If there are two things that MTG players love, it’s infinite combos and preconstructed Commander decks. The former, obviously, can be tons of fun, or a way to close out a game at the very least. Precons, meanwhile, have long proven to be a fantastic and in-demand product offering value and incredible new cards.
Unsurprisingly, whenever a new precon causes a fresh infinite combo to be discovered, MTG players get seriously excited. If this combo is caused by one of the new Commanders, well, the sky is the limit. Due to this, it’s not the biggest surprise that a recently discovered infinite combo has just caused a 1462% price spike.
Aura of Dominion
First printed 21 years ago in Champions of Kamigawa, Aura of Dominion definitely isn’t a new MTG card. The fact that it can create a spicy infinite combo also isn’t new, as that’s been possible for a long while. Using 2014’s King Macar, the Gold-Cursed, for instance, you can infinitely exile all your opponent’s creatures.
On top of this rather devastating low-cost combo, there are also lines with Xavier Sal, Infested Captain and Devoted Druid. Offering you infinite tapped creature tokens, this combo is potentially devastating; however, it’s not massively popular. In fact, according to EDHREC, Aura of Dominion doesn’t see much Commander play at all.
Thanks to Edge of Eternities’ upcoming Counter Intelligence precon, this may change rather soon. Within this deck, you can create a spicy infinite combo using Kilo, Apogee Mind and one other card. Alongside either Pentad Prism or Crystalline Crawler, you can use Aura of Dominion and Kilo to have infinite Proliferate triggers.
Notably, both of these cards were reprinted in the Counter Intelligence precon, so Aura of Dominion seems like a natural upgrade. Thankfully, this combo isn’t even difficult to execute. With Pentad Prism, all you have to do is enchant Kilo, tap it, Proliferate, untap it, then pay for Aura of Dominion again with the Proliferated Charge Counter on Prism.
While this combo only gives you infinite Proliferate triggers it can easily get out of hand. Having a creature with a +1/+1 counter, for instance, gives you an infinite/infinite powered threat. Alternatively, throw in Magistrate’s Scepter and you can have infinite turns to guarantee yourself the win.
The Spike
If anything, it’s just a surprise that Wizards of the Coast didn’t reprint Aura of Dominion in the Counter Intelligence deck. Every other part of the infinite Proliferate combo is there, apart from the one card that makes it all happen. Potentially, Wizards didn’t see the combo line, or more likely, Wizards just wanted to avoid creating a precon with an infinite combo.
Whatever the reason, demand for Aura of Dominion has unsurprisingly skyrocketed shortly after the new combo was discovered. As you can see above, on June 23rd, sales peaked with over 165 copies being sold in a single day. Despite this massive sales spike, it took a couple of weeks for the price to begin climbing.
Last week, following the reveal that Aura of Dominion wasn’t being reprinted, the price really shot up. A few more sales drained the rest of the remaining supply, causing sellers to take advantage of the demand. What was once a $0.32 MTG card this time last month is now selling for $5.
Notably, the market price for Aura of Dominion has yet to catch up to the actual sales price at the moment. Recent sales have topped out at $5.95, and new listings start at $5.28, including shipping. While there are very few listings available for purchase, one seller does have 30+ copies for over $15 each.
The Future
If the current prince of listings is anything to go by, Aura of Dominion may get a lot more expensive very soon. If prices do end up reaching $15, we’ll have a 4587% price spike on our hands. While this would be very spicy, admittedly, it seems unlikely that it’ll get to this point anytime soon.
Admittedly, thanks to only being printed in Champions of Kamigawa, Aura of Dominion is a rare MTG card. Due to this, it is rather volatile to buyouts, as we’ve seen recently. That said, this card simply isn’t that good, and the infinite combo isn’t exceptional either.
At best, the Kilo, Apogee Mind combo needs three cards and does nothing. Infinite Proliferate is powerful, sure, but it needs more support to make things happen. Thankfully, +1/+1 counters aren’t hard to come by, and Edge of Eternities has plenty of charge counters too. Even with that, however, this infinite definitely isn’t the strongest in MTG.
Despite this downside, Aura of Dominion still seems like a worthwhile upgrade to the Counter Intelligence precon. Since the deck is a counter-focused theme, it shouldn’t be difficult to make infinite Proliferate triggers useful. With this in mind, high demand could likely continue for a while. Even then, this combo is unlikely to be worth too much in the eyes of players.
Ultimately, we’re just going to have to wait and see what happens in the coming weeks and months. The Counter Intelligence precon won’t be available until July 25th, so expect to see plenty of market movements before then.
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