The Magic: The Gathering card Mesmeric Orb has seen a price increase of 290%, thanks to the release of the MTG Fallout commander decks. This one’s been a slow burn, as we can track the start of this price rise to October last year. Back then, the card was at rest at $4, but it started to gradually climb around October, reaching $7 last week, before suddenly doubling to hit its current value of $15.60.
Mesmeric Orb is an artifact card that’s designed for Mill-based strategies. Each time a player untaps a permanent, they have to mill one card into their graveyard. This effect doesn’t do much at first, but with players untapping seven or eight lands each turn – plus whatever creatures and mana rocks they control – it can quickly add up.
There’s one particular MTG Commander that’s caused this artifact to rise in price: The Wise Mothman from MTG Fallout. Mesmeric Orb is a shoe-in for this deck, synergising particularly well with The Mothman’s creature-buffing ability.
That’s because the Mothman gives a +1/+1 counter each time one or more non-land permanent is milled. That usually limits the effectiveness of spells and effects that mill multiple cards at once, but the way Mesmeric Orb works, each permanent is a separate instance of milling.
That means, just going once around the table, you can easily stack dozens of +1/+1 counters on your creatures, finishing foes off with combat damage or commander damage from the big moth itself.
The Fallout Commanders were revealed on October 19, 2023 – sure enough, just before Mesmeric Orb began to rise in price. And Magic The Gathering: Fallout got its full release on March 8, 2024 – around the point the card truly spiked.
If you’re looking to soup up your Wise Mothman Commander deck and don’t mind the retro border, you can actually still get a copy of Mesmeric Orb for cheaper than $15. The old frame version from The Brothers’ War is going for $10.80 right now, according to MTG Goldfish. It was $5 a few weeks ago, so this version’s clearly spiking too.
For more Magic: The Gathering news, check out the best MTG Mill cards or the most expensive MTG cards around.