In case you’ve missed all the hubbub about it, five cards were unbanned in Commander this week. Now playable as Game Changers in decks bracket three and above, the vast majority of these unbans aren’t terribly exciting. Similarly, the news that there will be no more Commander banlist changes until 2026 has disappointed many fans already.
Nevertheless, it’s always an occasion when cards get unbanned in Commander. The last time this happened was just under four years ago, when Worldfire got the green light. Fast forward back to today, and there’s no denying that MTG players are excited by this latest unban wave.
Even if most of the cards aren’t competitively relevant, there have still been immense rushes of demand to acquire copies. As usual, this has caused each of the unbanned cards to spike in price. Gifts Ungiven, in particular, is up a staggering 2471% across one of its many variants.
Gifts Ungiven
To start with the big ticket item, the Signature Spellbook variant of Gifts Ungiven has spiked by over 2471% in just two days. Prior to its recent unbanning, this card routinely sold for around $0.60, as it was far from a multiformat stable. At best, Gifts Ungiven saw some Vintage play in Underworld Breach lists and fringe play in Modern Storm decks.
Now, however, Gifts Ungiven is poised to make a big splash in cEDH decks, now that it’s Commander legal. Underworld Breach decks are currently the best in the format, and Gifts Ungiven is guaranteed to set up a win attempt between the namesake card and Sevinne’s Reclamation.
As alluded to previously, Gifts Ungiven is the one unbanned Commander card that may actually have an impact on the format. With this in mind, it’s little wonder that this card has seen the biggest price spike in recent days. Depending on the variant and condition that you look at, some of the prices are obscene. Lightly played copies of the Double Masters 2022 printing, for example, are up by over 2391%.
Overall, while the individual spikes vary between variants, the prices for copies of Gifts Ungiven are fairly stable. At the moment, you’ll have to pay around $15 for a near mint copy, with worse condition ones going for just slightly less. Unsurprisingly, foil variants are typically a lot more expensive, with near mint From the Vault: Exiled cards going for $64.
| Pritning | Staring Price | Current Price | Percentage Increase |
|---|---|---|---|
| Double Masters 2022 | $0.59 | $14.88 | 2422% |
| Signature Spellbook: Jace | $0.60 | $15.43 | 2471% |
| Modern Masters 2017 | $1.06 | $16.50 | 1456% |
| Modern Masters | $0.98 | $24.66 | 2416% |
| From the Vault: Exiled | $12.62 | $64.03 | 4017% |
| Champions of Kamigawa | $2.14 | $24.12 | $1027 |
Coalition Victory
While the unbanning of Gifts Ungiven and Braids, Cabal Minion took a lot of players by surprise, everyone saw Coalition Victory coming. For better or worse, this card just isn’t very good anymore. Eight mana for a game-ending spell that requires a decent amount of setup is nothing new in MTG. Most infinite combos in Commander are cheaper and easier to activate, after all.
Despite this, many MTG players are nonetheless keen to get their hands on Coalition Victory. With just a few dual lands and a five-color Commander in play, Coalition Victory is an instant win, after all. Over the past few days, hundreds of copies of Coalition Victory have been sold, resulting in another impressive price spike.
Climbing from $2.68 back in February to $21.52 today, the Timeshifted Time Spiral variant has seen a 702.99% price spike so far. Should this not be impressive enough, for whatever reason, heavily played copies from Innvasion are up over 1261%. Currently, these copies are selling for around $16, with listings closer to $13, so there’s still a range in prices.
| Pritning | Staring Price | Current Price | Percentage Increase |
|---|---|---|---|
| The List | $3.52 | $17.92 | 409% |
| Time Spiral Timeshifted | $2.68 | $21.52 | 702% |
| Invasion | $5.56 | $21.47 | 286% |
Panoptic Mirror
Much like Coalition Victory, Panoptic Mirror is another potentially game-ending card that costs a lot to get going. If you imprint a card like Temporal Manipulation onto Panoptic Mirror, then you get infinite turns, essentially guaranteeing you the win. As you might expect, there are tons of high-power Panoptic Mirror combos that can deal insane damage or win you the game outright.
Despite this strength, Panoptic Mirror isn’t nearly the powerhouse that it used to be, since it requires so much setup. Nowadays, with so much interaction and removal running around, making this combo stick is easier said than done. As such, I wouldn’t expect to see this card dominating every single Commander game going forward.
Even with this tempered strength, Panoptic Mirror is evidently still a very popular card. Since it has been unbanned, the card’s one variant, from Darksteel, has seen a massive spike in price. Near mint copies of Panoptic Mirror have spiked by over 457%, climbing from $9.52 to $53 on average. Currently, this makes Panoptic Mirror the most expensive recently unbanned Commander card post price spike.
Sway of the Stars
Last, but by no means least, we have Sway of the Stars, which also only has one printing. Originally released in Betrayers of Kamigawa, this card used to sell for around $3.42, however, it’s now going for $22 post-unban. Like many of the recently unbanned cards, Sway of the Stars has the potential to completely upend a game of Commander.
By essentially resetting the board, hands, and libraries while reducing life totals, Sway of the Stars is a big reset button. If you’re playing the right aggressive-focused deck, this can easily put you in an easy position to win. For everyone else, it can be an incredibly unfun experience that wipes your progress.
Despite this potentially poor play pattern, Wizards decided that Sway of the Stars is a safe unban due to its mana cost. At ten mana, you’d expect to have this much devastating impact on the board, basically. As Wizards mentioned, stronger cards, like Worldfire, are cheaper than Sway of the Stars, and that card isn’t inherently problematic.
While the strength of Sway of the Stars is dubious, MTG players have still been rushing to acquire it. The 554% price spike in recent days is evidence enough of that. Notably, however, only around 60 near-mint copies have been sold recently, as there’s not a great deal of supply for this card.
Looking Ahead
Turning our attention to the future, it’s unlikely that many of these price spikes will stick. Interest might be high at the moment, but the vast majority of these cards aren’t very good. Sway of the Stars and Coalition Victory in particular are bound to be little more than niche nostalgic options for players.
Panoptic Mirror and Gifts Ungiven, meanwhile, could have some long-term demand propping up their prices. In particular, Panoptic Mirror could stay expensive thanks to its sheer combo potential, even if it’s expensive. While a $50 price tag might be a bit steep, there’s definitely a lot of fun to be had with this card.
In terms of Gifts Ungiven, the long-term demand for this card will partly depend on its cEDH success. That being said, it’s also just great in regular Commander, so long as you can target a friendly opponent. With this in mind, it could retain some of its current value, however, it has had a lot of printings. Ultimately, I wouldn’t expect the world from it, but it should retain some value at least.
At the end of the day, we sadly can’t predict the future. So, as always, we’re just going to have to wait and see what happens in the coming weeks and months. Just don’t be surprised if the post-price spike value of some, if not all, of these unbanned cards crashes somewhat.