Magic: The Gathering feels like it’s more popular than ever, and with no fewer than seven sets on the roadmap, here’s hoping there’s something for everyone.
The first set of the year is Lorwyn Eclipsed, and it’s pretty darn great, actually. It’s also causing some big changes to card value as players rush to upgrade its precons, particularly the Blight Curse one. Thanks to our friends at TCGplayer, we’ve got a rundown of the movers and shakers kicking off the latest set.
Climbers
We’ll get to the Blight Curse deck in a moment, but this Spider-Man Land is seeing some play since it works with the Dance of the Elements precon.
As Multiversal Passage enters, it can become any basic land you need it to be, entering tapped or being ready to go at the cost of two life. It’s wobbling at around $10 right now, but was half that just weeks ago.
OK, it’s Auntie Ool’s time to shine. The Commander behind Blight Curse deck is all about putting -1/-1 counters on cards, and that makes Nest of Scarabs a great pick since it turns those counters into 1/1 insect creature tokens, too.
It’s reached almost $10 seemingly overnight, and is a nice, obvious inclusion for the precon upgrade package.
Generous Patron is anything but obvious, though. It puts +1/+1 counters on creatures, which at first glance feels like the opposite of what Auntie Ool’s deck will have you doing. Still, the text below reads “Whenever you put one or more counters on a creature you don’t control, draw a card.”
Since that part doesn’t specify which counters trigger card draw, enjoy drawing more cards! It’s reached $12, again almost overnight.
Faeries were popular in Lorwyn’s first go-round, and Bitterbloom Bearer is one that’s particularly sought-after. One variant has appeared in our list of the priciest cards already, and the basic one is going for around $26 right now.
Finally, Pandemonium has spiked to around $14. It’s from the Exodus set, and lets a creature deal damage as it enters play. Almost tempted to put it in my Lord of Pain deck…
Crashers
Gah, so close. I’ve been waiting for Icetill Explorer from Edge of Eternities to drop a little further, and while it’s cheaper than it was a fortnight ago, it’s still around $20.
A perfect inclusion for Landfall decks, it lets you play an additional land each turn and play lands from your graveyard, too.
Lorwyn Eclipsed only has one vampire card, but it got me thinking: How much is Edgar Markov going for these days?
The answer is around $25, but given his power for Vampire decks, he still feels like a must-buy for anyone looking to play a fanged deck.
Remember when everyone went wild for Ragost, Deft Gastronaut? This Lobster makes your Artifacts into Foods, and despite seeing a spike in recent weeks, it is still under $1.
I’ve been tooling up an Eldrazi deck recently, and picked up Sire of Seven Deaths. Its value jumps around a fair bit, but for $19 you can get a 7/7 with (deep breath) First Strike, Vigilance, Menace, Trample, Reach, Lifelink, and Ward – 7 Life. Savage.
Finally, talking of keyword soup, I picked up Atraxa, Grand Unifier. No idea where I’ll play it, admittedly, but it’s sitting around $11 right now, which is much lower than in recent months.
Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He’s a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife’s dismay.
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