The MTG dinosaur card Tyrant Trapjaw is rising in price. At the end of October it cost $10 on MTGGoldfish, but now it’s up to $15.57, an increase of just over 50%. The Tyrant is part of a decent sized herd of dinosaur cards climbing in price in anticipation of the upcoming Ixalan release.
The best dinosaur Magic: The Gathering cards that don’t appear in MTG Lost Caverns of Ixalan are getting more expensive, as fans go after copies for their dino decks. Tyrant Trapjaw has been trending upwards since September (back then it was only $6!), but it seems to have really started spiking from October 31 onwards, rising by five or six dollars in as many days.
That may just be because the hype for Ixalan is intensifying as the MTG set’s release date comes closer. However, it could also be the case that some buyers were waiting to see if the card got reprinted. Now we know Trapjaw Tyrant isn’t in Lost Caverns, it makes sense that it would shoot up in price.
It’s worth comparing to another dinosaur card we’ve been keeping track of, Gishath, Sun’s Avatar. This three-color dinosaur is a fan-favorite MTG commander (in fact it seems like most people want Trapjaw Tyrants to go in their Gishath decks). In the weeks before Ixalan, Gishath climbed from $30 to $50. But then, on October 24 a reprint was revealed in the Lost Caverns of Ixalan debut stream, and the card’s price tumbled all the way back down.
Other hot dinosaur cards that didn’t get reprinted in Lost Caverns of Ixalan include Polyraptor, which can create an infinite army of clones in the right deck, and Silverclad Ferocidons, which forces opponents to sacrifice creatures. Both have seen their prices go up in the last few days.
We’d expect dinosaur card prices to rise still further over the next couple of weeks as people actually get their hands on Lost Caverns of Ixalan and start casting about for good fits for their MTG Commander decks.
For more price stories, check out this unbanned Commander card that’s seeing a new lease on life or our list of the most expensive MTG cards. And for those who like freebies, make sure you’ve used all the MTG Arena codes currently available.