Spoilers for the upcoming Magic: The Gathering set Tarkir Dragonstorm are here, and while we’re obviously excited by all the new cards, there’s also a sweet reprint thundering towards us that’s well worth paying attention to (and then getting out of the way of). The Commander all-star Craterhoof Behemoth is here, back in Standard for the first time in a decade!
I’d bargain every EDH player has heard of Craterhoof Behemoth, but just in case you’re unfamiliar, this eight mana creature is one of green’s best finishers. When it ETBs, it grants a power and toughness boost to every creature, equal to the number of creatures you control. They also get trample, so no chumping!
These powers are particularly mighty in token decks of course, but Craterhoof is just generally devastating in any green deck that plays creatures (i.e. all green decks). Generally when it’s fired off, there’s a strong chance it’s game over for those on the receiving end.
Despite a recent reprint, Craterhoof Behemoth is still a pretty expensive MTG card, with an average price of around $35. Of course, the exact value depends on the variant you go for. An original foil copy from Avacyn Restored can sell for $65, while the children’s drawing version from the Extra Life Secret Lair is more like $30. The Innistrad Remastered set earlier this year brought out a new retro-border version of this card, and copies tend to sell for $25-30.
Overall, there’s a ton of demand for this card, which has kept its price high, despite a fair few reprints. But this one is different: a reprint in a Standard MTG set – not a special guest card but a regular mythic rare – is bound to make Craterhoof far more accessible to way more players.
Given that the creature has only ever appeared in one Standard set before this, has nothing to do with dragons, and just had a reprint, we were frankly shocked to see this reveal in Tarkir Dragonstorm. The card would’ve made more sense in an Ikoria revisit or even on the plane of Muraganda in Aetherdrift. But perhaps we shouldn’t have been so shocked. It’s becoming quite common for Wizards of the Coast to release multiple new versions of desirable reprints in close proximity to one another.
I don’t have hard evidence to back this up, but anecdotally, it’s a pattern I’ve been musing on for a couple years now. A few examples are that Mana Crypt got reprinted in Double Masters 2022, then the following year as a Special Gust in LCI. Doubling Season was reprinted in Commander Masters and Wilds of Eldraine within a few months of one another in 2023. It does sort of seem like once WotC makes up its mind to reprint an expensive card it often goes for several bites of the apple.
While the previous incarnation of Craterhoof was a giant spiny reptile, on Tarkir it appears to be a giant green mammoth, with foliage growing from it like an elemental. There are three versions of the card, all with different art. We have the regular version, a ‘borderless clan’ variant with the Temur symbol behind it, and a ghostfire version with streamy blue fire.
One funny thing about the card is that the flavor text on different versions is almost identical – the quotes are just attributed to different characters, and they give different creatures they’d rather be fighting instead of this absolute unit.
For more Magic: The Gathering news, check out our MTG release schedule guide to see more details on upcoming sets like Magic: The Gathering Final Fantasy.
Source: Wargamer
