Since the set’s release in late September, Duskmourn: House of Horror has caused no end of price spikes. As usual, the vast majority of these have been caused by the new preconstructed Commander decks. In particular, the Endless Punishment deck has caused countless spikes as players flock to this deck’s unique and easily upgradable game plan.
In comparison to Duskmourn’s Commander decks, the main set cards have been much less volatile. Outside of Overlords proving popular and Abhorrent Oculus stealing the show, spikes have been few and far between. For better or worse, Enduring Innocence is the latest card to buck this trend.
Enduring Innocence
- Mana Value: 1WW
- Rarity: Rare
- Card Type: Enchantment Creature – Sheep Glimmer
- Stats: 2/1
- Card Text: Lifelink
Whenever one or more other creatures you control with power 2 or less enter, draw a card. This ability triggers only once each turn.
When Enduring Innocence dies, if it was a creature, return it to the battlefield under its owner’s control. It’s an enchantment. (It’s not a creature.)
As one of the five Enduring Glimmers in Duskmourn, Enduring Innocence doubles down on value. Even if it’s removed, this adorable Sheep will come back as an enchantment to maintain its card draw potential. While it may not be the cheapest white weenie-aligned card, this effect and resilience have nonetheless proved invaluable.
Following the release of Duskmourn, Enduring Innocence has quickly become a competitive staple in multiple formats. Its primary home, at the moment, is in Pioneer Azorius Spirits decks, as typically every creature can trigger Innocence. This provides the deck with a steady and much-needed source of card draw into the mid-game.
Alongside being played in Azorius Spirits decks many Pioneer Selesnya Company lists have also adopted Enduring Innocence. Typically run as a four-of this card, it is vital to maintain the deck’s lead while running Stax-focused effects. Thanks to its mana cost, Enduring Innocence also works wonders with Collected Company, allowing for huge card advantage swings.
Outside of Pioneer, this prized sheep is also seeing plenty of play in Standard. Appearing in Mono White Tokens lists as well as Azorius Enchantments decks, Enduring Innocence isn’t as popular here, but it’s no less effective. Thanks to the abundance of low-power creatures in these decks, Enduring Innocence can ideally provide card draw every single turn.
While Enduring Innocence is limited to once per turn, the ease of use also has it seeing plenty of play in Commander. Being well suited to go-wide token-based strategies, this card has become a staple in many decks already. Thanks to its resilience to all but exile-based removal, this popularity is highly likely to persist over time.
The Spike
The price spike to Enduring Innocence has been a bit of a slow burn. Over the past two weeks, players have steadily been snapping up copies with over one hundred being sold each day. Unsurprisingly, this has caused supply to steadily drain and windle over time, leading to eventually rising prices.
At first, the price increase for Enduring Innocence was pretty gradual. Starting at $2.90 at the start of October, the card only climbed a smidgen over a dollar in the following week. Since then, however, prices have really begun to explode as available supply has all but disappeared.
Currently, on TCGplayer, there are only 22 listings for Enduring Innocence left on the market. The prices of these cards now start at around $7.25, yet people are seemingly willing to pay more. Recent sales data for near-mint copies shows prices in excess of $9.99, which is a huge increase.
Unsurprisingly, the other variants of Enduring Innocence have also been on the up and up in recent weeks. Similarly selling for around $2.90 at the start of October, the Extended Art variant now goes for $10 routinely. Meanwhile, the Japan Showcase variant hasn’t spiked much, but it’s still incredibly expensive at $23 a pop.
Sitting at the top of the value throne is currently the Fracture Foil variant of Enduring Innocence. Prices for this card start at around the $120 mark, which is exclusively thanks to this variant’s impressive rarity. Notably, this demand will almost exclusively be driven by collectors and Commander players, since fancy foils aren’t always fit for tournament play.
An Enduring Price Tag
While Enduring Innocence is spiking at the moment, its long-term viability has yet to be proven. That being said, this card’s power and popularity in Commander should give it some long-term staying power.
Looking forward, the Standard, and potentially even Pioneer, metagames may be about to shift thanks to MTG Foundations. Once this set is released in mid-November, there’s a non-zero chance current staples could be pushed out. Even if this does happen, Enduring Innocence will still be a great card for a variety of Commander strategies.
For now, the price spike to Enduring Innocence is very much ongoing, but it’ll likely settle soon. Where exactly that settling point will be, however, remains to be seen for now.
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