By: Travis Allen
@wizardbumpin
Don’t miss this week’s installment of the MTG Fast Finance podcast, an on-topic, no-nonsense tour through the week’s most important changes in the Magic economy.
This weekend was, as they say, a “big get.” Autumn Burchett took down the first Mythic Championship (despite player stat screens with claims they had won several in the past). As Magic’s first non-binary champion, this win means a lot of things to a lot of people, which was evident when Autumn was nearly bowled over as their friends rushed the stage within seconds of Ikawa extending the hand. Rarely, even at the top level of the game, is such emotion evident at the moment of major victory. That it was is a testament to the cultural significance of the moment for a group historically underrepresented. Victories like these – where the narrative matters more than the trophy – are lasting successes for not just the individual, but for the greater Magic community.
It was still Standard though, and other than Kaya maybe gaining a few bucks, it was mostly irrelevant as far as we’re concerned.
Requiem Angel (Foil)
Price Today: $1
Possible Price: $5
I’m a bit shocked I’m writing about Requiem Angel this week, if only because I would have expected expected the price on her to have already moved. Angel is seemingly the most popular card in Teysa lists, the current hottest commander. In a deck packed as densely as possible with cards that give you a sacrifice outlet, and that pay you for sacrificing, cards that generate bodies that you’re actually happy to have die are few and far between. Angel does a lot of work here, giving you a stream of tokens that feed the engine.
Dark Ascension is the only foil printing of Angel, and there’s only one other printing anyways, Commander 2014. You’ll find roughly the supply you’d expect for a card from this era with a single printing and low-ish previous demand; about 30 vendors with maybe twice as many copies. That isn’t a glut of supply, but on the other hand, these aren’t going to be gone in 12 hours.
At under $1 each, it’s hard to feel like you can go wrong here. With a reprint in a Commander product, there’s precedent for using that as the reprint venue, should they choose to again. That doesn’t rule out other ancillary product, like the upcoming Modern set. We can be relatively confident in our foils though, especially if she makes it through the Modern product unscathed. After that, it’s just a matter of letting Teysa’s popularity continue to strain the supply. Forty people picking up a foil Angel pushes this price into the several dollar range easily, at which point you can buylist your $1 copies for $4 store credit and move on to something new.
Yahenni, Undying Partisan (Foil)
Price Today: $4
Possible Price: $9
If I had to pick a card that was surprisingly popular, it would be Yahenni. Yahenni has found his way into just about 7,500 lists on EDHREC. That’s an awesomely impressive number for a card from Kaladesh. That’s roughly the 75th most popular black card in the format. For context, that’s right about where Rise of the Dark Realms and Puppeteer Clique land. If you’ve played much EDH, you know those two are across from you at the table regularly.
Yahenni, like Requiem Angel, has found new purpose in Teysa. As a sacrifice outlet, he gives you on-demand, free sacrifices. Just last week I talked about how useful that functionality is, so if you want to read it, take a gander at that article. Beyond that, he grows as your opponent’s threats die, which, depending on the board state, can be many triggers quickly. As far as cake icing goes, that sac outlet making him indestructible is certainly sweet. In the face of a typical sweeper, you can lift your entire board up, piece by piece, getting plenty of value along the way, and find yourself with a fat partisan on the other side of things.
Popularity has pulled Yahenni’s price up to about $4 already, and that’s ‘with Teysa demand still new. He’s far too new to see a reprint, and given the pace EDH players build decks, it will be some number of weeks or months before Teysa demand for singles wanes. That won’t hamper growth though, as he was clearly popular even before this commander. I’d be shocked if you couldn’t get $10 for a foil copy before the end of this year.
Sunbird’s Invocation
Price Today: $4.50
Possible Price: $9
I stumbled across Jodah, Archmage Eternal while doing some other research, and it turns out he’s been doing well lately. Over the last month he’s the seventh most popular commander, which is a strong position. It’s also just outside of the typical three or four spots we’re more likely to focus on. Anywhere in the top 10 or 15 of the month is still a lot of attention, as that extrapolates out to the entire EDH deck building community.
It’s easy to see why Invocation would be popular in Jodah. Jodah is all about casting massive spells for much cheaper than you should. Invocation pays you for the CMC of those spells, not what you paid, so playing ten mana spells means you’re likely to get a eight or nine mana spell for free right after. Getting 17 mana worth of spells for five total mana is awfully tempting. You can make up Sunbird’s entire mana cost in a single cast. Of course, it’s useful elsewhere too, but decks that let you cast big spells for less mana is where Invocation shines.
Browsing SCG, you’ll see Invocation is in roughly the same boat as Angel and Yahenni. Supply is in the same general range, and we’re not worried about a foil reprint anytime soon. Demand should be relatively consistent for awhile, given that Jodah isn’t a brand new commander, so attrition should pull a few copies out of the market a week. Again, like the other two, a few months should pull enough copies off the market that the last few cheap copies get snapped up, and we’re looking at a double digit foil price.
Travis Allen has been playing Magic: The Gathering since 1994, mostly in upstate New York. Ever since his first FNM he’s been trying to make playing Magic cheaper, and he first brought his perspective to MTGPrice in 2012. You can find his articles there weekly, as well as on the podcast MTG Fast Finance.