The classic elemental commander card Animar, Soul of Elements has seen a pretty sudden price spike. The most recent version of this Magic: The Gathering card has risen the most, jumping from $11.50 to $58.60 in just the past 12 days.
That 410% rise is for the Double Masters version with the new art. Other variants aren't quite so pricey, with the original version from the first Commander product going for $46 and the Mystery Booster variant (easily identified by the big symbol in the rules box) still selling for $37. But all copies have very suddenly gone up in value by at least $25.
There's a simple reason for this. Animar, Soul of Elements is a fantastic addition to the new Lorwyn Eclipsed MTG precon Dance of the Elements.
That's because it's a creature-focused elemental card, and the Dance of the Elements deck encourages you to play as many elemental creature cards as possible.
Animar gets larger for each creature you cast, and also reduces the cost of your creatures as he grows. At first glance, you might not immediately see why he's such a great addition to the deck. After all, his ability doesn't trigger off creatures entering, only from casting them, so you don't get to double up his triggers when you use Ashling to make token copies.
But it's the cost-reducing effect that makes Animar a fantastic choice if you're looking to upgrade your precon, because it synergizes so well with Ashling's evoke power. You only need to get four counters onto Animar and then with Ashling on the field too you can evoke your elementals for free.
That's the best case situation, and if you can pull it off with a full grip you're sure to have an explosive turn. But even if you don't manage this the card is still great. Getting a couple of counters onto your Animar can easily make the difference between evoking one card per turn and evoking two or three, so it dramatically speeds up your deck.
Which Lorwyn precon are you most amped for? Let us know over on the Wargamer Discord.