After an initial wave of hysteria at low supply, cards from MTG Foundations are coming down to a more reasonable price. In fact, other than a few standout mythics, this is looking like one of the more low-value sets in recent years. This makes perfect sense, of course. A guaranteed shelf life of at least five years is also a guaranteed long print run, so low prices track with that. That said, one common from the set is bucking the trend. That common is Hare Apparent, and it may well be the card that single-handedly props up the value of MTG Foundations.
Hare Apparent: The Savior Of MTG Foundations’ Value?
- Mana Value: 1W
- Rarity: Common
- Stats: 2/2
- Card Text: When this creature enters, create a number of 1/1 white Rabbit creature tokens equal to the number of other creatures you control named Hare Apparent. A deck can have any number of cards named Hare Apparent.
You’ve probably seen Hare Apparent around if you’ve been paying attention to MTG Foundations at all. It’s a cute new entry into the “A deck can have any number of cards named…” sub-genre, in which eight cards now exist. As with its peers, you can run as many of these in your decks as you want. It also scales up in effectiveness as you draw more copies.
Why is this card such a big deal? Because, at the time of writing, it’s currently selling for around $5 a copy. That’s after the price slump that has hit much of Foundations over the last week, too. This is a wild price for a common in any set, but particularly in a set like MTG Foundations. A lot of the cards here have tanked in value recently, which actually puts Hare Apparent above many of the rares and mythics in the set in terms of value.
It’s cheaper than the likes of Bloodthirsty Conqueror and Sire of Seven Deaths, sure, but Hare Apparent is actually more expensive than Rise of the Dark Realms, Omniscience, and new combo engine Valkyrie’s Call at the moment. For a common to be even in the same value ballpark as cards like this is frankly absurd.
There are really two factors at play here. Firstly, a lot of the rares and mythics in MTG Foundations are selling for lower prices than you’d expect. Second, Hare Apparent is doing the opposite and punching well above its weight financially. Because of this, packs of Foundations will often fail to pay for themselves based on their rare/mythic alone. Conversely, opening just one Hare Apparent in your pack could cover your costs immediately.
Glimmers Of The Past
To an outsider, this must sound completely absurd. To those well-versed in Magic, however, it’s merely the continuation of a familiar pattern. “A deck can have any number of cards named…” cards tend to follow their own unique rules when it comes to pricing. Typically, a player will need, at most, four copies of a card to run it in their deck. Alternatively, you’ll only need one if you’re playing Commander. In that sense, most cards have the same ceiling in terms of demand.
“Any number” cards, on the other hand, can be played in much higher volume. Decks that want them tend to be built entirely around them, which requires 15-20 copies at the very least. In Commander, that figure can easily stretch to around 30. As a result, these cards have hugely elevated demand ceilings and tend to get snapped up in big numbers, leading to higher-than-average prices.
We’ve seen this time and time again. Cards like Rat Colony, Templar Knight, and Dragon’s Approach all go for around $3, despite being commons and uncommons. Even those on the low end, like Persistent Petitioners and Shadowborn Apostle, go for more than a dollar. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but it certainly is for a common.
Those cards have been reprinted multiple times, too, which is worth bearing in mind. Basically, “Any number” cards go for relatively high prices, and Hare Apparent is the latest in this proud tradition. $5 sounds ridiculous, but it really isn’t for a card like this. Hare Apparent has more in the way of long-term prospects than many of its MTG Foundations peers, so it makes sense that it’s currently adding a lot of extra value to the set.
A Long-Term Value Prospect?
Of course, the big question here is whether Hare Apparent’s high value will last. This is actually quite a tricky question to answer. There are enough factors at play here that it could go either way once the dust has settled.
On the positive side, all the arguments we’ve just covered for “Any number” cards will continue to apply in the future. Additionally, this is actually a card that has utility beyond a fully dedicated deck. There may be an argument for running some number of these in a Rabbit typal or White Weenie deck, for example. By virtue of being less specific than its peers, Hare Apparent could have an even higher price ceiling.
Finally, the sheer size of Foundations as a set should help its price too. Slime Against Humanity is a $2 common from a set with 279 cards. Foundations has 383, which means a lower pull rate and lower supply. Foundations being bigger than average as a set should definitely help its value.
On the other hand, it is still shaping up to be an incredibly popular and widely-opened set. The demand for Foundations has been made crystal clear over the past week, and I could easily see that continuing deep into its five-year lifespan. If that proves to be the case, the sheer volume of product opened could counterbalance the lower pull rate of Hare Apparent and bring the price down anyway.
Ultimately, I think Hare Apparent will settle somewhere between $3-4. Even at that point, it’ll still be a more lucrative pull than many of the rares in the set. It’s a strange position to be in, but commons being desirable pulls is a great thing for players.
