Hey all! Another Friday’s rolled around, and that means it’s time for our weekly roundup of Cool Stuff We Bought This Week. This week is a twofer, as I’ll be showcasing some sweet pickups from the new set, as well as some Old School Jams from this week’s buylist haul.

Between pack opening, prerelease, and the first week of new standard, I’ve had the pleasure of spending a lot of quality time with the new set. I’m loving the new, yet familiar flavors that Guilds of Ravnica has to offer, and can’t wait to get the next five in! Let’s take a look at some of the new stuff.

Here we have a good showcase GRN’s hits, with cards like Assassin’s Trophy, Doom Whisperer, and Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice at the forefront of Standard for our opening weeks. I’m incredibly satisfied with the gameplay and state of flux the metagame is at right now, and I’m hoping that the wide variety of decks we’re seeing stick around for the next few months. More importantly, we have new Shocklands with sweet art, and the opportunity to pick up foils is starting to open up! The Autumn in Ravnica setting really sets the new editions off nicely, and I look forward to seeing the rest of the cycle get the same treatment. Who else is excited for a Hallowed Fountain completely full of fallen leaves? Actually, this scenario is pretty unlikely, given how tidy and orderly the Azorius tend to be… It’s been… one week since Guilds of Ravnica released, and now it’s time to look at all the new shinies… Anyway, here’s a look at a couple of the new shocks in foil!

Despite everyone latching on to the meme of ‘bUt iT hAs nO sTeaM oR VeNtS,’ I’m still in love with the new art. Although, it’s hard for me to hate any land that taps for Blue or Red, and you can never really go wrong with art featuring lightning in foil.

This Overgrown Tomb looks just fantastic in foil as well, with the green hues from dark to light really playing nicely with the deep shadows in the foreground.

Wrapping up, here’s my personal favorite of this small GRN showcase! Mnemonic Betrayal is such a unique card, and requires certain matchups and lines of play to really affect a game at all, but boy does it look stunning in foil! Clint Cearley really knocked it out of the park with this one. Now, onto the sweet Old School stuff.

Some absolutely insane cards found their way into the buylist office this week. I’ll start off with a neat little pile of Gaea’s Cradles. One of the key pieces of Elves in Legacy, and probably the best ramp land in any Green Commander deck, Gaea’s Cradle is definitely one of the most busted effects in all of Magic. All eight of these arrived in great condition at Near Mint.

It was a great week for Arabian Nights cards. These Juzam Djinns came through Heavily Played, but are still a huge treat to see. This is one of the best creatures you can play in Old School, weighing in at an efficient 2BB for a 5/5 Flyer. Much like Serendib Efreet, you’ll be taking 1 damage a turn for its services.

Another Old School staple is the game warping Library of Alexandria. In most of the games of 93/94 I’ve played, opening with Library and drawing just one or two cards can secure a victory. As much as I dislike Strip Mine unrestricted, it feels necessary for the format when your opponent can draw so many cards over the course of the game with an unchecked Library.

A well-known oddity of the set, this Basic Mountain always deserves mention. For those that don’t know, there are no other Basic Lands in the set aside from this one, which happens to be a mistake in printing. You’ll recognize this art from the A/B/U sets, as it was never intended to be in this print run. This will be the only graded one I’ve encountered so far, and definitely the cleanest. Scoring a 9 on BGS’ grading scale is no easy feat!

I’ve saved the best for last here with a couple of Alpha Cards. Serra Angel and Chaos Orb! Two well-loved cards from Magic’s first set came in this week, and it was so cool to get to see them. These both came in at Heavily Played, but make the cut for sleeve playable. I’ve heard whispers of a nifty format called 40 Card Alpha, and I’d bet these would make the cut in any deck that could play them.

That’s all I’ve got for you this week. Join me next week to see what comes in! You can follow me on Twitter or Instagram @chroberry to see some extra goodies from the week, as well as previews for next week’s article. Peace!