MTG’s best vampire card spikes almost $100 in price 

Edgar Markov is once again selling for a tremendous price in MTG, and we’ll explain why the head honcho vampire is so in demand. 

Vampires have captivated many MTG players over the years. These bloodsuckers remain a fan-favorite creature type, and can often be seen in the game’s Commander format. 

Now, the strongest vampire Commander of all time, the 2017 variant of Edgar Markov, has seen its average TCGPlayer market price spike from $74 to $159. To explain such a meteoric rise, we’ll walk you through what makes Edgar Markov so powerful and valuable. 

Why has Edgar Markov spiked in price?

WOTC

The reason for Markov’s absurdly high price tag and overwhelming power is a single seemingly innocuous ability: Eminence. 

Eminence is a keyword that was introduced as part of a set of Commander pre-con decks in 2017. Each Eminence Commander has an ability that is active when that creature is on the field or in the Command Zone.  

The Command Zone part of the ability is what makes eminence particularly broken, granting decks that run it a huge boost in consistency and speed. Edgar can boost your vampire strategies right from turn one, even if he hasn’t been cast yet. 

Surprisingly, Eminence recently made a brief return as part of the March of the Machine Commander decks. Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir comes equipped with its own knight-boosting eminence effect. While this card may not have ended up quite as overpowered as the Ur-Dragon or Edgar Markov, it’s still regarded as an absolute powerhouse in its own right, and easily the best Commander out of its own set. 

Vampires victorious once more in MTG 

Vampires are on the rise once more in MTG following the release of The Lost Caverns of Ixalan. The Blood Rites Commander deck brought a wave of new, powerful vampire support like Charismatic Conquerer. Additionally, the deck featured Exquisite Blood, a key card for any vampire strategy that had been previously out of reach for many players due to its prohibitive expense. 

Vampires are one of MTG’s most enduringly popular creature types, as they tend to be in other TCGs such as Yu-Gi-Oh. Vampires have seen no shortage of support in Commander over the years either, with four separate pre-cons to their name. Edgar Markov remains a cut above the rest, however. So, any time interest in MTG’s vampires rekindles, Edgar receives a boost in price to match. 

Similarly powerful and almost-untouchable creatures like The Ur-Dragon and Urza, Lord High Artificer once fetched equally high prices as Edgar. But thanks to Commander Masters reprints, these previously-preimum cards are now much more affordable. But without another Masters set in sight, a reprint for Edgar Markov looks unlikely to happen in the near-future.

Perhaps in future, there will be stronger vampire Commanders in MTG than Edgar Markov. With Eminence returning to the game at last, anything is possible. But unless the game’s balance changes significantly, Edgar will still be ruling the roost for quite some time. 

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