This week in Magic finance, Doubling Cube was bought out, more than doubling to nearly $50 (although where it will end up is still unclear since supply is so low). The 10th Edition printing briefly spiked to over $1,000 at TCGMid, but this is just weirdness caused by the card having essentially zero supply—it’s nowhere near the real price. The reason for the buyout seems to be firebending, where Doubling Cube can make an absurd amount of temporary mana, although whether this is actually needed in most firebending Commander decks is another story. If you have extra copies, I’d look to move them while prices are high. The card seems relatively easy to reprint, and once that happens prices should crash.

Meanwhile, in the land of Universes Beyond weirdness, Daryl, Hunter of Walkers (The Walking Dead), the in-universe reprint of the Walking Dead Secret Lair card Daryl, Hunter of Walkers (The Walking Dead), is now $30, up from $3 at the start of December. This jump is thanks to its synergy with another set of unique Secret Lair legends, Ellie, Brick Master (Playstation: Last of Us) and Joel, Resolute Survivor (Playstation: Last of Us), where Hansk lets you draw cards as the Zombie tokens Ellie, Brick Master (Playstation: Last of Us) gives your opponents die. In this case, the UB printing spiked first—also up to $30 currently—and then Daryl, Hunter of Walkers (The Walking Dead) followed, presumably as people realized Hansk is the same card, but for a massive discount.

Finally, the Homelands Reserved List rare Didgeridoo jumped 100% to $16 this week for no apparent reason. While the card is very strong with Minotaurs and worth playing in decks like Sethron, Hurloon General in Commander, we haven’t gotten any new Minotaurs since Aetherdrift, and the last rare Minotaur was Gornog, the Red Reaper (anime) from Jumpstart 2023. This makes me think the spike was mostly a financial play, with someone betting that a hot new Minotaur Commander will eventually be released and drive Didgeridoo’s price higher—which honestly might not be the worst bet.

This makes Didgeridoo the most expensive card from Homelands, and it’s not especially close. The set infamously has almost zero value, even now, 30 years after its release, with just two cards worth over $10 and two more worth over $3. We’ve seen this happen with Didgeridoo before—a bunch of times. Since the artifact spiked to over $50 in 2021, the card has dropped and spiked no fewer than five times. While the general trajectory has been downward, with it falling below $8 before the most recent buyout, my expectation is that the same thing will happen again. However, sooner or later a hot Minotaur Commander will be released, and Didgeridoo will shoot up once more.