The Magic: The Gathering card Need for Speed has seen a sizable increase in price, going from $2.50 on August 11 to $9.45 today. This 278% rise began immediately after the Avatar: The Last Airbender spoilers were shown off the following day, giving us an instant suspect for who's responsible.
But first, a quick look at the card itself. Released in the Odyssey MTG set in 2001, Need for Speed is a one mana enchantment card that lets you sacrifice lands to give creatures haste.
It's pretty decent in EDH decks that want to be sacrificing lands, so saw some play as an upgrade for the recent Jund Commander precon. But that's not why this card is spiking.
Instead, it's the hyped-up Avatar commander, Toph, The First Metalbender that is causing this enchantment to skyrocket in value. While we've previously looked at cards that can make use of Toph's first ability to make all artifacts count as lands, Need for Speed depends on both halves of the card.
Along with her static ability, Toph also has the earthbend keyword, which means she can animate one land each turn and give it the power to return when removed from the game, even if put into exile. But because she makes artifacts lands, you're almost always going to want to use this ability on one of your artifact cards.
Being able to repeatedly bring back your artifacts is pretty powerful. You can use it with Solemn Simulacrum or Ichor Wellspring for little value plays, or sacrifice and reanimate a Portal to Phyrexia to devastate your opponents. And of course you get landfall triggers each time your artifacts come back.
In order to achieve any of this, though, you'll need a sac outlet. And cards that sacrifice lands tend to be a lot more mana efficient than cards that sacrifice artifacts, since the cost of crippling your mana base is assumed to be higher. That's ultimately the value of Need for Speed in this deck: a mana-efficient sac outlet with a haste-enabling ability that may also be useful here and there.
I'm not sure how strong Toph actually is, but what is certain is that she's the gift that keeps on giving for brewers and speculators alike!
How do you feel about this card - is it busted, or trying to combine too many themes? Come join the conversation in our Discord group. You should also check out our MTG release schedule guide and list of the best MTG commanders.