History, Restapled: Under the Radar and Over the Top

Hey all! Steve Heisler here, longtime pop culture journalist and Magic player.

I started slinging spells around the time of Fourth Edition and have been following the game, off and on, to this day - though I’ve taken some breaks from actively collecting cards. At times, I’ve been lucky enough to blend my Magic obsession with my career as a writer: interviewing Mark Rosewater about the printing of Magic Origins and the elimination of Core Sets from rotation (guess it’s an ongoing story), pontificating on Wizards’ decision to print cards directly into Commander (guess it’s an ongoing story), and lauding the game’s implications in the world of corporate training.

I’m psyched for this writing opportunity at MTGStocks not only because it feels good to type the names of cards in a professional setting, but also because it offers the chance to write through the lens of my newly discovered obsession with the financial aspects of the game. It’s gotten so prevalent that my playgroup dubbed me the resident wheeler-and-dealer, and when someone lands a great pull from a pack, they jokingly tease my instinct to reach for my trade binder. MTGStocks has always been an invaluable resource for me, and my hope is that I can be of some service to that community as well.

With that, welcome to History, Restapled, a Commander-focused column which attempts to determine a newer card’s status as a staple, therefore its potential to command a decent price, through a look at how cards that are similar, synergistic, or competing have fared in the past financially.

 

Clever Concealment

 

Each color holds the potential for a player to effectively take an extra turn. Blue does it with literal extra turn spells, of course, and white’s spin on the effect involves negating an opponent’s turn retroactively. Clever Concealment is the latest iteration on the theme, enabling a player to protect most of their board from removal or other potential game-winning effects for the negligible cost of tapping a few creatures - the production of which is already a strength of the color. The card hit $23 on release, and has since undergone a steady price decline to where it sits now at $12.

Clever Concealment’s status as a staple largely depends on how it stacks up against established entities. The most obvious comparison card is Teferi's Protection, whose status as a staple was established right out of the box in Commander 2017. According to EDHREC, it can be found in 34% of more than 60,000 white decks and doesn’t seem to be going anywhere; since its reprinting in Double Masters 2022, the card has held unwaveringly at roughly $25 dollars.

It’s a ways down the list before other options emerge. (Note, not all of the following allow for protection of noncreatures, but considering Clever Concealment requires creatures to operate at its full potential, it’s safe to assume creatures make up the bulk of what needs protecting.) The flexible Akroma's Will, in 25% of white decks, has seen only one printing, Commander Legends, and has grown in price since release to its current valuation of $15. Flawless Maneuver, long considered a staple, can be found in 21% of white decks and holds a price of $13 after a reprint in literally the same precon as Clever Concealment. Even lesser used options, like Guardian of Faith and Cosmic Intervention, continue to hold at least $3 of value despite how many options are available.

Clearly, there exists a healthy appetite for protective redundancy, so I wouldn’t expect Clever Concealment to drop in price substantially anytime soon. However, absent another reprint, the market has dictated that the demand for Teferi’s Protection, Flawless Maneuver, and Akroma’s Will remains high, and this isn’t the sort of effect a deck needs to pack in fours. I wouldn’t be surprised if the price dips a little, perhaps nestled at $7-8 dollars between the prices of current staples and nonstaples, at which point it will likely settle until another near-staple arrives.

STATUS: Staple-adjacent

Akroma's Will	CardKingdom $17.99	TCGPlayer $14.56
Teferi's Protection	CardKingdom $32.99	TCGPlayer $25.40
Clever Concealment	CardKingdom $11.99	TCGPlayer $12.38
Flawless Maneuver	CardKingdom $16.99	TCGPlayer $13.00
Clever Concealment (Extended Art)	CardKingdom $16.99	TCGPlayer $10.88

 

Karlach, Fury of Avernus

 

Commander rewards escalation - taking an already game-breaking action and intensifying it far over-the-top of what’s possible in a 60-card format. Red’s version of this tactic can take the form of extra combat steps - only a slice of a Time Walk effect, but an extremely relevant one, especially in lower power games. The vast majority of extra combat spells go for at least a few dollars, even one-off, vanilla-ish ones like Relentless Assault and Fury of the Horde, with the higher priced versions being the ones that enable combos - Aggravated Assault is just under $40 and Combat Celebrant is sitting at around $15. Additionally, the vast majority of extra combat spells have been printed only once.

Karlach, Fury of Avernus, which arrived in Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate, is the most recent take on the extra turn effect and, arguably, the best printed so far. The card gives first strike, a relevant commander ability, to your entire team for two combats each turn, and doesn’t even have to attack herself, meaning she activates right away. Yet, for the moment, the card is one of the cheapest extra combat enablers at $6.50 for the regular version and $5 for the alternate printing. This is equivalent to Seize the Day  (only hits one creature) and less than Moraug, Fury of Akoum’s price of $9 (awkward ordering of remaining phases in turn).

Despite more versions of this effect, almost all of the mass extra combat enablers in Commander are holding their prices, with some starting to inch up, including Moraug, Combat Celebrant, and Karlach herself. But we have to account for the fact that Karlach is a known character from Dungeons & Dragons, reducing the chances that she will be reprinted outside of Universes Beyond products. Grab a copy now, before players start wising up to Karlach’s power and the price escalates at least beyond Moraug and into the double digits.

STATUS: New staple

Aggravated Assault	CardKingdom $49.99	TCGPlayer $36.65
Relentless Assault	CardKingdom $3.99	TCGPlayer $2.34
Karlach, Fury of Avernus	CardKingdom $6.49	TCGPlayer $7.01
Karlach, Fury of Avernus (Showcase)	CardKingdom $5.99	TCGPlayer $4.83
Karlach, Fury of Avernus (Etched Foil)	CardKingdom $6.49	TCGPlayer $6.99

 

Staples Center

With so many sets being released these days - and all of them Commander legal - it’s easy to jump aboard the hype train and overvalue a new card’s potential to not only shake up games but replace previously established cards in the staple pecking order. Hopefully, History, Restapled represents a more measured approach to evaluation, and I look forward to digging into the topic until there are no more wheels to deal or deals to wheel.