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Another set release is upon us during the global COVID-19 pandemic. This time it’s a core set, Magic 2021, that is having its demand impacted by a lack of paper events. Much like Ikoria, this could generate some interesting opportunities to acquire cards on the cheap.
In fact, there are two categories of cards I like from Magic 2021. First, there are a couple cards that are already having their impact on Standard. Second, Magic 2021 contains a number of Commander reprints with long term upside potential.
This week I’ll examine the set and highlight cards in both categories, with some inspiration from Twitter commentary!
Commander Reprints
Let’s start with the Commander cards, as this category is most compelling. In recent articles, I’ve written about how paper Magic is suffering except for casual and Commander play. It seems these cards are resilient to the lack of in-person paper Magic events. I’m convinced Commander is now the most played paper Magic format.
A couple of Magic 2021 reprints have brought prices down on some Commander favorites. Even premium versions—alt art foils—are selling at a discount as the new set is being opened. I especially like the alternate art foils for Commander speculation because Commander players are frequently seeking the most impressive versions of a card.
For this section, I want to acknowledge @ToaMichael for some inspiration in this tweet:
I suspect the top-selling Commander cards on TCGplayer are directly correlated to this exact purchase, so I won’t try to cite TCGplayer’s “best seller” ranking because the data is biased. That said, I do love each of the purchases Michael made above. Cultivate is a popular green Commander card as it offers both mana fixing and mana ramp (two necessities in the format). Scavenging Ooze can hose graveyard strategies, and it doubles up as a tournament playable card (more on this later). Solemn Simulacrum needs no explanation—I think we can all agree this card is everywhere in Commander.
Take a look at those prices! Despite being reprinted a billion times, Solemn Simulacrum continues to hold a $5 price point. I don’t think we’ll see copies under $2 for very long. While buying cards at $2 and selling at $5 is hardly inspirational, the alternate art foils are under $10 and may offer the greatest upside.
In addition to the cards mentioned above, I also think foil alternate art Sublime Epiphany is a worthwhile consideration. I’m fairly sure Cryptic Command sees a ton of play in Commander, and this seems like a Cryptic Command on steroids.
Lastly, let’s not overlook the likely popularity of dog- and cat-based decks thanks to the printing of legendary creature Rin and Seri, Inseparable. Alternate art foils of this card may also gradually increase over time because… well, many people love their dogs and cats! Kyle Massa, writer for EDH REC, calls out this card in particular as the “can’t-miss pick” of Core Set 2021.
Standard Playables
I used to ignore Standard completely. For years, I would simply observe how Standard card prices fluctuate without actually participating in this market.
Since I started playing Arena a few months ago, this changed. Now I can observe first-hand what new cards are making waves in the Standard metagame and speculate accordingly. Of course, all my Standard-based suggestions below must carry a caveat that prices may not move without the return of in-person events. Let’s hope we can all get together and battle in paper Magic before Core Set 2021 rotates.
My number one pick from Standard is inspired, once again, by Twitter. This time it was a tweet from @SethManfield, professional Magic player:
This card is the real deal. Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse may be one of the hardest Magic cards to pronounce, but it’s not difficult to envision why she’s so powerful in the current metagame. Think about those Bant Control decks that run Teferi, Time Raveler, Shark Typhoon, Growth Spiral, Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath, and Teferi, Master of Time.
The deck is a natural fit for this legendary creature—she hits the board early and starts making cats by turn 3, providing much-needed defense against the most aggressive decks in the format. Her ability can be triggered nearly every turn, creating a substantial board presence through the early stages of a game whereas before, the deck didn’t stick as many permanents the first few turns.
At first, I didn’t take this card seriously when my opponents cast it in Standard—but I’m a true believer now. I’ve purchased a dozen or so copies at just over a buck a piece with the hopes of selling them closer to $5 should paper Magic return.
Speaking of the Bant Control deck, Teferi, Master of Time and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon are both seeing their share of play. I don’t think these are 4-ofs in the deck (certainly not Ugin), but they are mythic rares in the set. These carry a hefty pricetag already, but if Core Set 2021 is underopened, these do have some upside when paper play resumes in 2021 (hopefully).
Another card I’m seeing in Standard on occasion is Terror of the Peaks. This is one of the more costly cards in the set at around $10, but a far cry from Teferi and Ugin’s $30 price point. The red dragon may not be as flashy as the planeswalkers, but it may have some lasting impact on Standard. I don’t own any copies, but may look to pick some up should the price decrease a bit post-release once everyone is finished opening their product.
