Cards Heating up in Modern for 2026
Happy New Year, readers! To start off the year, let’s take a look at some notable price movements and some very unique Modern pieces that have been making considerable splashes in recent weeks!
Orim's Chant
Orim's chant was only in recent years introduced to the Modern format via a
While Orim's Chant is traditionally a sideboard card in most constructed formats it sees play in, it’s starting to see some mainboard play in the Modern fringe, most notably Azorius Control.
In Azorius Control, Orim's Chant is played as a four-of in the mainboard and more or less just serves to tempo an opponent, and slow the game down. On the play, land-pass, then cast Orim's Chant on your opponent’s first turn’s upkeep to ensure that the most they can do is play a land and pass the turn.
Following in the spirit of many “Draw, Go” hard-control decks, Orim's Chant functionally is one mana to see another turn. After a certain point, your resource density is high enough where you can start playing
You could consider Azorius Control to be the anti-meta deck that has the most viability at the moment, but in a format where many decks are actively trying to storm off to win, cards like Orim's Chant and decks like Azorius Control certainly are making a splash and having a visible impact in the meta with the deck bubbling up just beyond the fringe in recent weeks. Right now, Chant sits at around $16 and looks to be more or less stagnating. I find it hard to see it sticking at this price point for too long, but I could be wrong. It does see sideboard play in Energy and Jeskai Blink shells, as well as play in other eternal formats, including cEDH.
Keep an eye on this one!
| Orim's Chant | ||
| Orim's Chant | ||
| Orim's Chant (Borderless) |
The Legend of Roku
A latent hit from
The big selling point for this card is that from the sideboard against decks where breaking parity on advantage is more cumbersome, this single card represents card draw (functionally), mana acceleration, and significant combat damage all for 2RR, which is easy enough to accommodate.
While this card’s current price of around $15 a pop is mostly driven by Standard, its potential in Modern–sideboard or otherwise–is relatively unexplored. In my mind, the financial potential nested in Roku is slightly higher than what the market currently reflects.
| The Legend of Roku | ||
| The Legend of Roku (Borderless) |
Strix Serenade
Strix is the complementary counterspell to
In fact, the raw value of this interaction spell (mostly coming out of the sideboard) is reflected financially as well with the current market price sitting just over $5 a piece and climbing.
Strix is generically a useful counterspell that has gotten better in recent months as high-impact creatures have seemingly become the focal point of the format’s best decks. I expect that this will continue to climb in value. There’s realistically a world where it could top out close to $10 a pop if it starts to see more play in mainboards.
The transition from a sideboard staple to a maindeck inclusion seems more and more likely with each passing week.
| Strix Serenade | ||
| Strix Serenade (Borderless) |
Claws of Gix
Claws of Gix is legal in Modern thanks only to its
Claws is a zero-mana sac outlet that naturally finds itself slotting nicely into Affinity shells. The big benefit this card has is that it’s zero mana, so it helps turn on
Okay, now that we understand the floor of this card, let’s talk about the ceiling:
One of the issues that Affinity has traditionally had is converting permanents in play to non-combat damage to have some agency later in the game. Weapons solves this, and in combination with Claws of Gix, you can sac your Munitions tokens, deal two damage to anything, and gain a life.
This card has been making such a big splash that the original printing is at an all-time high price of just over $8 a piece, while the more widely-available Timeshifted reprint is now beyond bulk status at just over a dollar a piece. Similar to Roku, I feel like Claws is still somewhat undervalued. A one-mana sac outlet that can be fetched with Urza's Saga has so many implications that haven’t been widely explored beyond Affinity and Weapons Manufacturing, so I’d be very curious to see what the future holds with Claws!
| Claws of Gix | ||
| Claws of Gix |
Wrapping Things Up
It is worth stressing that Modern is mostly in a healthy spot. Most of the cards discussed today (with Claws an exception) do carry an interesting theme: they’re sideboard pieces that play exceptionally well into a creature-driven meta or are sideboard pieces finding themselves in mainboards as the meta evolves. Keep an eye on all of these! The sideboard staples oftentimes are underlooked financially, but the movements in the cards discussed today underscore their financial potential when the circumstances are just right enough to warrant mainboard consideration.
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Corey Williams
Corey Williams is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Shippensburg University in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. He considers himself a macroeconometrician with his research body reflecting work in applied macroeconomics and econometrics. Corey is an L1 Judge who started playing Magic around Eighth Edition. He enjoys Modern, Commander, cEDH, and cube drafting. Outside of Magic, he loves running, teaching, and the occasional cult movie.