Last updated on November 21, 2025
Keranos, God of Storms | Illustration by Daarken
This week has been pretty hectic for the Magic card market. Avatar: The Last Airbender officially launches on paper tomorrow, the PlayStation Secret Lair is still pushing prices up in Commander, and the Modern format is even more interested in a counterspell from Modern Horizons 3.
Keranos, God of Storms: Old God, New PlayStation Hype
Kratos, Stoic Father | Illustration by Nathaniel Himawan
Keranos, God of Storms has roughly tripled since November started, jumping from the low single digits to around $9–11. It was priced at around $3 for most of the year; then jumped to about $4 by the start of November, and nowadays its near-mint copies go for almost $10 in the US market.
Source: MTGStocks
The reason is pretty straightforward: The PlayStation Secret Lair, specifically Kratos, Stoic Father partnering with Atreus, Impulsive Son. Kratos wants Gods, Keranos is one of the better Izzet options, and now it shows up in two out of three Kratos/Atreus decks.
Keranos is also a fairly rare card, with only two printings (the Journey into Nyx original and one Secret Lair), so supply isn’t huge and scarcity always pushes prices up.
Modern Serenades
While Keranos, God of Storms‘s price spike is all about casual popularity, Strix Serenade‘s is due to its competitive edge.
Or, better said, its increased competitive edge: This blue instant was already seeing cEDH play (on top of being quite popular in casual Commander brews, since it can stop commanders for one mana), but what's has pushing up the price now is an uptick of interest among Modern players:
Source: MTGTop 8
Strix Serenade reached the #1 spot in the Atlanta Pro Tour in a Landless Belcher deck, and this month is seeing a ton of play in Jeskai Ephemerate decks. And, in Magic, success often breeds price spikes!
Source: TCGplayer
Appa, Steadfast Guardian: Mythic Sky Bison, Mythic Price
Yeah, well, the puns write themselves in this case: A flying sky bison, with sky-high prices. Appa, Steadfast Guardian regular copies have roughly tripled over the past week, sitting around $20–25 now and up from around $7-$8 a few days ago.
This is one of the biggest price spikes this week, but comes with a pretty clear caveat: Cards from a new set tend to drop a lot once the set releases, and Avatar: The Last Airbender officially releases tomorrow (November 21).
That being said, it's not common for pre-release prices to bounce back up right before launch, which makes Appa, Steadfast Guardian notable.
Source: MTGStocks
There seems to be two conflating reasons here.
First, Appa, Steadfast Guardian seems very popular among players brewing with other Avatar commanders. Appa frequently shows up in the 99 when Avatar Aang, Fire Lord Zuko, or Katara, The Fearless are in the command zone, and these are themselves three of the most popular Avatar commanders.
But, second, Appa is already showing some promise in Standard, as seen in online leagues (TLA has already released on MTGO and MTG Arena, so online players have already had two days to try the new TLA cards in a competitive environment).
Norin the Wary
Compared to the flashy spikes above, Norin the Wary is having a quieter moment. Over the last week it’s up about 30%, with roughly 50% gains over the last month, taking original Time Spiral copies close to the $10 mark.
Source: MTGStocks
The likely reason? Like Appa, Norin the Wary is often included in new brews with Fire Lord Zuko in the command zone. And while Zuko is way behind Toph, the First Metalbender and Fire Lord Azula, he's still one of the most popular Avatar commanders.
Wrap Up
Bruvac the Grandiloquent | Illustration by Ekaterina Burmak
All four of these movers are riding different waves:
- Keranos, God of Storms is going to bat for Kratos' God Team,
- Strix Serenade is a competitive workhorse which was already pulling its weight in two different formats, and now is seeing even more play in top-tier Modern decks.
- Appa, Steadfast Guardian looks good with some of the most popular Avatar Commanders… but it may also be just about to make waves in Standard. Just remember that pre-release prices tend to drop (abruptly!) once a set officially launches on tabletop.
- Norin the Wary has joined the Fire Nation and is serving under Fire Lord Zuko‘s banner.
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