One card I did purchase for myself (to own, not for speculation) is foil Liliana, Waker of the Dead.
This version of Liliana was perhaps nerfed by its four mana casting cost. Still, she can come down on the board and defend herself and her ultimate is impressive. There isn’t a home for her in Standard right now, but at $6 I couldn’t resist picking up a foil copy for the collection. After all, there seems to be a floor on mythic rare Liliana Planeswalker cards—the cheapest ones on Card Kingdom’s site are Liliana, Death's Majesty and Liliana, Untouched by Death for $4.99 and $5.49, respectively. So grabbing a foil of the newest version for $6 seems like a purchase with very little downside.
Looking towards the lower end, there are a few sub-$2 cards worth considering. I’ve already mentioned Scavenging Ooze, which seems well-positioned in the current Standard metagame with Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath and Cauldron Familiar running rampant. The Standard metagame could evolve and make Baneslayer Angel a solid pick-up at $2, though I haven’t seen it played yet (remember when this card was $50?).  Solemn Simulacrum (regular version) at $1.50 seems awfully cheap.
If you need Temples, these are all dirt cheap, and right now is probably a good time to acquire your playsets. They’ll be heavily used in Standard for at least another year now. Lastly, I’m curious about Demonic Embrace. I’ve faced down this bulk rare in a couple Arena matches now. I don’t think it’s the most exciting thing you can do in Standard, but it is being tested by mono black players. Unchecked, this aura on a Knight of the Ebon Legion can end a game very quickly. And with its ability to be re-played from the graveyard, the risk of being 2-for-1’d is mitigated.
Wrapping It Up
Compared to Ikoria, I was initially unimpressed with Core Set 2021’s underwhelming power level. At face value, my impression was that the simpler cards would be no match for the complex power and flexibility offered by cards like Uro and Shark Typhoon. Since the set’s launch on Arena, however, I’ve changed my viewpoint.
Core Set 2021 is packed with playable cards for both Standard and Commander. This is a powerful combination, sure to generate interest in the set from all sorts of players. While players and stores open packs by the case, the market supply will have a momentary surge. But a lack of paper events may limit how much product is actually opened throughout the set’s life in Standard. As a result, I think there are some key opportunities to speculate.
Throughout this article, I touched on the cards that have my attention from both a Commander and a Standard viewpoint. My favorites include alternate-art foil copies of Cultivate and Solemn Simulacrum. For Standard, don’t look past Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse—she is the real deal.
The many reprints in the set also offers a great opportunity to pick up key staples on the cheap. The Temples and cards like Solemn Simulacrum and Fabled Passage will be relatively cheap pick-ups if you need copies for play. These reprints provide a welcome drop in price so that players can grab their copies at the momentary “discount”. As long as they’re not reprinted in every Core Set, I like these cards as long-term holds.
And in general, I like playable cards from Core Set 2021 and Ikoria because I believe both sets will be under-opened thanks to COVID-19. It’s unclear how the pandemic will impact prices over the long-run, but I suspect the lack of paper events will lead to less product being opened, which in turn will make for higher price ceilings in the long run. Only time will tell!
Magus can also be tutored by Eldritch Evolution, a card that likewise grabs Winota straight from the deck. If it’s tributing Strangelroot Geist, the undying Spirit gets to swing right away with haste and trigger Winota on the same turn! And Birds both ramps into Eldritch/Winota and attacks to trigger it.
The enchantment skirts creature removal, but relies on the graveyard, while the creature bites the dust to Fatal Push but ignores Rest in Peace. As such, these two threats reward pilots for chaining together draw and burn in ways that compliment each other 
I know you remember this one! 
Unlike the last two decks, 
Among the included packages are:
There was a time when building an entire Modern deck around Notion Thief was nuts. But Narset, Parter of Veils gave the card some redundancy, and combined with the 
Here, 
The second thing is the volatility. Ponza fell to third, Burn rose to second, and all the snow decks lost percentage. Amulet Titan reappeared while Whirza collapsed. Other, made up of all the singleton decks, remains the most populous category by a good margin. What this suggests is that there's no clear best deck in this metagame. Players are seeing success with wide ranges of decks each week. The question will be how sustainable this volatility is.
