⚡ SparkMTG — Star Trek Commander Decks Delayed, Agatha of the Vile Cauldron Spikes and the 2026 Salt Scores
Week of October 12 to 18, 2026
Wizards spent October 16 announcing that the Star Trek Commander decks will be late in North America, then published the preview schedule for the cards inside them. On the singles side, Agatha of the Vile Cauldron went from $1.10 to $13.19 because a Reality Fracture sphinx turned her into a combo piece, and EDHREC's 2026 Salt Score vote put Stasis back on top.
In This Issue
Previous Editions
🗞️ Top Stories
Star Trek Commander decks are delayed in North America and may miss the November 13 release
Wizards said on October 16 that production and shipping issues will make select Magic: The Gathering | Star Trek products arrive later than expected, with delays that vary by region. Play Boosters and Prerelease Packs are on track for Prerelease on November 6 and tabletop release on November 13. Everything else depends on where you live:
North America: Commander decks, which may arrive after the tabletop release date.
Europe, the Middle East and Africa: English, French and German Collector Boosters, Commander decks in every language, Collector's Edition Commander decks, Draft Night, Scene Boxes and Beam Me Up Bundles.
Asia-Pacific: Collector Boosters, Omega Collector Boosters, Bundles, Beam Me Up Bundles and Draft Night, plus Scene Boxes in New Zealand.
Wizards calls the delays fluid and says to check with your local game store for availability. MTG Rocks notes that delays have hit every 2026 release so far and points at the delayed Marvel Super Heroes Jumpstart cards, which spiked well above reasonable values earlier this year. If you are still deciding between the four decks, our guide to all four Star Trek Commander decks covers colors, commanders and the $74.99 price.
Star Trek previews start October 20, and the four Commander decks get one day each from October 26
Magic: The Gathering | Star Trek debuts on October 20 on the official Magic YouTube channel and twitch.tv/magic, followed by the WeeklyMTG aftershow, with outlet and creator previews running through October 29. Wizards will update the card image gallery every weekday morning with the previous day's cards, and the complete gallery goes up October 30. The Commander decks are previewed in this order: We Are the Borg on October 26 with Commander At Home, Federation Fleet on October 27 with LoadingReadyRun, Klingon Fury on October 28 with Anna Margaret, and Landing Party on October 29 with GLHF.
Wizards of the Coast will not voluntarily recognize the D&D and Studio X union
Wizards of the Coast does not intend to voluntarily recognize the D&D and Studio X teams' effort to join the United Wizards of the Coast Union, according to a statement on the union's X account on October 14 that a WotC spokesperson confirmed to Wargamer. Wargamer's headline has Wizards saying it is "not neutral" on the question. The matter now goes to the National Labor Relations Board for a secret ballot in which staff vote on whether to adopt the union. That closes out the one-week recognition deadline we covered in our Darkhold Destiny Commander precons issue.
The October 12 ban update only touched Competitive Brawl, and nine cards moved to banned as commander only
MTGGoldfish reports no changes across the major formats in the October 12 Banned and Restricted announcement, so Modern, the format most named in last week's predictions, was left alone. In Competitive Brawl, Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow, Spider-Man 2099 and Light-Paws, Emperor's Voice are now banned as commanders. Nine previously banned cards, including Oko, Thief of Crowns, Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer and Wrenn and Six, are now only banned as a commander, and Nashi, Illusion Gadgeteer was rebalanced.
Marvel's History of Heroes is a $199.99 Countdown Kit with two Darkhold Destiny cards inside
Wizards announced Secret Lair Countdown Kit: Marvel's History of Heroes on October 16, launching November 2, 2026, only on MagicSecretLair.com. Each kit holds 30 individually packaged cards that each represent an era or moment from Marvel history, and any of them can show up non-foil, foil or surge foil. Two are new: Doctor Strange, Master of Magic and Beta Ray Bill are uncommons from Marvel: Darkhold Destiny, legal in all formats from that set's Prerelease on April 2, 2027. The reprints include Fierce Guardianship, Lightning Bolt, Opposition Agent and Snuff Out, and MTG Rocks tallies the reprint value at $248. MTG Rocks is not sold on the two new cards and calls the Doctor Strange card probably just a collectible. The rest of the year's drops are in our Secret Lair schedule and prices guide.
🧙 Commander Corner
Stasis is the saltiest card in Commander again, and Armageddon climbed five spots to second
EDHREC's 2026 Salt Score drew 2.2 million votes over five days, the highest total in three years, and Stasis holds the top spot at 3.05. Armageddon jumped from seventh to second at 2.98, Winter Orb slipped to third, and Ravages of War climbed eleven spots into tenth. Vivi Ornitier fell from third to eighth, which hands the saltiest commander title to Tergrid, God of Fright at 2.81. EDHREC ranks by average saltiness rather than raw votes, so a card a passionate few despise can beat one that annoys everyone a little. Mass land destruction had a good year, if good is the word. If you run any of these and want a quieter table, our budget swaps for Commander's saltiest cards has a cheaper, lower-salt option for each.
