Ah, Legacy - the Magic: The Gathering format where nothing is true, and every card is permitted (as long as you've got the scratch to pay for it). This high powered corner of Magic tends to drive up demand for previously little known cards, the moment they find a place in a popular deck. The latest is Sand Scout, a two drop creature from Thunder Junction which now sells for $7, after years of being worth less than a buck.
When it came out as part of the Outlaws of Thunder Junction Commander MTG set in April 2024, Sand Scout was worth around $2, but quickly dropped to a floor of 30 cents and stayed there for a year. Its value crept up throughout 2025 to around a dollar, as it started seeing play in Commander decks of various flavors.
Lorwyn Eclipsed bumped it up to around $2.30, but since MTG x TMNT officially released on March 6, it's rocketed up over 200%, with a current average sale price of $7, more than twice what it cost on release day in 2024.
A two drop 2/2 White creature, Sand Scout doesn't look too hot, at face value. Its first ability is a land catch-up that relies on using Deserts - not a terribly popular subtype, in general. But it's the second ability - using land destruction to spawn creature tokens - that's helped this silicate spy slot into Magic's most busted format.
Sand Scout has found its place in Ocelot Pride Midrange, a ~$2,500 White, Black, and Red Legacy deck that works by chaining life gain and lots of token creatures. Guide of Souls gives you life (and energy tokens) every time you play a creature - then, every end step, Ocelot Pride spawns more cats, gaining you more life, and so on.
Ajani, Nacatl Pariah is here to spawn more cats, deal out damage when he does, and generally add value. In this mix, Sand Scout does double duty: sacrificing your surplus lands gives you extra token creatures, triggering the core life gain loop, while also slowing your opponent's mana curve so your cheap tokens can dominate.
According to MTGGoldfish rankings, Ocelot Pride Midrange currently makes up about 7.5% of the entire Legacy meta, making it the format's second most popular archetype after the infamous Dimir Tempo.
Since Legacy allows you to use any cards in your deck (except those on the MTG banlist), its decks are filled with the most powerful cards in the game's history, including some of the most expensive MTG cards out there. By Legacy standards, therefore, Ocelot Pride Midrange's two and a half grand price tag is relatively tame. Dimir Tempo decklists will cost you closer to $5,000.
That's far too rich for my blood, so I'll stick to getting trashed in MTG Arena drafts, thanks very much. If you're a Legacy player and want to show me what I'm missing (and why I actually should drop used car money on a deck), come join the free Wargamer Discord community, where we're always chatting all things tabletop - from the priciest silliness to the cheapest deals.