The Chinese New Year has just rolled over, meaning it is now the Year of the Snake. To celebrate, Wizards of the Coast has released six different promos to celebrate the new Chinese Year.
As you may imagine, all of the Year of the Snake MTG promos are themed after… Snakes. They also happen to be quite strong, which should attract some MTG players to participate at upcoming events. Unfortunately, as strong as these Snakes are, their reprint value just isn’t there.
Year of the Snake Promos
Six Year of the Snake promos have been revealed by Wizards of the Coast. Technically, one of the Snakes is a token, but that doesn’t make this lineup of cards any less impressive. Some of the best Snakes that have ever been printed are getting some amazing treatments.
Lotus Cobra is the most exciting reprint of the suite of Chinese New Year promos. While the card doesn’t see play outside of Commander, it can ramp your mana absurdly quickly alongside lands like Evolving Wilds and Fetch Lands. Thanks to a Zendikar Rising reprint, Lotus Cobra’s cheapest secondary market value is only about $1.30, but promotional reprints of this card do go for a pretty penny, suggesting that this particular printing could sell for a premium.
Sakura-Tribe Elder
Sakura-Tribe Elder has records of showing a similar level of potential. Rarely appearing in Amulet Titan and other ramp-esque decks in Modern, Sakura Tribe-Elder is most commonly seen in Commander. The card functions best as a blocker that can repurpose itself as ramp before damage resolves.
While the card has copies worth less than a dollar, there are some promotional versions worth a few bucks. This Sakura-Tribe Elder will likely be the same. To be specific, the Secret Lair and the full-art promotional variants of Sakura-Tribe Elder go for a bit more than the rest. This particular variant could be worth as much as $5, but we would be surprised if it ends up being worth more than a couple bucks. At its cheapest, Sakura-Tribe Elder is worth less than a dollar.
Xyris, the Wreathing Storm
Xyris, the Wreathing Storm, isn’t the most popular Commander out there, but it is one of the most effective Snake Commanders in the game. Capable of creating tons of green snake tokens with Xyris’s card advantage ability Xyris rewards the owner when opponent draws cards. Xyris’s triggered ability suggests that you want to actively cause players to draw cards outside of their draw steps to create Snakes with its ability, leading some down the path of cards like Howling Mine. In a game of Commander, this can cause all kinds of shenanigans, leading many players to enjoying the Commander thoroughly.
Unlike the other cards being printed in the Year of the Snake promo release, Xyris also includes a token, which could ironically be worth just as much as the Commander itself financially. Fortunately, these cards will be available at the same time, which saves the pain of assembling them over time.
Unfortunately, Xyris isn’t the most financially interesting reprint ever. Worth just over a dollar, this variant of Xyris has a very strong shot of being the most expensive one, especially if it ends up being difficult to come by.
Kaseto, Orochi Archmage
Ironically, the most popular Snake Commander isn’t even included in the Year of the Snake promos. Kaseto is the second-most popular Snake Typal Commander, but is undeniably the most iconic. Turning any Snake into an unblockable behemoth, the many Snakes that get awarded for dealing combat damage will be impossible to block behind of Kaseto. Kaseto is particularly lethal when partnered with cards like Seshiro the Anointed.
Like Xyris, none of Kaseto’s variants have a particularly impressive secondary market value. The most expensive copy of Kaseto isn’t even worth 50 cents. This Kaseto, however, has a very good chance of holding a premium. Not only will this be the rarest Kaseto on the market but, if this card is foil, it will also be the only foil copy of Kaseto, Orochi Archmage in Magic: The Gathering. This could create a surprising amount of demand for this particular Snake Wizard.
Hidden Value?
The least noteworthy cards among the Year of the Snake promos may end up being the most expensive ones. Tokens occasionally sport a heavy secondary market value thanks to being frustratingly difficult to acquire. Prices of $5 or more are commonly seen for tokens that interact with cards that are popular in tournament play. Ocelot Pride, Overlord of the Hauntwoods, and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker are three examples of popular tournament cards that have expensive token counterparts. While this Snake Token doesn’t fall into that category, it will still be an extremely rare variant of a somewhat versatile token.
The card that we bet will be worth the most is the full-art Basic Forest. It’s not uncommon for rare Basic Lands to be worth a pretty penny. Any Basic Lands released in Secret Lair product serve as a strong example of this. This Island, for example, is worth about $23.
While we don’t expect the Chinese New Year Basic Forest to be breaking any banks, we wouldn’t be surprised if the land was worth $10 or so. Of all the cards in the Chinese New Year promos, players appear to be the most excited about the Basic Forest.
How to Acquire These Cards?
As mentioned earlier, your Local Game Store will be offering these promos in their events. Between February 14th and March 30th, Xyris, the Wreathing Storm will be available alongside its Snake Token. The other promotional cards will be available at a later date. Details about these future events have yet to be revealed.
Notably, there is no confirmation that these promos will be available in North America. Similar promotional cards celebrating past Chinese New Year events have not been available in North America. We are currently uncertain if these cards share the same fate.
Considering that only a few of these cards are being offered at a time, they could be surprisingly rare depending on their quantity. If only one person wins an Xyris per store, the secondary market value of the card could be surprisingly high. We would be surprised if that was the case, but the potential is always there.