By Brian Cooper |
Updated on January 8, 2024
Commander Legends is one of my favorite sets from the last few years. It has such great vibes, great cards and reminds me of those days back in 1994 opening packs of Legends, searching for The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale or one of the awesome black cards like The Abyss or Chains of Mephistopheles.
But the MTG Commander Legends best cards might not be the ones you think they are!
The Commander Legends set has its own group of cards that everyone is searching for and those cards are much like the early Legends cards too. So I wanted to go a few years back to November 2020 and revisit a time in Magic history when people were absolutely scrambling to find one of what I consider the best Commander Legends has to offer! So let’s take a look.
7 Best and Most Valuable Magic Commander Legends Cards
7. Akroma’s Will
Akroma’s Will is an awesome card for white or multicolor white Commander decks and is definitely high on the Commander Legends Best Cards list. One single card like this one, with a Commander in play, will give all of your creatures in play Flying, Vigilance, Double Strike, Lifelink, Indestructible, and protection from all colors until the end of the turn. That is insane and is why this card continues to be popular.
Prices remain steady in the $10-15 range and I think this card will continue to be desirable amongst both players and collectors.
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6. Sakashima of a Thousand Faces
Sakashima is a great blue legendary creature that works well in so many decks. Going along with the blue theme, Sakashima can clone any creature you have in play as well as keeping it’s own abilities. It’s a cool card that has been sought after since Commander Legends hit shelves years ago.
Prices are at their lowest in the last year for Sakashima as they have dropped under the $20 mark. Now might be a good time to buy a few copies as I can definitely see this card going back up to the mid-$20’s in the next 6-12 months.
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5. Commander’s Plate
There’s another artifact on our list that gets much higher reviews, but Commander’s Plate is definitely no slouch!
Giving a creature +3/+3 and protection from a specific color not in your Commander’s identity is an awesome ability for an artifact. And you can just sit it there and keep equipping creatures while your opponent struggles to find an answer!
Commander’s Plate card prices started slow back in late 2022 and had a hard time breaching the $20 mark until around February 2023 when it started to take off.
The current price is still a bit off it’s highs, but they’re still holding quite strong in the low $20’s. I anticipate we’ll continue to see decent interest in this artifact over time but too early to tell where prices might go.
But current prices are in the low $20’s and that’s not bad for an out of print desirable card. Don’t sell your kids’ toys and buy a hundred copies yet as it’s just not worth the risk. But is it ok to invest on a few copies? Yes if you can pick them up low, maybe in the high teens.
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4. Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait
The etched foil on Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait really makes this card POP! And the stunning artwork of this legendary serpent also makes this card super appealing to players and collectors.
And to top it off, when Aesi is in play it allows you to play extra land cards and draw extra cards into your hand too. It can be a game changer for sure which is why the card continues to be extremely popular even a few years later.
This card was well below $10 for the longest time and then it started to take off in January of this past year with prices nearly doubling overnight.
Right now, even in a depressed market, prices are still holding pretty strong in the $15-20 range and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
It’s simply a great card for so many decks and definitely a card that a collector or investor is going to want to have in their portfolio.
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3. Vampiric Tutor
You know a card is strong when it can hold a decent price even when it’s constantly being reprinted. The Vampiric Tutor is just that card.
So far we’ve seen this card in the Judge Promos, 6th Edition, Eternal Masters, Visions, Dominaria Remastered and now in Commander Legends. Needless to say it’s a popular card and highly desirable in decks and collections.
For the Commander Legends version, prices are approaching half of what they once were. I think that has to do more with the environment and the economy because this is still one of the greatest cards in Magic history.
There is no question on ability. For one black mana and 2-life you can search your entire deck for that lone card that can help you win the game.
But how about the price and investment outlook? Can this card get back to its heyday and go from the current high $20’s up to the $50’s and $60’s?
Time will tell but I really think it can. There’s only so much Commander Legends product out there and the Tutor is still a difficult card to find.
