Forgotten Odyssey Enchantment Spikes 400% in Price

Last updated on August 21, 2025

Narset, Enlightened Master | Illustration by Magali Villeneuve

Need for Speed is the latest hot thing in Magic. No, worry not: That's not a new Universes Beyond crossover, this has nothing to do with the videogame franchise coming to MTG.

But a very old, fringe-playable red enchantment is going fast and furious this week, and has more than quadrupled in price since the start of the month…

… although why has Need for Speed gone crazy is not entirely clear.

Need for Speed Goes Fast and Furious

Chandra, Spark Hunter – Illustration by Devin Elle Kurtz

An old Odyssey rare, Need for Speed is quite an obscure red enchantment but not entirely unplayable: It's fringe-playable in cEDH (which, as we'll see in a bit it may be the reason why it's spiking right now), and this combination of scarcity and playability has kept Need for Speed‘s price at about $2 for years.

And, while it's not entirely clear why, it's very clear that Need for Speed has hit pedal to the metal in August: Its average listed price has jumped more than 400% this month (with half of that gain happening this very week), to over $9 for mint copies in US markets: 

Source: MTGStocks

As it's often the case when an old card with no reprints spikes this hard, inventories are running very low – there are just a handful of listings on TCGplayer at the time of writing…

Source: TCGplayer – Need for Speed (ODY), near-mint

… and Need for Speed shows as Sold Out at Card Kingdom.

Why Is Need for Speed Spiking?

That would be an excellent question!

Need for Speed definitely has no clue of what a 60-card deck looks like, so the price driver here (besides its scarcity) is very likely the Commander format.

There seems to be three main suspects, although none of them is the clear culprit: Interest in Edge of Eternities‘ Hearthhull, the Worldseed; a small uptick in cEDH results; and Avatar: The Last Airbender hype.

Hearthhull Ahoy

Hearthhull, the Worldseed is hands down the most popular commander from Edge of Eternities, and some brewers were recommending Need for Speed as an upgrade to the World Shaper Commander Precon as soon as it was revealed:

While this EDH precon is all about sacrificing lands and recurring them, Need for Speed‘s inclusion data from EDHREC doesn't seem to strongly support this theory: Only about 3% of Hearthhull, the Worldseed‘s use Need for Speed (and numbers for when Szarel, Genesis Shepherd is in the command zone are similar).

This doesn't entirely disprove the theory, though: With how popular Hearthhull, the Worldseed, a small percentage is still a few hundred decks (and that's not counting all the players that never bother with online deckbuilders, of course). And with so few copies of Need for Speed available, that could be enough to push the price up.

cEDH uptake in The Wandering Minstrel

Traditionally, Narset, Enlightened Master decks have been the most likely to show up in cEDH decks. But now Final Fantasy‘s The Wandering Minstrel has joined this particular chat, putting Need for Speed to good use.

Again, this is very far from a clear reason for Need for Speed‘s spike (it's not like our Minstrel friend here is overruning the format; just a couple of strong finishes), but it may contribute to showing that Need for Speed is a solid Commander card.

Earthbenders Are Coming!

Wizards of the Coast recently revealed the mechanics from the upcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender Universes Beyond set. They include earbending, which reads:

Target land you control becomes a 0/0 creature with haste that’s still a land. Put two +1/+1 counters on it. When it dies or is exiled, return it to the battlefield tapped.

In other words, any earthbended land that you sacrifice comes with an auto-reanimate life insurance policy, which is of course good news to any land sac card.

On top of that, WotC has revealed a card that mixes earthbending with turning all your nontoken artifacts into lands: Toph, the First Metalbender 

As we reported earlier this week, Toph is already bending the price of old cards. As with our previous two suspects, card inclusion data from EDHREC is not the smoking gun one would hope (early Toph brews don't seem interested in Need for Speed at all), but speculators may have grabbed Need for Speed copies in hopes Avatar pushes their price up.

What Will Happen With Need For Speed's Price?

Toph, the First Metalbender – art by Eilene Cherie

Need for Speed is extremely old, with very few copies listed, and it's not unplayable – an uptick in interest on The Wandering Minstrel from cEDH players could be enough to push the price up.

And if Toph/earthbending are seen as fun or competitive, “lands matter” cards could their prices rise. Toph is already the most popular commander from Avatar, and we've only seen a fraction of the set.

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