Jason did a great article last week on Esika, God of the Tree and some of the best cards that slot into that deck, and it got me taking a look at some other five colour commanders, decks and what kind of cards they like to play. Five colour decks are far from the most popular things to build, but that doesn’t mean that they’re not full of excellent spec targets. Some of the best cards from them are played in the majority of five colour archetypes, and lots will also see play in other decks as well, meaning that despite the relative unpopularity of these decks compared to, say, Simic decks, we can still find some good targets from them.

Cascading Cataracts (Foil)

Price today: $9
Possible price: $20

Although technically not necessarily solely a five colour card, Cascading Cataracts is a perfect utility land for decks trying to produce WUBRG mana or some other wild combination to cast Ultimatums and the like, filtering any number of colours (or colourless) mana into the colour(s) you need. On top of that it’s also indestructible, which is a huge boon at the EDH table when there are Wastelands and Strip Mines running interference in the game. Being taken off one or more of your colours can be a quick path to losing a game of EDH, especially when you’re playing a deck with very stringent mana requirements, and so having something like this in your arsenal can help things out a lot.

Cascading Cataracts has only ever had the single printing in Amonkhet back in 2017, almost four years ago now. It’s the kind of card you’d expect to see reprinted in Commander decks, but we haven’t had it yet and even if (when?) we do, it probably won’t be in foil. This is a card in 11,000 EDH decks on EDHREC and foils are starting to run very thin on the ground. There are only 21 listings left on TCGPlayer with just a few below $10, but I don’t think that those will stick around too much longer. With more five colour cards like Esika coming out in each new set, people will want their foil copies of Cataracts for new and old decks alike, and give it 6-12 months I think that these will be well above $20.

Faeburrow Elder (FEA)

Price today: $30
Possible price: $60

Bloom Tender used to be the only card that had this effect on it, and as such got pretty damn expensive (~$60) before we saw it reprinted in Mystery Booster, with Eventide foils still commanding wild prices over $400. With Throne of Eldraine, Faeburrow Elder gave us a much more accessible avenue to this ability, and as such it’s gained enough popularity to be neck and neck with Bloom Tender in terms of EDHREC numbers, with both cards listed in almost 15k decks.

Even in just a green & white deck Faeburrow Elder is a reasonable card, a 2/2 tapping for two mana, but the more colours you add the better it gets. In five colour decks its ceiling is a three mana 5/5 that makes WUBRG mana for you, which is a super powerful effect that is going to get you going places pretty quickly.

There are a couple of copies of Faeburrow Elder left at $30 on TCGPlayer and a handful below $40, but with a total of 22 listings and no FEA reprint on the horizon, these won’t stay below $40 for much longer. You can still grab some around €25 on MKM but supply isn’t very deep there either, which shows how popular this EDH-only card is, despite Europe’s relative dearth of EDH play.

Chromatic Orrery (FEA)

Price today: $35
Possible price: $60

This card actually surprised me a little, and it just shows that we all misevaluate cards more often than we think. When Chromatic Orrery was previewed for M21, I honestly didn’t think too much of it, mostly because of its seven mana casting cost. Yes, it does give you five mana back right away, but that’s still a big investment that could easily produce very little value if it’s countered or removed right away.

However, around 5000 people seem to disagree with me – and more power to them. This has turned out to be a very popular card in five colour decks, amongst others, and as well as being a big colour-fixing mana rock, it can draw you a bunch of cards too. We’ve already seen Mythic FEAs from M21 like Fiery Emancipation and Terror of the Peaks popping off, and although Chromatic Orrery FEA has stayed pretty high since M21’s release, I think that it’s pretty clear that this will be the next card to go.

There are a grand total of seven NM foils on TCGPlayer, starting at $35 and ramping up quickly. If you have access to the European market then there are still a few under €25 but again, supply is not very deep. If you want any personal or spec copies then snap them up quickly, because I think that these will be over $50 very quickly.

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David Sharman (@accidentprune on Twitter) has been playing Magic since 2013, dabbling in almost all formats but with a main focus on Modern, EDH and Pioneer. Based in the UK, he’s an active MTG finance speculator specialising in cross-border arbitrage.

