All posts by David Sharman

Recycling Ikoria

Along with the not-so-beloved Throne of Eldraine, Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths has just left Standard rotation, and in the 18 months since its release we’ve seen some big ups and downs from a few cards in the set. A lot of the best cards have already been identified, and the time to buy Triomes as specs is long gone – but I think that there are still a few good cards that deserve our attention as Eternal and EDH options.


Shark Typhoon

Price today: $9
Possible price: $20

Remember when Shark Typhoon was a $2 rare, back before people realised that it was actually really good and not just a meme? I remember, and I wish I’d bought a bunch when it was that cheap – but I didn’t, because I too didn’t really think much of it at the time and got caught by surprise when it was suddenly $10 and then even $15 for a brief period. Now that it’s rotated out of Standard, this is an Eternal and EDH-only card, and there’s good reason it hasn’t crashed to bulk prices.

Ever since people realised this card was pretty good, it’s been a staple of control decks in Modern and even Legacy, as well as being included in almost 10,000 decks listed on EDHREC. I think that it’s here to stay as a minor staple in multiple formats, and I doubt that we’ll be seeing a reprint too soon – it’s unlikely we’ll see Cycling again in a Standard set in the near future, and although it’s possible we see it reprinted in a Commander deck, we had a Cycling deck in the 2020 lists so again it might not show up for a while.

I like the look of the regular non-foils here, because although there are around 125 non-foil listings for the card on TCGPlayer, most of those are single copies and will dry up steadily over the next few months or so. If you are worried about a reprint then I think that the EA versions are a great buy too. Currently sitting at around $14 I think that those could easily see a double up to around $30, and if you’re feeling a little splashier then I feel fairly confident calling the FEAs to go from $45 to $60+ as well (although there’s less meat on those bones than I’d really like, so the others are better specs for now).

Reconnaissance Mission

Price today: $0.40
Possible price: $3

Onto more of a bulk pickup now, and I’m really quite happy to have found this one. Reconnaissance Mission is just a strictly better Coastal Piracy, and for one of the top EDH uncommons from Ikoria I think it’s definitely underpriced at the moment. If we compare it to Bastion of Remembrance, another top uncommon from the set that does a similar thing to a fair few other cards, you’d think that Mission would be pretty close to Bastion in price – but it’s not at all. Bastion is in just over 20,000 decks listed on EDHREC and Mission hits 80% of that at nearly 16k, and yet Bastion is already a $3 card.

This is sure to be due for a correction sooner or later, and so I think that now is a great time to be picking some Reconnaissance Missions up. You can currently grab a bunch from TCGPlayer at around $0.40 each, and the fact that CardKingdom is already paying $0.33 credit for them makes me fairly confident about this pick. There are a bunch available even cheaper in Europe too, so if you’ve got access then those are nice pickups as well. I’d be looking to buylist these out in 12 months or so – this isn’t a huge play but it’s something easy to bulk up a buylist nicely.

Mythos of Snapdax (FEA)

Price today: $3.50
Possible price: $10

As the most popular of the Mythos(es?) from Ikoria, Mythos of Snapdax FEAs are starting to run a little thin on the ground. I think that if this were just a white card and not three colours then it would be in a lot more decks than it currently is, but as it stands I think the card is doing just fine. It’s effectively just a Tragic Arrogance at one mana cheaper, and as such has turned out to be a popular choice amongst Mardu enthusiasts.

TCGPlayer is down to around 30 listings for NM FEAs, and I think that this will be a nice steady climber over the $10 mark given 12-18months. It’s a card I want to pick up a playset or two of and forget about for a while – no immediate rush to grab them but I think that they will prove to be good gainers over the next year or so.


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.

Innistrad: The Morning After

We’ve had Innistrad: Midnight Hunt cards in our hands for a few days now, and I haven’t written too much about the new set yet so I figured it’s about time to delve into what’s hot and what’s not. I think that the set has some hidden gems in it that people haven’t quite caught onto yet, and although it’s still early days, I feel confident calling some of them out as solid buys.


