Last updated on March 14, 2024
Doubling Season | Illustration by Eva Eskelinen
Alright, folks: money talks.
When looking at Wilds of Eldraine from a financial standpoint, and above all when factoring a card's selling price as you sit down for a Wilds of Eldraine draft, the first thing to mention is that all Wilds of Eldraine boosters (including Draft boosters) contain at least one card from a bonus sheet: Enchanting Tales, a reprint of 63 of the most popular enchantments in Magic: The Gathering's history.
Since it's a bonus sheet (similar to the Multiverse Legends from March of the Machine, or the Retro Artifacts in The Brothers’ War), Enchanting Tales cards aren’t legal in Standard; they’re only legal in whichever Constructed format they’re already legal for. But they are legal in Limited environments (and specifically drafts). So here's the rub: since they’re reprints of some of MTG's most sought-after cards, all the Enchanting Tales mythics and several of the rares have very high pre-release prices, usually higher than main-set cards. The rare and mythic Tales are likely to be the most expensive card in a WOE booster.
Also, since the most expensive Enchanting Tales are reprints of popular, tried-and-true cards, I’d guess that their prices will be more stable than brand-new main-set cards (which include a much bigger “shiny-new-toy” hype factor in their prices).
On the other hand, notice that the uncommon Enchanting Tales and about 70% of the rares aren’t worth much. Still, the expensive rares and mythics are likely the “money slot” in many boosters.
Here's a quick reminder as to which cards are legal in which formats:
- WOE are cards from Wilds of Eldraine‘s main set and are Standard-legal.
- WOT are cards from the Enchanting Tales bonus sheet and are not Standard-legal, but you can use them for Draft and Sealed.
- WOC are Commander-exclusive cards. You won't find them in Draft boosters.
Last but not least,
- Prices are taken from online stores during the final days of August, so more than a week before Wilds of Eldraine‘s official release;
- These are therefore pre-release prices and are very likely change as release approaches, and they often adjust downwards.
Honorable Mention: Court of Ardenvale + Embereth + Garenbrig + Locthwain + Vantress
Listed at: $4-$5
For Commander players, WotC created six new rares and two mythic rares that, although intended for EDH decks, are only found in Set and Collector boosters. They aren’t part of the preconstructed Wilds of Eldraine Commander decks.
Five of those six rares are a cycle of “Court of…” enchantments, one for each color:
All five enchantments deal with the monarch keyword, a multiplayer mechanic introduced in Conspiracy: Take the Crown which made a return in Lord of the Rings‘ Riders of Rohan Commander deck with cards like Aragorn, King of Gondor.
#35. Ellivere of the Wild Court
Listed at: $4.50
Pre-release prices for Ellivere of the Wild Court should be taken with a healthy amount of salt. It's not that it doesn't have what it takes to be a great Selesnya commander, but as one of the cards in the Wilds of Eldraine preconstructed Commander decks, supply is going to be high.
Still, it’s a solid threat and demands very little of your deck to make itself useful.
#34. Waste Not
Listed at: $5.00
Waste Not is one scary discard payoff: it’s cheap to cast, gets into play early, and turns an already annoying effect into a massive disadvantage. It's a very similar effect to Bone Miser, except that Waste Not focuses on your opponents.
Waste Not works great and curves perfectly with Oppression, another black Enchanting Tales card.
#33. Oppression
Listed at: $5
Cheap to cast and ruthlessly effective for decks that are ready for it, Oppression generates a symmetrical effect that discard decks can profit from with cards like Bone Miser and Waste Not.
#32. Blood Moon
Listed at: $6.50
The cheapest of the several Enchanting Tales enchantments that you'll find here, Blood Moon is good enough to see play in Modern. In Commander decks, it’s obnoxious enough to fall in that category of cards that a play group may frown upon using, and it’s been banned in Historic.
#31. Blossoming Tortoise
Listed at: $7
Blossoming Tortoise should be able to carry its shelled weight in any lands-matter deck by bringing back lands that enter your graveyard either by sacrifice (like the fetch lands), cycling (like Boseiju, Who Endures), or discard (like the Tortoise itself). It also provides two other uses that aren’t trivial, above all the discount on land abilities.
#30. Grave Pact
Listed at: $7
Recently reprinted in Commander Masters, Grave Pact fits like a glove in black sacrifice decks and the likes of Yawgmoth, Thran Physician by way of harshly punishing opponents any time one of your creatures dies.
By itself, the enchantment works as a deterrent, making your opponents think twice about attacking. In a deck that plans to use it to its full capacity, Grave Pact is the kind of permanent that needs to be dealt with immediately or it takes over the game.