Along with the rest of the Reserved List, Dual Land prices are going wild at the moment. Yes, they’re nice to have, but there are so many great alternatives that you could be playing in EDH for a fraction of the price instead. So let’s take a look at a couple of options, shall we?

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Rejuvenating Springs et al. (FEA)

Price today: $30
Possible price: $60

The ship has sailed on a fair few of the FEAs from Commander Legends already, but the lands are actually still surprisingly low for how many decks they’re going into. Hullbreachers and Opposition Agent might have them beaten on raw numbers, but by percentage inclusion the five dual lands that complete the Battlebond cycle are still the top five cards from the set on EDHREC. They’re no-brainers no include in your multi-coloured EDH decks, with their only downside being that they don’t have land types (which isn’t enough of a knock against them to really matter).

With FEA rares like Hullbreacher already being well over $100 and Opposition Agent heading that way too, there is no way that $30 is correct for these lands. If we take a look at stock levels, there are only 15 listings for Rejuvenating Springs on TCGPlayer, with that being only 18 total copies. There are only a few copies below $40 and the ramp is steep, so if you want any personal or spec copies then the best time to pick them up was yesterday and the second best time is now.

I think that all of these lands are great pickups and will cruise over $50 with no problem, especially without any more supply of Commander Legends Collector Boosters on the horizon. Give it just a couple of months without fresh supply and I think these are easily $50-60 cards.

Ketria Triome et al. (Showcase)

Price today:$10
Possible price: $20

Mamma mia, here I go again…my my, how are these still sub $10?

I’m being entirely serious here – all five of the Triomes from Ikoria remain the most popular EDH cards from the set and although we may well see the regular versions reprinted at some point in Commander decks, I don’t think that we’ll see the Showcase variant for a while yet. These are absurdly good lands in 3+ colours EDH decks due to having basic land types as well as cycling strapped onto them. They’re fetchable, good early game and cantrip late game, and the numbers don’t lie (all five lands at 9k+ decks).

On top of their EDH popularity, a couple of the Triomes also see a good amount of competitive play in Pioneer and Modern, most notably Ketria and Raugrin Triome. The showcase foils are already drying up and will be looking to post over $50 within 6 months, and they’ll be dragging the non-foils up with them. There are still copies of all five Triomes available around or under $10 at the moment, and given 6-12 months I think they’re all $20+ cards. The art is gorgeous and they’re an excellent alternative for people that want fancy lands without having to fork out for the foils, or just don’t like foils.

Minamo, School at Water’s Edge (MB Foil)

Price today: $10
Possible price: $30

Ok, this doesn’t really help fix your mana but it’s still a great land to be playing in EDH. Mystery Booster is coming up on a year old now, and the foils from the set have been draining out. Original Minamo NM foils from Champions of Kamigawa basically don’t exist, with only four listings on TCGPlayer all around $70. The Mystery Booster foils, on the other hand, are still sat around $10 – but supply won’t last too much longer and I don’t think there’s much more supply inbound.

At nearly 8000 recorded decks on EDHREC this is a relatively popular EDH card, and has seen a modicum of competitive play but that’s not really a driving factor for this card. We may well see a Mystery Booster 2 set, but I doubt we’ll see this again there and I really don’t see where it could be reprinted in foil again any time soon. Supply will keep slowly draining and prices will keep moving upwards, so I like picking up a few of these to sit on for 6-12 months and double or triple up.

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David Sharman (@accidentprune on Twitter) has been playing Magic since 2013, dabbling in almost all formats but with a main focus on Modern, EDH and Pioneer. Based in the UK, he’s an active MTG finance speculator specialising in cross-border arbitrage.

Kaldheim release is just around the corner, with the Arena release happening this Thursday (28th) and paper release next Friday. As with most Standard set releases, I like to do an article beforehand having a look at which cards I think are worth keeping an eye on, to pick up when they hit their lows. When paper Magic is back in business I might get a chance to talk about some potential preorders, but until then I don’t think that any preorders will really be worth it.

