Ikoria Lair of Behemoths, the 84th Magic: The Gathering expansion, has been heavily inspired by battles between humans and monsters in pop culture. You can find some amazing promo cards inside booster boxes depicting the famous kaiju monsters Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah.
The real focus for players in this expansion is the ordinary creature and planeswalker cards that players can actually use in their decks. Though some will naturally be inclined to spend hundreds of dollars on nothing but collectibles.
This guide focuses primarily on these types of cards and their market share. Note that prices listed here correspond to the date of this article's publishing (04/20/20).
Chevill, Bane of Monsters
- Online price: $3.21
- Paper price: $7.45
Chevill has been jumping up and down in price and has settled at a somewhat preferable edge.
This card is now a part of a Human deck in Standard, which will make some noise this season. It's also a perfect tech card against Mono-Red Aggro that has been in the forefront of the meta lately.
This legendary creature will also end up in sideboards of many control and midrange lists, which will make it fit into an all around anti-aggro strategy. Usually, solid sideboards end up at around $5 a piece, and this could be the case as well.
General Kudro of Drannith
- Online price: $7.61
- Paper price: $8.87
Human lords are rare in Magic: The Gathering, but when they appear they get integrated into Humans decks all across the formats.
General Kudro of Drannith is no exception and will fill some blind spots in one of these decks. It may also create some new lists that play differently than the rest.
In either case, it looks like it has already settled into a very comfortable price zone for both online and print versions of MtG. It may go up and down a bit in the next few months, but $7-8 is where it ultimately belongs.
Nethroi, Apex of Death
- Online price: $3.85
- Paper price: $9.54
This card very much reflects the whole purpose of the Ikoria set. It has the new Mutate mechanic and it lets players put permanents into play. This is basically what so many cards do in the new set.
Because of this, Nethroi will gain a huge traction among the EDH Commander crowd. Of course, there is room for it in Standard as well.
The promo art foil prints are now priced at around $80, which is its peak price, and will definitely go down as soon as market opens for paper versions.
Winota, Joiner of Forces
- Online price: $2.26
- Paper price: $9.64
This is another very strong human creature that is making rounds in the Commander format.
Winota offers players the option include both non-human and human creatures into their gameplan, which definitely makes it a unique card. This can be played out really well, although the limited range of application will keep it priced at around $10 a piece.
On the other hand, there is no alternate art for Winota, which can bring up the card's price a bit due to the lack of the auxiliary version on the market.
Narset of the Ancient Way
- Online price: $3.69
- Paper price: $15.79
Just like most new planeswalkers Narset is getting a lot of attention from all Commander, Standard, and Pioneer players.
The ultimate ability is easy to activate, and it will become really tough to beat this card in any type of Jeskai Control shell.
More conservative players will keep playing the Teferi planeswalker, but many players will also try to combine them together. If this combination turns out well, then both digital and print copies will go up in price.
The promo foil copy currently holds the $60 price tag. This alternate art is gorgeous, so it will definitely become a collectible item.
Gyruda, Doom of Depths
- Online price: $6.04
- Paper price: $10.48
The most expensive Companion card in Ikoria is Gyruda, Doom of Depths, a big sea monster that can cast creatures from either your own graveyard or that of opponent's.
This impressive ability must be satisfied by the Companion's condition, which requires a deck that consists of nothing but even-cost cards. Although that creates some restrictions for players, there is a great combo with Thassa in Standard right now that can give this card a huge boost on the market.
Also, its alternate Godzilla-theme art — Gigan, Cyberclaw Terror — is priced at around $70 mark, which shows how valuable this card actually is.
Lukka, Coppercoat Outcast
- Online price: $4.20
- Paper price: $11.17
The new red planeswalker in Ikoria is a fantastic option for many Constructed players. The minus ability is really strong here, and in the right deck can cast such enormous creatures like Titanoth Rex, Emrakul, Progenitus, and Griselbrand.
This action can be repeated the next turn again and that's five mana well spent. This will surely drive the value of Lukka on the market, especially in the Standard and Modern segments.
The foil alternate art costs about $50, but this price has been going down lately. So expect it to settle around $30 for foil print, and $15 for ordinary art.
Vivien, Monsters' Advocate
- Online price: $7.78
- Paper price: $15.80
Vivien is probably the best planeswalker in Ikoria. It's versatile and has both active and passive abilities that serve players well in almost all kinds of circumstances.
Out of all Vivien planeswalkers, Monsters' Advocate is clearly the best one. Vivien Reid from War of the Spark was doing quite well in the beginning, but the price has decreased to about $5. But this time it should have a stronger footing.
This card should do well in almost any format, including Commander, which can keep Vivien on the upper price shelf of the Ikoria set.
Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy
- Online price: $10.39
- Paper price: $21.89
Kinnan is a true winning card for Commander format. It's going to work really well with Mox Amber and put some big things onto the battlefield relatively early in the match-up.
Now that Oko, Thief of Crowns is banned in most formats, Kinnan can take up its place in Standard, Modern and Pioneer, and without the ridiculous power of Oko that just asked to be nerfed.
This legendary creature will also help all the mana producers spike on the market, such as Sylvan Caryatid and any of the mana-producing Elves.
Luminous Broodmoth
- Online price: $7.41
- Paper price: $24.96
The obviously strong ability sets Luminous Broodmoth apart from the rest of the flying creatures in Ikoria.
This will be very good in all sorts of zoo and aggro decks that want to avoid blockers. There is probably even some kind of a combo that players haven't figured out yet.
In any case, Luminous Broodmoth is already very strong price-wise and will remain such for some time.
If there is a card in this set that will clearly see play than this is the one. The current price is still a tad high though, so except it to settle around $15-20 a piece in the next few months.
Fiend Artisan
- Online price: $16.85
- Paper price: $31.99
Is this the Tarmogoyf of the new format? It definitely has all the features to be one, especially with that tutor ability.
This is proven by an already high price tag for a brand new card. Will it maintain the value? It's hard to say before the real meta begins and shows some results.
Fiend Artisan will fit in many formats, including the most demanding ones, such as Legacy and Vintage. The rest of the players will surely try to build around it and see how grindy the situation can get.
But even if it proves itself, the price probably won't go higher than $40 a piece, so wait on it before investing.
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In addition to this list of the most expensive Ikoria Lair of Behemoths cards, be sure to check out our other MtG guides below:
Published: Apr 19, 2020 09:46 am