Thanks to its unique themes and wide range of powerful cards, Reality Fracture has experienced a ton of hype. Commander players especially are feasting, with plenty of legends worthy of crafting a deck around. Unsurprisingly, this has caused some notable synergistic tools to spike in price, and Aminatou, the Fateshifter appears to be next in line.
MTG Aminatou, the Fatestitcher
Originally printed in the Subjective Reality precon, Aminatou, the Fateshifter features abilities that reward you in different ways. The +1 ability, despite being card neutral, helps manipulate the top of your deck, enabling Miracle spells like
Temporal Mastery
Temporal Mastery
Take an extra turn after this one. Exile Temporal Mastery.
Miracle {1}{U} (You may cast this card for its miracle cost when you draw it if it's the first card you drew this turn.)
or
Terminus
Terminus
Put all creatures on the bottom of their owners' libraries.
Miracle {W} (You may cast this card for its miracle cost when you draw it if it's the first card you drew this turn.)
.
Then, on a different axis, Aminatou decks also get to use the -1 ability to blink out creatures like
Agent of Treachery
Agent of Treachery
When this creature enters, gain control of target permanent.
At the beginning of your end step, if you control three or more permanents you don't own, draw three cards.
or
Mulldrifter
Mulldrifter
Flying
When this creature enters, draw two cards.
Evoke {2}{U} (You may cast this spell for its evoke cost. If you do, it's sacrificed when it enters.)
with potent enters effects. This mode even lets you maximize
Reality Acid
Reality Acid
Enchant permanent
Vanishing 3 (This Aura enters with three time counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter from it. When the last is removed, sacrifice it.)
When this Aura leaves the battlefield, enchanted permanent's controller sacrifices it.
as a repeatable removal spell.
Once you add in the potentially devastating chaos-style ultimate, it isn’t too shocking that Aminatou commands nearly 7,000 decks, according to EDHREC. As powerful as this card is, though, it hasn’t made a huge splash in the 99 of other decks outside of a few exceptions, until now, at least.
With the printing of
Jace, Multiverse Architect
Jace, Multiverse Architect
At the beginning of combat on each opponent's turn, they may pay {2}. If they don't, creatures they control can't attack Jaces you control this turn.
+1: Draw two cards, then put a card from your hand on the bottom of your library.
−3: Exile another target planeswalker or creature you control. Reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a creature or planeswalker card. Put that card onto the battlefield and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
Jace, Multiverse Architect can be your commander.
in Reality Fracture, this support piece is now getting more attention. By putting potent creature or Planeswalker bombs back on top of your library, Aminatou easily enables Jace’s -3 ability. Then, if Aminatou and Jace stick around, you’re free to blink out Jace and reset its loyalty, thus enabling another -3 activation right away. Because of this, Aminatou essentially acts as a free Polymorph for Jace when hit, both refreshing and enabling it.
Considering that Jace is the most popular Reality Fracture Commander with over 6,000 decks to its name already, it makes sense that Aminatou would see its demand rise. Of course, this is also just a fantastic upgrade for the Multiverse Reforged precon, pushing prices further.
The Spike
Back on September 10th, players could get their hands on a Commander 2018 copy of Aminatou for just $3.08. Following the reveal of the Multiverse Reforged precon on September 16th, however, it didn’t take long for players to flock to Aminatou as a potent support piece that wasn’t reprinted.
Since then, 87 near-mint copies of the foil Commander 2018 version have sold, compared to just 12 copies from the entire month prior. This has completely decimated supply, as only four near-mint listings are currently available. These start at $22.19 including shipping, showcasing a 620% spike over the last month.
Unfortunately, the Double Masters and Secret Lair variants have also experienced similar trends. Near-mint non-foil copies of either are unavailable for under $18, and there are only five listings for both options.
Interestingly, though, the Rainbow Foil and Foil Etched Double Masters versions of the card are actually available for $11.42 and $13.40 including shipping, respectively. Copies from The List are even more affordable, starting at $8.99. Nonetheless, these printings have still followed similar trends in rising demand and tanking supply as the other variants, so there’s reason to believe these small deals won’t last long. There also aren’t any better offers at Lightly Played or Moderately Played, so good deals are clearly scarce.
The Future
Ultimately, in the short-term, there’s little reason to believe Aminatou’s price tag will fall at all. After all, Reality Fracture only officially released yesterday, meaning hype is still high. As more players continue to get their hands on their Commander product, it seems inevitable that synergistic support cards like Aminatou will keep flying off the shelves.
That being said, it is very natural for spikes driven by precon Commanders to eventually level out. MTG Star Trek releases on November 20th, and as more legends get revealed, players will likely turn their attention away from Reality Fracture.
Still, as usual, it’s impossible to predict the market with any degree of certainty. So, we’ll just have to wait and see how things unfold.
Stick with us here at mtgrocks.com: the best site for Magic: The Gathering coverage. Be sure to check out our deckbuilder for your next big brew, and our MTG Rocks Podcast!