I’ve written before about how my new rule is to wait around six months for a set to be out, in order for supply to hit maximum before I move in on cards. We’ve got some new factors to consider with this policy, but Dominaria United has reached this point, and it’s time for us to dig in and see what’s worth buying for long-term gains.
The big caveat here is the new three-year Standard. I am certain that there will be some form of Standard reprint set, but I’m not sure what form it will take. There’s four major options, based on previous products, or they could get us with something new:
- Multiverse Legends-style bonus sheet in a regular set
- Aftermath-style small packs
- Challenger decks with some number of reprints
- Secret Lair versions of popular Standard cards
Personally, I think Challenger decks are the most likely, but we’ll see.
Card discussions today are going to focus on the idea that these cards won’t rotate until the Fall set of 2025. They will have a long time to mature, and we’ll just have to see about bans and reprints.
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse (cheapest version is about $65, most expensive $110) – There’s a banned announcement coming on Monday, and frankly, I’m worried Sheoldred will be on that list. If you were paying attention in our ProTrader Discord, James identified this card way early as a grower, and he’s been nothing but right.
In a world with no bannings, no reprints, this would be crazy expensive in the next 18 months. Unfortunately, I have to imagine one of those things will happen to the card. Wait until the hammer drops, one way or the other, and be prepared to pick up potentially very profitable copies when they bottom out again.
Liliana of the Veil ($16 to $23 for DMU versions) – The main thing holding this card back is the presence of not just the original Innistrad copies, but Modern Masters 2017 and Ultimate Masters as well.
As we have seen, you can only reprint a card so many times before it doesn’t recover. There is a world in which LotV reasserts her place at the top of Modern and Pioneer, but the relatively low inclusion rate in Commander (15,000 decks on EDHREC) means that when she’s not good in the Eternal formats, her price is going to wither.
With originals at about $30 and a range of copies available between $16 and $25, I just can’t recommend picking this up as a spec…yet. If the DMU copies manage to sink below $10, I’ll think about this again because while I have a hard time seeing the world in which $20 copies become $40, I think it’s very reasonable to have sub-$10 copies climb to $20 or $25 before she’s printed again.
Shivan Devastator ($5 to $25) – I’ve never hidden my love for Dragons, and with The Ur-Dragon returning this summer in Commander Masters, every Dragon is on the radar. This Dragon Hydra is a simple, flexible card that is only in 10,000 decks online, but I suspect that more casual players opened this and popped it into any Red deck they wanted. Of note, I think the Game Day versions, which are full art, foil, and a mostly-not-there frame, are probably where I’d want to be, given that there’s less than 30 vendors with NM copies on TCGplayer and the biggest wall is five copies.
Jodah, the Unifier ($4 to $10) – Jodah is one of the top commanders since being printed, and it’s not hard to see why. Commanders that give value are usually popular, and this one offers a flexible, five color theme of ‘what are the best legends in Magic?’ The commander is usually not the most expensive part of the deck, unless you’re The Ur-Dragon and you haven’t gotten new copies in several years. In this case, though, with the theme being legends and legendary accessories, I’d be a believer in some of these textured foils around $10. Textured foils were slightly harder to pull than Showcase versions, and we always want the fanciest version for our Commander.
Plaza of Heroes ($7.50 to $11) – Jodah’s favorite land, this price is mostly due to Commander demand, though there is a neat Esper Legends deck running around that makes good use of this card. Note that it’ll cast any legendary spell, a designation that includes Planeswalkers and other legendary fun, including legendary sorceries.
Unsurprisingly, this is the top card from the set in EDHREC, but it’s not that far ahead of #2, Braids, Arisen Nightmare. I really like FEA copies around $11 to start making some serious gains soon. As an added bonus, because it’s so easy to put in just about every Commander deck, when the inevitable reprint comes, this ought to recover fairly quickly.
Timeless Lotus ($17 to $22) – We don’t get mana rocks that tap for the same amount of mana as it took to cast them. Getting more than you paid means a drawback, with the exceptions of Power cards and Sol Ring. Basalt Monolith is the only other artifact that gives as much as it required, and it needs mana to untap. If you haven’t played with Timeless Lotus, you might not be aware of how amazingly efficient it is, but rest assured, this is a good card even without shenanigans involved. Please be aware that the only thing holding it back in Commander is that this must go into a five-color deck. unlike cards templated in the style of Cascading Cataracts.
Despite its restrictions, copies under $15 are gone, and there’s not much left under $20. Note that this had no fancy version, only foil and nonfoil; we all expected a schematic version in BRO’s subset but it didn’t appear there either. There will be some Secret Lair with a Lotus theme, and I will likely buy a lot of that.
Rivaz of the Claw (a quarter to $1.50) – Dragons on the horizon means that this incredibly powerful mana dork might have a chance to shine. It’s pretty impressive that you can get both two mana and the reanimation going on at the same time, making sure that this is never a dead draw. The EDHREC numbers are terrible, though, and the price is in the gutter, nearly a bulk rare. The play here is to pick up a brick of very cheap copies, and hope to buylist them all at the same time when this spikes to $3 in the midst of Ur-Dragon hype. However, if casual players aren’t using it now, they might not ever. Staying away is probably safest.
Cut Down ($0.50 to $3) – Given that there’s two years and change for this in Standard, I strongly advocate you picking up your playset now for personal use before these hit $1 or $2 per copy. It’s brutally efficient, instant-speed, and even has a sweet promo version to go after.
Leyline Binding ($10 to $17) – Finally, a card that’s helped give Triomes one more reason to shine in Modern and Pioneer. In Modern, a judicious fetchland for the correct Triome, plus the right shockland, means this is one mana starting as early as turn 2. Pioneer isn’t quite as capable or as fast, but even without fetches it’s still a very popular card among Domain or Zoo archetypes. This is rarely played at less than three copies, which also helps the price. This is the most expensive rare from the set, and I think it’ll be at least $15 before Christmas.
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.