The MTG financial markets have been in turmoil lately. Last week, the MTG finance world was rocked by unexpected and unprecedented Commander bans. With multiple $90+ cards being banned, millions of dollars of value were ripped from the hands of players. For better or worse, it now seems much of that lost value may have magically returned.
Following the recent Commander bans, ownership of the format has changed from the Rules Committee to Wizards of the Coast. As part of this move, Wizards has announced big plans for the format, including a somewhat official deck ranking system. While much of the MTG community is divided by the proposed system, others are seemingly rushing to embrace it.
Despite nothing concrete being confirmed, many MTG players are expecting past bans to be overturned. This has created a new rush of demand for once-dominant Commander staples. As usual, this demand has triggered a wave of new price spikes across the market.
The Bounce Back
For starters, it’s worth noting that Wizards hasn’t confirmed that anything currently on the Commander banlist will be unbanned soon. All that has been said is that Wizards will be “evaluating the current banned card list alongside both the Commander Rules Committee and the community.” As part of this process, no new cards will be banned, and “immediate changes to the list are not our priority.”
From these statements, there’s a good chance that nothing will happen when Wizards next addresses the Commander banlist. Despite this, many MTG players haven’t been sitting idly by waiting for the big reveal. As soon as Wizards made these statements on Monday, players began rushing to buy past staples.
Unsurprisingly, one of the biggest movers since Wizards takeover has been Mana Crypt which used to be a $180 MTG card. After being banned, however, this card’s price crashed hard, with sales dropping as low as $50. Considering Mana Crypt could only be played in Vintage, where it was restricted, even this price seemed somewhat high.
Now, however, the price of Mana Crypt has almost completely bounced back. Listings for copies of Mana Crypt now start at around the $130 mark, but recent sales have pushed even higher. Between The List, Double Masters, and Eternal Masters printings, players are back to paying $170 at the top end!
Considering nothing has actually happened yet, it’s safe to say this price increase is equally impressive and dubious. Should Wizards not unban Mana Crypt the card’s price may crash once again. Even this second crash may not last forever, however, since cEDH may end up getting its own special Tier five power rating.
Speedy Sales
While Mana Crypt has been quick to bounce back to almost its old price, it’s not the only banned card seeing action. A lot of MTG players have taken an interest in Golos, Tireless Pilgrim, for example. Despite being banned way back in 2021, it seems players are taking a chance on this ramp-providing and cost-cheating Commander.
Unlike Mana Crypt, Golos is only going for around $2.50 right now, according to recent sales. This is quite a bit higher than past norms, as earlier in September the card was selling for just $0.79. Should Golos end up being unbanned, it could prove to be quite a sound investment right now, but that’s entirely unclear.
On top of Golos, a lot of players have been eyeing up cards like Griselbrand, Primeval Titan, Coalition Victory, and Fastbond too. Each of these cards could be potent upgrades to high-power Commander decks, should they be playable in Tier Four. While this is a big if, many players are taking the risk as each of these cards has seen a major spike in the volume of recent sales.
As much as sales for many of these cards are increasing, their prices haven’t exploded just yet. Since they’ve been banned for so long, there’s a lot of supply lingering on digital and physical shelves. The same isn’t true for Jeweled Lotus and Dockside Extortionist, however, since these cards have only been banned recently.
Much like Mana Crypt, this has caused their prices to bounce back rather quickly. Jeweled Lotus, in particular, is already selling for around $80 again, which is only $10 shy of its past price. For better or worse, Dockside Extortionist is a little worse for wear, only selling for $55 at the moment, rather than $90.
The Commander Conundrum
Right now, no one really knows which direction the Commander format is going to go in. While Wizard has stated they’ll be looking at the banlist, there’s a high chance that there are no major changes. After all, every card on the Commander banlist is there for a reason, and the Rules Committee didn’t act impulsively.
Before last week’s bans, it had been three years since the Rules Committee touched the Commander banlist. While not everyone was happy with this lack of action, it nonetheless showed their restraint and caution when making decisions. Any decisions that were made were for the good of the format, aiming to make it more fun. This is even true for the recent highly controversial bans.
With this in mind, Wizards may not be able to justify unbanning a lot of cards in Commander. Technically the proposed tier system does give Wizards some wiggle room, but that could cause more harm than good. Even if Mana Crypt is balanced in a Tier Four deck, there’s no guarantee players will honestly evaluate their decks.
This problem is nothing new in Commander as Mana Crypt has always been balanced for top-tier play. The card is a staple in cEDH, and arguably even vital to the format’s overall balance. Despite this many players would put it into their casual Commander decks before declaring it’s only a seven.
Ultimately, there’s no telling what Wizards will do to the Commander banlist now they’re in charge. While many MTG players have been understandably upset about their cards losing value, Wizards hasn’t promised to overturn anything. We’re just going to have to wait and see what happens while watching the MTG finance markets closely.
