Forgotten 2018 Magic: The Gathering Planeswalker Skyrockets 400% Due to New Commander Deck

As if Jace Beleren hasn’t already left enough collateral damage across the Multiverse, he is now turning the Magic: The Gathering secondary market upside down. The latest card caught in his wake is Aminatou, the Fateshifter—a delightfully eccentric planeswalker from 2018 whose market value has experienced a staggering vertical climb thanks to the release of Reality Fracture and its accompanying Multiverse Reforged Commander preconstructed deck.

According to figures from EchoMTG, the Double Masters 2022 printing of Aminatou surged to $29.38 on October 8, marking an extraordinary quadruple-digit-adjacent spike of over 400% within a single week. Alternative printings have witnessed similarly aggressive appreciation: The List variant climbed to $21.74, while the coveted Secret Lair edition reached a staggering $47.01.

It is a remarkably steep price tag for a card that hovered comfortably in the single digits prior to the debut of Reality Fracture on October 2. However, once you examine the potent synergy she shares with Jace, Multiverse Architect, this sudden surge in demand makes perfect sense.

Why Is Aminatou, the Fateshifter Suddenly So Expensive?

Originally introduced in the 2018 Subjective Reality Commander deck, Aminatou is a three-mana Esper planeswalker equipped with a uniquely unorthodox suite of abilities.

Her +1 loyalty ability allows players to draw a card before tucking another card from their hand back onto the top of their library. Her -1 exiles a nonland permanent they own and immediately returns it to the battlefield, while her disruptive -6 ultimate forces a sweeping realignment of nearly every nonland permanent across the entire table.

It is precisely this intersection of library curation and “blinking” effects that makes Aminatou an invaluable asset inside the Multiverse Reforged framework. The deck’s four-color Commander, Jace, Multiverse Architect, features a devastating -3 ability that exiles a creature or planeswalker you control, then cascades through your library until it hits another creature or planeswalker, dropping it straight onto the battlefield for free.

Aminatou’s +1 effortlessly strips the RNG out of this process. Staring down an Archon of Cruelty or Darksteel Angel stuck in your hand? Simply place it atop your library with Aminatou, trigger Jace’s -3, and watch your opponents’ expressions curdle as an apocalyptic threat materializes out of thin air.

Meanwhile, her -1 proves equally indispensable by letting players flicker Jace himself. Because the returning planeswalker counts as a brand-new permanent, his loyalty counters completely reset, granting you immediate access to another -3 activation.

Aminatou Also Enables Some Rather Nasty Infinite Combos

Beyond helping Jace cheat high-mana bombs directly onto the board, Aminatou opens the door to some profoundly devastating looping combinations.

Felidar Guardian—the infamously Standard-banned Cat Beast originating from Aether Revolt—stands out as one of her most notorious partners in crime. By utilizing Aminatou’s -1 to exile and blink Felidar Guardian, its entry trigger subsequently flickers Aminatou. She returns with a pristine loyalty pool, ready to repeat the process all over again.

This creates an indefinite feedback loop of endless Felidar Guardian enter-the-battlefield triggers. Of course, repeatedly blinking a modest 1/4 creature doesn’t win the game on its own, which is where damage-amplifying outlets like Impact Tremors and Purphoros, God of the Forge step in to incinerate the table every time the Cat touches down.

While neither red enchantment would typically find a home in a traditional three-color Aminatou build, Jace’s four-color identity accommodates both seamlessly. Drop either piece into the strategy, and the entire pod can be swept away in a single explosive sequence.

There is, however, a minor deckbuilding caveat: Felidar Guardian can feel like a lackluster hit when revealed by Jace’s -3, occasionally undercutting a game plan designed exclusively around turning disposable tokens into titanic threats.

Another Expensive Addition to Jace’s Growing Collection of Collaborators

Aminatou joins an expanding roster of legacy Magic cards experiencing sharp price hikes driven by dedicated Superfriends archetypes. Cards like Oath of Teferi, Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God, and Onakke Oathkeeper have all enjoyed a major market resurgence as players optimize their planeswalker-centric Commander lists. On a related note, Kasmina, Enigma Sage drew considerable speculative hype ahead of the set’s launch, though the archetype hasn’t quite met competitive expectations.

Even so, Aminatou offers something uniquely potent. Her capabilities were wildly powerful long before Reality Fracture was ever conceived, but Jace’s fresh leadership gives enthusiasts an undeniable incentive to push her reality-warping tricks to the absolute limit.

Whether her nearly $30 price point proves sustainable remains to be seen, as Commander-fueled price spikes frequently retreat once initial hype cools down—especially for older cards with multiple printings. For the time being, however, Aminatou is relishing a lucrative second wind, while Jace has secured himself yet another remarkably dangerous accomplice.

Source: Polygon