Following its release a few weeks back, Firebending, rather aptly, has been on a hot streak. Not only is this mechanic capable of turn three OTKs in Standard, but it’s hugely popular in Commander too. Getting extra mana for just attacking is always good, and it easily gets better when alongside synergistic support pieces.
Thanks to this, we’ve seen a range of Firebending-focused price spikes happening lately. Bulk Up has spiked thanks to Standard, and cards like Ashling, Flame Dancer are up in Commander. For better or worse, the spikes don’t stop there, as now MTG’s biggest coward, Norin the Wary, is on the up.
MTG Norin the Wary
At first glance, Norin the Wary seems like an absolutely terrible MTG card. For one mana, you get a 2/1, which isn’t awful, but you might never get to use it. If your opponent does basically anything, Norin will exile himself until the end of the turn.
Due to this behavior, Norin has long been considered MTG’s biggest coward. When he returned for Duskmourn: House of Horror, he even had the Coward creature type, in fact. Despite this moniker, Norin manages to be surprisingly useful in a vast array of Commander decks. This is thanks to his flickering antics, which have him constantly leaving and entering play.
Since this is basically guaranteed to happen on each of your opponent’s turns, Norin can provide a steady stream of value. Alongside Commanders that care about things entering, like Purphoros, God of the Forge, this can quickly become surprisingly deadly. Similarly, Norin can work wonders with Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, who is a Commander and cEDH staple.
More recently, Norin the Wary has been identified as the perfect accompaniment to an MTG Avatar Commander. Offering insane power scaling and Firebending mana generation, Fire Lord Zuko has been proving especially popular recently. This is great news for Norin, as the synergy these cards have together is insane.
Since Norin comes into play from exile, he’ll trigger Fire Lord Zuko’s second ability. This, in turn, will put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control. Since this can reliably happen four times per turn cycle, the value you get is obscene.
As a result, Norin is seeing play in 49% of Fire Lord Zuko decks, according to EDHREC. While this is already over 2,000 lists, it honestly seems low given the power potential.
The Spike
Thanks to his unique utility in Commander, Norin the Wary has long been worth a little bit of money, at least. Looking back a few months, near-mint non-foil copies of Norin typically sold for between $5 and $5.50. Considering Norin is a fairly niche card, this price was largely propped up by the card’s rarity.
Following the original Time Spiral printing, Norin the Wary has only been reprinted twice. Sadly, neither of these reprints offered a ton of new supply, as The List and Secret Lair drops aren’t the best distribution sources. For better or worse, this has left the card somewhat vulnerable to spiking in price, as we’re seeing now.
In the past few weeks, following the release of MTG Avatar, the price of Norin the Wary has been climbing quickly. As usual, this price increase has coincided with the vast majority of non-foil near-mint copies being sold. Currently, on TCGplayer, there are only 27 near-mint non-Secret Lair copies available, and prices now start at $22.22, including shipping.
To date, this marks a 316% price spike from past lows of $5.34. Technically, there are a few cheaper copies available right now; however, they’re mostly foil, and all worse condition. Even if you get one of these other options, you’ll only save around $4, which isn’t very enticing.
Curiously, if you’re after a deal, the Secret Lair drop printing is actually your best bet at the moment. Near-mint copies of this variant are selling for just under $20, including shipping, and you get fancy art for that price. Given the rate at which sales have been happening recently, however, these copies might not last long.
The Future
As always, we sadly can’t predict the future, especially when it comes to MTG price spikes. Things could really go either way, depending on whether this card gets reprinted. That said, until that reprint happens at some nebulous point in the future, things do look pretty good for Norin.
If anything, Norin the Wary is potentially underplayed right now in Commander, as there’s likely more Commanders out there that Norin can offer tons of value to. Even outside of Commanders like Fire Lord Zuko, having a card enter four times per turn cycle isn’t to be scoffed at.
With this in mind, it’s possible to argue that Norin the Wary should be worth $20, even when the dust settles. That price might be a little steep right now, but there are bound to be future enters/exile focused Commanders. If these hypothetical future MTG cards arrive before a reprint, the price of Norin the Wary could explode even more.
Realistically, even with Wizards cutting down on reprint sources, this is hardly a sure thing. A bonus sheet reprint, precon appearance, or even another Secret Lair drop could easily pull down prices. Ultimately, since we can’t guarantee any of these will happen soon, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
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