#29. Virtue of Loyalty
Listed at: $7.00
In Draft and Sealed, Virtue of Loyalty looks busted: a 2/2 with vigilance at flash speed early on, and later growing your whole board means this card is always useful.
Seems a bit on the weak side for Constructed formats, but it has maintained a good price as we approach Wilds of Eldraine‘s release.
#28. Brenard, Ginger Sculptor
Listed at: $7.50
Like the “Court of…” cycle of enchantments, Brenard, Ginger Sculptor is a Commander-specific card which isn’t included in the two Wilds of Eldraine preconstructed EDH decks. You can only find Brenard in Set or Collector boosters.
An interesting commander, the food synergy here is pretty obvious, and regardless of synergies, Brenard makes your foes work extra hard to remove your creatures.
#27. Polluted Bonds
Listed at: $7.50
An enchantment with a unique effect, this is the first time Polluted Bonds gets a reprint since Shadowmoor. And that suggests the price will drop as soon as Wilds of Eldraine‘s boosters make Polluted Bonds more readily available.
#26. Virtue of Persistence
Listed at: $7.50
Black decks are having a good time in Standard right now, so it wouldn't be too shocking if Virtue of Persistence finds its way into the format.
In Wilds of Eldraine's Limited format, on the other hand, this is probably a bomb – the removal side is already solid, and the inevitability that the enchantment provides is amazing. Note that there's no exile clause: you can keep returning a threat over and over.
#25. Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor
Listed at: $8
The caveat for Ellivere of the Wild Court applies for Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor too: as one of the commanders available in the EDH preconstructed decks, Tegwyll is probably going to be in large supply, which should push his price downwards.
Having said that, it looks like a very solid commander, and of course this set has no lack of the typal synergy Tegwyll wants, including the faeriest enchantment of them all: Bitterblossom.
#24. Eriette of the Charmed Apple
Listed at: $8
Eriette of the Charmed Apple looks like a devastating commander if all is going well, but it demands quite the setup for that to happen.
On the other hand, roles are all the rage in Wilds of Eldraine, and they’re auras (which Eriette cares for), so perhaps they will push Eriette forward.
#23. Kindred Discovery
Listed at: $8.75
If you attack with eight faeries, Kindred Discovery draws you eight cards. That’s the short version of why this enchantment sees so much play in EDH decks, above all those focusing on typal synergies. You need not worry about sending your troops to the slaughter; even if they die, they replace themselves by drawing you an extra card and you'll never run out of resources.
#22. Ashiok, Wicked Manipulator
Listed at: $9
Ashiok, Wicked Manipulator is this set's sole planeswalker. As one of the earliest Wilds of Eldraine cards revealed, its price was quite high a few weeks ago (around $30-$35) but has been steadily declining as the set's release approaches. It now sells for less than a third of that value.
It looks like a bomb in drafts: it provides card advantage and can protect itself by creating tokens, a combination that can prove very powerful. And judging by how expensive other rares and mythics are, it seems that Wilds of Eldraine‘s Limited format will be on the slow side.
#21. Virtue of Knowledge
Listed at: $10
In Commander, Virtue of Knowledge‘s enchantment side provides redundancy for Panharmonicon decks (and it's better, albeit more expensive: it works for any permanent entering the battlefield).
And the instant side of the spell looks very useful. Just for example, it can duplicate a fetch land's ability!
#20. Fiery Emancipation
Listed at: $10
A card with not too many reprints and that’s a rare in Enchanting Tales rather than a mythic, Fiery Emancipation is a great damage tripler, but with a symmetric effect.
#19. Repercussion
Listed at: $11
Repercussion provides a narrow, very specific effect that fits perfectly in aggressive Commander decks that focus on damage-dealing spells and abilities. It hasn't seen many reprints, which probably explains its current high price.
#18. Primal Vigor
Listed at: $11
Several of the priciest Enchanting Tales care about counters. Primal Vigor is so good at it, and so sought-after in Commander, that it's the most expensive rare from among the Tales.
#17. Korvold, Gleeful Glutton
Listed at: $12
Korvold, Gleeful Glutton is currently the most expensive Commander-exclusive cards from Wilds of Eldraine and will probably be quite hard to come by. Like Throne of Eldraine, it's one of the eight Commander cards from this set that don’t show up in Wilds of Eldraine‘s preconstructed EDH decks, and it can only be found in either Set or Collector boosters.
As a commander, Korvold, Gleeful Glutton’s cost reduction shouldn't be hard to achieve. All card types count, including fetch lands and Treasure tokens, making it relatively simple to cast early.
#16. Aggravated Assault
Listed at: $12
Extra combat steps are an easy way to end a game of Magic for any deck capable of setting up a decent board, so Aggravated Assault is one of the very first cards you put in an EDH deck that wants to punch folks in the face several times per turn.
