One of the first things I wanted to try after MTG Modern’s ban announcement was Yggdrasil, Rebirth Engine. Yggdrasil isn’t an unknown card, but it wasn’t a Modern card prior to the bans. The card did see play in Legacy Show & Tell as another way to cheat in gigantic monsters. Since a similar deck existed in the Modern format, and Assassin’s Creed is indeed Modern legal, someone was bound to play it eventually. Turns out, the card is very powerful.
Yggdrasil, Rebirth Engine
Yggdrasil, Rebirth Engine is, basically, a worse Sneak Attack. The card can cheat in creatures exiled by its abilities, which means that it can get any creature that was in your grave into play when it resolves. Otherwise, Yggdrasil can exile the top three cards of your library as long as it’s untapped. Modern may not have Brainstorm or Ponder, but you don’t need them to make Yggdrasil work.
The deck that this card is seeing play in is none other than Eldrazi Breach. Eldrazi Breach utilizes a ramping strategy with Through the Breach to cheat in powerful creatures. Namely, Ulamog, the Defiler, and Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. With eight creatures to hit, your chances of Yggdrasil finding one relatively quickly are likely. Through the Breach remains in the deck to cheat the creatures from your hand.
Ugin’s Labyrinth, in particular, allows you to ramp out your plan much quicker than you may expect. Because the card can tap for two mana, you can cast Yggdrasil on turn two, putting a massive creature into play on turn three.
Whatever creature you cheating into play, one attack with Emrakul or Ulamog should put your opponent too far behind. While Emrakul likely won’t be able to end the game on the spot, Annihilator 6 should remove all of their permanents. Ulamog, in comparison, can swing for 22 damage and have Annihilator 15 if you have an Emrakul in exile.
The Spike
After the banlist announcement for Modern on the 16th, Yggdrasil, Rebirth Engine started seeing a spike almost immediately after. Rising in price from $2.14 to $15.95, Yggdrasil became a rather expensive card overnight. This is directly due to the newfound demand for the card caused by Modern but, as a reminder, the card only has one printing in an extremely underopened set. Anything that has seen a smidgen of demand from the Assasin’s Creed Universes Beyond set has spiked thanks to a lack of supply. Yggdrasil, Rebirth Engine is a Mythic Rare, making it even more difficult to acquire.
In total, there are five different variants of Yggdrasil from the Assassin’s Creed set. There doesn’t seem to be much of a difference in price between nonfoil and foil base variants, but they are selling for a wide variety of prices. Over the past few days, Yggdrasil has sold from anywhere between $6 and $30 in its base variant. According to availability, most copies of Yggdrasil cost at least $16 at the time of writing, but you can find it for cheaper.
Etched foil Yggdrasil are worth about the same amount, but there appear to be some copies on the market that have not been properly adjusted post-spike yet. If you’re looking for a deal, consider looking at Etched foils first.
Borderless Yggdrasil seem to be the most expensive, with the foil variants going for a little under $30. Nonfoils are selling for a wide range of prices, similar to the base variant, but the availability for nonfoil borderless Yggdrasil is much worse.
Will This Spike Persist?
While Yggdrasil may not stay at the same price it is currently selling for, our bet is that it will certainly remain worth more than it was before the spike happened. Right now, Yggdrasil is primarily seeing demand from Modern players, but this card also seems good in Commander. The card is currently seeing very little play in the format, but the spotlight shone on the card thanks to its Modern success could give some Commander players ideas.
As far as competitive play goes, we don’t expect Yggdrasil to see more than it does now. While the Rebrith Engine can cheat in game-ending threats, the deckbuilding restrictions needed to make it work mean that it can only fit in certain kinds of decks. There could perhaps be room for the card in a unique Goryo’s Vengeance build, but that’s the furthest it could get. I don’t expect Yggdrasil to be a tier-one Modern deck, but I do expect it to appear in various tournament top eights for some time to come.
