More valuable than Phyrexian Oil.
Scars of Mirrodin is over a decade old, but its legacy as a set is still felt, even today. Some of the cards included in Scars of Mirrodin have gone on to have long and storied careers in competitive constructed Magic, and have prices that reflect that. From powerful lands to massive artifact creatures to broken mana sources, there are a lot of terrific old cards that originated in the first Mirran-Phyrexian conflict. With hype building for Phyrexia: All Will Be One, let’s look at the ten most expensive cards from Scars of Mirrodin!
#10 Painful Quandary
Scars Of Mirrodin
I was first introduced to this card by coverage colleague Corbin Hosler, who had an absolutely brutal deck built around effects like this. In everything from Tinybones, Trinket Thief to Kaervek, the Merciless, Painful Quandary is precisely that — a painful quandary, and each time it triggers, it’s unsurprising to see it hold value even though a recent reprint. If you want to pick up a copy for less, The Brothers’ War version is a cheaper option than the Scars of Mirrodin version, but I know many players out there will have a strong preference for the original.
#9 Elspeth Tirel
Scars Of Mirrodin
Market Price: $8.55
I’m a little surprised to see a somewhat middle-of-the-pack planeswalker like Elspeth Tirel at around $10. Sure, she’s terrific in go-wide token decks, but I wouldn’t call her a staple in them — planeswalkers, in general, tend to suffer in Commander as they have to survive multiple combat phases between activations rather than just one. Nonetheless, the price speaks for itself: the original Elspeth manages to remain the most expensive Elspeth ever printed, perhaps because there’s only one printing.
#8 Contagion Engine
Scars Of Mirrodin
Market Price: $19.67
I’ll always have a soft spot for this card, as it was in the first-ever deck I owned: the Psychosis Crawler intro deck from this very set, Scars of Mirrodin. Contagion Engine has done a fair bit better than the Crawler over the years, however, purely due to the power of the proliferate mechanic (the pseudo-sweeper doesn’t hurt, either). Whether you’re playing with +1/+1 counters, -1/-1 counters, superfriends, infect, or anything else involving counters, Contagion Engine is a terrific way to keep proliferation ticking over — and given that it’s colorless, it can go in any deck that needs it.
#7 Platinum Emperion
Scars Of Mirrodin
Market Price: $12.40
Cut from a similar cloth to Platinum Angel, Platinum Emperion is one of those big, weird, splashy cards that open up ridiculous combos. There’s the one-card combo of Madcap Experiment, but with a damage-doubling effect like Furnace of Rath, you can use Platinum Emperion and Heartless Hidetsugu to win the game on the spot. Despite an Ultimate Masters reprint, this mythic rare has held its value really well over the years, as the effect is unique where it doesn’t appear that often.
#6 Seachrome Coast
Scars Of Mirrodin
As surprised as I am to see Sword of Body and Mind sixth on this list, I’m also very surprised to see Seachrome Coast coming in at fifth. Of course, the fast lands are good — really good — especially in decks that need to hit the ground running in formats like Modern, but I didn’t think Seachrome Coast was even close to popular. Some Modern Hammer Time decks splash blue, but that’s about it — aside from that, Seachrome Coast is more or less restricted to Commander. And let me tell you this: as soon as they print the white-blue Horizon Canopy, no one will be playing Seachrome Coast in Modern anymore, so I wouldn’t race to pick up copies at this price.
#5 Sword of Body and Mind
Scars Of Mirrodin
Market Price: $15.86
It’s somewhat surprising to see a Sword this low on the list, as the Swords of X and Y traditionally have always been amongst the most famous and expensive cards to emerge from Mirrodin-based blocks. Sword of Body and Mind, however, the card doesn’t command the same respect as the heavy hitters — Feast and Famine or Fire and Ice — and is one of the cheaper swords overall. The core reason is this: it’s just not that good in EDH and often demoted to Cubes, as a 2/2 and milling one player for ten cards pale in comparison to something like, I don’t know, untapping all your lands.
#4 Blackcleave Cliffs
Scars Of Mirrodin
Market Price: $7.56
Blackcleave Cliffs is the most significant of the fast land cycle for one simple reason — it can cast either Thoughtseize or Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer on turn one. That’s it. That really is it. Ever since the days of Boomer Jund, Blackcleave Cliffs has been a critical part of mana bases that look to cast red or black one drops: Thoughtseize, Lightning Bolt, Inquisition of Kozilek, Faithless Looting, and the list goes on. No other fast land covers as many key one-drops in Modern as Blackcleave Cliffs, with the simple reason that it comfortably outstrips all the others in terms of price. The fast lands need a reprint — particularly the Mirrodin ones, and hopefully in Phyrexia: All Will Be One to help address the high cost of Blackcleave Cliffs in particular.
#3 Wurmcoil Engine
Scars Of Mirrodin
Market Price: $12.68
Despite plenty of reprints over the years, Wurmcoil Engine has maintained a relatively steady price that speaks to its popularity across several formats. It is, obviously, an EDH favorite, as nothing locks down the board quite as well as a 6/6 with lifelink and deathtouch that splits into two 3/3s with an ability each on death. It also sees a ton of play in competitive formats, in Modern Tron and Vintage Shops, as simply put, it is one of the best colorless threats printed. On both offense and defense, there’s nothing quite like a Wurmcoil Engine to keep you in the game, and its immense power level is reflected by its $20 price tag — even after a stack of reprints.
#2 Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
Scars Of Mirrodin
Market Price: $26.88
While Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon is comparable to Wurmcoil Engine in price, don’t be misled: whereas Wurmcoil Engine is hugely popular and has its price kept down (relatively speaking) by reprints, Skithiryx has only been reprinted properly once, in Double Masters 2020, and its price is a reflection of low supply rather than high demand. That’s not to say Skithiryx isn’t sought-after at all: it’s in the top 20 most-played Black Commanders, and is the second-most popular infect Commander — behind Atraxa, Praetor’s Voice, as you might imagine. Still, it’s not the flashiest or splashiest Commander, and its price has a lot more to do with rarity than it does power level.
#1 Mox Opal
Scars Of Mirrodin
Market Price: $81.78
Easily outstripping every single other card on this list is, of course, Mox Opal. And even at today’s rough price of $70, it’s nowhere near its historical peak: in the days of Modern Affinity, before Mox Opal was banned, this card was routinely above $100, sometimes pushing towards $120! Those days are behind it, of course, but price memory is powerful. Despite only seeing fringe play in older formats like Legacy and Vintage while being included in some artifact-based Commander decks, Mox Opal is still up there with most other Moxen. It remains a broken source of mana that proved too good for much of competitive Magic, a fact that has kept its price high after all these years.