With Dominaria United’s spoiler season finally coming to an end, Wizards of the Coast has revealed The List contents for Dominaria United. For those unfamiliar with ‘The List’ of an MTG set, these are a set of cards you have a chance of opening alongside your Set Booster Pack cards. Some of these lists have decided the fate of Set Booster products single-handedly. The Streets of New Capenna List was so absurd that the Set Booster Boxes for the set will likely be one of the best sealed products in the history of MTG. Dominaria United’s List looks like a far cry from Streets of New Capenna’s, but it is much better than we expected. This may actually make it the best List that we’ve ever seen! Regardless of this surprising revelation, not all The List changes are good ones.
Chase Cards Removed!
Many cool cards are being added to The List in Dominaria United. Unfortunately, this may be outshone by some of the Commander staples being removed from it. Some of The List’s most expensive cards are now being retired. Here’s what not to expect in Dominaria United’s Set Boosters:
Vampiric Tutor
Vampiric Tutor has been among the most expensive cards on The List and is a core Commander Staple. For one mana and two life, Vampiric Tutor allows you to find any card in your library and place it on top. To make it better, Vampiric Tutor is an instant, enabling you to use its ability at the end of an opponent’s turn so you can draw the card on your upkeep! For obvious reasons, regardless of recent reprints, the cheapest iteration of Vampiric Tutor demands an average of about $40.
Day’s Undoing
Day’s Undoing sported a significant asking price before it was printed on the Streets of New Capenna List. The List for Streets was so good that most cards that saw a printing on The List saw significant drops in price. These cards were being opened so often that the volume of singles drove the price down. This, if anything, is the sign of a great reprint. MTG is already an expensive game, and saving money where you can makes the game more accessible for everyone.
Day’s Undoing currently sees some fringe Pioneer and Modern play around Narset, Parter of Veils control shells. The current asking price for a Day’s Undoing is $5, a far cry from its $30 high in May. Removing this card from The List is a good call from Wizards of the Coast, as it has already gotten a severe price reduction.Read More: The List From Baldur’s Gate is Worse Than Expected
Exquisite Blood
Exquisite Blood is one side of a two-card infinite combo commonly appearing in Commander. The other end of Exquisite Blood[/tooltips] can be any number of cards. Sanguine Bond is the most common card used, but this could also be Vito, Thorn of Dusk Rose, or Defiant Bloodlord from Zendikar Rising.
While the other half of this combo has many outlets, Exquisite Blood is the only card that can supplement the other side of the infinite life gain/loss loop. Except for its reappearance in Jumpstart, all of Exquisite Blood’s printings are rather scare (The List, Secret Lair, and Avacyn Restored). You can currently find Exquisite Blood for between $15-20.
Jet Medallion
Magus of the Moon
Magus of the Moon sees an extraordinary amount of Modern play. From the new Rakdos Scam deck to flex slots in Yawgmoth and other Modern favorites, this card is excellent at catching unprepared players by surprise. Since many nonbasic lands see Modern play, Magus of the Moon can destroy mana bases, locking a player out from casting their essential spells. Magus of the Moon sees significantly less Commander play, as prison effects like this one are very unpopular in a casual format. Because of this, the removal of Magus of the Moon makes a bit more sense. Magus of the Moon is currently experiencing a price increase and is selling for around $10. Considering that its high point a few months ago was $12, it’s safe to say that Magus of the Moon could hit a new apex this year with paper Magic’s restoration.
Sapphire Medallion
Like Jet Medallion, Sapphire Medallion is part of a set of artifacts from Tempest that reduce the casting cost of spells in their appropriate colors by one. While Jet Medallion reduced black spells’ casting costs, Sapphire Medallion cares about blue ones. In terms of obscure printings, Sapphire Medallion matches the printings earlier discussed with Jet Medallion. Jet Medallion is the most expensive card in this cycle, but Sapphire Medallion is only slightly under it at a $24 average. Unlike Jet Medallion, Sapphire Medallion’s sales are pretty consistent.
