The well-known Magic: The Gathering dragon card The Ur-Dragon has started to spike, with a pretty significant 150% rise in the last month and a bit. The Commander Masters version of this card cost $28.20 when Aetherdrift came out. Now, on March 24, it’s risen all the way up to $70.70 and hasn’t shown any signs of slowing.
The borderless profile version of this card from the same set is a little cheaper, however. Interestingly, while this was slightly more pricey a month ago, at $31, it’s since become the most affordable version – still rising, but only to $58.20.
The Ur-Dragon is one of the best tribal commanders for dragons, because its eminence ability makes them cheaper to cast even when it’s not on the battlefield. That would be reason enough to stick it in your command zone even if there wasn’t a honking great creature attached, but of course there is.
If you have any kind of board when the Ur-Dragon hits the field, your opponents are going to be in for a bad time. You get to draw a card for each dragon you attack with, and then plonk any permanent you like down onto the field: terrifying!
The upcoming dragon-filled set Tarkir Dragonstorm has been known about ever since the MTG release schedule was revealed in late 2024, however, so why has it taken so long for this card to rise in price? Do Magic players just have very short attention spans or poor long-term planning ability?
Perhaps that’s partly the reason – doubtless some canny collectors picked up copies and stand to profit now everyone else is jumping on the bandwagon. But another reason might be that The Ur-Dragon was an obvious option for a reprint in this MTG set. Now we’re nearing the end of spoiler season, it’s seeming less and less likely that the card will make an appearance (but obviously it could still happen; don’t get mad at me if it does).
It also could just be that Tarkir is way far more fire than anyone anticipated. With hype building fast, there’s likely to be record numbers of players looking to make a dragon Commander deck once this set hits, and that’s obviously increasing demand.
And aside from all the fantastic new MTG dragons, there are some great support cards for dragon tribal decks. We’ve already seen how Tiamat was boosted by the combo potential of the Rooftop Storm-equivalent Dracogenesis, but it’s a pretty great card for the Ur-Dragon too. True, it doesn’t gel with the cost reduction power, but once you play your commander you can cheat it onto the field for free and then unload all the dragons you’ve just drawn. And it goes without saying that the free mana rock Mox Jasper is going to be excellent in any dragons deck.
As for the price discrepancy between the two art versions of the card, we see this often and I’m never quite sure if it’s because people badly crave the original artwork, or if it’s simply that the special treatments are more common in rare-stuffed collector boosters and therefore there are more of them on the market.
Sets with lots of different alternate styles like March of the Machine seem to demonstrate that it’s some combination of the two as more popular art styles are worth more than the regular art, while other variants cost far less.
For more Magic: The Gathering price stories you should check out our list of the most expensive MTG cards ever sold. You might also find our guide to the best MTG Arena decks an invaluable read.
Source: Wargamer