Rite of Harmony (FEA)

Price today: $4
Possible price: $15

Ok, hear me out: what if this is actually better than Glimpse of Nature? A very bold claim for something that’s rivalling a card banned in Modern, but you’re getting a lot of value for the extra mana spent here. Instant vs Sorcery, and hitting off both creature tokens and enchantments rather than just creature spells cast means that you’re likely to be drawing a tonne of cards off this, and you can do so by reanimating and just dumping creatures into play without even having to cast things. On top of all that it’s got Flashback for a second go around, and so I really do think that this card is set up to potentially do great things.

It might not be better than Glimpse for Modern/Legacy Elfball, but I think that it could find a home somewhere in Modern and is definitely a powerhouse in EDH. Triggering off both creatures and enchantments makes it very versatile for EDH, and green/white is the colour combination you’d want to be in for that anyway, whether it be just those or with a third colour added – blue for enchantments, black for reanimator etc.

There are a fair few copies of this around at the moment, but for me that just makes it nice and easy to pick up a big stack at a good price. I’m viewing this as a slightly longer hold than some of my picks, because I don’t think we’ll see the FEA reprinted for a long time and it’s quite a unique effect to be on an instant or sorcery card in Magic. Grab a pile of these now to stash away and I think you’ll see some very nice gains 12-24 months down the line.

Tovolar’s Huntmaster (Showcase Foil)

Price today: $3
Possible price: $10

It’s Grave Titan. But in green. That’s it, that’s the pick.

Seriously though, I think this is a pretty great card for green decks, and is very comparable to the black Titan that’s been listed in nearly 17,000 decks on EDHREC. 6 mana for 10 power and toughness on the board is no joke, and with the new Daybound/Nightbound mechanic it’s pretty easy to flip your own Werewolves – and once this one does flip you get the extra “when this attacks” trigger, as well as an extra point of power and toughness and a fight ability. The fight ability is good in any green deck and really really good in a dedicated Wolf/Werewolf deck, and all in all I think this is a great card.

I don’t want to spend too much time comparing this to Grave Titan, but as a point of reference, all of the Grave Titan non-foil printings are over $10, and although supply for newer sets is much higher, I think that these foil Showcase versions should be set to post over $10 given enough time. The Showcase versions are really nice; they’re subtle but definitely much better than the regular cards, and with some better art to boot. I don’t think that you can go wrong picking some of these up, and honestly I’d grab copies to try in your own EDH decks too.

Gisa, Glorious Resurrector (Foil)

Price today: $2/3
Possible price: $8

I’m actually a little bit surprised that this isn’t higher up on the EDHREC page than it is, because this card is really, really good. Whether you’re running this as your commander or a part of the 99, this iteration of Gisa is the best we’ve seen yet, and I think that when people really start seeing this card being played, they’ll want one for their deck too. Imagine if Draugr Necromancer could be in your command zone, and you didn’t have to spend any mana to cast the cards you exiled with it – well, you don’t have to imagine it because that’s basically what Gisa is.

Even putting aside the second ability for a minute, just the incidental graveyard hate on this card is excellent value; people are always trying to reanimate or dredge things in EDH and putting a damper on that without a dedicated hate card is exactly what you want out of a card (whilst not hurting your own graveyard shenanigans). With the second ability on Gisa as well, there are an untold number of things you can do with your opponents’ creatures, from using them as sacrifice fodder to just swinging at their owners with them – this card is a powerhouse.

I like the look of both the regular and Showcase foils here; I think the art on the regular versions is much better, but people are always going to desire the most premium printings too. Regular foils can be had around $2 and Showcases around $3, and I think that now is a good time to start picking up some small piles of these to stash away for a little bit. I wouldn’t mind picking up cheap stacks of Gisa non-foils here too actually – if you can get a bunch under $0.50 I think that they’ll buylist nicely a little way down the road.


