Big Dragons, big value.
Coming in as the second Standard release of the year, Tarkir: Dragonstorm continues to see incredible attention from players as it pretty much offers everything — an adorned plane, plenty of Dragons, and Skirmish Rhino.
And whenever there’s a Magic release that really resonates with players, the card prices often rise to satisfy casual and competitive demand, which is what’s happening with Tarkir: Dragonstorm.
The Most Valuable MTG Cards from Tarkir: Dragonstorm
Market Price: $12.25
While prices haven’t fully settled yet, let’s look at some of the most valuable cards you can open from Tarkir: Dragonstorm Play and Collector Boosters. To keep things simple, we’ll only cover the traditional printings and discuss any notable values with the Showcase, Borderless, or Halo Foil variants as we go.
Before we begin, it’s worth quickly highlighting the Dragon’s Eye Lands you can only open in Tarkir: Dragonstorm Collector Boosters, as these are becoming popular additions for Commander players, especially ones who want to stylize their The Ur-Dragon or Tiamat strategy. While Basic Lands are a bit hit-or-miss when it comes to value, these Dragon’s Eye Lands are currently valuable and are worth filing into a binder for future trading.
#10 Stormscale Scion
Stormscale Scion
Tarkir: Dragonstorm, Mythic
Stormscale Scion is an incredible payoff for any Dragon Commander strategy, especially one that can cast a couple of spells prior to playing the Scion and create extra copies of the card. Even if you are unable to gather the most value out of Scion’s Storm ability, granting all of your other Dragons +1/+1 is good enough and one that could turn the tide when it comes to the combat step. Any effect that can add extra power (and toughness) to a particular creature type is popular when it comes to Commander play, and Stormscale Scion will remain a desirable hit from Tarkir: Dragonstorm.
#9 Betor, Kin to All
Betor, Kin to All
Tarkir: Dragonstorm, Mythic
Speaking of Dragons, Betor, Kin to All is incredible as a Commander as it rewards you for playing cards with high toughness. From drawing a card to slicing each opponent’s life total to half (rounded up), Betor offers a unique approach to the “toughness matters” archetype that is becoming a popular option thanks to the Abzan Armor Commander Precon. Since Betor contributes seven toughness from the get-go, you’re in pretty good shape to draw a card during your end step, which is already a great rate. While the normal printing of Betor, Kin to All is a reasonably valuable hit, it’s the Showcase and Borderless printings of the Abzan Dragon climbing in value at the time of publication.
#8 Mistrise Village
Mistrise Village
Tarkir: Dragonstorm, Rare
Mistrise Village saw plenty of attention leading up to Tarkir: Dragonstorm’s release, where the attention hasn’t died out and it’s becoming a valuable hit from Play and Collector Boosters. What makes Mistrise Village so exciting is it can turn the next spell you cast into an uncounterable one, meaning you don’t have to stress about any pesky countermagic in Counterspell or Fierce Guardianship when playing Commander. Furthermore, there are plenty of competitive Commander (cEDH) applications with the card as it essentially guarantees any win condition to resolve (such as Thassa’s Oracle), making it a desirable addition to any strategy that accommodates blue. While Commander demand is the primary reason for Mistrise Village’s value, there’s some competitive speculation the card could appear in Standard’s Azorius (and Jeskai) Control to help break parity in any potential mirror matches.
#7 Voice of Victory
Voice of Victory
Tarkir: Dragonstorm, Rare
Much like Mistrise Village, Voice of Victory captured plenty of attention leading up to Tarkir: Dragonstorm’s release as it’s another popular effect for Commander play. Grand Abolisher already sees a ton of play as a disruptive approach to prevent your opponents from casting spells during your turn, but having access to a second copy of essentially the same effect is often desirable. What makes Voice of Victory an exciting addition is its ability to attack profitably, where you’ll create two 1/1 Warrior tokens whenever the Human Bard attacks, allowing you to spread damage while also playing into any Sacrifice (or Aristocrats) themes. Cards such as Voice of Victory often have a resilient future due to Commander desirability with potential for competitive applications in the near future, which also means Clan Borderless copies are also a valuable hit from Tarkir: Dragonstorm.
