Earlier this year, Wizards ran an interesting experiment with the Double Feature set, basically asking if they could sell us the same cards twice in a row. At this point, we can say that the results are in: we love super rare Silver Screen foils and are paying quite a premium for them, while the regular versions and even the showcase foils are languishing in price.

Generally speaking, the rarest versions of cards are the most expensive. There’s been some exceptions to this rule, most notably with the VIP product from Double Masters 1, where the borderless non-foils were rarer. In this era of four (or more) versions of a card on release, it’s good to know that the Showcase/EA foil will always be the most expensive, even if it’s a narrow margin.

Double Feature, being a set that wasn’t bought at a high volume and without Collector Boosters, is a rarer version of all the cards that came out in Midnight Hunt and Crimson Vow. The Silver Screen foils are almost all more expensive than the assorted Showcase/EA foils, and also represent a ceiling for the MID/VOW foils.

With all this in mind, there’s a set of cards I’m eyeballing to see where the value is at, both for the Silver Screen foils and perhaps the Showcase/EA foils.

One caveat before we begin: I’m giving you the EDHREC inclusion numbers, but remember that those are the most invested players and there’s a bias towards the preconstructed decks. It’s a good data point, but not the only one we need to consider.

Welcoming Vampire ($4 for the least expensive, up to $20 for the priciest version, 29k decks) – It’s impressively easy to engineer a way to trigger this not just on your turn but on opposing turns as well. The Showcase foil, with the nicely-done Fang Frame, is available for $6. Right now, if you want to spec on this card (which I do), you’re looking at the DF foils and wondering what’s the height they can reach. If those foils hit $30 or $40, what’s the Showcase foil going to be at? From a percentage standpoint, do you want to sink $100 into five DF foils or 18 Showcase foils? I think I’m in on the Double Feature foils because the volumes are just so darn tiny. In this case, there’s about thirty foil copies available from Double Feature, as opposed to roughly five times that many copies available for the Showcase foil.

To be clear, I think that both will go up over time, and buying in at $6 and selling in a year or two at $12-$15 for the Showcase is quite likely.

Dreamroot Cascade ($6 to $25, 41k decks) – All ten of the lands have a big jump to the DF foil and I’ve got two conflicting thoughts here: First, I MUCH prefer to play with the color version because it’s much easier to tell what colors they tap for. Second, these are all over the place in Pioneer, which is a nice bonus to the Commander demand. There is a reprint risk for these lands too, but that’s just baked into everything right now. Nothing is stopping Wizards from going in and making these the next Secret Lair, as they did to shocklands and fetches.

With the gap being what it is, and my preference, I’d likely be going for the Extended Art foils. I have confidence that all versions will trend upwards from here.

Shipwreck Marsh ($3 to $20, 62k decks) – This rotates out of Standard in the coming fall and even though this is super popular in Commander and Pioneer, rotation and Standard is still a thing to be aware of. Same reprint risk as Cascade above, but the lower buy-in for regular copies is very very tempting. 

I like getting in at very low prices and just being patient. A minor bump upwards will pay off well, where for the expensive versions, it’ll take a while but get there too.

Necroduality ($10 to $45, 10k decks) – As a proud Zombies player, I adore this card and I have Double Feature foils everywhere in that deck. This launched at a very high price but has come down nicely.

Yes, this doesn’t play well with Legendary Zombies like Grimgrin, but this is an enchantment version of Miirym! The Tribal decks don’t always get love this strong, and this is a centerpiece for any Zombie deck.

Extended Art foils can be had for a third the price of the DF foils, but the quantities are much different. There’s not going to be a combo deck with this in any Constructed format, so you’re going for Commander players and that means I’m targeting these scary, dark, blue-tinged foils.

Chandra, Dressed to Kill ($16 to $95, 4500 decks) – Chandra, however, has a much different path to follow. This version of our favorite pyromancer has a low mana cost and some great abilities for use in Pioneer, where she’s showing up as a three or four in a lot of aggro decks. When that’s the basis for demand, I want the regular nonfoils. I haven’t yet seen evidence that people are chasing playsets of DF foils for Pioneer play. Yes, those foils are super expensive, but with these quantities, it only takes a couple of players to pump the price all the way up.

Infernal Grasp ($1 to $14, 59k decks) – As an uncommon, this has a higher drop rate but this kill spell is all over the place in Commander. We’ve got a promo already of the card in the ‘Summer Vacation’ subset and this was a promo in the FNM frame as well. Quantity is not a problem at all, but above all else, a black spell looks great in the Double Feature foiling. There’s no question what looks better, but will Commander players drive the $14 DF foil higher first, or will they push up the FNM promo frame from $3 to $7? 

Considering the prices involved, I’d rather be in on the promo frames, as there’s a lot of space between those and the much rarer versions.

Triskadekaphile ($0.50 to $6, 20k decks) – Alternate win conditions are a popular thing in Commander, and this one does what players love to do anyway: draw lots of extra cards. Yes, it’s fragile and vulnerable and you don’t win until your next turn, but that hasn’t stopped this card from being a bit valuable and included in a surprising number of decks. 

