So we’ve gotten some cards from Commander Legends revealed via some random person who got their hands on some packs and tried to sell stolen goods on eBay, and we’re getting the official previews starting Monday. 

If you want to avoid knowledge of the leaked/stolen cards, I’ll respect that. I’m not going to say what’s in them, except to say that the cards I’m talking about today are not yet known to be reprinted in Commander Legends. What I am doing this week is building my shopping list. So many casual and Commander cards are deliciously valued right now, but one more reprint would mean agonizingly slow growth.

This is a list of cards that I want to buy as soon as the full list of Commander Legends is out, so I can feel that I’m in a pretty good position. Reprints are an ongoing issue (especially with The List’s existence) but I’m choosing casual-focused cards that should swing back up within a year, barring the unforeseen reprint. There’s always the chance of a Secret Lair or some other product popping up, and there’s no way to prepare for that these days except to have a diverse selection of cards in your possession.

Cyclonic Rift (Regular Nonfoil $16) – I think we about at the bottom on Double Masters, as I wrote about a couple weeks ago. Now the only question is which cards needed to be printed back-to-back this way. (Some cards did get this amount of reprinting, and we’ve got the leaks to prove it.) Rift is very attractively priced as a rare in 2XM, and a card poised to jump if it’s not reprinted. It was nearly $30 this past summer, before the reprint, and if it dodges being in Commander Legends I’d expect it to immediately jump a couple of dollars. I’m quoting the price and graph of regular versions, but if you want to get in on the more unique Box Topper, that’s a respectable choice too. We saw with Fabled Passage that Wizards isn’t going to flinch at reprinting Extended Art, and that risk is present with Box Toppers too.

Still, being in 40% of blue decks online, an amazing 83,000 decks, means this is a super-staple and if it is reprinted, I’d be happy to buy in at $10, or even more so at $7 or lower. 

Faeburrow Elder (Regular and Foil – $2.50, EA – $6, EA Foil – $27) – For a card that came out just over a year ago, it’s rapidly become popular. I understand that, as it’s a tremendously awesome accelerator for multicolored decks, and can attack for significant damage. On its own it’s three mana and taps for two, and in a five-color deck can really get out of control. If it’s not printed in Commander Legends, there would be no obvious place to reprint this, and that’s a delightful recipe. 

I think you should definitely grab your personal EA foils now, because there’s only a handful of NM foils on TCGPlayer before you’re in the $50 range. If it isn’t reprinted, then I’m grabbing as many sub-$3 copies as I can before it breaks $5, and then I’m settling in for the ride.

Golos, Tireless Pilgrim ($5/$30) – Core 2020 was the last set to not have a special foil version, but it did have an increased foil drop rate. Even with that increase in foils, Golos has been built 5000 times on EDHREC and played a whole bunch as well. Banning from Constructed play doesn’t mean a thing when I’m focused on Commander, and I imagine that the five-color slot for Commander Legends is a hot one. 

A card this new and this popular, with only regular and nonfoil versions, definitely has my attention if there’s no clear reprint route. It was a rare, not a mythic, and it’s ready to pop. If it’s not reprinted here, I wouldn’t be shocked if nonfoils started to climb, and I’d be expecting it to double. 

Ramos, Dragon Engine ($20 foil from Commander 2017) – This has never been a nonfoil card, but it’s a popular and dangerous Commander card. It’s not in a huge number of decks, but I think that’s more reflective of the short supply rather than the lack of demand. The only way to get one of these was to buy the Dragon-themed Commander deck back in 2016. (Full disclosure: I did and I still have The Ur-Dragon as a commander.) So you needed to buy Dragons, want Dragons, but trade/sell away this super-sweet card that allows you to accelerate and fix and do busted things. There’s only 47 vendors of NM foils on TCG, and of those only four vendors have four or more copies. 

A caveat: I think this is going to get reprinted eventually, that’s a given. But I can’t forecast when! Commander Legends is the prime vehicle for that, or some other five-color Secret Lair. It will happen, but there’s a lot of growth that can happen in the meantime.

Sword of the Animist ($8/$24) – Only ten vendors with NM foil copies, a steep ramp up to $40 for the last one, 24k decks and only the one foil version? This is ripe as can be for a reprint or a spike. Equipment is usually a popular subtheme, and those decks are among the most mana-hungry ones. The graph tells a tale that will merit its own article soon:

This was in Mystery Booster as a nonfoil, and that doesn’t seem to have affected the price at all. Most likely, it’s because the people who opened it (drafters at GPs) are among the most likely to open this and have a Commander deck that could use a copy. If this isn’t reprinted this winter, i’ll be diving in on assorted copies and just waiting for the windfall.

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.

