For better or worse, Edge of Eternities is a fairly tame MTG set, all things considered. While a few of the set’s cards are capable of keeping up in Vintage, it’s fairly weak overall. Even the much-anticipated Standard rotation hasn’t totally mixed up the format’s order. Despite this, Edge of Eternities is still very much capable of causing price spikes.
In particular, one humble Lobster Citizen has seemingly enamored MTG players, becoming the set’s most popular Commander. Beyond just being Magic’s first Commander-legal Lobster, Ragost, Deft Gastronaut is honestly pretty powerful. Supporting a unique Food-based strategy, Ragost has already caused a few unexpected price spikes, but he isn’t stopping there.
Legion Extruder
First released in Outlaws of Thunder Junction as part of The Big Score, Legion Extruder isn’t a well-loved MTG card. As soon as it was released, this artifact faded into obscurity as it’s a bad burn spell and weak sacrifice engine. Getting to replace an artifact with a 3/3 Golem for two is fine, but that’s about it.
Thankfully, Legion Extruder received some new synergistic pieces in Edge of Eternities, which significantly improve it. As mentioned, Ragost provides a new Commander archetype for Extruder, which cares about all things artifacts. That said, while this Commander is driving demand, he’s got anti-synergy with Extruder.
The main goal of Ragost decks is to sacrifice artifacts/Food with the titular Lobster himself. Legion Extruder, meanwhile, also wants to sacrifice artifacts in order to replace them with Golems. While both play into an artifact-sacrifice theme, they work independently of one another. That said, there is still some crossover.
Thanks to the abundance of artifacts that Ragost wants to create, Legion Extruder can steadily build a robust board. While this will be somewhat expensive, Commander’s slower pace and the prevalence of Treasure Tokens should mitigate this issue. Notably, since the Golems Extruder creates are artifacts, Ragost can still sacrifice them when needed.
In a pinch, Legion Extruder can also work decently with Weapons Manufacturing, since it can sacrifice other artifacts. While this will let you crack the Munitions that it creates, sadly, the created Golems are tokens, so it’s not a self-sustaining loop. That said, ideally, a Ragost deck will have more Munitions than Ragost can handle, so extra sacrifice engines are always welcome.
The Spike
While there’s a weird mix of synergy and anti-synergy here, Legion Extruder has still been selling surprisingly well. As mentioned, for the longest time, MTG players haven’t really cared about this card, but that’s all changed recently. Just before Edge of Eternities’ prereleases kicked off, around 30 copies of Extruder started selling daily.
As mentioned, this increase was largely driven by Ragost; however, the recent sales far outweigh the actual demand for Extruder. According to TCGplayer, just under 500 near-mint copies of Extruder have been sold in the past month. Meanwhile, over on EDHREC, stats show that only 76 Ragost decks are actually using Legion Extruder.
While it’s unlikely that every Commander player will register their list on EDHREC, this discrepancy is absolutely massive. With this in mind, it seems that investors are definitely running the show here, trying to get ahead of the curve. This definitely isn’t uncommon in the world of MTG finance, but it’s surprising to see it happen this much.
Regardless of the buyers, these steady sales have managed to push up the price of Legion Extruder significantly. Prior to the release of Edge of Eternities, copies could be picked up for around $0.71. Now, however, you’ll have to sell out at least $3 for a non-foil near-mint condition copy.
For better or worse, sales for the other variants of Legion Extruder have been slower, but prices are up across the board. The Showcase variant has doubled in price and is now selling for $12+. Meanwhile, the Extended Art variant is now selling for around $5, including shipping, which is also just over double its past price.
The Future
Out of all the price spikes that we’ve seen recently, it seems that Legion Extruder isn’t destined for greatness. There’s definitely potential here, but MTG players simply don’t seem to be interested in this card. The synergy with Ragost and Weapons Manufacturing isn’t enough to carry it right now, and that’s unlikely to change.
Personally, I think that Legion Extruder only has a year at best to make it. Should someone be able to brew with it in Standard, there’s a chance it could become somewhat viable and desirable. Recently, a new sacrifice-based artifact deck did top a MTGO tournament; however, it’s by no means a meta-topping powerhouse just yet.
In theory, there’s always a chance that some new future card will crack Legion Extruder open and make it a real menace. Banking on this happening while it’s meh in the interim really doesn’t sound like the best business strategy, mind you. Potentially, Commander-driven demand will climb over time, but it’s nowhere right now.
Ultimately, while we’re not very optimistic, clearly some MTG players are investors are willing to put their money down. Looking ahead, we’re just going to have to wait and see what will happen in the coming weeks and months. When future sets like Spider-Man and Avatar: The Last Airbender are released, there’s a good chance demand will die out completely. Whether or not that will happen, however, remains to be seen.
Stick with us here at mtgrocks.com: the best site for Magic: The Gathering coverage!
