The five most expensive cards from The Dark

BISMARCK, N.D. () — On the last gaming column, KX showed you Legends. The Magic set featured some of the game’s most expensive cards, and one that made a tremendous impact on the entire franchise that continues to last to this day. However, many of the sets released during this time period do not have the same lasting effects — including The Dark, the subject of this week’s price guide.

At the climax of the Brothers’ War between artificers Mishra and Urza (as described in Antiquities and later the full Brother’s War set in 2022), Urza utilized the power of the Golgothian Sylex to create a massive burst of pure energy. This not only succeeded in killing Mishra and protecting the plane of Dominaria from the first Phyrexians, but also obliterated the island of Argoth and destroyed the tectonic plate underneath it. The debris from this explosion was lofted into the air, eventually blotting out the sun and creating a time period known as The Dark. This set chronicles Dominaria during this cold and terrifying time, and the different groups that rose to power as a result.

While Legends is commonly regarded as one of MTG’s most iconic sets (both for its incredibly valuable cards and the legendary EDH format its’ signature Elder Dragons spawned), The Dark is a set that marks one of the game’s first major declines in overall value thanks to the vastly decreased power level of the cards within and the introduction of reprints. The pack does feature some cards that would later go on to be popular in their own right (including Maze of Ith, Elves of Deep Shadow, Tormod’s Crypt, and Fellwar Stone), but it is also known for featuring many truly terrible entries (Leviathan, Deep Water, Fasting, etc.) — as well as what is often considered to be the single worst Land in Magic history. This, of course, doesn’t mean that there are no expensive cards to be found in the set… and in this column, we’ll be discussing five of them. Like other cost columns, we will be using average prices taken from Magic pricing site MTGGoldfish to determine the picks for this pack.

Some of the earliest expensive cards in MTG history, including many of those that are present on previous most expensive lists, are part of what is known as the ‘Reserved List’ — a set of cards that will never again be reprinted in order to ensure they retain their value on the secondary market. The Dark is the first set where multiple cards in the top five are not part of the Reserved List, and as a result, the prices of later reprinted versions of the same cards have dropped dramatically in price. Ball Lightning is perhaps one of the best examples of this, as both an expensive card and one that has drastically fallen in price in the years since its initial release.

Ball Lightning is a rather odd card in that players will generally only have one shot to properly use it — and even then, there’s no saying that it won’t be blocked or destroyed, especially because of its low Toughness and vulnerability. Still, there are plenty of ways to recycle the card (such as Feldon of the Third Path), as well as strategies to get the most out of Ball Lightning before its death — including multiplying the damage it does through City on Fire or Jeska, Thrice Reborn, killing it before end-of-turn to draw cards with Greater Good or Skullclamp, or literally throwing it at opponents with the likes of Fling, Thud, and Brion Stoutarm. In this day and age, it is even possible to kill an opponent in one turn with Ball Lighting, albeit through a strategy that is unlikely to occur: play the card, give it the Infect ability with Glistening Oil or Tainted Strike, attack to give an opponent six Poison Counters, and then cast Fling to give them another six (a player automatically loses if they have ten Poison Counters at any time). However, the card is also overshadowed by other similar ‘one-hit-wonders’ with similar effects — the most notable of which are Lightning Skelemental (which makes opponents discard when it hits), Impetuous Devils (which forces a player to block it), and Spark Trooper (which heals the player as well).

Of all of the expensive cards we’ve seen so far on these lists, Ball Lightning is the one that has seen the largest decline over time — in part due to a tremendous number of reprints, and the fact that there are other more effective options in this same niche. A modern copy of the card will typically cost a dollar or two, as opposed to the high cost of this original variant.

Taking control of an opponent’s cards is an ability that is tremendously powerful in Magic — and one that is not evenly distributed among every color. Blue and Red are the colors of Mana that take the most advantage of this effect, and indeed those which boast some of the most infamous examples of it (including Expropriate and Insurrection, which can oftentimes end games on their own). In contrast, White has very few instances of cards that take control, primarily because it does not appear to fit as well into the color’s themes of unity and protection — which makes early cards like Preacher much more intriguing.

