One of the big things about Magic speculation and finance in the modern era is that we have more avenues for reprints than ever. Special Guests, Secret Lairs, bonus sheets, it all adds up so very fast!
So today, I’m going to show my research about this topic, and attempt to answer the question: Does a new special version of a card damage the price of other versions of the card? Buckle up!
Let’s talk about specifics for what I mean. Specifically, the Dragonscale fetchlands, some cards that manage to combine being mega-staples across Constructed, Cube, and Casual formats, low drop rate, thematic importance, and gorgeous art. (that last part is important, we’re going to get back to that!) What will happen to other versions of the card, though?
Right now, let’s talk about Misty Rainforest. Right now, the Dragonscale is about $300 on TCG, and rising. The pattern it’s following tracks with my expectations, that I wrote about three weeks ago. Let’s look at the prices for the other versions right now. The FEA from MH2 hasn’t moved from the $35 range, and the foil retro frame hasn’t gone up or down yet either from its $30 (!) price. There’s two other premium versions, since the pack foil can be had for under $60, and that’s a revelation in and of itself.
Misty’s had two Expedition printings, and both of them have been on a downward trend for the last year. The most expensive is the Battle for Zendikar Expedition, followed by the Zendikar Rising set. Here’s the look and the one-year graph for the BFZ version:
I expect this trend to continue, but that trend was in place because MH2 has put an absolute boatload of fetches into circulation. Those prices have come down and stayed down because of the amount that have been printed, and that’s an important data point. However, there’s other examples I want to look at today.
One card I want to start with in this research is Arcane Signet. There are 68 different printings, and remarkably few look the same. It’s got seventeen versions listed at $10+ and several more in close range of that figure. Some are rare by virtue of what they were in, perhaps an underprinted Secret Lair, like the Galaxy Staples. Perhaps it was an inclusion in the Marvel buys, and was going for more than $50 before settling down to $20. I don’t think it’s a perfect example because all of the art is so unique and the printing has been in vastly different quantities, but I do want to show the graph for the Rovina Cai version:
Again, very unique and I think that’s why it has resisted falling in price as more and more SLs were printed. Heck, the same time in Fallout packs gave us a super-rare Pip-Boy Arcane Signet that shot up to $60 and has stayed high. I think the art/frame/theme plays a big part in the card. Let’s find a card with multiple borderless printings, but similar art. These Signets are too different.
Kaalia of the Vast was a card I built around when she came out in 2011 and she’s had more than one special printing. Specifically, there were borderless foils in Double Masters (2020), then another in Modern Horizons 3 (2024), followed by the Secret Lair version we just got a couple of weeks ago.
Let’s take a look at the prices for the premium 2XM version when the MH3 was released:
That’s pretty damning. Once the card was reprinted with special borderless art but the same general look, the decline began. We’ll have to see if the new Tragic Romance version and the MH3 version cannibalize each other, as they are both around $100 at the moment. The art is pretty different, though. It’ll be an interesting case to follow.
Kaalia is a commander, almost never an inclusion in the 99, and being Modern-legal has meant nothing, she hasn’t been featured in any Modern decks of relevance. So the price change is all based on people wanting the new borderless instead of the old. The market for her isn’t as strong as it is for Misty, but there’s also been a whole lot less copies of Kaalia printed compared to copies of Misty.
How about a card with a special version, and a recent reprint with a special character? Flawless Maneuver has impeccable use, being in 270,000 EDHREC decks. There was one borderless version, and then Marvel dropped a second one. Let’s start with the first:
And then the Captain America example:
The Marvel drop was in November of 2024, and we sure enough saw a little dip in the price. However, it quickly recovered and is still the more expensive version. I suspect this is due to supply, because a lot of Marvel has been dumped into circulation as the hype rocketed upwards. We’ll see what happens this summer when we get Spider-Man and more cool hero stuff. For today, though, I want to note that if the demand is there, the art is different enough, the card recovers.
And that’s the pattern I want to highlight. Let me go through a couple more side by side examples of different art making for a dip, and a smooth recovery.
Exquisite Blood:
The Ozolith:
Teferi’s Protection:
For each of these, we can see a little dip but a fast recovery and steady growth, the sign that the card is still being bought up. So I think that makes my case, and I’ll summarize: The art needs to be different enough, or the foiling, or the characters, something. If it’s different enough, the card will dip, and recover.
I think I’ve been thorough with my checking but if you’ve got examples you want to talk about, please reach out on social media or join the ProTrader Discord and talk it out with me!
Cliff (@WordOfCommander at Twitter and BlueSky) 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 co-host 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.
