MTG Weekly Price Spikes: 7/11 – 7/17

Last updated on July 17, 2026

Ellie and Alan, Paleontologists | Illustration by Zoltan Boros

This week’s we've had a little bit of everything in the Magic card market: a bittersweet collector-driven spike, early speculation around The Hobbit, and Marvel Super Heroes cards still refusing to leave the spotlight.

Let’s take a look at a week where sentiment, speculation, and real demand all hit the MTG market at once! 

Ellie and Alan, Paleontologists

This is a bit of a sad one. Ellie and Alan, Paleontologists had a huge spike this week, multiplying its price roughly by 10x, after actor Sam Neill (who played paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant in the Jurassic Park franchise, which made him so popular that he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire) passed away earlier this week.

Source: MTGStocks

Ellie and Alan, Paleontologists, from the Jurassic World Collection, is not an unplayable card… but it's very far from being a competitive staple or a popular Bant commander. This looks pretty clearly a buyout from collectors and speculators that have dried up the market upon the news.

Dwarven Recruiter

Marvel Super Heroes marked the start of Squirrel Season, with several squirrel-matters cards spiking after The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl became that set's most popular commander…

… but now that WotC's hype machine has shifted to the upcoming The Hobbit crossover, it looks like dwarves may be the new squirrels!

Two days ago, Magic's Head Designer Mark Rosewater confirmed in his personal blog that Dwarves are getting additional support…

Source: Mark Rosewater's Blog

… but savvy Magic players had already seen that coming: Dwarven Recruiter has been slowly going up since the start of the year, going from way less than $1 to over $3 by the end of last week.

Source: MTGStocks

Mark Rosewater's confirmation pushed this red Dwarf tutor even higher, though, spiking an extra 50% since he confirmed that Dwarves are coming.

There's still a risk that the card will get reprinted in The Hobbit, which would obviously lower the price… but, on the other hand, if Dwarves become really popular, Dwarven Recruiter may keep going higher!

Namor the Sub-Mariner

Marvel Super Heroes is still making waves in the Magic card market, though: Namor the Sub-Mariner has become a popular Merfolk commander in casual EDH decks, while showing competitive punch in Standard, Modern, and even Legacy.

Source: MTGStocks

Even high-profile players like Andrea Mengucci are highlighting Namor the Sub-Mariner‘s decks, pushing the price up by more than 300% since a month ago, and nearly 50% in the last seven days.

Doctor Octopus, Master Planner

Doctor Octopus, Master Planner‘s climb has slowed down a bit since last week, when we reported his spike to over $7 (thanks to how Doc Oc mass-pumps your villains, which is in high demand among Villain commanders like Doctor Doom, King of Latveria and Loki, the Deceiver). But although lower, he hasn't stopped, now moving past $8.

Source: MTGStocks

It goes to show that heroes may be cool and all… but there's just nothing like being the bad guy for a change!