Horizon of Progress: Best Combos and Card-Draw Synergies

In TCG ·

Horizon of Progress card art from Modern Horizons 3 Commander showing a radiant horizon over a field of shifting energies

Image courtesy of Scryfall.com

Horizon of Progress: Combos and Card-Draw Synergies

Horizon of Progress lands with a whisper-quiet roar in the board state of a five-color commander, offering a rare blend of ramp, color fixing, and a self-contained card-draw engine. That zero-mana cost land with a tap-to-add-life-mmana ability, plus a flexible capability to drop a land from your hand onto the battlefield tapped for three mana, makes it the kind of card you draft into a deck and then suddenly find you’re building around it in dozens of ways. This is not about a single one-turn kill; it’s about sustainable turn-after-turn momentum that flexes with your game plan 🧙‍♂️🔥. The card’s Modern Horizons 3 Commander framing—rare, colorless, and designed for multiplayer table dynamics—lends itself to both big, splashy turns and clever, grindy value engines 💎.

At its core, Horizon of Progress functions as a colorless mana well with built-in color fixing and a lasting draw payoff. Its first ability—{T}, Pay 1 life: Add one mana of any type that a land you control could produce—lets you smooth colors as you curate a multicolor threat suite, even when your curve starts with a single base land. The second ability—{3}, {T}: You may put a land card from your hand onto the battlefield tapped—acts as an accelerated land drop or a late-game flood of stones that power out your top-end plays. And the final line—{1}, {T}, Sacrifice this land: Draw a card—turns Horizon into a compact, if slightly fragile, looting engine. Used wisely, it creates a cycle of development and draw that scales with the power level of your deck 🎲.

Let’s break down some of the most evocative combos and synergies, from brute-force ramp to elegant card-draw engines. I’ll keep the examples practical and grounded in familiar archetypes, while celebrating the card’s flavor as a symbol of progress and possibility 🧙‍♂️⚔️.

Combo 1 — Five-color ramp and the color-for-every-spell dream

This is where Horizon earns its keep in a five-color or shard-based deck. Because its mana production can be of any color a land you control could produce, you can use Horizon to smooth gaps in your mana base, enabling access to the most ambitious spells your commander's color identity can support. Pair Horizon with classic mana acceleration and color-fixing engines like Cultivate or Kodama’s Reach, plus fetch and dual lands that push your mana base toward five colors. The math is simple: Horizon is a free color-fixer on a land body, and the extra land you drop with its second ability reduces the stress on your earlier turns. The payoff is usually a big-turn play—think a terrain-encompassing finisher or a five-color bomb that would otherwise sit behind a mana wall 🧙‍♂️💎. In practice, you’ll see early turns laying Horizon, following with mana-dense plays that leave your opponents guessing which color you’ll pointer next 🔥.

Combo 2 — Turn-accelerator plus instant-card draw loop

There’s a tactile thrill in watching a single land enable a cascade of draws. Use Horizon’s second ability to drop a land from hand onto the battlefield tapped, accelerating your board while also enabling color-fixing for your midgame plan. The draw clause, though humble, becomes exceptionally potent when you pair Horizon with effects that care about land plays and landfalls. If you run a deck that cherishes every draw, you can stack Horizon with Exploration or similar effects to maximize your land drops and generate value from each sacrificial draw. Imagine the rhythm: you drop Horizon, you fix color, you slam a land from hand, you draw a card, and you keep the loop going as you sequence fetches and draw spells—suddenly your hand is full of options while your mana pulls you toward your big spells 🧙‍♂️🎨.

Combo 3 — Gitrog Monster and crucible-era resilience

In a deck that loves landfall and card draw, Horizon can partner with iconic synergies like The Gitrog Monster to turn every land entering the battlefield into card advantage. If you can stabilize the battlefield with a combination of Horizon’s land drops, Gitrog’s draw engine, and a way to replay Horizon from the graveyard (for example, with Crucible of Worlds or other land-recursion tools), you can sketch out a robust draw engine that scales with the number of turns you survive. The appeal here isn’t “infinite” on the spot; it’s a throughline: Horizon fixes mana, adds a versatile land drop, and fuels a draw engine that keeps your hand rich with threats while you grind down table pressure 🧙‍♂️💎.

