The set officially releases today, after being available to draft online, and while you’d think that preorders would have trended downwards, some specific cards have gone kind of haywire. Let’s take a look at what cards have gone up and what’s gone down, and perhaps see where things are going to go.

Generally speaking, preorders are a sign of overeager behavior. There’s no huge tournament coming up that people need cards immediately to have the new hotness, and it’s impossible to buy up available supply as a speculator for a card that’s about to have millions of packs unleashed on the world.

So when preorder prices go crazy, that means people have gone crazy with anticipation, demanding it RIGHT NOW! They don’t care that the prices are going to come down soon. I respect the need to have a new sweet card in a deck, and I don’t judge folks for overpaying for premium versions early. Heaven knows I’ve done stuff like buy a foil borderless Tiamat for $50 early on (currently $20) and done worse for the cards I need to have for a new deck.

Let’s start out with the big one.

Beseech the Mirror was under $30, and shot up to sell some copies at nearly $70, and is back down to the $35 range as of the night before release. There’s no question of the card’s power, the combos are quite prevalent and all of them worthwhile. 

I fully expect to see this go back under $30, maybe as low as $20, but long-term, this is clearly a powerhouse and is only going to get better with new cards being printed at four mana or less. We’ve seen a lot of variations on tutors, and this is very very good. Clearly Wizards’ testers thought it was very good, with the card ending up having a very restrictive mana cost.

Agatha’s Soul Cauldron went from above $30 to $14 and is now at $20, where I expect it to slowly decline. Again, there are many combos and they are all wacky and fun and mean you win after ten minutes of explanations to the rest of the table and two judge calls.

It’s got Commander applications, not just for combos but also for exiling things from graveyards and adding counters to your stuff. If you build around the card, there’s a whole lot you can do, much like a fun Experiment Kraj deck with infinite damage. I have a hard time imagining that this will hold a price thanks to inherent demand. This will probably be a flash in the pan, and slowly lose value till it’s pushing against $5 for regular copies.

Stroke of Midnight is about to make you some money. If you crack a promo foil soon, sell it ASAP, as there’s a lot out there. Later on, we’ll come back and add a lot of these to our carts and make another tidy profit.

I don’t think there’s money to be made on the regular versions as yet. On TCGPlayer, they are already around $2 with shipping, and this is about to get opened a whole lot. If they were in the 50¢ range, I might think about it, but at $2 each I’d need to be selling at $4 to make a worthwhile profit. Pass for now. It’s also definitely going to be in a Secret Lair soon–Beast Within has had several special printings, and this is just as good.

Another uncommon that’s on the rise, I’ll be interested to see where this lands. We’ve had another card very similar in what it does, and it hasn’t really moved, even for the premium version. Garruk’s Uprising does the same thing but focuses on power, not mana cost, but also gives trample, which every green creature wants.

Uprising is also getting a version in the Enchanting Tales, and that’s probably the last straw for the financial value. It’s a card that sells well, had a neat Showcase version, but there were just so many copies that the value never really had a chance to go up. 

Up the Beanstalk does not have a premium version, just the pack foil. As a new card, it’s going to be a thing that casual players vacuum up left and right, because it’s just about their dream card. Play huge creatures and cantrip every time, even if the spell is countered? I can see the appeal. It’s not even creatures only, it’s any spell!

I will be looking to buy a lot of foil copies in about 3-6 months. If we were still in lockdown, and only big stores were opening product to sell, this card would be a target now. As it stands, because we’re drafting and having conventions, I’m expecting a lot of this to go into storage.

Finally, let’s talk about Questing Druid. We know that this has potential, especially with multiples allowing for the adventure to do a lot of work. This got down near a quarter and is trending back up near a dollar, likely because deckbuilders recognize how fast this can grow if in the right deck. I’ve seen Pioneer players trying to figure out how to cast a green spell in the Pia Nalaar decks, and that seems like a fantastic set of interactions too.

As a mere rare, and not even one of the creaturelands, this would need incredible adoption levels across many formats to hit $10. We’re talking Ledger Shredder/Fable of the Mirror-Breaker popularity, and I don’t think this will get there.

However, in the absence of control decks who can wipe the board easily, I can see a world where this climbs to the $5 range because a cast on two can easily mean attacking for three on three, with a one-mana trick held up just in case. Watch out.

Cliff (@WordOfCommander) has been writing for MTGPrice since 2013, and is an eager Commander player, Draft enthusiast, and Cube fanatic. A high school science teacher by day, he’s also the official substitute teacher of the MTG Fast Finance podcast. If you’re ever at a GP and you see a giant flashing ‘CUBE DRAFT’ sign, go over, say hi, and be ready to draft.