Even before the full official release of Aetherdrift, the set’s preconstructed Commander options were making waves. In particular, those from the Eternal Might deck turned out to be especially spicy, causing all manner of price spikes. As time went on, love for Hashaton, Scarab’s Fist only seemed to increase, while everything else was left in the dust.
Despite featuring one of the most notorious mechanics in MTG, the Living Energy deck received surprisingly little love. While we’ve seen very few massive attention-grabbing Energy-based spikes, it doesn’t mean they haven’t been happening quietly. Electrosiphon, for instance, has steadily been increasing in price this month, reaching an all-time high this week.
Electrosiphon
At its core, Electrosiphon is a very simple, yet also very solid MTG card. For three mana you get to counter a spell and potentially gain a bunch of Energy for doing so. At worst, you’ll just remove a needed threat and the extra resources won’t matter. Should things go according to plan, however, you could easily generate half a dozen Energy counters with this card.
For better or worse, that’s all that Electrosiphon has going for it. Obviously, the card’s mana cost is somewhat difficult, but it’s nonetheless a popular option in Commander. Not only are most Energy-based Commander decks Izzet, at least, but they tend to be fairly controlling too. While Electrosiphon is a staple because of this, it’s not the most eye-catching card.
Despite flying under the radar somewhat, there has been a decent amount of demand for Electrosiphon. Following the reveal and release of the Living Energy Commander deck, this demand has unsurprisingly increased. At first, this didn’t do much of anything, however, as supply dwindled, prices began to soar.
Even though they’re not explicitly control decks, both Pia Nalaar, Chief Mechanic and Saheeli, Radiant Creator benefit from Electrosiphon. Any single card that can generate a bunch of Energy instantly, for just three mana, will always be useful. The same was true of Satya, Aetherflux Genius from Modern Horizons 3 Commander.
Unfortunately, outside of Commander, Electrosiphon just isn’t viable. Hailing from the Fallout Commander decks, this card is only legal in Eternal formats, which aren’t easy to crack. Considering the speed of Legacy and Vintage, Electrosiphon unsurprisingly can’t keep up.
The Spike
For the longest time, Electrosiphon was not an expensive MTG card. Even after Modern Horizons 3 Commander released, this instant was still selling for just $0.25. Most of the time, when Energy isn’t in vogue, copies could be yours for as little as $0.10. Fast forward to now, and we’ve come a long long way from there.
Toward the end of January, Electrosiphon was selling for an average of $0.16. The fresh wave of demand from the Living Energy precon has pushed the market price up to $3.10. This is already a 1837% price spike, but it doesn’t stop there.
Currently, near-mint copies of Electrosiphon start at $5 on TCGplayer, thankfully with shipping included. With multiple recorded sales happening at this price point, it seems players are more than happy to pay this premium. This means Electrosiphon has seen an insane 3025% price spike in one month alone.
Thankfully, while the normal variant of Electrosiphon has shot up in price, the card’s other versions haven’t matched this spike. The card’s Extended Art variant, for instance, is still selling for $3.80, for example. Sadly, there aren’t too many copies left at this price point, so $5 may soon be the price for all variants.
Speaking of other variants, there are Surge Foil copies of the normal and Extended Art cards too. Sadly, prices for these variants are already above $5, so there are no sneaky deals to be had here. Still, it may be better to pick up what copies you need sooner rather than later.
The Future
As with all price spikes, there’s a non-zero chance that the current high price will fade over time. While Electrosiphon is in short supply, the demand will die down and prices will likely have to fall to continue selling. That being said, Electrosiphon does look like a pretty sound investment.
As a Universes Beyond card, there’s the belief that Electrosiphon could be rather hard to reprint. Technically, the card’s original printing is tied to the Fallout universe, but it doesn’t have to stay that way. Electrosiphon is hardly the most Fallout-focused name in existence, so this card could easily be reprinted if necessary.
While reprints are theoretically on the table, Energy is hardly the most widely used mechanic by Wizards. Having proved especially dangerous in constructed formats, it’s pretty much just confined to Commander nowadays. As mentioned, this does mean it could see a reprint in a new Commander precon, but there’s no guarantee when that would appear.
For the time being, it seems like there’s a good chance that the price of Electrosiphon will continue to climb. Until a reprint gets confirmed, the demand from Energy decks in Commander won’t be going away. Even once the Living Energy deck stops being the latest fun thing, Electrosiphon will still be a certified staple for any energy Commander deck.
Ultimately, while the future does look rather bright for Electrosiphon, there are never any guarantees in the MTG markets. Not only can Wizards reprint cards at will, but tastes, and demand, can change in an instant.