Over the last few competitive MTG seasons, a majority of the promos haven’t held much reprint value. The cards for last season were a step up from previous laughably bad choices, but there’s still room for improvement.
Unfortunately, the Regional Championship promos for round 2 of 2026 are more of the same. Outside of a very strong Regional Championship promo, the rest of these cards are somewhat disappointing.
Sunpearl Kirin
The next round of Standard and Limited RCQs take place from August 15th to November 29th, and all participants will get their hands on a Sunpearl Kirin promo. Despite seeing a lot of initial hype, Sunpearl Kirin now sees no Standard play at all. The ban to Hopeless Nightmare and This Town Ain’t Big Enough, killed a lot of this card’s potential, making it rather undesirable.
Unsurprisingly, while players seem to love the artwork, some people are disappointed by the promo choice. Given how far in advance these promos get chosen, though, it’s possible Wizards planned things when Sunpearl Kirin was still seeing Standard play. Nonetheless, a $0.30 uncommon is a rather poor participation promo for any event.
Pinnacle Starcage
Similarly, the promo awarded to players who make the top cut at an RCQ isn’t anything special. While Pinnacle Starcage did make a bit of a splash in United Battlefront decks early on, its impact in Standard and Pioneer dwindled rather quickly. The card still shows up in some fringe archetypes like Boros Artifacts in Standard, but most top-tier decks don’t utilize it. After all, control decks in Pioneer still lean on the more versatile Temporary Lockdown instead.
With this in mind, it isn’t too shocking that this rare is only worth $0.35 in its original printing. Regardless, non-foil copies will be distributed to top RCQ finishers, and those who manage to earn invites to the Regional Championship will receive foil copies as well.
Kozilek’s Command
While the RCQ promos are as disappointing as usual, this season’s Regional Championship promo is an absolute banger. Kozilek’s Command was one of many powerhouses to be printed in Modern Horizons 3, and it continues to make its presence felt.
Thanks to lands like Eldrazi Temple and Ugin’s Labyrinth, it isn’t hard to cast this spell early in the game. From there, its versatility makes it a strong draw in nearly every situation, offering removal, ramp, and card draw. Thanks to this, Kozilek’s Command sees rabid play in colorless decks across Modern and Legacy. It even has plenty of Commander appeal in Eldrazi-themed decks, seeing play in 67,100 decks according to EDHREC.
Beyond its multi-format appeal, there’s a good chance demand for this card could be higher as a textless promo. Wizards seems to be leaning into making Magic’s most complicated cards textless, and most players love it. On top of that, this promo’s art clearly pays homage to the original textless Cryptic Command, making it even more exciting.
Ultimately, while Kozilek’s Command still sits slightly below the $5 mark in its cheapest traditional form, this rarer promo could easily be worth a decent amount more. All Regional Championship competitors that play in the next round of Modern events starting September 11th will earn a non-foil copy, while top finishers get an even rarer foil. The foil variant could easily be worth hundreds of dollars, giving players an exciting promo to play for.
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