MTG Saga rules change could raise Doubling Season prices significantly
Wizards of the Coast has announced significant rules changes for Magic: The Gathering that will take effect with the Secrets of Strixhaven set launching on April 24, 2026. The updates include the introduction of a new Book artifact type, which retroactively designates 44 cards throughout Magic’s history as Books.
More notably, the rules changes modify how Saga enchantments function in the game. The key alteration involves how lore counters are added to Sagas. Previously, the mechanism for adding these counters and allowing their controller to advance them were triggered abilities. Under the new rules, these will become intrinsic abilities—the same structural change recently applied to planeswalkers and battles.
This shift has significant implications for card prices and collector value. The Doubling Season enchantment, which creates additional counters on permanents, stands to benefit substantially from these rules changes. Because Sagas will now use intrinsic counter-adding mechanics rather than triggered abilities, the interaction between Doubling Season and Sagas is expected to become more efficient or advantageous, making Doubling Season considerably more desirable to players and collectors.
The change represents a standardization effort across Magic’s counter-based mechanics, making the game’s rules more consistent. However, for players and investors in the secondary card market, the rules modification is anticipated to drive up demand and prices for Doubling Season, a card that has long been a staple in Commander and other eternal formats.