, here is where I would consider starting with MH3 Hammer going forward. Note that these are subject to change and I would absolutely expect such as the format shakes out, and we get to test these first hand:

Kappa Hammer List 

Nadu Hammer List