While it might not have had anything on par with the One of One Ring, the MTG Final Fantasy set was still highly collectable. Not only were there several collectible Chocobo variants, including the serialized Golden Chocobo, but it also had multiple showcase treatments. Between borderless cards, woodblock printings, and the character cards, there were tons of different variants to collect.
As if all these weren’t enough, the set also had surge foil cards, both in Commander decks and Collector Boosters. Unsurprisingly, as the chase foiling technique for the set, these fancy foils aren’t exactly common and have always been understandably expensive. Recently, however, the price of these cards has absolutely exploded, jumping by over $360 in one instance.
MTG Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER Surge Foil
As one of the most popular and powerful MTG Final Fantasy cards, every variant of Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER is rather expensive. Considering how phenomenal Sephiroth is in Aristocrats decks, this popularity and price point are entirely unsurprising. Not only is this card a sacrifice engine, but the Emblem it can provide pushes it into a different league entirely.
With this in mind, it’s no wonder that default frame copies of Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER tend to sell for around $30. On top of this, the card has long been one of the most expensive surge foil cards from MTG Final Fantasy. This was true even before the recent price spike, too, as back in early May, copies sold for $485 surprisingly consistently.
As much as this card was expensive already, after a slight spike in sales throughout May, prices have almost doubled. Now, the cheapest surge foil copy of Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER on TCGplayer is $849, and that doesn’t even include shipping. While sales have undoubtedly slowed following the price spike, sales have still peaked at $979.
MTG Lightning, Army of One Surge Foil
For better or worse, Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER isn’t the only surge foil card from MTG Final Fantasy to spike in price recently. Lightning, Army of One has similarly spiked from around $125 to $349 since early May. Much like Sephiroth, this surge foil price spike appears to be largely scarcity-driven, following a brief increase in sales.
Currently, there are only 19 listings for surge foil copies of Lightning, Army of One on TCGplayer, and that low supply isn’t surprising given its origins. With mythic surge foil cards appearing in only around 4% of Collector Boosters, there’s never been many copies available. Sadly, this does leave surge foil cards somewhat vulnerable to market manipulation; it’s understandable that players have invested in it.
While Lightning, Army of One is only the 10th most popular main-set Final Fantasy Commander on EDHREC, it’s still a powerful card. Offering an incredible damage-doubling ability, Lightning can quickly spiral out of control, especially when given Double Strike. Thanks to this, not only is it a fantastic Commander, but it’s incredible in the 99 of tons of archetypes, too.
MTG Kefka, Court Mage Surge Foil
Speaking of fantastic Commanders, Kefka, Court Mage is arguably the best one in the entire set. While it’s not quite as popular as Vivi Ornitier, Kefka has a rich competitive history, consistently topping events. Thanks to this prowess, demand for the card’s fanciest variant is rather high, although it’s not that expensive.
With near-mint surge foil copies of Kefka, Court Mage now selling for $214, admittedly, this isn’t a cheap MTG card. This is also true for its pre-spike price, as it used to sell for around $116 back in May. Despite this, it’s a hell of a lot cheaper than other surge foils, but it might not stay that way forever.
Given how low the supply is for all of the Final Fantasy surge foil cards, any spike in demand could send prices skyrocketing. That being said, since there are much more affordable variants of these cards available, their prices hardly follow the norm.
Fancy Foils Stay Fancy
As with any price spike, technically, the future of these Final Fantasy surge foil cards isn’t set in stone. That being said, while nothing in Magic is guaranteed, fancy foils like these do tend to be quite resilient. This is thanks to Wizards rarely reprinting chase variants of cards, especially with the same foiling technique.
Even if Sephiroth, Lightning, and Kefka do get reprinted, it’ll likely be as default frames or, at most, as borderless cards. As hypothetically nice as these reprints might look, they’d be nowhere near as scarce as the existing surge foils. Thanks to this, there should always be demand for this rarest of the rare variant, keeping prices exceptionally high.
While this does make chase variants more compelling as an investment, nothing in MTG is guaranteed. Technically, there’s nothing stopping Wizards from creating a new ultra chase variant, and regular reprints can still affect prices, too. Still, even with this concern in mind, it’s definitely worth watching the chase printings from each new Universes Beyond set.
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