The city (and prices) that never sleep.
Some sets go down in Magic history as absolute classics, changing the game on multiple levels. Gameplay, power, flavor, terminology – these sets live a long time in the memory thanks to the impact they have. The original Ravnica block is, I would argue, one of the most important in Magic’s history, for more than a few reasons. It gave us the guild names for color combinations, it gave us shocklands, and it gave us some extremely iconic and popular cards that still command a decent price even today. That’s what we’re here to talk about – let’s get across the most expensive cards from Ravnica: City of Guilds!
Note: I decided not to include the four shocklands in Ravnica: City of Guilds in the list of top 10 cards because then four paragraphs in this list would just be “this is a shockland, it’s excellent, buy as many copies as you can because it will always be playable,” and that doesn’t make for an interesting article. In case you’re interested, here is where the four shocklands would have fitted into the list had I included them, and their current price:
3. Sacred Foundry – $23
4. Overgrown Tomb – $22
5. Watery Grave – $20
7. Temple Garden – $19
Obviously, these cards are all absolutely excellent, playable in every format they’re legal in outside of Legacy and Vintage (and even then, they’re a reasonable stand-in for original duals, and some decks play shocklands anyway). A collection of 40 shocklands will allow you to lay down the foundations of more or less any Pioneer or Modern deck, and they are almost always a good place to put your money. With all that said, onto the 10 other most expensive cards in the original Ravnica set!
10. Pariah’s Shield
Ravnica: City Of Guilds
Pariah’s Shield is an interesting one. At $5 or $6, it’s not a big-ticket item by any means, but a lack of proper reprints and strong combo potential means this card stays out of the bulk rare bin. For instance: equipping it to a Stuffy Doll and activating the Doll’s ability will draw the game instantly, for those who are into that sort of thing. If you’re more interested in winning a game, you can instead equip a Boros Reckoner or Brash Taunter, and then cast Volcano Hellion and deal ten billion damage (or more!) to two opponents. It’s a clunky old combo, but it’ll get you there!
9. Privileged Position
Ravnica: City Of Guilds
A very popular card in EDH enchantress decks, for a long time Privileged Position was quite a pricey card: around $20, for the last few years. Double Masters 2022 changed all that, however, with the reprint sending the price of this card hurtling down to where it is now. You can get a Double Masters 2022 version for around $2.50, while the original Ravnica version still sits at $6 or so. Based on the card’s price history, however, that number is probably coming down further, so if you want a copy for your Tuvasa the Sunlit or Sythis, Harvest’s Hand deck, you shouldn’t find it too difficult to find a cheap copy.
8. Mindleech Mass
Ravnica: City Of Guilds
Market Price: $8.09
Despite costing eight mana, Mindleech Mass has such a powerful and unusual ability that it still holds a good price, at $8. Horror decks, led by commanders such as Captain N’ghathrod or Umbris, Fear Manifest, are going to be interested in playing Mindleech Mass – especially N’ghathrod as he can help it connect with his menace ability – but when it comes to making Mindleech Mass connect, you can’t beat Satoru Umezawa decks. Satoru Umezawa can cheat Mindleech Mass into play the turn after he comes down, getting the 6/6 across for an easy trigger and a huge amount of value. A reprint will probably crater this card’s value, but until then, it’s holding pretty steady between $8 and $9.
7. Chord of Calling
Ravnica: City Of Guilds
Market Price: $11.09
Chord of Calling is an absolute classic. Played in top-level competitive Magic for years and years, this card is perfect in toolbox decks that are able to flood the board with tiny creatures. Modern Yawgmoth, Pioneer Elves – Chord of Calling is able to search out key creatures for a fraction of the mana thanks to convoke, and while it’s not the $40 card it was 10 or so years ago, it’s still a constructed powerhouse in the right deck with a $10 price to match. The M15 and Double Masters versions do come in a bit cheaper, but the extra $3 might just be worth paying for the picture of the giant eagle.
