The Magic: The Gathering card Mox Opal, unbanned in Modern on December 16, 2024, has skyrocketed in price, with TCGPlayer data showing the card selling today for $124 more than it did yesterday.
On December 16, presumably not long before the new Magic: The Gathering banlist update, a fan (who must surely be either kicking themself now or trying to cancel the sale) sold a near mint copy from the Scars of Mirrodin MTG set for $71. Now, on December 17, near mint specimens are going for up to $195.
An artifact that taps for colorless mana, but only works if you have three artifacts, Mox Opal is legendary, which means you’re limited to one copy on the field at any one time. What makes this card a killer, however, is its zero mana casting cost.
Obviously, it’s the banlist changes that have caused the enormous price spike. While the removal of The One Ring from the format was expected – which is why the card plummeted in value long before its ban was actually announced – no one expected a slate of unbannings to go alongside it.
Mox Opal was banned in Modern relatively recently – in January 2020 – after Urza, Lord High Artificer decks became an abominable threat, aided by Oko, perhaps the most infamously broken Magic: The Gathering planeswalker ever printed. Fast mana cards like Mox Opal have a funny habit of looking innocuous while fuelling some of the most busted decks in the game, and it’ll be interesting to see what comes of this unbanning.
As well as Mox Opal, Splinter Twin, Green Sun’s Zenith, and Faithless Looting were all reinstated in Modern, and we can expect similar price spikes for most of these. Mox Opal is by far the priciest right now, however, mostly by way of having the highest floor. It was already played in Legacy and even Vintage decks, which kept the card’s price high while Splinter Twin, for instance, crashed post-ban.
The unbanned cards might be the first to shift in price after these changes, but they probably won’t be the last. We’ll be keeping a close eye on how the meta shifts over the next couple of weeks.
For more Magic: The Gathering content, check out our list of the best MTG Arena decks you can play right now, and don’t miss the MTG release schedule.
Source: Wargamer
