MTG Top 10: The MOST EXPENSIVE Creatures (And Why They Are Expensive) | Magic: the Gathering

[@cax1175]

Shivan Dragon and Birds are not on the Reserve List and their Alpha printings still cost a ton. It's almost like a lot of the high value cards on the Reserve List would still be expensive, even with reprints. Crazy

[@kurtilein3]

This stays dumb no matter how often it is repeated. Yet people repeat it.

[@dismasthepenitent569]

it's because the investors that want the reserve list to stay don't care whether the cards are "expensive" or not. They care about the price going down. If the price of a card goes down from 9,000 dollars to 1,000 dollars then it's still out of reach for most people who actually play the game, but it's a huge hit for people who care about resale value. That said I have 0 sympathy for mtg finance bros, how about you try to produce something new and of value instead of profiting off of the work of others.

[@hitthegoat]

It’s literally the perfect argument against the reserve list

[@hitthegoat]

@@kurtilein3how is it dumb? The argument for the reserve list at the time of its inception was that overprinting cards would reduce their collectible value. Yet BoP and the dragon have been reprinted countless times, yet the alpha versions are thousands of dollars. You seriously think that if they reprinted the original dual lands that the alpha printings would decrease in value?

[@kurtilein3]

@@hitthegoat Ugly faded revised dual lands are the problem, or my lightly played unlimited Black Lotus. For cards like Shivan Dragon, that its not reserved list is PRICED IN. Would you give me a revised dual land for my revised shivan dragon? Why not? Oh, revised Shivan Dragon is worth next to nothing? How can that be true if the reserved list does not matter?

[@jacobwithers4655]

You should do a top 10 of cards with biggest price differences between printings. For example, Alpha Shivan Dragon versus a core set version.

[@bradcallahan3546]

Gay

[@stuflames4769]

​@@bradcallahan3546no u

[@eduvieira2022]

most of it would be older cards VS new prints

[@Da40kOrks]

Like erhnam djinn, which was printed in chronicles. and why it was played so extensively..because it was cheap and easy to get.

[@jackiespaceman]

That’s a good idea

[@jackiespaceman]

I usually don’t like these most expensive lists but the extra info about why they’re expensive is really interesting!

[@NizzahonMagic]

I do that on all of them FYI, this is just the first time I put it in the title.

[@jameshill2450]

The Reserved List is the answer to almost every one of them.

[@machspeed5025]

Phyrexian Dreadnought is also a highly wanted card in Selvala, Heart of The Wilds EDH and CEDH decks as you can have it enter, get the draw trigger off it with Selvala then have Selvala tap for 12 mana all before the dreadnought sacrifices itself. I'm just glad I picked it up back when it was $30.

[@argentfang]

I haven’t looked at all the comments, but I’m surprised you didn’t mention the old Illusionary Mask/Dreadnaught combo that was the main way of cheesing it out back in the day.

[@NoName-w4j3t]

I busted out my old dreadnoughts when Varolz Scar-Striped was printed. It was fun doing something different with Dreadnought and deaths shadow

[@littlemrdoom5997]

The scariest topic for a top 10 liston halloween: capitalism!

[@nazagato]

I remember when I bought a zodiac dragon for $100... It was the same price as the Shivan dragon at that time. It's incredible how much one of those costs today.

[@BigDiff7]

Triskelion was just reprinted in Dominaria Remastered. That limited format with a Momentary Blink was a pretty brutal combo.

[@thrillhouse4151]

0:35, I love how you said all that with the Djinn just smirking in the back.

[@MSR-1701]

Nice to see the Phyrexian Dreadnought appear on these lists 😅

[@OlympusPublicAffairs]

Fun fact about Birds of Paradise: The card was originally supposed to be Volcanic Island, but Mark Poole made the bird too prominant in the art, so they decided to make it its own card and to keep it at rare, they made it a powerful mana dork. So having an alpha BoP is essentially having an alpha Volcanic Island too.

