Price Trends: Magic: The Gathering Cards Climbing in Price - 9/18/24
Peter Day
We want you to have the best information available when you price cards on the TCGplayer Marketplace. So to help you get the most from your inventory, we’ve put together a downloadable CSV report of Magic: The Gathering cards that have dramatically increased in Market Price in the past 30 days.
(Note: This report only considers Near Mint copies of cards with at least five sales between August 17 and September 15, 2024.)
Here are ten highlights from that report. First, we have the five cards that gained the most value in the past 30 days after starting with a Market Price of $5 or less.
Top 5 Price Increases—MTG Cards $5 or Less
- Set: March of the Machine
- Increase: +$9.15
- Current Market Price: $14.03
Sales of Archangel Elspeth spiked hard on August 12 and stayed strong throughout the week, most likely due to the success of the token-based Standard control decks that emerged after the release of Bloomburrow. Those sales were enough to triple Elspeth’s price.
Standard shifts don’t normally cause price spikes this big. But the release of Bloomburrow Standard caused Standard to rotate for the first time in two years, and forced the format (and the market) to reevaluate huge swaths of cards.
#4 Bristlebud Farmer (Extended Art)
- Set: Outlaws of Thunder Junction: The Big Score
- Increase: +$9.28
- Current Market Price: $11.91
All three versions of Bristlebud Farmer rose in price in August, as Bloomburrow delivered a cornucopia of support for Commander fans of Food Tokens with cards like Camellia, the Seedmiser.
Bristlebud Farmer is part of The Big Score, a subset within Outlaws of Thunder Junction that Wizards of the Coast originally planned to release as its own small epilogue set, similar to March of the Machine: The Aftermath. Aftermath proved unpopular, so WotC pivoted and included the cards OTJ. While it’s possible to find them in Play Boosters of OTJ, they’re much harder to pull than OTJ cards of similar rarity. That means the cards in The Big Score (especially Mythics like Bristlebud Farmer) have a very high price ceiling if/when they find a deck where they shine.
#3 Kill Switch
- Set: Nemesis
- Increase: +$10.11
- Current Market Price: $10.99
Kill Switch has only been printed once, back in Nemesis (2000), so supply has always been low. But the demand wasn’t there until the release of Ygra, Eater of All, one of the most popular new commanders in Bloomburrow. Ygra turns all other creatures in play into Food artifacts, which means Kill Switch can tap them down and keep them tapped down turn after turn.
- Set: Commander: Bloomburrow
- Increase: +$11.15
- Current Market Price: $15.66
Speculators bought tons of copies of Agate Instigator on August 15, before the time frame of this report. But its price didn’t rise until the following weeks, when players proved they were willing to pay a premium for the Lizard Rogue. Like Purphoros, God of the Forge, Agate Instigators provides a massive payoff for creating piles of creature tokens, which Commander players love to do.
- Set: Mirage
- Increase: +$13.25
- Current Market Price: $17.69
As a member of the Reserved List, Forsaken Wastes has spent decades waiting for any excuse to spike. That excuse has finally arrived, and its name is Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls. Valgavoth leads the Endless Punishment Commander precon that’s set to release with Duskmourn: House of Horror on September 27, and draws you a card the first time an opponent takes damage on their turn. Commander players who are planning to upgrade that precon are picking up cards that will let them guarantee that their opponents suffer, like Roiling Vortex, Mogis, God of Slaughter, and Forsaken Wastes.
Next, these are the five cards that gained the most value in the past 30 days after starting with a Market Price over $5.
Top 5 Price Increases—MTG Cards Over $5
- Set: Urza's Saga
- Increase: +$31.86
- Current Market Price: $802.44
Gaea’s Cradle has appeared on this list many times simply because with a card this valuable, tiny shifts represent a lot of money. Overall, Gaea’s Cradle is up in 2024, though its current Market Price falls a little short of its high for the year ($829 in April) and way short of its all-time high ($1,177 in July 2021).
#4 Sauron, the Dark Lord (Borderless Poster)
- Set: Universes Beyond: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth
- Increase: +$38.27
- Current Market Price: $144.45
All of the Borderless Poster cards from Tales of Middle-earth have gone up since May 1, with an average increase just shy of 100%. While the set as a whole is up 50%, we suspect that this particular set of spikes is driven by the release of Season 2 of The Rings of Power on Prime Video. We saw a similar price boost in Battle for Baldur’s Gate cards when Baldur’s Gate 3 finally launched.
- Set: Revised Edition
- Increase: +$40.13
- Current Market Price: $712.04
Back for another month in the #3 slot, Underground Sea remains a Reserved List card that every Commander player yearns to own. It’s also up in 2024, and currently below its high for the year ($765 in April) and its all-time high ($978 in July 2021).
#2 Tom Bombadil (Borderless Poster)
- Set: Universes Beyond: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth
- Increase: +$43.56
- Current Market Price: $76.09
This card’s meteoric rise is the best argument for the theory that The Rings of Power is driving prices up. The enigmatic character Tom Bombadil didn’t appear in Jackson’s trilogy, but he’s shown up in Season 2 of TRoP, prompting delight in fans who knew him from the books and curiosity from those who didn’t. Now there’s even more reason to seek his likeness on a collectible.
#1 Mox Diamond
- Set: Stronghold
- Increase: +$78.81
- Current Market Price: $581.08
Mox Diamond is another Reserved List card that can show up on this list by coughing. Unlike Gaea’s Cradle and Underground Sea, it’s currently at its peak price for the year so far, though it’s still below its all-time high ($669, which it hit in May 2021 and August 2022).
By selling these cards online, you can reach a broad audience of customers who are willing to pay what these cards are truly worth. Download the September 2024 Price Trends Report to review every Magic card that went up in value this month. Then list those cards on TCGplayer so your inventory can do more for your business.
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