The Warhammer MTG card Birth of the Imperium has shot up in price – a bombastic jump of 1216%. This saga from the Magic: The Gathering x Warhammer 40k crossover decks cost $0.60 towards the end of June, but in the last couple of weeks has leaped to its current price point of $7.90. What happened in that time that could explain the rise? Well a quick glance at the MTG release schedule shows it was MTG Lord of the Rings’ release date on June 20.
And indeed, it appears to be a Lord of the Rings card that has boosted this Warhammer enchantment, alongside a number of other powerful sagas, notably Kiora Bests the Sea God. One of the most popular MTG Lord of the Rings commanders, Tom Bombadil, would appear to be the culprit.
On EDHREC, this Saga-focused commander already has over 3000 decks submitted, making it the second-most brewed legendary creature in the set – second only to Sauron, The Dark Lord. That suggests there are a lot of Bombadil Commander decks kicking about.
And the card specifically needs sagas, meaning any generically powerful saga cards are in. Birth of the Imperium works best in token decks, but it creates relevant bodies, forces some removal, and draws you cards – three pieces of value that will never be unwelcome. Going by EDHREC again, it seems Birth of the Imperium is currently in 70% of posted Tom Bombadil decks.
That explains the demand for this card, and it’s also likely to be in fairly limited supply, given that it was only printed in the Warhammer Commander decks, which always get snapped up swiftly when a new batch is released. It might be prudent to keep an eye on another MTG Warhammer 40k saga, The Horus Heresy, which has already risen in price a little bit.
It seems every week some card or other gets boosted by the Lord of the Rings MTG set. Last week, for instance, Cauldron Familiar got a new lease on life, thanks to an unlikely combo with Samwise Gamgee.
For some EDH excitement, here’s our list of the very best MTG commanders. Or If you’re more a digital player than paper, check out these lists of free MTG Arena codes, and the best MTG Arena decks.