Sometimes, an MTG card that looks a lot like some common, unimpressive cards, but plays a lot better, ends up getting overlooked initially. Magic is an incredibly complex game with lots of cards to try, and in a rush to grab cards that make flashy first impressions, some real gems occasionally get left behind.
That’s been my personal thought on Haliya, Guided by Light, at least from a Commander perspective. This card always ended up playing way better than just a new Soul Sisters variant. It appears that, according to the spike she’s seen this week, Haliya is finally getting some of the love she deserves, and not just in Commander.
MTG Haliya, Guided by Light
Haliya, Guided by Light from Edge of Eternities is one of many typical lifegain payoff cards, at first look, at least. In a dedicated deck trying to go wide with Soul Sisters effects, meeting Haliya’s draw requirement, especially when casting her for the Warp cost, is rather easy. Thanks to Haliya offering lifegain and commonly replacing herself, the card is fantastic in any lifegain deck, and a strong inclusion in decks that want to go wide.
What’s really easy to miss, however, is that Haliya, Guided by Light also gains life when artifacts enter play under your control. This includes tokens, which expands the potential for Haliya immensely. Suddenly, Haliya is a strong inclusion in any deck that mass produces artifacts, like Treasure Tokens matter, Affinity-style decks, and most importantly, Food.
Haliya, Guided by Light is a common inclusion in Ragost, Deft Gastronaught decks. Thanks to Ragost’s interest in making lots of Food Tokens, Haliya will gain lots of incremental life. Gaining three life also grants multiple rewards, including drawing cards for Haliya and untapping Ragost, which can be easily achieved by using Food. Sadly, Haliya only draws cards on your end step, which does limit the card’s effectiveness somewhat. Either way, thanks to drawing a card and gaining life when both creatures and artifacts enter, Haliya, Guided by Light becomes a decent inclusion in all kinds of different Commander decks.
While Haliya does see a healthy amount of Commander play, that actually might not be the main cause of her price spike. Haliya, Guided by Light has become a common inclusion in Modern Boros Energy decks, synergizing strongly with Ocelot Pride, as well as its go-wide package. Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury is also notably capable of drawing a card off Haliya on its own. Boros Energy is the most popular Modern deck at the moment, and by a decent margin, seeing twice as much play as any other individual archetype in the format. This represents a meaningful increase in demand, contributing to Haliya’s price spike.
The Spike
Since Haliya, Guided by Light’s recent low point at $0.66 at the beginning of August, the card has jumped to a market average of $2.87, representing a 344% price spike. The card experienced a massive demand increase at the beginning of August, selling 404 copies on August 1st, but despite this, the majority of Haliya’s price spike occurred over the five-day period. In that time, Haliya doubled its price point. Notably, this is the time period in which Haliya’s Modern play started picking up significantly.
Despite the card’s market average being at $2.87 for its traditional variant, the card routinely sells at $1.50, which suggests you may be able to find Haliya for cheap. Other printings won’t really help, either. There’s no Booster Fun variant of Haliya, just the traditional card from Edge of Eternities, its prerelease variant, and a stamped variant from Edge of Eternities Prize Packs. The Traditional variant, at the time of writing, is the cheapest. Considering the limited supply of her other two variants, this makes a lot of sense.
Despite Haliya’s price increase, a good number of listings for the card remain available. 115 of them are available at TCGplayer but, at the time of writing, factoring in shipping costs, no single Haliya is available for less than $3.
The Future
Because the majority of Haliya, Guided by Light’s price spike is so fresh, it’s a little tricky to judge whether or not some listings haven’t caught up to the card’s new market value yet, or if Haliya is about to come out of a spike and start finding its price point. The card’s real spike could just be starting, or showing signs of already ending.
Haliya’s sudden popularity in Modern Boros Energy throws an additional wrinkle into things, as well. Right now, while Haliya is a very common inclusion in the deck, it’s generally only a 1 or 2 of when played. If Haliya’s Modern play continues to increase, the card could become even more sought after, but it’s by no means a completely accepted consensus whether or not this card is an upgrade to the deck or a distraction. If Boros Energy drops Haliya, we would expect the card to fall in price.
We absolutely have no idea how this one is going to turn out. Haliya, Guided by Light could easily continue to see price increases as she becomes more popular across formats, or the recent drop in demand and selling price could also cause Haliya to start finding her new price point sooner than expected. Haliya was an absolute bargain at sub $1, but even at her newer price points, this MTG card should pull more weight than many expect.