A strange and eventful week in the world of finance. Where you'd expect tons of cards to spike due to new brews, we mainly see a new hausse of reserved list cards being bought out. And also non-reserved list cards that happen to be MTG classics.
Like every week, just in time for (digital) FNM, I'll now tell you about the cards that will be the talk of the (digital) town tonight!
See something interesting in the world of card prices?
Be sure to pitch me a tweet: @MTGPeter
This week's number one winner is a unique and interesting one. Not because there is some new tech around, new brews or other rational reasons a card could spike. Bad Moon is at the top of our list because of something completely different. A new trend: buyouts of old, classic cards from Revised. We've covered this two weeks ago already, but the trend continues.
Apparently, some speculators or investors are moving past the reserved list and have started to buy out cards that are old, well known and from sets that don't have a huge print run. Under normal circumstances a Bad Moon from Revised has no business being at a $25 price level. It has been reprinted many times, it does not see play in any format outside casual. A fair price would be between $1.50 and $2.50. Not ten times higher!
Up until now, the big cutoff between real old and low-supply sets was "ABU"; Alpha, Beta, Unlimited. Cards from those sets have been quite expensive for a long time now. Over the past years, we've had to add The Dark and Arabian Nights to that list. And it seems the goalposts are moving again.
And it might not stop there. If you check out our interests list today, you'll see what I'm talking about. Reserved list cards from Fallen Empires and Homelands are spiking. And I'm not talking about cards that see any play, or have any real value whatsoever. Ever heard of Leeches or Implements of Sacrifice. These cards have spiked to $27.42 and $3.50 this week. And we have plenty of evidence that reserved list cards from certain sets are bought out first, and after that the non-reserved list cards will follow.
We've seen this happening with cards from Arabian Nights. First the reserved list cards, and this week we see cards like Bird Maiden [Version 2] and Nafs Asp (Light) in our interests lists. No way to be sure, but it seems that cards from Revised are moving in that direction, starting with interesting rares like Bad Moon.
If things continue in this pace, Homelands might be a very expensive set to buy cards from. Which would be crazy, since it is a set notorious for being complex, dull and underpowered. Things might change. Time will tell. But don't say I did not warn you.
Another continuing trend is one connected to Tergrid, God of Fright. That new, hottest commander on the block keeps impacting the magic market. And our #2 spike this week is quite powerful with that commander in play. Death Cloud is especially good in multiplayer games, as it reads "each player". The can prove quite steep in the beginning of the game, but in mid to late game it can be an absolute bomb. If you manage to get your hands on Cabal Coffers you can sink a big amount of mana into your commander's ability. And even when you are able to squeeze out 'just' six mana, if you play against three opponents, you'll gain up to 27 permanents, but remember: you'll lose up to 9 yourself!
This is a spike I did not expect to happen! But it did, and even made it into the weekly winners. With the release of Kaldheim we have another set that features elves. And one of those is Rhys the Exiled. Reprinted as a Kaldheim commander, the legend from Morningtide sees a reboot. Normally when a card is reprinted, its value drops. There is new supply and without a change in demand, its price will drop. But with Rhys the Exiled the opposite happened. It spiked and it is now at almost $18.
Rhys the Exiled is not a new commander. And Elvish Champion is not new either. If you wanted to play these two together in a EDH deck, you could have done this years ago. But apparently, the reprint in Kaldheim was good marketing for this card. And what works well in every tribal deck? Right: a 'lord'. And Elvish Champion is a decent one. A 2/2 body for and also grants forestwalk. That won't be good in every matchup, but a nice addition.
But is it $17.90 good? No. And Elvish Champion has no business being at that price level. Consider the fact that it was printed in a total of five sets. A telltale sign of an overpriced card is when it is more expensive than its original printing, while having the same art. And that is the case with Elvish Champion. Expect it to fall in price soon. But it might move the price of the other printings a bit as well.
Cheap Pickups
Please note: for our 'record low' we consider the price of the card over the past 7 years. Many cards have been even cheaper (a) decade(s) ago. Also note: some cards are still going down, and might be even cheaper pickups next week.
Scroll Rack $57.62 - Post spike fall; bottomed out
