Relic of Progenitus has always been a strong piece of graveyard hate, but the card recently got a lot better in the Modern format. Underworld Breach is the deck to beat, but even more importantly, Ketramose, The New Dawn is an amazing MTG card from Aetherdrift. The most expensive card from Magic’s newest set has made Relic of Progenitus even better than ever.
Relic of Progenitus
Relic of Progenitus is a great tool for keeping graveyard decks in check. You can continually exile cards to keep grave counts low, and in an emergency, Relic of Progenitus can exile all graves. You even get a card for your trouble in exchange for losing the Relic.
This has some absurd synergies with Ketramose. Whenever a card gets exiled from the field or grave during your turn, Ketramose draws you a card. Relic of Progenitus can trigger Ketramose during each of your turns with its activated ability, turning the card into strict card advantage.
You’ll generally be exiling graves on your opponent’s turn to stop their shenanigans, but if you do it during your turn, Ketramose can draw another additional card. All of this graveyard exile makes it easy to turn Ketramose into a creature.
As a result, Relic of Progenitus has become a staple in the Modern Orzhov Blink archetype. The card is even appearing in the maindeck occasionally thanks to this synergy, as well as being one of the better cards against Grinding Breach – the current S-tier Modern deck.
In addition to Modern, Relic of Progenitus also sees tons of Pauper play. The card commonly appears in Kuldotha Red strategies. Otherwise, Relic of Progenitus isn’t the most unusual card to appear in Commander decks that have additional synergies with it.
The Spike
Relic of Progenitus has always been a moderately expensive card for a common. The Future Sight Frame pictured above has always been at least $2.70. This particular printing is a Mystery Booster 2 exclusive, and it showcases one of the biggest spikes across variants for this card.
The market average for this Relic of Progenitus has spiked from $3 to $6.70 over the past month. Sales for the nonfoil version of the card range heavily between $5 and $11. There are only 44 listings for this variant, and the cheapest one starts at $6. A majority of listings are above the market average. Foils for this variant have a rather high premium due to being extremely rare. They go for about $33.
The only variant with less listings than the Future Sight Frame is the Retro Border from the Dominaria United Commander decks. This Relic has spiked from $3 to $8 since the start of 2025, and also has a wide range of sales prices. There is no foil variant of this card.
In comparison, the Shards of Alara uncommon with the most variants available online hasn’t spiked a noteworthy amount, worth about $6. While there are consistent sales for under market average, the card is being bought in larger batches, suggesting that players suspect this variant of the card to spike in price as well.
Massive Post-Ban Card?
Relic of Progenitus could turn into a powerhouse after bans adjust the Modern format. Grinding Breach has been confirmed to be problematic in the format, so something from that deck will likely be leaving the format.
While that could mean that Relic of Progenitus will move to sideboards, the card’s synergy with Ketramose will be much better positioned to take over the format. If any graveyard decks remain (which is incredibly likely), Relic could even continue to be maindecked in Orzhov Ketramose strategies.
This isn’t the most exciting spike in the world, but it could be an indication for what is to come. Many MTG players will be watching the upcoming ban announcements at the end of the month.