Now that MTG Avatar is out in the wild, this set has really started to prove itself. Not only are tons of new cards making competitive appearances, but the Commanders are incredible, too. As if that wasn’t enough to get excited about, the set has finally started to move the MTG markets as well.
Despite the set’s spoiler season being surprisingly quiet, recently, it’s all been kicking off. New Commanders like Fire Lord Azula, for instance, have already caused a fair few price spikes. While Earthbending is on a tear in competitive MTG formats, it seems Firebending is what Commander players enjoy.
Braid of Fire
Offering an unusual but very welcome take on the Cumulative Upkeep mechanic, Braid of Fire is a true value engine. All you have to do is drop this enchantment down on turn two, and it’ll slowly produce mana for you. Admittedly, one mana each turn isn’t a great deal of value, but it is better than nothing, and you can never have too much mana.
Thanks to this, Braid of Fire is already fairly popular in Commander. According to EDHREC, this card sees play in around 29,000 Commander decks at the moment. Most of these decks are using Commanders like Ashling, Flame Dancer, who can keep mana around between phases.
Alternatively, Obeka, Splitter of Seconds leans into the upkeep part of Cumulative Upkeep to generate tons of mana. While these game plans are already strong and sound, recent Universes Beyond sets have added a couple of new options. Most recently, Ozai, the Phoenix King from MTG Avatar takes mana preservation to the extreme.
Much like Omnath, Locus of All, Ozai, the Phoenix King can keep mana around even after your turn ends. This means there’s no urgency to use the mana that Braid of Fire produces, significantly increasing its utility. Beyond just keeping mana around, Ozai will gain flying when you have enough mana floating, so you’ll want as much as possible.
Electro, Assaulting Battery, from MTG Spider Man, has an effectively identical effect, ensuring your red mana sticks around. This alone is a good reason to run Braid of Fire, but Electro’s final ability makes it even more important. After all, the more mana you have floating, the greater the chance is that you can one-shot an opponent when Electro is removed.
The Spike
To date, Braid of Fire has only really been reprinted once. Following its debut back in 2006’s Coldsnap, this card eventually reappeared via The List. While this did help to provide a bit more supply, sadly, The List wasn’t ever the greatest, most accessible source of reprints. Thanks to this, there’s not a great deal of copies available to go around, and Braid of Fire has always been fairly expensive.
A few months ago, near-mint non-foil copies of Braid of Fire were selling for around $16.50 on average. Since the reveal of the Firebending mechanic, this price has steadily been ticking up recently. Now, we’re at a point where copies from Coldsnap are selling for $30, with new listings starting at $40!
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like this price is a fluke, as The List variant has similarly been climbing. Currently, foil copies of this variant, which was the only printing, are also selling for $30. Even worse condition copies are going for similarly high price tags at this point, with everything trending toward $30.
Unsurprisingly, this trend can also be seen on the Secret Lair variants of Braid of Fire. This is where the recent reprint comes in, as it was part of The Ember Island Players Secret Lair for MTG Avatar. Curiously, this Secret Lair drop is actually one of the cheapest ways to get a copy of Braid of Fire right now.
Priced at $29.99 for the non-foil variant, the price of this drop is worth it for Braid of Fire alone. On top of that, you’d also get Phantasmal Image, Cursed Mirror, Mask of Memory, and Thespian’s Stage. Sadly, these extra cards are only worth around $5 altogether, but that’s not terrible for effectively free cards.
The Future
Looking ahead, the future seems pretty bright for Braid of Fire, but nothing is ever certain. While this is a Commander-driven price spike, which can be notoriously unreliable, it hasn’t been a massive overnight explosion. Instead, the increase has been rather slow and steady, which is typically good news for long-term prospects.
While not as common as doubling effects, there’s a good chance we’ll get another mana preservation specialist in the future, too. So long as this hypothetical future card is red-aligned, Braid of Fire will have another home. This could easily lead to future demand that maintains or even increases the current price point.
As much as this all sounds well and good, there’s always the possibility of reprints to consider. While this card has seen a pair of Secret Lair printings, supply is still fairly limited overall. Due to this, a future reprint, either in a Commander precon or bonus sheet, could decimate the current price.
For now, there’s no guarantee that such a reprint will happen, but it’s always something to watch out for. While this may make Braid of Fire somewhat dubious as an investment, as a card, there’s no denying its strength.
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