The 15 Most Valuable Odyssey Cards

Psychatog | Art by Edward P. Beard, Jr.

Hey, everyone! Nick here, taking this series over for Christopher Guest. EDHREC readers may have seen my various most-played cards lists on there. I'm excited to be writing for Cardsphere, so here we go!

Odyssey came out in September 2001 and contained 350 cards. It kicked off the eponymous block, which also included small sets Torment and Judgment. Mark Rosewater himself has said that the set was poorly received by players at the time. Urza's Saga and the rest of that block were tough acts to follow in terms of power level, for one thing. Likewise, Magic's head designer talked about how the set made people care about things, like what's in the graveyard and various activated abilities, that they hadn't worried about before.

Ultimately though, Rosewater in 2009 called Odyssey the set that had taught him the most about design. Plus, without the pioneering graveyard-matters theme in this set, we wouldn't have gotten the popular flashback mechanic and the smash hit Innistrad block nearly 10 years later.

What about the set's value, though? Does Odyssey's lowish power negatively influence card prices, or do nostalgia and influence win the day? Let's find out!

15. Traumatize

Market Price: $5.02

Speaking of influence, Traumatize has paved the way for a long line of mass-mill cards, like Maddening Cacophony, Cut Your Losses, and Keening Stone, among others. It's an important enabler for mill strategies in EDH, showing up pretty frequently in decks led by Bruvac the Grandiloquent and Phenax, God of Deception. Five bucks doesn't sound bad at all considering it's been reprinted several times. It's also a fantastic kitchen table card that will probably do what it says on the tin to players on the receiving end of it for the first time.

14. Deserted Temple

Market Price: $5.42

Temple does pretty much nothing on its own but is amazing alongside the most busted lands in the game, essentially acting like a second copy of Gaea's Cradle, Tolarian Academy, Cabal Coffers, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, and others that produce multiple pips at once. At just over $5, a lot of people who want this effect are going to be able to get it, while swaggier reprints from Edge of Eternities are available for those that want some extra bling. It's also a combo piece alongside these lands and Rings of Brighthearth.

13. Molten Influence

Market Price: $5.65

"Punisher" cards, or spells that supposedly force your opponent to make an unfavorable choice, rarely perform well competitively, because the person across from you is just going to choose the effect you that doesn't give you the biggest advantage. Just imagine casting this when the opponent is at 20 life. Only countering instants and sorceries is another downside, but the novelty of being a red counterspell and the fact that it's never been reprinted are likely what's keeping Influence in the top 15.

12. Cultural Exchange

Market Price: $5.96

This is another card with only one printing, which again makes up for the fact that Cultural Exchange is quite clunky and difficult to really blow an opponent out with. In 1v1, your deck would have to play a bunch of inconsequential creatures or token makers and your opponent would need a high-quality army, and you'd still need to be alive with your terrible board. It does, however, have a home in EDH decks that like exchanging permanents, like Zedruu the Greathearted. It's a fun card and the type of spell that leads to amazing stories.

11. Standstill

Market Price: $6.68

Most recently printed with brand new art and the borderless treatment in Avatar: The Last Airbender Eternal, Standstill has seen better days as a Legacy staple. It still shows up in Vintage decks and in Commander, according to EDHREC, where I'm surprised to see its Salt Score isn't that high. It's also gotten an IDW Comics Inserts printing featuring Sorin Markov and Dack Fayden that's a little more valuable than the Odyssey edition.

10. Gravestorm

Market Price: $6.75

I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of which cards see play in various formats — even niche ones — but I admit I've never seen Gravestorm before. I thought it was only a mechanic from Future Sight! Over on EDHREC, a 2021 article by Trent Trombley shouted this enchantment out as a potential black card draw engine in the same vein as Phyrexian Arena, though Gravestorm simply hasn't seen enough play to secure name recall among Commander gamers. Interestingly, it's seen white-bordered print outside Odyssey in what was probably a test run of the Hachette UK Magic Encyclopedia, according to the Magic Librarities website.

