As spoiler season draws to a close and the set’s release date draws ever closer, excitement is clearly building for Aetherdrift. Over the past weeks, we’ve seen plenty of interesting cards and soon-to-be competitive staples. Despite all this, however, Commander continues to be the driving force behind the most explosive price spikes.
Last week, Aetherdrift’s Eternal Might Commander deck was revealed, and it seems MTG players are loving it. Thanks to this deck’s synergies with both draw and discard effects, a few forgotten cards are getting some long-overdue attention. Micraiously, this deck has even managed to spark interest in a Reserved List card from back in 1996!
Unfulfilled Desires
First printed in Mirage, Unfulfilled Desires is a very simple MTG card. It’s also pretty good, as a repeatable draw and discard effect can certainly be abused. Even outside of a deeply synergistic deck, this ability can help you find exactly what you need at minimal cost. The only real barrier to entry is this card’s Dimir mana cost.
Now, thanks to Eternal Might, there’s a brand-new ready-made Commander deck that happily accepts paying this mana cost. No matter which Commander you’re using from out-of-the-box, Unfulfilled Desires is a fantastic upgrade to Eternal Might. Unsurprisingly, this has put a lot of extra attention on the card, especially following a video by The Command Zone.
Should you be playing with Eternal Might’s face Commander, Temmet, Naktamun’s Will, Unfulfilled Desires becomes an easy board-wide buff. For just one mana you can give all your Zombies +1/+1 while refining your hand as an added bonus. Depending on the size of your board, this humble enchantment is potentially a game-ending threat.
If you’re running Hashaton, Scarab’s Fist as your Commander instead, then Unfulfilled Desires’ discard effect becomes more valuable. For just one mana and one life, you can easily discard away any creature, allowing you to copy it into play. As an added bonus, the discard effect happens after you draw too, making it a decent desperation play if you’re behind.
Ultimately, Unfulfilled Desires is just an obvious and easy upgrade to the Eternal Might Commander deck. Due to this, it’s little wonder that there’s been such a rush to snap up copies over the past few days. Doing this, however, is easier said than done thanks to the card’s status on the Reserved List.
The Spike
Since Unfulfilled Desires is on the Reserved List, Wizards of the Coast will never print any more copies of it. Similar cards may end up being created down the line, but for now, this card is essentially unique. Subsequently, you’ve only got one option if you want to play Unfulfilled Desires, and that’s to buy it.
As mentioned, doing that isn’t exactly easy since the supply of Unfulfilled Desires is incredibly low. The card has never and will never be reprinted, and print runs in 1996 were famously fairly light. Due to this, it’s safe to say that the price of Unfulfilled Desires is very susceptible to sudden spikes in interest.
Showing exactly that, Unfulfilled Desires is now selling for $34, if you want a near-mint copy. Mercifully, cheaper copies do exist, as you’ll only have to pay $21 for a moderately played example. Even then, however, there aren’t many copies left for purchase. On TCGplayer, there are only 46 listings remaining for Unfulfilled Desires.
Just a few days ago, Unfulfilled Desires was selling for as little as $1.74. Based on current prices, this means near-mint examples of the card have seen an 1853% price spike. Technically this spike is even higher, at 2188%, since sales have peaked at $39.82. All this is to say that Unfulfilled Desires is now a very expensive MTG card.
Unfortunately, there’s very little that can be done about this current price tag. Since Wizards can’t exactly reprint this card, the only option is for demand to subside. Given this is a Reserve List card, however, waiting on that might be a long time coming.
The Fall?
Despite expectations that Reserve List cards hold their value, Unfulfilled Desires seems determined to buck that trend. The card’s price history on MTGStocks shows that this isn’t the first time it has spiked hard. While this spike does appear to be the biggest, looking at current prices, there’s no guarantee it’ll stick.
Even if Unfulfilled Desires is best played in the Eternal Might deck, interest in this precon will fade over time. Throughout 2025 we’re bound to get an awful lot of new decks which will each steal the limelight. When this happens, suddenly Unfulfilled Desires and its synergy in Eternal Might will feel a little bit old hat.
As a result of this, Unfulfilled Desires potentially isn’t the most sound long-term investment, despite being a Reserved List card. Should this card’s price fall once again, however, then there’s the potential for money to be made. Evidently, this card is on people’s radars, so when the right deck comes along, players pounce quickly.
Should history repeat itself, the price will begin to fall in a few weeks following the full release of Aetherdrift. From here, don’t be surprised if the card continues on a downward trend until the next discard and draw-focused deck pops up.