The World Tree

Price I want to buy at: $3
Possible future price: $10

Kicking things off with a fun one, this card should be a shoe-in for pretty much all five colour decks. Aside from the activated ability on it, enabling all your lands to tap for mana of any colour is big game when you’re trying to cast ridiculously costed spells, and being able to fetch Gods up from your deck is just gravy on top (but will be very popular with the casual crowd).

The early EDHREC stats back this up, with it being the most popular card from the set in terms of percentage inclusion, being in 40% of all decks it could fit into that have been registered since the card was added to EDHREC. I don’t think that this is just an EDH card though – I think that this could have some competitive applications as well. Standard, Pioneer and Modern have recently been more and more inclined towards having four or five colour decks at tier one or two, utilising powerful cards like Niv–Mizzet Reborn and Omnath, Locus of Creation – and The World Tree will slot right into those.

There’s also a neat little combo within another card from Kaldheim, Maskwood Nexus, that lets you put all the creatures from your deck into play. I don’t know if that’s going to actually be good anywhere, but I’m sure that people will try and set it up in EDH. Preorders on TCGPlayer are a little silly at $16 right now, but over on MKM you can preorder them for as little as €4. I think this is indicative of lower prices to come, and at peak supply I see these going as low as $3. It’s worth keeping an eye on, and a year or two out I think that this will be a $10+ card.

Realmwalker

Price I want to buy at: $1
Possible future price: $6

Realmwalker is another of the early EDH front-runners from Kaldheim, and I can see why. This card slots right into any tribal deck that can run it, and can serve both as a powerful value engine as well as a potential combo piece. Being able to cast creatures off the top of your library could enable some serious shenanigans, and is an effect that Dragons and Elves decks alike can profit from.

It’s not just EDH that might want this card though; it could be good enough for Elves decks in competitive formats to pick up. I’m certainly not an Elves expert, but Realmwalker does have an Experimental Frenzy feel to it, which has proved its mettle in Standard and Historic, and so I think there could be potential for this to see some constructed play.

It’s worth noting that this is the buy-a-box promo for the set, which does add a fair amount of supply into the market but on a longer timeline I think that this is still a great hit. I expect it to have a similar trajectory to that of something like Ramunap Excavator, with a long steady growth and a nice buylist price down the road, and the potential to spike along the way.

Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider

Price I want to buy at: $10
Possible future price: $30

Vorinclex is the Nyxbloom Ancient of this set*.

*There are a couple of caveats. I don’t think that Vorinclex will be quite as prevalent as Nyxbloom has been, because it does have slightly narrower applications than the mana tripler, but the flipside to that is that I think this card could see competitive play, and so that might make up for the lost EDH decks.

In general, however, almost every set has a mythic or two like this that will get relatively low at peak supply and then just grow and grow as EDH demand outpaces supply. See: Finale of Devastation, The Great Henge, Nyxbloom Ancient, Fiery Emancipation, etc. These are all mono-colour cards with wide applications that can fit into a lot of decks, and you’ll do well to be able to identify them ahead of time for each set so that you can pick them up at their lows.

Regular versions of Vorinclex are going to do great, but there’s also the Showcase and Phyrexian versions to consider here too. Being a Showcase means that it’ll hit lower prices than an Extended Art version might (as they’re only in Collector Boosters), but I honestly don’t know where the Phyrexian versions are going to land. Preorders are going for €36/€120 on MKM for non-foils and foils respectively, so I think that you might be able to get non-foils around $25-30 and foils for uhhhh $?? I’m not sure yet. One to keep an eye on for sure, because I doubt we’ll see it reprinted in Phyrexian for a long time and foils are going to be pretty scarce.

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David Sharman (@accidentprune on Twitter) has been playing Magic since 2013, dabbling in almost all formats but with a main focus on Modern, EDH and Pioneer. Based in the UK, he’s an active MTG finance speculator specialising in cross-border arbitrage.

