Pro Trader: The Most Played EDH Cards of 2022

Today I am going to show you the most played EDH cards of 2022. There are some who insist on calling the format “Commander” and I get basically nothing out of being a curmudgeon and insisting on continuing to call it “EDH” except not having to change, which at my age is all the selling point something needs. It was a bad year for people who fear change as collector boosters made foil rares feel worthless, product getting dumped on Amazon made sealed product feel worthless and having to cover 70 new Legendary creatures every 3 weeks made me feel worthless. I know it’s not your problem, but I want to be up-front about my mental health and make it clear that I am not joking that the release schedule had a deleterious effect on mine. Am I a weird outlier because I work 4 jobs in the Magic community and they all want me to write about every set (and every Discord community wants me to hang there, something I can’t physically do)? Or am I canary in a coal mine, signaling that even highly enfranchised and entrenched people like a guy with 2 kids who have Planeswalker names are feeling burnt out? 

What will 2023 bring? They’re hyping the next set as their Avengers: Endgame moment where all of the planar portals jump out and we’re supposed to believe Huatli and Lukka are going to turn the tide. If the set is good, lots of people could start playing Magic. If the set is bad, it will sell a lot, people will complain and 3 weeks later they’ll shell out for the next product. There aren’t any sideways ships in the Suez right now, so I am hoping there will be fewer shipping issues which will cause a bunch of products to stack up at the end of the year like this time. If sets are more spread out, then the format will have “time to work” on the cards that it didn’t get this year. It feels like there are so many EDH decks now that no one card goes up because not enough people build the physical decks they register online because products come out too fast. 

I want to talk about every set that came out in 2022, what the most played card was and whether EDH having so many products could even impact the price of those cards. Let’s get started.

Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty

No surprises here – Boseiju is number 1 with a bullet but the entire cycle is in the top 20. It’s sad to see highly-played utility rares like Lion Sash and Mirror Box end up bulk rares. The Hidetsugu hunt put so many busted remnants of collector boosters that there is basically no chance. No rare played in fewer than 40k decks is worth more than $2 and that’s pretty scary, frankly. This is why I like finding Scourge Rares that are going to go up because they print a new Cephalid Commander, new sets scare me.

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ProTrader: Magic doesn’t have to be expensive.

The Math Of Dominaria Remastered

I know that in the current environment, it’s tough to keep track of everything that’s coming out. We’re bombarded every other week or so with previews, leaks, and spoilers, for Secret Lairs, Jumpstarts, Remastered sets, you name it.

Even so, it is my honor to report that there’s a relatively straightforward reprint set coming out January 13, 2023. It’s got some hot reprints, the mythics of which I covered last week, but today I want to break down your odds of pulling the cards you want most. 

So let’s get into the math of the thing, and that’ll allow us to figure out if we want to buy Collector Boosters or singles.

This is the breakdown of what’s in a Collector Booster, and as a result, we can see that all the value is concentrated in the slot with the traditional foil retro frame cards or borderless versions. Lots of sets have variations, but this one is just retro and borderless and that’s it.

Let’s lay out which are which, in terms of rarity and frame.

