As a much-anticipated return 18 years in the making, it’s safe to say that MTG players were incredibly hyped for Lorwyn Eclipsed. Thankfully, after so much waiting, Wizards didn’t disappoint, as the flavor is fantastic, and there are plenty of incredible Commanders. Beyond these, Lorwyn Eclipsed is also shaking things up from a competitive perspective.
At Pro Tour Lorwyn Eclipsed, for instance, the top eight decks have tons of cards from the namesake set. As if that wasn’t enough, there’s even the brand-new Izzet Elementals shell, which has been putting up an incredibly strong performance. This, in turn, has caused some previously underrated Lorwyn Eclipsed cards to spike hard in price.
MTG Sunderflock
During the spoiler season for Lorwyn Eclipsed, a lot of people were pretty tepid on Sunderflock. While this card had massive potential, being two mana 5/5 and a one-sided board wipe, exploiting that seemed difficult. It’d need a fully built Elemental Typal deck to really do work, and typal strategies have consistently not been competitive.
Thanks to this, many MTG players ended up dismissing this card, barely paying it any mind in the four-day spoiler season. In hindsight, this was definitely a mistake, as the net Izzet Elementals deck is a force to be reckoned with. This is largely thanks to Flamebraider and Ashling, Rekindled, which provide tons of ramp.
Thanks to these cards, playing Viberance or Wistfulness for their full cost is possible on turn three. Offering damage and ramp, or removal and draw, playing either one of these cards is already a huge swing. If you can get Roaming Throne into play first, however, then the value provided is absolutely insane.
Following any of these cards on turn three, Deceit is an easy turn-four play that bounces and discards something. From here, Sunderflock’s cost will be brought down to just three mana, which is insanely cost-effective. By bouncing all non-Elementals, Sunderflock makes attacking incredibly easy and puts your opponent on the back foot.
So far, while it is a very new strategy, Izzet Elementals has already been putting up impressive results. Reaching the top eight of the Pro Tour, so far, there’s a chance this deck could go all the way. Outside of that, Sunderflock is also proving fairly popular in Commander, as it’s perfect for any Elemental Typal deck. Naturally, this includes the brand new Dance of the Elements precon.
The Spike
Thanks to the poor reaction to Sunderflock at first, this card was remarkably cheap to start with. While pre-sale prices were high as always, it didn’t take long for Sunderflock to plummet to $0.45. Considering the card only appeared to be good in Commander, this price point seemed nothing out of the ordinary.
Once Izzet Elementals started to put up real results, however, there was a steep surge in demand. This has only increased following the deck’s appearance and performance at the Pro Tour. Looking ahead, this deck looks like a real contender in the new Standard metagame, so MTG players are jumping on it.
Unsurprisingly, this has caused an immense rush of demand, with over 700 near-mint non-foil copies sold in the past 3 days alone. While strong sales for brand-new cards aren’t unheard of, demand skyrocketing so sharply has decimated supply. Currently, on TCGplayer, there are only 13 near-mint listings left available for purchase, with prices starting at $17.23.
In a little over one week, Sunderflock has spiked an incredible 3728%, and this isn’t the only variant currently climbing. The Showcase Variant is selling for around $15 at the moment, having spiked from around $2.50. With supply for this variant being similarly low, it seems like this could just be the start of the spike.
Early Days
Given how high demand is for Sunderflock and the Izzet Elementals deck right now, prices could easily keep soaring. In the short term, both variants surpassing the $20 mark don’t feel out of the question at all. Whether or not they’ll be able to hold this impressive price point, however, is a different story entirely.
For starters, the price of Sunderflock is predominantly tied to the Izzet Elementals deck, so if it falters, its price may crash. While there is some Commander demand to prop up the market, typal decks, even Elemental Typal, aren’t too popular over long periods of time. Due to this, there’s a very real chance that the price of Sunderflock could crash, or at least fall in the coming weeks.
To add to all of this, Lorwyn Eclipsed has only been officially available for a little over a week. While the majority of sales are bound to happen shortly after release, more supply should still trickle onto the market. In theory, this could help to bring prices down, so long as demand doesn’t remain at its current level.
Ultimately, while we can’t predict the future, it does feel like the price of Sunderflock isn’t sustainable right now. That being said, there’s no telling how long the current demand will last, and subsequently keep prices high. As always, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens today, as the Pro Tour concludes, and over the next few weeks.
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