As for the individual decks, there are some stark divisions in the data. Four decks posted 22+ results in June, and then there's a sheer drop off to Humans with 16. If you were to twist my arm for a tier list, I would put Bant Snow, Eldrazi Tron, Ponza, and Burn in Tier 1. Humans would be Tier 1.5 in my book, with all the decks with 10-13 results constituting Tier 2. I'm saying this rather than giving a mathematical answer because my calculation put Tier 1 at only the top 3 decks and Tier 2 was Burn, Humans, Storm, and Toolbox. I haven't had time to figure out if this is a function of the 
Right now is the time for brewing. If you've got the cards online, I'd recommend trying out that whacky idea you've been sitting on for awhile. It can't be weirder than the decks that have actually made the data. They've run the gauntlet from Toolbox decks that I can't find their combo kills to strange configurations of Mill to a straight port of Pioneer Inverter of Truth combo. Seriously, the only difference I remember is fetchlands. The best part is that everyone else is experimenting and looking for the new best decks, so even if your idea is half-baked, it's no less wonky than everything else.
The second observation is that targeted discard is at an all-time low in Modern. Jund and Grixis Death's Shadow are nowhere to be found. Sultai Snow doesn't always run Inquisition of Kozilek or Thoughseize maindeck, and is a small part of the metagame anyway. I suspect Snow decks being mainly 2-for-1's is a significant factor, as is Inquisition being bad against Eldrazi. Plus, Veil of Summer, anyone? Now is the time to break out decks that are weak to discard.
Part of that has been on me. I play sloppier online than in paper. I'm not sure why, though the anonymity plays a part. In paper, if I mess up, I'll hear about it for weeks. Online, nobody knows you, so it's easy to just move on. I'm also doing nothing else when playing paper, and so focus more. I got a lot of other stuff distracting me on my computer. I've also had a run of terrible luck. Lots and lots of flood-outs and runs of terrible-but-fringe matchup after terrible-but-fringe matchup. Culminating in a League where I hit five Soul Sisters decks, flooded to death in each, and they hit multiple Path to Exile every game.
The data is from the two full weeks since the 
shouldn't be surprising. It's been putting in strong online showings for a long time, though that 
As for the overall metagame, it is far too soon to tell. Again, it's obvious just by looking at the standings that the metagame is far out of equilibrium and is trying to sort itself out. The only clear trends so far are GBx and Prowess disappearing: I have exactly one Jund deck in either sample.
Oh boy, was I ever wrong here. I thought that Obosh Ponza would just keep on keeping on. Instead, only one deck kept the companion. I don't need to guess; I know why I was wrong. I thought the only card lost to Obosh was Chandra, Torch of Defiance, and that's not too burdensome. I forgot that Ponza ran Bloodbraid Elf before companions. Elf's a 
In "
Unlike Stage 1 creatures, which are happy to trade at parity with removal, Stage 2 threats ask too much investment to incentivize such an exchange. As such, all of Modern's played Stage 2 beaters have built-in ways to sidestep Modern's most centralizing removal spell, if not card: Lightning Bolt.
feel like keeping a land untapped, they can threaten to "counter" the instant by simply casting a cantrip, hurling opponents into a mind game: do they risk losing their Bolt for a shot at killing Entity before its controller draws more instants? Or hold out for a tap-down moment? And as for those, "free" spells like Gut Shot can buff Entity even without mana available.
Even ignoring removal, 3/3 is not great stats for a Stage 2 creature. And while Entity can play defense in a pinch, needing to throw spells around every enemy combat step to have more than a Wild Nacatl to work with isn't exactly reliable. Rather, Entity shines on offense, where it clocks better than most Stage 2 creatures.
Also contributing to Entity's offensive standing is its evergreen keyword. Currently, Monastery Swiftspear, Soul-Scar Mage, and Bedlam Reveler are the prowess creatures played in Modern, and none of them have flying. But flying makes a world of difference! Those creatures are all played despite the fact that a chump block throws into question the string of spells cast before combat, requiring players to dip into Crash Through to make prowess worthwhile. That's not a great plan simply because it's not very reliable, but indeed, prowess and evasion are superb together. In essence, Entity comes pre-packaged with a Crash Through for every turn, as few blockers fly, and those that do are easily shot down with burn or other removal. When was the last time you saw a Lingering Souls?
More critically, players need to cast an instant or sorcery on their turn to cast Stormwing for 1U. On its face, that would make the creature cost a functional three mana, since Modern's cheapest instants and sorceries cost 1. But there are some free options to consider (RIP Gitaxian Probe). Best of all is Manamorphose, which replaces itself while happily popping out Stormwing on turn two. I think any deck running 3+ Stormwing will want a full set of these. Phyrexian mana spells can also work, but they're much more conditional; burning Gut Shot with no creature target is less-than-ideal, for instance, although shooting a mana dork and following up with Stormwing is the dream for sure.
