Shefet Dunes is an uncommon land from Hour of Devastation, and it's an interesting piece of desert real estate. That's right, folks: real estate in Magic is much like investing in real life real estate. It can be a very solid investment if you buy in at the right time. The Deserts from Hour of Devastation are all pretty good, We saw Ramunap Ruins get banned in Standard because it was so good. These Deserts can sacrifice themselves for a decent effect, and this one gives all creatures you control a boost of +1/+1 until the end of the turn.

Already the Dunes have sneaked into a few Modern decks and it's seeing a fair amount of play in Standard. What's fascinating to me about Shefet Dunes is its price history. This was a $0.25 card that became a $0.75 card very quickly and quickly approached $1. It's still not too late to buy in as major MTG retailers like Channel Fireball and Card Kingdom are charging $1.49. (Shefet Dunes has also all but sold out on Amazon!)  The TCGPlayer market is just a bit behind.
 
Whenever you see retailers charge that much more than TCGPlayer and eBay, it means they keep running out and have to keep buying. So, they have to raise the retail price so they can pay a decent price in cash or store credit to those selling spare copies to their buylists. This is why when you see buylist prices get really close to retail prices, something is definitely going on with that card.

What's the ceiling on Shefet Dunes? That's hard to say. The Ramunap Ruins only got to $1.50, and it's hard for many uncommons to go much higher. But uncommon lands can be funny. More than a few uncommon lands run up to $2 to $3 or even $4 out of nowhere.

Foils of Shefet Dunes aren't even twice as much in price as nonfoils right now. I'm not sure I'd put money into those unless you really want one. Typically low foil multipliers – that is, the foil price divided by the nonfoil price – mean that people aren't super high on a card outside of Standard, but it can also just mean that a card hasn't yet found a permanent home.

Really, Shefet Dunes is one of those incremental investments that become trade binder pieces rather than fodder for buylists or eBay. Whenever you look to add cards to your Magic collection, it's always good to have trade chips. These sorts of lands that can serve a purpose in a lot of different decks can be invaluable to have when you're trying to trade up to bigger chips or are looking to trade into new investments.

Always watch lands that have a steady demand profile like these, because you never know when the supply will dry up. The Shefet Dunes haven't really found many homes in Commander yet, which I find a bit surprising and I'm sure that will change at some point. It has value beyond Standard and is useful in just about any White creature-based deck there is. These Deserts are not really prime reprint material, and this one in particular hasn't ended up in as many places as they could, so invest confidently.

The early returns on Hour of Devastation indicated that it wasn't one of the most “valuable” Magic the Gathering sets of recent years. Of course, there are some good, playable cards in the set that trended positively when it came to signles sales. One of these is the Red mythic rare Legendary Minotaur, Neheb, the Eternal.

Neheb, the Eternal was an important card from Hour to Devastation to watch. The raw power of this creature was  explored right away in EDH. It showed promise as both a Commander and as one of the “other 99” cards in a variety of EDH decks. While demand from the EDH crowd was real, what has caused Neheb to fall to $2.50 and steadily climb back up to $4 in such a short amount of time.

Not every Magic the Gathering set has them, but Hour of Devastation has a number of cards that could be termed as “Kitchen Table Magic all-stars.”  Neheb, the Eternal is definitely one of these. As a mythic rare in a small set, he was poised to be valuable in both the near future and the long-term.


How Does Neheb, the Eternal Work?

A five-mana Mono Red Minotaur with 4 power and 6 toughness is a good start. Having “afflict 3” puts him into contention for Standard playability. Essentially, Afflict means that whenever an opponent blocks a creature which Afflict, the defending player loses a certain amount of life. In this case, that’s 3 life, or 15 percent of a player’s starting life total. That’s a lot.

But for 5 mana, this isn’t quite enough to find a home in competitive play. It’s what his final ability reads. At the beginning of your post-combat main phase, you get 1 Red mana for each one life your opponents have lost this turn. This means that if you play Neheb, the Eternal before combat and deal damage after his summoning, you can gain Red mana in the same turn.

