Earlier in the week, the decklists for both Lorwyn Eclipsed Commander precons were revealed. Now that players know exactly what is being printed in each decklist, a quick and intense rush to find upgrades has commenced. The Blight Curse precon, in particular, has received a ton of hype and caused major financial fluctuations.
While the new deck featured a bunch of synergistic reprints that fit the -1/-1 counter theme, some cards like Nest of Scarabs and Persistent Constrictor that didn’t make the cut have spiked significantly. Now, it appears that an MTG Jurassic World Dinosaur is following suit.
MTG Spitting Dilophosaurus
Released as part of The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, Spitting Dilophosaurus is quite an interesting card. Both of this Dinosaur’s abilities work perfectly in tandem with each other. The more creatures you plague with -1/-1 counters, the easier it is to keep attacking and sneak Spitting Dilophosaurus past opposing blockers.
Once you build your entire deck around -1/-1 counter synergies, however, Spitting Dilophosaurus becomes significantly stronger. Any legend from The Scorpion God to Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons that rewards you for putting -1/-1 counters on opposing creatures can maximize Spitting Dilophosaurus’ first trigger. From there, cards that can put a -1/-1 counter on all creatures, such as Black Sun’s Zenith, will prevent any of your opponent’s creatures from blocking.
These general applications are enough to help Spitting Dilophosaurus see play in roughly 21,000 Commander decks according to EDHREC. That said, the arrival of Lorwyn Eclipsed’s -1/-1 counter Commanders have already given rise to close to 850 new decks. After all, Spitting Dilophosaurus’ ability to target your own creatures as well as opposing ones makes the card a natural fit alongside both Auntie Ool, Cursewretch and The Reaper, King No More.
The Spike
Over the past month, Spitting Dilophosaurus has experienced two distinct demand surges. The first major change occurred right before Christmas when the Lorwyn Eclipsed precon face Commanders were leaked. After a small lull, the reveal of the Blight Curse precon decklists and Spitting Dilophosaurus’ omission caused an even bigger demand burst. Now, the market price for this Dinosaur has ballooned all the way to $50.49 at the time of writing, representing a huge jump since its $16.60 price tag a month ago.
While the supply for this creature isn’t actually all that scarce, as 62 copies are still available for purchase, the card’s rarity plays a large role in how far its price has risen. Like the rest of the cards in the MTG Jurassic World Collection, Spitting Diloposaurus can be found in only one out of every 12 set boosters of The Lost Caverns of Ixalan. This means your best bet to actually open a copy of this Dinosaur is by cracking collector boosters, which are not cheap.
With the only other variant available for players to pick up being the ultra-rare T-Rex Emblem version that still sits over $300, picking up any copies of Spitting Dilophosaurus on the cheap isn’t easy.
The Future
Given that Lorwyn Eclipsed hasn’t even released yet, it’s hard to imagine demand for Spitting Dilophosaurus crashing in the near future. In fact, it wouldn’t be shocking if the card experienced another uptick in demand following the official release of the set on January 23rd.
While it’s impossible to predict the future, if demand continues to stay even slightly high, there’s really nowhere for the card’s price to go but up. Unlike some other cards like Persistent Constrictor and Nest of Scarabs that spiked even more following the Blight Curse precon reveal, Spitting Dilophosaurus is rare enough that more copies may not enter the market as frequently.
That being said, it is natural for Commander precon hype to eventually die down, especially as we get closer to spoiler season for the next set. With MTG Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles releasing in March, it might not be too long before players turn their attention towards some new themes. Ultimately, we’ll have to wait and see how things play out, but don’t be surprised if Spitting Dilophosaurus maintains a hefty price tag for a little while.
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