Snapcaster Mage
While Snapcaster Mage has fallen from his former glory, the card still demands an impressive price. While a two-mana Flash creature is fine, Snapcaster Mage’s true worth comes from his ability to recast a spell from his owner’s graveyard upon entry. Since Snapcaster Mage has Flash, casting a counterspell this way is not out of the question. While Snapcaster Mage went for as much as $65 a year ago, you can pick one up now for about $23, but prices are continuously dropping. This price drop is not caused by the card’s reprinting in The List but is instead the cause of Modern’s evolution over time (but mainly Modern Horizons Two, honestly). Regardless, you will not be able to find these in Dominaria United Set Boosters.
Sorin Markov
Read More: Top 10 Best Commander Cards from Dominaria United
Twilight Prophet
Unholy Grotto
Welcome to another episode of a $10 card you’ve never heard of! Unholy Grotto is fantastic for Zombie decks, allowing the owner to recycle Zombies to the top of their deck at will! Unholy Grotto peaked around February this year when it was worth as much as $23. Unfortunately, the purchase of a single will now be your best bet for Zombie players looking to pick this up.
Vedalken Orrery
Vedalken Orrery’s removal from Dominaria United’s List is very unsurprising. Vedalken Orrery is the most expensive example of a ton of Double Masters 2022 reprints removed from The List. Since these were recently printed, their removal makes a lot of sense. Finding these cards is incredibly easy at the moment, so opening them may be less impactful than usual. Regardless of its recent reprinting, Vedalken Orrery, in its cheapest form, is still worth somewhere between $7 to $10, a far cry from its pre-Double Masters 2022 price tag of $35 and up.
Read More: Is the MTG Painbow Deck any Good?
A LOT of Chaff!
While this is a quick highlight of the most impactful cards being removed from Dominaria United’s List, many terrible cards are also getting the boot! If you are interested in looking at what got removed from Dominaria United’s List in more detail, you can find Wizard of the Coast’s article on the topic at the end of the article.
New Notables
While we are losing a lot of fantastic staples to open, some new ones are being introduced to replace them! There is a ton of good stuff being reintroduced into The List, with a lot less chaff than what is being taken out. Even though you still have a pool of dollar or fewer cards available, these cards have interesting abilities that may make it into your Commander decks. Many of these have some significance to Dominaria United’s overall story, so expect a lot of lore-related cards in your Set Booster Boxes!
Ajani, Strength of the Pride
We may have lost some notable cards, but there are many new ones to replace them! Ajani, Strength of the Pride is a Planeswalker that any lifegain EDH deck desires. Ajani’s ultimate is unique because it does not have a loyalty cost. Instead, Ajani’s ultimate will only do something if its controller’s life total is 15 above the starting total. Should you pass that requirement, Ajani will exile every artifact and creature your opponents control in exchange for itself. Ajani’s current price tag is about $12, but sales vary between $10 and $17. It does seem like this recently announced reprinting is starting to affect its price negatively, however.
Alpine Moon
Alpine Moon is a vast sideboard card in multiple constructed formats. As lands like Urza’s Saga become more powerful, cards that shut them down become more valuable. Alpine Moon‘s current price is only about $4, but it’s noteworthy regardless.
Chain of Smog
Chain of Smog saw a gigantic price spike during Strixhaven’s spoiler season. When combined with Professor Onyx, Chain of Smog becomes a two mana card that discards your entire hand but drains all of your opponent’s life in the process. While targeting yourself may seem strange with this card, doing so will allow you to cast an infinite number of spells. Chain of Smog currently goes for about $9 in near-mint condition, with its foil iteration worth about $70.
Read More: MTG’s Greatest Strength is a Big Concern
Collective Restraint
Commander players like pillow fort effects and Collective Restraint may be among the best of them! This is a Domain-based Ghostly Prison, where the amount of mana your opponents need to pay per creature attacking you equals the number of basic land types you control. Should they need to pay the full five, it’s safe to say you may not be attacked at all! In near-mint condition, Collective Restraint sells for about $20. Since this is an older card with only one printing right now, its foil version is incredibly expensive at $75-$100!
