Just over a month ago, all five Secrets of Strixhaven Commander precons were revealed in their entirety. While each deck offers its own unique charm, there’s no doubt that Silverquill Influence has become the fan favorite. This was made increasingly clear as more and more aura-themed cards began to spike significantly in price. Now, Timely Ward is the latest card to do just that, showcasing that even recent reprints can fall victim to price spikes.
MTG Timely Ward
Originally printed in Commander Legends, Timely Ward is a powerful piece of protection for your Commander. Not only does this card grant Indestructible, but thanks to having Flash when used with your Commander, it’s effectively also a counterspell. Thanks to these ever-useful upsides, Timely Ward has long been a popular card in Commander.
Prior to the reveal of the Silverquill Influence precon, for instance, Timely Ward saw play in around 86,000 Commander decks. As usual, for an aura, the majority of these decks were Voltron lists, or Aura-focused ones helmed by Eriette of the Chamed Apple. Thanks to offering a near identical gameplan to Eriette, it’s no wonder that Silverquill Influence has quickly adopted this card too.
According to EDHREC, the Silverquill Influence face commander, Killian, Decisive Mentor, is responsible for around 1,380 new decks using Timely Ward. Considering this deck’s primary game plan revolves around enchanting your opponent’s creatures, this aura may seem like an unusual add at first. Realistically, though, Silverquill Influence, like most decks, needs to protect its Commander, and Timely Ward is a fantastic way to do this thanks to Killian’s innate synergy with auras.
The Spike
Despite Timely Ward being popular in Commander for a while, it’s never been a hugely expensive MTG card. This is in large part because the card was reprinted in both the Virtue and Valor and Miracle Worker precons. Thanks to these reprints, the Duskmourn Commander printing used to be available for just $0.86 a few months ago.
Following the reveal of the Silverquill Influence precon at the beginning of April, however, Timely Ward experienced an uptick in demand, pushing prices up across the board. Now, the market value for the Duskmourn printing has increased to $4.14, representing a 381% price spike for that variant. At the same time, the market price for Wilds of Eldraine near mint copies sits at $5.04, while the Commander Legends variant lies at $6.
Interestingly, though, the lowest near-mint listing for any printing is the Commander Legends variant at $3.92. Even at lower conditions across all three printings, the best deal you can find is for a lightly played Wilds of Eldraine copy at $2.91 with shipping.
Moving Forward
Ultimately, while it’s natural for many precon-driven spikes to see their prices decrease over time, Timely Ward is harder to judge. On one hand, the hype surrounding the Silverquill Influence deck and synergistic Aura upgrades is bound to diminish. After all, we’re getting four more sets in 2026 that will draw attention away from Secrets of Strixhaven.
On the flip side, though, Timely Ward’s Commander appeal is hardly tied to Killian or any one Commander. This aura is simply a good card that’s usable across decks, so it’s hard to imagine Timely Ward’s value crashing completely.
Sadly, this makes it incredibly hard to predict exactly how Timely Ward’s price will fluctuate in the long term. As per usual, we’ll just have to wait and see how things play out.
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