Typal MTG Strategies Cause 1233% Price Spike!

Now that players finally know almost everything that’s going on with Wilds of Eldraine, preparation has begun! Aside from a few misnomer spikes that have almost nothing to do with Magic, price adjustments this week hint at players getting ready for the release of Wilds of Eldraine.

A majority of these spikes have been in the form of typal strategies releasing alongside Wilds of Eldraine. That said, the biggest price spike of the week, while still being a typal one, more has to do with the changing environment of the Modern format. Let’s take a look!

This Lorwyn exclusive appears to be at the beginning of a larger price spike. The Goblin Matron wannabe allows you to search your library for a Faerie and place it on top of your deck. For four mana, you otherwise get a 2/2 flier, which isn’t the best rate. Fortunately, the card does have Flash, allowing you to hold up interaction, trigger the many new Faerie payoffs for casting spells on your opponent’s turns in the new Commander precon, and make the tutor of the Faerie being on top of your library a bit less awkward since you can draw it shortly after.

Because this price spike is new, there is still a huge variance in prices. $5 seems to be the high end for this card, up from 75 cents the week prior. That said, there are still copies selling for under a dollar, but purchasing this card for $2-3 is becoming a lot more common.

Karlach, Fury of Avernus has seen a massive price increase over the past few weeks. This increase in price has very little to do with Magic, but instead is a result of the new release Baldur’s Gate 3.

Dungeons and Dragons is yet another IP owned by Wizards of the Coast and their newest offering has been incredibly popular. In Baldur’s Gate 3, Karlach is one of the many companions that you can quest and romance. She has proven to be rather popular in that game, which has Baldur’s Gate 3 fans running over to Magic LGS’s to buy her card and otherwise build Commander decks around her.

We give this particular spike a lot more detail in a previous article, but numbers-wise, Karlach has spiked from $4 to $15ish from mid-August, and has a bit of a larger premium on foil variants.

Read More: Baldur’s Gate 3 Characters Make Great MTG Commanders!

Flame of Anor’s price spike is not too shocking if you’ve been following the state of Modern. The card depicting one of the most legendary moments in the Lord of the Rings franchise popped up as a tech option at the recent Pro Tour. Otherwise, Flame of Anor has promoted the viability of Wizard creatures, allowing the nostalgic Snapcaster Mage, that has otherwise been power crept out of the format, to see a return. You can read more about that here.

Thanks to the changes referenced above, Flame of Anor has absolutely skyrocketed in price from mid-July. Once worth 75 cents, Flame of Anor now retails for $10 according to recent sales on TCGplayer! This is the higher end of sales, however. You can still find copies of Flame of Anor for $7-9.

Anyone who has been keeping an eye on Wilds of Eldraine knows that Faeries are coming back in a big way. Being a draft archetype in Wilds of Eldraine’s Limited format and getting an entire Commander deck based around the creature type, Faeries are going to be all over the place for a little while. As one of the most heavily played Faerie cards across formats, it makes sense that Spellstutter Sprite is seeing a price increase.

Commonly seen in Pauper and occasionally appearing as a typal icon in other formats, Spellstutter Sprite counters a spell with mana value X or less where X is equal to the number of Faeries you control. Thanks to all the new Faerie support releasing in Wilds of Eldraine, Spellstutter Sprite has increased in price from about $3 to $6 for the card’s anime version from Jumpstart 2022. The card’s zenith in terms of recent sales is closer to $7.

For Spellstutter Sprite’s normal versions, the card has seen a very slight increase. Finally, Spellstutter Sprite’s Secret Lair variant has spiked from $15 to $30 over the past two weeks.

Read More: Top 11 Most Expensive Enchanting Tales Reprints in Wilds of Eldraine

While the spike to Thassa’s Oracle is not the largest, the card’s newest variant is going for a pretty absurd premium. Regardless of the format you play, chances are you’ve been impacted by Thassa’s Oracle at some point. This is one of the strongest win conditions in Commander when combined with cards like Demonic Consultation, offering a three-mana two card win condition. Thassa’s Oracle also appears in Legacy and Modern. It was quite potent in Pioneer back when Inverter of Truth was still legal as well.

Thassa’s Oracle’s cheapest variant goes for about $9 with no signs of price increase. In comparison, the new Secret Lair version of Thassa’s Oracle has seen a massive spike. Retailing for about $20 back in June, the Secret Lair Thassa’s Oracle is now going for about $45! Foils are approaching $65.

The other typal synergy getting a boost from Wilds of Eldriane are Rats. First appearing in Alpha, the Rat creature type embodies one of the archetypes in the set’s limited format. Spoilers and early information place that archetype in the Rakdos colors.

For the same reasons that some Faerie cards have been seeing price increases, Rat cards are as well. Marrow-Gnawer, one of the better Commander for the Rat creature type, are starting to show subtle signs of a price spike, with recent sales for each printing surpassing market value on TCGplayer.

Read More: Top 10 Most Expensive MTG Cards on The List for Wilds of Eldraine

In comparison, Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm, largely considered one of the best Rat Commanders in Magic, has seen a rather aggressive price spike. Ashcoat has always been expensive, but it hit a new nadir of $26 in early July. Since then the card has risen back up to a market price of $32, but has sales pushing towards $40.

Regardless of whether its the Wizard, Faerie or Rat creature types, typal cards seem to be on the rise in the secondary market.

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