The Magic: The Gathering card Inti, Seneschal of the Sun is starting to spike in price. This rare red card is still plenty cheap, but it has doubled in value since the latest set, Aetherdrift, came out, and still seems to be climbing. On February 14, the card cost $2, but now it’s up to $4. Interestingly, this is one of those cards where the regular version is the most expensive – and you can get both foils and special treatment versions for a little bit less.
Released in the MTG set Lost Caverns of Ixalan in 2023, Inti Seneschal of the Sun is a red two-drop that’s designed around discarding cards and impulse draw. First of all, it lets you discard when you attack, buffing a creature as you do so. Secondly, it lets you exile a card from your library (and potentially play it that turn) whenever you discard anything.
Inti saw some play in the best MTG Arena decks very early on in 2024, but was soon supplanted by other options. There are so many good creatures for red in the one and two drop slots especially, so competition was fierce.
Now, however, this dino-riding legendary creature has a new, perhaps slightly unlikely, home. It’s getting played in Standard, in a new version of the Azorius Oculus deck.
Abhorrent Oculus was one of the most impactful and valuable cards released in MTG Duskmourn in late 2024. Its ability to spit out tokens, while being an enormous undercosted flying creature, helped it kickstart its own deck, designed to get around its tricky casting restrictions. This deck is all about filling your graveyard quickly, then either casting Abhorrent Oculus the regular way, or resurrecting a copy from the yard with a cheap white spell like Helping Hand.
But after Pro Tour Aetherdrift, a version of this deck that runs red is ramping up in popularity. This deck uses cards like Fear of Missing Out and Steamcore Scholar to get as much drawing and discarding going as possible. Profit’s Eidetic Memory then allows you to use that draw to make your creatures huge.
In this deck, Inti is obviously useful in helping you discard an Abhorrent Oculus or other card from your hand, but the deck’s in no shortage of ways to do that. Its impulse draw is also great, virtually ensuring you never miss a land drop, no matter how many lands you choose to discard. Finally, the ability to give a creature trample should not be overlooked. This can help you get in for massive damage with one of your turbo-charged creatures.
While we’re not yet sure if it’ll be a flash in the pan, or remain a top contender, Jeskai Oculus looks like a wicked deck, able to pull off some really big turns out of nowhere.
For more news, you should keep an eye on our Magic: The Gathering release schedule guide, to find out about upcoming sets like Tarkir: Dragonstorm and MTG Final Fantasy.