As a core feature of the original Lorwyn block, it’s no wonder typal themes were heavily present in Lorwyn Eclipsed. Tons of creature types got interesting new support pieces, and new changelings helped glue everything together. That being said, some creature types, like Faeries, didn’t get a huge amount of new support.
Elves, on the other hand, got tons of support in Lorwyn Eclipsed. Not only are there powerful new support pieces and Kindred cards, but new legends have propelled the archetype’s popularity even further. Thanks to this, we’ve seen a range of Elves and support cards spike in price recently. For better or worse, it appears this trend hasn’t stopped yet.
MTG Elvish Warmaster
First released as part of 2021’s Kaldheim, Elvish Warmaster quickly became a staple within Elf Typal MTG decks. As both an Elf token generator and a potential wincon, this card being an instant hit is no surprise. If anything, the only wrinkle is that Elvish Warmaster’s ability can only trigger once per turn, but that’s still exploitable.
Wolverine Riders, for instance, creates an Elf Warrior token on every upkeep, which easily triggers Elvish Warmaster. With these two cards working together, it won’t take long before you have an impressive board, turning Warmaster’s activated ability into a serious threat. While this ability might be expensive, thankfully, Elf Typal has more than enough insane mana dorks to combat that problem.
Thanks to this potential, Elvish Warmaster is fantastic in any go-wide Elf-focused deck, which is basically every Elf Typal list. This has caused this card to see play in around 71,700 Commander decks, according to EDHREC. Out of this impressive figure, Lorwyn Eclipsed is responsible for around 5,300 lists, thanks to a pair of Commanders.
With High Perfect Morcant and Maralen, Fae Ascendant both enabling unique Elf Typal strategies, Elvish Warmaster has seen a significant popularity boost. Since both of these decks want to create as many Elves as possible, Warmaster is an easy auto-include. After all, with Morcant you’ll be dishing out more -1/-1 Counters, and you can steal bigger spells with Maralen.
The Spike
Due to working so well with the two most popular Lorwyn Eclipsed Commanders, it’s no wonder Elvish Warmaster has spiked in price. That said, while EDHREC touts some impressive figures, sales of this card have been somewhat restrained. Even looking over the past three months, only 761 near-mint non-foil copies have been sold across both variants.
While this figure might not be as impressive as EDHREC’s, it’s still been enough to move the market. Previously, despite being a staple in Elf Typal decks, Elvish Warmaster has long been fairly cheap, selling for just $0.66. Now, while we’re a fair bit away from this past average price point, copies of Elvish Warmaster still aren’t excessively dear.
Currently, a near-mint non-foil Kaldheim copy of Elvish Warmaster will set you back around $2.10, not including shipping. While there aren’t a ton of copies available at this price point, it’s notably less than the $3.23 market price figure. For better or worse, it appears this figure has been somewhat inflated following $5 and $7 sales, likely via TCGplayer Direct.
The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Commander variant of Elvish Warmaster has followed a similar pricing pattern. Starting at just $0.46, this variant now has a market price of $3.09, but that’s partially due to TCGplayer Direct. Near-mint non-foil listings for this card start at just $2.32, making it a competitively affordable option.
Moving up in price a little bit more, Extended Art copies from Kaldheim are currently selling for around $2.60. With limited supply left on the market, however, prices may quickly climb from here. The same is true for the Jumpstart 2022 reprint of Elvish Warmaster, which doesn’t offer any significant savings. Instead, a near-mint non-foil copy from this set will run you $5.12 right now.
Up and Down
Looking at the price history of Elvish Warmaster, it’s a real rollercoaster. Since the card was first printed in 2021, Elvish Warmaster has spiked four times, none of which lasted for long. Out of these, the peak price the card reached was $4.25 in October of 2022, which still isn’t that expensive.
Given the past highs and lows that Elvish Warmaster has seen, it seems likely that this current spike won’t last. Even though this card is a staple, demand clearly isn’t consistent for long, causing prices to fall. That being said, the more times this card spikes, the more potential there is for lasting value.
The more cards like Elvish Warmaster spike over their lifespan, the less available supply there is on the market. This is due to many MTG players not breaking apart their decks once the initial hype surrounding new Commanders fades. When this happens, the decreased supply makes cards like this more volatile and potentially expensive.
With this in mind, it doesn’t seem out of the question for Elvish Warmaster to spike to $5 this time around. Beyond that, while an inevitable fall is expected, it could be slower, settling higher than usual. Whether or not this will happen, however, remains to be seen, since we can’t predict the future.
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