20 Most Valuable Tempest Cards

Altar of Dementia | Illustrated by Brom

Released in October of 1997, Tempest was Magic: The Gathering's 12^th set and the first since 1994's Antiquities in which Magic creator Richard Garfield had an active role in the design process.

Perhaps that's why this set is so fondly remembered... and so valuable. This list of the top 20 priciest cards (our most ever in this series) from the start of the Tempest block showcases a bevy of powerful spells and permanents that have stood the test of time and weathered the stormy plane of Rath (where the Tempest block's story takes place). Let's take a look at Tempest's top 20 most valuable.

Note: All prices come via TCGPlayer's Market Price History over the past calendar year and are subject to change. Foil cards didn't exist until Urza's Legacy, so no cards of that ilk are here.

20. Sapphire Medallion

Market Price: $12.61

Tempest introduced the Medallion cycle, which was a series of five color-focused artifacts for that lowered the cost of each spell you played that was one of those colors by . This entry in the series affects blue spells, which are always looking for cheaper ways to be cast.

19. Time Warp

Market Price: $12.91

Obviously, Alpha's Time Walk from the Power Nine is one of the strongest spells ever created in Magic history. Taking an extra turn for a measly is clearly too powerful. Nevertheless, the idea of taking extra turns has always been an attractive one for Magic designers and players.

Mirage introduced a red version with a hefty drawback (Final Fortune), and Portal produced an identical card with a different name (Last Chance). Tempest, however, was the first set to return to the effect in blue, with this beautifully illustrated card with terrific Rocky Horror-themed flavor text.

18. Static Orb

Market Price: $13.24

Orbs have had a long history in Magic. Often they're tied to the tapping and untapping (or lack thereof) of permanents. In Static Orb's case, players are limited to untapping two permanents during each untap step, which can slow games to a crawl. This card has seen only a few reprints, so the original version of it will set you back more than $13 on the secondary market.

17. Grindstone

Market Price: $14.99

Part of a saucy infinite mill combo with remarkable combo-enabler Painter's Servant, this one-mana artifact can really pop off if you're playing against a mono-colored deck. Even if not, if your target's deck is stacked just right, you can still mill them out for an impressive number of cards.

16. Jet Medallion

Market Price: $15.82

The second of three Medallions on this list is black's entry. Players that enjoy black's slice of the color pie are always up to some devious shenanigans to try and end the game quickly, and being able to employ those techniques for less is surely a notable boon for only .

15. Altar of Dementia

Market Price: $16.42

This snappy mill-themed artifact can be easily abused thanks to having an activation cost of . Combine with Karmic Guide and Reveillark for infinite mill or with Luminous Broodmoth and any creature with persist or undying for the same effect. Sometimes going infinite is that easy.

14. Corpse Dance

Market Price: $18.68

Tempest was a necromancer's paradise. Boasting four notable spells with reanimation effects (including the spell that gave this effect its name), Corpse Dance is the first of those spells on this list as well as the first card from Tempest herein with the nifty buyback ability.

Joining Reanimate, Coffin Queen and Living Death among the set's top reanimation spells, Corpse Dance boasting buyback means if you pay instead of , this effect is repeatable as this instant simply returns to your hand upon resolving instead of going to the ‘yard. Truly a dance worthy of the dead.

13. Reflecting Pool

Market Price: $20.66

A top choice among “Rainbow Lands,” Tempest introduced this oft-reprinted nonbasic land has been featured in a number of Commander bonus sheets of late, as well as the Fallout Secret Lair Drop and even Edge of Eternities Stellar Sights bonus sheet. While not as hard to find as it once was, the original printing of this card retains its vintage appeal, hence its over $20 price tag.

12. Ruby Medallion

Market Price: $23.41

The final Medallion on this list is red's entry, Ruby Medallion. It's honestly no surprise that the three most valuable Medallions found herein are in Grixis colors, as those are the ones in which “storming off” is the most appealing (and satisfying) way of ending a game of Magic.

11. Lotus Petal

Market Price: $25.26

As you may have heard, Black Lotus is a pretty good Magic card. Furthermore, any card that references Black Lotus is often a hot commodity or notably powerful due the baseline power and inherent cachet that comes with the name “Lotus” for mages.

Of course, Wizards of the Coast has tried and tried to make a Lotus that is not immediately abused in infinite combos, and Lotus Petal was Tempest's attempt. “Come on, it just makes one mana! No problem…” Wrong! Predictably, paying even for a one-shot influx of one mana was busted, and this card remains restricted in the ultra-powerful Vintage format due to that fact.

