Since Tarkir: Dragonstorm first became Standard legal, a little less than a month ago, it didn’t hesitate to make a splash. Cori-Steel Cutter may have made the biggest and most impressive multiformat impact, however, this is hardly the only new staple. Tersa Lightshatter, for instance, has consistently been putting up good results since their Standard debut.
Thanks to this solidified strength, demand for Tersa Lightshatter has been impressively consistent since its release. This has recently caused a fairly impressive price spike to Tersa, which seems to be trending up over time. While she’s still not the most expensive MTG card in existence, there’s a good chance that this current price trend will continue.
Tersa Lightshatter
Right now, Tersa Lightshatter is a key card within two of the most popular decks in Standard. Appearing in both Mono-Red Aggro and Jeskai Oculus, there’s no denying that Tersa is a very powerful card. She even appears in some Izzet Prowess lists, however, she’s mostly sideboard tech there.
Outside of Standard, Tersa Lightshatter also sees some play in Pioneer, and even Legacy, of all places. This is all to say that a lot of formats have been eyeing up Tersa as a value engine. More impressively than just being tested in these formats, Tersa has been able to stick in most of them.
Out of everywhere she’s seeing play, Tersa Lightshatter is, somewhat unsurprisingly, the most effective in Standard. Here, she synergizes with all the cheap spells in Mono-Red Aggro and the graveyard-filling core of Jeskai Oculus. This allows her to easily exile and recast spells, potentially from the turn she comes into play.
In decks like Mono-Red Aggro, the spells on offer mean you’re getting at least five damage out of a Tersa Lightshatter swing. It’s not a problem if you don’t hit a spell either, as resurrecting a fallen creature is always welcome. This is especially true in Jeskai Oculus, since most of the deck’s cards help fill the graveyard for Abhorrent Oculus.
Ultimately, since the release of Tarkir: Dragonstorm, Tersa Lightshatter has proven herself to be the real deal. With this in mind, it’s little wonder that MTG players have been consistently snapping up copies day after day. Equally, it’s no surprise that Tersa Lightshatter is starting to get somewhat expensive.
The Spike
Thankfully, for budget-conscious MTG players, Tersa Lightshatter doesn’t break the bank at the moment. She’s not exactly in short supply either, since there are still 200+ near-mint copies available on TCGplayer. That being said, her price has nonetheless been trending upward over the past couple of weeks.
As you can see above, TCGplayer’s price graph for Tersa Lightshatter doesn’t look too impressive at the moment. Thanks to the high presale prices, she’s technically dropped in price over the span of the entire month. Looking more closely at the post-release low and the current spike, however, paints a much clearer picture.
Shortly following the release of Tarkir: Dragonstorm, copies of Tersa were selling for just $0.42. For a brief time, prices even dipped as low as $0.36, making her look like Draft chaff at best. More recently, however, her price has been climbing, especially following a spike on April 23rd. Now, near mint copies of Tersa Lightshatter are selling for around $2.43 on TCGplayer.
Notably, while prices are up across the board, there are still a fair few copies of Tersa available for less than the market price average. While this indicates that TCGplayer Direct has played a role in this price spike, the difference isn’t vast. Near-mint listings currently start at around $1.75, and prices quickly increase from there.
Currently, the Borderless variant of Tersa Lightshatter is selling for just slightly more than her regular variant. At the moment, near-mint copies of this treatment are selling for $2.93 on average. Previously, this variant has been selling for around $1,50, so it’s always held a slight premium at the very least.
The Future
Looking ahead, it seems that Tersa Lightshatter should be here for the long haul. While Standard is prone to being shaken up as new sets get released, Tersa is just an efficient value engine. So long as there’s a deck that can cast cheap spells or fill its graveyard quickly, Tersa will have a home.
Already, Tersa Lightshatter has proven that she’s strong outside of Standard, so there should be consistent long-term demand. While this wouldn’t solely be enough to maintain her current price point, she’s got three years in Standard left. With this in mind, it seems likely that her price will increase sooner rather than later.
With 50+ near-mint sales of Tersa happening every day, it seems inevitable that supply will soon run out. If, or rather when, this happens, her price is bound to spike once again, potentially hitting $5 or beyond. While she’s not quite on the same level, Cori-Steel Cutter is currently going for around $12, so the sky is the limit.
Ultimately, as always, there’s no guaranteeing what will happen to the price of Tersa Lightshatter. The MTG financial markets are notoriously fickle, so even a sure thing can end up falling short of expectations. As always, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens in the coming weeks and months as Tersa’s price finally settles.
