One of the most revolting MTG cards ever printed, Sickening Shoal, is spiking in value. This card has been pretty pricey for a while, but the last few weeks have seen it soaring way up past the 60 dollar mark. This black instant spell cost $14 when Aetherdrift came out on February 14: now it’s worth $63.10.
Released in the MTG set Betrayers of Kamigawa in 2005, Sickening Shoal is a rather strange card. It’s an X-cost spell where you can plug in mana to give a creature -X/-X stats, perhaps killing it instantly or else helping you to win a combat. But, instead of paying Sickening Shoal’s cost normally, you can also exile a black card from your hand, and use its cost as X.
Up to now, Sickening Shoal has been pretty mediocre, most notable for its artwork of giant vomiting goldfish. But this price spike just goes to show: if there’s some way a Magic card can be played for free, it doesn’t matter how bad it is, eventually it will leap up in price.
What’s caused this card’s rapid rise? Well it seems to be seeing some play on the sideboard in Vintage Dredge decks, but a more likely cause is Modern. Like another card, Soul Spike, that spiked not so very long ago, Sickening Shoal is seeing play in Necrodominance decks.
An impactful card from Modern Horizons 3, Necrodominance lets you exchange life for cards, completely changing the calculation about how valuable a card is, and making free spells that require you to pitch another card a lot more playable.
Right now, Sickening Shoal is seeing play in a new Necro deck that runs Ketramose, The New Dawn. Turns out this card advantage creature is not just popular as an MTG commander – it’s been run in loads of top Modern midrange builds over the past fortnight.
In the Necrodominance deck, Ketramose is fantastic. Because Necrodominance exiles any card that would go to the graveyard, it causes every single one of your spells to cantrip. This makes it even easier to use spells like Sickening Shoal, as you won’t necessarily need to use Necrodominance to reload.
It’s also worth noting that Sickening Shoal is a neat potential removal option when facing off against an opponent’s copy of Ketramose, as it bypasses the creature’s indestructibility.
For more Magic: The Gathering news, you can check out our MTG release schedule guide to see the latest on upcoming sets like Tarkir Dragonstorm or MTG Final Fantasy. You might also appreciate this guide to the best MTG Arena decks.
Source: Wargamer