Combo 4 — Landfall flavors without losing momentum

Even if you aren’t building for a strict landfall deck, Horizon’s land drop mechanic synergizes nicely with other land-enter-the-battlefield triggers. Cards that care about lands entering play, such as Avenger of Zendikar or Rampaging Baloths in a more dedicated build, get extra value as Horizon contributes multiple land drops over the course of a game. The result is a board that scales naturally—your mana base grows, your card pool broadens, and your threat suite expands without requiring a separate ramp engine for every color ✨.

Combo 5 — Replaying Horizon for sustained value

With the right hardware—cards that recur lands or enable replays—you can turn Horizon into a perpetual motion machine. A combination like Crucible of Worlds or other land-restart effects lets you rewatch Horizon return to the battlefield after sacrificing it for a draw, fueling another draw on the next turn and keeping your colors intact. The beauty here is not just the draw; it’s the resilience—when you’re staring down mass-removal or a sweeping board wipe, having a plan to bounce Horizon back into play gives you a tangible path to come back swinging 🧙‍♂️🔥.

“What you do with Horizon reveals your deck-building philosophy: generous with mana, patient with growth, and never afraid to lean into the art of the long game.”

Beyond the math, the flavor of Horizon of Progress fits the mood of a commander table that loves big turns, weird color combinations, and the thrill of a well-timed draw. Art, rarity, and the set’s extended-frame charm all contribute to its collectability and conversation value; the card’s rarity in Modern Horizons 3 Commander marks it as a centerpiece for players who want a flexible tool that rewards creativity as much as raw power 🧙‍♂️⚔️.

As you build around Horizon, don’t forget to respect the life-pay cost of its mana ability. The 1 life per color-fix might become a resource you manage carefully in games where chair-time is precious, but in long tabletop sessions you’ll find clever ways to balance it—whether through life-gain enablers or simply using the exact moments when color-for-mix matters most 🔥.

And when you’re ready to step away from the table, the card’s strong market presence—reflected in its Modern Horizons 3 Commander signature and the general interest around five-color ramp—gives you a reason to appreciate its design even when you’re not actively piloting it. The horizon line in its art conveys a destiny that many MTG players chase: a path to more possibilities, drawn one card at a time 🧙‍♂️💎.

Whether you’re chasing multi-color chaos, or simply looking for a reliable way to make a land-based engine sing, Horizon of Progress invites you to push your deck toward bigger, bolder visions. The payoff is not just in the numbers on a sheet but in the thrill of watching a plan come together—land by land, draw by draw, turn by turn. Here’s to progress, to bold color choices, and to the small moments that turn a good game into a memorable one 🧙‍♂️🎲.

Pro tip: keep an eye on how your local playgroup handles life as a resource. Horizon rewards deliberate planning; live by the land, and let the rest of your library do the talking 💎.

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Horizon of Progress

Horizon of Progress

Land

{T}, Pay 1 life: Add one mana of any type that a land you control could produce.

{3}, {T}: You may put a land card from your hand onto the battlefield tapped.

{1}, {T}, Sacrifice this land: Draw a card.

ID: 5ae3a9c8-194e-421b-b77d-9c8784442651

Oracle ID: 59a82f57-fe2f-4834-a4ee-4b948eef1e12

Multiverse IDs: 665088

TCGPlayer ID: 553515

Cardmarket ID: 774780

Colors:

Color Identity:

Keywords:

Rarity: Rare

Released: 2024-06-14

Artist: Julian Kok Joon Wen

Frame: 2015

Border: black

EDHRec Rank: 1703

Set: Modern Horizons 3 Commander (m3c)

Collector #: 78

Legalities

  • Standard — not_legal
  • Future — not_legal
  • Historic — not_legal
  • Timeless — not_legal
  • Gladiator — not_legal
  • Pioneer — not_legal
  • Modern — not_legal
  • Legacy — legal
  • Pauper — not_legal
  • Vintage — legal
  • Penny — not_legal
  • Commander — legal
  • Oathbreaker — legal
  • Standardbrawl — not_legal
  • Brawl — not_legal
  • Alchemy — not_legal
  • Paupercommander — not_legal
  • Duel — legal
  • Oldschool — not_legal
  • Premodern — not_legal
  • Predh — not_legal

Prices

  • USD: 4.64
  • EUR_FOIL: 11.35
  • TIX: 4.20
Last updated: 2025-11-15