New sets mean new potential Commanders, and with them, plenty of price adjustments as players speculate on the cards that fit with each legend the best. Take Urtet, Remnant of Memnarch. This new commander helps out the under-supported Myr tribe, and as such has caused shake-ups in the financial world. But there are some cards the speculators may still be sleeping on.

The Urtet Effect

For those who check the MTGStocks Market price daily, you may have noticed an interesting trend the past 2 weeks.

The above cards are obviously auto-includes in an Urtet, Remnant of Memnarch Commander deck. When I saw the first two cards spike, I began digging for other rare and mythic Myr cards. Sadly, the list is pretty short, as most of the cards are common or uncommon and the older options are pretty lackluster anyways.

These were the top three I found that have a single printing and showed promise. Obviously, two of them have already begun their ascent. I bring these up because I found lots of copies of the last two in my bulk boxes and a few copies of Myr Superion. I have sold multiple copies of all of them already using TCGPlayer, have raised prices repeatedly, and still keep getting sales.

The beauty of Urtet, Remnant of Memnarch is that it is a five-color commander that can be cast with any three mana. While this may seem innocuous, it means that one can consistently cast it on turn three and begin to take advantage of the abilities without fear of mana issues typical of five-color commanders. The biggest challenge with a deck like this is that if you want to keep it on the Myr theme, you have to play a lot of mediocre cards, as most of the Myr cards aren't all that good on their own. To make speculating even harder, most of the remotely playable ones have been printed repeatedly.

Urtet, Remnant of Memnarch: The Specs

Alibou has one single printing and very relevant abilities for Urtet. While scrying is nowhere near as powerful as card drawing, that fact that Alibou doesn't care why the artifacts were tapped does allow players to attack with a single creature and still abuse the damage and scry X ability. As Urtet, Remnant of Memnarch makes a token whenever any Myr card is cast, the haste provided by Alibou, Ancient Witness can prove surprisingly relevant.

Padeem, Consul of Innovation offers great protection, and while it was reprinted in Commander Brothers' War in retro frame, that version is currently hovering around 50% of the market price of the original Kaladesh version. I personally love the retro frame look, and many other older players I have talked to agree with me. I wouldn't spec on regular Kaladesh versions, but would instead put my money towards these cheaper retro frame copies. As these are near bulk prices, it's very possible to get them as throw-ins to balance out trades.

All is Dust is a mostly one-sided Wrath in an artifact deck, and as a bonus it gets around indestructible. Currently all versions are near their all-time lows, making this a low-risk pickup. This is also the type of card that can really turn a game around, especially when you consider how a large majority of Commander decks have few colorless permanents besides mana rocks. The upside of removing annoying planeswalkers, enchantments, and so on is nothing to sneeze at.

Semblance Anvil allows you to turbo out Artifacts and conveniently makes the colored-mana-producing Myr free to cast. Similarly to Padeem, Consul of Innovation, the retro frame versions are currently cheaper and in my opinion look better. It's also important to keep in mind that when you exile an artifact creature with Semblance Anvil, it reduces the cost of both artifacts and creatures in the deck, though the ability does not stack for artifact creatures.

Time Sieve - this card goes infinite with cards that produce lots of artifact tokens. Given Urtet, Remnant of Memnarch makes artifact tokens, it seems pretty easy to abuse this. Sieve has already rebounded from the Double Masters reprinting. It does currently appear to be trending downward from a spike, so I don't know if now is the time to buy in or if a little patience will go a long way. I believe that the most recent spike is most likely speculator-driven, based off of knowledge that The Brothers' War and Phyrexia: All Will Be One were going to be artifact-heavy decks.

Normally, I would shy away from cards with multiple printings; however, Daretti, Scrap Savant is a planeswalker that is currently near bulk pricing, boasting very relevant abilities, and is pretty much an auto-include in any artifact deck that includes red. It also seems reasonable to assume that most Urtet, Remnant of Memnarch decks will have plenty of artifacts to sacrifice to Dartti's second ability, helping cheat in very powerful artifacts repeatedly.

Beneath the Surface

My last spec choice for Urtet, Remnant of Memnarch decks seems like a very powerful option. Much time has passed since the days when Replenish was a powerful Type II (now known as Standard) archetype, but the ability to mass-recur artifacts is extremely powerful. Interestingly, Wizards of the Coast seems to have started shifting away from these types of effects being universal, and newer versions only affect the caster, which is extremely important in a multiplayer format like Commander. The fact that this card grants recurred artifacts haste is also pretty important, as it can really swing a game and turn the tides.

I do want to be up front and state that I personally do not think that Urtet, Remnant of Memnarch is likely to be a top commander in the long run, as the ability, while unique, is not powerful enough to justify running the likes of Gold Myr in any sort of competitive environment. That being said though, there are plenty of players who like building thematic decks that are fun and still have some powerful plays.

My closing suggestion would be to plan on selling into short-term gains and not park money into any of these specs for the long-term. The spikes we have already seen on Myr Superion and Myr Matrix serve as a reminder that when a new legendary creature arrives that affects a less mainstream tribe, speculating on rares and/or mythics that play well with it will likely net decent profits if you jump in fast enough. The power level of that legendary creature or tribe isn't even that relevant. Rather, the key takeaway is that every tribe has its fanbase, and while visible players make up the tip of the iceberg, Magic's casual player base is in fact massive.