When thinking about chase cards from the new MTG set Secrets of Strixhaven, the elder dragons are probably the first cards to come to mind. After all, they have incredibly powerful effects that soup up all of your instants and sorceries, not to mention the fact that they're freaking elder dragons, and that's just inherently cool. There is one card from the set that currently outvalues them all, though, Emeritus of Woe.
Excluding cards from the Mystical Archives bonus sheet and cards with fancy alternative art treatments, at the present moment, Emeritus of Woe is the most valuable card from Secrets of Strixhaven. TCGplayer sets its market price at $23.95 (£17.75), while MTGGoldfish gives it an estimated value of $29.99 (£22). Considering that it has Demonic Tutor, one of the very best MTG cards, stapled to it as a Prepare effect that's perhaps unsurprising.
Emeritus of Woe is a black vampire warlock. For four mana, it's a 5/4 that enters play prepared, allowing its controller to cast Demonic Tutor and search through their deck for any other card. It then becomes prepared again, allowing demonic tutor to be recast, at the beginning of the end step on one of its controller's turns when at least two creatures died.
The closest competitor to Emeritus of Woe isn't one of the Elder Dragons, who all command roughly 20 dollar price tags, but is instead another academic, Emeritus of Ideation. The competition is pretty fierce with TCGplayer putting Emeritus of Ideation's value at $23.85 (£17.66), only ten cents lower than that of its Woe spreading rival.
Given that the Secrets of Strixhaven prerelease only occurred last Friday evening, and the set doesn't even formally release until next Friday, this is a story that's only just beginning. Neither of these two scholars has made their way into the meta yet, and their competitive performance is sure to shape their future financial value.
Are there any Secrets of Strixhaven chase cards that you're hunting for? Come along to the Wargamer Discord and let us know what you're hoping to open.
And, of course, there are plenty of cards out there out significantly more valuable than Emeritus of Woe. Take a look at our list of the most expensive MTG cards to see the priciest of them all.