Many Commander cards are getting cheaper thanks to reprints. Not these cards. Some of the most powerful and useful cards in the Commander & EDH format are surging in price.
In fact, the most expensive Commander cards are spiking as much as $50 to $100 from January to today. The cards I am talking about are the ones on the reserved list. It’s a list of cards that MTG has promised never to reprint.
This spike in prices is a reversal of a trend that started in 2021. For the last three years, reserved list cards from the Revised set have been getting cheaper. Cards like Gaea’s Cradle had fallen from a peak price of about $1,200 in January of 2021 to around $770 at the end of 2023.
In 2024, this trend has flipped, and cards are starting to become more expensive again. Here are some of the changes we’re observing in popular reserved list Commander cards. We are benchmarking prices using the methodology and data provided by MTGGoldfish.
Dual Land Prices
Dual lands are all up around 10-20% from November 2023 to the time of writing. Underground Sea, the most expensive of dual lands, has gone up from $695 to $850. That’s an increase of 22%!
Savannah, the cheapest of dual lands, has gone from $295 to $348, an increase of about 18%!
Wheel of Fortune Price
Wheel of Fortune is one of the most powerful red cards in the game, and one of the best cards a red deck in Commander can run. It’s particularly brutal when combined with cards like Narset, Parter of Veils, which prevent opponents from drawing additional cards. Typically, you’ll use it to combo off with a fresh set of 7 cards to win the game.
The Revised version of Wheel of Fortune has spun from $270 to $310 or a 15% increase.
City of Traitors Price
The demand for City of Traitors is skyrocketing. The card sees play in quite a few Legacy decks and is popular in cEDH builds.
My wallet has started to feel betrayed as the price of City of Traitors has gone from $300 at the end of 2023 to $420 and higher today. That’s a 40% jump!
Lion’s Eye Diamond Price
The “poor man’s” Black Lotus isn’t as affordable as it used to be (and hasn’t been for a long time). It’s jumped from $430 to $530! A $100 spike, representing a 23% premium.
Gaea’s Cradle Price
Gaea’s Cradle is one of the most powerful lands in the game and an instant upgrade for 99% of green-based Commander decks. A green cEDH deck without Cradle is a huge miss and for that reason it also demands one of the most expensive prices.
Gaea’s Cradle dropped as low as $770 last year. Today, it sits at $820, an increase of $50.
The Most Expensive Commander Legal Reserved List Cards Are Dropping
While most of the highly played Commander cards are spiking in price this year, not everything is going up.
A few of the most expensive reserved list cards are flat or continuing to fall in price. Examples include Mishra’s Workshop, a card banned in Legacy, which spiked to $10K in 2021 and has been flat at $2,500 since the year started.
Other cards that haven’t seen a price spike include The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale, a card that’s about as fun to buy as it is to play against. It’s fallen over $1,000 from $4,400 to about $3,300 from October 2023 to today.
Will the trend continue in the second half of 2024? If it does, we can expect to see more expensive dual lands and other popular Commander cards from the reserved list.
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