The Magic: The Gathering card Virtus the Veiled has seen a significant price rise in the past month. It has jumped up from $6.20 at the start of July to $21.10 today, a price spike of 224%. This was a two dollar card at the start of 2024, so it’s quite surprising to see it sitting at ten times the price right now.
Originally released in the Two-Headed Giant themed MTG set Battlebond in 2018, Virtus is a weedy 1/1 assassin with deathtouch, who can cause players to lose half their life when he hits them. He can also be Partners with Gorm the Great, a creature that can force blockers to focus on him, making Virtus more likely to connect.
This card has slowly crept up in value, before spiking suddenly after MTG Assassin’s Creed released. The slow increase was probably because Virtus recently found a home with a few brand new MTG commanders. The card works well with Etrata, Deadly Fugitive from Karlov Manor and Mari, the Killing Quill from Thunder Junction, since both want you to have assassins dealing combat damage as much as possible.
However, it’s obviously the new Assassin’s Creed set which has set Virtus’ star rising, as it’s seeing plenty of play in the popular new Altaïr and Ezio decks. It seems useful in both. Altaïr can keep bringing Virtus back as an attacking deathtouch creature that alway poses a major threat. And Ezio can use Virtus to quickly knock an opponent down to 10 life so they can be assassinated.
It has to be said at this point that, for a Universes Beyond set we’d all chalked up as a flop, Assassin’s Creed seems to have affected the value of an awful lot of cards, from Olivia to Tree of Perdition.
In terms of the set’s overall value, however, it’s still looking pretty grim. Assassin’s Creed only has three cards worth more than $10, which is the same as Thunder Junction, but half as many high value cards as Lost Caverns of Ixalan and Murders at Karlov Manor.
For more Magic content, take a look at our MTG release schedule guide, or our handy list of all the MTG Arena codes you can still make use of.
Source: Wargamer
