We’ve got a set of new commanders with Neon Dynasty, and one of them tells us exactly what to do.
I love commanders that are explicit about what they will reward you for. If you’ve never goaded something big and scary, you’re in for a treat here. In terms of what’s currently spiking or about to spike, let’s dive in and look at some cards.
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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.
I am not going to waste too much time today because I know what you want and I’d just as soon see that you have it. That said, I DO still have to write some stuff above the fold, so let’s have it not be a waste of your time.
Eventually, decks will make their way to EDHREC and we’ll have data to pore over, I sure HOPE by next week. Until then, we’re forced to speculate. That’s fine, isn’t “speculator” the term we self-apply? So let’s speculate. I decided to narrow the scope of my musings to just the 4 new spoiled Legendary creatures from the commander decks. Was one of those cards EDHREC’s preview card and some jackhole leaked it? Better yet, was it my personal preview card, something I haven’t gotten since… wow, Razaketh? You can’t prove it wasn’t. Indeed, though it causes me great emotional distress to discuss my personal preview card which was leaked before the video I made with Post Malone could go live, I’ll do it for you, my adoring fans, because you deserve it. Let’s look at some Magic cards before we question why we care so much about a game that’s so indifferent to our needs and the entire thing falls apart.
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I was surprised to learn that Adventures in the Forgotten Realms released over six months ago now, and with both the Innistrad sets back to back followed by Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty just around the corner, I think that we should take a look back at AFR before we forget about it and all the decent specs are gone.
Guardian of Faith (FEA)
Price today: $4 Possible price: $10
Guardian of Faith is something that I hadn’t really noticed until now, but really should have been on my radar as a decent EDH card. As well as being a popular option among Spirits and Knights decks, it’s actually a strong piece for any white deck and can act as a budget (or secondary) Teferi’s Protection effect, protecting all your creatures for a turn at instant speed, whilst adding an extra body to the board as well.
With AFR already having been six months in print, some of the more popular premium treatment cards are starting to dry up. Guardian of Faith has 34 NM FEA listings on TCGPlayer, almost all of which are just single copies and not many of those below $5. Europe has more supply but the copies are actually slightly more expensive than in the US, so you could still pick some up but your margins are going to be slimmer. There is also the Ampersand promo to consider, but supply on those is very thin on the ground – if you can find any under $30-40 then I’d say go for it, but they’re getting harder to find at reasonable prices.
Oswald Fiddlebender (Showcase Foil)
Price today: $3 Possible price: $10
Moving onto another white card for my second pick today: for a card that’s just a Birthing Pod for artifacts, I’m honestly surprised that Oswald Fiddlebender is only in 4600 decks on EDHREC. It seems obvious that any artifact-based deck that can run this card should be doing so, especially if you’re trying to sift through your deck to find combo pieces rather than just mana rocks etc. Once you involve a Scrap Trawler and/or Myr Retriever then you can really go to town with it, getting back all the pieces you sacrifice to Oswald for free.
Showcase foils for this aren’t particularly pricey yet, but nor are they hugely plentiful in supply – around 40 NM foil listings on TCGPlayer, again almost all single copies, and around half the quantity of the regular foils available. I wouldn’t bother with the Ampersand promos on this one as they’re all $100+ already and I’m not sure how much money is to be made there. The Showcase foils from AFR definitely aren’t for everyone, but I quite like the art style on them and it’s clear that others do too, so although sales on them might not be as fast as they could be, I think you’ll still be able to make your money on them in time.
Teleportation Circle (FEA)
Price today: $5 Possible price: $15
All white cards? Yep, all white cards this week. Unintentional but here we are, and honestly it’s probably a good thing that there are actually some good white cards for EDH. We know how popular Conjurer’s Closet is, and Teleportation Circle is both cheaper in mana cost as well as being able to flicker artifacts as well as creatures. Closet is in almost 25,000 decks listed on EDHREC and I expect Teleportation Circle to close the gap between that and its current 7000 decks somewhat over the next couple of years.
Enter-the-battlefield effects will always be powerful and popular in EDH, and so I fully expect to see this card over $10 before long, and pushing $15-20 sooner or later. Around 30 NM foils on TCGPlayer and a solid ramp to $10 means that it won’t take many EDH players buying/upgrading copies of the card to lift the price up. The Ampersand promos on this one are around $50 right now, and personally I won’t be buying any but I could see a world where they move to $75-100, so use your own discretion on that one.
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 realize this seems like a simplistic question, but given the amount of cards that are reprinted every year, we have to make judicious decisions about where to put our money. Plus, because of the gushing torrent of reprints and Secret Lairs and oh my god Double Masters 2: Quadruple is coming out this year…it’s easy to overlook some releases.
The rest of this content is only visible to ProTrader members.
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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