Wizards Confirms Reprints of Beloved $356 Commander Precons

Since Universes Beyond really took off as an initiative in 2022, MTG players have had a lot of justified concerns about it. Because these cards are tied to outside IPs, it’s much trickier for Wizards to reprint them, which in turn has driven up prices on many of the better ones. While these concerns have largely gone unaddressed so far, this week saw a ray of hope as Wizards announced a reprint for the excellent Warhammer 40K Commander deck lineup.

The Warhammer 40K Commander Deck Reprint

“Yes, we can confirm that we did a small reprint of the Commander decks that will be available to distributors and stores soon”

Wizards of the Coast, via IGN

Rumors about a reprint of the Warhammer Commander decks have been swirling around online for a few days now, but Wizards officially confirmed them today. This is fantastic news, given how much the prices on these precons have exploded since their 2022 debut.

Where each precon was available at an MSRP of $59.99 originally, now you’re looking at around $230 on the low end, for the Ruinous Powers deck. The other precons in the lineup are even pricier, with Tyranid Swarm at $294, Forces of the Imperium at $312, and Necron Dynasties at $356. These are the kinds of prices you’d expect on limited run Secret Lair precons, rather than full releases, so an additional printing round should help a lot here.

That said, there are still a lot of unclear details with this announcement. For starters, Wizards doesn’t quantify just how small the promised “small reprint” is, meaning this new wave could be very tricky to get. They do note that “Fans and WPN retailers should check with their distributors for availability, as it may vary by region,” but that really doesn’t tell us much more.

The other unknown quantity at present is the Collector’s Edition versions of the Warhammer 40K decks, which were released alongside the original precons. Wizards’ statement today makes no mention of new printings for these all-Surge-Foil special versions, so for now we don’t know if they’ll be part of this new wave or not. While it would be great if they were, this honestly seems unlikely given the collector focus, and how Wizards treats similar products like Secret Lairs and Collector Boosters.

A Much-Needed Move

However this new Warhammer 40K Commander deck reprint pans out, it’s fantastic news for players. Just as the prices on the sealed decks have spiraled out of control, so to have the prices on many of the best singles they contain, making many excellent Commander cards prohibitively expensive.

These range from banger Commanders, like Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph Ward {2} (Whenever this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, counter it unless that player pays {2}.)
Three Autostubs — Whenever another source you control deals exactly 1 damage to a permanent or player, Ghyrson Starn deals 2 damage to that permanent or player. at $33, to archetype-specific goodies, like Cryptothrall Cryptothrall Protector — Other artifact creatures you control have hexproof. at $32. There are some really unique designs in here, too, like Shadow in the Warp Shadow in the Warp The first creature spell you cast each turn costs {2} less to cast.
Whenever an opponent casts their first noncreature spell each turn, this enchantment deals 2 damage to that player. at $17 and Resurrection Orb Resurrection Orb Equipped creature has lifelink.
Whenever equipped creature dies, return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control at the beginning of the next end step.
Equip {4} ({4}: Attach to target creature you control. Equip only as a sorcery.) at $16.61, which are sadly out of scope for budget players due to their scarcity.

Even cards with redundancy elsewhere aren’t exempt from the Universes Beyond tax on this product. Bloodthirster Bloodthirster Flying, trample
Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, untap it. After this phase, there is an additional combat phase.
This creature can't attack a player it has already attacked this turn. is just a worse Port Razer Port Razer Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, untap each creature you control. After this phase, there is an additional combat phase.
This creature can't attack a player it has already attacked this turn. , for example, but it’ll cost you $27 where Razer is just $1.50. There are plenty of other examples, too, such as mediocre mana dork Biophagus Biophagus Genomic Enhancement — {T}: Add one mana of any color. If this mana is spent to cast a creature spell, that creature enters with an additional +1/+1 counter on it. at $16.50, and clunky Vehicle Reaver Titan Reaver Titan Void Shields — Protection from mana value 3 or less
Gatling Blaster — Whenever this Vehicle attacks, it deals 5 damage to each opponent.
Crew 4 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 4 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.) at $22.48.

Factor in a ton of solid-but-overpriced staples, like Canoptek Scarab Swarm Canoptek Scarab Swarm Flying
Feeder Mandibles — When this creature enters, exile target player's graveyard. For each artifact or land card exiled this way, create a 1/1 colorless Insect artifact creature token with flying. and Out of the Tombs Out of the Tombs At the beginning of your upkeep, put two eon counters on this enchantment, then mill cards equal to the number of eon counters on it.
If you would draw a card while your library has no cards in it, instead return a creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. If you can't, you lose the game. , and these new reprints could save Commander players big.

More To Come?

As exciting as this new round of reprints is, it could also signal more to come from the partnership between Wizards and Warhammer 40K. As many players are already speculating, this could be a move to refresh interest in the IP ahead of a future MTG x Warhammer product, potentially another round of precons or a full set. The Warhammer universe is a deep well to draw from, so there’s plenty more for Wizards to explore if they choose this route.

This theory is further supported by the fact that next year marks the 40th anniversary of Warhammer 40K overall, which would be the perfect time to push another crossover like this. With Total War: Warhammer 40K also slated for release next year, hype around the series is at a major high, so something like this could really excel.

That said, this is very much just a theory for now. Other Universes Beyond Commander decks, such as the Fallout ones, have been reprinted before without leading to a bigger project afterward, so there are no guarantees. As many have noted, this could easily be a move spurred by the expiring Warhammer 40K IP license, and nothing more.

Even if this is just a new wave of reprints, however, it’s still great news for Commander players. Universes Beyond cards have acted as a kind of second Reserved List, price-wise, so far due to a lack of reprint opportunities, and moves like this go a long way toward fixing that.

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