A joke from Just Chatting streamer PaymoneyWubby about Wizards of the Coast adding the Magic: The Gathering Reserve List Reparations card to the Banned and Restricted announcements for being offensive has led to a $30-plus price spike as of June 5.
It’s not unusual for older MTG cards to spike in price during a set release, especially when the new set is Modern Horizons 3. But that wasn’t the case with a Mirage Reserve List card printed in 1996 called Reparations. Playable in MTG formats Commander, Legacy, Vintage, and Oathbreaker only, the nearly 30-year-old card spiked in price on May 31 and has continued to rise since. But the price spike isn’t due to a new card making Reparations playable—it’s because streamer PaymoneyWubby joked about WotC banning the card for being offensive, and that collectors should purchase near-mint copies to sell if a ban was to take place.