Thanks to Duskmourn: House of Horror, Demons are all the rage nowadays. Not only are they popping off in Commander thanks to new support, but they’re making real competitive waves too. In both Standard and Pioneer, Demon Typal decks have become unexpectedly powerful in recent weeks.
While the dominance of Demons may be somewhat unexpected, what’s happened since then is no surprise at all. Newfound competitive prowess comes with a lot of extra attention, typically leading to impressive price spikes. Following Dimir Demons performance at Magic World Championship 30, this is exactly what we’ve seen happening.
Archfiend of the Dross
- Mana Value: 2BB
- Rarity: Rare
- Card Type: Creature — Phyrexian Demon
- Stats: 6/6
- Card Text: Flying
Archfiend of the Dross enters with four oil counters on it.
At the beginning of your upkeep, remove an oil counter from Archfiend of the Dross. Then if it has no oil counters on it, you lose the game.
Whenever a creature an opponent controls dies, its controller loses 2 life.
From the moment it was spoiled in Phyrexia: All Will Be One Archfiend of the Dross clearly offered an insane rate. A four mana 6/6 with flying and an extra ability attached certainly packed a strong punch. There’s just the very small catch that Archfiend of the Dross might make you lose the game after four turns…
Thankfully, this potential problem rarely comes up since four turns are all that Archfiend of the Dross needs to kill. This makes it a huge threat to your opponents, often prompting removal before the clock can complete. Thankfully, this means that Archfiend of the Dross is a lot more reward than risk, as it’s a hugely capable midrange threat.
Beyond being able to punch in for huge damage, Archfiend of the Dross is also a Demon, which is obviously important right now. Specifically, the card works wonders with Uhonly Annex/Ritual Chamber which provides consistent card draw and value. Provided you can get Archfiend of the Dross on the board, Unholy Annex is simply a better Phyrexian Arena, which is absurd.
Following the release of Duskmourn, many MTG players have been trying out this new archetype with varying degrees of success. Now, however, it seems this deck is very much the real deal. In the hands of Javier Dominguez Dimir Demons crushed the competition to outright win Magic World Championship 30.
The Spike
Unsurprisingly, this recent top-class performance of Dimir Demons has gotten a lot of players interested in the archetype. We’ve already seen Unholy Annex/Ritual Chamber shooting up in price, but that’s obviously not the only increase. Over the past few days, Archfiend of the Dross has exploded in price, with an even greater rise being seen across the entire month.
At the start of October, Archfiend of the Dross was only worth around $0.66. At this time, there was some competitive interest in the card, but only really in Pioneer. Despite appearing fairly consistently in Rakdos Midrange decks, the card certainly didn’t have multiformat appeal. That’s all changed now, however.
Rather than just appearing in Standard and growing popular as a midrange threat, Archfiend of the Dross has exploded onto the scene. This has caused a mad rush to buy copies, with hundreds of sales happening in recent days. Unsurprisingly, this rush of demand has pushed the card’s price up substantially.
Currently, the market price for a near mint copy of Archfiend of the Dross sits at $3.85. As if this wasn’t already impressive enough, listings for the card now start at $5, including shipping. While this high price point is certainly impressive, it’s a long way off the near $18 high that Unholy Annex/Ritual Chamber is currently at. This could indicate there’s a lot of room for prices to increase further.
Somewhat surprisingly, the showcase variant of Archfiend of the Dross is actually slightly cheaper than the normal card right now. Unsurprisingly, there has been a decent price spike to this variant, but copies are still selling for around $1.50. So long as you don’t mind the art, this would be an effective way to save some money.
The Sudden Surge
As mentioned, the renewed interest in Archfiend of the Dross has caused a very sudden and sharp price spike. While these are nothing new in the grand scheme of MTG, it’s worth remembering that fast and hard spikes are often volatile. Everyone may be running out to buy Archfiend of the Dross right now, but soon everyone will have had their fill.
With this in mind, there’s a non-zero chance that the price of Archfiend of the Dross will drop sooner, rather than later. Even if the card does become a Standard all-star while retaining its Pioneer popularity, it lacks appeal elsewhere. In Commander, for example, Archfiend of the Dross struggles as life totals are higher and games are slower.
Technically, this can open up other avenues to Harmless Offering your way into victory, but this is inherently risky. This risk factor will likely keep Archfiend of the Dross from being a true multi-format all-star anytime soon. With this in mind, the card’s current price spike is bound to settle down before too too long.