MTG Weekly Price Spikes: 2/21-2/27

Last updated on February 27, 2026

Torpor Orb | Illustration by Svetlin Velinov

This week is not about elves, but Lorwyn Eclipsed is still impacting the Magic card market, above all in Commander.

But, this week we also have further proof of how Premodern's popularity has become another big factor when it comes to prices. And the recent MTG Arena Championship 11 is having an impact, too!

Sergeant John Benton

Sergeant John Benton‘s price was a flat 35 cents until a week ago, when it spiked around 3,000% (yeah, the price went up thirty times!); it has gone down a bit today to around $8,35 (still close to a massive 2400% increase) for near-mint copies in the US market:

Source: MTGStocks

There was a massive spike in demand last Monday according to TCGplayer: over 670 copies were traded in a single day, for a card that usually trades just a couple of copies daily.

It's hard to guess why, though. Haste plus a curiosity effect is an unusual mix of abilities for Selesnya, and the good ol' Sergeant has sporadically shown some cEDH results, but he's moderately popular as a casual Voltron commander, sees modest play in the 99, and doesn't seem to have any synergy with either Lorwyn Eclipsed or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Current listings show Sergeant John Benton nosediving to at about $3.50–$4.00 for near-mint copies, so you may want to do some careful research if you're considering buying a copy.

Faces of the Past

Whereas Sergeant John Benton‘s spike is hard to pin down, Faces of the Past has a pretty clear suspect: Ashling, the Limitless from Lorwyn Eclipsed, the fastest-selling in-Universe set in Magic's history.

“When a creature dies, Faces of the Past untaps all creatures that share a type with it,” wrote Andy earlier this week, when we first reported this spike. “This works with Ashling because its evoke makes you sacrifice elementals. Each time you use its ability, you get another Faces trigger. Repeatedly untapping your creatures becomes meaningful only if they have powerful abilities worth tapping them for.”

By last Tuesday, had moved from $2 dollars to about $7.50.

Source: MTGStocks

… and has kept going up! Printed in Scourge more than two decades ago and never reprinted (not even in The List), Faces of the Past‘s near-mint copies now go for about $15, having gone up about 330% since last Friday.

Warmth (Tempest printing) and Haunting Echoes (Odyssey printing)

Premodern's growing popularity is low-key one of the biggest factors in the current MTG card market, although in many cases for the original printings.

This week we have two such cases. The first is Warmth, a white spell that shows red mages who's the real burn player:

Source: MTGStocks 

While it's only sideboard tech, Warmth sees play in a lot of top-tier competitive decks in Premodern. And its original Tempest printing has gone up more than 200% since last week, from about $1.40 to over $4.30.

Something similar is happening with Haunting Echoes, a black sorcery that sees a lot of competitive Premodern play, usually in Psychatog and The Rock decks, and went from about $4 to around $7.40 in the last seven days.

Source: MTGStocks

Torpor Orb

Torpor Orb, from Outlaws of Thunder Junction, has scored big this last weekend in the 11th Arena Championship. Two different archetypes, Izzet Lesson and Mono Green Landfall, play copies of this artifact in their sideboard, and they placed three decks in the Championship's Top 8.

Source: MTGStocks 

And Torpor Orb‘s competitive success is not limited to Standard: UrzaTron in Modern also plays a copy in its sideboard, and Magda, Brazen Outlaw is very fond of this artifact in cEDH.

Torpor Orb has been steadily on the rise since last November, when you could buy a copy for a couple of bucks. It briefly plateaued at around $5 during January, and now is heating up again: it has climbed all the way over $11 in the last two weeks.