Multiple Magic: The Gathering cards that are banned in the game’s popular EDH format are shooting up in value, after designer Gavin Verhey hinted there could be unbannings come April. While revealing the new Commander brackets system last week, Verhey announced that “no bans will be happening at that time – just potentially some unbans.” And that’s all it took to set card prices jumping.
Last week, the most recently (and controversially) banned cards Dockside Extortionist, Jeweled Lotus, and Mana Crypt blew up in price, showing that some fans clearly hope Wizards of the Coast will overturn the final decision of the now-disbanded RC. But now other cards that have been on the Commander banlist far longer are also on the rise.
It’s notable that not every banned card is shooting up in price – at least not yet. Fans seem to have collectively picked a few winners that they think are the most likely to be struck from the list.
One of these cards is Primeval Titan, the cheapest copies of which are up to $15 now from $9 last week. This giant lets you fetch up two land cards when it enters or attacks. The main arguments for unbanning seem to be that there are other powerful ramp options available in the format and that Primeval Titan can be easily shut down with removal.
However, the fact that Titan can tutor up literally any MTG land in your deck and isn’t limited to basics seems to be the real point of contention, as this allows for all kinds of dangerous combos. These become truly fearsome in EDH, since land destruction is so discouraged on a social level.
Foil copies of Sylvan Primordial have also risen by 115% from $11.10 to $23.90 in the past seven days. Like Prime Time, this is a big ramping creature, but unlike the Titan, it also destroys a permanent for each player before fetching up lands. What makes this a little less broken is that Sylvan can only tutor for forests, but unfortunately it can destroy any permanent – including lands.
This means if a player has a way to flicker a Sylvan Primordial, you quickly end up in a situation where they have all their lands out, and the rest of the table is stuck on zero mana. Not a fun place to be – hopefully everyone is wise enough to scoop at that stage.
Another spiking card is Biorhythm, which has gone from $5.50 to $9.90. This 8-mana spell can immediately kill a player with no creatures on board, setting everyone’s life totals to their number of creatures. While a very powerful spell that’s brilliant for a go-wide deck, the high mana cost of Biorhythm, and the fact that it will sit in your hand, a dead card, for most of the game, has some suggesting it would now be fine in the format.
If I had to put money on one card getting removed from the MTG banlist it would likely be this one. The arguments for reinstating it are similar to those made for Worldfire, which was unbanned a few years ago and didn’t cause issues. I think nine times out of ten, a go-wide player running out Biorhythm will have exactly the same result as a go-wide player dropping a Craterhoof.
So far, it feels like players’ hopes are firmly pinned on green, but Coalition Victory is a five-color card that’s more than doubled in price (from $2 to $5). Some see it as an expensive, fiddly wincon, while others point out that you only need a couple of triomes and a five-color MTG commander to immediately win the game with this.
The fact it’s a sorcery rather than an enchantment that triggers on the upkeep step is probably the clincher here – as it means opponents have nothing, short of a counterspell or surprise removal, they can do to respond.
For more great reads, check out our guide to the best MTG Arena decks you can play, or the MTG release schedule.
Source: Wargamer
