Sphere of Influence: August 23, 2024

Welcome to Sphere of Influence, a pre-FNM look at some potential movers and shakers that are worth picking up before their prices increase.

Reprints of higher value cards typically enter the market at significantly reduced prices, yet the originals hold value for much longer than one might expect, given just how many copies are now available. Here are a few cards to pick up while the discrepancy remains…

Fiendish Duo

While there is no shortage of fantastic and affordable options for increasing damage in red—City on Fire is a favorite of mine—this one was pricey for a while due to its scarcity, previously seeing only one printing in the niche product, Game Night 2019. Murders at Karlov Manor: Commander updated the math with a reprint into one of its preconstructed decks, and now Fiendish Duo is at $1, which is quite the drop from its $40 price in recent memory.

Oddly, while the new version is cheap, the original is still pushing against power creep by holding at $10. It would seem, at first glance, that there exists some affinity for the old set symbol or the fact that the Game Night 2019 printing is in foil.

It won’t last. I’ve seen the same trend happen with Calculating Lich, where the original Game Night 2019 printing held its price when it appeared in Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate, and that trend abated shortly after. Now, both versions of the card can be bought for a song.

So, even if you already have a Fiendish Duo, sell yours and get a copy of the new one.

Combat Celebrant

Here we have another prime example of price discrepancy due to lag. A reprint in the Bloomburrow: Commander precons set the price of this staple to pennies, but its other versions, including the original Amonkhet and Tales of Middle-Earth: Commander, are up to $5. This price is still below what the card was within the last year ($15ish), but there is little reason to grab anything other than the most recent printing—for what it’s worth, the art is the same as the Amonkhet version, too. Now’s your chance to attack twice every other turn!

Anguished Unmaking

At this point, it’s clear that Wizards of the Coast is power creeping at a level beyond exponential, so it’s easy to forget that, in very recent memory, Anguished Unmaking was the pinnacle of Orzhov removal in Commander. It’s versatile and cheap, and extremely effective with a negligible downside—a true staple that makes Mortify look like Less-tify.

The card has, thankfully, appeared in a number of recent sets, including Fallout, Tales of Middle-Earth: Commander, and (less recently) Double Masters 2022, and has dropped in price from $10 to around $2. Grab three or four now, while you can choose the version you like most, and slot them into Commander decks forever.

True Value

To my fellow brewers out there: are there expensive cards with outdated, minimal effects that you wish would be cheaper so you can toss them into a deck? To me, Deranged Hermit is such a card, as there is already a functional reprint and I’m simply interested in that card for redundancy. Not $90 interested, though.