[@hyoroemongaming569]

Yes we Heard it 100 times already 😑

[@OlympusPublicAffairs]

@hyoroemongaming569 Great! Glad to be the 101st:)

[@TheGloriousLobsterEmperor]

I have a huge findnbess for extremely expensive pieces of cardboard. Personally, while I do think it's ridiculous that some cards remain eternally priced out of players' hands, if a card is available for cheap, I've got no problems with its original versions being thousands of dollars. It does show though how much better MTG cards hold their value in comparison to YuGiOh cards. I pulled a card called The Phantom Knights of Break Sword on my birthday when Wing Raiders had just dropped, at its peak it was well over $100 USD. It's now about $5 last time I checked. I never sold it because it has sentimental value. Just like how "Top 10 Vintage Cards (Minus Power 9)" has such intangible value!

[@Bob-nc5hz]

TBF that also happens in MTG. In its heydays a future sight goyf (non-foil) was more than 200, now it's 20-30. That's from both reprints (it got reprinted in 6 sets) and not being anywhere as good as it was back then (still a great creature and a staple in multiple decks but 17 years of powercreep and additional removal will do that to you, that actually underscores just how strong the goyf was).

[@XaurielZ]

Gee, you really led us down the garden path with this one

[@TheGloriousLobsterEmperor]

@@XaurielZ What can I say? Sometimes the opportunity for a great story pops up.

[@cax1175]

​@@TheGloriousLobsterEmperorWe are Pro Top 10 Vintage Cards Minus the Power 9 and Anti Reserve List around here

[@TheGloriousLobsterEmperor]

@@cax1175 We are also pro-Teeka's Dragon!

[@RibusPQR]

Vesuvan Doppelganger is on the Reserved List, but its Revised printing is less than 20 bucks.

[@PoopinaBucket]

Phyrexian dreadnaught is also rly good in Selvala, heart of the wild commander decks. You just tap Selvala before the dreadnaught dies and you make 12 mana

[@chaoticklutz3633]

Fun thing about Metalworker & Grim Monolith, they both have gold bordered variants from the World Champ Decks 2000 that, while they aren't legal in any of the official formats, they are rather very cheap with Metalworker being around $30 and Grim Monolith at $15 and change. As long as you have friends that are cool with casual EDH games and often run things like proxies or know about money setbacks then it shouldn't be much of an issue. Just don't use them at tournaments or in events.

[@ceulgai2817]

Honestly, ignoring foils and other bling, I think a gold border looks cooler than a black border. If somebody wants to rock up to the table with gold borders? Hell yeah, brother

[@herbbranan2188]

This was, and still is, the final answer to 99.99% of the people who complain about "not being able to play Island of Wak Wak" (or whatever random card they are whining about on the reserved list). The overwhelming majority of the time, they just want to play casually. If a casual group won't let you play with an Swamp with "Word of Command" written across it, you need a new casual group.

[@Brinta3]

I have a Serendib Efreet from Arabian Knights in nearmint condition. It’s by far the most expensive card I have.

[@NizzahonMagic]

Nice.

[@mightyfp]

6:20 a 6 mana 4/4

[@atunga5]

rudy could be mentioned on some of the price discussions .. the archeologist for example owes him a lot for the "desirability"

[@AC3handle]

man, I remember when Alpha cards were considered garbage because of their unplayability in regular decks. Only the hardcores who had large collections of those and could make a full deck of nothing but those cards and play each other were the only thing pushing them up. Then 2017 happened, and Alphas just went bonkers.

[@natogfg]

what happened in 2017?

[@AC3handle]

@@natogfg I belive thats right around when commander decks started kicking into high gear. I could be wrong, but that's when I remember seeing a LOT of commander decks being displayed at the local shop I think that's also when commander players didn't have an issue with putting odd cards, like alphas and collector versions, into decks, so long as the sleves you were using covered the card back. That was also when Kaladesh came out, and while previous sets had been doing good, that one just exploded.

