At long last, it seems like the hype around Lorwyn Eclipsed is finally starting to die down. With the TMNT MTG set failing to make many massive spikes of its own, Commander is in a bit of a lull right now. That, however, doesn’t mean that the markets aren’t still moving quietly in the background.
Over the past few weeks, a humble copy card from the Final Fantasy Holiday Release has been steadily climbing in price. It might just be a humble Clone card, but Flash Photography is well worth paying attention to. Recently, it seems many MTG players have been doing exactly this, as its price has spiked dramatically in the past month.
MTG Flash Photography
Like most Clone effects, Flash Photography is at its best in EDH shells with plenty of potent permanents to copy. Once you land a creature like Mulldrifter or Agent of Treachery with an elite enters effect, making copies of it is a great way to pull ahead. Of course, when you’re behind on board, you can always choose to copy an opponent’s bomb to catch back up.
Unlike Clone, however, Flash Photography has a few extra things going in its favor. Right off the bat, thanks to making a token of whatever you target, Flash Photography has extra synergies with token doublers like Adrix and Nev, Twincasters. Similarly, it does a great job enabling Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer or triggering Marneus Calgar for extra value.
Being able to cast Flash Photography at instant speed when targeting your own permanents is also a nice bonus. This makes the card much more appealing in Fire Lord Azula and Noctis, Heir Apparent shells, for example. On top of that, it’s very easy to double up on Flash Photography, since it has Flashback.
As if all that wasn’t enough, Flash Photography even has the upside of copying any permanent in play, not just creatures. Whether you’re copying Greater Auramancy to make all of your enchantments untouchable or copying Gaea’s Cradle to get a huge mana boost, it’s easy to take advantage of this spell’s flexibility.
Despite its extra utility, though, Flash Photography didn’t immediately become a Commander staple. Instead, to date, this card only sees play in around 5,270 decks, according to EDHREC. While this might not seem like much, this low play rate may have more to do with supply, rather than demand.
The Spike
Since Flash Photography’s printing in the MTG Final Fantasy holiday release in December of last year, the card has never fallen below $5. This is largely thanks to its inherent scarcity, since it was only printed in the Camp Comrades Scene Box. Recently, however, decreasing supply has pushed prices up, with copies going for $9.47 on average in late January.
Notably, unlike many of the MTG price spikes that we cover, there’s not one big instigating moment behind this price spike. Instead, it appears that supply has just fallen low enough for prices to climb naturally, since sales have been consistent. To mix things up even more, the foil variant of Flash Photography has been selling a lot more consistently, as this version is found in Camp Comrades.
Thanks to the steady demand for this underappreciated copy card, there are currently only 13 listings for near-mint copies of TCGplayer. Right now, prices for these start at $30.95, including shipping, for a non-foil variant. Thankfully, if you are after the foil version, this will only set you back $30.99 at the moment.
The Future
While it’s quite common for Commander-based price spikes to fall back down over time, Flash Photography is a bit different. Since natural demand appears to be the driving factor behind the spike, it’s not just a fleeting fancy, empowered by a new legend. Instead, this card is just generally quite good in Commander and is simply getting the recognition it deserves.
That said, while the price of Flash Photography is unlikely to crash overnight, it might not be a $30 MTG card forever. Since this card is just a Clone effect at the end of the day, players might not always be willing to pay so much for it. This could lead to prices falling over time, in order to meet demand, but this is currently unclear.
On top of this, it’s worth noting that Flash Photography could easily be reprinted in a future MTG set. While its name is slightly outside of the realms of Magic’s high-fantasy setting, it could easily appear on a bonus sheet. If this happened, then the price of Flash Photography would likely crash rather quickly, since supply is the limiting factor right now.
Ultimately, while past precedents and ongoing trends give some insight, it’s impossible to predict the future of MTG. As such, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens to the price of Flash Photography going forward. Depending on where the price of this card ends up, it may well be worth watching the Camp Comrades Scene Box, too.
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