MTG Staple Land Becomes Even Better in Post-Rotation Standard

Last updated on August 13, 2025

Soulstone Sanctuary – art by Daniel Ljunggren

Looks like Vivi Ornitier never runs out of tricks!

After quickly becoming one of the most popular commanders in the last couple of years (he sits at #64 at the time of writing, and still rising fast according to EDHREC), the Final Fantasy mage now terrorizes Magic's Standard format as the one of the cornerstones of the most powerful deck in that format, Izzet Cauldron. And, just like in Commander he pushed up the prices of a lot of bulk-bin cards that synergize with him, now he's doing something similar in Standard.

Agatha's Soul Cauldron has doubled in  price since June, although it has come down from its $81 peak in July. And now another soulful piece of Standard's best deck is shooting for the sky: Soulstone Sanctuary.

Soulstone Sanctuary's Price Spike

Vivi Ornitier  – Illustration by Toni Infante

Soulstone Sanctuary‘s price has been fairly flat all of this year, hovering at about $1.75. While it's been a solid colorless land since it was released in Foundations last year, nobody seems to have considered it would become more played in the current post-rotation Standard.

But Soulstone Sanctuary started seeing some upward pressure the moment Edge of Eternities landed on August 1st: It gained 50% in a week, going from about $2 to around $3 last Friday, and and then shot an extra 100% since then – all in all a 300% increase since two weeks ago. 

Source: MTGStocks

Soulstone Sanctuary doesn't see too much Commander play, and those commanders that do have a use for it don't include it all too often – which should tell you something since it's a colorless land that technically fits in any Commander color identity. But as we reported last week, the Standard rotation (which took away several dual lands) have opened the door for new lands to shine in this Magic format:

In this sense, Soulstone Sanctuary‘s case is a similar story to Starting town, the pair becoming the two most popular non-basic lands in Standard right now:

New Bulletproof Sheriff in Town

As you probably know if you follow Magic's financial news, Vivi Ornitier has pushed up the price of an endless number of long-forgotten, bulk-bin draft chaff that all of a sudden became playable thanks to him…

… but this is very much not the case here.

Standard players very quickly realized that Soulstone Sanctuary was a very solid Magic card: 

In the Pro Tour Final Fantasy at last Las Vegas, Ken Yukuhiro clinched the first spot with Red Deck Wins, again with 2x Soulstone Sanctuary among its lands.

Source: MTGTop8

Interestingly, Vivi's Izzet aggro version that makes up for the other half of the Top 8 didn't include any Soulstones back then. That was a very different build, though: It's the infamous Cori-Steel Cutter version, before it was banned (and before some of its duals rotated with Edge of Eternities).

Rotation didn't just prune away some lands, making room for the likes of Starting Town and Soulstone Sanctuary. It also took away a lot of black's removal suite, which swampy players by and large replaced with Shoot the Sheriff…

… which can't hit Outlaws – which is exactly what Soulstone is. All five of them, actually, since it's a bit of a Shapeshifter with all creature types!

What Will Happen With Soulstone Sanctuary's Price?

Divination – Illustration by Matt Stewart

Foundations is a fairly recent Magic set that WotC plans to keep legal (and keep reprinting) for at least four more years, so Soulstone Sanctuary won't be in low supply. Demand for it is real: The card has been good from day #1, as proved by its competitive pedigree.

On the other hand, and with the usual caveat that this is not investment advice, no deck seems to want four copies of Soulstone Sanctuary (unlike Starting Town. And if future Magic sets complete Edge of Eternities‘ shock lands, they may push out a land that only taps for colorless – as seen above, the first iterations of Izzet Prowess didn't have room for Soulstone Sanctuary.