The ability to take control of an opposing creature is one that is almost always useful, but it loses some of its luster when you either have to keep Preacher tapped to do so or lose control of it after one turn. Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to make the most of this effect. The most obvious of these is to use cards like Victimize, Village Rites, and Sadistic Hypnotist to attack with and then sacrifice the controlled creature for your benefit — but there’s nothing saying you can’t just use Preacher to hold a key creature of your opponents hostage to take advantage of their own effects, either, and on the off-chance you grab a card that can benefit your own side of the table, it might be worth holding onto for a while before getting rid of it (one way or another).

The only major downside to this card is that, as opposed to many of the previously-mentioned control-oriented creatures, your opponent gets to choose what Preacher takes, which means that it will almost never manage to steal anything of use against decks that focus on large numbers of smaller creatures. Still, Preacher does hold up as one of the more interesting offerings from The Dark, and one that could actually have relevance in the modern game — even if it does come off as relatively middling when compared to more popular snatching cards.

Preacher is one of the rare cards from The Dark that was part of the Reserved List, meaning that its price, while not as high as some other cards on the list, is relatively large, and will stay that way for years to come. This is actually rather disappointing, as with reprints, it could have a place in some decks — especially alongside cards like Agent of Treachery that benefit the player for taking what doesn’t belong to them.

Of all the different types and tribes of Magic: The Gathering, there are few that rival Goblins in terms of both size and versatility. There are over 440 cards in the game that relate to Goblins –many of which range in power from mediocre to infamously effective — and the many Goblin Commanders available (including Krenko, Mob Boss, Zada, Hedron Grinder, Daretti, Scrap Savant, and Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker) all have their own play styles and ways of seizing victory from an opponent. With such an expansive and varied roster of creatures, it certainly makes sense that some, like Goblin Wizard, would stand out as particularly valuable.

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Goblin Wizard has a rather high Mana cost as far as Goblins are considered (many Goblin decks prefer their minions to be under 3 Mana), but does boast two powerful effects. The ability to tap itself to immediately drop a Goblin from your hand on the field can be useful in decks that actively try to run more high-cost members of the tribe such as Battle Squadron or Muxus, Goblin Grandee, and protection from White can be used to render certain important creatures immune to popular board wipes like Wrath of God or Supreme Verdict. Despite this, though, Wizard tends to find itself in a peculiar spot where very few Goblin-based strategies are interested in adding him to their ranks. Cheaper swarm-based strategies typically find him too expensive and vulnerable to fit into the horde, while often costing more Mana and money than the Goblin player would want to cheat out using its effect. On the opposite side, more competitive and pricey Goblin decks (which are focused on stringing together infinite combinations in the first few turns of the game) find Wizard too slow and situational. The final nail in Wizard’s coffin is the existence of Moggcatcher — a card which, while not actually a Goblin, is more widely available, and has the ability to bring any Goblins directly from the deck to the field instead of relying solely on the player’s hand (which in accordance with Mono-Red’s all-or-nothing playstyle, is generally not very large).

Goblin Wizard does serve a useful purpose, but much like other useful cards from early Magic, it struggles to fit into many strategies, even those that it is meant to support. It still remains a valuable find, however, and stands out amongst other entries from The Dark as a card that can still have a place among one of the game’s most popular tribes. If you must invest in an expensive Goblin, however, our columnist (a Goblin player himself, of the Mob Boss variety) recommends opting for the ever-useful Dockside Extortionist instead.

The Dark gave birth to a tremendous rise in anti-magic groups throughout Dominaria — many of which blamed magic and its practitioners as a whole for the Sylex Blast. As a result of this persecution, many practicing wizards were forced to flee to smaller hideaways to maintain their ways of life. And yet again, the theory that no review of the most expensive cards in early MTG is complete without a land rings true when we come to the depiction of one of these safe havens (not Safe Haven, though — it wasn’t expensive enough to be in the top five).