[@delathenleso5793]

You should do a "No Reserve List" version. The Reserve List is an awful part of the game, because it makes it nearly impossible for most players to realistically play with iconic cards.

[@alextway8497]

yeah and a no commander list for the same reason

[@lark7311]

@@alextway8497 cope commander has more players than all other formats combined

[@alextway8497]

@@lark7311 playing barbie dolls with magic cards doesn't count

[@PhoenicopterusR]

@@alextway8497 Good job on making a good point then being a complete ass about it for no reason.

[@shawnjackson4458]

Argivian Archaeologist would be an auto-include in Stoneforge Mystic decks if reprinted today ... Would make White Equipment decks in EDH much more powerful ... what a shame it's reserved 😩

[@bosslca9630]

Hannah, Ships Navigator is a 'better' version of the Archaeologist in most cases. If you have access to blue and have any enchantments, it's a strickly better card.

[@mushnib]

Phyrexian Dreadnought is one of my favorite cards, its one of the best creatures (for the graveyard) in my Varolz scavenge deck. One mana to put 12 +1 counters on a creature is a pretty good deal

[@systmerr9445]

That’s amazing 😂. I want it for flavor for my Old Phyrexia Yawgmoth commander deck, but it’s just absurdly expensive.

[@GeoQuag]

Dreadnought is still played a bit in rouge legacy. Dress down is usually the cheat of choice to get it in, with occasional Mycosynth Gardens cheating too.

[@randallross420]

I remember when the most expensive creature was Balduvian Horde.

[@MarylandBF]

Archaeologist is great in OS decks with Chaos Orb

[@oxpolitik]

Found an Edgar Markov for sale for $17 a few months ago...snapped it off. I wonder when it's going to get reprinted again.

[@NizzahonMagic]

I don't know, a lot of people thought it would show up in Commander Masters, because Ur-Dragon did. But then it didn't happen.

[@swahilimaster]

Discovered fairly recently that my uncle still has a bunch of old foil cards from the earliest days they were printing them through about 7th edition, and among them is a playset of absolutely mint condition Metalworkers.

[@magicswords5]

Surprised the silver border Grimlock isnt on here. He's so crazy expensive.

[@blazingelse9104]

I think you're neglecting old school formats. Some of these cards are pretty expensive due to their value in tournament play, not only for collectors. There are 93/94 tournaments and they play all those A/B/U/ARN/ATQ/LEG cards. That's one reason why they are hella expensive even off the reserved list.

[@jameshill2450]

Even without considering that it only cost 1 mana, Phyrexian Dreadnaught at 12/12 was the largest creature ever made at that time.

[@jeffspencer1255]

Shivan Dragon gives me a twinge of shame, as in my early ignorant days of Magic, I traded a Badlands for one!

[@pant0sand0hat]

Innocent mistake

[@jeffspencer1255]

@@pant0sand0hat Probably not for the guy who did it!

[@maciejnowak666]

Hazezon Tamar used to be a deadly Commander. It was one of my favourite decks, however powercreep made it pretty weak. It was just too slow to make things happen. My deck, i used to produce absurd amounts of massive sand creatures. Ive managed to deal over 700 points of damage in a swing

[@Sulmor85]

One particular guy offered me 4 million dollars for a foil Teeka's Dragon. I refused. Too low.

[@Xelianow]

....do i get something wrong, or is Zodiac Dragon a card you can discard indefinitely? Like a 2-card combo with Psychatog?

[@NizzahonMagic]

Yep, you can do that.

[@genzo454]

No, the Oracle text is "When Zodiac Dragon is put into your graveyard from the battlefield, you may return it to your hand."

[@redmageviewer]

I have a box of old cards that i got at a garage sale and found a force of will in there. But i should go through it again and see if there is any expensive card in it.

[@Goblintom]

Damn, I once had a Dreadnought and it's worth was pretty much nothing back then.

[@LyseanEmpire]

Question about number 3, specifically "Zodiac Dragon" lts wording reminds me of "Rukh Egg" since it doesn't specify that it has be in the battlefield before it goes into your graveyard. Am l overthinking this, or has this been errata'd?