It’s not a card every deck wants a copy of, though. Aggravated Assault‘s price may be pushed upwards due to lack of reprints, and since it's a rare it may see a drop now that it will be widely available in Wilds of Eldraine.
#15. Land Tax
Listed at: $13
Land Tax is as close as white gets to Ancestral Recall, never needing to worry about missing a land drop, and for graveyard-matters deck, providing a way to discard by exceeding your hand size. Technically speaking Land Tax isn’t a ramp card, but it thins your deck. The more opponents you have the more reliable it is, making it an EDH staple.
#14. Necropotence
Listed at: $13
Once upon a time, Necropotence was one of the most dominant cards in MTG. As is often the case, with great power comes great amount of bans, and now you can only play Necropotence in Vintage (where it's restricted) and Commander.
It's quite the staple in Commander for black-heavy decks that want to dig deep for their combo pieces, though.
#13. Smothering Tithe
Listed at: $13
Only relevant in Commander, Smothering Tithe is one of white's best ramp cards in the format. Since it works for every opponent, if Smothering Tithe isn’t killed on sight, its controller gets 3-4 more mana each turn. This is the sort of EDH card that dictates the pace of a game the moment it hits the table.
Smothering Tithe has been recently reprinted in Commander Masters; after an initial drop, its price has been steadily increasing, suggesting the enchantment is in high demand.
#12. Greater Auramancy
Listed at: $14
Greater Auramancy can rightfully be called a blast from the past. Shroud is a keyword that was made obsolete by hexproof more than a decade ago.
Its high price seems more due to lack of supply than utility, though. Among the Enchanting Tales cards, Greater Auramancy is among those that have been out of print the longest, and being reprinted now may push its price down more than other cards in the set.
#11. Bitterblossom
Listed at: $15
In a set that’s all about who's the fairest of them all, Bitterblossom is certainly the faeriest!
Enchantments that create creatures are always sought after in EDH decks, and 40 health points make Bitterblossom fairly manageable for spewing a steady stream of flying threats. It's unlikely that we'll ever see anything printed that's more efficient than Bitterblossom. Two mana for a constant flow of 1/1 fliers is as good as it gets!
#10. Alternate-Art Mythics
Listed at: $5-$15 more expensive than their regular versions
Bling always commands a premium, and Wilds of Eldraine is no exception. Rares and mythics with collector numbers above #277 have Booster fun treatments, like the Showcase Adventures and borderless treatments, that put their pre-release prices several dollars higher than their regular counterparts.
#9. Throne of Eldraine
Listed at: $16
Like the “Court of…” cycle of enchantments, Throne of Eldraine is a Commander-specific card that isn’t included in the two Wilds of Eldraine preconstructed EDH decks. The Throne is one of eight Commander cards that can only be found in Set or Collector boosters. Even if it's technically a rare card, it's not clear how hard it’ll be to come by.
Throne of Eldraine‘s pre-release price seems to reflect this fact, and in the last few days it’s one of the few cards that has risen sharply in price.
#8. Agatha's Soul Cauldron
Listed at: $17
Agatha's Soul Cauldron provides graveyard hate along with some sick combo potential, and it's being discussed as one of the best cards in the set. It may even have legs as a combo enabler for Modern.
#7. Anime Enchanted Tales
Listed at: $10-$20 more than their regular version
Twenty of the Enchanting Tales cards that you can find in Wilds of Eldraine boosters have an anime alternate-art version; they drop about 3% of the time in Draft or Set boosters and about 16% of the time in Collector boosters, making them one of the hardest cards to get. Their current prices are about $10-$20 higher than their regular counterparts; Rhystic Study, for example, jumps from around $37 for its regular version, to about $58 for its anime version.
(Tip for those without an eye for Japanese illustrations: the regular WOT cards have collector numbers from 0001 to 0063 – the anime versions run from 0064 to 0083)
#6. Moonshaker Cavalry
Listed at: $20
Moonshaker Cavalry is a rarity: one of the very few Wilds of Eldraine mythic rare cards that has increased in price as we get close to the set's release.
The card has a ton of hype behind it. Widely compared with Craterhoof Behemoth, Moonshaker Cavalry is arguably worst in a vacuum (since it lacks haste) but by being in white it fits a lot of decks that love to go wide. Needless to say, Selesnya decks can go Craterhoof Cavalry if they wish to.
Cherry on top: Depending on how slow the Draft format is, Moonshaker Cavalry could be anything from a very good top-end to a complete bomb.
