This afternoon, we got to experience the first look at the upcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender crossover. This set looks like a blast for any Avatar fans, and features a multitude of iconic characters and ideas.
In addition to the cards from the main set, it appears we’re also getting a group of reprints. So far, two very pricy borderless staples have been revealed. Presumably part of a bonus sheet, these cards that aren’t Standard legal appear in one out of every 26 play boosters in place of a common, and are guaranteed in every collector booster. This should add plenty of extra suspense to your pack-cracking experience.
The Great Henge
The first reprint reflavored as The Banyan Tree is none other than The Great Henge. The Great Henge used to be a dominant Standard powerhouse. Alongside Lovestruck Beast and other efficient, burly bodies, getting this card into play early was trivial. From there, the mana and card advantage provided would quickly let you run away with the game.
Now, this artifact is an EDH staple with a very hefty price tag. From Dragons shells to Dinosaur decks, as long as you’re playing a high density of creatures, you’ll want this card. Card draw in green is hard to come by. If The Great Henge sticks around, chances are you’re in great shape.
From a reprint value perspective, this will likely be one of the most appealing Avatar bonus sheet cards. Despite reprints in Tales of Middle-earth: Commander and Commander Masters, The Great Henge still boasts a $63 price tag in its cheapest, non-foil form, according to TCGplayer.
Force of Negation
Next in line, we have Force of Negation. Force of Negation is a multi-format staple for many blue decks. Unlike Force of Will, this piece of counter magic can’t be cast for free on your turn. As such, it’s less powerful at pushing your own combos past interaction and more so utilized to stop opposing combos.
Even still, with how combo heavy the Modern and Legacy metagames are, Force of Negation sees a ton of play. In Modern, Dimir Murktide and Azorius control shells often run this card as a way to disrupt decks like Belcher and Neoform early. In Legacy, Force of Negation commonly appears in Dimir tempo sideboards as a way to bolster various combo matchups.
This doesn’t even take into account the instant’s role in cEDH, where free spells are super important. There’s a reason that this rare reprinted in Double Masters is worth roughly $50.
A Potential Difference in Value
Notably, while bonus sheet reprints in the past have were often cheaper than older versions of the same card, that may not be the case here. For instance, Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer plummeted in price following its appearance on the Multiverse Legends bonus sheet.
Unlike most Bonus Sheets that appear in every Play Booster, Avatar: The Last Airbender Bonus Sheet cards will only show up in 4% of Play Boosters. This means that this reprinting will cause a lot less copies of the cards to go into circulation, keeping supply low for in-demand cards.
Their appearance in every collector booster does help the cause, though, so it’s hard to predict exactly how prices will shake out. Either way, this is a major change. If you’re looking to open some of these fancy designs, collector boosters are your best option.
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