Top Ten Commander Reprints of 2022
Smothering Tithe, by Pete Venters
Off the top of your head, how many reprints do you think there were in 2022? Can you even conceive of a number? Let's make it easier (maybe) and eliminate any card reprinted on The List, nor count anything found in the controversial (to put it mildly) Magic 30th Anniversary. Here, I'll give you a hint: the answer's four digits.
Maybe this will help: in total over the course of 2022, between reprints and new cards and fancy borders, treatments and everything else, we saw 5,387 individual cards printed on paper. Of those, 3,068 were reprints. That, according to a math consultant, is "a lot." But some reprints are better than others, or are more useful to we Commander players than others. For example, Gifts Ungiven and Primeval Titan both saw new versions released this year, which don't exactly do much for us since they're both banned in Commander. Same with that cool old-bordered Sundering Titan from The Brothers' War. Similarly, I don't think there were many players celebrating a reprint of Renegade Demon or Last Breath or the 50th printing of Evolving Wilds (which isn't an exaggeration, by the way).
Despite the sheer volume of cards reprinted this year, it's pretty clear which have risen to the top of players' lists when it comes to appreciation for more copies floating around out there. Today, to celebrate 2022 coming to a close and to just for a moment pretend that we're not going to get buried under even more new and reprinted cards in just a few weeks' time, let's look at the Top Ten Best Reprints of 2022. Feel free to argue with me in the comments.
You can read the honorable mentions here.
Top Ten Commander Reprints of 2022
10. Liliana of the Veil
Not every reprint has to be for Commander players, as is likely the case for Liliana of the Veil. Certainly a better card in strange one-vs.-one, 60-card situations that I've read about online, Liliana is played enough in our 100-card format that it deserves mention here. At one point, the original Innistrad version was demanding $130 from players looking to strip their opponents' hands in Standard, Modern, Legacy, and whatever else other people play, but that was 2018. Before seeing a reprint in Dominaria United, Liliana of the Veil was included in Modern Masters 2017 and Ultimate Masters, with both reprintings doing about jack-all to its price and availability. Now, however, you have your pick of two new arts both for under $25.
I mentioned the card's relatively low impact on Commander, but that doesn't mean it's never seen at Commander tables. Since its reprinting in DMU, we've seen it grow from around 6,000 decks to 10,000, usually alongside partners in crime The Raven Man, Tinybones, Trinket Thief, and other discard-centric commanders. While $25 is still more than many are willing to spend, it's definitely a more easily digestible number than a few years ago.
9. Imperial Seal
A copy of Imperial Seal from its debut appearance in Portal Three Kingdoms is $1,100. A copy from its reprint in Double Masters 2022 is $80 and has cooler art. If that's not justification for its inclusion on this list, then I don't know what is. Imperial Seal is only legal in Commander, is restricted in Vintage, and banned or not legal anywhere else. It's also a worse Vampiric Tutor, but scarcity is a hell of a drug, and until this year Imperial Seal only existed in its original white-bordered P3K version as well as a Judge Promo from 2016 (that itself carries a $500 pricetag). It's also worth noting that Imperial Seal was for the briefest of moments in February (a few months before 2x2 was printed, if you want to strap on your tinfoil hat) listed for close to $80,000. Please tell me no one paid that.
Understandably, the importance of this reprint about its playability in Commander so much as it is that gaudy price. Even still, now that it's actually somewhat acquirable for your average player it appears in around 46,000 decks on EDHREC. I should mention again, it's still a worse Vampiric Tutor.
8. Bloom Tender
Before Bloom Tender popped up in Double Masters 2022, it had only seen three previous printings: its original release in 2008's Eventide, one appearance on the The List, and an inclusion in the Special Guest: Jen Bartel Secret Lair from 2021. Because of its relative scarcity, Bloom Tender was not a cheap card, hitting highs of around $60 in early 2020, which obviously is a lot of real life dollars to pay for a fancy mana dork. But once it was reprinted in Double Masters, that price tanked, going from around $32 to where it's at now, less than $10 for that 2x2 version.
