This week in Magic finance was fairly quiet. By% the biggest gainer was Brallin, Skyshark Rider, which more than doubled up to $4. In just the last couple of sets, Wizards has started to aggressively support the self-discard theme, which we know is returning again in Spider-man this fall thanks to some early spoilers. Brallin, Skyshark Rider seems to be one of the biggest beneficiaries as an easy addition to any red-based Commander deck looking to discard their own cards for value. Brallin's partner, Shabraz, the Skyshark has ticked up slightly, but not nearly as much as Brallin itself, presumably because it's in the wrong colors for Aetherdrift or Spider-man self-discard decks. Also of note, the partner mechanic likely makes Brallin, Skyshark Rider a bit harder to reprint since it's awkward to have one partner in a deck without the other, reducing the number of Commander precons it could theoretically fit in. I wouldn't be surprised to see Brallin, Skyshark Rider continue to slowly rise, assuming Wizards keeps supporting the self-discard theme.
Meanwhile, Shadowy Backstreet - the Orzhov surveil land - climbed 18% to $25 this week, making it the most expensive surveil land by a fairly healthy margin. While the entire cycle is great, Shadowy Backstreet has found itself in high demand thanks to the rise of Orzhov in Modern, which typically plays two copies of the surveil land. Keep a close eye on the land cycle that's printed in Tarkir: Dragonstorm. While fetches seem unlikely, even something like Triomes that care about basic land types could lead to another spike in surveil lands thanks to Standard demand. Remember, the cycle doesn't rotate until January 1st of 2027, so we still have nearly two full years of surveil lands in Standard.
Finally, Mark Rosewater confirmed this week that the MSRP of Universes Beyond sets will be higher than in-universe sets. Comparing the MSRP of Aetherdrift and a set like Final Fantasy, play booster boxes are 33% higher while collector booster boxes and commander precons see a jump of more than 50%. This likely means that the best cards from Universes Beyond sets will command a premium compared to in-universe sets and that the price of building a Standard deck could rise, perhaps 15% or more. It could make opening boxes much more risky, since a low-roll box where you don't hit the most chase and expensive cards will be more painful. Presumably this is, at least in part, Wizards passing the cost of IP rights onto players, which seems like a risky move considering some long time players aren't exactly thrilled about Universes Beyond. We'll see exactly how this shakes out, but it's at least worth watching as we head towards a bunch of Universes Beyond releases later this year.
