At this point, it’s no secret that Fire Lord Azula has been moving the MTG financial markets. As the most popular Commander from MTG Avatar, it seems players can’t get enough of this card’s spell-doubling shenanigans. Whether it’s the infinite combos or sheer potential for value, it’s no wonder that she’s so popular.
While Fire Lord Azula has definitely been leading the charge, she’s not the only MTG Avatar card with impressive synergy. In competitive formats, tons of Avatar cards are making their names known and feared. For better or worse, this widespread appeal has caused some monstrous price spikes recently, and they’re not slowing down.
MTG Bulk Up
Originally released not long ago, in MTG Foundations, Bulk Up was just waiting to become a problem. The ability to simply double a card’s power for the turn obviously has some insane one-shot potential. So long as you can get a creature to ten power, with nothing in the way, Bulk Up could instantly end the game.
Once released, it didn’t take long for MTG players to identify and brew with this synergy. While Bulk Up did see some success in Leyline decks during this time, it was hardly ruling the format with beefy iron fists. As much as doubling a creature’s power can be efficient, it rarely works that well in isolation. Due to this, Bulk Up hasn’t been a major metagame powerhouse, at least until Firebending Student came along.
Now, this card is offering a new turn three OTK combo that seems viciously powerful. While it does require a fair few cards to execute, it could be the real deal. Initially, MTG players were concerned about this combo in MTG Arena’s Best-of-One, but it’s not just stuck there. Already, the Bulk Up and Firebending Student OTK is proving powerful in Standard tournaments, which is majorly driving demand.
While an OTK combo is already exciting, Bulk Up has also been seeing increased interest from MTG Commander. In particular, synergy with Fire Lord Azula has caused a steep increase in demand in the past few weeks. Now, this appears to be reaching a fever pitch, as prices are up significantly, although they were low to begin with.
The Spike
As an uncommon card from MTG Foundations that didn’t see a ton of play until recently, Bulk Up has surprisingly been rather cheap. At the end of October, copies of Bulk Up were selling for just $0.26 on average. Beyond just being cheap, there has long been an absolute mountain of supply available, thanks to MTG Foundation’s accessibility.
In the past few weeks, however, once MTG Avatar became legal, the supply of Bulk Up has been draining rapidly. Around 50 to 75 near-mint copies have been sold each day. There are now 192 near-mint listings available on TCGplayer. Admittedly, this is still quite a bit of available supply, but with 1330 copies sold in November, it may not last long.
As usual, as demand increased and supply fell, the price of near-mint copies has crept up and up. What was once a $0.26 card now has a market price of $2.89. While this might not seem that insane, percentage-wise, it’s one hell of a jump. Thankfully, it does seem this market price has been heavily influenced by TCGplayer Direct, as cheaper copies are still available.
Currently, listings for a non-foil near-mint copy of Bulk Up start at $1.21, not including shipping. While this is definitely a lot less than the market price, that’s still a 365% price spike. Over time, this spike is bound to grow too, given the pace of sales.
Unfortunately, there’s no escaping this price spike either, as even worse-condition copies have had their prices pumped up. That said, while things look good now, there’s no telling how long this spike will last.
Looking Ahead
At the moment, it feels like there’s a good chance the current Bulk Up price spike will continue. If supply continues to be drained at the current rate, future raises feel inevitable. That said, looking further into the future, the outlook becomes a lot bleaker.
At the end of the day, Bulk Up is a card from MTG Foundations. Due to this, and the set’s long lifespan specifically, this card should remain in print for ages. In theory, this could easily solve the supply problem that Bulk Up is poised to experience.
Beyond this, it’s also worth remembering that Bulk Up is hardly the most powerful or staple card in MTG. While it’s good in Mono-Red Aggro and Leyline in Standard, alongside playing well in explosive Commander decks, it’s hardly amazing everywhere. This ultimately means there will be a ceiling on demand, which should keep prices somewhat in check.
All that said, as always, it’s impossible to predict the future. Should Bulk Up continue to prove itself and take off in Standard, this could just be the start. Whether or not this will end up happening, however, remains to be seen.
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