Typically, unless you have a creature with haste, or need it to satisfy some other condition, you play creatures after combat. But, because Neheb, the Eternal can offer you a benefit in the same turn that he’s cast, he can help pay for himself.


How to Use Neheb the Eternal in Standard, Modern, and other 60-card Competitive Formats

Typically, for cards with a converted mana cost of 5 or more to see consistent Standard play, they must have an immediate effect on the game as soon as they enter play. The same is true for Modern, as well. But, the bar is set much higher for the potency of the card’s effect. While  Neheb, the Eternal can start paying for himself in the same turn, he would have to be able to attack immediately (i.e. have Haste) to plug into that higher echelon of the mana curve.

While Neheb is probably too slow a card for Modern, in the right deck, he could fit into certain strategies in Standard. You would need to build a midrange sort of deck that has a strong life-loss engine. If you play a lot of creatures with Afflict, for example, Neheb would fit at the top of that curve.

A deck with Neheb, the Eternal would also have to lean towards predominantly Red mana, which is probably not a problem. There is the ability to build a Standard deck that could play a copy or two of Neheb, the Eternal to be an endgame finisher. But, his true strength would be in a Mono-Red deck, where his mana production will be most effective.

Neheb, the Eternal did enjoy some competitive Standard play. The decks were typically Gruul Ramp, red/green decks that focused on bringing out big efficient creatures like World Breaker quickly. Neheb definitely fit the bill. Another deck that had some success with Neheb was a rather creative Gruul Historic deck featured at a PPTQ in Northglen, Colorado. In both cases, only one copy of Neheb, the Eternal was played. He never really saw real success in any mono-Red decks.


Neheb, the Eternal in EDH / Commander & Kitchen Table Magic

As soon as you enter the multiplayer world of EDH, Neheb, the Eternal’s power level expands incredibly. Red mana acceleration stapled on a 4/6 creature with Afflict 4 becomes pretty relevant. There are so many ways to “ping” players in EDH that Neheb can generate a large amount of mana in a hurry.

Turning that mana into direct damage can end games quite quickly. Think of the mana that he could generate as part of a Heartless Hidetsugu strategy. That Commander has an ability to make players' life totals are halved on a regular basis!

Even in one-on-one EDH, you can set up Neheb, the Eternal in such a way to be a powerful mana generator, as well as a strong attacker. He’s a better multiplayer Commander than a 1-vs-1 Commander, but he’s still a solid creature. There are so many decent 5-mana Red creatures in Commander, however. Neheb, the Eternal needs to be part of a greater life loss/direct damage strategy (such as Purphoros, God of the Forge) to be effective.

In casual “Kitchen Table” Magic, Neheb, the Eternal is definitely worthy of attention. He’s a force in casual multiplayer games. But, even in traditional one-on-one Magic, he’s just a really fun card to play with and build around.


The Organic Rise and Fall of Neheb, the Eternal’s Price

What there’s most to like about Neheb, the Eternal is that his price seems to be gaining stability rather quickly. After pre-ordering for $5, an initial surge of supply cut his price in half. Then, even after no competitive Standard play early on, his price rebounded to $4.50 before a second wave of supply brought it back down to $4. People really wanted this guy.

As competitive players weren't exactly eating up this guy, it seemed everyday Magic players looked to add these to this Legendary Minotaur to their deck-building toolbox. There’s always talk of Magic card price speculation driving up prices. That wasn't the case at all here.

What is the price ceiling on a card like Neheb, the Eternal? We’ve seen that $2.50 is probably a reasonable floor. If a card like this sees consistent Standard play, it could reach the realm of around $10. Despite a few strong showings, though, he never surpassed $6 during his time in Standard.

As for Neheb, the Eternal foils, they pushed $15 early on. For a mythic rare that is definitely playable in Commander, that was already a fair price. They settled back into the $10 range  after Minotaur Tribal fans had picked them up.

With the mixed reviews that Hour of Devastation recieved, the supply of mythic rares from the set are probably not going to be nearly as high as Amonkhet’s. This means a card like Neheb, the Eternal looks like a good investment. While I would hardly speculate on him, this is a good creature that definitely has a future in the casual Magic world, and may even have his day in the sun in Standard.