I talk a lot about foils in my articles, especially FEA cards and in general, the most premium versions of things. This is because in today’s era of huge print runs, a lot of the time the easiest things to make money on are the cards with the lowest print runs and thus the shallowest supply, which is more often than not the most expensive version of a card.

But, as I alluded to in my article a few weeks ago, there’s money to be made elsewhere as well. When we talk about buying ‘bricks’ of cards in MTG Finance, we’re generally referring to acquiring a large stack of the same card – somewhere in excess of 30-40 copies. The most common plan for these is to sit on them a while and then sell to a buylist, but sometimes you’ll do ok selling singles as well. So what are my latest brick targets?

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Valakut Awakening // Valakut Stoneforge

If you’re reading this article then you’re probably plugged into the world of MTG Finance, which means that you’ve probably seen the wild spike that Wheel of Fortune experienced over the weekend. A week ago this was a $300 card, and now even LP copies are selling over $700. We see runs on Reserved List cards happen every now and again, and we’ll probably see a mild retrace on Wheel as people rush to list their copies – I certainly don’t think that this is really a $1-2k card…yet.

But as prices for Reserved List cards like this skyrocket, EDH players are constantly in need of substitutes that they can play instead of splashing out on a real Wheel – and so we come to Valakut Awakening. I’ve already gone on many times about how good these MDFCs are, and this is no exception. I’ve called the FEA copies as a spec before and I’m back to say that I think you could do well to pick up a bunch of the regular non-foils as well.

Valakut Awakening doesn’t put cards in your graveyard like Wheel, if that’s something you need to do, but it is instant speed, gives you card filtering choices and is a land on the other side when you need it. The EDHREC numbers back this up, with it being the third most popular card from the set at over 5000 decks recorded running it. You can pick these up as low as $2 on TCGPlayer, but if you want to grab a ton at once then you’re looking closer to $3-4. CardKingdom are already paying $3 cash on their buylist for these, which shows how popular it is, and I think that given a year or perhaps even less, you should be able to double up or more to a buylist here.

Thieving Skydiver

Price today: $2
Possible price: $5

This is another one that I’ve picked the FEA version as a spec before, but again I think that the regular non-foils are going to perform well too. It’s the second best performing EDH card from Zendikar Rising, and it’s one of those cards that you can easily drop into any and all of your blue decks to great effect. Stealing artifacts is huge in EDH where people are dropping Sol Rings and Mana Crypts all over the place, and you don’t even lose the artifact if your Skydiver dies.

People who own multiple EDH decks that run blue are most likely going to want multiple copies of this card, and once you start to need 3, 4 or more copies of a card for your decks then you’re probably going to want to buy the regular versions over EA or FEA to keep costs down a little. 

Supply on these is definitely deep at the moment, but given enough time it’s not going to stay that way. You can pick up a ton of copies at $2 on TCGPlayer, and CardKingdom is already paying $1.70 credit on them which again shows that they’re needing to pay a premium to keep them in stock. They’re a little cheaper in Europe with stacks available around $1.50, so that’s an even better option if you can get them. I think that we could see a $4-5 buylist by the end of this year, and for such a new card I don’t expect a reprint for a little while yet.

Akroma’s Will

Price today: $4
Possible price: $10

Hopping over to Commander Legends now, which is still just about in the brickable category, although supply is draining fast on the more popular cards. Akroma’s Will is one of the most popular white cards from the set and for good reason – it’s effectively a Heroic Intervention and Flying Crane Technique rolled into one, but for only four mana. It’s flexible and powerful, and a tool which the majority of white decks would do well to be playing.

I’m honestly surprised that these are only $4 at the moment – but as I said, supply won’t be around long and that price is going to push up. You can still get a decent chunk in one go from a couple of vendors on TCGPlayer, which I think should pay dividends in 6-12 months. Given that these are going to be pushing $10+, you may end up having a better time selling these as singles rather than to a buylist, but either option should turn out just fine.

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David Sharman (@accidentprune on Twitter) has been playing Magic since 2013, dabbling in almost all formats but with a main focus on Modern, EDH and Pioneer. Based in the UK, he’s an active MTG finance speculator specialising in cross-border arbitrage.