This Week in Magic - Week 26

We’re smack dab in the middle of spoiler season and we’ve seen some pretty neat tech out of some of the new cards. Would you have guessed that this week would feature MORE cards surrounding counters? If not, spoiler alert: we have counters. This weekend is the SCG invitational, so I expect to see fireworks both in the sky and on the screen. Also, check out the super sweet stocks ticker scrolling above. It's back!

Many older cards got a huge spike in interest thanks to Solemnity, but Decree of Silence took top honors. What this cute little combination of painful cards equates to is, you get to counter every single card your opponents cast. Period. Forever. It may seem like an obscure and mana intensive way to achieve that goal, but make no mistake: people will try to break Solemnity and this is only the beginning.

Do you know what else is “fun” to do with Solemnity? Keep your Mystic Remora around forever without having to pay that pesky upkeep cost. Mystic Remora has long been played in Commander, but it also has a somewhat stable home in Vintage. It’s not uncommon to draw 2-3 cards in a turn with this little fishy on the battlefield. Note: am I the only one who ALWAYS thinks this is a creature when looking at it from across the board?

What’s better than countering everything and drawing tons of cards? Not taking damage. Ever. That’s what happens when you combine Glacial Chasm and Solemnity. Glacial Chasm sees play in Legacy lands, but it also has found home in many commander decks. Having to pay the upkeep cost usually isn’t as relevant as keeping 3 opponents from attacking you, but now you don’t have to worry about that at all!

“Judge?!?!” is what I expect to hear when you cast this. We got a reader for sure in Season of the Witch. Basically what this amounts to is paying 2 life a turn to kill anything untapped that could have attacked you. Now let’s pause a moment and digest the seriously awesome artwork. The creepy eyes in the sky seem to peer through your soul and into your consciousness. This is a reserved list card, so the spike could be related to that. I haven’t seen or heard any reasoning as to why this would spike, so I’ll have to keep digging.

Thanks mostly to The Scorpion God, -1/-1 counters cards are flying off the shelf, but thanks to Kulrath Knight those -1/-1 creatures won’t be flying at you. If I had bought most of these cards some time ago, I would love to build a The Scorpion God deck. As it stands now, the card prices are much too high thanks to a huge spike in interest. Still, I can’t wait to play against one of them. They look super sweet!

Phyrexian Soulgorger comes from a time when 8/8’s didn’t cost 1 mana like Death's Shadow, but you had to work for it. You had to pay a hefty price for your beater, like sacrificing a creature cumulatively. With Solemnity, that price is a thing of the past! Now, you just have to pay 3 mana for your 8/8…and 3 more mana for Solemnity. Still, a 6 mana 8/8 is something? Phyrexian Soulgorger is probably the most boring thing to do with Solemnity, but hey, an 8/8 is an 8/8, no matter how you…construct it.

Thanks to Jeff Hoogland and Saffron Olive, Goryo's Vengeance has started to creep towards parity with Through the Breach. They have been playing a super sweet Modern Esper deck featuring Obzedat, Ghost Council, or better known as Obzedaddy. Long gone are the days of cheaply scoring a Goryo's Vengeance. I guess that must be the vengeance part that Goryo spoke of?

Foils of the Week!

We got some major foil movements this week! Foil Ondu Cleric saw the gains percentage wise, but 7th foil Sleight of Hand was the real winner. Over $200! Spore Frog is fun to cast in Commander, and the foil is super sweet looking. Foil New Frontiers is actually a card I’ve cast a number of times in the last few years. Finally, everyone’s favorite Commander ramp card, Burnished Hart saw its foil printing go up.

Cheap pickups of the Week!

I don’t know how many times I mentioned Solemnity, I must have lost the ability to count. That being said, you can score them for around $4 each right now. That being said, this card has the potential to be game changing and I think it has a high chance of being broken at some point in the future. Usually I’m talking about how Legends cards are always going up, but Chain Lightning has hit an all-time low. It’s a great piece of history and a powerful card. Thanks to Glorybringer, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar has been on the decline. They might still go lower, but make sure you keep an eye on the price if you’re in the market for a playset. Hurkyl's Recall sees a ton of play in Vintage and Legacy, but has but has been missing from Modern lately. With Affinity climbing back into the spotlight, now might be a good time to add some of these to your binder.

MTGStocks mystery chart of the Week!

Last week chart was Summoner's Pact. This week, an even more challenging chart. Good luck!

Conversation of the Week!

This week I’d like to talk a little about Standard. As of this writing, I would consider myself a Modern player, but lately I’ve been switching over to Standard. Standard did go through a bit of a rough patch, but right now Standard is wide open. Some players still carry a negative sentiment about Standard either because it was bad in the past, or they just don’t like the format. Keep in mind that Magic has a format for everyone, and I wouldn’t say that any are better than the others. The fact of the matter is that you can brew your own deck in Standard AND be competitive right now. You can’t really say that about other formats. If you don’t like brewing and enjoy high powered plays, Standard isn’t for you. I encourage everyone to try the current Standard before they attack it with preconceived notions.

The best Commander card you’re not playing!

This week, the best Commander card you’re not playing is a hilarious political card. Inkfathom Witch is both useful for yourself, and against your opponents. Make a sweet deal with the player across from you and turn his small army into huge creatures. You can also use the ability so that the defending player can wipe larger creatures. There are many ways to use this, so get out there and see what you can make happen!