Retro Frame Rare (60)Retro Frame Mythic (20)Borderless Rare (23)Borderless Mythic (17)
Divine Sacrament
Enlightened Tutor
Glory
Lieutenant Kirtar
Sevinne’s Reclamation
Windborn Muse
Wrath of God
Arcanis the Omnipotent
Denizen of the Deep
Mystic Remora
Mystical Tutor
Opposition
Stroke of Genius
Vexing Sphinx
Body Snatcher
Chainer, Dementia Master
Entomb
Mindslicer
Nantuko Shade
Oversold Cemetery
Royal Assassin
Gamble
Grim Lavamancer
Overmaster
Pashalik Mons
Shivan Dragon
Siege-Gang Commander
Sulfuric Vortex
Arboria
Birds of Paradise
Exploration
Forgotten Ancient
Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse
Saproling Symbiosis
Worldly Tutor
Absorb
Arcades Sabboth
Decimate
Phantom Nishoba
Pyre Zombie
Rith, the Awakener
Sol’kanar the Swamp King
Lyra Dawnbringer
Serra Avatar
Test of Endurance
Force of Will
Time Stretch
Urza, Lord High Artificer
No Mercy
Vampiric Tutor
Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
Last Chance
Sneak Attack
Worldgorger Dragon
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
Nut Collector
Sylvan Library
Hunting Grounds
Gauntlet of Power
Legacy Weapon
Urza’s Incubator
Dark Depths
Enlightened Tutor
Windborn Muse
Wrath of God
Denizen of the Deep
Mystic Remora
Mystical Tutor
Chainer, Dementia Master
Entomb
Oversold Cemetery
Gamble
Grim Lavamancer
Siege-Gang Commander
Arboria
Birds of Paradise
Worldly Tutor
Absorb
Decimate
Helm of Awakening
Jester’s Cap
Lotus Blossom
Triskelion
Gemstone Mine
Maze of Ith
Lyra Dawnbringer
Test of Endurance
Force of Will
Time Stretch
Urza, Lord High Artificer
No Mercy
Vampiric Tutor
Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
Last Chance
Worldgorger Dragon
Nut Collector
Sylvan Library
Hunting Grounds
Gauntlet of Power
Legacy Weapon
Urza’s Incubator
Dark Depths

Every rare and mythic has a retro version, and 1/3 of the rares also have a borderless. For the mythics, all of them have both a borderless and a retro, except for Serra Avatar, Sneak Attack, and Kamahl, Fist of Krosa.

Given that Wizards is making it easier and easier to build an all-retro-frame Commander deck or Cube, I’m not shocked that there’s a lot more retro than borderless here.

Usually, Wizards collates things so that all copies of a card’s variants total the same amount. That does not appear to be the case this time. When looking over mass cracking data from vendor partners, the variant ratio on non-foil Retro to Borderless, for cards that have both does not look to be equal. Rather, the split seems to be closer to 2 Borderless for every 1 Retro version of a card like Sylvan Library that has both. This effectively means that mythics with both retro and borderless are twice as populous and that the variants don’t split the drop rate as we typically see in CBs.

For example, in the # of CBs one vendor opened, they pulled:

12 Retro Sylvan Library
23 Borderless Sylvan Library
12 Retro Sneak Attack

This suggests that there are actually 3x as many of the mythics and rares that have 2 variants vs. the ones that only have a retro version.

I suspect this is a goof, rather than a change in policy, but as we work with incomplete information, we will update accordingly.

As always, we’re operating on the basic premise that the ratios for cards are the same as a Draft Booster: 10 commons, 3 uncommons, 1 rare or a 50% chance of being a mythic. That’s a 10:3:1:0.5 ratio, but to make things easy, I double it to 20:6:2:1. Translated, for every mythic, there’s 20 copies of a common, there’s 6 uncommons, and two rares.

We’ve got 60 retro rares, 23 borderless rares, 20 retro mythics and 17 borderless mythics, all of which are guaranteed to be foil in this slot. One thing to remember is that the total number of copies is the same for each card at each rarity, even if there’s less version. For example, If this set puts 300 of each mythic out there, that means there’s 150 of the Borderless Foil Lyra Dawnbringer, 150 of the Retro Foil Lyra Dawnbringer, and 300 Retro Foil Sneak Attack.

So when we’re calculating drop rates in this slot, we need to be cognizant of the different versions available.  We also know from vendor experience that the cards with one variant frame are appearing around half as often as the cards with both.

I have changed the table to reflect this.

Chance for getting that card (any version)Chance for getting a specific frameEstimated number of Collector Booster boxes needed for specific frame
Rare with one frame1/701/705.8
Rare with two frames1/701/14011.7
Mythic with one frame1/2801/28023.4
Mythic with two frames1/1401/28023.3

So with this trick of giving almost all the mythics a second frame, they halved the drop rate for each frame. It’s also a great way to keep the price high for the special versions of a card, even if the price for the regular frame drops precipitously. 

