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The spoiling of Dwarves returning as a tribal theme in Kaldheim brought attention and big price spikes to some existing Dwarves and enablers, like Dwarven Bloodboiler and Dwarven Recruiter. The reveal of a Giants theme isn’t quite the same surprise, as Giants have seen more significant support in recent years compared to Dwarves being brought back from the dead, but it’s sure to increase demand for past Giants and drive up prices, so there may be some opportunities.
The Giants of Kaldheim
The biggest surprise from Kaldheim is that the Giant tribe has expanded to blue, specifically Izzet, where in the past its red base has been paired with white. Sagas Invasion of the Giants and Battle of Frost and Fire are two exciting new Izzet-color Giant-themed cards driving buzz for the tribe. Red and blue have each brought a few exciting Giant cards of their own - in total Kaldheim brings around 10 quality cards for a Giant Commander deck.
The printing of Legendary Giant Aegar, the Freezing Flame brings a perfect new build-around Commander for the tribe. There already happens to be a giant Commander available in Ruhan of the Fomori, which opens up a full three-color Jeskai deck that has all of the best cards the Giant tribe has to offer
An obscure card with just one printing almost ten years ago, and available for around $4, Ruhan of the Fomori seems like a great spec in anticipation of Kaldheim driving new Giant Commander decks.
A sure inclusion in any Giant Commander deck will be Giant Harbinger, which has one printing over 13 years ago but is still only worth about a quarter. There are far fewer of these floating around than more recent cards, and a sudden spike of demand will start drying up supplies and drive the price higher.
There’s a bunch of older giants that don’t really see much play, so a spike in demand from nothing to something could start really sending prices up.
One good-looking Giant for a spec is Protector of the Crown, which brings the powerful Monarch effect along with a very Giant-esque ability. Its price has actually already tripled since December, up to $2.30 from around $0.75, and the trajectory shows now signs of turning down.
Palisade Giant brings its own version of the same damage-soaking effect, and with a single printing feels like a bargain at $0.30.
Countryside Crusher has always been an underrated and underplayed card for its ability to filter lands away while growing into a big threat. It is surely one of the more competitive Giants ever printed, and at a buck feels like a solid price as Giants evolve into a real tribe.
An obscure Giant that I have my eye on is Jotun Owl Keeper, which like Countryside Crusher is unique for being a relatively low-cost card in a tribe full of creatures costing 6 or more mana. It’s a solid card that generates value, and even includes blue in its cumulative upkeep cost, so seems to be a great fit. As an Uncommon from Coldsnap, a set notorious for low supply and high prices, feels cheap at a quarter.
It should also be noted that Theros Beyond Death brought Thryx, the Sudden Storm, which quietly belied that blue Giants were coming as a tribe, where it acts as a perfect support card. As a recent card I’m not sure this can really spike huge anytime soon, but sitting at $0.50 over the past year, must be underpriced given recent developments with the tribe.
Realm-Cloaked Giant as a sweeper for non-Giant creatures is a perfect fit into a Giant tribal deck. This Giant aspect wasn’t too interesting when it was printed in Throne of Eldraine, but it now makes sense and looks like a solid pickup as a $1 mythic.
At around $0.50 each, Giant lord Sunrise Sovereign and synergizer Borderland Behemoth both have room to grow, but be aware they've each seen multiple printings.
Giants aren’t a heavily supported tribe nor one that is likely to make a particularly competitive deck at this point; it’s going to be mostly for the fun and flavor. For that reason, I’m intrigued by some of the older and coolest Giants that would seem to be easy inclusions in a Giant tribal deck, like Cunning Giant from Portal and Frost Giant from Legends.
The highest-ticket Giant and one way to try to cash in on the tribe is Magic’s original Giant, Two-Headed Giant of Foriys. A relatively iconic card as a powerhouse from Magic’s early days, and one that demands a premium for this fact, its value surely benefits from Giants gaining support as a bonafide tribal strategy. Buying Alpha, Beta, or Unlimited copies could pay off as players start seeking them for decks or their collections, especially as this recent Giant support makes it even more likely we’ll see it supported again in the future.
Trust the Process
While Giants may or may not really pop, this is the sort of process worth going through when analyzing a new set for its potential impact on Commander deckbuilding and in turn the market, which at this point has Commander as its #1 factor to consider over any other format. You could go through this same process with the Berserker tribe supported in Kaldheim, which has driven up the price of Lovisa Coldeyes and could impact more down the line. Every set has its own theme and potential Commanders, and each of them has the potential to spike demand for existing cards.
hook (I guess) is that a creature can only boast if it attacked. And only once per turn. So, it's in every way worse than just an activated ability. However, those restrictions allow boast abilities to be more powerful than a normal activated ability. As we 
I get the feeling that there's some internal dissension about getting rid of blocks, on the basis that Kaldheim and Strixhaven both have modal double-face cards just like Zendikar Rising. As they would if it was a block mechanic. Wizards has had a problem of Magic feeling disjoined and the sets being overcrowded since blocks went away, so maybe this is an attempt to fix the problem. Or subtly bring blocks design back, subverting the structure change. I'm keeping my eyes open.
