This Kamigawa Land Snuck Up in Price - Did You Get Yours?

When previewing Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, many Magic players ranked the set’s cycle of five legendary “channel lands” as the best cards of the set. This cycle includes Boseiju, Who Endures Boseiju, Who Endures {T}: Add {G}.
Channel — {1}{G}, Discard this card: Destroy target artifact, enchantment, or nonbasic land an opponent controls. That player may search their library for a land card with a basic land type, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle. This ability costs {1} less to activate for each legendary creature you control. , Eigainjo, Seat of the Empire, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire Takenuma, Abandoned Mire {T}: Add {B}.
Channel — {3}{B}, Discard this card: Mill three cards, then return a creature or planeswalker card from your graveyard to your hand. This ability costs {1} less to activate for each legendary creature you control. , Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance {T}: Add {R}.
Channel — {3}{R}, Discard this card: Create two 1/1 colorless Spirit creature tokens. They gain haste until end of turn. This ability costs {1} less to activate for each legendary creature you control. , and Otawara, Soaring City Otawara, Soaring City {T}: Add {U}.
Channel — {3}{U}, Discard this card: Return target artifact, creature, enchantment, or planeswalker to its owner's hand. This ability costs {1} less to activate for each legendary creature you control. .

As soon as they were released, these land cards permeated every Magic: the Gathering format. They are everywhere! And recently, one of the channel lands gained substantial financial value. But it might not be the one you think!

Otawara, Soaring City

After Neon Dynasty came out, Otawara cost as little as $5.00. But as you can see in the graph below, the Soaring City only increased in price since then. At the time of writing, the regular art copy of Otawara is about $9.00. And the borderless version is almost $17.00.

Read More: Jeez! This MTG Standard Card is Getting Ridiculously Expensive

Why Did Otawara’s Price Rise?

When it comes to the Neon Dynasty cycle of channel lands, the general consensus among Magic players is that Boseiju, Who Endures Boseiju, Who Endures {T}: Add {G}.
Channel — {1}{G}, Discard this card: Destroy target artifact, enchantment, or nonbasic land an opponent controls. That player may search their library for a land card with a basic land type, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle. This ability costs {1} less to activate for each legendary creature you control. , is the best of the bunch. It was certainly the most hyped as its channel ability has the most efficient cost and destroys a variety of permanents. For that reason, Otawara flew under the radar a bit.

But Magic players are coming to realize how prevalently played Otwara is. In Standard, it is played in decks like Azorius Control and Izzet Dragons. Many Modern decks such as Crashcade, Murktide Regent, and Blue Living End play the card. And just about every blue Commander deck can play Otawara with practically zero deckbuilding cost.

A recent resurgence of the Pioneer format is also partly responsible for Otawara’s price movement. Top decks like Azorius Control, Hidden Strings, Izzet Phoenix, and Bant Spirits play Otawara.

Read More: It’s Finally Affordable! What Caused This OG Modern Staple to Fall From Favor?