Magic: The Gathering’s new set will bring key Commander reprints to the market through The List, Wizards of the Coast announced today.
The List is a curated set of reprints that are occasionally found in set boosters. Starting in Zendikar Rising, this was a way to have consistent reprints of cards that wouldn’t normally find a place in a main expansion or supplementary set.
Each set cards will be added and removed from The List. Added cards are often flavorful additions that make sense for the theme of the set. For Phyrexia: All Will Be One, cards added to the list are mainly powerful Artifacts from past sets that featured the Phyrexians like Scars of Mirrodin.
This round of additions features a handful of expensive reprints that will likely help lower the price on several cards that are established Commander staples. Artifacts are often pricy cards because of how powerful they are. This power means they become playable in multiple formats and can slot into a variety of decks, making them high-demand game pieces. Other cards will be receiving their first-ever reprints, which will help with the availability of cards first included in preconstructed products.
Here are five of the best reprints added to The List in Phyrexia: All Will Be One. Prices are reflective of the TCG Player market price as of press time.
Blightsteel Colossus
This gigantic Infect creature is a staple in Artifact decks looking to drop a big threat and ask the table “does anyone have an answer?” It can one-shot opponents with poison counters. There are plenty of ways in Commander to cheat this 12-mana colossus onto the battlefield. Because of its potency as a threat and lack of reprints, Blightsteel Colossus has soared to $58.56 for the Mirrodin Besieged printing.
Mycosynth Lattice
Mycosynth Lattice is the key to some truly evil combos in Commander. This Artifact turns all permanents into Artifacts, makes all spells colorless, and allows players to spend mana as though it were any color. These are some excellent effects, especially when wielded in an Artifact-focused deck. However, it’s almost never used fairly in Commander. Players can use a Vandalblast effect to blow up every permanent opponents control. Combine it with Karn, the Great Creator to shut opponents out of the game, making them unable to tap their lands. Hellkite Tyrant can take every permanent an opponent controls if it gets in for combat damage. This game-winning combo potential has led Mycosynth Lattice to go for around $45.
Phyrexian Altar
This free sacrifice outlet is a staple in Commander as a way to sacrifice creatures for value and an enabler for combo wins. The key to Phyrexian Altar’s strength is that the activated ability is free. Netting two mana for each sacrificed creature can easily create infinite mana loops with a variety of different spells. It’s a simple, efficient effect that contributes to the card running players up to $25 per copy.
Sword of Feast and Famine
The cycle of swords is a running theme through different Magic sets of powerful Equipment that come with protection and different effects when the equipped creature deals combat damage to a player. Sword of Feast and Famine is considered the best card in the cycle with its excellent untap ability and relevant protection colors Black and Green. The entire cycle is expensive, but Sword of Feast and Famine is at the top of the list costing between $47 to $50, depending on which printing you get.
Xantcha, Sleeper Agent
There are few places to reprint older Commander precon spells because they don’t thematically fit within the main expansion settings. This leads to some neat cards being hard to find or a little more expensive than their power level would suggest. Xantcha, Sleeper Agent is a unique B/R legendary creature that flavorfully enters the battlefield under the opponent’s control and destroys them from behind enemy lines.
It’s not a commonly played card, but it does add a nice twist to the games it’s involved in. There has never been a reprint of Xantcha, Sleeper Agent which pushed it to cost around $5. This reprint in The List for ONE should bring the price down to a couple of bucks.
Players can get their hands on these cards when ONE releases on Feb. 10.