In any case, what was a 
land snow permanent that sees play is Ice-Fang Coatl. And that's been very limited 
The second one is the most interesting, especially given the currently known foretell cards. Foretold cards can only be interacted with via Riftsweeper and the Eldrazi processors like Wasteland Strangler. Also, remember that they're cheaper to cast via foretell than from hand on the turn they're cast. Which in turn means that foretell can be used in attrition matchups, particularly control mirrors, to overwhelm opposing mana. Casting a cheap(er) payoff and then having mana for more or to defend it seems like a good strategy.
Kaldheim also has the foretell counterspell Saw it Coming, which isn't good enough on its own, but a two-mana hard counter down the line is nothing to sneeze at. I'm seeing the potential of using Behold and Coming to out gradually build what's effectively a hand in exile and then wait to spring a trap.
around Christmas as a teaser, I noted that she has a weird number of abilities, but little more. She's a 2/1 that buffs an uncompetitive tribe and can find a dragon. Clearly destined for commander and nothing else; time to move on.
However, Four Horsemen is a legendary deck because it is one of two decks to be soft-banned. The decks are legal to play, except technically they're not, because they violate the 
But that's okay, as the rest of the combo is pretty bad, too. None of you remembered that Second Wind existed until I mentioned it five paragraphs ago. The first ability does nothing, actual nothing. And Magda dies to every removal spell. And the win condition is Goblin Cannon. But then, it's a combo deck, and those routinely play terrible cards because the whole is greater than the sum of their parts. And since this combo happens turn three, that might be good enough. It's similar to Splinter Twin, but faster, after all.
If you thought 12 big threats was a lot, wait until you've seen 
A second Yorion deck, and the one that's been performing the best this month, is 
Here's a snowballing-value deck in the same vein as the regular Uro piles, but conspicuously lacking Omnath. 
Combo-control, eh? Who needs Islands and Forests at all? Certainly not 
The average is my estimate for how many results a given deck “should” produce on MTGO. To be a tiered deck requires being better than “good enough;” in December, the average population was 7.97, meaning a deck needed 8 results to beat the average and make Tier 3. Then, we go one standard deviation above average to set the limit of Tier 3 and cutoff to Tier 2. The STdev was 10.20, so that means Tier 3 runs to 18, and Tier 2 starts with 19 results and runs to 29. Subsequently, to make Tier 1, 30 decks are required.
The other thing to note is that 4-Color Omanth is the top deck followed by Scourge Shadow. Again. And also again, they're down from their 
suffers greatly against decks with lots of cheap interaction, and those decks have been down recently. Plus, it's able to take advantage of 2020's most 
Tracking the metagame in terms of population is standard practice. However, how do results actually factor in? Better decks should also have better results. In an effort to measure this, I use a power ranking system in addition to the prevalence list. And the practice proved particularly relevant this month, as it backed up a lot of what I've said about Tier 2.
It makes sense that Crab Mill would do well. The metagame being skewed toward 4-C Omnath and Primeval Titan decks is 
Finally, we come to the average power rankings. These are found by taking total points earned and dividing it by total decks, which measures points per deck. I use this to measure strength vs. popularity. Measuring deck strength is hard. Using the power rankings certainly helps, and serves to show how justified a deck’s popularity is.
I say "sequence" because timing is everything. Flip those effects around and you have something at once powerful enough to run and safe enough to have in the format. That's right: I'm breaking 
Then there's 
The Return of the LGS
Without the LGS, Modern's spirit is broken. My biggest wish for 2021 is the successful reopening of these community hubs, and with it, some much-needed wind in Modern's sails!
There's no way to know exactly what, if anything, will get banned in 2021. Where once it was a simple case of violating the 
Urza, Lord High Artificer makes this list partially as a holdover from 2020, and partially because it remains an absurd card. There are just too many lines of text on that card, and they're all things that consistently prove to be problems. Urza was 
This is a tricky one. While Uro is a lightning rod for Wizards making card advantage engines too easy, the combination of Lurrus of the Dream-Den and Mishra's Bauble is the most successful one. It's arguably more defining than Uro, is far more widespread, and has been running around longer. Go back through my 
Why Lurrus Won't be Banned
I favor going after Lurrus over Bauble. Lurrus has the history on its side, and the companions were 
