The Commander format has absolutely dominated the MTG financial markets in recent weeks. Unprecedented bans recently rocked the format, only for speculation about unbans to undo the historic price crashes. On top of this, new Duskmourn: House of Horror decks have caused all manner of spikes recently.
Since Commander is the most popular MTG format, on paper at least, it’s no wonder it drives so much demand. That’s not to say it’s the only format that’s capable of making MTG cards expensive, however. Plenty of cards from Duskmourn are proving to be competitively viable, making them seriously expensive too.
While Duskmourn may be all the rage, recently an unassuming uncommon Lizard from Outlaws of Thunder Junction has been on the up and up. Throughout September, this card has steadily increased in price by 500%, and it may not stop there. While they might not be the biggest format-warping bomb, Magebane Lizard is absolutely the real deal.
Magebane Lizard
- Mana Value: 1R
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Card Type: Creature – Lizard
- Stats: 1/4
- Card Text: Whenever a player casts a noncreature spell, Magebane Lizard deals damage to that player equal to the number of noncreature spells they’ve cast this turn.
Magebane Lizard is a very simple little guy. While they’re not much of a fighter, this Lizard can completely shut down an opponent in the right conditions. Said conditions are when your opponent is playing Storm since this Lizard makes Grapeshot, and every other spell, bite back. Against this archetype, Magebane Lizard is a must-kill threat.
Thanks to this power, Magebane Lizard has become a surprisingly popular card in Modern, at the moment. Appearing in the sideboard of multiple different decks, Magebane works wonders against the Ruby Storm archetype. As one of the format’s strongest decks, Ruby Storm is everywhere at the moment, so answers are certainly needed.
While Ruby Storm does keep some removal, like Mine Collapse in the sideboard to Wish into, Magebane Lizard is still a real threat. Forcing an opponent to deal with it before they combo off can seriously delay, if not outright stall and fizzle, their game plan. Thanks to this, pretty much any Modern deck that includes red has been dabbling with putting Magebane Lizard in the sideboard.
Outside of Modern, this little Lizard has also been seeing play in Pioneer, mostly in Atarka Red lists. Once again, Magebane Lizard tends to just be a sideboard option and a more niche one at that. With no Storm deck in Pioneer, Magebane Lizard is better suited for grindy matches against spell-slinging opponents to deal damage over time.
On top of seeing competitive play, Magebane Lizard has also been spiking thanks to Commander demand. Like many cards we’ve highlighted recently, Magebane is a great upgrade to the Endless Punishment precon. Even if they only trigger once per turn, they’re yet another way to trigger Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls easily.
The Spike
Since the start of September, the price of Magebane Lizard has steadily climbed by over 500%. At the start of the month, this uncommon had a fairly typical price of $0.66, which is hardly impressive. As players have continued to pick up copies, however, supply has slowly dwindled, causing it to climb week on week.
Currently, you’d be hard-pressed to pick up a copy of Magebane Lizard for less than $3.50 including shipping. While this is by no means cheap, it’s a fair bit lower than recent recorded sales. At the top end, MTG players have been paying $4.99 a piece, which is the same price as foil copies.
Thanks to TCGplayer’s handy sales graph, we can see there are significantly more sales for non-foil variant. Considering the card’s competitive appeal, this is hardly a surprise, as foils can occasionally cause issues. At the moment, there appears to be a fair amount of Magebane Lizard stock, but that could change soon, leading to a higher spike.
While a buyout could send the price of Magebane shooting up, this card is an uncommon at the end of the day. With this in mind, it’s unlikely its price will ever become too obscene, especially while Outlaws of Thunder Junction is in print. On top of this, MTG players are bound to get their full of Magebane Lizard eventually, causing demand to dry up and prices to fall.