In a rush to find upgrades, it didn’t take long for Secrets of Strixhaven’s Commander precons to dominate the secondary market. Thanks to its unique theme, Silverquill Influence quickly took center stage, causing any card with even a remote amount of synergy to see a price spike. Behind this format frontrunner, the Quandrix Unlimited has also been causing multiple X cost cards to spike in price. This is exactly what’s happened to March of Swirling Mist, thanks to its fantastic synergy within the MTG deck.
MTG March of Swirling Mist
Even outside of X cost decks, March of Swirling Mist is an incredibly versatile card. Between using it to save your own creatures or blank out an army of attackers, this card can do it all. So long as you have extra blue cards to pitch, March of Swirling Mist is also incredibly mana-efficient. Thanks to this, the instant sees a ton of cEDH play, commonly appearing in Commander-centric decks like Unctus, Grand Metatect, Kinnan Bonder Prodigy, and Vivi Ornitier.
Due in part to being a cEDH super-staple, March of Swirling Mist is wildly popular in Commander, appearing in over 96,000 different decks. Considering how powerful this card is alongside Commanders like Hinata, Dawn-Crowned, those numbers aren’t that shocking. Thanks to reducing the cost of a spell for each target it has, March of Swirling Mist can essentially target every creature in play for just one mana. Combine this with Disciple of Caelus Nin, and you essentially have a one-sided lock.
Instead of focusing on target-based reduction, X cost themed Commander decks can also get a lot out of March of Swirling Mist. Magus Lucea Kane and Zaxara, the Exemplary, for example, can get a ton of value from this spell by copying it or creating Hydra tokens. The new Quandrix Unlimited Precon’s gimmick also happens to be around X spells, giving March of Swirling Mist tons of play with Zimone, Infinite Analyst.
Thanks to both reducing the cost of the instant while growing itself when cast, Zimone, Infinite Analyst gets a ton of extra value using March of Swirling Mist. Being an instant is a huge boon here, playing well with Zimone’s once-per-turn restriction. Since Zimone’s effectiveness scales with its size, March of Swirling Mist’s protective mode becomes even more valuable.
Thanks to this, 40% of Zimone, Infinite Analyst decks are currently using March of Swirling Mist according to EDHREC. While an extra 1000 decks is just a drop in the bucket for this card, this card’s potential as a Quandrix Unlimited precon upgrade seems to have increased demand for it significantly.
The Spike
Despite March of Swirling Mist’s popularity, this card has been surprisingly affordable for quite some time. Back around February 20th, for example, you could pick up this powerhouse for just $1.20.
Demand started spiking in early April, but piqued around April 18th, right after the card was highlighted as an upgrade by MTG Goldfish. The Command Zone would also recommend this upgrade just a few days later, cementing March of Swirling Mist’s price spike.
Thanks to its backing from multiple content creators, it didn’t take long for players to start picking up copies of March. After the demand rush, poor-condition copies of this card’s base variant are no longer available. Now, you’ll need to pay $5.33, including shipping, for March of Swirling Mist’s base variant, marking a 347% price spike.
If you want to find cheaper copies of this card, there are a few options, but the savings aren’t worth writing home about. You can pick up an extended art March of Swirling Mist for about $4.20 after shipping, saving a dollar. If you’re comfortable with Japanese variants of the card, those are available for $2.65 at the absolute cheapest, but the language barrier could cause some issues at your Commander table.
Extremely Strong, but it Might Not Matter
On paper, March of Swirling Mist’s financial future should be extremely secure. Thanks to its extreme popularity in cEDH, there should always be a healthy level of demand for the card. Despite that, however, March of Swirling Mist has been a cheap card for a long time. While it did temporarily spike to $7 around Murders at Karlov Manor’, the card has floated around $1.50 ever since. That said, thanks to this demand, March of Swirling Mist could become more expensive as its printing becomes older, but that’s hardly a certainty.
Thanks to this, it seems rather doubtful that this card will maintain a higher price for an extended period. For now, Quandrix Unlimited has increased demand for the card, but that’s likely to die down once Marvel Super Heroes precons are spoiled. If that weren’t enough March of Swirling Mist’s versatility might actually hurt it. The card is so powerful that it could, realistically, see a reprint in any blue Commander precon.
All that said, it’s truly impossible to predict the future in MTG, as anything could happen. Regardless of what happens to March of Swirling Mist, however, it may be worth picking up a copy of this on the cheap. You’ll likely be surprised by how effective the card is.
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