Once the spoiler season for Reality Fracture began, it was clear that Planeswalkers were a big part of the set. While Wizards hadn’t gone full War of the Spark, the Empower Jace mechanic still created a Planeswalker at common. As if that weren’t enough, the set also contained eight unique Planeswalkers and a fantastic new Superfriends commander.
Thanks to this support, it was only a matter of time before some Planeswalker support pieces spiked in price. Ultimately, it took until the set’s precon, Multiverse Reforged, was revealed for the markets to really start moving. Bucking expectations, this precon is actually a Polymorph deck, not Superfriends-themed, which caused some expected reprints to be passed over.
MTG Ichormoon Gauntlet
As soon as the Empower Jace mechanic was revealed, Ichormoon Gauntlet spiking in price felt inevitable. Since Ichormoon gives every Planeswalker an extra turn-granting ability, including tokens, empowering Jace can easily cheat your way there. Considering Reality Fracture cards like Jace’s Machinations, can Empower Jace with eight loyalty; doing this is remarkably easy.
Notably, while cards like Overwrite the Multiverse
Overwrite the MultiverseExile all creatures. Empower Jace X, where X is the number of creatures exiled this way. (Put that many loyalty counters on a Jace token you control. If you don't control one, first create a blue Jace planeswalker token with "[−1]: Surveil 1" and "[−3]: Draw a card.") and Repurposed Enforcer can provide oodles of loyalty, it’s not perfect. In Commander, for instance, the Jace Token you get is pretty meager in isolation. Unless you’re building around it with the new “Way of the” cycle, you’re only really getting a card per turn.
In theory, this lackluster potential in Commander could cause the mechanic, and Ichormoon Gauntlet in turn, to fall short. While this is a real possibility, MTG players are seemingly still keen to build around it. After all, thanks to cards like Extravagant Replication
Extravagant ReplicationAt the beginning of your upkeep, create a token that's a copy of another target nonland permanent you control. and Jace, Cunning Castaway
Jace, Cunning Castaway+1: Whenever one or more creatures you control deal combat damage to a player this turn, draw a card, then discard a card.
−2: Create a 2/2 blue Illusion creature token with "When this token becomes the target of a spell, sacrifice it."
−5: Create two tokens that are copies of Jace, except they're not legendary., there are plenty of ways to abuse this new mechanic.
Thankfully, beyond Empower Jace, Ichormoon Gauntlet should also see play within Tam, the Possibility Commander decks. Not only is this Tam an obvious Superfriends Commander, but her ability should make getting to Ichormoon Gauntlet’s extra turns a breeze. While it’s still early days, Ichormoon is already in 74% of Tam decks, which could lead to a significant play rate bump.
Outside of this, it appears that many MTG players are keen to run Ichormoon Gauntlet alongside The Theorist, Jace Beleren. While this Jace can’t be your Commander, its ability to gain loyalty through card draw makes getting extra turns rather reasonable. According to EDHREC, almost 1,500 decks running this Jace are also using Ichormoon Gauntlet, so it’s no wonder prices are up.
The Spike
Initially, while there was a huge sales surge following the reveal of the Empower Jace mechanic, prices didn’t move much. Jumping from lows of $4.55 in late August to around $10, this spike quickly plateaued until the Multiverse Reforged precon was revealed.
Once the precon’s decklist was revealed, confirming it wasn’t a Superfriends deck with an Ichormoon Gauntlet reprint, it suddenly spiked again. Much of the remaining supply was bought out, leaving just 30 default frame copies in any condition on TCGplayer. Now, prices start at $24.98 a pop for a near-mint example, which is a 449% spike since August lows.
Unfortunately, while Ichormoon Gauntlet does have another variant, the Oil Slicked Raised Foil printing is significantly more expensive. Currently, a near-mint copy of this printing will set you back over $85, which is wild considering it used to be $24.
The Future
Looking ahead, it’s unfortunately rather difficult to pin down the financial future of Ichormoon Gauntlet. On the one hand, given all of the new support, this card could easily see tons of play going forward. With Tam looking like a best-in-slot option for Planeswalker decks, this feels inevitable.
As much as Ichormoon Gauntlet will be played alongside Tam, however, it seems likely that many decks won’t be brand new. Considering Ichormoon Gauntlet is already an auto-include within Superfriends decks, players may only need to swap their Commander. If so, demand for Ichormoon may be lower than expected.
That said, even if many players have existing Superfriends decks, there will be plenty of players who’re only now getting into the archetype. Due to this, the spike to Ichormoon Gauntlet could be legit and last for a good few months as usual. Ultimately, we can only really wait and see what’ll actually happen, since predicting the future is more art than science.
Stick with us here at dev.mtgrocks.com: the best site for Magic: The Gathering coverage. Be sure to check out our deckbuilder for your next big brew, and our MTG Rocks Podcast!
