We’ve spotted another Magic: The Gathering price spike. The MTG card Cauldron Familiar is on the rise, with a 300% price increase in the last few weeks, and a whopping 900% for foil versions. Cauldron Familiar, printed in MTG set Throne of Eldraine, is played in all sorts of sacrifice decks, where it’s known and feared for its combo with Witch’s Oven. The maleficent mog basically exists to be baked into pies, always leaping back from the grave at the expense of your life total.
Cauldron Familiar began its price rise back in June, starting at $1, but the increase has swiftly accelerated in the last few days, reaching its current peak of $4. In the same time period, foil versions of the card have made an even more dramatic leap, from $2.50 all the way to $25 (going by MTG Goldfish prices). Best be digging out those shiny kitties if you’ve got ‘em.
What has caused this hard-to-kill card to get (another) new lease on life? Well, it always made a decent showing in the MTG Pioneer format, making it to the finals in the June Dallas Dreamhack. We’ve seen Pioneer cause plenty of recent price spikes – most recently a number of cards were boosted by the Boros Convoke build.
An infinite combo can often prompt Magic fans to go crazy for an old card, and there is a new one using Cauldron Familiar and Samwise Gamgee. It’s pretty straightforward: you just need the two cards and any repeatable sac outlet, like Viscera Seer. Each time you bring back Cauldron Familiar, Sam will make a food token, so you can just go off, sacrificing and resurrecting the cat with no need for ovens, draining your opponents for infinite life.
There are plenty of price spikes being generated by MTG Lord of the Rings cards, as fans dig up new synergies and combos. For instance, this week Kiora Bests the Sea God is on the up, and many weeks ago we saw a price jump caused by an infinite combo with a very old spell.
Notably, Cauldron Familiar reached a similar price around June 2021 after the release of Modern Horizons 2, where The Underworld Cookbook and Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar provided new possibilities for food sacrifice synergy. This is by far the priciest the foils have ever been, however.
For more MTG content, check out our list of the best MTG Arena decks right now, and all of the available MTG Arena codes. And if you can’t wait for more fairytale felines, check out all we know about MTG Wilds of Eldraine.