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.

Commander Horizons 2

People always joke about every Masters set being “Commander Masters”, and although we got a swathe of excellent Modern cards in MH2, there are also some EDH gems in there too – both reprints and new cards. As expected, Europe is being sluggish on the EDH cards and I think that now is prime time to be looking at some arbitrage opportunities from the set, as well as some pickups that are still solid value on the US side of the pond.


Cabal Coffers (Borderless)

Price in Europe: €23 ($27)
Price in US: $35
Possible price: $50

Cabal Coffers went so long without a reprint that it got to the point where it seemed like every upcoming set was sure to have it, until we finally got it in MH2. Bear in mind that this is the first reprint in eleven years; the last time we saw this card was back in Planechase, with only two small printings (original Torment and then an FNM promo) before that. With that in mind, there will have been a huge number of players priced out of this card – which peaked over $150 earlier this year – who are sure to have snapped up their copies with the release of the new set.

Bear in mind this is a card listed in over 35,000 decks on EDHREC, and I suspect that number would be closer to 50k if the card hadn’t been so prohibitively expensive these past few years. Every mono-black deck should definitely be running this, and it’s still very good in two/three colour decks too, especially when you have dual lands with basic land types on them. Add an Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth into the mix and you’re really off to the races!

MH2 has given us three new versions: regular and etched foil with the original art, and a borderless version with gorgeous new artwork. I’m a big fan of picking up the borderless versions in Europe here, as they’re a good chunk cheaper than those on the US market and in much more plentiful supply. Considering that the regular MH2 versions are already $21+ on TCGPlayer, I think that $27 for the borderless printing is a bit of a steal.

Mirari’s Wake (Borderless Foil)

Price in Europe: €11 ($13)
Price in US: $20
Possible price: $40

Moving onto another very popular EDH card, Mirari’s Wake is another reprint with some stunning new artwork – in my opinion, the best one we’ve got by quite a wide margin now. I’ve held some of these and the borderless foils really pop in person, much more so than most of the other printings out there. The original Judgement artwork is still a great one, but good luck finding any of those foils at a reasonable price!

Mirari’s Wake is just a generically good card in any EDH deck that can run it, and even forgetting the infinite combos you can set up with your lands tapping for double mana, the card provides a huge boon to token decks, enchantment decks and more. As a lover of shiny things I know I might be slightly biased, but I know that if I had an old Mirari’s Wake in any of my decks then I’d definitely be wanting to upgrade to the borderless foil.

The borderless foils are going for around €11/$13 on CardMarket in Europe at the moment, and I really think that’s far too cheap on any length horizon, especially if you’re going to be selling them in the US. TCGPlayer’s floor is already at $20, and I fully expect that to increase quite a bit over the next 6-12 months. Before this reprint, the Commander’s Arsenal foils were almost $40, and the (far superior) Conspiracy and Judge promo foils were around $80, so I don’t think that $40 from this is too much to ask. Even if you’re picking up the $20 copies on TCGPlayer I think you’re going to do well; even if we see another Commander set printing of the card, it’s unlikely to be in foil.

Patriarch’s Bidding (Foil)

Price today: $5
Possible price: $20

Finishing things off today with a slightly more niche, but nevertheless very popular EDH card, Patriarch’s Bidding was given its first ever reprint in Modern Horizons since the card’s first printing all the way back in Onslaught (not counting the WCD versions, which don’t exactly add much to the supply on top of being gold bordered and not in foil). With that in mind, I think that the new foils from MH2 being $5 is murderously cheap, and time will prove that true.

Although only being in around 6000 decks listed on EDHREC (relatively little compared to our other two cards today), Patriarch’s Bidding is an auto-include in any tribal deck running black – reanimating everything in your graveyard for just five mana is pretty great, and as long as your opponents aren’t also running tribal decks then it’s likely to be fairly one-sided most of the time.

