The MTG card Court of Vantress has seen a pretty impressive 360% spike in price, going from just $3.30 a couple of weeks ago, to $15.17 as of April 12.
The card is pretty recent, an EDH-only card released in Wilds of Eldraine, though not in either of its Commander precon decks. When cast, it gives its owner the Monarch status, and if they maintain it till their next upkeep, they get to have a copy of any enchantment or artifact they choose from the board.
The reason this card is spiking is not too hard to discern. It’s that juicy MTG commander Obeka, Splitter of Seconds, who has already racked up 1,900 decks on EDHREC: not bad for a card that hasn’t even been released yet.
Now we’ve pointed to that cause, there’s not too much clever analysis left to do, except to sigh wistfully and imagine how sweet it would be to have heavily bought up Obeka cards when the MTG Outlaws of Thunder Junction commander was first revealed.
There are at least three cards currently spiking thanks to Obeka, and we expect there’s likely to be more in the future. Darksteel Reactor is an alternate win condition that gets much more viable in Obeka’s deck, Descent into Avernus is a group slug card that gives out treasures and pain, and in much greater quantities in Obeka.
And now Court of Vantress is spiking, which with Obeka is almost guaranteed to get you a clone, as you can wrench back the Monarch in combat, and then go straight to your second upkeep phase.
For more price spike stories, check out this rare zombie card that seems to have jumped in price thanks to increased (or perhaps sustained) interest in the MTG creature type. And don’t miss our guide to the most expensive MTG cards of all.