Over the past two months, we have been getting absolutely bombarded with Universes Beyond previews. In addition to all of the spoilers from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Avatar sets, Wizards also released a boatload of Secret Lairs that each emphasize a thematic crossover.
Many of these products featured exciting mechanically unique legends that make for fun EDH build-arounds. Unsurprisingly, as players continue to craft around their favorite crossovers, some forgotten synergistic gems have experienced significant price jumps. Most recently, a unique artifact token payoff spiked thanks to its perfect pairing with a popular and iconic Shark.
Hedron Detonator
What make Hedron Detonator such an intriguing card is that it attacks on multiple angles. The card both pressures your opponents with its entry ability, and prepares for the long game with its sacrifice trigger. Because of this, finding decks that can take advantage of Hedron Detonator properly can be tricky.
In order to truly get the most out of the card in Commander, you really want your deck to be both aggressive and artifact-centric. Unfortunately, that means the card’s applications are narrow, but there’s no better fit for Hedron Detonator than in an EDH deck with Jaws, Relentless Predator at the helm.
First of all, each time you connect with Jaws in combat, you’ll flood the board with Blood tokens that each ping the opponent thanks to Detonator. From there, not only does Detonator convert those tokens into card advantage, but it also helps Jaws deal more damage to each opponent by acting as a consistent sacrifice outlet. Both creatures work perfectly in tandem, becoming must answer threats as a result.
Outside of Detonator’s appeal in a Jaws deck, some Commanders who are interested in playing cards from exile make decent homes for the Goblin. Rocco, Street Chef and Pia Nalaar, Consul of Revival both fit the mold, and the artifact tokens they generate over time make it easier to get value from Detonator. Still, these shells tend to be much less aggressive than those built around Jaws, which makes this creature’s damage-dealing ability less of a concern for your opponents. Regardless, it’s no surprise that as players started to purchase pieces to craft their Jaws decks, Hedron Detonator’s demand began to rise.
The Spike
For most of August and September, Hedron Detonator’s price tag was fairly consistent. Its first small jump didn’t occur until late September, which is conveniently right around the time when Jaws was spoiled. Then, later in October, the card started to spike hard following the Jaws Secret Lair going live on October 13th.
Since demand for Detonator rose significantly at the beginning of November, copies have consistently sold for $4.99 or higher over the last two days, representing a 194% price increase since the card’s lowest market value of $1.70 in the last three months.
Fortunately, if you’re looking to save some money, there is a cheaper variant of Hedron Detonator available. The Extended art variant, found in Collector Boosters, is currently a lot cheaper than the traditional variant, with multiple copies available for $1.50 or less excluding shipping. That said, this variant is currently experiencing a price spike as well, so it may not be long before the variants hover around the same price. Interestingly, there are no foil variants of Hedron Detonator available in MTG.
The Future
Overall, the effect that Jaws’ printing had on the card’s price tag is noteworthy. Given how much the card’s spike is tied to Jaws, however, it wouldn’t be surprising if its value starts to drop in the long run. It’s natural for new Commander synergies to cause brief spikes to unique cards seeing Detonator’s demand drop as the hype for Jaws dies down would make sense.
On the flip side, though, Jaws has quickly emerged as a very popular mono-red Commander option. According to EDHREC.com, Jaws is already in the top 40 most popular mono-red Commanders and could easily continue to climb in the coming months. Once you factor in the fact that Detonator has only ever been printed in March of the Machine Commander, it’s possible that supply dwindles even further over time, at least in the short term.
While it’s impossible to predict the future, we would be surprised if this spike lasts too long. Avatar: The Last Airbender is bringing tons of new legends to our game soon, which may cause players to focus their attention elsewhere. We’ll just have to wait and see how things play out.
Stick with us here at mtgrocks.com: the best site for Magic: The Gathering coverage. Be sure to check out our deckbuilder for your next big brew!