10 Most Valuable Bear Cards

Ayula's Influence | Illustrated by Kari Christensen

One of the most iconic creature cards ever, unequivocally, is Grizzly Bears. The vanilla 2/2 Bear for typified the rate for vanilla creatures for years, until cards like Isamaru, Hound of Konda and Watchwolf blew that rate out of the water. Now, we get insanely above-rate vanilla cards, like Terrian, World Tyrant and Quakestrider Ceratops. It’s enough to make you want to say “back in my day…”

But I’ll quell that inclination and instead focus on a different topic: the most valuable Bear cards of all time! Does the venerable original Grizzly Bears make the cut? Read on to find out. And, please, don’t forget the honey.

10. Hei Bai, Forest Guardian (Extended Art) – The Last Airbender Commander

Market Price: $11.60

Shrines have received solid support over the years after the first series of mono-colored enchantments with that subtype were unveiled in 2004’s Champions of Kamigawa.

While power creep has made those original Shrines more or less obsolete, this legendary Bear Spirit creature from The Last Airbender Commander can still make good use of them and will even pull them straight from your library and put them into play. Nifty!

9. Surrak and Goreclaw (Extended Art) – March of the Machine

Market Price: $12.92

A classic “Tag Team” card from March of the Machine, this Human Bear creature grants the following to your creatures: the ever-useful trample, a +1/+1 counter when one enters, and haste for a turn, making your this card resemble a watered-down Craterhoof Behemoth.

Anything that grants both haste and trample that can also be found in your command zone is bound to be a big ticket for Bear-enjoyers, hence this card’s over-$12 price point.

8. River Bear (Foil) – Ninth Edition

Market Price: $14.66

While I don’t normally include foils herein, I had to make an exception for this terrific work of art from Una Fricker, who only illustrated 43 cards during her Magic career.

Many of them delve into animal kingdom subjects, and to delineate further, she’s actually illustrated four Bear cards: this one, Golden Bear from Portal Second Age, Striped Bears from Weatherlight, and the Fifth Edition version of Grizzly Bears. Rawr, indeed.

7. Rampaging Yao Guai (Extended Art Surge Foil) – Fallout

Market Price: $17.89

The Fallout set featured cards that could be found in the scarce Surge Foil treatment, one of which was this Bear Mutant with a variable casting cost depending on how big you want it grow via +1/+1 counters and how many artifacts and enchantments you want it to munch on when it arrives.

Beyond that, it has vigilance and trample, so this radioactive brute is definitely going to pull its weight in combat. Of course, you can also cast this as X = and kill all of your foes’ Mana Crypts, Chrome Moxes, or Jeweled Lotuses… or Ornithopters if you’re being petty.

6. Doric, Nature's Warden // Doric, Owlbear Avenger – D&D: Honor Among Thieves Secret Lair Drop

Market Price: $23.59

A Universes Beyond Secret Lair card that also received an in-universe reskin of Casal, Lurkwood Pathfinder, this Tiefling Druid actually transforms into a Bird Bear on the backside, acting as an elegant representation of the D&D Druid’s Wild Shape ability.

Featuring the likeness of Doric actress Sophia Lillis, this is one of the rare cards (Secret Lair or not) to feature an image of a real person, whether that person is portraying a character or not. Other real people on Magic cards I can think of: Albert Einstein, Chris Pratt, Millie Bobby Brown, Cary Elwes, David Tennant, and other actors from specific franchises.

5. Forest Bear – Portal Three Kingdoms

Market Price: $25.37

You know a card is rare when it’s only a common and it still manages to hit over $25 on the secondary market. Such is the insane demand versus low supply for English copies of cards from Portal Three Kingdoms, including this Bear that is seemingly inviting you in for a hug.

For some reason, the art of this card reminds me of Sloth from The Goonies. Tell me I’m not the only one; you see it, right?

4. Razorclaw Bear – Portal Second Age

Market Price: $30.49

This 3/3 Bear for from 1998’s Portal Second Age was probably a terrific bargain back in the day, as a 3/3 that could grow to a 5/5 for free was well above-rate at the time.

By modern standards, this card is nothing but a curio. It probably reaches its above-$30 price point due to being a rare from a set that received a very limited print run over 30 years ago, as well as the novelty of one-off artwork from longtime Magic contributor Heather Hudson.

3. Grizzly Bears – Alpha

Market Price: $63.46

You know the list wouldn’t be complete without “Da Bears.” The card that birthed the entire Bear typal movement in Magic obviously qualifies here via its first-ever printing in Magic’s debut set, Alpha.

Surprisingly, despite myriad reprints, there have only ever been four distinct artwork for Memphis’s basketball te—I mean, the Grizzlies: Jeff A. Menges’s from Alpha, Una Fricker’s from Fifth Edition, D. J. Cleland-Hura’s from 7th Edition, and, my personal favorite, Zina Saunders’s yearbook photo-esque representation from the original Portal.

Long live the Grizzlies!

2. Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma (Serialized Mulitverse Legends) – March of the Machine

Market Price: $499.95

While many of the cards on this list don’t rank among the best Bear cards for Commander, this big-creature-enabler certainly does, specifically thanks to the serialized version from March of the Machine, which features unique, sketch-like artwork courtesy of Domenico Cava.

Beyond reducing the cost of your beefy critters, Goreclaw also gives your creatures with power 4 of greater +1/+1 and trample until end of turn, which will likely be enough to end a foe or two if you can time this legendary Bear’s entry onto the battlefield right.

1. Lumra, Bellow of the Woods (Japanese Raised Foil Anime Card) – Bloomburrow

Market Price: $673.31

The first Magic card ever illustrated by legendary Pokemon Trading Card Game artist Mitsuhiro Arita (of Base Set Charizard fame) sets the bar as the most valuable Bear card of all time.

Bloomburrow’s collection of 13 Japanese Raised Foil Anime Cards are the most valuable from that set by far, and Arita’s representation of one of Valley’s Calamity Beasts showcases the immense power and size of this ferocious Elemental Bear. This card also ranks highly among the most valuable Elemental cards of all time, giving Arita a nifty double-dip among these lists.

A Beary Good List

Hopefully you enjoyed checking out the most valuable Bear cards ever. What creature clan will we explore next time? You’ll have to wait and see! Thanks for reading.