Into the Flood Maw is the best instant in Standard. The card sees play in Pioneer, Modern, and even Legacy. Into the Flood Maw is, really, just an Unsummon with a buff. That buff is so significant, however, that it turns Into the Flood Maw into a card that Magic has never seen before.
Unsurprisingly, thanks to this impressive strength, coupled with its multiformat play, Into the Flood Maw is rising in price.
Into the Flood Maw
Into the Flood Maw is a crucial part of the Izzet Prowess deck that is currently dominating Standard. The card is a universal answer to any nonland permanent your opponent can play. This is the only one-mana spell that can do this in all of MTG.
For Izzet Prowess, this is notably the best answer that the deck has to High Noon. The card also excels at creating a massive tempo swing when combined with Cori-Steel Cutter. You get to trigger Flurry and set your opponent back, setting up for massive damage.
In Pioneer, Into the Flood Maw sees play as a way to remove hate pieces or problem creatures across all kinds of blue combo decks. Rona Combo and Lotus Field Combo are the most common amongst these. Izzet Phoenix, which is less of a combo deck, also commonly plays this card.
Meanwhile, in Modern, all kinds of decks use Into the Flood Maw, but the most common among them is Blue Belcher. Thanks to the combo deck using activated abilities and graveyard interactions, a ton of hate pieces can shut it down. Into the Flood Maw is an answer to anything that’s stopping you from comboing off. The card plays a similar role in Legacy.
Izzet Prowess is the obvious deck to beat in Standard right now. With Into the Floodmaw being a common 4-of and a mandatory 3-of, this is where most of the increased demand for the card is being seen.
The Price
Into the Flood Maw started seeing a massive price spike at the beginning of April. The card was worth about $1.31 after dropping in price from $2. It quickly recovered this drop towards the end of the month, and kept spiking into May. Now, Into the Flood Maw is worth about $4.50 on average according to more recent sales, but the card is seeing sales for anywhere from $4 to $6.
Considering the ridiculous price spike Stock Up has seen, competitive uncommons from recent sets surging in price shouldn’t be too shocking. That Aetherdrift uncommon is currently demanding $12!
Into the Flood Maw has always seen a healthy amount of demand thanks to its popularity in multiple formats, but hundreds of copies began flying off the shelves every few days in mid-April. Demand stayed steady into May as Izzet Prowess cemented itself as the best deck in Standard.
In a common trend seen with card spikes caused by competitive demand, Into the Flood Maw’s foil variants are a little cheaper than the nonfoils. This is due to foils occasionally causing marked card issues in high-level competitive play.
Since this is a recently printed uncommon, there is only one variant of Into the Flood Maw. This certainly makes finding them a little awkward when everyone is trying to grab copies. At the time of writing, only 17 of Into the Flood Maw listings are currently on TCGplayer, which is absurd for a Standard-legal uncommon.
The Future of Flood Maw?
Into the Flood Maw is an MTG card with a lot of supply, but even more demand. Right now, Into the Flood Maw is seeing more demand thanks to Izzet Prowess being the best Regional Championship deck. Lots of people are building the deck for their shot at the Pro Tour.
Once this injection of demand ceases, Into the Flood Maw might decline in value somewhat. There will still be a lot of interest in the card, but Into the Flood Maw has always been popular. Once the Standard RC season ends, the interest for Into the Flood Maw may return to normal.
Into the Flood Maw will always be expensive for an uncommon, but $4.50 is obscene. Once the increased demand lessens, Into the Flood Maw will likely continue to retain a $2 price tag.
There is a chance, however, that Into the Flood Maw’s demand doesn’t let up for an extended period of time. While the current Standard RC season is ending, the next Regional Championships are… also Standard. Izzet Prowess could remain a popular choice for some time.
The Final Fantasy set will undoubtedly mix up the format, but there’s a strong chance that Into the Flood Maw remains powerful thanks to its versatility. Whether or not its part of the absolute best Standard deck, however, is something that we still have to find out.