We had a chance to buy in at $4 but $5 or $6 is still plenty appealing. This will get hot somehow, it’ll get featured on a video, and we’ll clean up nicely. I want the DF foils all the way here, no chance for the regulars unless you’re going to get a huge stack at bulk rates and planning to buylist them out for a good gain.

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.

Sure, we’re a month into Dominaria United, but I’m going to let at least another five months go by before I buy any of that. I’m certain there will be great deals, I just have to let them find the bottom.

Instead, what I want to do is a fun exercise with artifacts and The Brothers’ War: What are the top artifacts in Commander and which ones are ready for a bump? It’s true that some of these will be cards we’ve mentioned before, and some of these might get the ‘retro frame artifacts’ treatment, being one of five hundred numbered copies too.

I can’t predict what will be in that subset of cards, this Artifact Archive, but this will be a good list of cards that might go up because they are good and they are popular. If something feels likely to be an inclusion for that subset of cards, I’ll mention that.

One warning about the EDHREC ranks: This is a database created by the most enthusiastic of people, and has a bias towards preconstructed deck inclusions. Don’t get too wrapped around the handle of this data, but do allow it to inform some of your decisions.

Timeless Lotus (cheapest version is $20, most expensive $35, 3200 decks on EDHREC) – One of the things we noticed right away was that there were no Extended Art or other Showcase version for this, Karn’s Sylex, and Weatherlight Compleated. This seems to scream out that the special version is coming, because not even Wizards would print a special version and then in the next big set give us a retro frame version. 

I will likely be all over the retro frame versions when they come out, being a great mana rock but keep in mind that it can only be in five-color decks. I imagine that the popularity of this card has a lot to do with five-color Dragon decks and Jodah, the Unifier being in the same set.

Herald’s Horn ($7 to $20, 77,000 decks) – We are getting a special foil version for the Year of the Tiger later this year, and there’s a Surge foil in the new Warhammer 40k decks. That’s two very good foils but in the same frame. Putting this in as a retro frame card is very likely, but if it’s not, watch out on both foil versions. This is a very popular card despite never getting large-quantity printings.

Whispersilk Cloak ($3 to $12, 76,000 decks) – This is in the all-foil Heads I Win, Tails You Lose deck coming soon, thanks to printing delays. It should have arrived a whole lot sooner, but for our purposes, it’s not that big a deal. Not a new frame, but also not really reprinted in a major way for several years now. I expect the first premium version of this to do very well.

Panharmonicon ($5 to $40, 71,000 decks) – We’ve got the Secret Lair blueprint version, and we already have a retro frame version from the Time Spiral Remastered set. It’s not impossible for Wizards to give us a second retro frame, but we also just got an Extended Art foil and an etched foil from Double Masters 2022, so being in the Artifact Archive is not happening. I don’t want to spec on 2X2 yet, but I’m tempted by the blueprint version, being as rare as it is.

Isochron Scepter ($11 to $40, 68,000 decks) – Amazingly, this has never had an alternate frame. It’s got a super-sweet Eye of Sauron thing going on with the FNM version from way back when, but this is a prime candidate for inclusion in The Brothers’ War set. If it dodges that reprint, we’re off to the races.

Phyrexian Altar ($29 to $500, 67,000 decks) – At least three times, Wizards has reprinted a card whose original was in the retro frame: Time Spiral’s Timeshifted sheet, Mystery Boosters, and the judge promo Animate Dead. There might even be more, there’s so many cards to keep track of these days! I don’t think they would put a new retro version of Altar out there, given the history and the recent printing, but again, I’m still waiting for 2×2 to hit its floor.

Altar of Dementia ($8 to $20, 62,000 decks) – This was originally in Tempest, has its first foil in Conspiracy of all things, and has kept its price due to a total lack of reprints. If this is in the Artifact Archive, I’d expect it to be pretty cheap at the end of things, and then I’m content to swoop in and buy up some copies.

Helm of the Host ($16 to $33, 55,000 decks) – Extremely popular for an artifact with a crazy-high cast and possibly the highest equip cost of anything people play in Commander, this is so very ready for a reprint and I fully expect it to do well in a retro frame. Don’t buy any of these, even for personal use, until after we get the full list in BRO.

Thousand-Year Elixir ($5 to $81, 48,000 decks) – I’ve got a couple of decks that love this card, but it’s only had the one foil printing, way back in Lorwyn. It’s also got a price that’s high due to scarcity, just like Altar of Dementia. It’ll always be a niche card, but very very good in that niche. Retro version is very likely here, and hopefully the cheapest copies get down to a dollar.

Alhammarret’s Archive ($8 to $25, 45,000 decks) – This is a card that makes a table gnash their teeth and turns a free-for-all into an Archenemy battle. Doubling up on card draw and life gain is a tough bargain to pass up, and this has only gotten a Mystery Booster reprint and a Commander 2021 set of copies since its debut in Magic Origins. I’m doubtful that this will be reprinted, and it doubles up two effects that decks love to do, so wait for the list to come out and then move in.

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.