Early Prices and Movers for Tarkir: Dragonstorm

The new set is out and it is a doozy, with a new negative-space showcase for clan cards, a very cool halo foil treatment, and all sorts of odes to out winged overlords, may their scales never stop shining. 

With the buying frenzy now unlocked for everyone, not just presellers on TCGPlayer, let’s take a look at what’s gone down, what’s gone up, and where some of these are going to go from here. 

One thing I want to make clear: EDHREC is not a useful stat this first week, it’s more about enthusiasm than anything else but the cards aren’t always added in time. I like having the EDHREC number, it’s a useful piece of data, but the people building decks there are hardcore, eager to be first. So while I often have EDHREC numbers for something like this, today, that’s not a piece of data that I’m using for assessing where we’re at and where we might be going. 

I’ve also updated prices to Saturday (4/12) morning. 

Mox Jasper Serialized – This has a lot of unique things going for it. I am a big fan of using special art for the serialized cards, instead of just slapping the number on something that looks pretty much the same. The art is done by the Mox Man himself, Dan Frazier, adding to the collectors who would be after this. It also sings to Dragon players, even if the card is only good after your first Dragon is in play. (Changelings are a spicy thing to do though!)

There were some early sales on eBay at $5,000, but it is now available under $3,000. In terms of quantities, ten sold so far, 22 left on the site ranging from $2700 to $6k.There’s a premium available if you’ve gotten it graded, but that’s always been the case. Edgar Markov is available for $2500-$3000 and I would expect this to settle in that range. 

Dragonscale Fetches – Gorgeous in hand, these are still trending downwards as I wrote about last week. That trend won’t last forever, though, more like one to three weeks before the prices start trending upwards. I won’t rehash it all here, but this is the pattern and the added bonus of the other five lands eventually showing up might turn these from personal use to serious spec. 

Halo foils – Even though these are twice as rare as dragonscale lands, they are all trending downwards. Ugin is flying very high indeed as people want the sweet copy for their colorless decks, and well they should. Ugin’s static ability whenever you play a colorless spell (read:artifact or Eldrazi) is ridiculous on just about every board state. We know artifacts are popular, we know people love their colorless tentacle beasts, so Ugin’s price will likely stay high for a while, even as the premium versions drift lower. 

The other Halo foils are trending down, though Elspeth might not go too much lower. Having the Anointed Procession as a built-in ability is powerful as hell, and Magic players do love having redundant copies in their lists. She’s currently at $300, and that’s within the realm of expected, when compared to raised/textured foils from older sets and the fracture foils. 

Dragon’s Eye Foil Lands – Expect these to hit an expensive point later on. I would wait a little longer before buying but these are popular as hell. Let the people who must have them get them, and you can move in later. They are currently riding a wave of interest, but once people have a chance to slow down, and we’re past the folks who instantly need a draft set of these lands, we’re off. They range from $7 to $10 right now for the foils and I’ll be surprised if they end up going below $5 for the foils.

I have to admit, I am very tempted by the nonfoils. There are Cubes and drafters and Commander players who’ll all want this art and once the price bottoms out on nonfoils, might be a great time to sock a bunch away and wait.

There’s only two cards that have gained hard early on, but they have REALLY gained. Cori-Steel Cutter is the first, up to $12, gaining nearly $10! It’s easy to imagine a control deck that wants to cast a draw spell and a removal spell and get a blocker, or just an aggressive deck casting this card, some other cheap spell, now you have a 2/2 trample haste coming in. It’s pretty amazing in multiples too, so people are going wild on this and if you have any copies, I’d be selling. Very few rares stay over $10 unless they are cross-format stars or staples, so whatever this hype is, you want to be feeding it, not holding and hoping. 

The other big gainer so far is Voice of Victory, up to $9 from its early price of $2. I can’t believe how cheap this is at only two mana, and it forces your opponent to react immediately or forever hold their peace. This is something all players want, the sure and certain knowledge that no one is going to mess with their creatures, spells, or plans. It’s got the right cost and aggression to be good in a range of formats, so while I don’t know if it’ll hold this $9 right now, this is something I’m thinking about as a spec down the line. 

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.

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