With pull rates of Mythic Rares like the Vampiric Tutor being about 3-4 per box on average and knowing there are (22) Mythic Rare cards in this set (where 5 can be pulled from the legendary slot in packs and 17 are pulled from the rare slot), the odds of getting a specific card are low. That helps with the price.
I think long term we’ll see this card get back up into the $40’s and $50’s. The foil and extended art versions will be even more. But the interest will never die on this card which is why I think it has a great shot to increase in price over time.
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2. Mana Drain
Easily one of the most powerful Instant cards in all of Magic, Mana Drain is a super cheap and must-have Counterspell card for any and all Blue and combo decks. Mana Drain is definitely the kind of card that you go nuts over after ripping open the pack as it’s also normally very expensive.
And Mana Drain has definitely been around the block and reprinted numerous times because of its popularity. So far we’ve seen versions in the original Legends (1994), Double Masters 2022, the Judge Promos, Iconic Masters and this one in Commander Legends.
Magic The Gathering card values are normally all over the place, going up and down depending on the economy and the health of the TCG market. But for the Commander Legends Mana Drain, prices have been extremely stable for the past year.
Prices have come down a little since they were in the $40’s but you still can get a solid $35 or more for a nice version of the regular Mana Drain on any given day. Foil and extended art versions normally go for much more, as you would expect.
I don’t see the demand for this card ever changing, unless they start banning it in other formats. Right now it’s banned in Legacy, but still legal to play in Vintage and Commander.
I’ve heard no rumors of this ever changing and Wizards continues to reprint this card which tells me they have no plans to ban it any further.
It’s difficult to say how much more we’ll see the price increase in the next 1-5 years. There are so many variables, but I would definitely look to add at least one to my collection.
If you can afford the Foil Regular version or even an extended art or Foil extended art, those are premium cards that are alway in high demand. All in all, a great card and one worth investing in.
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1. Jeweled Lotus
Ok, you knew that this was going to be Number One on the list, didn’t you? It’s definitely not a surprise that the best and most valuable card in Commander Legends is the highly sought after Jeweled Lotus.
As I’ve mentioned before, any time Wizards puts the word “Lotus” into a card name, it’s bound to be something everyone wants. When we heard Commander Legends was going to have a Lotus card and it was going to be a Mythic Rare, we all knew the scramble would be on to find one.
I never posted this on our YouTube channel (which we’re hoping to grow this year so check it out!), but one of the most fun times opening Booster Boxes on video was when my son and I split a box of Commander Legends Collector Boosters and we pulled an Extended Art Jeweled Lotus.
That card was ultimately sent out to PSA to be graded and it came back a solid PSA-9. What an awesome day with my son and something I won’t soon forget.
Right now the regular Jeweled Lotus is still bringing in a solid $65-70 on average. That’s a bit off its highs from the end of 2022 and early 2023 when it was easily selling in the $100 range. So although prices are down, I think they’re still super reasonable.
So where do I think prices will go for the Jeweled Lotus? I think one thing that has the potential to change the price tag is the upcoming Commander Masters set that Wizards is releasing in early August 2023.
They are including a Jeweled Lotus in that set that has the very same artwork and that could affect pricing of the Commander Legends version.
Now that could help or hinder the Commander Legends version so we’ll have to keep our eyes on both to see how the market reacts. Sometimes it rekindles that desire by collectors to go after the original version and sometimes it takes the focus off the old card and prices fall.
Somehow I doubt that prices will fall very much so don’t expect the market to sell off inventories for deep discounts.
For now, the Jeweled Lotus is one of the most important cards of this era and I expect over time we’ll see prices creep back into the $100 range. I don’t think it will take much longer to see these prices so if you have some extra cash to invest, pick up a few in the current $60’s range and put them away for a long time.
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Wrap Up
So there you have it! That’s the 7 Best and Most Valuable Magic Commander Legends Cards Worth Investing In right now. I’m sure there are others so if you have any feedback, I would love to hear from you. For now, keep investing in Magic and we’ll see you back here soon!
