As Wizards of the Coast continues pushing new cards and reprints alike, the many popular MTG cards that have not received a reprint get even more expensive. The playerbase has grown a lot in the past few years, so old cards with some demand do not have a supply that lines up anymore. Let’s take a look at why Mindbreak Trap suddenly hit $50 and is still climbing!
Mindbreak Trap
This may not look like an EDH staple, but Mindbreak Trap is considered among the best cards in the cEDH format. With large stacks and free spells abound, Mindbreak Trap becomes a free counterspell very easily. Whether you’re using it to protect your own win condition or you find it in an emergency after a counterspell war has already been waged, Mindbreak Trap only excels in the format because of how quickly and frequently the format presents win attempts. Mindbreak Trap has the unique quality of ‘countering’ multiple spells at once (including spells that can’t be countered), but it won’t exile the entire stack. This allows you to pick and choose how you fight the stack with your Mindbreak Trap.
Mindbreak Trap also sees some Legacy play as a way to stop Storm decks (since the trap can counter/exile every instance of storm on the stack), but archetypes that play multiple spells in a turn are much more effective in Vintage. As such, Mindbreak Trap also sees significant sideboard play in these formats.
While no one knows precisely why Mindbreak Trap started seeing a massive rise in price, the card has only one Mythic Rare printing from Zendikar, a set released back in 2009. As such, there are very few copies of this card in existence compared to the number of players who want them. Between players wanting a single copy for their Commander decks and Vintage/Legacy sideboards, it’s understandable why this card has a secondary market price, but why did it spike so harshly this week?
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Price Trends
Many people are somewhat stumped on why Mindbreak Trap started soaring in price. It’s true that this card is considered a staple in cEDH and sees play in other formats, but it doesn’t seem to be a hard indication of why this card started skyrocketing this month. Early price trends suggest it’s nowhere near done gaining value, either.
Mindbreak Trap was only worth about $30 a few weeks ago, and the card is suddenly starting to push $60. Price trends to suggest the card has been gradually spiking since October, before which it was only worth between $20 and $25. Since this card was printed before the era of Collector Boosters, this card has a disgusting foil multiplier, pushing the $250 range in good condition. This also started seeing an upwards trend in October, but that price took off in January.
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Artificer Class
This Commander card is worth a lot less than the one we just talked about, but Artificer Class is a hot card that we have not discussed on this site recently (or at all). Available in the Izzet-colored Draconic Dissent deck from the Battle for Baldur’s Gate preconstructed Commander deck series, Artificer Class synergizes strongly with… artifacts. Honestly, Artificer Class is strong even in decks that run the odd artifact for mana since its second level can almost allow you to tutor for an artifact depending on how your deck is built. Otherwise, this class saga’s primary and ultimate ability is meant for artifact decks to shine.
This card has been seeing an increase in price since the release in The Brothers’ War, which makes a lot of sense since that set’s artifact theme complements this card perfectly. The card has, however, been seeing an additional rise in price after the release of Phyrexia: All Will Be One. There are artifact synergies present in the set, but besides being a strong Commander effect that only has one printing, a big potential cause for this card’s spike is the influx of players trying to build Myr commander decks. Urtet, Remnant of Memnarch has caused some insane price spikes since its spoiling. You can read more about that here.
In terms of price, Artificer Class has seen two massive spikes in price as The Brothers’ War and Phyrexia: All Will Be One has released, respectively. Before either set was released, Artificer class went for about $3.50. Post Brothers’ War, Artificer Class spiked to $6.50 before finding a price point around $5.50. Now that Phyrexia: All Will Be One has been released, the card has spiked to $11.20! Like the spike from The Brothers’ War, this card will likely lose some value as it finds its price.
Will Mindbreak Trap See a Reprint?
It’s tough to tell whether Mindbreak Trap will see a reprint, but it is definitely a candidate to appear in an upcoming Secret Lair. The last time we featured a card like this (Counterbalance), the card was announced in the next batch of Secret Lair reprints, so maybe this will happen again?
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