This Old MTG Card Just Exploded to 1,983% Thanks to Avatar - And Lorwin Can Push It Even Higher

With that in mind Magic: The Gathering With a list of cards over 30 years old, it often happens that some of them feel underpowered or neglected for a long time, until a new combo or deck archetype comes out that makes them valuable. Whenever new sets are released, it's common for old cards to spike in value and suddenly reach unprecedented heights. Magic: The Gathering's Avatar set has already done this for many cards, such as Fist of Suns' value greatly increased when Avatar Aang // Aang, Master of the Elements was revealed, as they make any spell you cast free.

Powerful interaction is the name of the game MTGAnd since Avatar is a fair-sized set with an infinite counterpart from Jumpstart Boosters, there are plenty of possibilities for some incredible combos. Most Expensive Avatar Cards MTG Obviously include top-notch combo pieces like Badgermoll Cub and Wan Shi Tong, the Librarian, but fans were quick to see some sleeper hits among the many new ally-typed cards. Not only is the support deck getting a lot of love from Avatar, but Zendikar brought a card called Sea Gate Loremaster, which went from $0.48 to $10, and its journey may not end here, thanks to the upcoming Lorwyn Eclipsed set.

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Why 2 Magic: The Gathering cards are increasing in value due to Avatar

Magic: The Gathering players looking to build a deck with the new Avatar: The Last Airbender card may have to fork over $20 for two key cards.

MTG's new support package in Avatar is making old cards $0.50 to $10

Sea Gate Loremaster is a merfolk wizard support creature that has 4 normal and 1 blue cost for 1/3 body, which is far from good. However, it can be tapped to let you draw a card for each ally in your game, including yourself. As such, in the right deck, a single copy of Sea Gate Loremaster can draw you a lot of cards, and the Avatar set makes this possible with a total of 115 support cards out of a total of 211 in the game. Draw the engines in MTG are extremely valuable, and Sea Gate Loremaster is an interesting gimmick.

Why C Gate is the OP in Loremaster Eli Dex

This card can make very powerful combos like some of the new equipment from the Avatar set MTGKatara, The Fearless or Great Divide Guide. The former is a legendary creature that costs Bant a 3/3 to cast, and allows you to trigger the ability of support cards you control twice, meaning Sea Gate Loremaster can draw twice as many cards as you normally would. Great Divide Guide is another powerful combo piece, as it allows you to tap any supporting cards on the field to generate one mana of any color, which can make for an incredible ramp in decks with cheap creatures, and then cast Sea Gate Loremaster early or for free.

With other powerful cards like Aang, at the Crossroads, or Katara, Waterbending Master, all supporting creatures, Sea Gate Loremaster will give you a field day in Eternal formats, and its price spike makes perfect sense. However, there's more to it, as this old card is also a merfolk, and it's the main tribal and creature type in Lorwyn Eclipsed.

Enchantment: Vela's Lorwyn Eclipse can make the Sea Gate Loremaster spike even further

The original Lorwyn block was made up of four sets: Lorwyn, Morningtide, Shadowmoor and Eventide. These had a total of 56 merfolk-related cards, broken down as follows:

Lorwyn – 24 in total
- 20 creatures (mostly blue, white, or blue/white merfolk)
- 2 Magic
- 1 land
- 1 infatuation
Morning – 8 total
- 8 creatures (blue and white merfolk)
Shadowmoor – 15 total
- 15 creatures (mostly blue and blue/black merfolk)
Program – 9 in total
- 9 creatures (mostly blue and blue/green merfolk)

There is also a confirmed merfolk MTGLorwyn Eclipsed set. It's a double-sided card called Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom // Sygg, Wanderbrine Shield. The set also has a confirmed relative instant with the original type, so more merfolk cards are basically guaranteed.

Interestingly, there are 306 merfolk cards in the game, and 60 of them mention “merfolk” in their text. Many of these support merfolk creatures and strategies in general, such as Aquatic Incursion, Judge of Currents, Svyleun of Sea and Sky, and Vodalian Wave-Knight. All of these can be powerful in a merfolk-themed commander deck MTGAnd in some cases, a hybrid merfolk/ally deck is also possible.

MTG's Merfolk cards might be Lorwyn Eclipsed's Ace of Sleeve

In fact, there are four more cards in the game with this subtype combination. They are:

Coralhelm Guide
Nayan Dar, Royal Shaper
Seascape Aerialist
Umrah Engler

Of these, only Seascape Aerialist has synergy with other support cards, letting all support creatures you control fly until the end of the turn when it or another support enters the field. Still, Pandora's Box is opened with an avatar that contains more than 50% of the game's entire supporting cards. Lorwyn Eclipsed is one of the most hyped MTG 2026 sets, it's likely that more powerful merfolk cards will be added, possibly taking Sea Gate Loremaster to a whole new level.