Older commanders do not fit the brackets cleanly because the brackets were built during power creep
Card Kingdom argues that the Commander Brackets Beta, coming up on two years old, was designed during a period of rapid speed and power creep, and that popular older commanders do not slot into it neatly. Earlier versions described Bracket 2 as roughly equivalent to a modern precon and walked that language back because precons kept getting stronger. The writer traces the biggest jump to Commander 2016, which added Partners, Atraxa and Breya, then the Eminence commanders a year later, and suggests a rough power level may describe an older commander better than a bracket number. A fair point for any pod that has argued about where an old favorite belongs.
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💰 Market Watch
Agatha of the Vile Cauldron is up about 1,100% because Aerid Konstrari turns her into an infinite combo
Agatha of the Vile Cauldron sat at $1.10 over the summer and now trades at $13.19 on the MTGGoldfish tracker, Wargamer reports. The Wilds of Eldraine card discounts creatures' activated abilities by her power, and under the new Reality Fracture sphinx Aerid Konstrari, whose ability only needs generic mana, five power makes Aerid infinitely large with infinite tapped Heartwood tokens, while six power makes the ability free and adds infinite mana. Wargamer counts her in 2,700 of the 4,500 Konstrari decks logged on EDHREC. Nearly all of that demand comes from one new commander, which is the risk if Konstrari falls out of favor.
Uthros Research Craft more than doubled because three Reality Fracture artifact commanders want it
Uthros Research Craft moved from around $1.26 for a near-mint non-foil on TCGplayer to listings that now start at $3, MTG Rocks reports. The Edge of Eternities precon card is landing in new Vraska, Soul of Stone decks (1,450 of them), plus Karn, Gilded Guardian (500) and Saheeli, Jewel of Avishkar (220), on top of the more than 97,000 EDHREC decks it was already in. Supply is not thin yet: 57 near-mint listings still offer over 550 copies, and the extended-art version has 175 listings at around $3. MTG Rocks flags the Star Trek precon previews on October 26 to 29 as the swing factor, since new Spacecraft support pushes it up and a reprint keeps it down.
Wilds of Eldraine booster boxes hit an all-time high of $320 because the print run is ending
Draftsim reports Wilds of Eldraine draft booster boxes going for $320 or higher on TCGplayer, up from about $180 this time last year, as the 2023 set falls out of print. The Enchanting Tales bonus sheet carries much of the value, led by the anime-art Smothering Tithe at $204.34 and the anime-art Rhystic Study at $160.80. Draftsim expects prices to hold unless the set gets another print run, which it calls pretty unlikely but not impossible. Scarcity is doing most of the work here, which is also the risk.
🎙️ Lore & Culture
Duality Distorted has Mark Poole's Counterspell wizard finally casting Pyroblast
Wizards showed off Secret Lair: Duality Distorted on October 13 with very little ceremony. Four artists behind famous cards redrew their own pieces as different cards: Mark Poole's Alpha Counterspell becomes Pyroblast, Sandra Everingham's Dark Ritual becomes Desperate Ritual, DiTerlizzi's Mercadian Masques Brainstorm becomes Thoughtseize, and Tribute to the World Tree is paired with Phil Foglio's Presence of the Master, though Wargamer notes it is not really a mirror of it. Wargamer calls it perhaps the best Secret Lair of 2026, prices all four cards above $5 for about $35 in total, and warns it is a Chaos Vault product that can go live suddenly.
Drive to Work #1390 asks whether Magic will run out of design space
Mark Rosewater takes a question he says he is often asked, whether Magic will run out of design space, and spends the episode answering it.
🎁 Win a Star Trek Precon
If someone in your playgroup should be reading this, send them your personal referral link. Every friend who subscribes through it adds an entry to your name, up to 3.
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+1 entry for taking the 3-minute reader survey, How do you play Magic?
Max 5 entries per person
Entries close November 13, 2026 at 11:59 PM ET, and the winner is drawn November 14. You need to still be subscribed when entries close, and a referred friend counts only if they are still subscribed then too. US only, 18+, no purchase necessary. Read the full giveaway rules.
👋 New Here? Start With These
If you joined SparkMTG recently, welcome. These three guides are the best place to start, covering precon upgrades, the release calendar and what is in a Hobbit box.
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That’s the week.
— The SparkMTG Team
SparkMTG is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Wizards of the Coast Fan Content Policy. Not approved or endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. Magic: The Gathering is the property of Wizards of the Coast LLC.