In the wild world of Magic there is always a new product being released. This Friday, the four Commander 2017 decks will be released and, with them, a ton of new cards and reprints to excite us all. This week we’re going to talk about the biggest hits and misses of each deck and where I expect the future of these cards to land.

New Cards of Note

With every Commander 2017 release, there are about 50 new cards and a lot of the most exciting ones are the new legendary Commander creatures. This release is no different and it’s clear the creatures with eminence are the early winners. Kess, Dissident Mage, The Ur-Dragon, Mairsil, the Pretender, Inalla, Archmage Ritualist, Ramos, Dragon Engine, and Arahbo, Roar of the World are all over $5 each at the moment and are likely to remain that way as they are pretty unique and powerful additions in their colors. If you haven’t pre-ordered them yet and are looking to play them I don’t expect them to really go down much. If you want to look at the some Commanders from last year you can see the most popular, Atraxa, Breya, and Vial Smasher haven’t seen any decrease in price and the rest of the partner commanders continue to climb.

Outside of the Commanders, the clear far and away most unique and powerful card is Teferi's Protection. This card is like a reverse Cyclonic Rift and is the type of card that could see play in basically every deck. Due to the fact that is brings back phasing (side note — who decided this was a good idea?) it makes it extremely unlikely to be printed again. It’s pre-ordering for $15 and honestly I think that will probably be it’s near term maximum but it’s impossible to really figure out how many players want to add it to existing decks. That’s the kind of demand that could drive the price up for the long term. If you want one, I don’t think it’s getting cheaper.

The other big winner long term is going to be Path of Ancestry. It’s easy to overlook it as a card that will only be included in tribal decks but this is really just another copy of Command Tower for everyone. Unlike Opal Palace, it doesn’t filter mana, but it does come into play tapped. For three-color decks it’s basically the same as a Tri-land they were already playing and with 4/5 color decks it’s even better. It’s important to note, even if you just use this to cast your Commander, you will be given the ability to scry a few times. I’ve already personally pre-ordered four extra copies for my existing Commander decks that aren’t tribal because it’s great fixing. I am a bit worried it won’t be included in every product like Sol Ring and Command Tower but will end up being almost as popular and quite expensive as a result.

Reprints of Note

While there aren’t any real blockbuster needed reprints, there are some I would like to point as being very important. Mirari's Wake is the most expensive, selling for about $10, and only included in the Cat deck (Feline Ferocity). It’s a great card for a lot of Commander decks and was not reprinted since Conspiracy 3 years ago. Previous to this, it had topped out around $20 so this is a great reprint to slash the price in half. It may go a little lower if more of the cat cards get popular so I wouldn’t rush out to get copies if you don’t need them right now. I think it could go as low as $8 before it starts to climb back up.

Captivating Vampire is one of the few lords that are in Vampire tribal and definitely one of the most powerful lords ever printed. Previously this was relegated to only a few core set printings, so it was quite expensive. Vampire tribal also really didn’t have a good gold Vampire Commander that encouraged tribal. Going forward I think this card will rise from its current $5 price tag because we already know there will be some White vampires in Ixalan. Edgar Markov makes Mardu vampire tribal very appealing and this will always be included.

Many colorless tribal cards could have been reprinted, and we’ve already seen how the ones that didn’t get reprinted react. Urza's Incubator has doubled in price and I don’t think that Door of Destinies is destined to stay this cheap. It’s the kind of card that every deck would want and will not stay this low. I would make the comparison to Chromatic Lantern in Commander 2016. Lantern was reprinted and saw a quick drop and then immediately rebounded as it was only included in 1 of the 5 decks and players needed far more than got printed. I would be surprised if most players didn’t end up adding Door of Destinies to their other decks and could cause it to spike pretty quickly from its current price of about $5.

Upgrades

If you’re looking to buy the decks and worried about the next cards to get bought up before you can grab one, I have a few suggestions.

Balefire Dragon is one of the most powerful dragons if you are able to actually connect with it. Dragon decks often turn into a deck easily capable of granting haste to connect with a big flier. Karrthus is another one of those haste enablers as well as being great against other dragon decks. The dragon deck seems to be the most popular (based on how many retailers are sold out) and Karrthus is the kind of card everyone will play once it beats them.

Brimaz, King of Oreskos is the best cat not included in the deck and has already seen a little climb. If you want to really embrace the cat theme, I think he’s one of the best 3-drops you can play and makes a huge impact when you can buff him with Arahbo. Captain Sisay isn’t a cat, but there are so many legendary cats that you can play that she can draw the perfect one for you every turn. Be careful. If you play too much Sisay, you often just turn your deck into a legendary toolbox deck and then Sisay ends up just being better as your Commander!

These two mythic vampires are the most popular ones not included in the pre-con. Vampire Nocturnus has a few promo printings but I don’t think that will matter if players end up really embracing the deck. It’s currently available for about $5 and I wouldn’t wait to get one if you know you really want to play vampires. Necropolis Regent isn’t a vampire tribal card, per se, but it’s a huge flying creature that makes all of your creatures into huge threats. I think it’s very powerful with all of the vampire tokens that Edgar Markov can make and will find its way into every vampire deck. These are basically bulk mythic pricing right now so grab one for $3 while you still can!

Turns out there are not a whole lot of “wizard” lords, but there are some weird ones. Stonybrook Banneret makes all of your creatures cost less, which I’ve learned is usually pretty good. Right now, they’re bulk commons from Morningtide; but, if I’ve learned anything from Devoted Druid, it really doesn’t matter. Devoted Druid is a $9 common from Shadowmoor, so it wouldn’t surprise me if Stonybrook Banneret could be a $3-4 common from Morningtide. Docent of Perfection looks weird at first because it doesn’t really do anything to help wizards on the front. Final Iteration, however, is quite devastating; and, when your deck is mostly wizards, it’s pretty easy to flip the Docent of Perfection and give your team +2/+1 and flying. Think of this guy as like the Wizard Nocturnus.

Final Thoughts

This Commander series is jam packed with value and every deck is worth way more than the MSRP right now. If you’re new to the format or a veteran, there is a lot you can get out of these pre-cons. If you’ve never played but are interested, make sure to check out the free give away that Gathering Magic is doing for an Arcane Wizardry deck!