#6 Cori-Steel Cutter
Cori-Steel Cutter
Tarkir: Dragonstorm, Rare
Perhaps the hottest competitive card to arrive from Tarkir: Dragonstorm is Cori-Steel Cutter, a card primed to make a notable impact in Standard, Pioneer, and Modern in the coming weeks. What makes the Cutter so exciting for competitive play is its ability to create a 1/1 Monk token with prowess every time you cast your second spell each turn — and then you may attach the equipment to the most recently created token. Being able to swing in with a hasty, trample Monk token is excellent and one that continues to generate an incredible amount of buzz since Tarkir: Dragonstorm’s release. As a result of this extensive competitive interest, the price of the equipment card continues to climb without any indication of it dropping anytime soon
#5 Craterhoof Behemoth
Craterhoof Behemoth
Tarkir: Dragonstorm, Mythic
One of the most exciting reprints from Tarkir: Dragonstorm remains a valuable hit in Craterhoof Behemoth. Despite the flurry of treatments in Innistrad Remastered earlier this year, the card’s value remains reasonable enough due to evergreen Commander play. While there are some potential applications for the card to also see play in Standard alongside Collector’s Cage or Nature’s Rhythm, it’s Commander that continues to drive the demand for this card — also allowing an opportunity to snap up a few extra for the collection due to more copies being available in the wild.
#4 Dracogenesis
Dracogenesis
Tarkir: Dragonstorm, Mythic
A Dragon’s approach to Omniscience is an incredible hit from Tarkir: Dragonstorm in Dracogenesis, which allows you to cast those Dragon spells without paying any of their mana costs. Historically, Dragons are mana-intensive as much as they are (mana) hungry, meaning having access to a card that bypasses these problems is ideal. Sure, it’s a “win more” card when it comes to Commander, but that’s the reason why the card is so valuable at the time of publication, and this is because casual players often gravitate towards these styles of cards.
Market Price: $19.66
Market Price: $45.68
Market Price: $172.90
Furthermore, Draconic Showcase, Halo Foil, and Ghostfire Showcase Frame printings are all running at a premium right now, and this is due to Commander players wanting the nicest variants for their The Ur-Dragon deck.
#3 Mox Jasper
Mox Jasper
Tarkir: Dragonstorm, Mythic
Mox Jasper shares a similar sentiment to Dracogenesis in the sense it’s a “win more” card that perfectly encapsulates the vibes and themes of playing a Dragon strategy in Commander. Another reason Mox Jasper is retaining some value despite the significant price drop upon Tarkir: Dragonstorm release day is that the card shares naming conventions with some of Magic: The Gathering’s most iconic cards in Mox Sapphire and company. Having a card that’s loosely associated with the Power Nine will always garner attention from players, and Mox Jasper is no different.
Market Price: n/a
Market Price: $27.57
Market Price: $39.07
However, it’s worth mentioning that the Retro Frame serialized printing of Mox Jasper is by far and away the most expensive card you can open in Tarkir: Dragonstorm despite only being limited to Collector Boosters. However, hitting any copy of Mox Jasper will be valuable (especially with Draconic Showcase variants).
#2 Elspeth, Storm Slayer
Elspeth, Storm Slayer
Tarkir: Dragonstorm, Mythic
Any card that comes with casual and competitive overlap is often highly desirable by players, which is why Elspeth, Storm Slayer continues to be one of the most valuable cards you can open from Tarkir: Dragonstorm. For five mana, Elspeth offers quite a lot that extends to becoming another copy of Anointed Procession, a card that already sees extensive Commander play. From creating tokens to removing high-mana value threats, this iteration of Elspeth packs a punch — and one that will see play in various circles for a long time.
Market Price: $43.86
Market Price: $96.20
Market Price: $347.16
Unsurprisingly, the Borderless, Ghostfire Showcase, and Halo Foil printings of Elspeth, Storm Slayer are already commanding the most increased premium at the time of publication, with these prices likely climbing the further we move away from Tarkir: Dragonstorm.
#1 Ugin, Eye of the Storms
Ugin, Eye of the Storms
Tarkir: Dragonstorm, Mythic
If you’ve been following Tarkir: Dragonstorm closely over the last few weeks, it may not come as a shock to see Ugin, Eye of the Storms as the most valuable non-serialized card you can open in Tarkir: Dragonstorm. For a convenient seven colorless mana, Ugin incorporates card draw, life gain, exile-based removal, and a way to find any number of colorless cards and cast them without paying their mana costs (from exile) — which is to say, this card basically does everything. It’s incredible in any Commander strategy that can leverage colorless spells and even in Modern’s Urza Tron that uses the iconic Urza’s Mine, Urza’s Tower, Urza’s Power Plant to cast high-costed colorless spells ahead of schedule and Ugin, Eye of the Storms is a remarkable payoff for having access to all of that mana.
Market Price: $522.39
Market Price: $152.97
Market Price: $56.85
And since Ugin, Eye of the Storms is the most expensive card you can open in Tarkir: Dragonstorm Play and Collector Boosters, this also applies to the Halo Foil Ghostfire Frame printing, which is the most valuable card from this highly collectible subset, where the same also extends to the Borderless Reverse Dragon printings of the Planeswalker.