With around 68 NM foil listings on TCGPlayer right now, the majority of those are single copies and so I don’t think it’s going to be too long before a lot of those drain out. The etched foils are much cheaper but far less desirable, and any magpies are definitely going for the set foils over the etched. Europe has these a little cheaper too at around $3-4, but the $5 copies in the US are definitely good enough for specs too. The reprint (as expected really) has barely caused a dip in the original foils, so I wouldn’t hunt there unless you want that extra EDH bling.


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.

Modern Problems Require Modern Solutions

The Modern meta has settled down a little bit compared to where it was a few weeks ago, right after Modern Horizons 2 was released, but there are still new decks popping up and continual meta shifts that make for some excellent spec hunting. Today I’m looking at some of the fresher pieces of tech that seem to be surfacing in the format, and I think there are some great opportunities around.


Persist (Retro foil)

Price today: $3
Possible price: $10

Some hot new tech is on the scene in Modern, this time in the form of a new build of the Amulet Titan deck. There’s a black-green version of the deck using Unmarked Grave and Persist to dump a Titan into the graveyard and reanimate it for another angle of attack that isn’t just hard-casting your 6/6. This iteration of the deck doesn’t seem to have quite overtaken the regular build just yet, but it’s put up multiple 5-0 performances in Modern leagues and looks like a serious contender.

On top of its performance in this deck, Persist is a relatively popular EDH card from MH2, in nearly 2000 decks listed on EDHREC so far. If you’re wanting a bunch of reanimation spells in your deck then this is a good one to go for – it’s cheap, permanent and doesn’t hit your life total, so although it can’t hit Legendary creatures I think it’s still a great option (and with the big things you’re likely to be reanimating, the -1/-1 counter probably isn’t going to matter much).

There’s both a retro foil and sketch version of Persist, and I think that the retro foil is by far the best option. The old border is gorgeous on black cards especially, and the regular and sketch versions of this just don’t cut it. Retro foils are sitting around $3 on TCGPlayer at the moment, which is definitely too low even on a shorter timeline. 6-12 months out this is a $10+ card, and the retro foils could go a good chunk higher in the future without a reprint.

Void Mirror (Retro Foil)

Price today: $4
Possible price: $10-15

The Crashing Footfalls deck is still a force to be reckoned with at the top of the Modern metagame, and so people have been looking for new cards in order to fight against it. One of the more popular choices recently has been Void Mirror, which counters any spells cast without coloured mana – i.e. anything that you cascade into with Shardless Agent, Violent Outburst etc. A large proportion of the top decks are using this as a sideboard card to combat Footfalls and Living End, and it’s one of the best cards of its kind that we’ve had.

We have both a retro foil and extended art version of Void Mirror, but the retro foil is the clear winner here. Artifacts always look best in the old border, and that’s going to bear out as supply starts to drain. We’re looking at around 50 TCG listings for NM foils, and I think that anything under $5 is a decent pickup at this point to hit $10-15 depending on how popular the free spells decks continue to be in the format.

Fury

Price today: $12
Possible price: $25

A lot of the free Elementals have been big hits across the Modern format since their printing in MH2, with Endurance currently leading the pack as one of the best sideboard cards across a lot of different decks. That’s been reflected in its price, being the most expensive of the cycle at the moment – but I think that might change soon having had a look at the popularity of Fury right now.

While Endurance is being utilised as a great sideboard card across multiple different decks, Fury is being played as a maindeck four-of in Elementals, Crashing Footfalls and mono-red amongst others. Despite this high amount of play, regular copies are still around $12 – less half that of Endurance – and that’s got to change soon if this amount of play keeps up (which I think it will).

People buying these for Modern are going to be picking them up four at a time, so supply is likely to drain relatively well compared to, say, an EDH-only card. I think that Fury (along with the other elementals from MH2) is likely to be a player in the format for a long time to come, so if you want your personal copies then now is as good a time as any to pick them up, and some spec copies alongside are sure to be a good bet.


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.