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Insider: Commander, Modern, and Reserved List Foil Spikes

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The upcoming release of the Commander 2017 decks has brought a lot of interest to their respective tribes: Wizards, Vampires, Cats, and Dragons, as well as tribal cards in general, which explains some of the biggest price spikes in the Magic finance over the last week.

Commander Foil Spikes

There was an error retrieving a chart for Supreme Inquisitor

Supreme Inquisitor is a fantastic addition to the new Grixis Wizards deck. It hasn’t ever seen attention for competitive play, but its ability is perfectly suited for Commander. The foil has seen a ten-fold spike from $2 to $20.

There was an error retrieving a chart for Stonybrook Banneret

Stonybrook Banneret has been used competitively as a Merfolk, but its Wizard status and ability to reduce the cost of Wizards makes it a very nice addition to a Wizards tribal deck. Its price has seen a spike from $2 to nearly $10 in the last week.

There was an error retrieving a chart for Voidmage Prodigy

There is no building a Wizard deck without Voidmage Prodigy, so its foil printings have seen spikes this past week, with the original Onslaught printing nearly doubling from $10 to $20, and the Timeshifted version from Time Spiral growing from $10 to $16. The reprint of this card depicting Magic Invitational winner Kai Budde is widely considered to have better art than the much-maligned original artwork, so my money is on it for long-term speculation.

There was an error retrieving a chart for Steely Resolve

Steely Resolve is an excellent way to protect your tribal deck from disruption, and it seems like a great fit into the White-Green Cats deck. The price has moved from $4 to nearly $20.

There was an error retrieving a chart for Patriarch's Bidding

Patriarch's Bidding is an iconic tribal card, and it has seen massive competitive success in the past in both Zombies and Goblin decks. It has applications in any black tribal deck, so it has seen renewed interest as a possible addition to the Vampires deck. The price has more than doubled from under $30 to over $60.

Modern Foil Spikes

There has been a lot of attention on Modern recently with two weekends in a row of SCG Modern Opens and a weekend of two Modern Grand Prix, combined with Hour of Devastation cards being incorporated into the metagame, so there has been a lot of corresponding finance action.

There was an error retrieving a chart for Vengevine

The most promising new deck idea in Modern uses Hour of Devastation’s Hollow One as a cheap or even free creature to trigger Vengevine returning from the graveyard, using discard spells to enable both game plans. Vengevine’s price responded by doubling from $10 to $20 in a week, and in the last week it has grown to $30. The foil price has followed suit, more than doubling from $25 to nearly $60.

I think a great way to speculate on this deck would be to target Hollow One, which is over $7 but would certainly grow if the deck becomes top-tier.

There was an error retrieving a chart for Demonic Dread

The Living End deck continues to prove successful in Modern after gaining a bunch of new cycling creatures in Amonkhet, so its foil staples continue to grow in demand. This week Demonic Dread doubled from under $3 to nearly $6.

There was an error retrieving a chart for Logic Knot

Jeskai Control continues to succeed in Modern and is ascending to a top-tier deck. Logic Knot has been a key part of its success, and the price continues to rise, with the price of near-mint Future Sight foils having reached $20.

Urza’s Block Foil Reserved List Spikes

Urza’s Legacy and Urza’s Destiny have the distinction of being the first sets to include foil cards, as well as the the distinction of being the last sets that include cards on the Reserved List. This creates the very interesting crossover of foil reserved list cards, and that makes them particularly juicy targets for the speculator. There have been a number of these cards seeing price spikes this past week, and it makes me wonder if more cards aren’t up next.

There was an error retrieving a chart for Phyrexian Negator

The biggest winner by percentage has been Phyrexian Negator, which grew from under $8 to $35. The card doesn’t have a ton of competitive value anymore, but it’s a very iconic card, and was still a big bargain compared to the most expensive Reserved List foils.

There was an error retrieving a chart for Grim Monolith

Grim Monolith is a very playable card with a ton of iconic value and no reprints, which explains its monstrous $750 pricetag, which has since doubled to $1500! This movement alone is indication of the potential value of other foil Reserved List cards.

There was an error retrieving a chart for Palinchron

Palinchron has seen a 50-percent increase from $150 to $225, and this powerful and iconic creature has more room to grow.

There was an error retrieving a chart for Deranged Hermit

Another iconic creature from this era is Deranged Hermit, and its price, which grew from $43 to nearly $60 this week, which still looks like a relative bargain.

There was an error retrieving a chart for Replenish

There was an error retrieving a chart for Academy Rector

Other cards on the move are Replenish, which surpassed $100 to $108 from $90, and Academy Rector, which approaches $200 as it grew from $150 to $175 this week.

There was an error retrieving a chart for Carnival of Souls

This sort of fervor could explain the rise of Carnival of Souls, which has fallen back to $20 from $27, but previously sat under $10.

Other Reserved List cards with foil versions are:

Urza’s Legacy

Urza’s Destiny

What do yo think the best targets among these are?

2 thoughts on “Insider: Commander, Modern, and Reserved List Foil Spikes

  1. Don’t know about the best targets among the RL foils, but I am holding onto any I come across. Currently: Second Change, Weatherseed Treefolk, Academy Rector, Donate, Rofellos, Treachery, Yawgmoth’s Bargain. (All a single copy, they came from a couple of collections).

  2. Great article Adam, I like foil Hermit even more with Unstable likely renewing interest in squirrels for us older players. I got in on a lot of these RL foils for my collection and for various EDH decks over the last 10 years, I’m really tempted to unload some extra foil Monoliths or Metalworkers. Do you think these more playable ones will rise slowly from here or recede? A lot of these prices don’t seem sustainable at all, but maybe it’s just because they were relatively stable for so many years.

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