It’s a testament to how much MTG players love Lorwyn Eclipsed that it hasn’t been left in the dust already. Not only have we been inundated by TMNT spoilers, but Wizards even unveiled two more entire sets. With nine precons between them, it’s hard not to get a little bit excited bout Secrets of Strixhaven and Marvel Super Heroes.
Despite all of these spoilers being revealed so early, Lorwyn Eclipsed is still managing to move the MTG markets. In particular, Elf Typal decks are continuing to perform thanks to two of the set’s best Commanders. Between Maralen, Fae Ascendant and High Perfect Morcant, it’s no wonder demand for typal staples is so high right now.
MTG Tyvar Kell
First released back in 2015’s Kaldheim, Tyvar Kell is a remarkably easy-to-use Planeswalker. With every ability feeding into the Elf Typal pilepine, it’s exceedingly obvious where you’re meant to play this card. That being said, while Tyvar is an obvious auto-include within this Commander strategy, the card is genuinely very strong.
For starters, Tyvar Kell has the ever-useful ability to immediately protect himself by creating a creature token. At worst, this should help him survive, but at best, this free Elf is also a mana dork, thanks to Tyvar’s passive. Throw a couple of activations of his +1 ability on top, and even a tiny Elf token can become a real threat.
As with most planeswalkers, the real fun begins when you use Tyvar Kell’s ultimate. By turning any Elf spell, including Kindred ones, into card draw, this ability amps up this archetype’s potential massively. While Elf Typal can easily snowball out of control, running out of gas before that happens is a real concern. Since Tyvar fixes this, it’s no wonder it’s a typal staple, appearing in over 26,000 decks.
Out of this figure, new Commanders from Lorwyn Eclipsed account for over 4,800 new decks. High Perfect Morcant is responsible for the lion’s share of these, thanks to having perfect synergy with Tyvar. Not only does she make the easily created Elf tokens dish out -1/-1 Counters, but she can even use them to Proliferate too.
Between Tyvar’s +1/+1 Counters and his own Loyalty Counters, it’s safe to say this Proliferate effect can do work. Outside of Morcant decks, Elf Typal variants of Maralen, Fae Ascendant can also put Tyvar to good use. The same is true of Trystan, Callous Cultivator decks, although Tyvar is definitely less popular here.
The Spike
While Tyvar Kell is a very powerful MTG planeswalker, Elf Typal is still somewhat of a niche Commander archetype. On top of this, due to having decent supply, thanks to a handful of reprints, it’s not too expensive. In fact, this time last month, near-mint non-foil copies of Tyvar Kell from Foundations Jumpstart were selling for just $1.43 on average.
Since early January, over 180 Foundations Jumpstart copies of Tyvar Kell have been sold. This might not seem like much, but Jumpstart sets typically provide less supply due to their unusual rarity. Due to this, the recent sales have been more than enough to move the market. Now, copies from this set are selling for $7.17 on average, marking a 401% price spike.
Unfortunately, while this market price presents an already significant price spike, new listings are even more dear. Currently, a near-mint non-foil copy of Tyvar Kell from Foundations Jumpstart will set you back $10.29. Thankfully, there are a couple of other printings that are slightly cheaper at the moment.
The original Kaldheim printing, for instance, is only selling for $8.19 right now, including shipping. Curiously, the Borderless printing of Tyvar is even cheaper, selling for just $7.06. Sadly, copies from The List don’t offer any savings, as near-mint copies from this set are currently $9.95.
Sadly, even if you don’t care about card condition or foiling, there aren’t any sneaky deals to be had right now. Considering the number of recently created MTG decks that are after a copy of Tyvar Kell, this isn’t the biggest surprise.
The Future
While we can’t predict the future with any certainty, things don’t look too bright for Tyvar Kell. As much as it’s not uncommon to see new Elf Typal cards and Commanders, this typal archetype is still niche. Due to this, there’s always going to be a ceiling on demand and the price of cards.
Considering that some staple Elves, like Allosaurus Shepherd, sell for $39, Tyvar technically hasn’t reached the ceiling yet. Even the recently spiked Wolverine Riders is still selling for $28, after briefly hitting a $40 peak. In theory, this means Tyvar Kell does still have potential, but it has been reprinted more.
Even though Jumpstart sets and The List don’t tend to massively increase volume, these printings still help keep the price in check. Due to this, it feels unlikely that Tyvar will hit the $40 peak, but anything is technically possible. Realistically, though, $20 feels more like a reasonable maximum, and even then, he might not reach it.
Ultimately, while we can look back at past trends and spikes, only time will tell what will really happen. Hopefully, even if they do continue spiking in the short term, it won’t be too long before Tyvar falls in price. Exactly where this Elf Typal planeswalker will end up, however, remains to be seen.
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