Bulk Bin Lifegain Legend Triples in Price After Multi-Format Success

Last updated on September 2, 2025

Haliya, Guided by Light | Illustration by Kieran Yanner

Everybody likes a good comeback story: There's nothing quite like cheering for the underdog and seeing it turn into a champ. Except perhaps in the Magic card market, when you happen to have sold a bunch of the (former) underdog and later see it turned into a multi-format staple.

So, if you happened to sell a bunch of Haliya, Guided by Light copies after drafting Edge of Eternities in early August, maybe today's success story will strike you more as tragedy.

At any rate, and as far as prices go, Haliya, Guided by Light is looking like this week's underdog-turned-champ card: Despite nearly hitting bulk-bin prices, it has gone up with a vengeance after MTG players found this white creature highly playable in two different Magic formats.

Haliya, Guided by Light's Price Spike

Ragost, Deft Gastronaut | Illustration by Zack Stella

Right after EOE was released, Haliya, Guided by Light dropped from the (crazily inflated, as usual) pre-release price of about $12 to well below $2 – but has rebounded spectacularly since then, more than doubling in price since early August. And it's been particularly active in the last seven days, rising more than 100% since last week and going from about $1.80 to around $3.80 for near-mint copies in US markets.

Source: TCGplayer – Haliya, Guided by Light (EOE), near mint

Daily demand for Haliya, Guided by Light has steadily dropped during August (it was trading 20-30 copies per day early on, while just about 10 or so per day last week), which is to be expected for a new card from a set that just debuted. Yet the price has been going up, and at the time of writing, Haliya, Guided by Light hasn't reached a plateau yet.

Why Is Haliya, Guided by Light's Price Going Up?

While a bit ignored early on (flying quite close to bulk-bin prices during Edge of Eternities‘ first week), Haliya, Guided by Light is now proving it has what it takes to become something quite rare in Magic: A multi-format team player, able to hold its own in different MTG formats.

And not just any formats, but two of the most popular: casual Commander and Modern.

Are You Telling Me a Lobster Cooked This?

Yes; that's indeed what's on the menu today!

Haliya, Guided by Light has proven pretty unpopular as a white commander. But in the 99 it sees quite a bit of play in about 15,500 casual Commander decks, which is pretty strong early adoption. And it plays extremely well when everybody's favorite legendary lobster is in the kitchen command zone: Ragost, Deft Gastronaut and its artifact-food brews love lifegain triggers, and more than 60% of Ragost decks have Haliya, Guided by Light as a side dish.

Haliya, Guided by Light also shows up in half of the decks lead by Syr Vondam, Sunstar Exemplar. Syr Vondam is nowhere near as popular as the legendary lobster, but this Orzhov commander is nevertheless among Edge of Eternities‘ most played in casual Commander tables.

And last but not least, Haliya, Guided by Light is getting some attention from content creators brewing with the upcoming Spider-Man cards. “Alongside Aunt May, this deck's got a full seven soul sister effects,” writes Cooper Gottfried while building a lifegain deck with Aunt May. “While the deck can certainly gain enough life with our commander alone, it becomes significantly more effective with another Soul Warden variant on board. My favorite among these is Haliya, Guided by Light, which triggers itself and can provide us with card advantage.”

Modern Pedigree

Besides its appeal in casual Commander decks, Haliya, Guided by Light has the chops to carry its weight in one of Magic's most competitive formats: Modern.

“Haliya, Guided by Light synergizes with Ocelot Pride,” wrote Magic's Hall of Famer Frank Karsten in his Metagame Mentor: The Modern Impact of Edge of Eternities article a couple of weeks ago. “Imagine playing both creatures on the same turn and gaining 2 life in total. At end of turn, Haliya's ability will go on the stack (it does not have an intervening “if” clause). Then, you resolve Ocelot Pride's trigger, create a token, and gain an additional life. Then Haliya's trigger resolves. Haliya sees that you gained 3 life in total and will draw you another card.”

This synergy has found its way in not just one, but two top-tier Modern decks: Boros Aggro, and Blue & Taxes (a new deck that also plays Quantum Riddler, EOE's most popular card in Modern). Both decks add Haliya to the well-known pair of Guide of Souls and Ocelot Pride:

Source: MTGTop8

What Will Happen With Haliya's Price?

Guide of Souls | Illustration by Ryan Valle

Haliya, Guided by Light is a card from a very recent set that seems to be selling extremely well: According to Magic's Head Designer Mark Rosewater, Edge of Eternities is exceeding Wizards of the Coast's expectations, to the point that EOE product is hard to come by. “The supply issues with Edge of Eternities are a demand issue,” Rosewater wrote in his personal blog two weeks ago, “and not a result of us printing less because of other products. People liking a set even more than we anticipated is a hard thing to predict, and thus not an easy thing to build into the process.”

In other words, there should be more Haliya, Guided by Light copies as soon as players get their hands on EOE packs to crack, which should increase supply.

On the other hand – and with our usual caveat that this is not investment advice – it's quite rare for a card to become popular in more than one Magic format, so Haliya, Guided by Light has just joined quite an exclusive club. Being extensively played in the most popular format by far (Commander), and making the cut into two competitive Modern decks is quite the feat, which should in turn push up demand and prices. Such is the story of underdogs turned champs!