For a long time, MTG Spider Man wasn’t making any real waves in the MTG finance market. Some cards are making some semi-relevant competitive breakouts, but between Commander and two-player formats, no Spider Man cards are completely changing the scene.
The only Spider Man card that is causing a larger series of financial trends is Anti-Venom, Horrifying Healer. The quirky build-around Commander demands a bunch of unique cards to make it work, thanks to its restrictive mana value and color identity combined with its bizarre capabilities. This has caused a wide range of forgotten and bizarre cards to see the light of day, and Shaman en-Kor is no different.
Shaman En-Kor
For two mana, Shaman en-Kor offers an effect that really only sees play in Legacy. Redirecting damage is a common way for older formats to go nuts with Nadu, Winged Wisdom, but in Commander, Shaman en-Kor is quite powerful alongside creatures with Stuffy Doll effects.
In the case of Anti-Venom, Horrible Healer, any damage done to Shaman en-Kor can be redirected to Anti-Venom. This will both buff your Commander and leave Shaman en-Kor alive for future blocks. It’s not an incredibly flashy effect, but it does a lot of work alongside Anti-Venom, especially when combined with Shaman en-Kor’s second ability.
Speaking of, the Cleric’s second ability can save other valuable creatures from damage-based removal. This can be used as both a political piece and a sneaky way to grow Anti-Venom. You can both elect to save your opponent’s creatures from combat damage to garner goodwill, then redirect all that damage to your Anti-Venom, causing massive growth spurts. This can make any attacks from the table extremely risky, forcing the game into a stalemate while you keep swinging in with your Commander.
Should Anti-Venom be in your Command Zone thanks to your opponent’s removal, Shaman en-Kor also has strong synergies with other common cards in Anti-Venom Commander decks. Cards like Phyrexian Vindicator and Cho-Manno, Revolutionary make for great alternative targets to make Shaman en-Kor useful when Anti-Venom is busy eating removal.
Outside of its niche uses in Commander, Shaman en-Kor doesn’t see much play. Nomads en-Kor, a sister variant of the Shaman that also sees play in Anti-Venom, is used over the Shaman in Legacy Nadu thanks to its cheaper mana value. Unlike Shaman, however, the multiple reprints made for Nomads en-Kor keep it cheap, while Shaman en-Kor has spiked.
The Spike
Because Shaman en-Kor’s only printing is 27 years old, there are very few near-mint copies that have traded hands. Lightly played copies instead paint a more realistic picture of Shaman en-Kor’s recent financial movements. Over the past three months, lightly played copies of Shaman en-Kor rose from just 85 cents to a $2.34 market average, representing a 238% price spike. Despite this, sales for the card, even in its lightly played condition, are all over the place.
Lightly played copies of Shaman en-Kor have sold from anywhere between $2.20 and $4.50 over the last few days. A majority of copies for Shaman en-Kor that are lightly played and beyond also have very expensive shipping costs attached, making their actual market value difficult to pin down. Long story short, most players appear to be paying well above $2.34 for Shaman en-Kors that are in decent condition.
The same is true for near-mint copies of Shaman en-Kor, despite them being priced cheaper than many lightly played copies. These seem to be selling for around the $2 mark, but shipping costs for these cards are often worth more than the card itself. Only a couple of copies of near-mint Shaman en-Kor have sold over the past few days.
If you want to save some money, there are plenty of heavily played and damaged copies of Shaman en-Kor to go around. Heavily played copies of Shaman en-Kor appear to be worth about $1.30 excluding shipping, while damaged copies go for around $1. Unfortunately, these cards also appear to be accompanied by high shipping costs.
Sadly, the extremely high shipping rates seem to be an extended symptom of a massive lack of supply. Only 135 copies of Shaman en-Kor are currently available at the time of writing, with only 56 unique sellers offering the card on TCGplayer. This isn’t unusual for a card that only has one printing from a 27-year-old set, but it is pushing the price of this card past what it would otherwise be worth.
A Unique Pick-up for the Right Price
Like many price spikes caused by a sudden spike in popularity for a new Commander, Shaman en-Kor is unlikely to last. The card’s combination of effects offers an extremely unique tool for deck with Stuffy Doll effects, but unless you have something that wants to get damaged, Shaman en-Kor’s won’t be very helpful. Unfortunately, because Nomads en-Kor offers a similar effect for cheaper, Shaman en-Kor doesn’t have a high chance to see play in other formats, either.
This likely means that once demand for Anti-Venom cards wane, Shaman en-Kor’s market average will start to drop. All of that said, because Shaman en-Kor offers an extremely unique combination of effects, should another Commander come along that takes advantage of Shaman en-Kor, it’s almost certain to spike again. This doesn’t seem like the type of MTG card that has a high chance of a reprint since its uses are so niche.
It’s impossible to tell the future, but we would be very surprised if Shaman en-Kor kept its current market average after Anti-Venom, Horrifying Healer stops fuelling interest. Once it drops, however, picking a copy of this card up might not be a bad idea. Redistributing damage from combat interactions that don’t involve your creatures is an extremely unique effect, making Shaman en-Kor able to provide something that other cards cannot.
Stick with us at mtgrocks.com: the best place for Magic: The Gathering coverage!