Now that Tarkir: Dragonstorm has been out for a few weeks, eyes are slowly moving onto the next big exciting thing. For today, that’s the upcoming Commander ban announcement, or rather unban announcement, which has already been causing price spikes. With a new Secret Lair Commander deck and Final Fantasy also on the horizon, there’s a lot to be excited about.
Before all that happens, however, MTG players have hardly forgotten about dear old Tarkir: Dragonstorm. After all, this set has had an immense competitive impact and includes plenty of great casual-focused cards. As usual, the best of these cards are playable in both casual and competitive formats. While Herd Heirloom isn’t quite there yet, there’s a good chance it’s on its way there.
Herd Heirloom
Herd Heirloom has the potential to be one of the many sleeper hits from Tarkir: Dragonstorm. That being said, if its price is anything to go by, MTG players aren’t exactly sleeping on this card anymore. Nevertheless, it’s still a ways off from reaching its true competitive potential, as few decks have adopted it yet.
Considering the aggro-heavy state of the Standard metagame, this isn’t exactly a surprise right now. Mono-Green Stompy decks are having a tough time stabilizing currently, especially with so much removal running around. This, however, could actually be a boon for Herd Heirloom, since it’s less susceptible to removal than Llanowar Elves.
In terms of functionality, Herd Heirloom is obviously shower than Llanowar Elves, but not massively. Two-drop mana dorks aren’t beloved in MTG, but they can serve a strong purpose in the right metagame. To further increase its playability, Heirloom can also provide Trample and card draw, which green decks desperately need.
Right now. Herd Heirloom isn’t really being played in Standard, or beyond. A few players have tested it out, but the metagame doesn’t suit this archetype at the moment. Thankfully. Mono-Green decks are always popular and viable in Commander, where Heirloom shines.
While Tarkir: Dragonstorm hasn’t been out for long, Herd Heirloom has already appeared in over 8000 decks on EDHREC. Currently, this makes it the tenth most popular card in the entire set, so it’s little wonder it’s getting expensive. Considering this card’s strength as resilient early ramp with extra tricks, this popularity is bound to increase over time.
The Spike
Technically, since the card was first listed on TCGplayer, Herd Heirloom hasn’t spiked at all. Originally, the first listings and pre-sale sales clocked in a $12, however, that didn’t last long. As the set’s release approached and passed, the price of Herd Heirloom fell incredibly quickly, eventually reaching a floor of $1.14.
As usual, Herd Heirloom did bounce back some from this low point, climbing to $2.34 after a few days. From here, as you can see above, there was another slight dip before things really got going. A truly massive spike of 482 sales in a single day quickly put a dent in supply, which has only been getting lower since.
At the time of writing, there are 50 near-mint copies of Herd Heirloom left available for purchase on TCGplayer. Even when you factor in the additional 35 Borderless copies of the card, this isn’t much to go around. With this in mind, it’s little wonder that prices have been increasing across the board quite significantly.
For the normal variant of Herd Heirloom, prices have currently reached an average market price of $4.72. Thankfully, this market price actually reflects the cost of current listings rather well. Meanwhile, the Borderless version of Herd Heirloom is currently selling for $5.52, according to TCGplayer’s market price.
The Future
As always, when looking ahead, it’s worth remembering that we can’t predict the future. The MTG financial markets are notoriously fickle and can change on a time, depending on what gets spoiled. That being said, Herd Heirloom looks like a very solid MTG card, and very little is going to change that.
In Commander, Herd Heirloom will always be useful as early ramp and mana fixing. So long as your deck can run green cards, Heirloom can put in work both early and late game. Whether you need fixing for creatures, more mana to play with, or card draw, this humble card does it all. The only real downside is the green pip in its casting cost, but that’s hardly a deal breaker.
With this in mind, it seems that Herd Heirloom is only going to get more and more popular in Commander. Obviously, there will be a ceiling for long-term popularity, but we’re certainly not there yet. Since most green-aligned decks can genuinely consider running this card, the sky is the limit here.
Ultimately, while Herd Heirloom does have a lot of potential, even competitively in the right metagame, the future is uncertain. Subsequently, as always, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens in the coming weeks and months. Just don’t be surprised if Herd Heirloom ends up being surprisingly expensive for what looks like a humble rare card.