To say that a lot happened at the tail end of last week would be putting it lightly. Not only did Edge of Eternities’ prerelease events kick off and cause rotation, but we got tons of new Spider-Man cards too. Admittedly, the majority of these cards weren’t much to write home about; however, we did get a new Avatar: The Last Airbender card.
Curiously, Katara, the Fearless isn’t the most synergistic new legend that was spoiled over the past weekend. Despite this, the existence of this card near-enough proves that we’re going to be getting more Ally cards soon. As an old and rarely supported archetype, this upcoming support has caused quite a stir in the MTG markets already.
Sea Gate Loremaster
Much like Harabaz Druid, Sea Gate Loremaster scales with the number of Allies you control. This makes Loremaster naturally ruthless in an Ally Typal deck, arguably even more so than Harabaz Druid. While Harabaz is significantly cheaper and helps with the early game, it still takes time to get going, as you’ll need to build a board.
In comparison, thanks to its higher cost, Loremaster should be immediately useful, since you’ve had time to create board presence. The only catch is that you’ll need to wait a turn to tap Loremaster, leaving them somewhat exposed. Thankfully, Ally decks do have a solution to this in Chasm Guide, which allows Loremaster to have immediate impact.
Even though they’re not cheap, Sea Gate Loremaster’s potential for card draw is obviously immensely valuable. So long as they’re able to stick around for a few turns, this card should easily generate tons of value. This value will only increase, too, since more cards mean more Allies to play and synergize with.
With this synergy in mind, it’s no wonder that Sea Gate Loremaster currently sees play in 90% of Ally decks, according to EDHREC. This high play rate essentially makes them an auto-include for any new Katara, the Fearless deck. That said, these two cards don’t actually synergize together at all.
Since Loremaster has an activated ability, Katara won’t be able to double it for even more card draw. Despite this, a lot of MTG players are still watching Sea Gate Loremaster as it’s bound to be needed soon. Even if we don’t have immediate game-breaking synergy, it’s pretty clear that we’ll get more allies soon. When this inevitably happens, Loremaster is bound to be even more in demand.
The Spike
Thanks to inevitably being an auto-include in future decks, Sea Gate Loremaster was quickly bought out after Katara’s reveal. Immediately over 120 near-mint copies of Loremaster quickly changed hands, followed by over 40 the next day. Around ten near-mint sales have happened daily since then, which has almost entirely cleared out the available supply.
Right now, there are only 11 listings for near-mint copies of Sea Gate Loremaster on TCGplayer. Prices for these start at $5.49, although no sales have happened at this price just yet. The closest sales have reached so far is $4.99, although only a couple of sales have happened at this price.
Even though sales have been slow at this new price, MTG players don’t have much choice in the matter anymore. When you include shipping costs, the cheapest copy of Sea Gate Loremaster is $3.89, and that’s for a heavily played example. If you care about card quality, $5.45 is the least you’ll be paying right now.
Sadly, in its 16 years of existence, Sea Gate Loremaster hasn’t been reprinted once. This has left it open to a buyout, especially since it was hardly a common card in the first place. Potentially, this rarity may mean that the price of Loremaster will continue to increase; however, nothing is guaranteed.
The Future
For better or worse, a few things are unclear about the Avatar: The Last Airbender MTG set, which could shake this price spike. The first, arguably most damning of these is that there’s no word on if the Avatar: The Last Airbender set has Commander decks. If it does, Ally Typal would make a natural theme for one; however, they could equally be bending-based.
Should Wizards go down the Ally Typal route, Sea Gate Loremaster would undoubtedly get reprinted. This card is a staple of the archetype, and it’s definitely been long enough for a reprint to be warranted. Should this reprint happen, the price of Loremaster would undoubtedly crash exceptionally hard.
Technically, there’s no guarantee that the Avatar: The Last Airbender set will have Commander decks, but it does seem likely. Recent number crunching has indicated that this set should be a full-size set, unlike Marvel’s Spider-Man. Should this be accurate, it seems like the writing could be on the wall for Loremaster.
On top of this, there’s a non-zero chance that Ally Typal won’t be that strong a theme in the set overall. Admittedly, looking at Katara, the Fearless, this does seem unlikely, but we’ve only seen three cards so far. Notably, however, each of the spoilers we’ve seen does have the Ally type, so it’d be remarkable if it’s not a major theme.
Ultimately, while Sea Gate Loremaster is somewhat expensive at the moment, the writing does appear to be on the wall. Should a reprint not materialize, however, the $5 may end up being shockingly cheap for this card.
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