Yes, I realize we’re two weeks away from Halloween but I have a whole bunch of things I can’t wait to buy from Zendikar Rising. I tend to think of this as presents to my future self, because past Cliff is a very thoughtful and value-conscious person.

Some of these cards have hit their bottom, and others have a little farther to fall. Let’s get into it, shall we?

Agadeem’s Awakening (Extended Art Foil) – Currently available at $30ish, this is my favorite pick of the set. I’ve already put one into every Commander deck with black cards, and I’m hoping to get a playset for $100 before Thanksgiving. Of all the mythic double-faced cards, I think this one is the best for Commander, because it’s exactly what that format craves: An early land when needed, and a huge ten-mana overwhelming card advantage play late in the game. 

These were preselling as high as $80, and while there’s janky ‘Oops! All Spells!’ decks in Modern/Historic/Pioneer, those are not going to drive the long-term growth of this card. I felt good about buying personal copies at $30, and I’d feel ecstatic if I could get in at $25 for this. Right now, there’s 43 vendors with NM copies on TCG, and only three of them have four or more. That’s not a lot of copies. 

Turntimber Symbiosis (EA Foil) – You can get this for $27 or so, and it’s splashier than the black version, but this is a ‘get one card off the top’ versus ‘get a bunch back’ and I know where I’d rather be. This is better than a forest, clearly, and a good Commander card, which is why you should play it. Again, there are fun decks that work like a glass cannon and play this (especially this one and the red one, which can start the party with Manamorphose and its friends) but Commander is where the demand is. On TCG, there’s only one person with 4+ copies, so there’s a similar demand profile. I want to get a few of these for decks, and a few more for down the road. 

Nahiri, Heir of the Ancients (Borderless Foil) – At about $8, I’m a pretty big fan of this. It’s the most chase version of a card that slots very easily into the R/W equipment decks out there. Doesn’t matter which Commander you have for the deck, it’s got red and white and therefore should have this card. You’re picking up a card that is awesome in a popular archetype for future gains in value. Thank me later.

Ruin Crab (Showcase Foil) – Right now, you can buy this for just under $2, and it won’t be that way forever. Mill cards are eternally popular, and luckily, this says ‘each opponent.’ Is it a tough sell in Commander to mill everyone out? Sure, but people are building Bruvac the Grandiloquent because we all have our dreams and we all have to chase them. This is a big big upgrade from Hedron Crab, and fits perfectly into the theme that people want to have. I’m hoping that these become cheaper by the end of the year, though I doubt they will fall as low as $1. At the first sign of an uptick in price, or when Zendikar Rising’s season ends, I’m jumping in.

Scute Swarm (Showcase Foil) – On TCG, these can be had in the $5 range, and for a card that grows at an exponential rate, that’s pretty sweet. There’s a lot of combos with a card like this, and while a horde of 1/1 creatures is pretty fragile, it’s also awesome. Commander is much more about the awesome than the effective, so i’m fully expecting these to start steady growth once they reach bottom. Five bucks seems like a good buy-in for a card that promises to be popular in decks that play lands.

Archon of Emeria (Extended Art Foil) – Also in the $5 range, this is more speculative. This is the card that control decks want to lay down, because that one-spell-per-person is a humdinger, letting you counter their single spell with a big grin. The nonbasic clause is a rough one in Commander, too. I can see this rising nicely over time, but this is one I am waiting patiently on. At five dollars this isn’t too appealing, but if it slides to $4 or even $3, I am much more interested.

Thieving Skydiver (Extended Art Foil) – For about $12, you can get the best thief of mana rocks since Thada Adel. Yes, you can steal a Mana Crypt, the kicker can’t be zero, not the artifact’s cost. It’s embarrassingly easy to snag an artifact in Commander with this. Feel free to yoink artifact lands, Signets, and any number of sweet artifact creatures. Do note that it only costs one mana to steal a Hangarback Walker or Walking Ballista either, and you’ll get a retweet from me if you show off that you stole a Colossus of some kind. 

This being $12 already indicates that people are clearly playing the card, preventing extras from going into circulation. Please note that it’s no good with flicker effects, but if you’re playing Crystal Shard or other self-bounce, you’ll be in heaven.

The Expeditions (foil and nonfoil) – I don’t think you should be buying these yet. They are cheaper than they were a month ago at premier and we haven’t gotten to max supply. If you want to get personal copies, I’m for that, but I think that just about all the Expeditions haven’t reached max supply. Wizards is behind on a lot of its orders, as we see with Commander Legends, and that tells me not to buy yet. 

The right time to buy in quantity is not quite yet. I would respect if you saw the downward line and decided to nab a playset or two, but recognize that you’re not at the bottom of the valley yet. There’s too much unopened product out there and too many other places for fetchland announcements.

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.