Since Secrets of Strixhaven became legal to play last week, we’ve seen it causing more and more movement in the MTG market. Considering players are actually able to enjoy their new cards, rather than just hypothetically brew with them, this is hardly surprising. What is surprising, however, is the fact that, recently, the main set has been the one driving demand, rather than the five precons. In particular, the new suite of elder dragons has been pushing MTG prices up recently, which is exactly what’s happened to Diabolic Revelation.
MTG Diabolic Revelation
At face value, Diabolic Revelation is a pretty underwhelming card. While the upside of tutoring for multiple cards at once is high, doing so requires at least seven mana. As such, it isn’t too shocking that slightly more efficient tutors, like Diabolic Tutor, see a lot more Commander play.
At the same time, however, this big Sorcery has appeal in decks that can reliably cast it at a massive discount. Fortunately, Witherbloom, the Balancer makes it extremely easy to cast big X spells on the cheap. All you have to do is flood the board with creatures, and then tutor up win conditions like Sprout Swarm and Exsanguinate.
With this in mind, it’s no wonder that 2,320 Witherbloom, the Balancer decks have already adopted Diabolic Revelation, according to EDHREC. Outside of Witherbloom, Rowan, Scion of War offers similar cost reduction synergies, while Zaxara, the Exemplary can exploit this card’s X cost.
The Spike
Due to only seeing a small amount of Commander play, Diabolic Revelation has long been a cheap rare. Back in late March, for instance, near-mint copies of this card could be picked up for just $1.02. Following Witherbloom, the Balancer being leaked on March 26th, however, Diabolic Revelation’s demand immediately began to surge. Since then, over 160 near-mint copies have been sold, causing supply to drop and prices to rise considerably.
Currently, a near-mint non-foil copy of Diabolic Revelation will set you $11.69, including shipping. This marks a 1046% price spike in just one month, and that might just be the start. Since there are just 11 listings left on TCGplayer, it might not be long before this card gets even more expensive.
Unfortunately, even in moderately played or heavily played form, no listings are available for under $9, including shipping. Given that Diabolic Revelation was only printed in Magic 2013 and there are no alternate art variants to speak of, there isn’t really a good way to save money at the moment.
Riding the Hype Train
The one saving grace is that for players willing to wait, there’s a chance Diabolic Revelation’s price could drop over time. With Marvel Super Heroes being released in just two months, it won’t be long before there are tons of new Commanders to build around. Even with that in mind, however, Witherbloom, the Balancer is both a very powerful and very interesting card, so demand could last longer than usual.
When demand does end up falling, whenever that may be, there’s nothing outside of Commander to prop up Diabolic Revelation’s price. Due to this, it could settle at under $1 in the long run, but that could take months or years. Potentially, a reprint via a precon or bonus sheet could speed this up, but that’s not guaranteed.
Still, even with these factors in play, it’s nearly impossible to predict price spikes with any degree of certainty. As always, we’ll just have to wait and see where the price of this card ends up.
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