At this point, it’s no secret that Reality Fracture is one hell of an MTG set. Not only are there plenty of fantastic multiformat staples and gems for the 99, but there’s a long list of stellar Commanders, too. This time around, many of these fantastic cards arrived in the Multiverse Reforged precon, which had more legends in the 99 than usual.
Sadly, while Multiverse Reforged did include a bunch of interesting legendaries, they’re not all best-suited to the deck itself. As such, when upgrading the deck, it’s often better to focus on the Polymorph strategy, cutting cards like The Ur-Sphinx. This, however, is no bad thing, as this potent new legend is well worth building around and has been causing plenty of price spikes.
MTG Raffine, Scheming Seer
If you were playing Standard a few years ago, you’ll likely remember Raffine, Scheming Seer. As a core part of Esper Midrange decks in 2023, this card was so important that the entire archetype became known as Esper Raffine. In this deck, Raffine provided constant value through card selection and buffing your otherwise controlling threats like
Dennick, Pious Apprentice
Dennick, Pious Apprentice
Lifelink
Cards in graveyards can't be the targets of spells or abilities.
Disturb {2}{W}{U} (You may cast this card from your graveyard transformed for its disturb cost.)
.
While Raffine, Scheming Seer was a powerhouse in Standard, it has long since rotated out of that format and has struggled competitively since. Currently, it does see some play in Pioneer, but only in fringe four-color decks. Thankfully for fans of this Sphinx, it has retained a pretty solid following in Commander.
According to EDHREC, Raffine, Scheming Seer helms over 10,000 decks, making it a rather popular choice in the grand scheme of Commander. Alongside this, the card is also found in the 99 of over 24,500 decks, as it’s fantastic in a range of archetypes. Whether you’re built around discarding with
Hashaton, Scarab’s Fist
Hashaton, Scarab’s Fist
Whenever you discard a creature card, you may pay {2}{U}. If you do, create a tapped token that's a copy of that card, except it's a 4/4 black Zombie.
or going wide with Elednda and Azor, Raffine can work wonders.
Now, Raffine, Scheming Seer is also being included in Sphinx Typal decks, thanks to
The Ur-Sphinx
The Ur-Sphinx
Eminence — As long as The Ur-Sphinx is in the command zone or on the battlefield, other Sphinx spells you cast cost {1} less to cast.
Flying
Whenever one or more Sphinxes you control attack, each player mills that many cards. For each player, you may cast a card that player milled this way without paying its mana cost.
. Previously, this archetype was only really mono-blue, but now all things Esper are on the table. Thanks to this, Raffine has seen a significant play rate bump recently, with over 2,400 The Ur-Sphinx lists using it.
Another Sphinx Spikes
While Raffine, Scheming Seer has been popular in Commander for a long while, this increase in play has still significantly increased prices. Climbing by 233% in just a few weeks, sales quickly ramped up the moment
The Ur-Sphinx
The Ur-Sphinx
Eminence — As long as The Ur-Sphinx is in the command zone or on the battlefield, other Sphinx spells you cast cost {1} less to cast.
Flying
Whenever one or more Sphinxes you control attack, each player mills that many cards. For each player, you may cast a card that player milled this way without paying its mana cost.
was revealed. With over 250 near-mint non-foil default frame copies alone being sold since then, it’s no wonder prices are up.
Previously, one of these near-mint default frame copies would have only set you back $2.18 before the reveal of Multiverse Reforged. Since then, however, prices have been climbing pretty steadily to $7.06, which is the cheapest near-mint listing right now. Unfortunately, even if you don’t care about card condition or foiling, a $6.68 lightly played copy is the cheapest default-frame option on the market.
Curiously, despite being the rarer variant, the showcase printing of Raffine, Scheming Seer is actually a fair bit cheaper. Right now, on TCGplayer, you can pick up a near-mint showcase frame copy for just $5.84. It’s not like this is a one-off, either, as there are plenty of copies available for less than $6.
A Suspect Staple
As much as Raffine, Scheming Seer is powerful in Commander, its long-term future does look a bit dubious. For starters, the hype around The Ur-Sphinx has varied, with many cards spiking hard then almost immediately crashing. Even if this doesn’t happen to Raffine, this card has spiked before and failed to retain most of its price.
Back in February, following the reveal of the Aetherdrift precons, Raffine, Scheming Seer spiked to $10 at its peak. While this was very impressive, prices began falling almost immediately and accelerated once Tarkir: Dragonstorm was released. Ultimately, the resting price for Raffine settled around $2.50, which was a notable improvement from the old $1.50 pre-spike price.
Given this history, there’s a non-zero chance that the same thing could happen, bumping Raffine’s resting price up to $3.50. That said, given that price spikes compound on one another, it could end up higher. Even this, however, isn’t guaranteed, especially since Raffine, Scheming Seer is being reprinted.
Available as part of The Zeta Set, initially, this reprint didn’t matter all too much. The scarcity of this Secret Lair set was a massive problem, and it wouldn’t increase supply much. Yesterday, however, Wizards announced that The Zeta Set is getting a second print-to-demand print run, which will arrive in 2027.
Currently, it’s unclear if, or how much impact this reprint will have on the price of Raffine, Scheming Seer. Realistically, it’s bound to make a slight dent, but prices will have fallen by then anyhow. Ultimately, as always, we can only really wait and see what happens.
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