For many players, Secrets of Strixhaven’s five new College-inspired precons are among the set’s biggest highlights. Offering tons of new Commander designs themed around five exciting themes, many MTG players will be grabbing these precons as soon as possible. Of course, because players will want to tinker with the contents of the precons, that also drives a lot of demand for upgrades.
What’s rare, however, is a single MTG card being a decent upgrade for multiple upcoming Commander precons. That seems to be exactly the case for Change of Plans, which looks great in both the Quandrix Unlimited and the Prismari Artistry.
MTG Change of Plans
Change of Plans offers a lot of things in one card, making it play better than it may look at first glance. Phasing things out is certainly the core payoff here, saving your creatures from targeted removal and board wipes. The Conniving is certainly an underrated perk, too, both buffing your creatures and offering card selection. If you can partner this with something like Teferi’s Ageless Insight, Change of Plans can even provide raw card advantage.
While there’s a lot to like about Change of Plans, the massive mana cost is a bit of a downside. That said, two of the new Secrets of Strixhaven precons can shrug this off. Prismari Artistry, in particular, can take advantage of scaling X costs with Rootha, Mastering the Moment. If you don’t really need a protection spell, you can repurpose this as a way to create massive Elementals with your Commander. Triggering the full payoff of the many Omen-esque cards in the deck, like Prismari Pianist, adds even more value. Thanks to this, Change of Plans is being recommended as an upgrade for the precon.
Due to caring about X costs, Change of Plans also plays well with Zimone, Infinite Analyst. Quandrix Unlimited’s Commander can both make this card cheaper and can use it to buff itself significantly. Thanks to Zimone’s second trigger being once-per-turn, Change of Plans’s instant speed is a big bonus here. If that weren’t enough, the extra +1/+1 counter from the Connive will help reduce the cost of your future spells even further.
Between the two precons, there are plenty of reasons for players to pick up Change of Plans right now. This has, unsurprisingly, caused a price spike for the card.
The Spike
While only 87 near-mint copies have exchanged hands, that hasn’t stopped Change of Plans from becoming more expensive. Instead, with only 17 listings available, supply seems to be the limiting factor here. Thanks to this, the cheapest near mint copy of Change of Plans’ base variant now goes for roughly $6.30, after shipping. With many current copies selling for this amount, Change of Plans has experienced a 373% price spike from its $1.31 market average at the beginning of the month.
Interestingly, for players looking to grab Change of Plans on the cheap, there is a deal available. Near mint extended art for this card is currently retailing for about $4.20 after shipping, offering a small discount on the multi-precon upgrade. With the promo pack variant of this card being far more expensive, this is easily the best deal for Change of Plans that’s currently available. While this isn’t too far out of the ordinary for recently spiked cards, these variant-based deals generally don’t last for very long.
Suspect Stability
In most cases, Commander precon-based spikes like this don’t tend to stay expensive. While a new precon can cause an initial rush of demand, it always tends to be temporary. Once a new Commander precon, or new spoilers in general hit the scene, MTG players’ attention tends to move elsewhere.
Change of Plans certainly seems to fall into this type of spike category. While the card does offer a lot of generically strong value in Commander, other cards tend to do each thing it can better. March of Swirling Mist, for example, is far better at the Phasing out portion of this card since it can target other creatures. Lethal Scheme, on the other hand, often Connives with a stronger payoff.
Thanks to this, Change of Plans’s price spike may very well be a flash in the pan. That said, as always, truly predicting the future for the MTG secondary market is impossible. Change of Plans is a very versatile card, and this spotlight might be all it needs to catch fire. For now, only time will tell what happens to this card.
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