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Browse > Home / Strategy / Articles / Weekly Update (May 17): 7 Ikoria Combos for Commander

Weekly Update (May 17): 7 Ikoria Combos for Commander



Budget Magic: Zirda's Mantle (Modern)


Can Zirda, the Dawnwaker create a new Turn 3 combo deck in Modern on a $100 budget? Let's find out!Read more


Finance Update w/ Saffron Olive


Needle Specter Counterbalance Fiend Artisan

This week our biggest winner — Needle Specter — comes from the Commander tables. Much like Cephalid Constable which spiked a couple of weeks ago, Needle Specter has a devastating combat damage trigger making the player damaged discard cards equal to the amount of damage it deals. This makes it one of the better mutate targets in the Commander format. With something like Otrimi, the Ever-Playful or Brokkos, Apex of Forever mutated on a Needle Specter, you can potentially make an opponent discard their entire hand fairly early in the game. Combine this with the fact that Needle Specter only has a single printing from Eventidethe conditions are just right for the rare to shoot up from $3 to $12 almost overnight. While it should trend down a bit from its post-buyout peak, it should remain significantly more expensive than it was pre-Ikoria, at least until it gets reprinted.

Meanwhile in Modern, Counterbalance is on the rise (up from $9 to $20 in the past week) thanks to the return of Miracles style control to the format. Omen of the Sea and Omen of the Sun give the archetype cards that work well with the deck's companion Yorion, Sky Nomad, but also allow let you scry at instant speed to stack the right card on top of your deck for Counterbalance in response to a spell being cast. Toss in some Legacy play and consider that the infamously low supply Coldsnap is the only real printing of Counterbalance (there's also an Amonkhet Invocation), it doesn't take that many players buying a playset for the price to rise. 

Finally, Friday marked the official paper release of Ikoria, and the prices of the cards in the set are dropping fast. In just the past week the value of a complete set dropped 35% from $378 to $248. If you've been being patient through Ikoria's abnormally long presale period and waiting for prices to drop before picking up the cards you need, you might as well go ahead and get what you want. A complete set of Ikoria is already cheaper than a complete set of Theros: Beyond Death, so while individual card prices will probably bounce around a bit, as a whole the set doesn't have much further to drop. 


Is Companion the Worst Mechanic in the History of Magic?


Ikoria's companion mechanic is contentious  and has been hotly debated, but does it really rank among the worst mechanics in the entire history of Magic? Read more

Much Abrew: Kaheera Cats & Taxes (Modern)

Single Scoop: Vivien's Feral Forces

We all know that companions are broken, but are they broken enough to make Cat tribal playable in Modern? Let's take Kaheera, the Orphanguard out for a spin and find out! Read more

Vivien and her Cat Beast army are looking to get their beat down plan going as TheAsianAvenger tries to make a Vivien themed deck work in best of one! Read more

Collecting MTG Arena: Ikoria Edition

This Week in Legacy: The Wrath of Karn

With huge updates to Arena limited, it's time to dive in again and analyze the heck out of them! What's the best event for you? Read more

Joe Dyer dives into the effect that Karn, the Great Creator has had on Legacy and the decks that it has impacted. Read more


Against the Odds: Song of Creation (Modern)


What are the odds of winning (hopefully on Turn 3) with Song of Creation in Modern? Let's find out!Read more

Vintage 101: No Friends Required

Fish Five-0: Lurrus Control (Standard)

Joe Dyer investigates which decks don't need Companions and where those decks are in the Vintage metagame. Read more

We've seen Lurrus do lots of things in other formats but what about Lurrus and Grixis Control in standard? Well, TheAsianAvenger has got you covered as he takes his build of the deck out for a spin! Read more


Enhanced Evolution (Sultai Mutate) Commander 2020 Precon Upgrade | $20, $200 | Budget Commander


Tomer shows you how to tune Enhanced Evolution into a focused, powerful Mutate deck that fixes the precon's weaknesses while building upon its strengths!Read more

Brewer's Minute: Seven Ikoria Combos for Commander

Commander Clash S8 E4: Cosplay Week w/ Olivia Gobert-Hicks | Atraxa vs. Breya vs. Etrata vs. Marchesa

Ikoria is about to be released in paper, which means it's time to discuss what new combos the set enables in Magic's most popular paper format: Commander! Read more

The crew builds decks around Olivia's cosplays! Read more


Pioneer Peak: Abzan Jegantha Humans


Hop in, Jegantha and a bunch of Humans are looking to attack a Pioneer league!Read more

The Fish Tank: Sweet and Spicy User Decks (May 10-16, 2020)

Podcast 275: Historic Anthology and Design Philosophy

What interesting decks did viewers submit this week? Let's find out on the latest edition of The Fish Tank! Read more

The crew discusses new cards coming to Arena in Historic Anthology III and answers some of Mark Rosewater's questions about Magic design ... Read more


Instant Deck Techs


Each day we'll be posting a short, three minute deck tech featuring some of the coolest decks that come across the site. The most popular deck will be made into videos the following week based on your views, likes and comments in the videos. Here's this week's Instant Deck Techs:



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