It’s no secret that Izzet Lessons is the hot new MTG deck right now. While it was slowly picking up steam after MTG Avatar’s release, it properly broke out at Magic World Championship 31. Following this deck’s incredible performance and win in the hands of Seth Manfield, the MTG financial markets have been going wild.
In the past few days, we’ve seen several key cards in the deck, and newly crowned Standard staples, spike in price. For better or worse, it seems these spikes just keep on coming, as Monument to Endurance has also shot up in price.
MTG Monument to Endurance
Released earlier this year in Aetherdrift, Monument to Endurance is one hell of a value engine. So long as you have a reliable way to discard cards, this artifact can generate tons of value. Whether you want to replace the card you discarded, get some extra mana, or hurt your opponents, Monument to Endurance does it all.
Initially, Monument to Endurance looked like a shoo-in for Commander, but it wasn’t a multiformat staple. Standard was too quick to really exploit this card’s shenanigans, and it wasn’t enough for Modern. Curiously, however, it was a perfect fit for Greasefang decks in Pioneer, since it has plenty of discard outlets.
For the most part, Monument to Endurance has been contained to these formats since its release, but that’s all changed recently. Now, Izzet Lessons not only uses this card, but exploits it to make it a fully fledged wincon. Alongside a plethora of discard effects like Artist’s Talent and bounce cards like Boomerang Basics, this card is a monster.
If you play your cards right, Monument to Endurance can give you everything you need to close out a game. Having two copies in play practically guarantees you the win, as the value snowball is obscene. That said, this deck doesn’t play itself, and the complex lines can even catch out seasoned pros.
Even with this complexity in mind, there’s no denying the popularity of Izzet Lessons right now. Thanks to this, there’s been a huge rush of demand to pick up all of the deck’s pieces. Since Monument to Endurance is a vital piece of the puzzle, unsurprisingly, it hasn’t been spared from the spike.
The Spike
Speaking of the spike, Monument to Endurance is now a $21 MTG card. Near-mint non-foil copies of the card have repeatedly been selling for this price point, now that supply is incredibly low. Following over 400 copies being sold in the past few days alone, there are now only 31 near-mint non-foil listings left on TCGplayer.
Winding the clocks back a little, Monument to Endurance used to be worth around $6.75, before this spike kicked off. So far, this means the card has experienced a 213% price spike in just a few days. In theory, this spike could continue and get even more expensive, but this remains to be seen.
For now, anyone looking to pick up a copy of Monument to Endurance, sadly, the ship has very much sailed. Prices are up across the board, with worse condition and foil copies also spiking to match. If you want a copy of Monument to Endurance right now, the least you’ll have to spend is at least $20.
Given the immense spike in demand, this increase hitting all variants of the card isn’t too surprising. Unfortunately, these other variants don’t help to dramatically increase supply, either, as there are only the Extended Art and First Place Foil variants. Prices for these copies now start at $21 and $31, respectively.
Strong But Suspect
At the moment, while there’s definitely potential, Monument to Endurance is by no means a sure thing. This might be surprising, given that the card was so popular and dominant at Magic World Championship 31. While this run of form definitely isn’t to be ignored, it’s not entirely indicative of the current Standard metagame.
Going into Magic World Championship 31, many teams were prepared to fight Badgermole Cub decks specifically. This archetype looked like the biggest problem going into the event, so targeting it could give easy wins. While this was already a sound strategy, since Izzet Lessons was a new deck, people didn’t know they needed to prepare against it.
Ultimately, this left Izzet Lessons free to run rampant at Magic World Championship 31. This has arguably made the deck look stronger than it actually is, causing demand for it to skyrocket. In reality, however, the metagame is hardly solved, as decks like Golgari Roots and graveyard hate in general disrupt Izzet Lessons plans significantly.
Due to this, it feels like there’s a good chance that the price spike to Monument to Endurance will be short-lived. As the Standard metagame stabilizes, the hype should die down, and demand along with it. Technically, there’s no guarantee that this will happen, but it does look rather likely.
At the end of the day, we can’t perfectly predict the future of MTG or which way the markets will go. As a result, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens in the coming weeks and months.
Stick with us here at mtgrocks.com: the best site for Magic: The Gathering coverage, and check out our deckbuilder for your next big brew!