Standard rotation happens once a year. This year it will occur on September 17, 2021, with the release of Innistrad: Midnight Hunt.
Four sets will be ushered out of the standard format. These are Throne of Eldraine, Theros: Beyond Death, Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths, and Core Set 2021. But there are tons of cards from these sets that will continue to see play in older formats.
The fluctuation caused by rotation often causes shifts for the secondary market prices of cards as well. This is because demand for these cards falls when they are no longer legal in one of Magic: The Gathering‘s biggest formats. This is often a good time to pick up these cards. They can see all-time low prices, which in the long term, can rise again because of the supply scarcity caused by their removal of Wizard of the Coast‘s printing circulation. (With the exception of reprints.)
In this article, we will look at some of the best cards to buy from Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths when rotation hits.
The Triomes
Wizards of the Coast 
Wizards of the Coast 
Wizards of the Coast
Land types are great. As long as a card says “put a forest onto the battlefield’, and not “put a basic forest onto the battlefield”, there’s nothing in the rules that says you can’t put Zagoth Triome into play even though it adds two more types of mana.
The Triome land cycle works great with fetch lands like Misty Rainforest because together, you can easily “fix” your mana (ensuring that you have all the colors of mana that you need).
Triomes are perfect for 3, 4, and 5-color decks like Niv Mizzet in Pioneer or Domain decks in Modern. They are also great inclusions in 3-color Commander decks of their corresponding color identities. And we haven’t even mentioned their cycling abilities that can draw you a card in a pinch.
Shark Typhoon
Standard has been filled with flying sharks for a long time. This cycling enchantment saw play in loads of ramp and control strategies because of its versatility. It can draw you a card for two mana if you need it. You can make blockers and flying threats at instant speed. And you can hard-cast it for 6 mana to make all of your future noncreature spells come with a side of flying hammerheads or great whites.
But this enchantment isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. It will continue to see play in places like Pioneer and even Modern in decks like Azorius Control and the occasional Mono-Blue Tron.
Vivien, Monsters’ Advocate does so much. She makes tokens to protect herself. She works as a creature-centric impression of Future Sight. And she can tutor specific creatures to the battlefield with her -2 ability.
For all these reasons, Vivien has found her home in various Commander decklists. Decks like Animar, Soul of Elements, Volo, Guide to Monsters, Marwyin, the Nurturer, and many more. Any creature-dense Commander decks are going to love Vivien, Monsters’ Advocate in their 99. That’s why she will be a key pick-up come rotation.
Yorion, Sky Nomad
The Companion mechanic was a controversial one. So much so that it required an errata on Wizard of the Coast’s behalf only months after Ikoria: Lair of Behemoth‘s release. Now all ten of the companions require an additional cost of three generic mana to add from your sideboard to your hand at sorcery speed. Nevertheless, they continue to see play and a lot of it.
Yorion’s deck-building restriction didn’t prove to be too difficult to satisfy. Actually, some decks have always wanted access to more than 60 cards. In those cases, Yorion is the perfect companion.
The Sky Nomad sees play in various Death & Taxes strategies and Niv to Light decks in Modern. It’s also a worthy inclusion in blink-heavy Commander decks like Brago, King Eternal.
Lurrus of the Dream Den
Lurrus is arguable the best of the companions. It sees some play in just about every format it is legal in. It turns out, having efficient, low-costed curves makes for great decks. People will sometimes splash white or black into their deck just to have access to Lurrus.
This cat nightmare is played in Pioneer decks like aura-focused decks with Sram, Senior Artificer, and burn decks. Modern also utilizes Lurrus whenever it can, currently exploiting it in decks like Hammer Time, Jund, and Rakdos Midrange.