A drop rate of one every 280 packs for the rarest mythics is not far off from most of the other sets we’ve had recently, and this set is notably lacking in a subset or a super-mega-rare. There’s no serialized versions, no Lost Legends, no alt-art Japanese Mystical Archive. Let’s have a comparison with other recent sets:

Card/SetCollector Boosters to open one (approx.)Card/SetCollector Boosters to open one (approx.)
Phyrexian Foil Vorinclex (KHM)256Foil Etched Food Chain (2X2)280
Japanese- Language Alternate Art Time Warp Foil (STX:MA)309Red Soft Glow Hidetsugu (NEO)1,828
Foil Extended Art The Meathook Massacre (MID)151Phyrexian Foil Sheoldred, the Apocalypse (DMU)346
Foil Fang Frame Sorin, the Mirthless by Ayami Kojima (VOW)171Phyrexian Foil Ajani, Sleeper Agent (DMU)692
Extended Art Foil Jeweled Lotus (CMR)400Foil Alternate-Art Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim (BRO)299
Phyrexian Foil Urabrask, Heretic Praetor (SNC)492Retro Foil Sulfuric Vortex (DMR)70
Borderless Foil Ancient Brass Dragon (CLB)352Retro Foil Sneak Attack (DMR)140
Phyrexian foil (or foil-etched) Jin-Gitaxias (NEO)544Borderless Foil or Retro Foil Force of Will (DMR)280

Things being not-quite-as-rare to pull from packs doesn’t mean they will be common, though. Remember that this is a reprint set, in between two major releases. I am not expecting this to be a hugely opened set right away, but the initial burst of product, plus the trickle of remaining boxes to open, should keep prices down for a while. As I said last week, I’m not expecting to buy any spec copies for several months, but feel free to grab all the personal copies you want right away.

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.

Unlocked Pro Trader: The Full Picture

Readers!

We talk in this series a lot about what is new and impacting things, as we should, but sorting by set can obscure the picture a bit and sometimes it pays to zoom out a bit and get a view of the format as it’s shaping up by the week or month or last 2 years. EDHREC has modes for all of those and some of the results may surprise you the way they did me. We have paid a lot of attention to the commanders that are the most popular within their respective sets, but once a month when they’re previewing a new set and therefore we don’t have any new cards in hand to write about, we can take a break from the constant assault of new products and take a look at the ones that came out a month ago and are already forgotten about.

Or are they? As much as new product is coming out way too fast and it’s hard to keep up, we can tell with data whether people are blowing by the new stuff or going back for it. Not only that, when we expand out to look at all decks rather than by set, we see which sets are making an impact. I think there are a few clear winners.

This is this month, where we see Jodah, Urza from the precons and Mishra all newly in the mix, as well as Ghyrson Starn from the 40K decks. When you look at weekly, you’ll see some jump up you may not have expected.

Urza and Mishra continue to be huge players, and Kibo, a deck we went into in depth because I had a good feeling it would make an impaft, is 14th this week, beating out Propser and Kenrith which are always Top 20 decks. Surprised? I am a bit about Urza and Mishra because I didn’t really expect them to be popular for more than a week or two but so far they’re hanging on on in there. The shine is off of the 40k commanders a bit, probably because everyone stopped theorycrafting and went to their LGS who was charging $100 for the Black precon and they came home and built Kibo like I did. Still, Urza, Jodah and Mishra are nuclear hot and they all get a look today.

Before I get too deep, I noticed a LOT of the cards in the Urza deck are out of the “Buckle Up” Kamigawa precon with Shorikai and I want to point out a few images.

I expected Kappa Cannoneers to be $10 on its own by now, and if it ever takes off in Eternal formats (read “if those formats come back”) despite being reprintable, there will be a period in time where you’ll benefit from being stocked with these guys. The deck has a LOT of $5 cards in it – I realize that a lot of that “$60” is bulk rares being assessed at a buck, but there are quite a few $5 cards despite it being a precon they sell bricks of on Amazon and with those cards including Parhelion II and Swift Reconfiguration, you have a lot of chances to make money buying at $30 (there are more for this price on eBay, I don’t know why I assume you’re reading this and thinking I’m an idiot but I should also point that stuff out in case you’re new).

This JUST got a reprint, which it’s not taking well as it heads to $5 and maybe below. I love this below $5 given its past capability of hitting $20 and flirting with $23 on CK. Will it get that high again? Doubtful, but while we’re getting an influx of supply, we were getting an influx of players, too, at least we were before Chris Cox took over Hasbro. We’ll see if this recovers, but it’s going to be very useful in a year of Artifact sets.