[@genzo454]

It has been Errata'd, the Oracle text reads "When Zodiac Dragon is put into your graveyard from the battlefield, you may return it to your hand."

[@daniduc]

Huh, I actually own one of those cards, the phyrexian dreadnaught, I opened one in a mirage pack back in the day. But I think prefer my dreadnaught to a 100 bucks. Maybe that’s why I still have it.

[@dtelad11]

Whenever you do one of these you send me to my boxes of old cards. Apparently I have two Phyrexian Dreadnaughts, a Metal Worker, and a Sliver Queen.

[@stageinvader13]

In high school I ran a black green deck with 4 Juzam Djinn. Sadly I sold off 3 of them to pay for college.

[@SomeGuy712x]

The only one of these actual "most expensive" creatures I own is Sliver Queen, and I have a couple copies of her, thanks to them being in binders I bought at a tag sale many years ago for just $15. I do own a few of the Shivan Dragon reprints that are super cheap, but obviously not the "OVER NINE THOUSAND!!!" version from Alpha. Also, I have the misprinted Revised version of Serendib Efreet that has Ifh-Biff Efreet's art and frame color. And, I have a Triskelion that I recently pulled in a Dominaria Remastered pack. However, I don't currently own any Birds of Paradise at all. I really should remedy that and get one for about $5 or so at some point.

[@jonothanthrace1530]

My Niv-Mizzet EDH deck has a Revised Serendib Efreet in it just because it makes me giggle.

[@SK8R43]

Jesus, Metalworker is $120 now???? I remember selling 7 copies of it for less than $30 each 5 or 6 years back to my local card shop. They were minty pack fresh and they ended up giving me pretty close to what they could sell them for(which was about $35 at the time). Thats crazy that it has gone up that much since then. At the time FOW was $100 and LED was around $90. Not sure what those are now though. Edit: LMAO $300 for sliver queen now too??? Damn, i wish i kept my old school collection. 99% of the cards were minty and i had 2 copies of this....that i sold for basically nothing compared to $300.

[@MrTrellheim]

Damn, I have a Spanish translation of Gilded Drake (Draco de Oropel). Do you think it would drive the price too low?

[@Radjammin]

Phyrexian Dreadnought was first played with Illusionary mask.

[@no_Ray_bang]

* triskelion is a 6 mana 4/4

[@troythewizard9940]

Literally came to the comments to say just that 😂

[@impact24]

Some inaccuracy here with Vintage and Legacy. Survival of the Fittest is actually banned in Legacy - and you wouldn’t find Triskelion and Guilded Drake played there. Metalworker is not used in Vintage (at least not in the last 15 years or so) and would be likely more seen in Legacy.

[@tylerspeegle6494]

All I got from this is that the reserve list needs to go

[@dylanfarley8136]

Facts. It only benefits greedy investors at this point

[@crawdaddy1234]

As someone who owns quite a few Reserved List cards (e.g., 10+ dual lands, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Mox Diamond, and quite a few more), I agree with you. I miss playing Legacy. At this point, Legacy isn’t a playable format. Basically I just get to flex my age in Commander.

[@Thescottishguyreacts]

What about Guardian Beast?

[@mazerinthemage2395]

I really wish you wouldn’t ignore the impact that the Old School formats have on card demand/playability :/

[@monterraythehomeless]

He literally explained how he did his best to account for this exact phenomenon...

[@Dodgerific]

Every time I see this I keep thinking it's going to just be a list of cards with the highest mana cost lol

[@guilhermedasilva1795]

same haha

[@trunkage]

After seeing the Bird topping the list, I wonder how many creatures from the first, lets say, 5 sets that would be relevant

[@Reppen555]

my commander lets me sacrifise as response to create a blue zombie token which gets flying and its as strong as the thoughness so phyroxian dreadnought card i can easily make 12/12 zombies

[@Apanblod]

What the... Sliver Queen was hardly sought after when I last collected and played. Granted that was probably 15 years ago now, but I sold a SQ for the equivalent of around $20 when I got rid of my cards.

