Summary
A certainty in life is that when a card inMagic: The Gatheringis either banned or unbanned from its most popular format, the market will appropriately respond. We’ve seen this numerous times before, like with thebanning of several cards from the Commander formatwhich causedcorresponding price drops. That particular decision proved so controversial that it actually collapsed the independent rules committee that had previously been in charge of the fan-made format andtransferred control to Wizards of the Coast.
Supply & Demand
Arecent round of bans and unbanshasn’t been as dramatic. Though several cards are affected, the highlight has been the banning of The One Ring and the unbanning of Splinter Twin from Modern. Both of these changes have been praised by the community. As you might have guessed, the unbanning of Splinter Twin has caused a corresponding skyrocket in the price of the card.
On thecard re-selling website Card Market, the Rise of Eldrazi version of Splinter Twin has increased from an average price of around €6 ($6.30) to a price of €11 ($11.54). Likewise for the Modern Masters 2015 version, which has gone from €5.25 ($5.50) to €11 ($11.54).
For those curious, The One Ring is dropping in price but at a slower pace than you might expect. Even though the card is no longer legal in Modern, it’s still the most popular card in a hugely popular crossover and therefore still holds sentimental value. It’s currently at €46.42 ($48.70), down from around €53.54 ($56.17).
The community has been calling for the unbanning of Splinter Twin for some time now. Though the card was certainly overpowered in its heyday, there have since been additional cards released that negative the effectiveness of the card, namely Force of Negation and Flare of Denial. Splinter Twin was quite popular when Modern was at its most popular as a format, so the return of the card is perhaps an attempt by Wizard to recapture that particular time.