I just like this card at $5 even given the overall shape of the graph. This was on its way to $10 before we had a ton of Artifact sets right in a row.

I feel like people skipped over this card because there are too many new cards, but this is one of the strongest EDH cards I’ve ever seen and I can’t figure out why I’m the only one who thinks so. It’s slow and clunky but it’s also, at worst, a 4 colorless mana graveyard wipe that comes with a really big body. This is exactly what I want to be doing in EDH, and if people want under $5 for it, I’ll oblige them. I am willing to concede I could be wrong here, but I know these cards take some time – it took 18 months of sweating for my Aetherflux Reservoir spec to pay off and when it did, I got to feel like I understand EDH for the first time in 18 months. I would like to think I understand EDH better now than I did then.

I think there is only one question we need answer here. Can an erstwhile $20 card on its third printing, the second of which it shrugged off effortlessly (Can you even tell where on the graph it got reprinted?) make you money if you buy in absurdly cheap?

This seems like a nice price…

The new frame looks great, too. I realize Brother’s War is a smorgasbord of reprints and not all of them are going to rebound, but, come on. If this doesn’t rebound in a year or two then I don’t know anything about anything.

Last but not least, it’s a card whose text box I haven’t been able to make myself read it its entirety. You Legend cascade? This is a lot of fun to a lot of people and they’re building it, STILL, so let’s sell them some singles.

This has to be the worst card people like. Still, it’s a big, dumb Timmy card and those are a buy under $5 if you can get it for that, still. I like this as a pick-up very much though I’d never put this in a sleeve ever. It’s like the opposite of Nautiloid Ship – one card I think is too good to be this cheap and one that’s too bad to be this expensive. For reference, they’re both like $5.

That does it for me. I think we’re going to see Artifact stuff as a whole go up, so if you can buy some preconstructed decks with a lot of those cards, you’re basically investing in an index fund and that’s way safer than playing the market, especially when the market seems unable to stave off Hasbro wringing us all out until we stop excreting money. Will the game collapse under its own weight or is having 9 different versions of a pushed Elesh Norn that is going to be absolutely MISERABLE to play against in Commander good, actually? Find out when I do. Until next time!

Mythically Remastered Dominaria

Dominaria Remastered is an interesting set. We’ve ridden the Remastered train before, last year with Time Spiral Remastered. This time, though, we’re not getting an extra sheet in Retro frame, but we’re getting Retro and/or Borderless versions of the rares and mythics in boosters. 

I’ll break down the exact odds next week, but for this week, I want to look at the mythics of the set, because the rares don’t have much value as it is and surely won’t for a while after this printing.

I’m including the EDHREC data because Commander is the format that drives most prices these days, but please remember that EDHREC data is skewed. It’s only the most online people who bother to list their deck, while a whole lot of people take inspiration from those lists but might not make purchases. Cards that were in preconstructed decks are also overrepresented, mainly from people who start with a precon and then do some form of upgrading.

Lyra Dawnbringer ($7 for the cheapest version, up to $30 for the most expensive, listed in 15,000 EDHREC decks as commander and card) – Amazing card, busted in Limited, but honestly Giada is a better Commander for Angels. I fully expect Lyra to be a buck or two for the cheapest, and given the play pattern, I don’t think I’d ever be buying copies.

Serra Avatar (under a dollar up to $80 for the Junior Super Series promo, 5700 decks) – It’s had a couple of strategic reprints, and the JSS has a very unique foiling to it. Bulk all the way, don’t look back.

Test of Endurance ($19 to $55, 4500 decks) – I’ve written before about reprint equity. Some cards are expensive because they have not had a reprint, they are pricey because of low supply, not high demand. Test of Endurance will not recover from this, it’ll get cheap and fall hard. If it was a Pioneer card, there might be a deck, but no, this will be very cheap and I’m never buying in.

Force of Will ($90 to $327, 103,000 decks) – Let’s have a graph and look at what happened to the EMA version when the Double Master reprint came along:

It fell about $50, down to $75, and recovered nicely. It’s already dipping down on news of this reprint, and this is a staple that absolutely can recover. Given the sheer range of premium versions out there (Judge foil, Invocation, Box Topper, Borderless, Retro) I think I’m more inclined to buy up basic versions that get to the $40-$50 range. 

