Even though Commander Masters previews are finally around the corner, Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth is finally impacting the secondary market on an absolutely massive scale! It seems as though the playerbase has been given enough time for financial trends to suddenly make an impact. As such, a few trends have sunk their teeth into the marketplace, causing a wide range of cards to increase in price. Otherwise, Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth is truly beginning to show its impact on multiple formats, as Commander and Modern both have a heavy hand in this week’s movements.
Cauldron Familiar
After years of the MTG community being terrorized by this card chucking itself into an Oven and coming back by the lure of some Food, Cauldron Familiar is no longer a dollar uncommon. Thanks to rise of Samwise Gamgee turning this combo infinite, Cauldron Familiar is now seeing Modern play. The combo is quite adaptable, and is showing up all over Modern and Historic. Basically, as long as you have Cauldron Familiar, Samwise Gamgee and a sacrifice outlet to kill your cat, you have a combo that will drain your opponent infinitely.
Thanks to Cauldron Familiar’s revival, the card has seen a massive increase in price. Only worth about a dollar a month ago, copies of this card are beginning to sell for as much as $12. There seem to be three different prices that the card is selling for on TCGplayer: either somewhere around $4, $7.25 or $12. Foils are all around the more expensive price points, but not everything selling for $12 is a foil.
The biggest reason, besides gameplay, that Cauldron Familiar is seeing a rise in price now is, unlike when the Cat Oven combo was popular, Throne of Eldraine is no longer in print. This makes acquiring the Familiar, which only has one Jumpstart reprinting, surprisingly difficult.
Ishkanah, Grafwidow
Thanks to the printing of Shelob, Child of Ungoliant causing a violent uptick in Commander spider tribal interest, Ishkanah, Grafwidow is seeing increases in price. Even though Shelob is the creature that rekindled players’ interest in Spider Tribal, many still think that Ishkanah is the superior choice to helm the archetype.
Either way, thanks to the increased interest in Spider tribal, Ishkanah is now selling for between $3 and $10 from having a market value of less than a dollar at the beginning of June.
Lotho, Corrupt Shirriff
Commander’s biggest hidden gem is no longer hidden. We covered the massive potential of this card at a table of Commander recently, and following what the potential of this card suggests, we have a major price spike on our hands.
For a very low investment of two mana, Lotho threatens to create a ton of Treasure Tokens, especially at more competitive tables. Whenever a player casts their second spell each turn, you create a Treasure Token and lose a life. This technically means you can create 16 Treasures in a turn rotation, but this is very unlikely to happen. Ideally, creating four Treasure Tokens is an absolutely incredible engine, but even creating two and having this card survives probably means it has done its job.
Lotho is currently selling for around $4-5, which is a lot more than the $1.50 market price that he had just a month ago.
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Sagas Continue to Move Up
As players keep jumping on the Tom Bombadil train in Commander, Saga cards that have a lot of potential power with the Commander keep rising in price. These, honestly, make it seem as though the community is simply forgetting these Sagas exist for a period of time since this trend has been known to affect the market since Tom Bombadil’s reveal.
The first Saga spike making financial headlines this week is Birth of the Imperium. Since this card can create board presence, cause opponents to sacrifice threats and draw as many as six cards in its last phase, its a no-brainer why Tom Bombadil players are interested in this card. Birth of the Imperium is up to about $7 from less than 38 cents just three weeks ago, according to TCGplayer market averages.
The new Saga named In the Darkness Bind Them is also seeing a price increase, and for good reason. Besides having some overlap for the Wraith Typal trend, In the Darkness Bind Them is also a fantastic Saga for Bombadil decks. Not only does this create three 3/3 Wraiths with Menace, but it will also completely Tempt the Ring. Granting your Ringbearer a bunch of extra abilities, this card is capable of a lot for just five mana.
In the Darkness Bind Them is currently retailing for about $7-10, which is a huge uptick from the $1.50 it was worth just a week ago.
Read More: New MTG Typal Deck Drives Bulk Rare Prices to Obscene Heights!
Ruins Recluse
Like Ishkanah, a March of the Machine uncommon is also rising in price thanks to the increasing popularity of Spider Tribal. Even though Ruins Recluse has the March of the Machine set logo on the card, its not something that you can find in the main set. This is considered a unique March of the Machine Jumpstart card, which definitely makes the card a bit harder to open, increasing prices further. Otherwise, Ruins Recluse isn’t all that great.
Regardless of this, the card has jumped in price from being worth less than a dollar mid-June to about $7.
Read More: $40 LOTR Card Repeatedly Missing from Major MTG Product!
Modern-Playable Upticks
The last two small notes this week are cards seeing massive price increases thanks to their continued performances in Modern. Its no secret that Delighted Halfling and Orcish Bowmasters were expected to shake up the hyper-competitive Modern format, but the actual amount that these cards are delivering change is causing their prices to increase even more.
Of course, both Delighted Halfling and Orcish Bowmasters also have financial interests that lie elsewhere. Delighted Halfling may be the best Mana Dork Commander has ever seen. Thanks to its ability to fix mana and allow Legendary spells to become uncounterable, Delighted Halfling presents a rate that is quite difficult to beat.
Orcish Bowmasters are also insane in Commander and Legacy. Both formats like to draw a bunch of extra cards, and Orcish Bowmasters is a great way to punish players who want more card advantage.
As a result, Delighted Halfling is currently selling for a wide range of prices, but seems to be approaching the $20 mark, which is twice the price of the card at its lowest value. That said, once again, Delighted Halfling is selling for a wide range of prices (generally $13 to $20), so you may be able to find this card for cheaper.
Orcish Bowmasters, on the other hand, has steadily moved towards $40 since its recent nadir of $23 near the end of June. That said, this card is also being sold for a variety of prices, generally between $33 and $38 in near mint condition.
Wraith Typal Remains the Biggest Trend
Even though there is a ton of financial movements happening this week, one that we’ve already covered in extensive detail remains the biggest influencer on the market. Since we already wrote about it, however, we will simply mention it here, and point you in the right direction if you want to read more about it.
In terms of changes, the Witch-king of Angmar from the main set is beginning to see a major price increase following interest for multiple Commander-related sources.
Read More: MTG Players Already Disappointed by Early Lackluster Spoilers
