Sunfrill Imitator’s price spike is a bizarre one. While the card is fantastic for a Dinosaur Typal Commander deck, there aren’t really many new Dinosaur cards that are causing the spike. Regardless, this Dino support is strong, and the card has recently caught the limelight.
Sunfrill Imitator
Sunfrill Imitator isn’t too impressive outside of its triggered ability. A 3/3 for three may as well be behind the curve nowadays with all the ridiculous cards being printed. Where this card gets interesting is when it attacks. You can find this card in Lost Caverns of Ixalan Collector Booster packs, as well as in the Veloci-Ramp-Tor preconstructed Commander deck.
Sunfrill Imitator can become a copy of another Dino, which has some insanely strong synergies. Notably, the card keeps its name, which allows the Imitator to copy cards like Gishath, Sun’s Avatar without the Legend rule taking effect.
Talking about Gishath, this is just about the scariest thing that Sunfrill Imitator can copy. Swinging in for 14 damage that looks 14 cards deep for additional dinos is a quick way to end a Commander game.
In terms of what’s causing this spike, there are some new MTG Foundations dinosaur cards, but none of them are particularly powerful. Cherished Hatchling is a cute trick for Dinosaur decks, but it’s not enough to create an increase in interest for the archetype. Needletooth Pack is even more disappointing.
So, while this card is quite a capable Dino typal tool, there aren’t any new MTG cards seemingly causing a price spike. Sunfrill Imitator doesn’t really see any competitive play, either.
The reason for this price spike may actually be something related to TCGplayer.
TCGplayer Direct
Sudden price spikes for specific cards can be tough to follow. That is certainly the case for Sunfrill Imitator. While the card is now consistently selling for between $5 and $8 in its normal variant, at the time of writing, there are still $2 copies of the card available. Additionally, extended art versions of Sunfrill Imitator are still consistently selling for cheaper prices, but recent sales suggest that every version of the card is beginning to spike.
The reasoning for Sunfrill Imitator’s spike may not actually have anything to do with the card’s playability, but could instead be a result of TCGplayer Direct. If you want to buy copies of Sunfrill Imitator on TCGplayer Direct, at the time of writing, $8 is the absolute cheapest that the card is available for. So, the $8 sales causing the price spike on this card may simply be a result of TCGplayer Direct.
If this is the case, there could be a ton of MTG price spikes that are simply the cause of increased prices on TCGplayer Direct. A ton of cards getting buzz in the finance community match the pattern of a few higher sales dragging the price of the card up across the board.
Regardless, according to recent sales, Sunfrill Imitator does seem to be experiencing a spike of some sort. The average market value on TCGplayer is up to $5.48. That’s a 464% price increase, and there are a decent amount of sales over the past few days that are around this number for the normal variant.
With all of this in mind, we would recommend staying away from copies of Sunfrill Imitator that cost more than $2 for the time being. If you’re pressed for time and really want one of these for your Commander deck, you may need to pay a premium.