Now, players can continue to be greedy with their colors and mana bases knowing Bloom Tender is around to bail them out. Today, Bloom Tender is found in 65,000 decks as per EDHREC, or around 8% of all decks that can play it, which is pretty good for a card that is objectively worse than a Llanowar Elves in mono-green. As you might expect, it's most often seen in decks sporting at minimum four colors.
7. Diabolic Intent
Say what you want about tutors in Commander, but it's always a good thing to see a card that demands a high price tag get reprinted. People want Diabolic Intent for decks, and now thanks to The Brothers' War it's easier than ever to secure a copy. While the art no longer features my main man Crovax being all cool and contemplative in a chair, the new version is under $10, which, compared to the original Planeshift version's $35, I'd say is an improvement.
Since I wrote about the reprints of The Brothers' War here, we've seen Diabolic Intent make its way into about 6,000 more decks on EDHREC. Considering that set released only a month ago, it's an impressive jump.
6. Fauna Shaman
Speaking of The Brothers' War reprints, also making the list is Fauna Shaman. We discussed a month ago the utility of the card and how it isn't as good as Survival of the Fittest, but it won't cost you $250 either. The original printing of Fauna Shaman, from Magic 2011, reached an all-time high of nearly $20, but thanks to its recent reprint you can acquire a copy for six quarters. That's what a good reprint is all about: a fun card now available to anyone. And if your deck is frog-in-the-art tribal, you'll be pleased to see that new artist Nicholas Elias kept the inexplicably featured frog from the original Steve Argyle art.
Unlike Diabolic Intent, Fauna Shaman hasn't seen quite the bump on EDHREC, only growing from 26,000 decks to 27,600 over the last month. Maybe if they unban Recurring Nightmare that number will skyrocket (do it, you cowards).
5. Smothering Tithe
Like an entry later in this list, Smothering Tithe is a game-warping annoyance of a card that is simply too good to ignore. As a card requiring you to be constantly monitoring other players' draws and needling them about whether or not you get your little gold coin, Smothering Tithe has certainly garnered itself a reputation since it first debuted in Ravnica Allegiance in early 2019. With its inclusion in Double Masters 2022, we got its first reprint (other than a Judge Gift Card version also this year), and as a result the price of the card went from a high of around $50 in April to its current price of half of that for any "regular" (i.e., not foil or full-art) version. Still, you can get yourself a copy of the awesome Pete Venters grabby-hand art for $35.
The number of decks on EDHREC that include Smothering Tithe have grown since its reprinting, but that's like saying tossing a bucket of Mountain Dew into the ocean will raise sea levels. At the moment, Smothering Tithe is seen in 232,000 decks of the 800,000 or so that can play it, or in other words, 28%. One could say its ubiquity is...what's the word...ah! Suffocating.
4. Teferi's Protection
For the past decade or so, white has been widely maligned when it came to power level compared to other colors, but we can't argue that they haven't been trying to rectify that in recent years. Sometimes the results are a little too overzealous, as is likely the case of the previous entry in this list, but sometimes a card is created that just works. That's Teferi's Protection. Unfortunately, a powerful card for white also tends to be expensive, and that's also Teferi's Protection. Originally printed in Commander 2017, the card scraped its ceiling at around $55 last year, even with a Secret Lair printing, inclusion on The List, and dual Strixhaven Mystical Archive versions. Because it was included in Double Masters 2022, however, today you can get a copy for around $20, including a fancy full-art version.
Even with its price, Teferi's Protection is frequently included in any deck that can play it; in other words (or numbers), it's included in 166,128 decks, or 20% of any deck running white. A highly sought-after card that saw its price slashed in half thanks to a new version is exactly the kind of thing that gets you on this list.
3. Dockside Extortionist
Is Dockside Extortionist ruining Commander? Probably not, but people certainly have opinions on this particular capitalist Goblin. It's no secret that Treasure tokens and the cards that generate them have exploded in popularity over the past few years, but none are as divisive than Dockside Extortionist. That said, for many players the decision on using it or not in a deck was made for them, in the sense that if they were fortunate enough to have bought a copy of Commander 2019's"Mystic Intellect" precon at MSRP. Since that original printing, Dockside Extortionist's price climbed to a whopping $75 before seeing its first reprint in Double Masters 2022. While the card's price is still pretty hefty, you can secure any non-foil, non-full art copy for around $50. But the real boon is that for the first time, players could have opened Dockside Extortionist in a randomized pack, which likely enticed many into buying a few said packs from Double Masters 2022.
