Final Fantasy Commanders Spike Old Forgotten Rares 150%

Last updated on August 5, 2025

Norn's Annex – art by James Paick

Edge of Eternities has finally released and Spider-Man's reveals are in full swing, but Final Fantasy never stops showing why it's Magic's best-selling set of all time. It's not just that FIN cards sell really well, to the point that its Collector Boosters keep hitting record prices – they keep spiking long-forgotten cards from older MTG sets, as players find new niche synergies.

This week, two Final Fantasy commanders with very different approaches have rescued two white cards from the bulk bin: Norn's Annex, which more than doubled in price since last week, and Honor the Fallen, which nearly tripled.

Norn's Annex: Y'shtola's New Toy

Y'shtola, Night's Blessed – Illustration by Magali Villeneuve

Near-mint copies of Norn's Annex‘s original printing from Commander Masters shot from around $2.50 by the end of last week, to more than $6 in US markets, with a couple of copies selling for as high as $15:

Source: MTGStocks

Norn's Annex‘s reprint from Commander: Phyrexia: All Will Be One is lagging behind in price – you can find several sellers offering it at about $3.80 on TCGplayer – but has also steadily increased during all of July, and is still on the rise:

Source: TCGplayer

In a vacuum, Norn's Annex is a good “can’t attack” card, but clearly not at Propaganda‘s level. But there's a cat lady from Final Fantasy that just loves a bit of pain…

… and can squeeze a lot of value out of this white artifact, which you'll find in 25% of her decks: Y'shtola, Night's Blessed.

For starters, Y'shtola, Night's Blessed loves paying life rather than mana for casting a spell, making her a match in heaven for Phyrexian mana. Her ability triggers when any player loses life (you included), so you if you cast Norn's Annex by paying plus 4 life, she'll trigger her card-draw ability on your end step (on top of triggering her last ability when you cast it).

And while in general an aggro player won't mind paying a bit of life to launch an attack when you have Norn's Annex in play, things abruptly change when Y'shtola's on the field: If they harm themselves, they risk triggering the Annex on their turn, too.

Hope's Honor

Y'shtola is hands down the most popular commander from Final Fantasy (and she's almost in the Top 50 among all commanders in the game!), but she's hardly the only one. And among the most interesting we have Hope Estheim, who blends two extremely popular effects that are rarely seen together: Mill and lifegain.

Hope seems to be behind the recent spike of a very old card that has thus far seen very little play: Honor the Fallen, from Mercadian Masques. 

Source: MTGStocks

“The new Hope Estheim shattered my expectations like no deck prior,” noted u/Striking-Objective43 two months ago, as players started brewing with this Azorius commander. “It's truly shocking how quickly you can empty their libraries. Congregate is a kill switch, and Honor the Fallen]] is hilarious.” Some MTG financial speculators also listed this white instant as a potential spec.

The synergy here is pretty straightforward: When milling other players, you risk enabling all their reanimation and graveyard shenanigans – Honor the Fallen takes care of keeping graveyards clean while giving you life, which in turn triggers more mill from Hope.

What Will Happen with Honor the Fallen and Norn's Annex's Price?

Loran of the Third Path – Illustration-by-Steven-Belledin

With our usual caveat that this is not investment advice, Norn's Annex‘s demand seems pretty organic: There are lots of copies on offer, and while there's a fairly large gap in price between the Commander Masters and the Phyrexia: All Will Be One printings, both have been steadily rising. And, as noted, Y'shtola is one of the most popular commanders in the whole game.

Honor the Fallen, on the other hand, seems a bit like a buyout – there are very few near-mint copies, given how old this card is. And there may even a be a Spider-Man angle here: A lot of SPM's white cards gain you life, so while we haven't seen a great lifegain payoff, there may be some speculation here pushing the price up.

At any rate, though, spiders and spaceship may be the new toys in town – but the fantasy ladies can still drive the prices up!