Needless to say, Secrets of Strixhaven has been an incredible MTG set for Commander fans. Thanks to a series of exciting themes, five new Commander precons have lit the secondary market on fire. In Silverquill Influence’s case, the precon’s popularity basically caused an entire archetype to spike in price.
That said, while the Secrets of Strixhaven Commander precons were extremely popular, they actually aren’t the strongest Commanders that the set has to offer. The Elder Dragons are also quietly causing some cards to spike, like For the Common Good, thanks to their powerful abilities.
MTG For the Common Good
In the right deck, For the Common Good can create an absolutely ridiculous amount of value. Three mana to Populate a massive token is an amazing deal for Commanders like Myrkul, Lord of Bones, that create enchantment copies of their fallen creatures. Scaling that ability to get multiple copies of a card like Eidolon of Blossoms, for example, can easily run away with the game via card advantage.
While Commanders that create massive tokens love For the Common Good, the card does even more in go-wide decks. With Baylen, the Haymaker and Roxanne, Starfall Savant, for example, For the Common Good essentially creates a massive collection of mana rocks. In these decks, the sorcery can both act as an enabler, creating a ton of mana, and as a payoff, creating a game-ending board.
This particular function makes For the Common Good a perfect inclusion in Witherbloom, the Balancer decks. Considered the best Commander from Secrets of Strixhaven, For the Common Good sees play in 43% of Witherbloom decks according to EDHREC. Thanks to Witherbloom giving instants and sorcieres Affinity for Creatures, For the Common Good can also serve as both a payoff and an enabler here. Whether you’re scaling your cost reduction in the early game or creating game-ending boards later, Witherbloom breaks this sorcery.
It’s easy to forget, but the lifegain clause on For the Common Good is quite powerful, too. Notably, you’ll always gain life equal to the number of tokens you control, not just the ones created by For the Common Good. Thanks to this, even if you don’t have the mana to spend on this card, you can still gain a ton of life on a big token board for just one mana.
The Spike
For the Common Good has seen a few demand spikes over the last three months, but the one near the end of March determined the card’s current trajectory. Coinciding with Witherbloom, the Balancer’s leak, this Bloomburrow Sorcery sold 121 near mint copies between March 27th and March 29th.
With many players rushing to pick this sorcery up for Witherbloom, it was only a matter of time before For the Common Good spiked. Climbing from just $0.63 in late February, the base variant of For the Common Good is now $2.45 after shipping, representing a 289% price spike.
Sadly, for those looking to save some money, this is currently the cheapest variant of For the Common Good on the market. After shipping, the Promo pack variant of this card is currently going for about $4, thanks in part to supply issues. If you’re looking to spend a little extra to bling out your deck, the Showcase variant of this card is going for $3.51.
Very Hard to Predict
Like many MTG cards, trying to predict For the Common Good’s financial future is not easy. There are two big factors at odds with this card that could pull it in entirely different directions. The card is extremely popular and has a ton of supply available, creating a weird supply and demand relationship.
Thanks to being strong in a vast majority of token decks, For the Common Good is rather popular in Commander, seeing play in over 65000 decks according to EDHREC. Frankly, for this level of popularity, For the Common Good is still extremely cheap, suggesting that it could rise in price.
On the other hand, despite the spike in interest, For the Common Good still has a ton of supply on the secondary market. The base variant, alone, has 255 listings, some with multiple copies available, far outweighing even the increased demand for the sorcery.
It’s not like For the Common Good saw no play before Witherbloom, either. The broken Secrets of Strixhaven Commander only adds a little over 3100 decks to the total, meaning that this was a popular Commander card even before the price spike.
Thanks to this, it seems likely that For the Common Good will become cheaper once the rush to build Witherbloom, the Balancer decks fade. That said, as always, it’s impossible to truly predict the future, as anything can happen. Regardless of what happens, thanks to being incredible with token decks, For the Common Good is a fantastic pickup for your Commander collection.
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