Even with Wizards shutting up shop, MTG players had more than enough to keep busy over the holidays. With over 700 new Commander options released throughout 2025 alone, there are tons of cards to build around. That said, while 2025 did provide us with a variety of unique options, few cards fit the season.
Instead, it looks like MTG players have been looking back a few years to find a more fun festive option. Released back in Jumpstart 2022, MTG players have been bringing Isu the Abominable back out to play. This, in turn, has caused this forgotten and underplayed legend to spike in price.
MTG Isu the Abominable
As one of the few Commanders in MTG that cares about Snow lands and spells, Isu the Abominable is perfect for the holidays. We’re all dreaming of a white Christmas, after all, and Isu lets you bring that to the Commander table. He even has a surprisingly decent color identity, thanks to the pips in his final ability.
Unfortunately, outside of being festive, Isu the Abominable isn’t actually that great as a Commander in MTG. Getting the look at the top card of your library and play Snow spells from there is useful, but hardly broken. Even going all in on this strategy, you still have to pay mana to buff Isu, which limits his potential.
Realistically, you’re probably not going to be popping off with Isu and crashing in for massive damage every turn. Instead, going for a more grindy gameplay that utilizes the extra card advantage is a safer strategy. Doing that, and limiting yourself to Snow spells, however, is hardly a foolproof strategy.
Outside of a handful of cards like Ohran Frostfang, Moritte of the Frost, Icebreaker Kracken, and Adajkar Valkrie, most Snow spells simply aren’t good. To make matters worse, you also don’t have access to very many multicolored Snow lands either. All of this together makes Isu the Abominable rather dubious as an MTG Commander, at least in most brackets.
If you’re more interested in bracket one and two, Isu the Abominable can still pull its weight. Bracket one, in particular, seems like the perfect place for this festive fella to thrive. Even this bracket, however, isn’t enough to keep Isu popular, as he commands less than 2500 decks, according to EDHREC.
The Spike
While Isu the Abominable might not be a powerful Commander, MTG players have still been interested in him. Over the past month, sales for the card have been surprisingly consistent, with several peaks around the holidays. In total, around 70 near-mint copies have been sold in the past month alone. This might not seem like much, but it’s more than enough to make an impact.
This time last month, near-mint non-foil copies of Isu the Abominable were selling for around $2.08 on TCGplayer. Considering how little play Isu sees in Commander, this low price point is entirely unsurprising. Now, however, the steady stream of sales has pushed the market price up to $5.69. While this is already expensive, shipping costs push prices even further up to $8.63.
Sadly, while there are a couple of cheaper, worse-condition copies available, supply is down across the board. In total, there are only 23 listings on TCGplayer offering 69 copies of Isu, regardless of the quality. Thanks to this, there’s a non-zero chance that the spike could balloon in the coming days, if demand increases.
Considering we’re now past the holiday season, this is the real sticking point for Isu. While it might look like a tempting investment given its potential, there’s no guarantee this demand can be realized. After all, unless Wizards suddenly prints new Snow cards, we’ve got a year to wait for the holidays to return.
Serious Scarcity
Given that Isu the Abominable is a pretty bad MTG card that only really has seasonal demand, this price spike certainly feels like a fluke. That being said, cards from Jumpstart 2022, mythics in particular, do have one thing going for them: scarcity. By only appearing in one Jumpstart packet theme, the supply for this card is incredibly limited.
This is the case for all of the Jumpstart 2022 mythics, and any demand for them makes them seriously expensive. Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm, for instance, is a $59 MTG card, thanks to being the go-to Rat Typal Commander. Similarly, Lita, Mechanical Engineer sells for around $12, even after a bonus sheet reprint in MTG Avatar. Thankfully, while prices like these are common thanks to the scarcity of Jumpstart mythics, they’re not always this expensive.
At the end of the day, Isu the Abominable is still a sub-$9 MTG card right now, which isn’t awful. Still, since these cards are so susceptible to demand increases, it’ll definitely be one to watch going forward.
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