Have another graph, that shows the foil from EMA, and recognize that you either buy the cheap ones low and wait for them to go up, or you go after a premium and cross your fingers:

Time Stretch ($22 to $110, 9100 decks) – This had one reprint since Odyssey, which was Tenth Edition. No new copies since 2007 but has a surprising amount of EDH decks. Most extra turns cards exile themselves now, but not this one, it’s too old for that tech. We’ve got a whole lot of spells-costing-less effects going around too, and so I’m feeling good about this. Keep in mind that this is a casual player’s dream, and a whole lot of opened copies are going to stay in decks. 

I think this price falls pretty hard, but I will be interested in any version that gets sufficiently cheap.

Urza, Lord High Artificer ($45 to $105, 23k total decks) – Yes, Urza LHA is getting a second Retro treatment since his introduction in Modern Horizons 1. It’s a deep dive to find all the cards that have been double-dipped that way, but let’s appreciate that the retro reprint in MH2 barely bumped the original:

This reprinting will dent his price, but that will simply present a buying opportunity. Again, I don’t want to have to pick between premium versions, and I’ll be content buying copies in the $10-$20 range.

No Mercy ($30 to $180, 11k decks) – Pure scarcity reprint, and not a card I’ll buy unless it gets crazy cheap.

Vampiric Tutor ($40 to $110, 195k decks) – The graph here is very relevant:

Put into EMA, the price recovered quickly and then Commander Legends came around, giving us Extended Art of this incredible art. I believe this will dip under $20, and when it hits bottom, I’ll be going after a few copies for the long term. 

Yawgmoth, Thran Physician ($35 to $270, 40k decks) – This is different from Urza, because this retro was in Time Spiral Remastered, and that’s a far lower number of copies going around. The demand is there, from Commander players and from combo players alike, so I’ll be patient for this to hit $10-$15 and then I’ll get in for some copies.

Last Chance ($21 to $40, 2300 decks) – Was in Lil ‘Giri drop from MTGVegas this summer, and dropped a lot since then. The card is one of many that does the same thing, and this will be the first time it’s gotten a significant reprinting. I expect this to drop a long way and very quickly.

Sneak Attack ($16 to $30, 20k decks) – Too many reprintings for this card, even if it’s a Cube staple. Another card where the value will dissipate quickly.

Worldgorger Dragon ($5 to $185, 9100 decks) – Yes, there’s an infinite combo with this card, and that’s been most of its appeal. It’s great in a Torpor Orb meme deck, and should they print a Commander with the Torpor Orb text then this will spike, but really, I’m staying away even though this borderless art is amazing.

Kamahl, Fist of Krosa ($4 to $80, 5k decks) – Sure, infinite mana get you infinite damage here, but Ezuri is 

Nut Collector ($8 to $85, 2700 decks) – Squirrels are a meme tribe, but this is a solid card in token decks. I expect this to be cheap, and when it’s super low in a few months, I’ll want to buy a few copies.

Sylvan Library ($40 to $200, 142k decks) – I think the best plan here is the regular versions when it’s down to $20, because it’ll recover. Too many people want this, because it’s really busted in Commander, and the price will be returning to its plateau.

Hunting Grounds ($14 to $45, 1600 decks) – While a neat card, this has a single printing and I’m expecting the bottom to fall out of this. It’s more work than you think to get seven cards in the yard, and in this color pair. Bulk or close to it.

Gauntlet of Power ($5 to $70 , 18k decks) – Decent card, will be bulk.

Legacy Weapon ($1 to $50, 2000 decks) – Already bulk, and not going to change.

Urza’s Incubator ($45 to $400, 36k decks) – I will be fascinated to see where this goes. Clearly the price is gonna drop off, but how far? Single-creature-type decks are more popular than ever, and this is a breathtaking card, even if it makes the spells cost less for your opponents too. Given that the only sweet version is the original foil, I’ll be hoping that the premium versions in DMR get to a cheap price, but I will be interest in any version once the prices settle in a few months.

Dark Depths ($15 to $200, 18k decks) – I’m staying away from this. It’s a combo card in Cube and Legacy, and has had enough reprints to keep the price stable. This printing should drive it under $5 and probably lower.

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.

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