The Gathering Duskmourn Card is Suddenly Three Times More Expensive

For those who may be new to building decks in Magic: The Gathering or may not follow the market closely, it’s not uncommon for cards that were worth under a couple of dollars to suddenly become expensive. A great example is MTG‘s Blossoming Tortoise, which is a mythic rare from Wilds of Eldraine that never really had much of a niche in the various formats of the game, but it’s now triple its original value thanks to an Avatar commander. The same happened with cards like Searing Touch and Fist of Suns when Avatar Aang // Aang, Master of Elements, was first revealed, but now a Duskmourn card is getting a massive price increase.

Unlike most price surges with Magic: The Gathering cards, which are often tied to new releases and the hype behind some specific cards, this case involves the current meta in Standard and how players are trying to counter it. This card is called Razorkin Needlehead, and it went from around $3 to $9 and above in a matter of two weeks ever since Mono Red aggro decks started winning in MTG, even against the dreaded Vivi Ornitier. Now, Mono Red aggro is a staple counter to Izzet Cauldron, and Razorkin Needlehead is a big reason why.

Magic: The Gathering’s Best Deck is Being Countered By a Duskmourn Card

Duskmourn: House of Horror came out at the end of September last year, and several of its cards ended up being played a lot in different formats, such as Fear of Missing Out or Overlord of the Hauntwoods. Razorkin Needlehead’s rise to prominence is no coincidence, either, as it’s the perfect counter to the most used Standard deck in the game, with it being MTG‘s Izzet Cauldron. This deck can draw a considerable number of cards with the likes of Winternight Stories or Proft’s Eidetic Memory, and with a deck focused on smaller, cheaper drops to deal damage early, Izzet Cauldron can run into a loss.

Razorkin Needlehead is a 2-Red 2/2 creature that has first strike on the user’s turn, which is decent, but not as strong as other parts of the deck, like Hired Claw, Burnout Bashtronaut, or Screaming Nemesis. However, it also has the ability to deal 1 damage to each opponent that draws a card, repeating the effect every time a card is drawn. Since Izzet Cauldron likes to draw a lot of cards to then cast them with the incredible amount of mana it can generate with MTG‘s Vivi Ornitier in the graveyard and Agatha’s Soul Cauldron on the field, Razorkin Needlehead can put the brakes on this strategy very early on.

How Razorkin Needlehead Counters MTG’s Current Meta

This is also a powerful card in other matchups, such as Dimir Midrange or Azorius Control. The former likes to draw with Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, and Enduring Curiosity, and it typically runs Shoot the Sheriff as one of its removals, to which Razorkin Needlehead is immune. Azorius Control does the same with multiple cards, and it typically runs fewer removals, so Razorkin Needlehead can be exceptional in this matchup. Considering that these two decks alongside Izzet Cauldron and Mono Red aggro itself make for over 65% of the meta, Razorkin is rarely a “dead card,” possibly being less effective in mirror matches.

With Magic: The Gathering‘s Edge of Eternities came Nova Hellkite, a 5-CMC 4/5 dragon creature with haste and flying, which has the warp mechanic for just 2 generic and 1 Red. This means that players can hypothetically drop a 1-mana creature on turn one, like Hired Claw, follow up on turn two with Razorkin Needlehead, and then drop a warped Nova Hellkite on turn three for a big swing at the opponent’s life pool. For these reasons, Mono Red aggro is very much back on the menu, and players having issues with Izzet Cauldron should consider getting themselves this powerful Duskmourn card.

Original Release Date

August 5, 1993

Designer

Richard Garfield

Player Count

2+

Age Recommendation

13+