Competitive MTG Finance #2 - Pricey Commons

In my previous article I featured some Pauper cards, and I’d like to continue that discussion today.

I enjoy looking at daily Pauper tournament results, if there are any. I check the MTGO results on the Wizards site every day, and I’ll often check MTG Top 8 and MTG Decks.

Here are a couple of commons that have been relatively pricey for many months.

Winding Way

The Market Foil price is just above $7! Modern Horizons is currently the only printing of this card. While Modern Horizons 2 didn’t include it, Wizards just announced Modern Horizons 3 at Gen Con this year, which is set to release in the summer of 2024. I’m not sure if they’ll reprint Winding Way in MH3, but if they don’t, it still seems like a fairly easy card to reprint, even in an upcoming Standard set.

If you have foil copies, I’d get rid of them now. Card Kingdom is buying foils for $5.50 cash and $7.15 in store credit.

I sold my playset. And if you didn’t know, a playset is usually played in winning decks. Take a look at this list for example.

Kuldotha Rebirth

Market Foils are sitting at just over $16 and starting to trend downwards. And just like Winding Way, Kuldotha Rebirth only has one printing, but it was in Scars of Mirrodin, nine years before Winding Way. That’s almost 13 years ago!

This is another common that’s usually played as a four-of in winning decks in Pauper, and in some less common Modern decks. And just like Winding Way, I also sold my playset of Kuldotha Rebirths. Check out these two decks as examples.

And there you have some of the reasons why Kuldotha Rebirth is a $16 foil common.

Experimental Synthesizer

This is a relatively newer card, released in Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty last year. It’s also another card that’s usually played as a four-of. And I’ve noticed that it's becoming harder to find foil playsets.

Card Kingdom doesn’t have very many foil copies in stock. And when they do, they sell out pretty quickly after they restock. Foil playsets on TCG Player start at just under $5 for each copy if you want to buy a playset as one order.

Implement of Combustion

This is another artifact that’s usually played as a four-of in winning decks. It’s less commonly played than Experimental Synthesizer, but it’s an even more expensive and tougher-to-buy foil common from Card Kingdom. And there are little to no foil playsets on TCG Player.

I’d be a little more careful with picking up foil playsets of Implement of Combustion over Experimental Synthesizer though, because it also only has one printing, back in Aether Revolt.

Summary

Sell

Foil Winding Way

Foil Kuldotha Rebirth

Buy

Foil Experimental Synthesizer (if you can find cheap copies)

Foil Implement of Combustion (caution)

As always, I hope you found this content useful. And feel free to connect with me on social media.

Respectfully,

Edward Eng [Eddie]

Check out these other articles:

Cards in Eriette Decks That I Like by Jason Alt

New Horizons - Wilds of Eldraine by Matt Grzechnik

The Big Things - The Secret Lair Effect by Harvey McGuinness