This week in the world of Magic finance the big news is - once again - sagas increasing in price as players build around Tom Bombadil (showcase) in Commander. This week saw The Cruelty of Gix (prerelease) rise 30% to just over $4, Jugan Defends the Temple 45% to $2.50 and Kiora Bests the Sea God (planeswalker stamp) jump another 25% to nearly $17. However, expect the Tom Bombadil (showcase) hype to start to dry up soon. We're in the middle of Commander Masters spoilers which includes some very exciting new precons featuring fan favorites like Silvers and Eldrazi. The hype cycle moves quickly these days with so many sets being released, my expectation is that within a few weeks Tom will be old news and we'll be talking about how the most exciting new commanders from Commander Masters are driving price gains for some weird, old cards that fit their themes. If you haven't gotten the cards you need to build Tom yet, your best bet might be to wait a month or two until the community moves on to the next new thing.

Speaking of Commander Masters, the set is overloaded with some of the most needed reprints for the Commander format, with some bonus goodies for Legacy and Modern as well. On the other hand, the set is also obscenely expensive with 24 pack boxes selling for around $300 for draft boosters, $375 for set boosters and $225 for four-pack collector booster boxes. This has lead to some complaints from the community, which makes sense. It's frustrating to see a bunch of exciting reprints but feel priced out because the cost of a box or a booster pack is so high. The good news is that, even at this high price point, the set will help control the prices of singles. One of the themes of the set set is cards that were original being printed at mythic, like Zacama, Primal Calamity, being bumped down to rare, which should futher help decrease their prices. As such, even if you don't crack a box you should benefit from the newly cheap singles. Just keep in mind that when a popular Commander cards is reprint it's price tends to increase against within a year or so. If your looking for the best time to pick up singles my guess is sometime around when Eldraine and Ixalan are releasing this fall. 

Finally in Modern Grief is on the rise. In the new The One Ring (bundle) fueled meta Living End has proven itself to be one of the primary foils to midrange value piled driven by The One Ring (bundle) itself, and Grief is a key four-of in the deck. As a result the evoke Elemental gained 62% this week to $36, putting it on the same level as Fury, Solitude and Endurance in terms of prices. My expectation is that we're going to see Modern Horizons 2 prices to start to increase across the board as the set goes out of print, so if you've been waiting to pick up cards from the set, the time might be now.