The Magic: The Gathering card Tree of Perdition has spiked in price. Copies of this unpleasant plant hailing from the Innistrad Remastered compilation set were, until about March 20, selling for $4 on the secondary market – going by MTG Goldfish’s price tracker. But at time of writing, they’re now shifting for $12: a 167% rise.
At first, this simply seems be a case of this particular variant of the card catching up with the other copies, which have been sitting at around $12-15 for a while. Since Innistrad Remastered came out relatively recently, it has to an extent flooded the market with popular reprints, and for a while supply may have met demand. Even some of this MTG set’s biggest chase cards like Craterhoof Behemoth saw a dip in price after release.
But now, the number of players hankering after this perditious plant has seemingly outstripped the supply. Your timeslot for picking up this card on the cheap has officially ended. In case you’re unaware, this creature card, originally from Eldritch Moon, is a fat 0/13 defender, and you can tap it to swap its toughness with an opponent’s life total. The Innistrad Remastered version, the one that has moved up in value, gives it a new, anime-inspired art style.
Looking back, this spike is almost a carbon copy of the one Tree of Perdition went through about eight months ago – even the percentage increase is the same. But is it simply the case of the card playing catchup? Let’s see if we can identify the root (hah!) causes of the rise.
We should first observe that, in 2024, the main reasons Tree of Perdition spiked in value were a Pioneer combo deck that aimed to give the tree’s lifeswapping ability to another creature, using Agatha’s Cauldron. The Universes Beyond Assassin’s Creed commander Ezio Auditore de Firenze was another factor. Putting a player to 13 life was exactly the number needed to ensure an instant kill with the assassin.
Now, Ezio is no longer the hot new MTG commander, and no one is playing Tree of Perdition in Pioneer. For a while, Duskmourn kept the experimental deck alive thanks to Marvin, Murderous Mimic, which can also copy abilities. But now, while Rakdos remains as popular as ever, this combo deck is nowhere to be found in the meta.
So we have to look for a new reason for this card to be pricey, and – as you’d expect – there is one. It’s the new Tarkir Dragonstorm commander, Felothar the Steadfast, from the Abzan MTG precon deck.
This crocodile-riding badass lets defenders attack and deal damage with toughness, and also has black in its color identity. So Tree of Perdition is one of the best threats you can include. Not only do you have the still quite potent ability to put a player to 13 life, when you do this you’re probably left with a creature that can hit for 20-30 damage. The cherry on top is you can also use Felothar’s ability to sacrifice the tree and draw dozens of cards.
Yeah, that’s a pretty good reason for a price spike. We can call this puzzle solved! For more Magic: The Gathering news, check out our MTG release schedule guide and our article on the most expensive Magic: The Gathering cards ever.
Source: Wargamer