[@NizzahonMagic]

Woops.

[@RobotDCLXVI]

You have to figure $20 15 years ago is like $100 dollars now (maybe more) because usury and federal reserve.

[@Apanblod]

@@RobotDCLXVI @RobotDCLXVI Well it wasn't actually in dollars, so I don't really know how much the federal reserve affects the difference. For what it's worth, going by an online inflation converter for my national currency (200 SEK), the price would be around 263 SEK today. It does get a bit tricky when comparing to the USD, as at the time the price of the dollar was lower than it is today, but it would be nowhere near $100, at the most $30.

[@Apanblod]

@@NizzahonMagic And a Mox Diamond for the same price ($20) during the same auction. I couldn't believe the current price when I looked it up.

[@sebastienbouchard5450]

I never saw a serendib effreet in blue border, always green border

[@nbsmdtg]

really enjoy these thank you!

[@NizzahonMagic]

Glad you like them!

[@rushtowait]

Just want mention quickly that the Command Zone is not exclusive to just Commander format. All formats have them but Commander uses it more than other formats (Planeswalkers' emblems are placed there once created successfully).

[@derekturner5993]

Guardian Beast*??

[@crazedzealots]

can't believe my ernham djinn's are worth $300 now that's hilarious, i haven't put them in decks in decades.

[@Damnationization]

You should do this list but with the cheapest version of the card.

[@daniduc]

May I suga/ask for a top 20 standard cards - like a normal top 10, but you count points from standard tournaments. So we could see which cards dominated their standard environments. Thanks!

[@mark-zw3lm]

I still use my unlimited Vesuvan Doppelganger in my commander deck. A clone i can change at my upkeep. Yes please! It's still a power house when it hits the field. Especially with today's over powered creatures.

[@latinojackson9694]

WotC just loves pushing the use of proxies, huh?

[@Pehr81]

I remember when Juzám Djinn cost $90...

[@RockmeHellsing]

My god I have the Edgar deck... Should have bought him twice

[@jacobfarkas3916]

Great video, but part of me hates these videos. It makes me realize how many thousands of dollars I've lost over the years by not keeping my cards. I've had 4 Dreadnoughts, a couple metal workers, 4 gilded drakes, 1 sliver Queen. I started playing in Urza block and boy could I have made loads of money keeping my cards. I hade a playset of Gaeas Cradle to. I payed less than $100 for 4 of them....

[@andrecruz04]

I just found that my 90's sliver list have 2 $300 cards 😮

[@mikotagayuna8494]

Ah yes, the Aphel set. It had such powerhouses like the Sivhan Gradon, Argameddon and the Balck Lotus. Good times.

[@sharp3322]

I know you're sponsored by cardkingdom, but i think these most expensive card videos would be a lot more interesting if you used tcgplayer market value instead. Better representation of their actual value.

[@jgoody992]

Wish I kept my gilded drake. Traded it back in the day for something far less valuable

[@PsychoDiesel48]

15:12 Both Magic AND Pokemon have barely playable, overhyped red dragons in them from their first sets. Why am I not surprised XD

[@wanderinghistorian]

Aww man, I owned some of these back in the day and let them go for almost nothing.

[@thoughtsonmtg2768]

Until the Reserved List dies, proxies live.

[@natenathan2654]

Phyrexian dreadnaught was also the biggest creature evee for YEARS

[@thevaultwalrus]

Foil 7th bop in my Linnin

[@lainhikaru5657]

Also as I call it "Top 10 proxy only cards for my deck."

[@thoughtsonmtg2768]

The biggest problem with the Reserved List is that it also forbids functional reprints. A fact that makes the concept even more dumb.

[@ceulgai2817]

Imagine telling someone they're not allowed to play Argivian Archeologist in Commander just because some "collector" wants to keep it away from players.

[@NizzahonMagic]

They are allowed to play the Archaeologist...they just have to have a bunch of money to get one.

