The Magic: The Gathering card Nethroi, Apex of Death is zipping up in value, thanks to a really cool interaction in the Commander format. This card is still pretty affordable, but regular copies have gone from just $1.10 when Tarkir came out, to $4.20 at time of writing. Flashier variants are far more costly: showcase foils have risen from $10 to $30, while the Godzilla skinned version is up to $40.
This card has been super cheap ever since it came out in the 2020 MTG set Ikoria, but it’s moving up in price now, thanks to some wonderful synergy with one of the best Tarkir Dragonstorm commanders, Felothar the Steadfast.
Nethroi’s mutate ability lets you resurrect creatures with total power 10 or less. And since Felothar is a Defender commander, most of the creatures in your deck have zero power. So you just mutate Nethroi onto a non-human creature (most walls are non-human) and you can bring back your entire graveyard to the board. That’s some lovely board wipe protection – if your opponents don’t have another wipe waiting, it could easily see you taking the game.
While Felothar is only the sixth most popular MTG commander in Tarkir Dragonstorm (according to EDHREC), it has caused the most price spikes by far. This is probably because it’s part of a very distinctive archetype and has a somewhat unique color combination, which means unusual cards that were very cheap beforehand now have a niche.
I say somewhat unique because Doran, the Siege Tower is another toughness-matters Abzan commander. But it lacks the crucial component of allowing creatures with defender to attack, which is why it’s more of a treefolk commander than a defender one.
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Source: Wargamer
