Most MTG price spikes are caused by new cards creating interesting interactions. This happens all the time in casual Commander, but it’s much more difficult for competitive Magic to be impacted. When spikes do happen, thanks to a larger shift in results, players pay attention.
In most of these cases, MTG cards experience price spikes after players recognize their innate talent that was previously overlooked. MTG Seize the Spotlight seems to be a mix of competitive viability and a result of the card performing better than expected. Seize the Spotlight might be breaking out in cEDH, but the card is very powerful in casual Commander, as well.
MTG Seize the Spotlight
Seize the Spotlight, in a Commander game with four players, is an incredible tool. That said, your opponents will always choose the inferior of the two options, meaning that Seize the Spotlight will never perform at its absolute best. Regardless, many of the hypothetical scenarios for this card are excellent. Drawing two cards and gaining control of a creature for one mana, for example, is absolutely ludicrous. Since your mana is refunded as Treasure Tokens, you can even view the card as temporary ramp. As long as you’re not gaining control of three poor creatures, Seize the Spotlight will generally perform above its mana value.
This may not seem like a Commander card that would see a ton of cEDH play, but the results that the card received suggest otherwise. Commonly appearing in Kefka, Court Mage, as well as Dargo and Tymna Partner Commander decks, Seize the Spotlight can be found in multiple lists winning 100+ player events. The card started seeing consistent success in mid-July, but had a massive breakout over the past month. It now makes a common appearance in cEDH winners’ metagames everywhere.
Seize the Spotlight can do even heavier lifting in sacrifice matters decks. Not only will you get three Treasure Tokens to sacrifice, but if you can sacrifice creatures, you can turn Seize the Spotlight into a removal spell. This is particularly important in the cEDH Dargo, the Shipwrecker Partner decks. That card can turn Seize the Spotlight into a mass removal option, making both modes very deadly. Big creature decks are otherwise making an unusual resurgence in cEDH.
Even if creatures are decently strong in cEDH at the moment, casual Commander is known for players deploying unreasonably bomby creatures all the time. However effective Seize the Spotlight is in cEDH, the card is bound to be even more effective in casual Commander.
The Spike
The cause for Seize the Spotlight’s spike appears to be a combination of cEDH demand and scarcity. It’s rather common to find this card in winning Red decklists at the moment, and Seize the Spotlight has only appeared in Commander decks and Collector Boosters. There are three main printings of the card. The card appears in Outlaws of Thunder Junction Commander, in Streets of New Capenna Commander, and in the set’s Collector Booster packs. Notably, none of these printings has a foil variation.
Seize the Spotlight’s Outlaws of Thunder Junction card has experienced the biggest spike of the variants, but the card’s market average has not caught up with recent listings and sales. The market average for the card is sitting at $11.53 at the time of writing, which is a 209% price spike from its August nadir at $3.72.
The Streets of New Capenna market is notably lower than the Outlaws of Thunder Junction variant. Despite this, current listings for either variant are above both market averages, suggesting that a further spike could happen. When listings for Seize the Spotlight appear at either market average, recent sales suggest that they are snapped up very quickly.
While the Thunder Junction reprint of Seize the Spotlight has no alternate variants, the original Streets of New Capenna printing does have a full art variant that appears in Collector Boosters. That variant has a market average of $12.08, but recent sales suggest that the card is trending upwards. This card has far fewer sales than its more common variants.
The Future
Current trends suggest that Seize the Spotlight will continue rising in price. The card is currently experiencing a sizeable spike across all variants. The only spike that appears to be slowing down is the extended art variant. However, the significant discrepancy compared to recent sales and the market average suggests that the spike may resume soon.
Unlike most Commander spikes that are a result of a rising Commander with specific synergies, Seize the Spotlight’s value is a lot more generalized. This is a great red Sorcery in many Commander decks regardless of the theme. It does do a little extra work in certain archetypes, but this card is strong enough to become a weaker red staple in the Commander format itself.
All of this said, Wizards of the Coast has already reprinted Seize the Spotlight once, which suggests that further reprints may be on their way. While we can’t tell the future for certain, an accessible reprint could allow Seize the Spotlight to become more affordable for everyone.
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