Duskmourn: House of Horror is very nearly almost properly here. Prerelease events may have kicked off last week, but the set isn’t available everywhere just yet. That all changes tomorrow when online retailers and big box stores get the green light to sell products. Thanks to this impending release, hype in Duskmourn is at an all-time high.
As much as the horror aesthetic isn’t to everyone’s tastes, Duskmourn: House of Horror looks like a fantastic set. There are plenty of spicy bombs to shake up competitive formats and Commander is getting some real gems too. As usual, many of these can be found in the set’s preconstructed Commander decks, which drive huge interest in potential upgrades.
Ahead of the set’s official release, we’re seeing another obvious upgrade surging in price. Thanks to the theme of the Miracle Worker Commander deck, the price of Zur, Eternal Schemer has shot up recently. Exactly how much more expensive this card has gotten, however, is rather hard to nail down.
Zur, Eternal Schemer
- Mana Value: WUB
- Rarity: Mythic
- Card Type: Legendary Creature – Human Wizard
- Stats: 1/4
- Card Text: Flying
Enchantment creatures you control have Deathtouch, Lifelink, and Hexproof.
1W: Target non-Aura enchantment you control becomes a creature in addition to its other types and has base power and base toughness each equal to its mana value.
While not quite as egregious as past examples, Zur, Eternal Schemer nonetheless seems like a needlessly missed reprint. Miracle Worker is an enchantment-focused Commander deck, and that’s exactly what Zur specializes in. If you’re thinking about picking up Miracle Worker and want to make it even better, Zur is a great choice.
Supporting the deck’s enchantment creatures, Zur empowered them with a very useful suite of abilities. Deathtouch and Lifelink can obviously put in work, but Hexproof is arguably the most useful buff. By providing your most scary creatures protection, opponents will need to expend their board wipes to deal with you.
Outside of this already very useful ability, Zur, Eternal Schemer’s real party trick is animating your other Enchantments. Out of the box, Miracle Worker runs 15 enchantments, which potentially means a lot of extra creatures. Some of these will pack quite a punch too, as One with the Multiverse and Shark Typhoon aren’t cheap spells.
To really make the most of Zur, Eternal Schemer you can add extra Rooms to the preconstructed deck. Since the mana value of Rooms depends on which sides are unlocked, you essentially get scaling threats that become huge later on. Playing Funeral Room and animating it is already pretty good value. Turning it into an 11/11 after also unlocking Awakening Hall, however, makes it obscene.
Regardless of what you do the rest of the deck, Zur, Eternal Schemer is a fantastic upgrade to Miracle Worker. With this in mind, it’s no wonder that many MTG payers have been interested in it and picking up copies. As time has gone on, this has caused Zur’s price to spike rather quickly.
The Spike
The price of Zur, Eternal Schemer is a bit of a weird one. Looking on TCGplayer, the past sales for this card have been all over the place. Even in the past few days, there’s a huge amount of variance in the price of near-mint sales. Exactly why this has been happening is sadly unclear, but it does make Zur an odd one for sure.
At the low end, players have been able to pick up copies of Zur for around $1. While deals aren’t unheard of, this is lower than the average Market Price over the past few weeks. At the start of September, Zur was selling for $1.57, but they’ve come a long way since then.
Following the reveal of Miracle Worker’s Face Commander, Aminatou, Veil Piercer, interest in Zur has dramatically increased. Copies of this card have been selling like hotcakes since September began, and it’s now reached breaking point.
As usual, when supply dwindles, the price tends to shoot up. This is exactly what has happened to Zur, but it’s unclear the full extent of their spike. At the true high end, Zur has supposedly sold for $34.99, but these sales are complete outliers. It’s possible these high sales are an attempt at market manipulation to drive the overall price up.
In a similar vein, there have also been many sales for around the $9 mark. While a price spike of this caliber wouldn’t be underheard of, these sales are also somewhat rare. While a few sales at this price have happened, they’re surrounded by $1-$2 sales, which raises concerns.
Ultimately, the price spike middle ground seems to be around the four-to-five-dollar mark, which makes sense considering the dwindling supply.
A Cheap Alternative
Currently, copies of Zur, Eternal Schemer from Dominaria United start at around the $5 mark. Thankfully, you don’t have to pay this much for Zur, so long as you don’t care about their looks. The stained glass Showcase variant of the card, also from Dominaria United, starts at just $1.
Like the normal variant of Zur, this Showcase card has seen a price spike recently, albeit a less impressive one. Over the last few weeks, this variant has gone from $0.37 to $1, further showing the increased demand. Thankfully for financially conscious MTG players, this variant is still significantly cheaper than the alternative.
At the end of the day, the price spike we’re seeing on Zur, Eternal Schemer likely won’t last too long. So long as there are Showcase variants to buy, the price of the normal card is capped to an extent. Beyond this, Zur doesn’t really have any competitive appeal, so once this Commander fad fades, their price will too.
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