When it comes to pricing on the secondary MTG markets, Marvel Super Heroes is a bit of a weird set. While there is the usual cohort of expensive staples, many Commander cards have absolutely ridiculous prices. A big part of this is due to ongoing delays for Commander and Jumpstart products, which are massively limiting supply.
On top of this scarcity-boosting factor, some MTG cards, like Karolina Dean, Runaway, are just weirdly rare. Despite being an uncommon, this card is remarkably expensive right now, with copies selling for around $13. Curiously, these high prices might not even fall much once the supply chain issues are finally resolved.
MTG Karolina Dean, Runaway
As much as Karolina Dean, Runaway is technically an uncommon, finding her isn’t easy. In Marvel Super Heroes Jumpstart, she only appears in the Runaways Theme Booster. Essentially, this puts her on the same level as all the Jumpstart set mythics, including Nico Minoru, Runaway.
Curiously, the rarity of Karolina Dean, Runaway doesn’t even help your chances of finding her in a Collector Booster. Since there’s only one slot for Marvel Super Heroes Commander uncommons in each pack, your chances of pulling her are surprisingly low. As if this wasn’t bad enough, there are 112 other uncommons in Jumpstart that could occupy this slot, further boosting Karolina’s rarity.
To top it all off, there’s actually a fair bit of natural demand for Karolina Dean, Runaway, which is keeping prices high. Not only is she a capable mana dork in a five-color deck, but she’s the natural choice for a Runaways-themed Commander deck. Hell, she’s even powerful as a generic five-color good stuff Commander, if you want to push her in that direction.
Thanks to these multiple sources of demand, copies of Karolina Dean, Runaway have been selling surprisingly quickly on TCGplayer. Due to the low supply, this has resulted in one hell of a price spike recently.
$13 for an Uncommon?!
Technically, if you were quick, Karolina Dean, Runaway was available for just $2 when prerelease events first kicked off. Initially, this price point might have seemed like typical pre-sale hype, as even good uncommons are rarely that expensive. For better or worse, however, it didn’t take long for MTG players to cotton on to this card’s unusual rarity.
Shortly after prerelease events began, the price of Karolina Dean, Runaway shot up to around $13. Since then, this price has been rather staple, although it has increased slightly as supply has drained further. Currently, a near-mint non-foil copy of Karolina will set you back $13.41, which is the cheapest option right now.
If you do want to spend a little bit more, foil copies of Karolina Dean, Runaway start at over $19. With near-mint foil examples pushing closer to $20, this is one of the most expensive uncommons we’ve seen in a while. Hopefully, its price could dip in the near-ish future, but even that isn’t guaranteed.
More Reasonably Priced Runaways
Curiously, Karolina Dean, Runaway isn’t the only card in the Runaways Theme Booster that’s secretly a mythic. Both Chase Stein, Runaway and Alex Wilder, Runaway also don’t appear in any other Jumpstart packs. Despite this rarity, copies of these cards can be picked up for $0.20 and $0.66, respectively.
Notably, while these cards might be on the same rarity, their power level is worlds apart from Karolina Dean, Runaway. Out of the two, Chase Stein is the most usable, offering a slow but repeatable impulse draw effect. While this can be decent in an exile-based deck like Prospor, Tome-Bound, there are plenty of similar effects, so Chase might not see play.
As for Alex Wilder, this card is essentially the Jumpstart version of draft chaff. Since you can’t abuse the buff it gives itself, at best, this card is a 3/3 with Haste. Due to this, while it is scarce, I can’t imagine this card selling for much in the long run.
Ultimately, while prospects look good for Karolina Dean, Runaway, and somewhat decent for Chase Stein, we can’t predict the future. All bets are off once the delays get resolved, really, so we’ll just have to wait until then. Thankfully, with MagicCon: Amsterdam in the not-too-distant future, the wait till then shouldn’t be too boring, at least.
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