With Wizards of the Coast still on their holiday break, now is the perfect time to actually play MTG. We’re not getting any new spoilers until January 5th, so we’ve got just under a week of spoiler-free quiet to enjoy. Thankfully, it’s actually very easy to enjoy this quiet period, as most MTG formats are surprisingly balanced.
Standard, in particular, is the best it has been in months. Throughout 2025, Standard has been plagued by unbalanced and ban-worthy cards, killing the format’s appeal. Now, however, not only is the format finally stable, but new decks are still emerging. Most recently, Mono Green and Selesnya Landfall decks have reemerged, resulting in major secondary market waves.
MTG Earthbender Ascension
Released as part of MTG Avatar, as the name suggests, it took a while for Earthbender Ascension to get going. It has only really exploded onto Standard recently, but the card has always been good. In fact, we even crowned Earthbender Ascension as one of the best new MTG cards from the entire Avatar set!
At its absolute worst, Earthbender Ascension is a 2/2 for three, which also gives you some somewhat slow ramp. While this is already good, this slow ramp is hardly damning, since similar ramp spells like Shared Roots cost two mana. Realistically, it’s one of the best ramp spells in Standard right now, especially since it also has a Landfall ability.
It might take some time to get going, but in a focused strategy, getting four Quest Counters on Earthbender Ascension is a breeze. From this point, you’re churning out +1/+1 counters and giving Trample to your newly minted threats, too. Unsurprisingly, this does a lot of work within Standard’s Landfall-based decks, especially since Trample helps break through stalled boards.
With Mono-Green and Selesnya Landfall decks topping tournaments in Standard, there has unsurprisingly been a major rush of demand. This, however, isn’t the only place that Earthbender Ascension is seeing play. In Commander, this card has quickly become something of a staple, especially within Avatar and Landfall-focused decks.
Much like in Standard, the floor for value on Earthbender Ascension is incredibly useful, and it only gets better from there. Any Landfall strategy will have no trouble getting four Quest Counters and running away with the game. While EDHREC states it’s only seeing play in 25,700 decks so far, that number is bound to increase as time goes on.
The Spike
Despite being seen as a strong MTG card and commonly played in Commander, Earthbender Ascension used to be surprisingly cheap. Toward the start of December, near-mint non-foil copies of this card would routinely sell for around $0.60. For a time shortly after release, copies were even more of a steal at $0.47, but that didn’t last long.
Thanks to its impressive power and multiformat potential, sales for Earthbender Ascension have been consistent since its release. In the past month alone, over 1900 near-mint non-foil copies have been sold. With this in mind, it’s not at all surprising that supply has dwindled over time, causing the price to jump.
Currently, while the market price for Earthbender Ascension is only $2.56, fresh listings start at $3.20. Given that there are only 23 listings left, offering 163 copies in total, this remaining supply could easily be snapped up. Considering the price of many Standard staples, Earthbender Ascension becoming more expensive is hardly off the table.
Unfortunately for any MTG players on a budget, cheaper copies of Earthbender Ascension don’t really exist anymore. The card’s Borderless printing is now $3.50, and there are even fewer copies available. Sadly, even worse condition or foil copies don’t offer cheaper deals, as those have all been bought up already.
The Future
For the moment, Earthbender Ascension is still a fairly inexpensive MTG card. With top-tier rare multiformat staples selling for $10+, there’s potentially a lot of room to grow. Considering how low the supply is at the moment, it may not be long before we reach this price point.
Realistically, thanks to the steady demand from Landfall-focused decks in Commander, Earthbender Ascension holding at around $3.50 wouldn’t be a surprise. That being said, nothing is guaranteed in MTG, so its price could easily falter if Standard shifts. Since we’re getting seven brand new Standard-legal sets in 2026, the chances of this seem quite high.
Sadly, due to our inability to predict the future, it’s impossible to know which way the price of Earthbender Ascension will end up going. Even if it does seem underpriced right now, MTG Avatar is an incredibly successful set, so supply isn’t terrible. Hopefully, for budget-conscious players, this card will remain fairly affordable. Whether or not that will happen, however, remains to be seen.
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