[@ceulgai2817]

@@NizzahonMagic Jacob, I should have been a bit clearer. I understand you were not advocating for anti-proxy ideologies, but there are people who legitimately believe you should not be able to play certain cards in non-tournament formats unless you divert rent money to do so. It's sad, honestly

[@dylanfarley8136]

​@ceulgai2817 It's the epitome of greed and selfishness, as far as this game is concerned. Extra douchebag bonus points if collectors get mad when people dare to proxy. God forbid people want to have access to ALL the pieces of card game.

[@kniferaffe]

Juzam Djinn 🤘🏽

[@kurtilein3]

Do not tell me you are not using special fancy super-rare versions and then go on to use alpha.

[@ddifi66126]

This is what Proxies are for.

[@fontainelefunk]

I used to own most of these...damn.

[@Collector261]

Shivan Dragon, $9299.99 ! I think I would rather buy myself a car.

[@tygonmaster]

7:20 Something something the reserved list is a lie. :^) I just always love examples like this, as it proves the reserved list only serves to hurt the game. The old cards keep their value even if reprinted, should there be enough demand for the card in general. New printings don't affect that because people will always want originals for their deck. But yet, sadly, we are still where we are with the reserved list.

[@hermodnitter3902]

Except one thing: you are wrong

[@tygonmaster]

@@hermodnitter3902 Compelling.

[@Brinta3]

@@tygonmaster You are wrong. Original printings will always be more valuable than newer printings, but availability also has a huge impact on price. Imagine what a Swords to Plowshares or Counterspell from Unlimited would cost had that been its last printing.

[@Brinta3]

⁠​⁠@@tygonmaster 13:07 There’s even a great example in this very video. The Juzam Djinn is much more expensive than the other two because it’s the only one on the reserved list. The other two have already been reprinted and are much easier to find. If you need it for your deck, why pay for an Arabian Knights Erhnam Djinn when you can just buy the cheap one from Chronicles?

[@tygonmaster]

@@Brinta3 The ORIGINAL holds value. That's the point. There is an accessible version that is cheaper and the collectors get the high price original. That is good for everyone. An accessible copy while the original holds value. Same with Shivan Dragon, one of the most reprinted cards in existence. Collectors WILL pay for the original.

[@kennethphillips6006]

Shout out to InQuest!

[@angelalex6944]

I still have my bird of paradise:)

[@Prismatics]

At #10 -- never mentioned Illusionary Mask + Phyrexian Dreadnought synergy to cast it for 1 mana, straight up ignored there's a foil judge promo version of the card. Stopped watching right there.

[@bariltrailette]

6 mana 4/4 triskelion

[@Longshanks78]

Guardian Beast!!!!!!

[@bathsaltcircus9630]

Woot woot!!!

[@dexterhatchet3529]

Aphel whoop whoop

[@ApexZer0]

Card kigdom is really inflasting edgars price hes like $85 on tcg player

[@duyas1628]

The reserve list maddening, tons of this shit shouldn't be on there.

[@tomatus270389]

These 'most expensive' lists are pointless, #1 it's always going to be Alpha or a very old set. Those can most of the time be acquired for way cheaper from other printings. You should do it by looking at the least expensive available legal (black/white bordered) version of each card.

[@kurtilein3]

But that would be logical, it would make sense, so there would be less comments.

[@Milkybetrayal]

Nice

[@mistysowards7365]

70% of these cards are literally unplayable and just bad and never should be worth anything. Bunch of price manipulation honestly. But people are collecting them...yea sure like 5 people...the rest are targeting "good" cards that actually sell lol

[@gkeuler]

So just reserve list nonsense is what you are telling me :p

[@TheGloriousLobsterEmperor]

When even the creators of MTG hate the reserve list, that's when you know it's BS.

[@zachhugo7424]

The reserved list is a scam

[@bradcallahan3546]

Talk about hilariously overpriced cards. Get accurate prices then try again

[@andyspendlove1019]

Ratio