I was just wondering but anyone else noticed how the "commander staple" singles at their stores have been bumped up to a minimum of $5 USD?

Guessing the guys in charge of mtg pricing finally decided to gouge commander players?

Give me one example of a "commander staple" that's jumped up. EDHREC is far from an absolute authority, but it is a decent starting point, so let's look at their staples for each color. Note that all of these lists are top 100.

White staples: 34 cards at/over $5
Blue staples: 33 cards at/over $5
Black staples: 33 cards at/over $5
Green staples: 32 cards at/over $5
Red Staples: 24 cards at/over $5
Colorless Staples 50 cards at/over $5
Multicolor Staples: 24 cards at/over $5
All Staples: 34 cards at/over $5

That's exactly an average of 33% of EDH staples being at/over $5. With how high most of the prices there are I can guarantee that at least half of them have not risen recently. Furthermore, due to the nature of posting decklists to the internet, EDHREC tends to skew slightly more competitive than your average player. And lastly, most of the truest of true staples like Sol Ring and E Wit have remained steady in price.

If someone is charging you $5 for all of your "staple" cards, you either just happened upon an odd group of cards, or you're getting ripped off big time.

I think that it’s fair to say that commander staples have been rising steadily over the past 8 years. That along with the buyouts leaves a bad taste in my mouth, one which I wish Wizards would wash out with more aggressive reprints.

Even those lists, sure there are ubiquitous cards on there, but some of those $5+ cards are either replacable or niche or try-hard. Enlightened Tutor, Avacyn, Land Tax, Elsbeth, Stoneforge, Luminarch Ascension, Authority of the Consuls?

If you're building a good stuff mono colour, sure. I don't see why you need these or can't use similiar, cheaper cards as replacements. Same goes for the other colours. About the only one I'd even remotely agree on is the colourless section.

I think Commander is the cheapest it's been in a long time. Sure, some specific reprints would be welcome but nothing you can't work around unless you want to build a very specific deck around a very specific card.

YEah, I'm not really seeing this.
Coming from a player that tunes decks for Duel Commander, those are expensive.
For my regular play group on Saturday though, I just throw stuff from my bin into decks and add some ramp and there we go. It's only expensive if you need Mana Crypt, duals, shocks, and optimization particles in every one of your decks. Sure, some staples are in demand but sometimes alternatives exist.

I honestly wish some of these "staples" were more expensive and harder to get. I'd be happier seeing more "work-around" cards and less of the good-stuff.

The format has never been particularly cheap. It was never designed to be particularly cheap.

Grumbles incoherently about Library of Alexandria being banned.

Sheldon should use his SCG soapbox to show off the awesome things that can be done in EDH without breaking the bank on expensive Reserve List staples like ABUR duals and Leeches.

$5 is really nothing for a card to be. Some of these $5 cards are also played in modern and such. But $5 is not a lot, like ever. A ton of people play this game.
I know it adds up if you need thirty $5 cards for a deck, but still.


Are people seriously performing buyouts of Non Reserve List cards? Doesn't sound smart on them.

The price trend of Phyrexian Altar is a nice example.

That's not a buyout, that's pretty slow growth over time barring the spike in Jan 2016

It's a good card.

I agree that prices are getting a bit ridiculous.

My friend and I have decided to start building decks with more flavor over tuned. Tier-2 cards, with decent removal and support and you can still win a game of Magic.

Just because a card is good does not mean it should cost lots of money, it has had several price spikes, Here's the link for those interested: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/price/Invas ... ltar#paper

I see 4 different price spikes in the recorded history of the card, the first three jumped the price upward around $4 each time (Avacyn Restored, Born of the Gods, Fate reforged)

Phyrexian Altar is by no means a must play card. In fact, I'd argue that most decks could care less that it even exists. I've got a handful of decks that could use it (3 of 28), but there are enough good alternatives that I honestly don't miss it.

Honeslty, mana bases are the most expensive part of this format, more than anything else. And that's only true if you're playing the expensive, non-budget options.

Here are two articles talking about commander manabases.

Basics and Duals
Three +

I know the articles are a bit dated, and since it was written for MTGO, the prices don't reflect paper (and they are old enough the prices would not be accurate anyway). I don't know if there is a paper equivalent (maybe Sheldon could do an updated review of land options) but the articles at least have fairly sound reasoning on when and why to play which budget options to maximize their utility and keep your manabase prices down.

That said, I'm a fan of the one-and-done policy for expensive staples. For example, I have 1 each of the Shocklands. I refuse to get more, and so they are rationed among decks. Same goes for non-mana pricey "staples." Unless something gets reprinted in a commander product, I may get one copy if I really need a given card, but after that it will only go in the deck that needs it most. It enables deck diversity to only keep one copy of anything > $5.