Even though it only had one precon, Reality Fracture has still had a major impact on the secondary MTG markets. Since the decklist for the Multiverse Reforged precon was revealed, we’ve seen tons of missed reprints and Sphinx support spiking hard. Naturally, the precon itself is also responsible for a fair few spikes, with many upgrades climbing in price.
As a testament to the love for this polymorph-focused precon, Multiverse Reforged is still causing spikes weeks after its release. Recently, for instance, Astral Dragon has shot up in price, suddenly becoming a $45 MTG card thanks to new synergies. Considering this card was already rather popular, it’s well worth checking your collection for a potential payday.
MTG Astral Dragon
Since its release as part of Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate, Astral Dragon has long been a popular MTG card. While it is on the expensive side, in every sense of the word now, it does offer a ton of value through its copy effect. Not only does this put ten power on the board, but you can easily copy potent value engines to spiral out of control.
Even if you’re not pushing Astral Dragon to the extreme, it’s very hard to go wrong with this card. Not being able to copy creatures isn’t ideal, of course, but grabbing two
Sol Ring
Sol Ring
{T}: Add {C}{C}.
s as a worst-case scenario is a very high floor. Ideally, however, you’ll want to hit something like
Panharmonicon
Panharmonicon
If an artifact or creature entering causes a triggered ability of a permanent you control to trigger, that ability triggers an additional time.
or
Smothering Tithe
Smothering Tithe
Whenever an opponent draws a card, that player may pay {2}. If the player doesn't, you create a Treasure token. (It's an artifact with "{T}, Sacrifice this token: Add one mana of any color.")
for maximum value.
Speaking of value, Astral Dragon has long enabled tons of devastating infinite combos. By copying a card like
Cursed Mirror
Cursed Mirror
{T}: Add {R}.
As this artifact enters, you may have it become a copy of any creature on the battlefield until end of turn, except it has haste.
, for instance, you’ll then be able to copy Astral Dragon again. Since this will net you two new copy triggers, you can keep going infinitely to make endless 3/3 Dragon Tokens.
While you won’t find this combo in the Multiverse Reforged precon, Astral Dragon is still a great upgrade to that deck. At the very least, you can use this Dragon to create a new copy 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.
, which will let you Polymorph something again. Even if Jace isn’t in play and you hard cast Astral, it’s very rare you won’t get value from it, making it a safe inclusion.
With this in mind, it’s little wonder that content creators like The Command Zone highlighted Astral Dragon as a solid upgrade to the Multiverse Reforged precon. This, in turn, has caused a spike in demand for the card, which has pushed prices up considerably.
Astral-nomically Expensive
Admittedly, as much as the price of Astral Dragon has shot up recently, this card was already expensive to begin with. Since its debut in Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate, it hasn’t been reprinted, and it’s played in around 66,000 decks. Thanks to this, near-mint copies were selling for around $18 this time last month.
Since then, over 180 near-mint copies of Astral Dragon have been sold, which has pushed prices up dramatically. Now, there are just six near-mint listings on TCGplayer, with prices starting at $46.77, including shipping. While listings offer many copies around this price point, if demand continues, prices may rise further soon.
Thankfully, if you’re in the market for a copy of Astral Dragon still, there is a significantly cheaper alternative. On TCGplayer, you can pick up near-mint extended art copies for around $27 right now. Considering this art treatment is typically more desirable, this variant definitely seems like a steal right now.
Sadly, while the extended art variant does offer a significant saving, there isn’t a tremendous amount of supply available. As such, you might not want to wait around for too long, especially since cheap, worse-condition copies have already been bought up. That said, as is often the case, there’s no telling which direction this price spike will end up going.
Putting the Nebula in Nebulous
As much as predicting the future is more art than science, the future of Astral Dragon does seem rather solid. While this card has seen increased popularity recently, it’s a staple in Commander across multiple archetypes, especially Dragon Typal. With that in mind, even if the hype around Multiverse Reforged fades, its price is unlikely to crash overnight.
Instead, it’s more likely that the price of Astral Dragon will decrease slowly and steadily once players have had their fill. Right now, it’s unclear when that will happen, as prices could still increase in the short term. For now, we can only really wait and see what the future brings, but I wouldn’t hold your breath for sudden changes.
Notably, while Astral Dragon prices are unlikely to crash entirely, a reprint could still change that. Right now, a clear supply issue is gripping the market, but if a reprint solves it, prices should tumble. Sadly, as much as a reprint might be needed, there’s no guarantee of whether or when one might happen.
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