9. Skycloud Expanse

Market Price: $7.87

Having good mana is busted, and having access to cheaper duals even more so. While this gorgeous old border Skycloud Expanse can set you back nearly $8, there have been many subsequent printings that go for much less now, meaning that players building Commander or kitchen table decks have a lot of options to customize their manabase. For more on Expanse and similarly positioned budget duals, check out this article by Tyler Bucks.

8. Need for Speed

Market Price: $9.32

Why wasn't this reprinted in Aetherdrift? Kidding aside, a one-mana enchantment that grants a relevant ability to creatures and also messes about with lands and the graveyard has interesting applications in more expansive formats like EDH. It seems particularly interesting with commanders like Yuma, Proud Protector, Hearthhull, the Worldseed, and Hazezon, Shaper of Sand, who can make use of both haste and lands in the 'yard.

Hey, even Narset, Enlightened Master, Kaalia of the Vast, and Heartless Hidetsugu might be interested in redundant haste-granters.

7. Price of Glory

Market Price: $10.40

This is a fun one for decks and players that wish instants and cards with flash didn't exist. Sure, you can cast stuff on your opponents' turn, but it better be worth dumping your lands into the graveyard! It's a uniquely punishing effect that looks tailor-made for some of Commander's more ruthless leaders, and it's only been printed a couple of times, so Price of Glory earns its spot as one of the few cards in Odyssey worth more than $10.

6. Seize the Day

Market Price: $11.33

I love writing about cards that did something for the first time in Magic's history. Now, Relentless Assault precedes Seize the Day by several years, but it's still so interesting to look at these two pretty simple effects that grant additional combat phases and then see how far that design space has come since the turn of the century. We've seen it tacked onto creatures like Aurelia, the Warleader and Hellkite Charger (where it's part of an infinite combo), taken to the extreme in the form of Full Throttle, and used to hit flavor beats like in Last Night Together.

That's a wonderful legacy for an unassuming sorcery from 2001 to leave behind! It also still sees play in Commander.

5. Terravore

Market Price: $12.04

This Lhurgoyf takes some jumping through hoops to make it truly large, but at least Terravore will always have a place in Disa the Restless Commander decks due to its valuable creature type there. This is another one of those cards whose price is propped up by virtue of it being a gorgeous old-bordered printing. You can pick the Dominaria Remastered edition for a fraction of its value.

4. Call of the Herd

Market Price: $13.71

There are certainly better token-generators out there, but getting two 3/3s in one card is still going to be an attractive proposition in kitchen table decks. Plus, I quite like the look of the tombstone indicator on these old flashback cards.

3. Tarnished Citadel

Market Price: $20.11

How much do you value rainbow mana? If Lightning Bolt-ing yourself every time you tap this for a color isn't too steep a cost, then you'll love Citadel in your multicolor decks. Of course, this outdoes Mana Confluence and City of Brass by one metric: you can tap it for colorless for free! It's a great option to have access to, and I think the art is gorgeous with that brassy border.

2. Tainted Pact

Market Price: $23.33

I love old cards whose original functions may be lost to history and are now simply utilized as broken combo engines. Tainted Pact is one such piece of cardboard, combining with cards like Thassa's Oracle, Laboratory Maniac, and Jace, Wielder of Mysteries for an instant win. EDH is the ideal home for it, as playing singletons ensures this card gets to the bottom of things... your library, to be precise!

1. Entomb

Market Price: $28.77

Speaking of cards that don't do what they were originally meant to... I'm sure Entomb did in fact assist in Reanimate strategies back in the day, but I can imagine that it was at least partially intended to interact favorably with threshold and put flashback cards in the 'yard, purposes which both heavily reinforce Odyssey's mechanical identity. It's fitting then that this is one of the poster children of the set and the card that has remained the most powerful and broken since 2001.

It's No Christopher Nolan Blockbuster....

But Odyssey was undoubtedly a pioneer for how it made the graveyard a relevant zone in Magic. To this day, many if not most sets feature cards that care about the 'yard or interact with it in some way, and my gamer tag wouldn't be "Inickstrad" if I didn't pay homage to the set that made my favorite plane possible. Until next time!