With MagicCon: Las Vegas on the horizon, we’ve already seen a handful of convention-exclusive promos. It seems, however, that Wizards have even more up their sleeves. A new promo reprint for one of Magic’s most popular and powerful removal spells has just been revealed.
Swords to Plowshares Promo
A pair of new promos have been announced as an incentive for players to participate in Two-Headed Giant and Team Limited events at MagicCon: Las Vegas. Both of these cards come together to create a beautiful tapestry, with a Moogle split up in the middle. These cards depict Alisaie and Alphinaud, a twin sister and brother duo from Final Fantasy XIV.
You may notice that one of these cards doesn’t look like the other. Swords to Plowshares is a reprint of one of the most powerful removal spells in Magic, but Alphinaud is a Final Fantasy TCG card. This promotion aims to celebrate both games.
To date, this is the only non-MTG promo that we’ve seen advertised as part of Magic’s Final Fantasy crossover release. While we’re unsure of how the card performs in-game, a tutor seems strong enough to be exciting.
Notably, depending on the event that you play, these promos will appear in different languages. If you participate in Two-Headed Giant or Team Limited side events at MagicCon: Las Vegas, you’ll receive an English copy of the card, at least while supplies last.
If you instead participate in the Team Limited Open on June 29th at Magic Spotlight: Final Fantasy at Chiba, Japan, you’ll receive a Japanese version of Swords to Plowshares, which may also expand to side events depending on supply and demand. There is no information about the languages of the Alphinaud promo available, but we would assume that the languages will match the Swords to Plowshares appropriately.
At the time of writing, these are the only two events where these promos are available, but some Final Fantasy TCG events may also offer the cards at some time in the future.
A Potentially Pricey Promo
While Swords to Plowshares is one of the strongest removal spells in MTG, it’s not worth that much. Thanks to seeing dozens of reprints in Commander precons, most copies of the card are only worth a dollar. Despite this, Swords goes in basically any Commander deck that runs white, so there’s a lot of demand to meet overwhelming supply.
Because of this, fancier versions of Swords to Plowshares can get a bit pricy. Past MagicCon promos of Swords go for about $5, while most Secret Lair and chase full art foil copies of the card go for about $15. On the top end, Swords can go for as much as $500 from older Alpha and Beta copies of it.
All of that said, while I would expect this Swords to be worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $15-$30, MTG players had a rather strong reaction to the card’s artwork due to a debatable flavor fail. This could cool down any premiums for it, but the card’s ultimate value will likely depend on how many of them exist. While this is impossible to know for sure, this will likely be a bit rarer than the usual MagicCon promos since this isn’t available in a Festival in a Box product.
While the value of the MagicCon promo is a mystery, Spotlight Series MTG promos have more past precedent. Terror of the Peaks, for example, has a $100 Spotlight Series promo, worth more than double the $40 for cheaper variants of the card. Kaldra Compleat is even more alarming, demanding a massive $117 for a card that’s otherwise worth just $5. As mentioned, Swords to Plowshares is also the promo for Spotlight Series: Final Fantasy in Japan. Subsequently, the Japanese variant of this card could experience a massive premium.
Regardless of what the price ends up being, the artwork on this Swords to Plowshares is an absolutely beautiful upgrade for some of the Final Fantasy Commander precons. That alone could cause a lot of demand for it.
Stick with us here at mtgrocks.com: the best site for Magic: The Gathering coverage!