When a price changes drastically, there's (usually) a reason for that, for example an unbanning, spoiling of a new card that complements a card, or some new tech. But why are cards expensive that, well, already are expensive? That's what I'm going to try to explore in this article series. This instalment, we'll be talking about Imperial Recruiter.
Aim of this article
Many articles require (some) background knowledge about formats, the metagame and price history of a card and similar cards. We also like to serve newcomers, casual players and infrequent players in the community who would like to understand how or why a card got to where it is now. For this article series, I'm drawing a lot of inspiration from Masters 25. This shouldn't come as a surprise, because these master sets are generally used to increase the supply of certain cards, and when a card has a demand, but a low supply, prices are generally higher. So this time, we're going to look at Imperial Recruiter.
On first glance, the card doesn't look particularly powerful, and to be totally fair... It isn't. So why was this card, before the Masters 25 reprint, at least $150? This is a typical example of a card with low supply, with a slightly higher demand. How come the supply is so low? That mainly has to do with the set it was originally printed in: Portal Three Kingdoms.
Portal Three Kingdoms
So what is the deal with this set? When we look at the other cards printed in P3K, we see more very expensive cards like Relentless Assault. While this card has been reprinted a lot, the Portal Three Kingdoms version currently is worth more than $1900. Also Imperial Seal is currently over $500.
This has to do with the origin of Portal Three Kingdoms. The set was designed for the Asian market, meaning it was not sold in America or Europe and were mainly printed in Chinese and Japanese. However, for the Australian and New Zealand market, there were also a few English printings. This led to the English versions being very rare because of their low supply. If you look at prices of the (Simplified) Chinese and Japanese versions of these cards, it could save you about 50%.
Originally, the Portal sets weren't tournament legal, but in October 2005, the sets were made legal in Vintage and Legacy, driving up demand.
Abilities
So what does Imperial Recruiter do? When it comes into play, you search your library for a creature card with power 2 or less, reveal it, and put it into your hand. That's it! The thing is, there wasn't a reasonable alternative for this card, making it somewhat unique. An unique ability with a low supply definitely drives up a price.
A similar ability on a creature didn't exist until Conspiracy: Take the Crown, when Recruiter of the Guard was printed. It however is slightly different, since it makes you able to search for a creature card with toughness 2 or less, rather than power.
Eternal Play
Imperial Recruiter found its way into Legacy in Painter decks. Painter is a combo deck that revolves around Painter's Servant and Grindstone. The strategy is to cast Painter's Servant, making all cards the same color (usually blue), and then activate Grindstone to mill your opponent. The combo could be achieved as early as turn 1, but more commonly around turn 2 or 3.
This deck usually runs a playset of Imperial Recruiter to find a combo piece, Painter's Servant, or other toolbox and silver bullet creatures usually played in the deck like Magus of the Moon, Goblin Welder, Jaya Ballard, Task Mage or Phyrexian Revoker.
Beside Painter decks, Recruiter also sees play in Legacy Aluren decks. Decks that, shockingly, revolve around the card Aluren. Because Imperial Recruiter is converted mana cost 3, it can be cast for free and used to find combo pieces.
In the previous section, we briefly glanced over Recruiter of the Guard as the new alternative, but using new-Recruiter over Imperial Recruiter comes with a disadvantage. Obviously it being white, so we would have to splash white to play this. This means we would have to play Plateau, making Magus of the Moon worse and opening the deck up more to Wasteland.
Commander
Because Imperial Recruiter's (somewhat) unique search ability, it is also a popular card for Commander decks, since it is a good and fun tutor. But this demand has also driven up the prices. It's also a popular card for cubes.
So... #ButWhy is Imperial Recruiter so expensive? Because of the low supply, due to it seeing tournament play and casual demand. Many people have agreed however, that the printing in Masters 25 should really drive the prices down, which is a trend we already see happening. The price for the Masters 25 printing already is $54 with a market price of $38.
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