Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen no end of price spikes thanks to Standard. While this trend may be coming to an end thanks to new bans, it’s still true for now. Given the renewed interest that Standard has received from Wizards, it’s little wonder these price spikes have happened.
Looking ahead to 2025, it’s clear why many MTG players are interested in Standard right now. Not only are six Standard-legal sets releasing next year, but there are three Regional Championship Qualifier seasons too. If you’re interested in competitive play, it can quite literally pay to be paying attention to Standard right now.
With all the hubbub about Standard in mind, it’s little wonder that staples new and old are increasing in price. Soulstone Sanctuary is the latest in a long line of Standard-focused price spikes. Depending on where you look, this card has spiked upwards of 350%. Thankfully, for the budget-conscious player, not every version of this card has spiked so hard.
Soulstone Sanctuary
- Rarity: Rare
- Card Type: Land
- Card Text: Tap: Add {C}.
{4}: This land becomes a 3/3 creature with vigilance and all creature types. It’s still a land.
At first glance, Soulstone Sanctuary might just seem like a pretty decent man land in Standard. At worst, this funky stone can tap for colorless, so it can still pull its weight even if you never activate its ability. Should you have four mana to spare, however, then this card, quite literally, comes alive.
Unlike most other man lands in MTG, you only have to activate Soulstone Sanctuary once. Once it becomes a creature, it’ll stay that way for the rest of the game, or until it’s removed. This alone would make it a useful threat in control decks as it can hang back until after a board wipe.
Even if it’s more susceptible to removal than Restless Anchorage, only having to pay once is a godsend. After all, this frees you up to spend your mana on more useful spells in future turns. While this is already effective enough for some decks, Soulstone Sanctuary has a typal trick up its sleeves.
Thanks to having all creature types, Soulstone Sanctuary is a welcome extra option for any typal-focused deck. Dimir Demons, for instance, makes great use of this land since it’s a free extra demon in a pinch. Unsurprisingly, this aspect also makes Soulstone Sanctuary a godsend in Commander.
Admittedly, Soulstone Sanctuary isn’t the most popular new Commander card from MTG Foundations, but it’s nonetheless great. Typal synergies can quickly get out of hand, so having another body to go wide or tall with is always useful. Provided your mana base isn’t already needlessly complex, there’s little reason not to squeeze in this conditional creature.
The Spike
Over the past month, the price of Soulstone Sanctuary has steadily been on the up and up. Given what we’ve seen with how other Standard staples have spiked in price, this is to be expected somewhat. Continued demand causes a steady increase in price, with huge spikes occurring as supply dwindles.
The peak spike for Soulstone Sanctuary occurred earlier in December, around the 11th. Here, it’s likely that low supply for the card pushed prices to the extreme, reaching a peak price of $2.50. Since then, prices have fallen somewhat, as new supply has filled the market to try and capitalize on the increased prices.
Currently, you can easily pick up a copy of Soulstone Sanctuary for around the $2 mark. This is a fairly significant spike considering in late November the card was only worth $0.55. As you can see on the graph above, the price has tended to fluctuate heavily, but it’s nonetheless been on the up and up.
Notably, the normal black-border variant of Soulstone Sanctuary isn’t the only version increasing in price. The striking Borderless variant, for instance, has also seen a significant spike recently. Similarly, in mid-November, this card was only worth $1.17, but now it’s selling for about $4.37. This is another 270% price spike over just one month.
For better or worse, not every variant of Soulstone Sanctuary has spiked so far in the past month. The Extended Art variant is currently only selling for around $1.55, making it the cheapest of the lot. Climbing from a floor of $0.56, this variant has only spiked by 176%.
The Future
Thanks to being part of MTG Foundations, Soulstone Sanctuary is going to be hanging around in Standard for a long while. At a minimum, this card will be Standard legal until 2029, and it could live on after that. With this in mind, there’s plenty of time for Soulstone Sanctuary to financially pop off thanks to new strategies and surging demand.
Even if a new dominant typal deck doesn’t appear in Standard, Soulstone Sanctuary still has legs. In Commander, this card is bound to see a fair bit of play which should moderate the supply that’s available on the market. When it comes to supply, the only question is print volume.
Should MTG Foundations be printed time and time again, Soulstone Sanctuary may struggle to ever become really expensive. Given that MTG Foundations has such a long lifespan, it’s hard to imagine a world in which this doesn’t happen. As a result, Soulstone Sanctuary may never be worth more than a few dollars.
Ultimately, we’re just going to have to see which way Soulstone Sanctuary ends up going. Should typal strategies come to define Standard’s new era, then this card could become a true omnipresent staple.
