Tarkir: Dragonstorm’s time in the spotlight is slowly coming to an end. While Dragons are always going to be popular, there’s no matching the might of Final Fantasy. On May 10th, Wizards is showing off this set at PAX East, and it’s safe to say MTG players are excited. Before this much-anticipated event happens, however, it seems Tarkir: Dragonstorm isn’t down for the count just yet.
Over the course of the past month, we’ve seen plenty of Commander deck-driven price spikes. Many of these spikes have come and gone as interest naturally ebbed and flowed over time. One card, however, seems to be bucking that trend somewhat by just getting more and more expensive.
Nethroi, Apex of Death
First released in 2020’s Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths, Nethroi, Apex of Death is a real bomb of an MTG card. When everything goes according to plan, Nethroi can reanimate over ten creatures, depending on deck construction.
Sadly, since leaving Standard, Nethroi, Apex of Death hasn’t seen anywhere near as much play as it used to. Even in Commander, this card is hardly an Abzan staple since Abzan Aggro isn’t exactly a staple archetype. Thanks to this, it’s historically been fairly cheap; however, that has evidently changed recently.
Way back on April 8th, The Command Zone released their “Abzan Armor” Precon Upgrade video. Within this video, Nethroi, Apex of Death was one of the many cards which were lauded as an “easy upgrade” to the precon. Considering the low-power nature of Abzan Armor, this isn’t a surprise at all.
Since Abzan Armor is essentially a toughness-matters deck for the most part, Nethroi can do insane work. Many of the deck’s creatures have 0 toughness, making them essentially free to reanimate with Nethroi. Being able to get a few bombs like Zetalpa, Primal Dawn and Dragonlord Dromoka alongside this makes Nethroi a no-brainer.
While this reanimation is potentially incredibly strong, it’s not cheap or entirely guaranteed. For starters, you’ll need to pay seven to Murate Nethroi, although this isn’t too difficult in Commander. The real issue, however, is the lack of other Mutate spells, which makes Nethroi a bit of a one-trick pony. Still, even as an expensive one-off, the impact of Nethroi is too goo to ignore.
The Spike
While The Command Zone first highlighted Nethroi, Apex of Death almost a month ago, this card hasn’t quit. This has led to a rather impressive price spike over the course of the entire month. As usual, it certainly helped that Nethroi wasn’t hugely expensive to begin with.
Prior to the spike kicking off after The Command Zone’s endorsement, Nethroi was only worth around $0.73. As mentioned, this price has been fairly constant over the past year, as there’s been very little in the way of consistent demand. Now, however, it seems Nethroi has essentially been turned into a staple, given the way prices have been rising.
As you can see above, the price of Nethroi, Apex of Death has been consistently climbing over the past month. While sales have been slow, especially recently, the price hasn’t begun to fall off yet. Right now, prices have increased to upwards of $8.19, however, there are cheaper copies available.
Currently, on TCGplayer, listings for Nethroi start at around $5. While few copies are available at this price point, it nonetheless shows TCGplayer Direct has played a role here. Curiously, the original Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths printing is almost significantly cheaper at the moment. Listings for this variant start at around $4.75, and the market value is only $3.50.
On top of the two main variants, Nethroi, Apex of Death also has two fancy printings. Prices for these variants are rather varied, as the main Showcase variant is only $6.18. The Godzilla reskin, however, (Biollante, Plant Beast Form) currently sells for around $30.18! Each of these variants has also been climbing in price over the past few weeks and months.
The Future
When looking ahead, it’s hard to ignore the fact that Final Fantasy is fast approaching. Even though this set doesn’t get officially released until June 13th, MTG players will undoubtedly start brewing once cards get revealed. This will surely turn attention away from Nethroi and the Abzan Armor Commander deck in general.
With this in mind, it seems near-guaranteed that Nethroi, Apex of Death will fall in price before too long. That being said, this card may not entirely crash out in price and fall to past lows. Thanks to Felothar the Steadfast, Nethroi could now become a staple within the Toughness Matters archetype.
Technically, this was already possible thanks to Doran, the Siege Tower, however, the archetype wasn’t hugely popular. Now that Felothar has given the archetype a boost in popularity, the interest in Nethroi could persist. That being said, having the Dominaria United Commander variant maintain its $8+ price point does seem unlikely.
Ultimately, as always, it’s impossible to predict the future, so we’re just going to have to see where the price ends up. A last $5 price point is probably too high, but staying at a couple of dollars, at least, isn’t unreasonable.