#5. Parallel Lives
Listed at: $25
Some of the most expensive, regular-art cards in Wilds of Eldraine boosters are all from the Enchanting Tales bonus sheet, commanding high prices given their popularity in EDH decks.
Effects that generate extra tokens are at a premium in Commander, and Parallel Lives is among the best at it. It does everything from extending the board with creature tokens from effects like Bitterblossom‘s to drowning you in riches when paired with Smothering Tithe, thus pushing token-based strategies to another level.
Unsurprisingly, Parallel Lives synergizes very well with Doubling Season.
#4. Rhystic Study
Listed at: $25
Rhystic Study is one of Commander's most common opening cards. The EDH format loves cards that scale with the number of players at a table, and Rhystic Study puts all your opponents in a tough spot with a single, cheap permanent. A must-have staple for cEDH decks and perhaps the best blue enchantment, Rhystic Study shows up in nearly 30% of EDHREC decks. It certainly seems to be enough demand to keep Rhystic Study‘s price high as a card originally-printed-at-common.
It also looks amazing for a Limited deck as long as the format isn’t too fast (which I suspect it won't be).
#3. Beseech the Mirror
Listed at: $29
Competing with Moonshaker Cavalry as the most expensive card from Wilds of Eldraine‘s main set, Beseech the Mirror has lots of potential in Commander and may make waves in Eternal formats. Beseech the Mirror could act as additional copies of The One Ring in Modern by sacrificing the artifact you've already used.
For Commander, Beseech the Mirror might become one of the best tutors in the format. Searching for your most powerful card and putting into play is a great bargain for EDH decks that are able to meet the card's demands.
#2. Doubling Season
Listed at: $40
If Parallel Lives is a powerhouse, Doubling Season is a powerhouse on steroids. It shines in Superfriend decks and is one of the hallmark enchantments of the Commander format.
It has been reprinted in Commander Masters, but even with such a recent reprint the CMM version of Doubling Season currently sells for around $50. The regular-art Enchanting Tales version is listed at $54 as of this writing, making Doubling Season the most expensive regular-art card that you can open in a Wilds of Eldraine booster.
#1. Confetti Foil Enchanting Tales
Listed at: $50-$200
Twenty of the Enchanting Tales have an anime alternate-art version, which you can find in Draft, Set, and Collector boosters.
But those anime Enchanting Tales have an even harder-to-find treatment, only appearing in Collector Boosters (around 3% of the time) and with collector numbers running from 0084 to 010. It’s the never-before-seen confetti foil! There's no way to know how much these will cost once Wilds of Eldraine launches, but right now pre-release prices start at around $50 for the confetti-foil anime version of Nature's Will and go as high as around $200 for Rhystic Study.
Promos, Alternate Art, and More
As befits to one of the fairest sets ever printed, Wilds of Eldraine‘s cards come in a lot of different Booster Fun variants.
As we saw, you'll open one Enchanting Tales card in every Wilds of Eldraine booster. Twenty of them have an anime alternate-art version; they drop about 3% of the time in Draft or Set boosters, and about 16% of the time in Collector boosters, making them one of the hardest cards to get.
Then we have the Showcase Adventure treatment for 7 mythic rare and 13 rare adventurer cards, giving them a special frame that looks like you're reading out of an old book.
There are also full-art lands and 11 cards from the main set that received the borderless treatment, breaking free from the traditional frame to show off their stunning artwork.
The rarest of the rare are the confetti foil printings of the borderless anime cards available in Collector boosters.
Feeling a bit lost among such abundance of beauty? Fear not: here’s a chart showing where to find what, from WotC's official article about collecting Wilds of Eldraine.
Wrap Up
Virtue of Knowledge | Illustration by Piotr Dura
And that would be all for this “Most Wanted” Wilds of Eldraine card raking!
Please keep in mind that these are all pre-release prices gathered the weekend of August 26-27. It's a very safe bet that they will change, usually downwards and often drastically, by the time we get to the fun, booster-crackin' part of Wilds of Eldraine.
That said, the main takeaways:
- In Draft boosters, the Enchanting Tales slot will often be the most expensive card in the pack – if you’re “rare-drafting,” you need to compare the WOT enchantment with the WOE rare or mythic,
- If you see a WOE mythic rare with collector number #277 or above, you're in luck: that's an alternate-art mythic, currently fetching very good prices,
- If you see an anime WOT card (collector number between #64 and #83), you're having a good day as far as pack-cracking EV is concerned,
- If the anime WOT card has a confetti shine to it (collector number #84 or above), then your EV day has just upgraded to “Great“.
Which of these cards are on your wishlist? Let me know in the comments below or over on Discord.
I hope you've found this ranking useful, and may all your packs' contents be wild!
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