The 15 Most Valuable Guildpact Cards

15. Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind

Market Price: $1.88

This is probably one of the most iconic cards in the set, and not least because of the joke hidden in the flavor text. If you didn't know, the "equation" actually spells out the Izzet guildmaster's name and even shows you how highly he thinks of himself ("Niv-Mizzet = 1"). There's even an additional layer: the flavor text might also be a nod to how turning him 90 degrees to tap him deals 1 point of damage. This ability is also what keeps him pretty popular in Commander; you can assemble an infinite card draw and damage combo with Curiosity:

14. Dune-Brood Nephilim

Market Price: $2.33

While none of the Nephilim made my EDHREC article on most played four-color cards, this adorable little guy and the rest of the cycle are pretty iconic in Magic: The Gathering. They're the game's first four-color cards, and they were the only ones until Commander 2016 introduced almost-but-not-quite-rainbow commander options like Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis, Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder, and Saskia the Unyielding.

This also hasn't been reprinted, save on The List, so deckbuilders or collectors who want it can only get it in this lovely uncluttered gold border.

13. Hissing Miasma

Market Price: $2.36

In Commandeer, this can do some great work in a deck with a pillow fort or punishing subthemes. Losing one life per attacker doesn't seem too frightening, but what if your opponents are also facing down Revenge of Ravens and Marchesa's Decree in the 99 of Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls, Thantis, the Warweaver, or Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin? They're going to have to think twice about tussling with you.

One important thing to note: this family of cards works especially well in Isshin, Two Heavens as One because his rules text doesn't restrict doubling triggers only to the creatures you turn sideways. Today I learned!

12. Teysa, Orzhov Scion

Market Price: $2.78

Teysa Karlov may get a lot more love in Commander than this OG incarnation, but she's still a neat little engine in an aristocrats deck. You don't have to build around her too much for her to pop off; if you can exile a couple of opposing threats, get a token rebate because you sacrificed creatures, and trigger some payoffs, like Elenda, the Dusk Rose or Ratadrabik of Urborg, that's already a great deal.

You can also supercharge her by building  a loop with Painter's Servant and three bits of fodder to exile all creatures your opponents control, or just eschew entirely by combining Darkest Hour and Viscera Seer to get infinite sac, death, and scry triggers.

11. Skarrg, the Rage Pits

Market Price: $3.21

Sometimes a creature has all the power it needs yet no way to push past blockers. Skarrg turns a land slot into repeatable evasion, like its more flexible and scalable — and thus more popular — younger brother Kessig Wolf Run. It doesn't produce colored mana, but for Gruul Commander decks that plan to win through combat, like Wolverine, Best There Is or Thromok the Insatiable, that isn't too steep a cost to pay, especially when your deck is replete with mana-generating creatures, like Llanowar Elves, that can also double as threats with pump effects, like Halana and Alena, Partners.

Outside Commander, two copies of Skarrg helped Mark Herberholz’s Gruul Beats deck win Pro Tour Honolulu in 2006. That’s quite a pedigree for a land that can still command a slot in combat-oriented decks 20 years later.

10. Leyline of the Void

Market Price: $3.95

I'll go out on a limb and call this one of the best sideboard cards ever printed. It's especially useful against decks that fill their graveyards in the opening turns, from Living End in Modern to Dredge in Vintage. During Modern's "Hogaak Summer" in 2019, Leyline was the most played card at Mythic Championship IV and even found its way into main decks!

This continues to appear in different competitive formats, while Commander players are putting the bulk exiling to good work with Umbris, Fear Manifest. Its impressive CV has helped ensure that even multiple reprints over the years haven't dampened its value too much.

9. Gruul War Plow

Market Price: $4.85

Like, Skarrg, the Plow helps your gigantic and usually monsters trample over blockers and smash your opponents in the face, but, unlike the land, it actually costs you a real deck slot and doesn't actually offer too much in return. More popular cards, like Garruk's Uprising or Nylea, God of the Hunt, offer up some tasty additional upside, while this costs three mana to become a 4/4.

