1. Basim Ibn Ishaq - ₱770 to ₱1,400
   
2. Achilles Davenport - ₱550
3. Brotherhood Regalia - ₱330
4. Aven Courier - ₱165

It’s safe to say that the MTG Assassin’s Creed set didn’t have the best start in life. The expansion was widely criticized for a range of reasons, including its price point, low card quality, and small pack size. Now that it’s in the hands of the players, however, its fortunes seem to be reversing somewhat. Many on social media are now singing the set’s praises. Those aren’t empty compliments, either. A lot of the cards within, when given a fair test in actual games, are proving to be genuine powerhouses. As a result, we’ve seen a number of significant MTG Assassin’s Creed price spikes over this past weekend.

Basim Ibn Ishaq - ₱770 to ₱1,400

This is the big story of the weekend and of Assassin’s Creed in general. Basim Ibn Ishaq looks like nothing more than a fun, flavorful Assassin card on the surface, perfect for turning on Freerunning in your Assassin Typal Commander decks. Turns out, however, he’s actually quite the force in Modern. Something no one, right up until the point of release, saw coming.

Prolific MTGO brewer and player Aspiringspike took to Twitter on Friday to discuss a new Dimir Basim deck he’d been testing in Modern. It put in a very solid performance, going 6-1 in a Modern Challenge. The deck utilizes Basim alongside free artifacts like Mishra’s Bauble and Mox Amber to generate huge card advantage.

Emry, Lurker of the Loch is also included, to recur your freebies and keep the engine going. It’s similar to the Satoru, the Infiltrator lists we saw post-Thunder Junction, and indeed the Psychic Frog lists we’ve seen post-Modern Horizons 3. 2024 is the year of the Dimir two-drop, it seems.

Thanks to this early success, Basim’s price tag is climbing fast. What was a $3 card on Friday, going by presale prices, is now a whopping $14 on average. This represents a price increase of around 360%; not bad at all for an Assassin’s Creed card. Whether this price will be sustainable remains to be seen. We’re still very early into the set’s life cycle, after all.

While not a guaranteed powerhouse, Basim does seem promising. Assassin Commander decks will be very popular soon, and this card slots right into those. Factor in eternal format potential, and I don’t see this one dropping much, if at all.

Achilles Davenport - ₱550

The next in our list of MTG Assassin’s Creed price spikes from the weekend is Achilles Davenport. This is also a Dimir Assassin and can even be cast for the exact same cost as Basim above, if you have Freerunning active, that is. Otherwise, he costs four mana for a 3/3 Assassin Lord with Menace. Hardly the stuff of huge price tags by usual standards. Despite that, the card has shot up from $3 to around $10 over the past week, with the spike beginning just before release.

Why is that? Well, there are a couple of reasons. Firstly, the card is an absolute must-have for Assassin Typal decks in Commander. We discussed how popular those are about to be above, and pretty much all of them are going to want Achilles in their 99. The card is not only a cheap, well-statted lord with Freerunning active, but he also comes with evasion in Menace, boosting your chances of turning it on again in the future. It’s a very solid synergy piece, in other words.

The other reason behind this spike is the fact that Achilles is exclusive to the Assassin’s Creed Starter Kits, and can’t be found in the main set. While details on the supply of this product are unknown at present, many in the MTG finance community are assuming these will be opened less than regular boosters. As a result, the cards within will be more scarce.

Brotherhood Regalia - ₱330

The last of the MTG Assassin’s Creed spikes for today is Brotherhood Regalia. Like Achilles Davenport, this one is largely riding on Commander hype at the moment; there’s little chance of it seeing play in Modern. In Commander, however, it seems like a powerhouse. It’s a cheap Equipment that grants Ward two, unblockable, and the Assassin creature type. All very relevant upsides in an Assassin Commander deck. The cherry on top? You can equip it for just one mana, provided the target is legendary.

There’s precedent for an effect like this being great in Commander. Both Whispersilk Cloak and Silver Shroud Costume offer similar effects at similar rates, and both command solid prices now. Regalia feels like a sidegrade of these effects, with enough pros and cons to basically balance things out. Putting this on any Commander that cares about attacking or dealing combat damage feels great. It also helps with turning on Freerunning which, as we’ve covered above, is crucial in Assassin Typal decks.

Thanks to all this Commander interest, Brotherhood Regalia has climbed from around $1.75 to $6 over the weekend. A spike of around 240%. Given that Silver Shroud Costume is currently sitting at around $8, and that you could argue Brotherhood Regalia is even better, I foresee this price climbing higher still in the days and weeks to come. Both cards have the Universes Beyond reprint problem attached to them, so the long-term value of this one is almost certain. Great Commander protection is always in style, after all.

Aven Courier - ₱165

Amid the whirlwind of Assassin’s Creed, there are other things happening in the world of MTG finance this week. Case in point: Aven Courier. This innocuous-looking Bird Advisor has seen only one printing in the New Capenna Commander decks, and until very recently it comfortably nestled at around $0.15 in price. Thanks to the Modern Horizons 3 Commander decks, however, the card is now worth around $3, with most of that gain occurring in the past week.