Rest in Peace has long been a nightmare for Temur decks, which lean more graveyard-heavy than most aggro strategies thanks to a reliance on Tarmogoyf. And Goyf itself 
I went with green over black as a third color for a few reasons. First, 
But there's something to be said for how no-questions-asked Tarmogoyf is, plopping down on turn two pretty much no matter what and starting to apply pressure. Besides, not all decks play Fatal Push! I started with one copy, moved up to two, and recently trimmed the fourth Entity for Goyf #3. I'd finally felt like enough reps had been achieved that I didn't need to keep Entity at 4 for the sole purpose of grinding numbers with it, and I think the deck runs smoother with fewer birds; otherwise, they can clog in the early game, unlike Tarmogoyf.
Being able to rely on scry 2 triggers from Entity, as well as the filtering offered by all those cantrips, makes the deck apt at running surgical bullets. In the main, I limited these to a Vapor Snag and a Snapcaster Mage, but the sideboard is full of one-ofs with varying degrees of relevance depending on the situation.
The one Phyrexian spell that does make the mainboard is Mutagenic Growth. In a pinch, Growth can target an enemy creature (or our own Delver) to rush out Stormwing. But more often, the instant protects the Stormwing we tapped out for from Lightning Bolt. It does the same for a flipped Delver. In non-Bolt matchups, Bolt's not entirely dead, either; when growing a swinging Stormwing, it's Lava Spike, and can otherwise accelerate into Hooting Mandrills when we're trying to build a board against linear combo or help 
difference between getting a land drop and casting spells and an even greater one, 
you have an arbitrarily large number of Snoops.
Pestermite plus Splinter Twin equals an actual win. Counters combo consists of Druid plus Vizier of Remedies, but winning requires at least one more card. The combo just makes infinite mana.
Then there's the issue of the cards themselves. Boggart Harbinger is not a good card. If it was, it would have seen play before Goblin Matron was reprinted. Demonic Tutor is far more powerful than Vampiric Tutor for a reason. Harbinger's only advantage is the extra point of power and the combo. Twin is also not a very good card in a vacuum, but at least it has some unique utility with any creature rather than being a worse version of another card.
However, slightly-worse-Twin is not an indictment. When it comes together, it's phenomenal. And plugs a strategic hole in Goblins. Whether in Modern or Legacy, Goblins is strong against slow decks, but folds to combo. Goblins's clock is surprisingly slow and can only really race with multiple Goblin Piledrivers. Instead, Goblins grinds with Mogg War Marshall, Goblin Matron, and Goblin Ringleader. My 
As for the combo, Harbinger was as poor as previously described. And also worse because it was clogging up my hand a lot. Goblins is already a top-heavy deck, and Harbinger made it worse. Not just by also costing three, but by making the card flow worse. Since Matron tutors to hand, it is actually card advantage, and more importantly leaves the chance to draw something you need open. Harbinger isn't card advantage, just delayed selection, and dictates your draw step. This isn't inherently bad unless you need to find a string of cards to get back in the game. Harbinger can be actively harmful in those instances. And shaving a Ringleader to stop drawing all my Kiki-Jiki's was a huge mistake.
I stuck with Metallic Mimic for my persist combo piece rather play Grumgully, the Generous. Part of that was fitting the green proved tricky. Goblin decks are mana-hungry, and I was really straining the color balance and life total to make it happen. The primary reason was curve. Again, Goblins has a lot of three drops as is, and hands can get clogged when they're not just clunky. Even when I ran Vial, there were lots of hands that just didn't do anything because of all the threes. Grumgully is very good because it can be tutored, but until the curve problems get worked out, I'm staying away.
This was not a good deck. It didn't have enough interaction to shut down opposing decks, and the threats were too weak to push through. It had to combo to win most of the time, and that didn't happen consistently enough. The problem is that outside the tribal shell, Snoop is just a 2/2 that can combo. It's far too anemic to be a threat on its own, and the goblin density is too low to consistently hit anything in a typical game. Harbinger is in the same boat. Perhaps in a Grixis list with cantrips it could work, but I can't imagine that deck being better than Death's Shadow.
Here’s a quote from my last piece:
Yorion decks all play with tempo in some way: they tend to try delaying the game until they can cast and resolve Yorion, Sky Nomad and reap the value of blinking their cantripping permanents, not to mention the sudden board boost of a 4/5 flier. Then, they often continue using disruptive tactics to help their clock get there.
While Urza 
This 
Reclamation isn’t the only strategy that can make use of some land-ramping, and 
