The Magic: The Gathering legendary creature card Neyith of the Dire Hunt has spiked in price by 250%. This card was valued at roughly $4 a fortnight ago, according to MTG Goldfish’s price tracker. Since then it’s shot up to $14.
A classic Gruul MTG commander card, Neyith of the Dire Hunt is all about creature combat. She helpfully lets you draw a card when your own creatures fight or get blocked, but this isn’t where her utility ends. She also has an activated ability that doubles the power value of one of your creatures and then forces your opponents to block them, enabling her card draw ability.
This makes Neyith a fun commander in her own right, and an invaluable card in a bunch of Gruul and Jund EDH decks.
Recently, we’ve seen the sudden launch of a new red/green commander in the form of Wolverine, Best There Is, who appears to be the main cause of this spike. This card, from the controversial Marvel Secret Lairs, deals double damage and gets buffed with +1/+1 counters each turn he’s dealt damage to a creature. He also has an activated ability that lets him regenerate, keeping him safe from dying to combat damage.
That means if you’re running a Wolverine deck, you’re going to want to be forcing blocks and fighting as much as you possibly can. Neyith provides both an enabler and a payoff for this strategy, ensuring that Wolverine gets blocked during your turn, and letting you draw cards each time Logan dives into the fray. Already we can see that, of the 1,000 Wolverine decks logged on EDHREC, 56% contain Neyith.
One factor that will have added to this price spike is the fact that Neyith has never had a reprint. She has only ever appeared in the original Jumpstart MTG set in 2020. That means there aren’t many copies in circulation, so it doesn’t take much demand for the price to start ratcheting up.
For more Magic: The Gathering content, check out the MTG release schedule for 2025 – you’ll find all sorts of details about upcoming sets like Aetherdrift and Edge of Eternities.