City of Shadows seems like a slow way to gain Mana, and a relatively costly one at that — killing creatures one after the other to slowly add on to the amount of power that the card can provide is not ideal for many decks. Not only does the card need to sacrifice at least one creature to be of any use, but players cannot power it up and tap it for Mana on the same turn, and the sacrificed creatures are exiled rather than being placed in the Graveyard (which prevents it from synergizing with cards like Reassembling Skeleton or Gravecrawler). In the over two million Commander decks listed on EDHRec, City sees play in just over 1,100 — a far cry from most Lands with such a tremendous price (Ancient Tomb, another $60-$70 Land that produces Colorless Mana, is in over 300,000), . Although there are ways to take advantage of the effect, including using it in a Token deck that can create many bodies to kill for the effect or a Proliferate deck that can increase the counters on it without constant sacrifice, there are better options for this same sort of ability — players who want to create huge swarths of Mana using one Land and a lot of creatures will often be better off using Cryptolith Rite or Growing Rites of Itlmoc, and if Colorless Mana in particular is needed, Ashnod’s Altar both provides more Mana per body than City of Shadows and sends creatures to the Graveyard for potential recycling.

While this Land does remain one of the highest-cost cards from The Dark, it is worth noting that this is not due to any newly-discovered combination or Reports from the MTG sales market note that its price is only as costly as it is now due to a sudden price surge in 2020. With how unpopular and ineffective the card is, it’s reasonable to assume that this buyout is the only reason it has a place on this list. To be frank, our columnist finds this placing quite disappointing, and wishes that the spot could have instead been given to one of the other Lands in the set — either Maze of Ith for its lasting relevance, or Sorrow’s Path because he believes that would be hilarious.

There are plenty of cards from these early days of Magic that still remain pricey, but are still essential parts of many strategies — and a majority of that is due to the availability of reprints. While you’d be hard-pressed to find a deck that includes the likes of The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale, for instance, other slightly expensive cards from Legends that have since seen reprints (including Mana Drain, Sylvan Library, and Land Tax) are seen as beloved additions to any deck using their colors, and are all available for under $40 each. This is the case with The Dark’s costliest card, as well — but with the lasting power of the card, it’s no wonder that Blood Moon was the big-ticket item from its initial set.

When trying to understand Blood Moon’s infamy and relevance, it’s important to note the difference between ‘Lands’ and ‘Basic Lands’. In short, there are a total of eleven Basic Lands in MTG (one for each color of Mana, five ‘Snow-Covered’ variants, and Wastes), all of which have the simple effect of tapping for one Mana of their respective color. Anything that is not one of these is considered a Nonbasic Land. In many decks that use multiple colors of Mana at once, many Nonbasic Lands are often used that can provide the player a choice between colors (with the Original Dual Lands, Fetch Lands, and Shock Lands being some of the best examples), and there are plenty that can have devastating or incredibly beneficial effects (including former column entries Library of Alexandria, Tabernacle, and Bazaar of Baghdad).

Blood Moon shuts down all of these, as it transforms every Nonbasic Land into a Basic Mountain — negating any abilities they may have, and only allowing them to provide one Red mana. This not only serves to negate some of the powerful effects that Nonbasic Lands can have, such as stopping massive Mana gain from Gaea’s Cradle or Cabal Coffers or denying access to destroyed cards via Academy Ruins and Hall of Heliod’s Generosity, but can also cut off a player’s access to certain types of Mana if used against someone who relies on Dual Lands to get the right colors. The fact that it does nothing to Red decks means that it often finds its way into those that utilize the color (especially Mono-Red strategies), and to this day, it remains one of the most powerful and flexible parts of Red’s often-lacking ability to directly stifle opponents’ plays.

Unlike many of the other most valuable cards we’ve discussed so far, Blood Moon has seen plenty of reprints due to its popularity in recent years. While this original printing from The Dark is rather costly, players can now obtain copies of the card for under $15.

If you’re slightly perplexed by the major price drop from Legends to The Dark, then brace yourself for next week — in which we’ll be delving into one of the most infamously inexpensive and unimpressive packs in MTG history. Until then, let us know what you think of The Dark’s most valuable cards on our Facebook pages!