Despite Avatar: The Last Airbender having been fully revealed, it’s clear that the set isn’t yet significantly influencing the secondary market. So much new MTG product is hitting the scene so quickly that players are still picking up cards for the last product that was released. The PlayStation Secret Lair Superdrop is still driving a lot of price spikes, and that doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon.
Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas
Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas is more than capable of becoming a massive threat over time. When played as your Commander, Kalemne will continually gain experience when you cast massive creature spells. These counters won’t vanish when Kalemne leaves the battlefield, allowing the Giant Soldier to come back stronger each time. With Double Strike and Vigilance attached, players will find it harder and harder to ignore Kalemne as the game continues.
That said, Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas is getting a lot of attention right now because it fits like a glove in the Kratos, Stoic Father and Atreus, Impulsive Son Partner Commander deck. As a deck that cares about Experience Counters, Kelemne acts as a threat that can accelerate your main game plan in the 99. This card will consistently come in as a massive creature thanks to your Commanders racking up Experience Counters anyway, and its own Experience Counter trigger is extremely relevant in this context.
Thanks to Kratos, Stoic Father caring about Gods, Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas’s Experience Counter trigger is rather valuable. Many of the stronger God cards that can be included in the deck like Ilharg, the Raze Boar and Surtr, Fiery Jotun, which also spiked recently, will trigger Kalemne’s triggers, accelerating your game plan immensely. Thanks to Kratos growing creatures, according to the number of Experience Counters you have, your Commander and Kalemne can create a positive feedback loop, resulting in a massive threat. All of this has led Kalemne to have a 58% representation in Kratos and Atreus Partner decks according to EDHREC.
Kalemne otherwise sees lots of play in the 99 of other Commanders that care about Experience Counters like Kelsein, the Plague and Azlask, the Swelling Scourge. These may also see an uptick in play thanks to all the new Experience Counter support coming in Avatar: The Last Airbender Jumpstart. Experience Counters as a mechanic seem to be in high demand at the moment, which likely has an additional impact on Kalemne’s price spike.
The Spike
Demand for Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas, between its two printings, is all over the map, but they all point relatively towards the same thing. Demand for the card surged after the announcement of the MTG PlayStation Superdrop throughout October and November. It started to see a slight uptick at the end of September, when the drop was initially revealed, but demand only continued to increase from there until today.
This is one of the cases where the market value of an MTG card betrays its true worth. The spike on Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas, is so recent that market values haven’t quite caught up to it yet. The card has largely kept a consistent value of $1.95 until demand for it surged. Now, the Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas is consistently selling for $10.07, representing a 416% price spike.
Unfortunately, unlike the case for most price spikes, there doesn’t seem to be any deals available for Kalemne, either. There are a few odd listings out, but for the most part, Kalemne is hovering around the $10 mark across all variants. On the bright side, for foil enthusiasts, there doesn’t seem to be a significant price difference between the nonfoil and foil variants of Kalemne, which are exclusively available in their two different printings. That said, a majority of the foil Kalemne copies seem to be in worse condition.
Experience Counters Are Hot Right Now
Between the support from the PlayStation Secret Lair and Avatar: The Last Airbender, we wouldn’t be surprised if a bunch of Experience Counter cards begin to increase in price over the next month or two. That said, Kalemne certainly has extra points since it plays well in a Commander deck that many are trying to build right now.
Since this spike is a Commander-driven one, it’s expected that Kalemne will follow the usual trajectory for these cards. The ebb and flow of interest surrounding new spoilers typically causes Commander-based price spikes to fade over time. That said, if Kalemne is the start of an Experience Counter-centric trend, then she could continue to rise for some time.
For better or worse, the supply for the PlayStation Secret Lair Superdrop will likely keep a lid on things. While these drops have already caused a few price spikes, a lot of players simply don’t have access to them. On top of this, the release of the MTG Avatar set is right around the corner, and Lorwyn Eclipsed spoilers aren’t too far away either.
Ultimately, as always, we sadly can’t predict the future of this price spike. It really could go either way, depending on where the demands of Commander players lie. Even if this card’s price drops back down a little, the dent in supply that we’ve seen will likely result in a long-term bump, if nothing else.
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