Occasionally, you’ll come across MTG cards that, at first glance, you’d imagine are way more expensive than they really are. Starfield Vocalist is a great example of that. As a Panharmonicon effect, many MTG players would likely be unsurprised if the Vocalist was worth a few bucks. Surprisingly, like a lot of underrated Edge of Eternities cards, it’s only a dollar.
Overlord of the Boilierbilges feels like a similar card. The entire cycle from Duskmourn has proven incredible, but for the longest time, the red Overlord was only worth $1.50. That said, it appears that the card is finally coming into its own.
MTG Overlord of the Boilerbilges
Overlord of the Boilerbilges is a part of the very versatile Overlord cycle from Duskmourn. Thanks to having an Impending cost, it’s possible to get these massive enchantment creatures in early, but only for their enters trigger. Combining this versatility with flicker or reanimation tools allows you to get tons of value from the Overlord cycle, causing some select Overlords to see in formats as old as Modern.
This Overlord commonly functions as a removal spell that eventually turns into a threat. Four mana is a bit expensive for this, which is likely the reason why Overlord of the Boilerbilges wasn’t played as much as the others in the past, but Standard has slowed down significantly thanks to some big changes, which gives players a lot more time to get value from a card like this.
The MTG Standard bans and rotation were incredibly kind of Overlord of the Boilerbilges. The card doesn’t see play in any top-tier decks, but it is seeing an incredible amount of Standard play in various one tier-two deck, as well as a bunch of experimental ones.
MTG Overlord of the Boilerbilges and Yuna, Hope of Spira
Overlord of the Boilerbilges is most commonly found in Naya Yuna, Hope of Spira decks, which commonly 5-0 MTGO Standard leagues, and have a few Standard Challenge top eight results. This clearly seems like a tier two deck at the moment, but it is, regardless, a place where Overlord of the Boilerbilges is a playset staple.
Yuna, Hope of Spira can both reanimate Overlord of the Boilerbilges, and turn its damage triggers into a supercharged Lightning Helix thanks to giving Enchantment Creatures you control Ward 2, Trample and Lifelink. This is a devastating life swing in games where you can successfully deploy this synergy.
In addition to its appearance in a lot of experimental Standard brews, Overlord of the Boilerbilges also sees some fringe Pioneer, cEDH, and Modern play, while making occasional appearances in Dual Commander Deadpool decks. Now that the potential of Overlord of the Boilerbilges has been unlocked, the card is finally starting to spike in price.
MTG Overlord of the Boilerbilges Price Spike
Overlord of the Boilerbilges started seeing price spikes in the middle of June. This was, likely, a response to Naya Yuna decks beginning to see play. A second spike in demand occurred right after the bans happened, which makes a lot of sense. Many of the top decks in Standard were knocked off, and Naya Yuna looked to be in a much better position.
Since then, Overlord of the Boilerbilges has steadily rose to a market average of $7.50. You can find copies of this card for a bit cheaper but, for the most part, this is what most traditional variant Overlord of the Boilerbilges go for. Supply is starting to dwindle for the traditional variant of the card, but there’s still 50 listings available at the time of writing.
There are some other variants for Overlord of the Boilerbilges available, but sadly, there aren’t any deals to be found. Similar to the traditional variant, you can occasionally find an extended art Overlord of the Boilerbilges for a bit cheap, but these are mostly going for about $10 according to current listings. That said, the card has been selling for far lower than market average according to past sales. At the time of writing, $6.35 is the absolute cheapest this variant will run you without shipping.
As far as foils go, there appears to be a small premium for every foil variant over its nonfoil one. The showcase treatment for this card is notably only in foil, and goes for a considerable $28 at its cheapest according to recent sales and available listings. If you want to find the most expensive variant of Overlord of the Boilerworks possible, you can find the Fracture Foil starting at around $60.
Long Live the Overlords
In Standard’s new era, there’s tons of space for the Overlords to see some play. Right now, they aren’t a part of the stronger decks in the format, but the creatures have a lot of time left in Standard, and have a history of being very relevant competitively. I’d say that Overlord of the Boilerbilges was due for a spike to put it more in-line with the other Overlords. At the time of writing, it’s still the second cheapest Overlord, with Overlord of the Floodpits coming in at about $2.77.
That said, despite Overlord of the Boilerbilges’s price spike, it may actually end up falling out of favor soon. Current results for Standard suggest that there’s one strategy far ahead of the others: Vivi Cauldron combos might end up pushing the Overlord back out of the format, which could cause it to drop back down in price.
Even if this does happen, it may only be temporary. If Vivi Cauldron continues to be as strong as it has been in early Edge of Eternities Standard, it will likely get banned in the future, which could create another surge of demand for Overlord of the Boilerbilges. There’s still a ton of time before any of this happens, however, so don’t count the Overlord out yet.
I would expect this card to see a slight decrease in the near future as supply and demand balances out, but at the time of writing, Overlord of the Boilerbilges does look like it will climb a bit further still. That said, it’s impossible to truly tell the future, and this prediction could be entirely off base. For now, though, this seems like where Overlord of the Boilerbilges is meant to be.
