It’s no secret that Wizards of the Coast has created some pretty out there Universes Beyond crossovers. Fortnite, Hatsune Miku, and Sonic the Hedgehog are all now part of MTG, for better or worse. While these are now just part of Magic’s new normal, Wizards hasn’t gone completely crazy. It’s not like they’ve made a dedicated Need for Speed MTG crossover, or anything like that.
Instead of being a Universes Beyond card, Need for Speed is actually a 24-year-old MTG card from Odyssey. Playing off the racing franchise’s name, this Haste-providing enchantment has historically seen very little play due to its steep cost. Thanks to the new World Shaper precon, however, this cost has been turned into a massive upside.
Need for Speed
In the vast majority of MTG decks, Need for Speed is a pretty terrible card, but it does have its uses. Specifically, it’s not bad to give a massive game-ending threat Haste, even if you’re tapped out. If you’re going to win away, sacrificing a land to get this effect is hardly the end of the world, after all.
That said, so long as you don’t mind it being a symmetrical effect, Mass Hysteria is just better. For this reason, Need for Speed sees incredibly little play in Commander, with just about 4,000 decks using it, according to EDHREC. Similarly, the card sees basically no competitive play. While a few cEDH decks do attempt to use this card, recent results show it doesn’t exactly work well.
Thankfully, in casual Commander, Need for Speed has been given a massive popularity boost recently. This is thanks to the World Shaper precon from Edge of Eternities, which leans into a unique land sacrifice theme. In particular, Hearthhull the Worldseed dishes out damage for each land you sacrifice.
As if this wasn’t good enough in isolation, Szarel, Genesis Shepherd offers increased synergy, allowing you to play lands from the graveyard. When both of these cards are on the field together, Need for Speed is effectively a free damage engine. Due to this, it’s no wonder that this card is seeing more play than usual.
On top of this synergy, Need for Speed also plays a role in a new infinite combo. Alongside Toph, the First Metalbender, Need for Speed can be used to sacrifice Ugin’s Nexus. Provided this artifact has been Earthbended, it’ll return to the battlefield, allowing you to animate and sacrifice it again. While this combo does have a few steps, the potential has unsurprisingly pushed demand further.
The Spike
While Need for Speed is a pretty useless card, most of the time, it’s surprisingly not worthless. Before the Edge of Eternities precons were revealed, copies of Need for Speed were still selling for around $2. Admittedly, sales at this price point were very slow, but the card’s natural rarity was definitely carrying this price.
As a rare card from Odyssey, Need for Speed is pretty scarce in the first place. Sets had lower print runs back in this era, and many copies will have been lost or damaged over time. Due to this, Need for Speed is especially susceptible to sudden surges in demand, as it doesn’t take much to move the market.
Over the past month, there have only been 34 sales for near-mint copies of Need for Speed. While this might not seem like much, it has almost completely stripped the market of supply. Right now, there are only three near-mint listings left on TCGplayer offering 13 copies total. Given this low supply, it’s no wonder that prices have been increasing.
Currently, while the market price for Need for Speed is only $2.84, recent sales have hit $9.99. This is also the starting price for the remaining near-mint listings, and that doesn’t even include shipping. Over time, as more copies sell, the mismatch between market price and new listings should balance out.
Thankfully, in the meantime, it is possible to pick up copies of Need for Speed for slightly cheaper. While there aren’t any reprints, worse-condition examples can provide some savings. Heavily played examples, for instance, are only selling for around $5-$6. Sadly,. There aren’t a ton of copies available at this price point, so these deals may soon disappear.
The Future
Looking ahead, Need for Speed is in a rather weird spot. On the one hand, this card is naturally very rare, and without a reprint, it’s unlikely that more supply will flood the market. Due to this, the price could remain high for quite some time, even long after the demand as a World Shaper upgrade passes.
That said, Need for Speed is a pretty terrible MTG card outside of this very specific strategy. Due to this, demand is likely going to dry up a lot faster than usual. While we’re not getting any more precons this year, new Spider-Man and Avatar: The Last Airbender legends will surely dictate market trends.
Speaking of Avatar, there’s a good chance that demand for Need for Speed will increase over time due to Toph, the First Metalbender. If this happens, the price may continue to rise until this set’s eventual release on November 21st. Whether or not this will actually end up happening, however, remains to be seen.
Ultimately, the price of Need for Speed could go either way in the future, although there definitely will be a limit. Due to how situational this card is, it’s unlikely MTG players will be willing to spend more than $10. Since it’s not a needed upgrade to World Shaper by any means, there’s definitely a price-to-performance cost to consider.
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