Sometimes, though, a quirky and somewhat limited card like this just needs the right home, and Bello, Bard of the Brambles is precisely that in Commander. There, it becomes an attacker for free without giving up its job of helping the rest of the team trample through. Not bad at all!

8. Leyline of Singularity

Market Price: $5.01

If you're one of the 945 EDHREC users running Empress Galina as your commander, this is less a cute interaction than a supercharger for her tap ability. The Leyline lets her steal any nonland permanent, which makes her a lot more effective than just against other commanders or legends matters deck. No wonder, then, that this appears in 72% her decks!

But that's not all it does. It also stops players from having more than one token in play, which can be pretty annoying for Treasure, Clue, and go-wide decks. Okay, that use case isn't necessarily going to be worth a card most of the time, which is why you only see this in over 6,000 EDHREC decks. It does have one more thing going for it: it's a member of the Never Been Reprinted Club (NBRC).

7. Ghostway

Market Price: $5.24

This feels like a Commander card, so I was surprised to see that it's had its way with Modern, too: Martin Colding-Jorgensen ran three copies in a four-color deck that finished in the top 32 at Grand Prix Copenhagen in 2015. It was essentially a Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Restoration Angel combo deck that also could lock opponents out of combat with Eternal Witness recurring Ghostway, which also blinks Stonehorn Dignitary every turn.

That's neat, and even if it didn't tear up the competitive scene, it goes to show how some cards just need the right decklist and the right metagame to shine. These days, you'll find it in Commander alongside Brago, King Eternal, Arcades, the Strategist, and other leaders whose creatures are worth blinking for another round of triggers.

6. Leyline of Lifeforce

Market Price: $5.29

If your plan is to resolve one enormous creature after another in a local metagame infested with players and their

s, getting to start the game with Leyline of Lifeforce on the battlefield sounds pretty appealing. Of course, if you've misjudged the meta, then it can end up doing absolutely nothing (except being an enchantment in play, for whatever that's worth, I guess), which is probably why it missed out on a ranking in DougY's top 10 leylines article over on EDHREC. On the other hand, it's a member of the NBRC, hence its lofty ranking here.

5. Ink-Treader Nephilim

Market Price: $6.63

All the Nephilim finished near the top of Nicholas Lucchesi EDHREC piece Top 20 Creatures You Wish Were Legendary and it's easy to see why. This one has a really splashy ability that can turn a targeted cantrip, like Renegade Tactics, into more cards in your hand than you'll know what to do with. If your playgroup allows it, you could pretend this is a legend and build a deck around it, but I think this has such strong potential to be broken that they might regret their decision pretty quickly.

The recent set Mystery Booster Commander Edition brought with it 60 new Commander-legal legendary cards, including Nephilim Epochal, meaning that this family of cards may have finally found a home beyond Rule Zero decks.

4. Spelltithe Enforcer

Market Price: $10.71

Its taxing ability ensures that Enforcer will always find a home in some of Commander's most oppressive and saltiest decks, from Game Changer Grand Arbiter Augustin IV to Hokori, Dust Drinker and Lavinia, Azorius Renegade.

On the other hand, it's not an all-star by any means, as its steep cost means your opponents may have built up their mana or amassed enough of a token army that paying the one or sacrificing a permanent will never be as devastated as you hope it will be. It's always going to be annoying, at least!

3. Stomping Ground

Market Price: $12.80

As in my Ravnica: City of Guilds list, the shocklands remain among this set's most valuable cards, but you'll soon find that their victory in Guildpact is total and absolute. Stomping Ground has been a staple of ramp and beatdown decks since its first printing, and it's also played an important role in four- and five-color manabases over the years.

2. Godless Shrine

Market Price: $14.86

While Shrine has been one of the most popular shocks in Commander for a while now, thanks to the color identities of some of the format's most popular leaders, it's also seen a bit of surge in Modern as of late. Esper () decks like Goryo's Vengeance and Blink have performed really well lately. Meanwhile, Greasefang, Okiba Boss decks have been a fixture of Pioneer, and Shrine is absolutely essential in those decks.

1. Steam Vents

Market Price: $24.58