We usually spend time talking about cards that have spiked in price abruptly, but there isn’t a new superstar on a daily basis. While many MTG players are interested in what is creating waves on the secondary market, some other cards also got a lot cheaper. Players looking to play with these cards, but waiting to grab them for a smaller pricetag, could have an opportunity to pick them up now.
Today, we’re going to look at a few cards that have dropped off in price over the last few months. One of them was originally suspected to be a new Commander staple.
Ugin’s Binding
- Mana Value: 2U
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Card Type: Instant
- MTG Sets: Modern Horizons 3
- Card Text: Devoid. Return target nonland permanent you don’t control to its owner’s hand/ Whenever you cast a colorless spell with mana value seven or greater, you may exile Ugin’s Binding from your graveyard. When you do, return each nonland permanent you don’t control to its owner’s hand.
Upon release, Ugin’s Binding was lauded as the second coming of Cyclonic Rift. Even better, this is technically a free one, as long as you’re casting a colorless spell with a mana value of seven or greater. You do need to fulfill this condition to get the Cyclonic Rift effect that Ugin’s Binding offers, which makes it a bit more difficult to utilize than the original card in a format like Commander. Ugin’s Binding being a Devoid card also holds it back from competitive play. This is much worse in Legacy thanks to Devoid as the card cannot be pitched to Force of Will.
Upon release, Ugin’s Binding was considered one of the best EDH cards in the set. It started at $56 before quickly dropping to $16. Now, Ugin’s Binding is only worth about $2. That said, there are some people buying up dozens of copies of the card at once, so it could go back up.
Planar Nexus
- Mana Value: 0
- Rarity: Rare
- Card Type: Land
- MTG Sets: Modern Horizons 3 Commander
- Card Text: Planar Nexus is every nonbasic land type. (tap) add one generic mana. (1)(tap), Add one mana of any color.
Planar Nexus, upon the release of Modern Horizons 3, was an expensive MTG card. The ability to become every land type at the same time is a lot more powerful than you may think. This card saw a ton of Commander play upon release, but it also sees a lot of Legacy play. This created a new Cloudpost deck in the format thanks to Planar Nexus counting as a Locus as well as all the missing Urza lands. Planar Nexus and Urza’s Tower immediately adds four mana, which is incredibly powerful in Legacy.
Planar Nexus quickly jumped to $50 after the release of Modern Horizons 3, but the card is only worth about $5 nowadays.
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Grief
- Mana Value: 2BB
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Stats: 3/2
- MTG Sets: Modern Horizons 2, Modern Horizons 3
- Card Text: Menace. When Grief enters the battlefield, target opponent reveals their hand. You choose a nonland card from it. That player discards that card.
This price drop shouldn’t surprise anyone, but the sheer drop of it is incredibly intense. Grief was one of, if not, the best cards in two different MTG formats before the recent ban announcement. Ruling Legacy with an iron fist, and commonly seen across the Modern format, this little elemental had a nasty habit of ripping apart players’ hands with assistance from cards like Ephemerate, Reanimate and Not Dead After All as early as turn one. This created a rather unfun play pattern which caused the card was banned in Modern and Legacy.
Now, there isn’t really anywhere that Grief can see play. The card is only legal in Commander, Vintage, and Timeless. Timeless, the only format where Grief sees some play, is a digital one, which means that it won’t impact the price of the physical card. Grief is rather terrible in Commander, as well. Because that format is a four-player one, Grief’s Evoke ability becomes a lot worse. Cards like Thoughtseize are generally not considered Commander playable because they only impact two people: the caster and the target. This puts the them behind the other two players at the table.
Since there really isn’t anywhere to play Grief outside of Vintage, the card has dropped from $20 to $3 in its cheapest variant.
Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord
- Mana Value: 2B
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Card Type: Legendary Planeswalker – Sorin
- MTG Sets: Magic 20, Secret Lair
- Card Text: (+1): Traget creature you control gains deathtouch and lifeline until end of turn. If it’s a Vampire, put a +1/+1 counter on it. (+1): You may sacrifice a Vampire. When you do, Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord deals 3 damage to any target and you gain 3 life. (-3): You may put a Vampire creature card from you hand onto the battlefield.
Following the train of banned cards, Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord has also lost a lot of its secondary market value following its ban in Pioneer. This was once part of the Rakdos Vampires deck that ruled that format. Obviously, it was deemed too powerful, and Sorin was the card that Wizards of the Coast decided needed to leave. Every time a new, powerful Vampire saw print, Sorin threatened to break the format.
Despite this ban, Sorin didn’t drop to nothing overnight. This card still has a few areas where it can be played outside of the Pioneer format. Sure, that format was what caused Sorin to skyrocket to $50 during its recent high, but the card sees some fringe play in Modern and is a popular addition to Vampire Typal decks in Commander. As a result, Sorin maintains a $15 price tag.
As you may have guessed, this ban has also caused Vein Ripper, Sorin’s partner-in-crime, to drop in price, as well.
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