Magic: The Gathering’s Double Masters 2022 announcement stream revealed a few foil reprints of planeswalkers Wrenn and Six and Liliana, The Last Hope. These cards are currently expensive and are also reprints of cards often forgotten by previous Masters sets, but they do only represent a small sample of the set so far. Double Masters 2022 would do good to reprint some of the more expensive cards from modern sets and decrease the price of entry for its eternal formats, and there’s a few cards that have been climbing in price for years now that are due for a reprint.
The reveal of Liliana, the Last Hope, Wrenn and Six, and Bring to Light has proven that Wizards of the Coast is willing to reprint many of the cards from still up-and-coming MTG format Pioneer and post-Khans of Tarkir sets. Many commander staples like The Immortal Sun, Twilight Prophet, Anointed Procession, and Cryptolith Rite haven’t been reprinted in these supplemental sets. Keeping card prices accessible is key to getting players to play both casual and competitive formats, so it's great that Wizards is reprinting newer cards as well as classics.
Fortunately, Masters sets in the past have been great places to reprint expensive cards that players want extra copies of, and Double Masters 2022 already looks to be the same. Focusing on cards that haven’t been reprinted yet would give Wizards the opportunity to reduce the price of Pioneer, Commander, and Modern as a whole. There’s many cards worth over $25 that are widely played and should be reprinted to decrease their price.
Emrakul, the Promised End and Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger Are Both Expensive Eldrazi
The original Eldrazi from Rise of the Eldrazi are some of Magic's most powerful enemies, much like Jin-Gitaxias and Magic's Phyrexians and have been reprinted a few times in Ultimate Masters, but the new iterations of these cards haven’t been reprinted since their release. The old Kozilek is being reprinted, but it should be paired with the versions from Battle for Zendikar and Eldritch Moon respectively. Ulamog is one of the best Eldrazi to reanimate, as its attack trigger matters even in 100-card formats like Commander, while Emrakul can be cast for much less that 13 mana and can mess up an opponent’s game plan considerably.
Battle for Zendikar released in 2015 with Eldritch Moon not too much later in 2016. It's been six years since either Emrakul or Ulamog has gotten a reprint, with Emrakul currently at $50 on TCGPlayer and Ulamog at $53. Considering that these Eldrazi are popular finishers in Commander, it might make sense to reprint them in Double Masters 2022, where they can get new etched foil art and regular versions that are less expensive.
Anointed Procession Token Synergy Makes it Expensive
Of all the token creation cards, Anointed Procession is one of the most popular cards in a color that has been underpowered for a while. The card’s doubling ability is unique to white and green decks, but for players playing Commander decks like Teysa Karlov that don’t have access to Doubling Season, it’s an irreplaceable effect that unfortunately costs 30$ according to TCGPlayer. However, in recent years Anointed Procession has gone from a token synergy piece to an important piece in every white Commander deck, as Treasure token, Clue token, and Food token generators have become more common and powerful.
Token strategies have been boosted recently by the support of Treasure, Food, and Clues in sets like the powerful Streets of New Capenna and Innistrad: Midnight Hunt - Anointed Procession doubles them all. Having only seen printing in Amonkhet and The List, Anointed Procession is a case of low supply and high demand. Reprinting the card in Double Masters 2022 would allow Commander players to get their hands on a card that is slowly becoming one of the most important white enchantments in the game.
Oboro, Palace in the Clouds is an Overly-Expensive Land
Oboro, Palace in the Clouds is a strange legendary land from 2005 that was released in Saviors of Kamigawa. The ability to return it to its owners hand might seem bad at first, but there’s some funny tricks players can pull off with the Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty and Boseiju predecessor Oboro, like retriggering landfall on Ruin Crab and making every land an Island with Quicksilver Fountain. However, it’s hard to know why the card is so expensive at $80 given that it’s only useful in fringe scenarios and isn’t played in more than one competitive deck.
The high price of Oboro is most likely due to its lack of reprints and scarcity rather than its power. Often, price memory can cause a card to not drop in value when it’s not seeing any play. Reprints often help curb this problem, as Imperial Recruiter has dropped significantly in price since seeing a reprint in Modern Horizons 2. If Oboro were to be reprinted in Double Masters 2022, it would most likely fall in price dramatically, allowing people to build the budget decks it’s a part of for much cheaper.
Five of Magic’s Famous “Fetch Lands” are Rising in Price Again
For nearly a decade, MTG players had been lamenting the lack of substantial reprints for the expensive cycle known as fetch lands, especially those dubbed “enemy color pair” lands printed in Zendikar. This cycle of lands allowed players to find nearly any type of land in their deck at a low cost and quickly became tournament-playable staples. Outside of Zendikar Expeditions and Modern Masters 2017, these lands had never been reprinted and were slowly becoming 50 dollar pillars in the Modern format. Fortunately, the release of Modern Horizons 2 did a reasonable job of pushing prices down for these fetch lands and now the most expensive land is Scalding Tarn at $23.
However, the “allied color pair” lands haven’t seen an inexpensive reprint since 2014. They were first printed in Onslaught, but also got reprinted in Khans of Tarkir. The Khans of Tarkir lands are all more expensive than Scalding Tarn with the exception of Wooded Foothills and are on the rise due to a lack of reprints. Unlike other recent powerful New Capenna reprints, fetch lands are ubiquitous and are often seen as too powerful for Standard, so Double Masters 2022 would be the best place to reprint these cards.
The first Double Masters did a fairly good job of reprinting recent Commander staples like Walking Ballista, Ash Barrens, and The Scarab God, but many of the cards from 2018 and 2019 that had gotten expensive had been left out. Currently, the hole that Wizards of the Coast needs to fill in terms of reprints are supplemental sets like Conspiracy: Take the Crown and Modern Horizons and sets around the beginning of Pioneer, specifically from Magic Origins to Rivals of Ixalan. Magic: The Gathering is always in a better place when more people have access to powerful cards, so hopefully with the release of Double Masters 2022 many of the most expensive cards will see reprints and subsequent price drops.