Despite only being a few days into spoiler season so far, Wilds of Eldraine is already looking incredible. There’s oodles of flavor, interesting characters, and plenty of powerhouse spells destined to shake up formats. As if all that wasn’t enough to get excited about already, Wilds of Eldraine also has reprints galore.
Overshadowing the handful of main set reprints, Wilds of Eldraine offers the Enchanting Tales Bonus Sheet. As is to be expected, this Bonus Sheet is comprised of numerous iconic, powerful, and expensive reprints. Since one of these cards is included in every pack, it’s no wonder many players are excited about the reprints.
For better or worse, the majority of high-value mythic cards, such as Doubling Season were spoiled during the set’s First Look. While this generated a lot of initial hype, unfortunately, not everything in the set would be so valuable. Thankfully, however, it does seem that there are still some true value bombs waiting to be revealed. After all, we’ve just seen a new $40 reprint coming to the Wilds of Eldraine sub-set!
Parallel Lives
To kick things off strong, the big new reprint we’ve lured you in with is Parallel Lives. Similar to Anointed Procession this enchantment is capable of doubling the amount of tokens you produce. Within Commander, this effect is obviously incredibly powerful, as it provides consistently added value to most cards and spells.
Finding a home within over 85,000 Commander decks according to EDHREC, this card is undeniably popular. Thanks to this popularity and demand, the card also comes with a hefty price tag of around $42! This is just a smidge over the price of Anointed Procession which offers an identical effect.
While both of the token doubling cards are very powerful, they’re not quite Doubling Season. In case you’re unfamiliar, that card also doubles the counters you produce and only costs one extra mana to cast. For only around $6 more, there’s hardly a reason not to play this card. Saying that, however, token-producing Commander decks often run all three of these cards for maximum value.
Considering the strength of Doubling Season, you may be wondering why the prices of these cards are so close. The answer, somewhat unsurprisingly, is simply scarcity. Since first being printed in Ravnica: City of Guilds, Doubling Season has been reprinted five times, six including Enchanting Tales. Parallel Lives, on the other hand, has only ever been printed in Innistrad.
Thankfully, this is obviously now changing in Wilds of Eldraine thanks to the new reprint. In theory, this should massively bring the price of the card down thanks to the influx of new supply. Judging by past precedent, the price of this card could even plummet to below $10 if we’re lucky!
A Diamond Among Stones
Considering its value, and potential strength as a reprint, it’s safe to say Wilds of Eldraine has done well. Unfortunately, however, not every one of the recent Enchanting Tales spoilers is a value bomb. In fact, a lot of them are rather disappointing. So much so that we can only say reprint in the title, rather than reprints.
While there is a deep decline in value after Parallel Lives, it’s not all entirely bad news. The new reprint of Intruder Alarm for instance, is currently worth around $11. As a rare, this will definitely be a good find, however, unfortunately, this card is getting pre-banned in Historic. While this disappointing detail shouldn’t affect the price, being reprints should obviously bring it down quite considerably.
Moving down the value ladder we take another drop to just $5 for Mana Flare. Last printed in Fifth Edition, this card is rare, however, practically unwanted, as it can do more harm than good. Providing not just you but every player with added mana from each land, it’s no wonder this card isn’t a staple.
Dropping down in price again, new reprints of Hardened Scales and Fraying Sanity are currently only worth around $4.50 each. Having been repeatedly reprinted, Hardened Scales may well retain most of its value, especially since players love counter-doubling. The more niche Fraying Sanity is likely not going to be worth much once Wilds of Eldraine releases.
To round out the latest reprint spoilers for Wilds of Eldraine, the last notable card is Phyrexian Unlife. Costing just under $3, this card is likely going to be worth pennies once the set releases. While this may be disappointing to some players, Enchanting Tales also includes several cards worth pennies already.
Predicted Price Plummets
Clocking in at under $1, several Enchanting Tales cards may well be very disappointing finds. This is certainly the case for Oversold Cemetery, Leyline of Lightning, and Ground Seal. Each of these cards is barely worth over $0.50.
Considering reprints are meant to bring the price of MTG cards down, including these cards may seem somewhat odd. As we saw with Commander Masters, however, each MTG set can’t have too much of a good thing. Part of this is thanks to pricing and reprint equity, and part of this is thanks to Limited.
Since one Enchanting Tales reprint is included within every Wilds of Eldraine pack, the Limited format has to be very carefully considered. If it wasn’t, then powerhouse enchantments may well steal the show, ruining the set’s mechanics and intended environment. Thanks to this, Wizards often includes less useful, but still often interesting, cards, in order to support Limited, rather than harm it.
Ultimately, while there are some value duds, the Enchanting Tales bonus sheet should still be very useful. This would follow the past precedent of old Bonus Sheets, which have brought in-demand cards down in price dramatically. Atraxa, Praetor’s Voice for instance, used to be one of the most expensive Commanders around. Following the Multiverse Legends Bonus Sheet, however, the card is worth only $10!
Should this trend continue as expected, enchantment-loving MTG players are in for a real treat with Wilds of Eldraine. Not least because the set also includes plenty of new cards to support that typal archetype such as Ellivere of the Wild Court.
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