10. Mirri's Guile

Market Price: $28.34

By filtering the top three cards of your deck during your upkeep step, this one-mana green enchantment ensures that you always get the card you want when you want it. Combine this with green card draw effects (which are plentiful these days), and you've got a card advantage machine that will put you in pole position, especially in a Commander pod.

9. Cursed Scroll

Market Price: $31.69

This one-mana artifact provides a reliable source of colorless direct damage, which is something of a rarity across the history of Magic. This card was used to superlative effect in the uber-popular Sligh decks of the time, which were what the Mono-Red Aggro builds were called in Tempest's era. Of course, ensure you're only activating this when you have a solitary card left in your hand, so you will always name the correct card. Or “introduce a little anarchy” to your world; it's your choice.

8. Wasteland

Market Price: $31.88

A Strip Mine that can only target nonbasic lands is still extremely powerful, it turns out. This rarely reprinted nonbasic is a powerful land destruction tool, and make sure you pack your Crucible of Worlds and Azusa, Lost but Seeking if you're wanting to truly lock down any foes' plans.

7. Scroll Rack

Market Price: $34.31

A supercharged Mirri's Guile, this two-mana artifact can be activated for and allows you to get a fresh hand if you so choose. This is an eminently valuable and flexible effect, as you can choose however many cards you want to scoot back into the top of your library, then replace them with that many new cards. For those keeping track, that makes two iconic “Scroll” cards in Tempest.

6. Aluren

Market Price: $38.41

One of the finest combo-enablers ever printed, this green enchantment for allows you to play creatures at instant speed and, more importantly, for a staggering , so long as they're three mana or below.

As you might expect, this leads to a truckload of infinite combos, as being able to cast any creature with a mana value of three or lower can lead to spicy shenanigans. A whopping 111 total combos on Commander Spellbook indicates that this is among the most easily abused enchantments ever.

5. Humility

Market Price: $44.95

An extremely unusual enchantment, Humility turns all creatures into 1/1s with no abilities. As you might foresee, this can lead to some utterly bonkers interactions: Living Lands paired with this means no one can tap for mana any longer, as a mana ability is still an ability!

This plus Ethereal Absolution kills all your foes' creatures upon entering, while Night of Souls' Betrayal kills all creatures upon entering. If you have a ponderous lying around you can get infinite turns with this plus Capsize and Medomai the Ageless. Just, whatever you do, don't cast this and Opalescence in the same game... unless you want to get lost in a labyrinthine rules discussion.

4. Eladamri, Lord of Leaves

Market Price: $65.73

Eladamri joins a number of notable Elf cards that have graced these lists, including in Invasion and Urza's Destiny. However, the original Elf “lord” was Eladamri from Tempest (whose name and likeness also feature on Eladamri's Call, one of the most valuable Planeshift cards).

While the Lord of Leaves doesn't boost the power and toughness of his fellow Elves, he does provide the eminently potent shroud keyword, meaning Elves can't be touched by any spell or ability, yours or your opponents. While forestwalk might as well be flavor text by modern Magic standards, shroud is no joke, and Eladamri is a notable character, leading to a price over $65.

3. Ancient Tomb

Market Price: $97.36

Arguably one of the most famous nonbasic lands of all time, Ancient Tomb debuted in Tempest and didn't look back. Though it has seen a number of reprintings, many of them are hard to find (such as the From the Vault: Realms version or its reprint in Universes Beyond: The Lord of the Rings as Balin's Tomb). As such, the original, which was stunningly printed as an uncommon, retains a price point close to $100.

2. Earthcraft

Market Price: $146.62

An enchantment for that lets you tap an untapped creature you control to untap a basic land doesn't sound like a card that's worth close to $150 on the secondary market in 2025, but when you realize Earthcraft's tremendous combo potential, you get the price tag.

The most famous combination is, of course, with Squirrel Nest, which originally released in Odyssey, though there are myriad other combinations that lead to infinite tokens, mana, ETBs or other abuses. Either way, this card's scarcity and price point make sense.

1. Intuition

Market Price: $180.02

A supremely useful and versatile tutor spell, Intuition can nab you three, that's right, three cards from your deck that might save your bacon at instant speed for . Now, one of your opponents can decide which one of those cards you get to keep, but if your deck boasts some redundancy, it will always be a win-win for you, right?

Either way, this card's low mana value and high impact make it clear why it sits at a hefty price point of just over $180. With Gifts Ungiven and this both legal in Commander, blue mages are never too far away from the answers they need to win the game.

Tempest Tossed

This was a scintillating walk down memory lane, as Tempest's cards have aged better than other older sets, especially when considering the tremendous amount of combo potential to be found in this nearly 30-year-old set. Thanks for reading, and catch you next time for Stronghold.

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