From the moment that it was revealed, it was clear that The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl was going to be popular. Not only are squirrels a beloved creature type in MTG, but its token-generating ability is basically unmatched. With combo potential aplenty and even some competitive appeal, this legend has taken Commander by storm.
Thanks to this popularity, it’s no wonder that a fair few Squirrel Typal cards have spiked in price. While some support cards exploded in price almost immediately, others, like Thornvault Forager, have taken their sweet time. After over a month since The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl was revealed, this typal tutor has now more than doubled in price.
MTG Thornvault Forager
Released as part of the main Bloomburrow set, Thornvault Forager somehow manages to be both niche and surprisingly popular. Seeing play in around 49,000 Commander decks, this card is far from unheard of, even if it’s not a true staple. At the same time, however, it only really sees play in a few dedicated archetypes.
Naturally, Thornvault Forager is an auto-include in Squirrel Typal decks, like Chatterfang, Squirrel General, thanks to its final ability. Alongside these lists, Thornvault is also a common appearance in Ygra, Eater of All and Food-focused decks, thanks to its second ability. Here, the card is essentially a constant source of two mana each turn, making it a compelling ramp option.
Outside of these two archetypes, Thornvault Forager unsurprisingly doesn’t see much play at all. While it can tap for two by exiling cards from the grave, it’s rarely the best use of that resource. As much as this limits the card’s potential somewhat, clearly, when the right Commander comes along, interest can spike dramatically.
This is exactly what has happened following the reveal of The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. In this deck, Thornvault Forager can naturally find any synergistic squirrel to beef up your army, making it an auto-include. Alongside this, the Forage ability can occasionally come in clutch as an extra burst of mana for Squirrel Girl’s second ability.
With this synergy in mind, it’s little wonder that Thornvault Forager appears in roughly 77% of all Squirrel Girl lists. According to EDHREC, this has led to around 3,160 decks wanting a copy of this squirrel. Unsurprisingly, such a sudden jump has had a pretty big effect on the secondary market, although Thornvault Forager is still rather cheap, for now.
The Spike
As a main set rare, supply has never been an issue for Thornvault Forager. Thanks to this, the card has long been a budget pick, with copies available for under $0.50 much of the time. Curiously, in the lead-up to Marvel Super Heroes’ debut, prices were already climbing, but they exploded after Squirrel Girl’s reveal.
With over 250 copies of Thornvault Forager selling in just a few days, the first major dent was put in the once-plentiful supply. In the month since then, over 700 more near-mint copies were sold, further draining the market. Now, there are only 271 near-mint listings left on TCGplayer, which is surprisingly low given its origins.
What’s not surprising is how much of an impact this sales spike has had on the price of Thornvault Forager. Climbing from $0.86 prior to Squirrel Girl’s reveal, Thornvault Forager is now selling for $2. While this hardly makes it the most expensive MTG card, the low-ish supply could easily push prices up as sales continue.
Unfortunately, even if you don’t care about card condition or whether it’s foil, $2 is the cheapest you’ll find Thornvault Forager right now. The only other variant, an extended art printing, is slightly more expensive at $2.12. Since the supply for this printing is even lower, sadly, it’s unlikely to get cheaper anytime soon.
Looking Ahead
Usually, whenever a Commander-based price spike happens, it’ll follow a fairly typical trajectory. Initial interest drives prices up like mad, but interest fades as new sets, Commanders, and precons get released. When this happens, demand slumps and prices fall to their new low since players aren’t buying anymore.
While we can expect this to a degree for Thornvault Forager, demand for it will likely be rather resilient. Even though it’s not a super staple, it being an auto-include in two archetypes gives it a lot of legs and potential looking forward. Since any new Squirrel Typal or Food-based deck will want this card, it could easily spike again when a new card gets revealed.
Sadly, as much as this potential is exciting, there’s nothing stopping Wizards from reprinting Thornvault Forager. Currently, it’s unclear when this might happen, but Wizards is revealing three sets in a couple of weeks. Even outside of this, the card could always pop up in a future bonus sheet, should a Universes Beyond set be fitting.
Ultimately, as always, it remains to be seen what’ll happen to the price of Thornvault Forager. For now, it’s still not a hugely expensive card, so picking it up isn’t a terrible idea at the moment.
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