For a card that cost as much as a video game, it still sees a ton of play in Commander, a fact that I'm sure you didn't need me to tell you. According to EDHREC, red players include the card in 170,000 decks, or roughly 20% of anything that can play it. That number's only risen as the card's price has fallen. It's a foregone conclusion that we'll see it again soon in another reprint-heavy set, as if it's Tarmogoyf 2.0, or maybe it'll pop up in the upcoming return to Ixalan?
2. Rhystic Study
Sneaking through in the last set released in 2022 is Rhystic Study, a former common that's seen significant improvement in its own rarity standing over the years. We just covered the reprints of Jumpstart 2022 here, and there were some good ones. None as impactful, though, as Rhystic Study. It's been 22 years since its first appearance in Prophecy, and despite a number of reprints in special or supplementary sets, this is only the second time since then you could open a copy in a randomized pack (the first time being the first Jumpstart, if you could find it).
At one point in mid-2021, a regular, non-foil Rhystic Study from Prophecy commanded more than $60. Today, it's around half of that, settling in at roughly the same price as most of its reprints outside the Judge Promo version and the Commander's Arsenal version. It's worth noting, though, that for old-border enthusiasts like myself, the Prophecy printing is still the only way to get it in all its opaque glory.
Rhystic Study is one of those cards that define Commander, for better or worse. People buy tee-shirts that say "Did you pay the 1?" for Pete's sake. I've seen them. On EDHREC, Rhystic Study is used in almost 300,000 decks, or 30% of all decks that play blue. For every three blue players you see, one of those monsters is playing it. And the other two only have one copy, but in another deck.
1. Battlebond Lands
Battlebond was technically not a Commander-centric release, but even still, as soon as the set dropped in June of 2018, Commander players were clamoring to get their copies of the set's dual lands. While not bearing basic land types like original ABUR duals, like Badlands, they're in a lot of ways the next best thing in Commander -- and by that I mean they always come into play untapped without any hoops to jump through. At the end of the day, what else do you want? Do you need to fetch them? We've given you the cake, now you expect to eat it, too?
Anyway, outside of Zendikar Rising Expeditions versions from 2020, this year's Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate is the first reprint for the allied cycle of 'Bond lands. And as expected, the lands went from luxury to staple, dropping from a high of almost $40 for Morphic Pool to its current price of $7-ish. And that's the most expensive of the five. Nothing feels worse for aspiring Commander players than feeling priced-out of a new hobby because of a mana-base, and sure, there are ways around that, but having the option to get an excellent dual land in your colors for only a few bucks is what reprints are all about. Thankfully, the other five lands in this cycle (like Spectator Seating) printed in 2020's Commander Legends, never got that expensive.
These lands show up in 20-30% of all decks that can play them, which is around the same amount as Core Set duals like Dragonskull Summit and trailing only shocklands like Blood Crypt for percentage of inclusions. Wizards can make chase mythics all they want, print broken format staples, whatever, but it's never a bad thing for players to have access to more good lands.
Rampant Regrowth
Are the order of cards on this top ten list arbitrary? I'll never tell.
But I'd love to hear your thoughts on what the top ten best reprints of 2022 were. And before I send you off into the holiday ether, don't forget to check out the below honorable mentions, cards that were not quite so impactful to make it onto a pointless list but bear mention nonetheless.
Honorable mentions: Curse of Opulence, Reckless Fireweaver, Oversold Cemetery, Wurmcoil Engine, Bitterblossom, Mindcrank, Lim-Dûl's Vault, Colossus Hammer, Wrenn and Six, the Unfinity shocklands, Ashnod's Altar, Corrupt Court Official.
Don't forget to tell me what your top ten list would be -- and while we're at it, what's your top ten wishlist for next year's reprints? Is it Cover of Darkness? Shelkin Brownie? Whaddaya got?
