Over the past couple of weeks, the price on The Shire, a legendary green land from the MTG Lord of the Rings set, has been creeping steadily upward. As of today, the card is going for around 130% more than it was previously. That’s a nice jump, and it comes as part of a larger trend with LotR card prices in general.
The financial value of Magic’s Lord of the Rings set has been concentrated in a small number of cards so far. The One Ring and Orcish Bowmasters are obviously the big hitters. Then there’s a band of solid $10-ish cards like Delighted Halfling, then largely bulk. As time goes on, however, more cards from the set are claiming their share of the spotlight. Just last week, for example, Farmer Cotton exploded in price. With this new spike, The Shire may be joining its foodie friend soon.
The Shire (+132%)
- Rarity: Rare
- Card Text: The Shire enters tapped unless you control a legendary creature. Tap: Add G. 1G, Tap, Tap an untapped creature you control: Create a Food token.
Looking at the data, it appears that The Shire’s price jump is being driven largely by Commander demand. Other than Brawl, that’s the only format where the card sees any play. When you look at the card’s abilities, that makes perfect sense. After all, it’s much easier to have The Shire enter untapped when you have your Commander to fulfill the legendary creature condition. The fact that it’s a legendary land is largely irrelevant in Commander, too.
In a lot of cases, The Shire is simply a better Forest in Commander, then. Turning any of your creatures into a Gilded Goose is a notable upside as well, especially in Food decks. This is reflected in the decks where The Shire sees play. Pretty much all of them lean into Food synergies in some form, be they Ygra, Eater of All or Greta, Sweettooth Scourge.
As a result of this play, and increased Food demand from Bloomburrow, the card’s price has shot up. Copies cost around $1.40 two weeks ago, but now they’ll run you around $3.20 instead. That’s a 132% spike, which is significant for what was previously a bulk rare. There are also indicators that The Shire could climb even higher up the MTG finance ladder, too. The card’s average price actually hovered around $4-5 just a couple of days ago, and there have been confirmed sales in that range.
If you like playing Food decks, I’d recommend grabbing this land now before it goes the way of Farmer Cotton in the near future.
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