While the main set Avatar spoilers have received near-universal praise so far, it’s a different story for its Source Material Bonus Sheet. As more cards have been revealed, this Sheet has only grown more divisive. With all the discussion around its artwork, however, the matter of the Sheet’s financial value is being underplayed. Just today, for example, we got to see a number of high-value reprints that take the MTG Avatar Bonus Sheet to new heights.
Teferi’s Protection
Teferi’s Protection, or T-Pro to its friends, is a card that needs little introduction. After Smothering Tithe, this is probably the number one reason to play white in Commander. Whenever you need it, Teferi’s Protection can save your life against the vast majority of win conditions. It can also protect all of your permanents by Phasing them out.
Admittedly, it’s not perfect, since you can still die to Mill decks, but those are rare enough that this isn’t a major deal. In most cases, if you cast Teferi’s Protection, you’re making it to your next turn. This allows you to dodge an alpha strike from an opponent and crack back for the win later. You can also cast it in response to your own board wipe to pull ahead in a game.
For this reason, Teferi’s Protection was added to the Commander Game Changers list back in April. This hasn’t done anything to blunt the card’s high price, however, which is still sitting at around $45 a copy. Rare premium versions, like the Strixhaven Mystical Archive printing, even go as high as $55.
It’s worth noting that the art on this new printing, like the rest of the MTG Avatar Bonus Sheet cards, isn’t fantastic. While it’s a fitting moment for the card, the resolution is pretty low. This could well bring down the price on this one, but considering how rare this card should be, it seems unlikely.
Bloodchief Ascension
Teferi’s Protection wasn’t the only high-value reprint we saw for the MTG Avatar Bonus Sheet today. We also got Bloodchief Ascension, represented perfectly by an image of the bloodbender Hama from the final season of the show.
Unlike Teferi’s Protection, which was designed with Commander in mind, Bloodchief Ascension just happened to be great in the format when it exploded in popularity. Since it triggers on each end step, you can very easily get three quest counters on this in a single turn cycle. Once you do, your opponents really aren’t long for the world. All your removal, board wipes, discard effects, and even mill effects will all come with a huge chunk of life drain attached. The fact that it triggers on every card, not just when “one or more” cards hit the ‘yard, is really what makes it so good.
You don’t even really need a specific deck to make Bloodchief Ascension worth running. Sure, it shines brightest in Mill and Control decks, but it can do work literally everywhere. That’s why it’s currently priced at $18 on the low end, with most versions falling in the $22-25 range.
This is also one of the few premium printings of the card we’ve seen so far, after the Commander Masters Borderless and Etched Foil versions. For that reason, this new version could actually be worth more than the previous ones. As with all of these cards, however, the art has a very real chance of dragging the price down.
Empty City Ruse
The last big MTG Avatar Bonus Sheet card for today, Empty City Ruse, comes all the way from Portal Three Kingdoms, back in 1999. This is actually the first time this card has ever been reprinted, in any product.
The lack of reprints, until now, is likely due, in part at least, to how unique the card’s effect is. Empty City Ruse makes an opponent skip their next turn’s combat phases, which is more useful than you might think. At worst, this card is one mana damage prevention, a bit like Fog, but it’s arguably more useful. Thanks to stopping attack and “at the beginning of combat” triggers, this card can briefly hose a range of decks.
Financially, Empty City Ruse is a bit of an odd one. While the card is sitting around the $40 mark right now, a lot of that is almost certainly down to its scarcity. Once another printing comes into play, it could see a drop off in terms of value. The card isn’t exactly in hot demand for Commander or anything, so this seems like a likely outcome.
On the other hand, these bonus sheet cards are remarkably rare, only appearing in one out of every 26 Play Boosters. Due to this, there won’t be a ton of supply flooding the market, which may prevent major price fluctuations. Beyond this, there’s a non-zero chance that the new Source Material variants will actually end up being more expensive thanks to their scarcity.
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