I’ve made a conscious effort in the last two years to put my speculative purchases on a timeline. With the frequency of reprints, it’s pretty rare for me to say ‘this is a staple, I want to buy it while it’s cheap’ because repeated reprints are an occupational hazard now.
Instead, I want to refine my buying and focus on ‘I think this card is going to be a popular deck, and what cards go with that?’ sorts of purchases, or at least recommendations. I’ve got some recent examples to point to, and so let’s bring up some older work and see if I was right.
The first example I want to get to is Mr. House, President and CEO. Back in October, when he was previewed, I quickly identified some dice-rolling specs that I felt had a good chance of paying off. Almost 3000 people have built and listed the deck on EDHREC, and for transparency, I’m not one of them. Let’s go through the specs I liked.
Anointed Procession (then-low of $40, now $53 for the cheapest) – It’s a modest gain, but the card is clearly great and being a headliner in the super-premium Cats and Dogs Secret Lair didn’t do anything to lower the price. I wouldn’t buy basic copies now, but as I picked on MTG Fast Finance, $60 is a very reasonable price. Semi-win
Barbarian Class (foils were 50¢, now $3) – Clear win, one of the cards you want most early in the House deck, getting rerolls and eventually enabling even more. Likely you could have done a buylist play here, picking up a big brick and now sending them off for $1 to $1.50 each.
Ancient Dragons: Copper ($50 to $70), Brass ($14-$21), Gold ($8 to $14) – Dragons are awesome, that’s just a given, and these roll dice in-theme. Baldur’s Gate cards have been creeping up in surprising ways, and while I think these will eventually get some fun reprints, until then, these are headliners who should keep climbing.
Vexing Puzzlebox (borderless foil $4 to $9) – I do love a double-up, and this not only rolls, but gives you something to count up to. I doubt it will go much higher, so if you got in early, time to move out.
Delina, Wild Mage (regular nonfoil $2 to $4) – I have already killed a table by using Delina, Wyll, and Barbarian Class to make infinite attackers. It’s pretty fun, on top of the infinite treasures and Robots I made at the same time.
Comet, Stellar Pup (regular nonfoil $4 to $9) – Comet is cute, and we’re getting all sorts of cute doggy pals. I wouldn’t be shocked if Comet went up in price because of Dogs, not dice, but I’m not picky. How else do you account for the big price disparity between the regular art and the borderless?
Night Shift of the Living Dead (galaxy foil $2 to $8) – Galaxy foils are tough pulls anyway, so this was easy mode.
Maddening Hex (regular $3 to $11) – Limited numbers, as you get one per Commander deck or a good CB pull, means that you get lots of die getting rolled and in low supply, everybody wins.
The other cards I mentioned haven’t increased: Wyll, Blade of Frontiers, Squirrel-Powered Scheme, The Big Idea, Priority Boarding, Wand of Wonder, Chaos Dragon, Contraband Livestock, Recruitment Drive. Good cards for the deck, but we’ll see if any of them take off in the time we have before the next big thing happens. All of these are worth putting in the deck.
Then in December, we got a glimpse of Commander Mustard, and I immediately planned out a great Soldier deck. The winners there are:
Myrel, Shield of Argive (regular nonfoils $10 to $18) – Myrel hasn’t been getting big Standard play or anything like that, she’s just creeping upward due to her abilities being awesome in any white deck. Players love her safety blanket.
Daru Warchief (regular $2 to $3) – So overdue for a reprint!
Adeline, Resplendent Marshal ($7 to $11 for regular nonfoil) – This is likely due to Standard play, so get ready to sell before rotation pulls her price back down.
No increases: Catapult Master, Catapult Squad, Preeminent Captain, Captain of the Watch, Valiant Veteran, Field Marshal, And They Shall Know No Fear, Thousand Moons Smithy, Mobilization, Militia’s Pride, Horn of Gondor, Finale of Glory. Soldiers are amazing, but this deck hasn’t taken off yet.
Finally, in January, when we were neck-deep in MKM previews, they gave us Judith, Carnage Connoisseur, and she’s been on a tear lately too, with just over 3000 decks registered so far. Let’s review what I pointed out:
Blasphemous Act (Secret Lair Foil $17 to $22) – To be fair, I picked this on MTG Fast Finance, and that tends to cause a minor bump as ProTraders take action.
Blood for the Blood God! (surge foils $8 to $12) – Surge foils get targeted here and there, and while this one costs a ton of mana, you can make it cheaper for big gains.
Solphim, Mayhem Dominus (regular nonfoil $8 to $12) – All of the Dominus cycle look great long term, and there’s no shortage of ways to abuse this card.
The ‘deal one damage to everything’ spells haven’t taken off, but End the Festivities has been a popular Standard sideboard card, so it’s price doesn’t count. No real movement on: Disaster Radius, Volcanic Vision, Searing Touch, Fanning the Flames, Chain Reaction, or the rest of the cards I mentioned.
It’s possible that Judith and Mustard just need a little more time, but the hype cycle is going to move on pretty quickly. We’re getting neat new legends at a breakneck pace, and there just isn’t time for all the new things to develop. I stand by the sentiment that these are all unique Commanders, doing something no one else does, but perhaps that’s not enough in this day and age.
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.