Unfortunately, the Goblin Storm Commander precon, sold via Secret Lair, was a bit of a mess. As much as the deck’s art from Wizard of Barge looked great, and the reprint value was outstanding, it kept stumbling over itself. Initially, persistent leaks ruined any attempt at a spoiler season, and the sale itself didn’t go much better.
Thanks to overwhelming demand, the Goblin Storm precon sold out in just 34 minutes. As if this speedy sale wasn’t evidence of hype enough, this new deck has also pushed up secondary market prices. While it’s not uncommon for a precon to have this effect, Goblin Storm has uniquely been pushing up Secret Lair prices.
MTG Goblin Recruiter
If you’re building a Goblin Typal Commander deck, Goblin Recruiter will be in your 99. Capable of bringing any number of goblins to the top of your library, this card guarantees you good draws. As if this wasn’t enough, Goblin Recruiter also effortlessly sets up infinite combos with Conspicuous Snoop and Kiki-Jiki, Mirror-Breaker.
Thanks to all of this, Goblin Recruiter already appears in the majority of Goblin Typal decks in MTG. Appearing in around 43,000 Commander decks, according to EDHREC, this card is already a format staple. It even sees a fair bit of cEDH play, too, so there’s no doubting Goblin Recruiter’s power or staple status.
Despite this, Wizards of the Coast decided not to reprint Goblin Recruiter within the Goblin Storm precon. While this deck does have a Storm edge to it, having a mild tutor is, or rather would be, a godsend. This, naturally, makes Goblin Recruiter a fantastic upgrade to the deck, which would typically get the market moving already.
While this has happened slightly, Goblin Recruiter is a special case thanks to its past Secret Lair printing. Thanks to its appearance in the Goblin & Squabblin’ Secret Lair drop, this card has art from Wizard of Barge. This makes this version of Goblin Recruiter even more of a perfect fit for the Goblin Storm precon.
Unsurprisingly, this flavor, combined with Goblin Recruiter’s gameplay appeal, has pushed demand through the roof. In turn, Goblin Recruiter has seen one hell of a price spike in the past few months.
A 300% Climb
Despite long having been a Commander staple, curiously, Goblin Recruiter hasn’t seen a widespread reprint in years. While it did appear in Mystery Booster 2 and via Secret Lair, the last major printing was in Sixth Edition. Thanks to this, Goblin Recruiter has long been surprisingly expensive, even for default frame variants.
If you’re after a copy from Sixth Edition, for instance, you’ll have to pay at least $7.29, including shipping. Black-bordered copies, from Visions, meanwhile, are a touch more expensive at $7.52. Thankfully, future sight frame copies from Mystery Booster 2 are only $4.99, but that’s not totally budget-friendly.
Sadly, while these copies already aren’t too cheap, they’re nothing compared to the current price of Secret Lair copies. Once selling for $22.47 in late March, non-foil copies have recently peaked at $89.99. As if this weren’t enough, listings now start at $141.60, although nothing has sold at this price point yet.
Unsurprisingly, foil copies of the Goblin Recruiter Secret Lair printing are even more expensive right now. With near-mint listings starting at $129.99, and sales having reached this point, demand is absolutely wild. Admittedly, while this is all very impressive, it’s unfortunately difficult to tell if this will last.
A Niche Rarity
As much as demand for the Secret Lair Goblin Recruiter is high right now, it’s unlikely to stay that way. Realistically, there are only so many copies of the Goblin Storm deck in existence, after all, especially given how quickly it sold out. While you can obviously play this card outside of that deck, at this price, that’s not a hugely exciting prospect.
Sadly, as much as this Secret Lair printing has limited supply and gorgeous art to maintain its value, price is the big factor here. It might not be the most expensive card in MTG, but these copies are 18 times more expensive than the cheapest variant. This is one hell of a premium to pay for a bit of added flavor, and will likely stop many players from purchasing.
With this in mind, it feels like Goblin Recruiter will end up coming back down in price eventually. That, however, may take quite a while to actually happen, so we’ll just have to sit tight and wait patiently. In the meantime, it’ll definitely be worth watching the other cards from Goblin & Squabblin’, as Goblin Recruiter isn’t the only one to spike.
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