One of the biggest returning mechanics in Murders at Karlov Manor of both Morph and Manifest… sort of. While these mechanics are returning, they are simply too weak for Magic’s current power level, so they got some shiny new names alongside some shiny new keywords.
Disguise is essentially Morph and Manifest is essentially Cloak, but both Disguise and Cloak give their facedown counterparts Ward 2, making it easier for them to stick around long enough to flip.
With the return of facedown MTG cards comes an entire Commander precon focused around the facedown mechanic. Any Commander players who want to dive back into the intricacies of the various facedown mechanics will likely be looking into potential upgrades for their decks.
As a result, some bizarre cards from years gone by are starting to creep back up in price. As Magic has aged, they have become much more powerful.
Dream Chisel
Dream Chisel is a rare found in Onslaught – an MTG set printed all the way back in 2002. This is the only printing of Dream Chisel that currently exists.
The card, in terms of function, is pretty simple. For two mana, this artifact gives your Morphs and Disguise creatures a slight discount. This can help you speed out the number of cards you Morph or Disguise each turn. To be clear, this reduces the casting cost of Morph and Disguised creatures by one.
This quickly seems like an interesting upgrade for the Deadly Disguise creature deck. Deploying your facedown creatures quicker either allows you to get more consistent draw triggers from the deck’s face Commander, or draw a ton of cards with the deck’s alternate Commander, which we recommend trying out.
All in all, Dream Chisel’s market value has crawled up from $1.07 in the second week of January, and is currently selling for $5 pretty consistently. Recent sales do suggest that the Chisel may continue to increase in price.
Alternatively, Dream Chisel’s foil value has also been creeping upwards. In the same timeframe, this market value has jumped from $9 to $13.
Titanic Ultimatum
Titanic Ultimatum was a spell commonly recommended as an upgrade to the Raining Cats & Dogs Commander precon. This Overrun-esque effect is the board buff to end all board buffs, making all of your creatures gigantic while giving them a ton of different keywords, all to ensure that this combat is the last one.
While this card is an incredible buffing effect, it does has its issues. Aside from demanding an incredibly difficult casting cost, Titanic Ultimatum needs both a Naya color identity and a board of creatures to even do anything in the Commander format. Sure, this card is fantastic when it lines up, but you will almost always be better off just casting a Craterhoof Behemoth.
Either way, Titanic Ultimatum was worth about $3 and managed to climb its way up to about $9 over the course of three months. Sales range a bit generally sticking between $8 and $11. Notably, Titanic Ultimatum only has two printings, and neither are easy to find.
March of Swirling Mist
March of Swirling Mist is one of those sneaky good sort of cards that does a lot more than it looks. You can use this to target all of creatures, triggering Venerated Rotpriest multiple times and adding Poison Counters to your opponent at unprecedented speeds. You can use it as a Teferi’s Protection effect, Phasing Out your board in response to a board wipe. Finally, you can use it as a Fog or a temporary removal spell, dodging damage or blanking problematic creatures in your attempt to win the game.
March of Swirling Mist, according to recent results, is seeing a big uptick in play in Bant Poison strategies using Venerated Rotpriest. The card otherwise sees some cEDH play thanks to how flexible it is.
March of the Swirling Mist started at $2.74 near the start of January before it started seeing some sporadic price increases. After about a month’s time, the base variant has a market average of $6.42, but recent sales have huge variance, selling for between $4 and $12. Prices have surged in recent days, however, which suggests that this price spike may not be over.
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Path of Peril
Path of Peril is somewhat commonly used in Standard and Pioneer, appearing in a range of different archetypes. This is a pretty efficient board wipe that can be repurposed later in the game, allowing it to remain effective past the early turns. Aside from Path of Peril being a cheap board wipe in black that can repurpose itself, there’s not much particularly special about this card.
Despite this, Path of Peril is beginning to garner a relevant secondary market value, increasing from less than a dollar to a market value of $2.69 over the course of 2024. Notably, the Innistrad: Double Feature iteration of this card has a significant premium, worth about $5 in its nonfoil and $17 for its foil, respectively.
Watch for More Commander Gems!
As a new wave of legendary creatures and Commander precons hit the scene, players will be rushing to their LGS’s to get some upgrades for these decks, or even create their own. Dream Chisel is just the latest in a line of cards that have become more relevant as old themes are reimagined with a new coat of paint in new MTG sets. Finding these rares in your collection of bulk can be rather thrilling, even netting you a pretty penny if you’re lucky. If you want to give facedown creature decks a try in Commander, consider picking up Dream Chisel sooner than later.
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