Last week, Wizards of the Coast banned Lurrus of the Dream-Den in Modern. This change impacts the Modern metagame. But it also influences Magic’s secondary market, as seen by the several cards that jumped in value last week. One of these cards was Ranger-Captain of Eos. All printings of the card went up in value, and some versions nearly sold out across all online vendors.
Ranger-Captain of Eos
As you can see in the graph below, Ranger-Captain was already trending upwards from $14.00 to $17.00, as I predicted in one of my February newsletters. But when WOTC banned Lurrus on March 7, Ranger Captain almost doubled in price.
Now, the regular art version of Ranger-Captain is about $28.00. The retro frame and foil-etched versions, however, practically sold out across all major online vendors. TCGPlayer has a few listings left starting at about $50.00!
Read More: Back-to-Back Bannings Turns Back the Clock on This MTG Format
Why Did Ranger-Captain of Eos Spike in Price?
Death’s Shadow was one of the most played decks in Modern before Lurrus was banned. With the Cat companion gone, the deck is looking for new alternatives.Many Death’s Shadow players are experimenting with Mardu lists (red-white-black) because Ranger-Captain of Eos can tutor for Death’s Shadow. The deck can even play a new companion, Obosh, the Preypiercer.
But Ranger-Captain of Eos is good in a variety of decks as it can search your library for some of the best creatures currently played in Modern like Ragavan, Esper Sentinel, and Giver of Runes.
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Ranger-Captain of Commander
Ranger Captain of Eos is good outside of Modern too. It’s a fantastic tutor effect in Commander and is commonly included in decks such as Winota, Joiner of Forces and Teshar, Ancestor’s Apostle.
In addition to Ranger-Captain’s tutor ability, you can also sacrifice it to protect your infinite combos.
Will Ranger-Captain’s Price Fall Back Down?
There’s a chance that the premium versions of Ranger-Captain will fall back down in price as players list new copies to make a profit. We’ll have to wait and see if and how much they’ll fall, but I speculate they’ll stabilize around $40.00.
As for the baseline price of Ranger-Captain of Eos, however, it will almost certainly not return to its $14.00 mark. I think it will hold around $25.00 because of how frequently it is played in Modern and Commander.
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