Shrieking Drake first appeared in 1997’s Visions set, and this unaltered art reprint is one of the coolest additions to MTG Modern Horizons 3.
MTG Modern Horizons 3’s spoiler season has revealed a wealth of unique and powerful new cards. Alongside these fresh options for MTG decks in Modern, Commander, and other popular formats, Modern Horizons 3 has included several reprints that stand out by being stylish or high-value.
The reprint of Urza’s Incubator was an absolute win for the Commander community, particularly for players looking to put together Typal decks. However, Shrieking Drake takes the prize for the most interesting and unexpected reprint in Modern Horizons 3.
MTG’s 2024 sets have established a pattern of reprinting cards from significantly far back in the game’s history. Outlaws of Thunder Junction’s Breaking News bonus sheet featured a reprint of the card Overwhelming Forces, which hadn’t been seen since way back in 1999’s Portal Three Kingdoms set.
Shrieking Drake follows on from that trend and comes from an even older set than Overwhelming Forces. The Visions set launched for Magic in 1997, with Shrieking Drake making its debut there.
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The Creature itself is a 1/1 with flying that can be cast for a single blue mana. It also has an ETB effect that returns a Creature you control to its owner’s hand.
MTG players were quick to gush about this card’s standout art and how it compares to the art direction of modern-day magic. Reddit user leaning_on_a_wheel gave a straightforward “Love this art” and many other commenters agreed. One user added, “Bring back more old-school art direction (or rather, freedom) like this!”
While Overwhelming Forces received an updated look to match the frontier plane of Thunder Junction, Shrieking Drake’s border may have been updated but its art is faithful to the 1997 original.
It seems that keeping the classic look has paid off, as players are excited to get their hands on Shrieking Drake when Modern Horizons 3 launches on June 14.