Last updated on September 19, 2025
The Wandering Minstrel – art by Thanh Tuan
After several years away, shocklands have returned to Magic's Standard format thanks to Edge of Eternities. The “Magic… in space!” MTG set reprinted five of the ten shocklands (dual lands like Stomping Ground that enter tapped unless you Shock yourself, hence their nickname), making them Standard-legal again for the first time since 2019.
And the reprint had a somewhat shocking effect: In spite of their increased demand, the five Standard-legal shocklands have crashed in price since Edge of Eternities landed.
Supply Versus Demand
Revel In Riches – Illustration by Eric Deschamps
Shocklands are among the best lands in Magic, and pretty much mandatory in every MTG format where they are legal. It's pretty obvious that reprinting any card will increase its supply and push prices down. But in this particular case, there's also increased demand from Standard decks that need a playset for their mana base to be competitive.
But the downward effect from EOE's reprint was pretty clear. Take the Gatecrash printing of Breeding Pool, which at the time of writing is one of the cheapest versions of this shockland:
Source: MTGStocks
Breeding Pool has been a 20-buck card for years, including a spike earlier this year. Yet since EOE released it has dropped, Breeding Pool gate-crashed well below $10.
The same is true if we look at Watery Grave‘s printing from Guilds of Ravnica: In spite of a small rebound in the last couple of weeks, it dropped from a cliff since Magic went to space:
Source: TCGplayer
Another way to see Edge of Eternities‘ impact is compare the cheapest version of each shockland: The cheapest top five are all from EOE:
Source: Scryfall
So we have a recent reprint pushing prices down given the additional supply – but why hasn't the increased demand kept prices stable?
Are Verge Lands Replacing Shocklands?
Riverpyre Verge – art by Titus Lunter
Short answer: No, not by a long shot.
Duskmourn‘s and Aetherdrift‘s verge lands have indeed become Standard staples, and included in every deck that can play them
But shocklands are still the cream of the crop. Dual-color decks that can play both play a full playset of each, but competitive tri-color decks like Temur Battlecrier play a full playset of shocklands while skipping a few verge lands:
Source: MTGTop8
In fact, shocklands make verge lands better, given that shocklands have basic land types and thus “turn on” the verge lands' ability.
So, long story short, the lack of demand is not because verge lands have stolen the shocklands' slots.
The picture is not so clear past that point, but it looks quite likely that the culprit is this year's usual suspect when it comes to market shenanigans.
Yeah: Looking at you, Vivi!
Vivi Ornitier's Fault… Again!?
Vivi Ornitier – Illustration by Toni Infante
Final Fantasy‘s Vivi Ornitier is a name you've heard a lot if you pay attention to the MTG card market: We've lost count of how many obscure, forgotten cards he's pulled from the bulk bin and turned into huge moneymakers in his lightning-fast ascension.
But he's also become a pretty obnoxious bully in Standard, to the point that last week Wizards of the Coast has labelled him as a problem and very likely candidate to get banned in November.
And Vivi Ornitier‘s Standard dominance is pretty clear when you look at the most-played lands in that format:
Source: MTGGoldfish
As it turns out, the most popular deck in Standard, Izzet Vivi Cauldron, didn't get its corresponding shockland printed.
On the other hand, though, Watery Grave comes in at #9 among the most played lands, and Dimir Aggro is about 1/7th of the metagame, yet the price has still crashed below $10.
In other words, it seems that the additional demand (from once again being Standard staples) was far outpaced by EOE's success, which even WotC didn't predict, and the additional supply has shocked prices down.
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