Ketramose, the New Dawn has been the center of attention since the release of Aetherdrift. Unlike Radiant Lotus, which could either be broken or unusable, it was very obvious that this God was good. We even ranked it as the best MTG card in Aetherdrift.
Considering how much the card has overperformed on Aetherdrift’s opening weekend, it should be little surprise that Ketramose has just seen a massive price spike. Opening a copy of this card is a massive windfall and buying a playset of them will set you back hundreds of dollars.
Ketramose, the New Dawn
Ketramose, the New Dawn is a new Orzhov God that offers a new twist on the traditional Devotion mechanic. Instead of revolving around Devotion, Ketramose instead cares about the number of cards in exile.
As strong as Ketramose is as a three-mana creature, the reason why this card is seeing so much play is almost entirely for its final ability.
As long as a card is exiled during your turn, Ketramose draws a card. The life loss is a little annoying but is easily offset by Ketramose’s Lifelink once you get your engine going. There is a ton of exile-based removal across formats at the moment. Whether you’re using Solitude to get rid of a massive threat, or are using Ghost Vacuum to exile something out of the grave, Ketramose will draw cards off it.
Modern Dominance
This insane draw effect has allowed Ketramose to see play in formats as old as Modern. The card is appearing in two top Modern archetypes right now. Orzhov Sewers is the perfect home for a card like Ketramose. Not only can you take advantage of Solitude’s removal effect, but you can also draw cards off of Ephemerate, Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, and Emperor of Bones.
Ketramose is also seeing play in Dimir (now Esper) Oculus lists thanks to some insane synergy with Psychic Frog. Psychic Frog can exile three cards to grant itself Flying, which just so happens to trigger Ketramose. Ketramose also synergizes well with Unearth, which is already used in combination with Frog’s discard effect to reanimate Abhorrent Oculus. This means that Ketramose is an amazing card draw engine that fits into a struggling Modern archetype.
Perhaps the most exciting thing about Ketramose is that it has created a new combo in the Modern format. If you have Ketramose, Psychic Frog, and a Dredge card like Darkblast, you can create an infinitely large Frog to end the game with. This has also created a slew of new brews.
Unsurprisingly, Ketramose is also seeing some Standard play.
The Spike
As is common for MTG cards, Ketramose saw a slight dip in price after Aetherdrift’s prerelease. The God temporarily settled at about $18, which now serves as the card’s lowest point of price. After Ketramose started to pop up all over Modern and Standard, the card began skyrocketing aggressively.
Currently, if you want to pick up a non-foil copy of Ketramose, you’ll need to pay at least $67. Notably, however, there are many listings closer to the $75 range, suggesting the price may spike further.
Other variants of Ketramose aren’t worth quite as much as the original variant at the moment. That said, these variants are all sold out on TCGplayer, so discerning true prices is rather difficult. Chances are that once supply is updated and prices are refreshed, this card will go for about $70 across all variants.
Considering just how dominant Ketramose has been in release week, this isn’t too surprising of a number. Ketramose is even exploding in price digitally. The card is worth about $63 on Magic Online, a figure staggeringly similar to its paper variant.
Will This Hold?
Ketramose, the New Dawn certainly seems to have a lot of playability to it. The fact that the card is showing up so aggressively in the Modern format probably means that players in Standard and Pioneer will also be interested in it. Azorius Oculus might be able to use Ketramose, for example, provided that they can maximize the card as a draw engine.
While a lot of innovation around Ketramose has driven demand for the card over the moon, the card’s performance in the coming weeks will ultimately decide whether or not it’s the real deal. If Ketramose fails on all fronts, the card will lose some value, but if it continues to perform in multiple formats, then this card will remain the most expensive one in MTG Aetherdrift.
For now, a massive surge in demand has undeniably skyrocketed Ketramose’s price. Even looking around for myself revealed that almost every smaller store in my area is completely sold out of the god. Notably, however, Aetherdrift has not officially released yet. That happens, as of the writing of this article, tomorrow, which certainly has an impact on the available supply of Aetherdrift product. Once demand has been sated, Ketramose’s price will likely see a readjustment.