Premodern’s introduction to Magic Online was an unprecedented event for the format. Despite no new cards entering the format for decades, the sudden increase in play pushed Premodern into a problematic endgame. Thanks to this, Parallax Tide, an enchantment that essentially functioned as a one-sided Armageddon, was forced out of the format.
With many players and archetypes rushing to establish themselves in a new metagame, secondary market prices for Premodern staples went absolutely crazy. While many of Premodern’s cheaper cards established meaningful prices in just weeks, the format’s most expensive spells are now in another realm entirely. Replenish, for instance, is now selling for upwards of $225, and it might not stop there!
MTG Replenish
Reviving all of your enchantments for just four mana is an absolute steal, making Replenish one of the best cards for Enchantress in any format. This is especially true for Premodern, where the card is now a big part of multiple archetypes. While this has always been the case for the format, the recent ban was a massive boon for Enchantress.
Before the banning of Parallax Tide in January, Enchantress was a rather polarizing archetype. While it had the highest win rate in Premodern, it also had a really bad matchup against the banned card. Since Enchantress doesn’t win the game quickly, Parallax Tide was consistently able to blow up all of the deck’s lands.
With Parallax Tide removed, Enchantress has lost its worst matchup, allowing the archetype to branch into two different decks. Azorius Replenish focuses on creating an instant board state with cards like Decree of Silence and Opalescence, while Traditional Enchantress uses it to rebuild after a board wipe.
This is certainly the main cause for Replenish’s price spike, but it’s not the only place where the Sorcery sees play. The card is also unsurprisingly popular in Commander Enchantress decks, despite its price tag being a bit of a deterrent. With Commanders like Terra, Magical Adept, that fill your graveyard with enchantments on entry, Replenish can take over the game as early as turn four. Whether you use this to cheat in massive enchantments like Omniscience or an army of pillowfort pieces, Replenish is a game-ending spell in an Enchantress deck. Even when you aren’t comboing with it, Enchantress decks will naturally have a lot of cards that you can resurrect over the course of a longer game.
Thanks to this, Replenish sees a healthy level of play in all of Commander’s best and biggest Enchantress decks. While play is somewhat limited by the card’s price tag, it’s still popular enough to appear in over 35,000 decks on EDHREC.
The Spike
Even before Premodern got a ton of attention, Replenish was still an expensive card. Worth $120 at the end of December, the ban on Parallax Tide caused a surge in demand for Replenish, pushing prices even higher.
Thanks to its extreme supply shortage, the cheapest near-mint copy of Replenish is currently available for $299. This is, notably, a significant price jump over its most recent sale of $225. Even at this price, however, Replenish has experienced an $100 price spike. While an increase in demand is a big reason for this, there’s an extreme lack of supply for Replenish as well, with only four near-mint listings available on TCGplayer at all.
Fortunately, as is common with higher-end cards like this, Replenish’s price is heavily affected by its condition. If you’re okay with a damaged Replenish, you can get one for as little as $100, though it may not be appropriate for tournament play. Sadly, if you want to play it safe, heavily played copies of Replenish start at $150.
The Future
While Premodern spikes are difficult to predict, Replenish’s future looks pretty bright. The multiformat demand with Commander does a lot of heavy lifting here, ensuring that the Reserved List card will always be desirable. Even if the card falls out of favor in Premodern, Replenish will always be a desirable card.
As far as Premodern goes, Azorius Replenish looks like it will stick around, too. Despite the archetype’s hype post Parallax Tide ban, it’s clear now that the archetype, while strong, is not a power outlier. This likely means that, should another ban happen, Replenish has a strong chance of dodging it.
With no possibility of reprints in the future, Replenish is almost certain to remain an expensive card. Just how expensive, however, is impossible to predict for sure. Regardless of whether you’re a Commander or a Premodern player, if you can find a good deal on a Replenish, you likely won’t regret it.
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