Despite looking like a slam dunk of a set, Secrets of Strixhaven hasn’t upended the MTG financial markets. We’ve seen a few strong spikes thanks to new infinite combos, but most precons haven’t caused much of a stir. That being said, while Silverquill Influence is the main deck making headlines, other cards have been quietly climbing in the background. Thanks to this, Magnus the Red has steadily crept up in price and is now selling for $15.
MTG Magnus the Red
Released as part of The Ruinous Powers precon back in 2022, Magnus the Red is a very capable MTG card. As a Commander, you can easily lean into its token creation ability, which in turn fuels cost reduction. Utilizing these intertwined abilities, you can even exploit a fair few infinite combos, making Magnus a serious threat.
Outside of the command zone, Magnus the Red is also fantastic within the 99 of many Spellslinger decks. Since its cost reduction scales so quickly, basically any spell-focused deck can get value out of this card. This is especially true for Commanders that want to cast massive spells like Ovika, Enigma Goliath.
Thanks to Rootha, Mastering the Moment playing into the same design space, Magnus the Red just got a new home. Since Rootha only cares about the highest mana value each turn, cost reduction effects like Magnus’ are a godsend. After all, it’ll allow you to consistently create massive elementals while keeping your opponents on the back foot.
On top of this new synergy, Magnus the Red can also work wonders in Prismari, the Inspiration decks. While winning is trivial once this Commander is on the board, cost reduction is still always useful. If nothing else, Magnus can help Prismari storm out even harder by making your mana go further.
While Izzet decks, Spellsingers lists especially, are getting a ton of upgrades in Secrets of Strixhaven, demand for Magnus the Red isn’t through the roof. According to EDHREC, only 335 Rootha lists are running Magnus, while Prismari doesn’t even register. Despite this, the uptick in demand has been more than enough to cause a price spike.
The Spike
In the past month, only 256 near-mint non-foil copies of Magnus the Red have been sold on TCGplayer. Curiously, while the majority of sales occurred following the reveal of the Prismari Artistry precon, it didn’t spike immediately. Instead, it took until The Command Zone shone a spotlight on the card as an upgrade, one week later, for it to really move.
Even when it did get moving, there hasn’t been a ridiculous number of sales for Magnus the Red. Despite this, the fairly low supply of the card has left it susceptible to a significant price spike. This supply issue was partly due to existing long-term demand and partly to its somewhat limited printing in a Universes Beyond precon.
Thanks to this, it really didn’t take much for the price of Magnus the Red to shoot up almost $10 in the past month. While it used to sell for around $5.09 back in late March, now it’s going for $14.69. Due to the very limited supply right now, prices can rise quickly past the $15 mark, too.
Notably, unlike many modern MTG legends, Magnus the Red doesn’t have an extended art or showcase variant to boost supply. Instead, there are only surge foil copies from the Collector’s Edition variant of the precon. Somewhat unsurprisingly, these copies are significantly more expensive right now, selling for $29.97.
It’s Just Good
Typically, when a new Commander precon causes a price spike, we tend to be pretty skeptical of its future. Unless it’s a truly forgotten old card being rediscovered, these spikes usually don’t last forever. After all, when new decks come out, interests tend to shift, and players gravitate toward new cards instead.
Technically, there’s a non-zero chance that the same could happen to Magnus the Red in a few months. Considering Marvel Super Heroes comes out in June, and The Hobbit after that in August, there’s certainly no shortage of content. Even with this in mind, however, Magnus the Red is simply a good MTG card.
Since it can snowball so easily with just a few tokens, Magnus will always have a place in Spellslinger decks. Due to this, there’s a non-zero chance that the price of Magnus the Red could continue to increase over time. Even if some supply returns to the market in a few months, demand is unlikely to disappear overnight.
If anything, there’s a good chance we’ll get another Spellslinger-focused Commander before too long. This could easily push the price of Magnus the Red up once again, but that’s hardly guaranteed. It is always possible that this card could be reprinted, even if it’s a bit awkward, thanks to its Warhammer setting.
Sadly, as much as we might try, it’s impossible to predict the future of MTG. As such, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens in the coming weeks and months. For now, however, Magnus the Red still seems like a solid card, even at $15 a copy.
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