Modern Horizons 3 is bringing us a handful of transforming creatures in the style of Magic: Origins. These familiar characters begin as small creatures with big dreams and, through meeting certain gameplay conditions, their spark awakens and they become their fully realized planeswalker selves. We are getting one in each color and each of them have very specific applications, so for our purposes today, we aren't going to entertain the idea of putting multiples of these in any one deck. I trust there's some nonsense to be had with Maskwood Nexus and Moonmist, but we'll experiment with that jank another day.
For now, let's look at each walker and judge how viable they are likely to be in the current Timeless format with some speculation given what else will be entering in Modern Horizons 3.
Your Default Favorite Cat Man
Ajani is putting 3/3 worth of stats on the battlefield across two bodies for only two mana. Honestly, that's already good enough to merit consideration. He's squishy to Fatal Push and Lightning Bolt, but notably only the token he generates is susceptible to an Orcish Bowmasters ETB, but your opponent doing that triggers Ajani's transformation into Ajani, Nacatle Avenger. The backside of Ajani does have some value as it can create bodies and potentially snowball, but it's also boltable and if it transforms on your opponent's turn or your own end step, it could easily die before you can activate him.
I like this card for white-based or Boros aggro decks because it's a ticking clock that will require multiple pieces of removal to fully answer. If he's surrounded by other threats and, ideally, another cat or two, he could be part of a very potent aggressive deck. As of this writing, such a deck doesn't exist at the top of the meta, but here's hoping Ajani encourages a change.
Brood Wars
Grist is such an odd character as a single hive-mind controlling an insect swarm. Since first debuting in Modern Horizons 2 as Grist, the Hunger Tide, she's captured my imagination in fun ways and this new origin flip walker is no different. She starts as a 1/2 deathtoucher for one which is perfectly fine, but she also flips upon any reanimation or unearth even if it's reanimating her. Cards like Lurrus of the Dream Den or Undying Malice enable this perfectly and with Grief joining Arena, I suspect some kind of Golgari Scam deck will be viable to flip Grist over as early as turn two reliably.
So, is the backside worth it? Frankly, yes. As a reanimation enthusiast, my heart goes pitter patter with every line of text on Grist, the Plague Swarm. Her +1 ability protects her by putting bodies on board and potentially deathtouching ones at that, while her -2 could be clutch in removing key combo pieces or graveyard hosers (looking at you, Leyline of the Void). If you get to ultimate her at -6, you can get every ETB in your graveyard at once on a swarm of 1/1s. If you like huge effects like Atraxa, Grand Unifier or Ulamog, the Defiler, this ultimate could be devastating to your opponent. And you get all this for only one mana. Graveyard decks can take advantage, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Yawgmoth, Thran Physician combo decks add one or two of these as a backup plan to generate crazy value at very little cost. This is, far and away, my favorite of the bunch if I'm honest.
The Shocker
Ral's origin creature looks like an upgraded Goblin Electromancer at first glance, because it's basically the same card with a stat adjustment and a more forgiving mana cost, but there's a lot more going on here. Ral obviously wants to exist in some kind of storm shell where you cast a million spells in a turn and burn your opponent to death with a Grapeshot or Tendrils of Agony. In other formats, these decks heavily feature spells that draw cards and ritual spells that gain mana, Manamorphose being the premier card that ties the archetype together. In that kind of shell, Ral, Monsoon Mage will probably be pretty good as the static provides good value and once he transforms, Ral, Leyline Prodigy can help you finish the pop off and take out your opponent.
I genuinely think Ral is a good card, but I doubt he will see any play in Timeless. This kind of a storm deck just doesn't have meaningful support yet since our best options are cards like Big Score and Flick a Coin. It's probably worth attempting, but I don't expect it to be meta.
The Ultimate Sad Boy
The creature side of Sorin of House Markov isn't much to look at although it does put an instance of Extort onto the battlefield, which might be relevant if you have excess mana lying around. He also has four toughness, though, which means he dodges lightning bolt which is significant these days. The flip is dependent on gaining three life which is not difficult to do with Soul Warden effects or by simply cracking a food token. Sorin's lifelink can also assist with racking that up which is likely why they put the trigger at the beginning of the postcombat main phase.
Sorin's planeswalker side, Sorin, Ravenous Neonate, is a very solid planeswalker in any deck that's fixated on life gain with some mechanics that look odd in Orzhov, but actually make sense. Creating food tokens is just putting some life gain on layaway for future turns, and the -6 control magic effect resembles something you'd expect from mono blue or red except that it doesn't give the creature back at end of turn. Given all the giant eldrazi in this set and the fact that Show and Tell is still unrestricted, I expect this to have plenty of targets often, and if you steal your opponent's Orcish Bowmasters or Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, it can still be a pretty powerful advantage swing. I'm not convinced Sorin has a home in current Timeless, but it could be a power boost that Soul Warden decks were looking for alongside Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose and Heliod, Sun-Crowned.
Last in this Article, First in Our Hearts
Tamiyo's back because we get to jump around in time in supplemental sets! Don't worry, vorthos fans, she's still very dead in canon. Between that and the Standard meta, I'm starting to wonder if The Wandering Emperor is on our side. But I digress….
Taimyo, Inquisitive Student joins Grist, Voracious Larva at the one-mana spot and sports three toughness on a flyer. Any one-drop that can effortlessly block Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer is notable, but she also can create clue tokens for future card draw and her flip ability is very easy to trigger. In any format with Brainstorm, drawing three cards is not difficult, but notably you only have to draw two additional cards on your turn since she does see the first one. Cards like Nulldrifter or Chart a Course can pull this off pretty easily.
Her planeswalker side, though, isn't as impressive as many of the others. Her -3 ability can't be activated right away as her starting loyalty is only two, and her -7 could actually result in you losing the game on the spot if your opponent responds by playing Orcish Bowmasters or having a Sheoldred the Apocalypse on the battlefield. If Orcish Bowmasters wasn't one of the most popular 2-drop cards in the format, I'd like this card a whole lot more. As it stands, I fear this card is going to walk straight into a trap more often than not and be relegated to a fun piece of tech for Commander players.
In Conclusion
All the flip walkers in this set are fun representations of beloved characters, and they're all pretty strong for how little mana they cost. I expect to see them show up from time to time and for people to brew them, but unless a specific callout above caught your attention, I wouldn't recommend crafting these early for use in Timeless. Except maybe Grist. Seriously, that card is cracked.
Thanks for reading, and happy brewing!