6. Life from the Loam
Ravnica: City Of Guilds
Market Price: $10.98
Another constructed powerhouse, Life from the Loam is an indispensable part of graveyard-based land decks or, more simply, dredge decks. Modern Dredge has had very varied fortunes in Modern as cards bounce on and off the banned list, although with Golgari Grave-Troll currently banned, it’s not the deck it once was. In Legacy, conversely, Life from the Loam is a critical card in Lands, which is where it sees the bulk of its competitive play these days. In EDH, it’s a must-have for The Gitrog Monster, Lord Windgrace, Borborygmos Enraged, Slogurk, the Overslime and more – this card is great, a fountain of value, and even with a couple of big reprints it’s still around $11 as a result.
5. Copy Enchantment
Ravnica: City Of Guilds
Market Price: $10.81
With a name like “Copy Enchantment”, you half-expect this to be a reprint from Magic’s early days – but no, this was a Ravnica original, and has never been reprinted since. This card is… well, it’s fine, not incredible, but useful in certain cases. In EDH Bant Enchantress you can use it to copy cards like Privileged Position, Sterling Grove or Greater Auramancy to give your enchantments an ironclad level of protection, and in decks led by commanders like Zur the Enchanter or Lynde, Cheerful Tormentor, it’s useful to be able to double up on powerful enchantment effects. Still, as a narrow and conditional card, Copy Enchantment isn’t that great, and like Mindleech Mass has a higher price due to never having been reprinted.
4. Birds of Paradise
Ravnica: City Of Guilds
Market Price: $11.70
While Copy Enchantment was not from Magic’s early days, this card certainly was – Bird of Paradise goes all the way back to Alpha, and is one of the very best mana dorks ever printed. Even with a ton of reprints, it’s still a $12 card, which speaks to its power and utility in any deck that needs uncompromised access to different colors of mana. It’s played in what feels like every cEDH deck under the sun, it’s played in Modern Yawgmoth, it’s just a rock-solid card, a Magic icon, so famous and powerful that it spawned a phrase concerning how best to deal with it: “Bolt the Bird.”
3. Dark Confidant
Ravnica: City Of Guilds
Market Price: $19.25
How the mighty have fallen. Dark Confidant – or “Bob”, as many still call it after Bob Maher, whose likeness appears on the card – was once a $100 card. The slow, steady march of power creep, however, has obsoleted what was once one of the most feared and respected card advantage engines in the Modern format, and now you won’t see more than one or two copies here or there in Boomer Jund decks, and even then it might just be for old times’ sake. It’s a shame to see legends like Dark Confidant put out to pasture, but the reaper comes for us all – a $100 card no longer, original Bobs are now little more than $20. The cost of greatness is not as high as it once was.
2. Cloudstone Curio
Ravnica: City Of Guilds
Market Price: $50.42
Oh boy. Cloudstone Curio is one of the weirdest combo enablers you’ll ever come across, unlocking everything from infinite mana to infinite life gain, from infinite enter-the-battlefield triggers to infinite storm count. Case in point: if you have Cloudstone Curio and a creature out (and if your opponents have sufficient artifacts and enchantments), you can cast Dockside Extortionist for infinite Treasure tokens, infinite death and sacrifice triggers, infinite enter and leave-the-battlefield triggers, and infinite storm count. And that’s just the start! It combos with Kodama of the East Tree and Tireless Provisioner for more infinite triggers, or with Ukkima, Stalking Shadow and Aluren for infinite damage and life gain. All this, in just one card that’s never been properly reprinted? That’ll be $50, please!
1. Doubling Season
Ravnica: City Of Guilds
Market Price: $92.73
Doubling Season is one of the most famous cards in EDH, a massively sought-after staple of so many decks, from Atraxa, Praetors’ Voice to Ghave, Guru of Spores to Chatterfang, Squirrel General. There’s a reason this card costs $90: it is absolutely busted in half when playing with counters or tokens, let alone both! It makes planeswalkers ultimate the turn they are played, it stacks with other doubling effects – Doubling Season is a hugely dangerous and powerful card, and that’s why people love to play with it. Even reprints in Modern Masters, Battlebond and Double Masters haven’t been enough to bring the price down, and unless it’s printed at common in a Core set, this card is never going to be particularly affordable!