The Fire Nation Rises: 9 Cards Exploding in Price Due to Fire Lord Azula
- Jace
- Dec 3
- 4 min read
With the release of the Magic Avatar set there have been a bunch of new commanders that have hit the scene. Amongst them, Fire Lord Azula has been discussed across the content as a top new commander and is one of the most popular cards of the week.
So let’s take a quick data-science-informed look at how its impacting the secondary market prices and what opportunity there is left:
First off, what does it do?
It copies any spell you play in combat when it attacks - obviously this is sort of busted...
So that is impacting the secondary market in 2 key ways:
cards that give all your other cards flash have been largely languishing for years and are now spiking thanks to Azula.
cards that let you stockpile mana to use in combat and to save up Azula’s firebending mana are also key and good with lots of other Avatar commanders.
We’ll do a few examples of cards already on the rise and have a go at guessing where they might get to in the next couple weeks:
Tidal Barracuda: is absolutely smashing it at a 5 to 10x rise (the TCGplayer price chart is kind of wild for it). It lets you play anything you want during combat AND it has the bonus of stopping them stopping you. It's price rise connects to super low supply, with a single commander precon printing, so not massively surprising this has jumped from $4 to $40.
High Fae Trickster: A recent single printing that again lets you copy anything you want with Azula. High Fae Trickster has 4xed since the release of Fire Lord Azula, offering all the flash you could want and need. It only has one TCGplayer copy left before it completes a similar 10x since start of Nov (going to just below $20).
Borne Upon a Wind: A lord of the rings card - so it was on a steady rise since Sept as supply dwindles and peoples expectations of the Hobbit set kick in. Borne upon a wind has similarly 2xed in the last couple weeks. With only a couple cheap copies left on TCGPlayer, its probably due for a more substantial jump in the next couple weeks (going to 4x since the start of Nov).
Vedalken Orrery: has a couple more printings than the others and because its popular in other decks again has very little supply so that a 4x rise into the mid $20 range is firmly on the cards.
Valley Floodcaller: Has only 3xed so far, but is very similar in functionality to the Fae, but for one less mana (although it doesn’t let you flash creatures). It is however, still in standard and from one of the most beloved magic sets of all time, so it probably has some room to grow yet, particularly if you felt that Azula needed some surfing Otter friends.
Wizards of Thay: More limited than the others for your flash options, BUT: it does make everything much cheaper giving you lots of potential extra spells to copy. There aren’t a lot of copies left for its very low price point (<$1) AND its probably going to be difficult to reprint a Baldurs Gate Myriad creature so it might have some long term potential.
Ok, so that's all our flashers. The next batch of cards have seen a rise not only because of Fireloard Azula, but because they fit in a bunch of firebending plans:
Electro, Assaulting Battery: Has managed a cool 4x too. Fitting well with Azula and in any firebending strategy by just letting you stockpile all that fiery mana. Fresh from the oh so hated spidey set, he feels like the sort of card that people will look back on and say “oh, maybe that set wasn’t quite so bad as we all thought”
Similarly: Ashling Flame Dancer: Again, single printing - lets you stockpile your red firebending mana and then load up on some HUGE Azula combat steps
Ashling has almost 10xed since the release of all the firebending. Letting you loot and gain oodles of mana while stockpiling your firebending mana - its a perfect fit for any of the Avatar firebenders.
Finally, an Azula allstart: Twinning Staff: lets you double your copying and has seen a very tidy 2x price rise. Only 2 printings from now rapidly vanished commander decks:
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Thanks for checking out the article and for your support!
Jace & Garruk
