This old MTG card just exploded by 1,983% thanks to Avatar - and Lorwyn can take it even higher

Given that Magic: The Gathering has a card list that's over 30 years old, it's quite often that some of them feel underpowered or overlooked for a long time until a new combo or deck archetype comes out that makes them valuable. Whenever new sets are released, it's quite common for older cards to skyrocket in value and suddenly reach unprecedented heights. Magic: The GatheringThe Avatar deck has already done this for multiple cards, such as Fist of Suns, which went up a lot when Avatar Aang // Aang, Master of Elements was revealed, as they combine in a way that clears any cast spell.

Powerful interactions are the name of the game MTGand since Avatar is a fairly large set with an Eternal counterpart from Jumpstart Boosters, there's a lot of potential for some incredible combos. The most expensive Avatar cards in MTG of course, they include high-end combo pieces like Badgermole Cub and Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, but fans were quick to spot some hits among the many new ally-type cards. Not only have ally decks seen a lot of popularity since Avatar, but Zendikar brought a card called Sea Gate Loremaster that went from $0.48 to $10, and its journey may not end there thanks to the upcoming Lorwyn Eclipsed set.

Why 2 Magic: The Gathering Cards are skyrocketing in price because of 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 Ally pack in Avatar makes the old card from $0.50 to $10

Sea Gate Loremaster is a merfolk wizard ally that costs 4 generic and 1 blue for 1/3 body, which is far from good. However, it can be tapped to draw one card for each ally you have in play, including itself. In the right deck, a single copy of Sea Gate Loremaster can draw you quite a lot of cards, and the Avatar set does just that with a total of 115 ally cards out of a total of 211 in the game. Pull the engines MTG they are extremely valuable and the Sea Gate Loremaster is an interesting, unusual one.

Why Sea Gate Loremaster is OP in Ally Decks

This card can create very powerful combos with some new tools from the Avatar set, such as MTG's Katara, The Fearless, or the Great Divide Guide. The former is a legendary that costs a 3/3 Bant to cast and lets you activate the ability of ally cards you control twice, meaning Sea Gate Loremaster can draw twice as many cards as normal. Great Divide Guide is another powerful combo, as it allows you to tap any ally cards you have on the field to generate one mana of any color, which can create an incredible ramp in low-cost creature decks, and then cast Sea Gate Loremaster early or for free.

With other powerful cards like Aang, at the Crossroads or Katara, the Waterbending Master all being allies, Sea Gate Loremaster will let you have a field day in Eternal formats, and its price jump makes perfect sense. There's more to it, though, because this old card is also a merfolk, and that's the key tribe and creature type in Lorwyn Eclipsed.

Magic: The Gathering's Lorwyn Eclipsed by Sea Gate Loremaster Spike could have raised even more

The original Lorwyn block consisted 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 witches
- 1 plot of land
- 1 enchantment
Morning – 8 in total
- 8 creatures (Blue-White Merfolk)
Shadowmoor – 15 in total
- 15 creatures (mostly Blue and Blue/Black merfolk)
Eventide – 9 in total
- 9 creatures (mostly Blue and Blue/Green merfolk)

There is also a confirmed merfolk in there MTGLorwyn Eclipsed Set. This is a double-sided card called Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom // Sygg, Wanderbrine Shield. The deck also has a confirmed allied instant with the elemental type, so more merfolk cards are pretty much guaranteed.

Interestingly, there are 306 merfolk cards in the game, and 60 of them mention “merfolk” in their text. A few 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 this could be powerful in a merfolk themed Commander deck MTGand in some cases a hybrid merfolk/allied deck is also possible.

MTG's Merfolk Cards could be the ace up Lorwyn Eclipsed's sleeve

There are actually four other cards in the game with this subtype combination. They are:

Guide to Coralhelm
Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper
Seascape Aerialist
Umara Entangler

Of these, only Seascape Aerialist synergizes with other ally cards, making all allied creatures you control fly until the end of the turn whenever it or another ally enters the field. Still, Pandora's box was opened with Avatar, which contains over 50% of all the game's ally cards. Because 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.