Contamination
Getting an Urza’s Saga reprint is rare, and Contamination does not disappoint! Contamination makes it so all lands will add a black mana instead of what they’re supposed to. This incredibly powerful effect can be complicated to remove (since it can lock players out from casting their spells), so Contamination’s power comes at a cost. If Contamination’s controller cannot sacrifice a creature on their upkeep, Contamination will die. This absurd prison effect will cost you as much as $40 in near-mint condition but more commonly goes for around $35.
Doomsday
Doomsday is so powerful that there are Legacy and Vintage archetypes with it as its namesake. Doomsday allows its caster to transform its MTG deck into a five-card selection of their choice for the cost of three black mana and half their life total rounded down. Generally, resolving a Doomsday means that the game will end immediately or on the next turn. Doomsday is currently going for about $12.
Elvish Champion
Elvish Champion is one of many powerful Elf lords the tribe has available to it. +1/+1 and Forestwalk typically mean that your Elves will become unblockable in Commander. There are many different Elvish Champion printings throughout MTG, but none are recent ones. As a result, finding a non-foil Elvish Champion for about $20 can be considered a good deal.
Helm of the Host
Helm of the Host is another infamous two-card combo in Commander that ends the game out of nowhere. Combined with Godo, Bandit Warlord, one attack will lead your opponents to be assaulted by infinite copies of Godo through endless combat phases. As we have covered in a recent discussion, any effect capable of creating nonlegendary copies of things is incredibly popular. Helm of the Host currently demands an asking price of about $17.
Read More: MTG’s Legend Rule Could Cease to Exist!
Karn Liberated
Karn Liberated was a Planeswalker some expected to return to Dominaria United’s main set as a result of some spoiler hints from Mark Rosewater. While we didn’t get this format-warping walker in Standard, we are at least getting it on the Dominaria United List. Karn Liberated’s current price is around $22, but there is a lot of flexibility between editions.
Orim’s Chant
Orim’s Chant is a sort of Silence that can do more than the Commander staple. The downside is that Orim’s Chant can only affect one opponent, but it can also prevent their creatures from attacking and prevent that player from casting spells. Orim’s Chant is expensive, going for about $20 in near-mint condition. Foils are even more absurd, with prices above $100.
Seahunter
Seahunter is a Merfolk that allows players to tutor more Merfolks and cheat them directly into play! Considering how powerful this ability is, Seahunter only has an asking price of about $7 in near-mint condition. This is an excellent effect that players will be after with all the new Merfolk introduced in Dominaria United.
Read More: Underrated MTG Planeswalker Quadruples in Price!
Sheoldred, the Whispering One
Sheoldred is returning to Dominaria in this set, so it only makes sense to add the original Phyrexian Praetor into The List for Dominaria United. Admittedly, this version of Sheoldred is much more powerful than the original, but its mana value is also much higher. At about $12, this is a slam dunk in any black Commander deck.
No Bad Chaff!
A lot of cards were not mentioned on this list being added to Dominaria United’s List, but very few of those are strictly terrible. Whether it be an old Griffin that may see a price increase with the new support or a black counterspell, most of the cards under a dollar being added all have some cool thing that makes them valuable. Additionally, most of the cards being added to The List have a price range between $3-4, but there were so many that we did not discuss them individually.
One common complaint about New Capenna’s List, regardless of how powerful the contents were, is that the chase cards were far too standard. This diluted the ‘booster fun’ experience for players, making the experience of opening an expensive card to be uneventful. This was great for reprints since all the cards affected became much more affordable for players but made the opening experience weaker for some players. While I personally prefer the New Capenna List to this one, this Dominaria United List does a fantastic job taking feedback from the insane New Capenna List and the disappointing Baldur’s Gate List and combining them into something that should, hopefully, emulate the experience that Wizards of the Coast is after to the best of their ability. For those who want more details on The List in Dominaria United, Wizard of the Coast’s official article can be found here.
